The Forever Husband. Kathryn Alexander

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СКАЧАТЬ and Beth were halfway to the front steps when Hope got out of her vehicle and walked past Eric’s truck. There was a stack of clothes on the seat of the pickup, she noticed. Could he be bringing laundry for his mother to wash? Possibly—but she didn’t really think so. It didn’t seem like something Eric would do.

      Hope walked around the rear of the van. She pulled off her sunglasses and pushed wispy blond bangs from her forehead, just as she saw Beth run into the house ahead of her father. But Eric stopped and waited while Hope walked up the concrete steps to the porch. He held the front door open, glancing in her direction with curiosity. She rarely had been so subdued in their “together” days, she recalled. He was probably wondering why she was so quiet now.

      Hope moved past him into the large house. His parents’ home, she reminded herself. She suddenly felt almost as though she were trespassing. Maybe living here temporarily wasn’t such a great idea. Still, even if just for the children’s sake, it seemed to be her best option right now. And sometimes, for no explicable reason, it felt to Hope as though the Lord wanted her there.

      “I’m sorry, Hope. I haven’t even asked how you are,” Eric said.

      “I’m fine,” she replied.

      “Did you teach today?”

      “No.” Hope turned to look at him. She knew that she should attempt to carry on this discussion with him, if only she could think of something neutral they could talk about. And asking about the clothes in the truck didn’t seem appropriate. “How’s the world of real estate?” she asked.

      “It could be better,” Eric answered with a slight shrug, “but business will pick up again one of these days. It’s nothing for you to worry about.”

      “I’m not worried,” she said quickly. “I was… only trying to make conversation.”

      One corner of Eric’s mouth curved into a halfhearted smile. “That’s difficult to do with someone you’re accustomed to just talking to.”

      She nodded in agreement and looked away from him toward their daughter. Eric had always been easy to talk to. That was one of the things she loved about him. That and his gentle nature. And his dark eyes, and the way time had etched featherlike laugh lines at the corners of them…There were so many things about Eric that she would always love, whether he belonged to her or not. Seeing him again today only reaffirmed what her heart already knew. She was in so deep, she’d probably never get out.

      “Beth,” she said to her daughter, wanting to change her flow of thought, “If you do your homework and change your clothes, I’ll take you over to the hospital to see your sister again before bed-time.”

      “Come on, Dad—” the child started up the staircase in a hurry “—you can help me go over my spelling words. I have ten to learn.”

      “I’ll be there in a minute,” he called after Beth as she scampered away from him. Then he and Hope both glanced toward the sound of Ed and Grace Granston’s voices coming from the kitchen. Eric returned his gaze to his wife. “Hope…Mom and Dad want to talk to you about something.”

      She didn’t reply right away; she was too busy noticing the hesitancy she saw in his eyes as he spoke. “It’s not about the divorce, is it, Eric? I don’t want to sign those papers—”

      “It’s not,” he promised. “You don’t have to sign anything you don’t want to sign. Just hear them out while I help Beth with her homework.” Then he turned to go up the stairs toward his daughter’s room.

      Hope stood silently at the foot of the staircase, remembering her feelings from the night they had parted—her sense of being right She hadn’t realized being “right” could feel so wrong, and she’d missed him almost before he’d walked out the door.

      “Hope, dear, is that you?” Grace stuck her head around the kitchen door to see her daughter-in-law standing there, looking at the empty staircase. She adjusted her silver-frame glasses. “Could Ed and I speak with you for a moment?”

      Hope followed Grace into the next room. “How are you feeling?” Hope asked her father-in-law when she noticed he looked even paler than he had in recent days.

      “Well, that’s part of what we want to talk to you about,” Grace began. “He’s not been feeling as well as he could, and we’ve decided to take a little vacation for a couple of weeks.”

      Hope’s heart sank. Staying here the past two weeks during Cassie’s illness had worked out so well for Hope and Beth that she hadn’t given much consideration to the strain it might put on the girls’ grandparents. “I’m sorry, Grace. You don’t need to leave your own home. Beth and I will find an apartment somewhere close by so you and Ed can—”

      “No.” Grace and Ed were both shaking their heads in disagreement. “That’s just what we don’t want—you feeling that you need to move out. Ed and I haven’t been away from home since that autumn trip to New England over three years ago. It’s time for a change of scenery, wouldn’t you say? We want you and Beth to stay right here. But while we are away for those two weeks, you’ll still need someone around to help when you’re at the hospital…so we’ve asked Eric to move in.”

      “No,” Hope said, shaking her head. “I’ll find someone else to help me—”

      “If Ed and I are going to relax and enjoy this vacation, we need to know you’re here with someone we can count on. That someone is Eric. If you won’t let him be the one that stays here in our absence, then we’re not going.”

      Hope sighed. She needed help from someone, at least during the nights she stayed with Cassie. She knew that. But, Eric? “Grace, let me ask some of the teachers I work with. Maybe one of them could let Beth sleep at their house while you’re gone.”

      “No,” Grace responded flatly. “It’s going to be Eric. Cassie and Beth are his children, and this is his responsibility.”

      “It would be awkward for us,” Hope said as casually as she could manage. Awkward? Having Eric around again? Day after day? It would be impossible.

      “Call a truce for fourteen days. The arguing can resume once Ed and I come home.” Grace glanced toward her silent husband. “Ed, help me out with this.”

      “She’s right, Hope. As we’ve said, we want you and the girls to stay with us as long as you need to. But you and Eric will have to get along together for a couple of weeks without us. You have children together—you’ll have to make this work.”

      “But you don’t understand what you’re asking. Eric and I…” she began and then paused. How could she explain this? “Nothing’s been the same since Cassie hurt her back in that dive at the pool.”

      “But Cassie recovered beautifully from that injury, thank the Lord,” Grace reminded. “She’s walking again, and all she needs now is to get over this pneumonia. Soon, she’ll be well, she’ll be home and life can get back to normal.”

      But what was normal? Hope wondered. Life with Eric, or life without him? After all the years of loving him, she wasn’t sure anymore.

      It was with quiet resignation that she assented to her in-laws’ decision. Then she walked slowly up the staircase toward Beth’s room. So, that explained the clothes in Eric’s truck. He was bringing them here, moving them into a СКАЧАТЬ