The Wonder of Your Love - By Beth Wiseman Page 0,90

wanting to hang up either. Katie Ann offered to pray quietly with Eli before they said good-bye, and as was always the case, she cried for quite a while after they hung up.

“That’s just terrible,” Martha said about the call, shaking her head as they ate supper later.

Katie Ann placed some peas and ham on Jonas’s highchair tray, having decided the tamales were too spicy for him. “Ya. It is.” Despite her resolve, she was starting to cry again.

“Honey, I don’t know why you don’t tell that man how you feel about him.”

“I’m not going to push him into a life he didn’t plan for, Martha.”

“Vera said Eli hasn’t traveled anywhere. If that was the life he wanted, then why isn’t he living it?”

“I don’t know, but I’m not going back to how things were. Being so far away from each other was too hard.” She shook her head.

“Well, I say life is too short.”

Katie Ann was quiet. She didn’t know what else to say.

OVER THE NEXT couple of weeks, Katie Ann slipped into a comfortable routine. After she had Jonas in bed, she’d go out to the barn and call Eli. After their first conversation about Hannah, he’d asked her to call him the next night, and at the end of each call, Eli would make the same request, for her to please call the following night. She carried the baby monitor to the barn so she could hear if Jonas woke up. Both she and Eli avoided any more mention about their own relationship, and in some ways, it was like old times. Hannah had a good prognosis, and the doctors had removed the small lump in her breast and anticipated a full recovery without Hannah needing to have chemotherapy or radiation. Eli returned to his old self, laughing and being positive.

Katie Ann had to admit, she was happier talking to him than she was not talking to him. Twice he’d mentioned seeing her, but she sidestepped the idea. Besides, he couldn’t leave his family right now, and Katie Ann was much too busy keeping Martha on an even keel with the wedding only a week away. But there was a huge part of her that longed to feel his lips against hers, the feel of his arms around her. So much so that she was almost willing to endure another good-bye just to have him hold her one more time.

MARTHA SAT ON the edge of her bed eyeing her wedding dress on a hanger across the room. It was a beautiful ivory-colored gown that the lady at the bridal boutique said was tasteful and elegant. Danielle said it looked like an old lady dress, so Martha reminded her that she was an old lady. Martha and Danielle were starting to adjust to each other’s ways, but she worried how Arnold would fit into their routine. In a week, they would vow to love each other forever, and he would move into her house, since his was only a rental. She loved that man with all her heart, but she was having some prewedding jitters on this Tuesday afternoon when Danielle knocked on her door.

“Come in.”

Danielle walked in, her long blond hair in a ponytail and wearing her usual blue jeans and a T-shirt. “I have some news for you.”

Martha crossed herself and looked up. “Please, Lord, let it be good news.”

Danielle smiled. “I got a job.”

Martha crossed herself again, brought her hands together in prayer, and looked up again. “Thank You, God.”

“I’m going to be a waitress at the Mountain View Restaurant in Monte Vista.”

Martha smiled. “That’s a nice place. They have the best burgers on the planet.”

Danielle tucked her chin as she raised an eyebrow. Martha knew what was coming next.

“I’ll be working at night, and you’d have to take me there, and I know you don’t like to drive at night, so . . .” She raised her shoulders, then let them fall slowly.

“Yeah, I knew this would be coming. You want a car.”

Danielle sat down beside Martha on the bed. “It seems weird to say that. I mean, you’re not my mom or anything. And you’ve already done so much for me.”

It wasn’t often that Danielle acknowledged Martha’s generosity, so it always touched Martha when she did. “Still no word from your mother?”

“No.” Danielle stared off into space the way she usually did at the mention of her mother.

They were quiet for a while, then Danielle turned to face Martha. “You’re not going to