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Hideaway Home Excerpt Page 2 |
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**REMEMBER
THAT YOUR UP AND DOWN ARROW KEYS WILL SCROLL THE TEXT**
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Franklin
glowered. Bertie nipped on her tongue to keep it from getting
her into deeper trouble. Franklin grunted and walked away.
Bertie sighed. Someday, she'd go too far, but she didn't
think that day had come yet. Years ago, her mother had tried
to tell her that a woman could get more accomplished with
honey than with vinegar, but Bertie had found that the two
mixed well together. That was especially true for a woman
working in a man's world.
Besides, Mom never had depended strictly on honey to get
what she wanted. When she was alive, Dad used to brag to
the other farmers down at the coffee shop that his wife
was full of more sass and vinegar than any plow mule in
the county. Just recently, he'd accused Bertie of taking
after her mother a little too much.
Those words had made Bertie proud, and it had given her
courage to know that she had some of the same strength of
character as Marty Moennig.
She felt a pang of homesickness. She missed her father and
couldn't stop worrying about him. She'd tried to place this
dread in God's hands several times last night and this morning,
but her mind kept grabbing it back again. Where was he?
She also missed Red Meyer like crazy, and thinking about
him raised her anxiety even more. Though Red was somewhere
in Italy, cleaning up after the surrender of the Germans
last month, she knew she would feel closer to him if he
was back home in Hideaway.
Of course, if Red was back in Hideaway, she'd be there,
too. So many memories…so much she missed. She wanted
to be able to step out of the house and stroll around the
victory garden in the backyard. Had Dad even been able to
plant one this year? He was all alone on the farm, with
so much work to keep him busy.
Fact was, she worried about both the men in her life. News
of Red hadn't come often enough to suit her lately. He'd
stopped writing to her. Just like that, the letters had
quit coming. She was pretty sure the Army hadn't suddenly
stopped sending soldiers' mail home.
Charles Frederick Meyer didn't like being called anything
but Red. With a head of brick-colored hair and a blue gaze
that looked straight into the soul, he was strong and kind,
and quick with a smile or a joke.
Bertie could usually spend much of her workday thinking
about him, dreaming of the time they would be back together
again. That was easier to do now that the war with Germany
was over.
But if he was out of danger, why wasn't he writing?
Red Meyer stared out the train window at the lush Missouri
Ozark landscape, nearly lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking
of the passenger railcar. The train took a curve, and he
got a better look at the cars ahead of him. Four cars he
tugged one of the envelopes from his left front and pulled
two folded pages from the raggedly slit top. he unfolded
the sheets and looked at the handwrit
didn't read the words right off. He didn't need to. He had
this letter memorized—maybe not every single swirl
and dotted i, but he could see an image in his mind Moennig
leaning over her stationery, chewing on the her pencil,
eyes narrowed. It had been her first letter to and it was
well nigh three years old. The smudges and corners of the
pages showed how often he'd handled Ivan, was the one who'd
dared them to hop that train in the first place.
We've been friends for so long, Red, I can't imagine going
on without you. You can make me feel better no matter how
bad things are, even with Mom's funeral only weeks past.
I don't know how I'd have gotten through it without you.
He squeezed the pages between his fingers and stared out
at the passing countryside. He couldn't remember a time
when Bertie wasn't in his life, whether she was socking
him in the mouth for picking on her in their Sunday school
class, or kissing him goodbye twelve years later at the
train station, chin wobbling, eyes promising more than he'd
ever dared ask of her. A future.
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From the book :
Hideaway Home
by Hannah Alexander
Love Inspired Historical
Publication Date: March 11, 2008
I# ISBN-10: 0373827830
# ISBN-13: 978-0373827831
Copyright © March
2008
By: Hannah Alexander
® and
™ are trademarks of the publisher.
The edition published by arrangement with Harlequin
Books S.A.
For more information surf to: http://www.steeplehill.com/
Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication prohibited
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Hideaway Home Excerpt Page 2 |
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