The Parson's Daughters Boxed Set: Sweet and Clean Christian Romance - 4 Book Bundle

by Annie Boone

  “We don’t need your influence, positive or otherwise, in these children’s lives,” Martha answered coldly. “All you’re going to do is confuse my grandchildren and wrongfully enchant my son-in-law.”

  By this point, Faith realized that by their unmoving arms, crossed tightly over their chests, that they were not going to open their minds to her. At least not yet. She added, “I am a God-fearing woman, ma’am. I refuse to attempt to enchant anyone. I am a teacher. I’d love to be able to help Joseph and Sally. My intentions are entirely pure.”

  “There is nothing that you can teach them that we can’t,” Sam responded quickly.

  Aaron was watching the interaction between Faith and the Bentons. He knew she was probably feeling abandoned, but she was doing a good job of taking up for herself. However, he knew that she’d be no match for them. They had their minds made up the minute he told them about his plan. They took it as a slap in the face to them and their dead daughter and he saw no way to make them see it differently.

  He heard Faith try again even though she was really getting nowhere with them. “I understand that you are skeptical about me, but I promise to keep the memory of your daughter alive and well. Please, I pray that you could just give me a chance to prove to you that I only mean to do good.”

  “Well, my daughter isn’t alive and well, is she” Martha answered harshly, “We’ve managed just fine without you.” She narrowed her eyes menacingly before she said again.

  Faith looked at Aaron in almost a panic. She had tried to make this encounter better, but she’d only made it worse with a bad choice of words. The Bentons were offended on top of being angry, now. Aaron returned her gaze and nodded slightly.

  “Looks like things have gotten out of hand here,” said Aaron.

  “You bet it has!” exclaimed Sam. “All because you brought a stranger here!”

  “Look, Sam,” said Aaron, raising his hand. “We’ve talked about this already. I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt because I know this is hard for you. You, too, Martha.”

  “You have no idea how hard this is,” Martha answered.

  “How can you say that? I lost my wife. Do you think I didn’t love her?”

  “It’s not the same as losing a child. A parent shouldn’t ever have to bury a daughter,” she sobbed. Same went to her and put a comforting arm around her shoulders.

  “You’re right, Martha. But Mary’s death devastated me, too. I promised her that I wouldn’t stop living because she did. She wouldn’t want you to be acting this way. I know it and so do you.”

  “Let’s get you back home, my dear,” said Sam soothingly to his wife. They stepped off of the porch and headed down the path that led to their house. The house Aaron had generously provided for them since Joseph was a baby.

  Faith sighed as she watched the two grandparents walk away. The emotions she felt about the terrible confrontation ran deep. She had great sympathy for all of them, but these relationships were complicated.

  The bigger issue was that she realized that this was certainly going to be far more of a challenge then she had originally anticipated. The thought that had been on her mind more than once in the past twenty-four hours popped up again. What have I done?

  After a few weeks, Faith was starting to settle into a routine despite the many different obstacles she’d faced so far. The Bentons continued to be disgruntled and rude. She expected this, but it took a huge toll on her. The children were loving and funny, though, and they almost made up for the difficulties with their grandparents. She was falling in love with them more every day.

  She hadn’t realized at the time she arrived, but Aaron had taken time away from his work to help with her transition. He had gone back to work he day after she met the Bentons. He now went into the city almost every day. He owned a mercantile that had three locations – two small storefronts in small towns just outside the city and one large main store in San Jose. The thriving business required his close attention.

  Since he was away during the day, she was able to spend most of her days with the children. She made sure they were taken care of, but this angered their grandparents even more. The time they spent with their grandchildren had been greatly reduced and this was a driving factor in their hatred of her.

  She’d been here long enough to receive letters from her mother and her sisters. She had hesitated to write back. In truth Faith didn’t know what she could say to them. In her mind, her future was uncertain and she was reluctant to share her concern so early.

  Hope and Charity were dying to know about Aaron. Was he dashing? Was he generous? Was he as handsome in person as his photograph? Was he funny? She could answer some of the questions, but the answers would be sadly disappointing. Her sisters would be unhappy to hear the truth and she would be dejected to tell it. Other questions she simply couldn’t respond to because she hadn’t been able to get to know him enough to answer.

  Her mother was interested to know when her wedding was going to be. She said she was working on a wedding present for her and Aaron and she hoped to have it finished in time to send it. The thought that her mother was doing such a kind thing for her and her husband-to-be made her miss her more than before.

  She couldn’t find it in her heart to respond to them while she was still trying to get it all worked out. She considered writing to break the news about Joseph and Sally, but she dashed that idea for now. She knew that information could keep them occupied for a while, but whether that was good or bad depended on how they took it.

  If this move turned out to be a mistake, she wanted to figure that out on her own and in her own time. If she poured her feelings and disappointments out to her sisters or her mother, she feared they would talk her into leaving right away. When she left – if she left – it needed to be only after she had given this all she had and determined that there truly was no hope. She didn’t have the fortitude to deal with the Bentons and Aaron at the same time she defended her decision to come here to her family.

  So she remained silent because she knew that she couldn’t lie. She promised herself that as soon as she had one shred of promise she would answer their letters. Hopefully, things would sort out sooner rather than later.

  Faith was feeling a bit lonely after reading the letter from her mother again. She was sitting in the sitting room of the main house looking dreamily out the window when she felt a little hand stroking her arm. She looked down to see Joseph rubbing her arm. His eyes were big and he was frowning.

  “Joseph, is something wrong? Where’s Sally? Is she all right? I thought you were taking a nap.”

  “Sally’s good. She’s still asleep.”

  “Are you okay, sweetie?”

  “Yes, ma’am. You look sad. I saw you sitting in here by yourself.”

  “I’m fine. I just was a little sad for just a minute. I got a letter from my family and I was thinking about them.”

  “You miss them?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  He nodded his understanding and crawled up in her lap. “What did they say? The letters.”

  “Not much, really. They were just telling me about the things they’ve been doing. They asked all about California and, um, you all.” She hesitated a bit about telling him her family asked about him when they didn’t even know he existed. She changed the subject. “So did you have a snack yet?”

  “Nope. How many sisters do you have?”

  She chuckled a bit at her inability to change the subject on this young man. “I have two sisters. Hope and Charity.”

  “Are they like Sally?”

  She smiled. “Sort of, I suppose. They’re both younger than me. But they’re grown up now.”

  He nodded his head and leaned back against her shoulder. She felt deep contentment as she continued to connect with this little boy. The innocence of childhood was beautiful but children were intuitive in spite of that innocence. Joseph sensed that things weren’t quite right and he was doing his best to comfort her, his new frien
d. She was profoundly touched.

  Faith was taught as a child that love could conquer anything. Even after her father died and her mother had such a hard time paying the bills, she had always reiterated what her father always said. “Love of God, first and foremost. Then love your family. With those two things you will be able to get through virtually everything.”

  Love was joining her heart with the hearts of Aaron’s children. She could feel the strength of their relationships grow each day. She was thankful beyond words for this growing attachment.

  As for her relationship with Aaron, love was not coming to the rescue. Faith was coming to the realization that Aaron had probably brought her to San Jose to help out with the children and to do what she could to manage the household. It looked as if he had planned to marry her as a sort of payment for her services. If he believed he couldn’t or shouldn’t ever love again, marrying someone to do the things Mary would be responsible for if she were alive could be a tolerable option. For him. A major flaw with this plan was that Faith hadn’t been clued in to Aaron’s scheme.

  If her suspicions were true, this was going to be a heart wrenching situation. She would have options, but neither was desirable. She could stay and be the caretaker he expected while denying herself the marriage she deeply desired. She could leave this place and walk away from a man she was falling in love with. Yes, in spite of the barrier he had put up around himself and her suspicion that he planned a utilitarian marriage for them, she was falling for him. She truly believed that deep inside he was a wonderful man. She only wished she could break into his hard shell.

  Walking away from Aaron, would also take the children away from her. She had already started picturing them in her life. She wanted to be involved in their upbringing. She loved them and it would tear her apart to leave them if it came to that.

  Joseph seemed to have fallen asleep leaning against her so she sat contemplating the state of her life and her decision. She was happy to be close to the boy so she relished this time even if he was sleeping and was unaware of his effect on her.

  Faith’s thoughts wandered to the Bentons. Based on what Aaron had told her before she met them, they were Christian people. Their actions weren’t sending that message, at least their treatment of her wasn’t. Nothing she did or didn’t do passed their test. They either complained about her, fussed at her, or ignored her altogether.

  Faith prayed for God’s guidance and strength almost constantly. It was the only way she could manage to treat them with respect given the nasty way they regarded her. She was extremely aggravated by their incessant need to find fault with her, yet she managed to walk away before she said something she would regret.

  The whole state of affairs was a mess and it made for a fairly miserable daily experience. She didn’t complain to Aaron. She didn’t know what his opinion was. They only spoke on a superficial level about anything. Their relationship was not progressing at all, so she didn’t know how he would take it if she brought the issue to him.

  While Aaron didn’t seem to really want anything to do with her, the children’s grandparents seemed to delight in making her look bad at every opportunity. They always seemed to be trying to trick her, but Faith was resilient and gracious. She just wished she knew what Aaron thought about the whole predicament.

  Regardless of what they thought of her, Faith remained steadfast in the idea that she truly wanted what was best for all of them. She believed that one day they would come to appreciate her, if not care for her. She just hoped she could last long enough to see it come about.

  Most of all, she hoped that the children would be taken out of the middle of this feud. Sally was far too young to understand the struggle with her grandparents, but she believed Joseph was picking up on it. He had made a few comments that made her think that he was interrogated when he was with them.

  Actually, the more the grandparents seemed to try to persuade the children against Faith, they seemed to draw towards her even more. This probably made them feel more desperate to run her off.

  In that quiet moment with a little boy sleeping soundly in her lap, she resolved to do her best to bring this fight to an end. She wasn’t sure how she would do it yet, but she wanted to bring these people together through the grief none of them could let go of.

  After making the vow to herself to work on a solution to the issues in this family, she started writing in her diary again. She had stopped that much loved practice the first night she was here. She had written on her journey here, but things were so upsetting when she finally met Aaron that she wanted to forget about it, not write about it.

  She started recording her feelings about each family member from Aaron to the Bentons to the youngsters. She also included her feelings about keeping her family in Georgia in the dark about her life in San Jose. As she wrote, she started feeling less trapped and more powerful. She still didn’t quite have an idea for how to fix it all, but she was certain that would come in time.

  She had been here about a month and she hadn’t given up yet. She was encouraged by her own resilience. She would use it as motivation and leverage to move this family in the right direction.

  Faith had taken the responsibility of putting the children to bed each night and this was one of the things she wrote about. Aaron had tucked them in a time or two, but he was often busy doing paperwork at night. Faith found real joy in spending these special moments with Joseph and Sally, though she wished he would get more involved emotionally with his children.

  One evening, when Faith was putting Joseph to bed, the little boy seemed to be bothered by something.

  At first, Faith wasn’t sure if she should ask him what he was thinking. She didn’t want to pry when Aaron was probably the one who should investigate. Since it had become a nightly ritual of reading him her latest story and tucking him in before she left to go back to the guest cottage, she was in tune to his usual moods. This night she noticed that the boy was deeply in thought.

  So, she asked him, “Is everything alright, Joseph?”

  He nodded and smiled a toothy grin, “Yes, Miss Faith. Everything is fine.” Even though he tried his best, the little boy was not very good at keeping his emotions in check.

  Even though he smiled broadly, the joy that he tried to portray did not reach his eyes and so, instead of just walking away, Faith knew that she had to try a little harder to coax whatever it was that was bothering the boy out of him.

  Instead of getting up to leave the room, she remained sitting next to Joseph on the bed. She looked down at him lovingly and smiled. “There’s a bunch of stuff going on right now. It’s hard to keep up, isn’t it?”

  Joseph nodded, “Yes, ma’am.”

  Her smile increased now and she told him, “You know, you can call me just Faith, right?” This wasn’t the first time she had told the boy this, but it seemed to be the first time that he actually took her serious.

  “Really? I can?” He asked enthusiastically.

  “Yes, of course. In fact, I’d like it if you did.” She then leaned in closer to him before she added, “Now, I can’t help but notice that you have not been yourself lately. I want you to be honest, yes?”

  He nodded, but gave nothing else away.

  “Are you quiet because of me?”

  When he looked at Faith with a strange expression, as though he misunderstood her meaning, she clarified, “Are you angry or uncomfortable with me? Perhaps it was something I did? Or would you prefer that I not be here?”

  He shook his head solidly, “I’m not mad at you.”

  “Then, why are you so quiet?” She inquired easily.

  He shrugged, but didn’t answer her at first. It was almost as though he was afraid to say, but then, just when Faith was about to let the issue wait for another time he answered, “Well, actually, it’s my mother.”

  “Oh?” Faith asked, realizing just how unexpected the conversation was to her as she said the words, “What about your mother?”

  He lo
oked slightly ashamed then, before he answered, “I don’t know. I don’t remember her.” Faith watched the boy’s face redden with embarrassment before he went on, “And Grammy and Pappy always ask me if I remember things. I don’t remember. I don’t want to make them mad, so I try to remember but I can’t!”

  Faith nodded and assured, “Oh, Joseph. I know it’s hard for you. Don’t get upset about it sweetie. You were very young when she died. It makes sense that you might not remember her. You didn’t have as long to know her has Grammy and Pappy did.”

  “Well, it doesn’t seem to make much sense to anyone else because they keep asking me questions about her and how I feel.” He shrugged, “I don’t know how to feel. I think I miss her, but I don’t know. I wish she was still here, but I like you being around. Believe it or not, my dad is a lot happier since you came and I like that.” He smiled briefly, but then let his joyous expression falter as he added, “But I want to be able to remember her.”

  Faith nodded, “I’m sure you do want to remember her. You know, I think one of the best ways to do that is to ask your father and your grandparents about her. Ask them to tell you stories about her. You can keep her memory alive that way, for all of you.”

  “Do you think they will?”

  Faith thought about this for a moment before she replied, “I think so. But one of the things you can do to help them is to tell them the truth. That way, they’ll know how you feel and it will help them find the right stories to tell you. They love you very much, Joseph. Don’t ever forget that.” Then, Faith smiled and added, “Besides, you know your mother is always going to be with you, right?”

  He stared at her for a long moment, and for a minute she thought he might start crying. Finally, he said, “No. I didn’t know she will be with me. What does that mean?”

  She smiled at him and answered, “It just means that how much she loved you will always be with you. You’ll feel her love in your heart.”