by Jody Hedlund
“Well, I’m very naughty,” Alex warned with a rumble in his voice that made her insides ripple with pleasure. “I’m pretty sure I can convince you to change your mind.”
Michael chuckled softly. “Time for me to go and let the two of you work out all the details. After all, I can’t make Tessa your assistant unless you marry her first.” He started to push the green polka-dot box into Alex’s arms.
Alex’s gaze landed upon her with a desire that let her know he loved her, that he’d never stopped loving her. There was nothing more she wanted at that moment than to be in his arms and hear him whisper his love again and again in her ear.
But she couldn’t make it quite so easy for him. She tugged on Michael’s arm. “Alex will have to wait until later to work out all the details,” she said nonchalantly. “You paid good money for my lunch, Michael, and I can’t in good conscience let your money be spent for nothing.”
Both men’s eyes widened, and she had to work hard to keep from laughing.
Michael’s brow began to dip and he pulled the box back. Of course, Alex gave her that slow, devastating half smile of his, which never failed to make her heart melt. He shoved the box back into Michael’s arms, spun his brother around, and gave him a gentle push that sent him back down the trail. “Michael can have the boxed lunch with a certain pretty lady sitting on the blanket next to his. And we’ll consider the money a wedding present, a contribution toward our new house.”
Our new house. Tessa’s smile faded, taking the hope with it. “The house is for the teacher. I won’t be able to teach anymore if . . .” She didn’t finish her sentence. After all, he hadn’t officially proposed to her.
Some of the light had disappeared from Alex’s expression too. “I don’t want you to give up your teaching. I know how important it is to you. I’ll wait for you as long as you need. Even years.”
She didn’t want to wait years. She couldn’t wait years. But how could she give up teaching?
“It won’t be easy to wait,” Alex added, “but I’ll do anything for you, Tessa.”
Michael let out an exasperated sigh. “There you go again doing the noble thing. Sacrificing yourself and your life for someone else.”
“Tessa’s worth the wait.”
“I know she is,” Michael said. “Luckily, though, you won’t have to put your life on hold.”
“What do you mean?” Alex asked.
Michael’s smile grew wider. “I already took the liberty of speaking with Mr. Cole. He’s agreed to letting Tessa keep her job, even if she’s married.”
Tessa drew a shaky breath, unsure if she’d heard correctly. “He’ll allow a married female teacher?”
Michael nodded, his chest puffing out.
Tessa squealed and threw herself at Michael, hugging him with all her might. His face turned red, and he extricated himself quickly and took a step back. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate the hug,” he said. “It’s just I don’t want to put my life in peril.”
Alex was grinning broadly. “I’ll allow the hug this once. But if you touch her again . . .” He punched his fist into his palm playfully.
Tessa laughed at the teasing between the brothers, relieved that after all the fighting that year, the two would still be friends.
“Now it’s my turn for a hug,” Alex said, moving past Michael so that he stood on the path before her. Before she could offer a rebuttal, his grin faded. He reached for her, slid his hand behind her neck, and tangled his fingers in her hair. In the same motion he bent his head to hers. She couldn’t have uttered a protest even if she’d wanted to, as his mouth crashed against hers with the ferocity of a stormy sea. He took her under, his lips swirling against hers, clinging to her, promising that he’d never let her go, that he would always fight for her.
She eagerly responded back, matching her lips to his, pressing her need into him. But at the sudden remembrance of Michael watching them, she broke the kiss and pulled back. “Alex,” she whispered breathlessly, “we have to wait.”
A glance at the path told her Michael was gone. Even so, she knew she had to stand strong with integrity even when no one was looking.
Alex didn’t let go of her. His lips grazed her cheek and made a soft trail to her ear. “I love you.” The words were a caress that echoed down to her soul. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”
“Just don’t let it happen again,” she teased.
“Oh, don’t worry . . .” He planted a breathy kiss against her neck. “I won’t.”
“You’re rather sure of yourself, aren’t you?” she said, tipping her head back and smiling as he tried to chase her lips with his.
“What do you expect? I just swept the woman of my dreams off her feet.”
“I don’t think so.” She continued teasing him by moving her lips out of his reach.
“Yes, I did.” And with that he scooped her up into his strong arms, just like he did the first time they’d met when he carried her back to shore after she’d nearly drowned. She was helpless to do anything but wrap her arms around his neck and let him claim her lips again. This time the kiss was soft and sweet and ended all too soon.
“I love you,” he whispered again, his eyes growing serious.
“I love you too. More than you’ll ever know.”
“I can’t think about going another day without you being my wife.”
“Then don’t.”
His smile was heart-stopping and steady as he carried her down the path that led back to Eagle Harbor.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To get married.”
“Today?”
“Right now.”
She held him tighter and buried her face into his neck.
“I don’t want to miss out on another moment of enjoying and loving you for whatever time God gives us together on this earth.”
Tessa pressed a kiss against his jaw, her silent agreement and her benediction.
Although her heart quavered at the thought of losing Alex to some unforeseen danger in the future, she also knew that she couldn’t let fear control her again. She had to accept God’s gift—this incredible man—for as long as He willed it. Since there weren’t any guarantees, she would love and enjoy Alex with every heartbeat, every moment of their lives.
Author’s Note
As I wrote this third book in the BEACONS OF HOPE series, I had the wonderful privilege of visiting Eagle Harbor and the lighthouse that serves as the setting for the story. In fact, I was able to stay for a whole week in the assistant keeper’s cottage that now sits next to the original lighthouse.
Though the book isn’t based on the real lightkeepers who lived and worked at the Eagle Harbor Light, the details regarding the lighthouse, the keeper’s cottage, and the surrounding harbor are all as true to the actual setting as I could make them, including the climate. The lighthouse is located in the far north of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. When I visited at the end of June, I brought short-sleeve shirts but had to wear sweatshirts almost every day instead.
The real Eagle Harbor didn’t have a copper mine within its town limits, so I took the liberty of adding one for the sake of the story. However, the entire area was once a bustling copper-mining community, a rough and wild settlement that resembled the Old West. Except for a few tourist towns, the area today is a graveyard of ghost towns and abandoned mines. During my research trip, I was able to explore deep underground into one of the old mines and get a firsthand look at just how dark, damp, and dangerous the mining life was.
Most of us gravitate toward the stories that glamorize lighthouse life and honor the women who served in them. That’s only natural. And I hope that in my other books in this series, I gave those women the laud due to them. However, I didn’t want to neglect the women who served in lighthouses whose experiences weren’t quite as glamorous, who served even though they disliked the duty. One woman in particular inspired this book. Her name was Cecelia Carlson McLean. She was married to Ale
xander McLean, a keeper who worked at various lighthouses around Lake Superior. When she was interviewed later in her life, Cecelia was very forthright in stating that she hated lighthouses, that they were lonely places, and that she’d had to sacrifice a great deal to live in them. She claimed that if she had to do it over, she wouldn’t choose life in a lighthouse.
Of course, her story made me think about the many hardships that light keeping entailed, especially for women—the extreme isolation, the lack of conveniences, and the constant threat of danger. So out of Cecelia’s hardships, I created Tessa and tried to imagine the underlying motivations for what might cause someone to hate lighthouses. Although I had Tessa work through some of her fears and dislike of lighthouses, I’m sure most women like Cecelia took their resentment of lighthouses with them to the grave.
Although the main characters of this book are fictional, the villain, Percival Updegraff, is based on a real rogue from Michigan history, Albert Molitor. Molitor lived in Rogers City and ruled as “king” over his wilderness lumbering community. He controlled who was hired and fired. He had a company store and held a monopoly on all food and merchandise. He was also a sexual predator. Since he had so much control over the people who worked for him, if he took interest in a woman, he would walk into the woman’s house and order her to go to bed with him. If she refused or resisted, he’d fire her husband and force the family to leave their company-owned home. He ruled this way until the people in the community finally revolted. They held secret meetings to plan to overthrow him. And while it took a couple of attempts, they set out to assassinate him. He was mortally wounded and eventually died, finally freeing the town of his cruelty.
Another resource I used in writing the story was a diary of a schoolteacher, Henry Hobart, who lived and taught in Clifton, which was a few miles down the road from Eagle Harbor. He wrote a detailed account of his life as a teacher to the mining children, including his holding evening classes and special spelling bees. He boarded with a Cornish family by the name of Rawlings. Mr. Rawlings was a prominent mine engineer and mechanic. I loved reading Hobart’s diary and drew a great deal of inspiration from the many hardships he faced, from bedbugs and lice to scarlet fever and much more. He had a bright, promising student named Henry Benney, who left school at the age of thirteen to work with his father in the mines. Not long after Henry started working, he fell to his death while climbing up a slippery ladder. It was my hope to model Tessa after Hobart, a compassionate and caring teacher, and bring to life some of his experiences.
Eagle Harbor has an old one-room schoolhouse now known as the Rathbone School House. While it’s no longer in use and instead serves as a museum, during my research trip I was able to visit the old school and used it as the inspiration for the schoolhouse in Undaunted Hope.
As with all my books, I pray this story encouraged and filled you with renewed hope. Just like Tessa, I pray you’ll find the strength to face your fears, to know that God is there to walk beside you through them, and to come out on the other side stronger as a result.
Jody Hedlund is the bestselling author of multiple novels, including Love Unexpected, Captured by Love, Rebellious Heart, and The Preacher’s Bride. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Taylor University and a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, both in social work. Jody lives in Michigan with her husband and five children. Learn more at JodyHedlund.com.
Books by Jody Hedlund
The Preacher’s Bride
The Doctor’s Lady
Unending Devotion
A Noble Groom
Rebellious Heart
Captured by Love
BEACONS OF HOPE
Out of the Storm: An ebook novella
Love Unexpected
Hearts Made Whole
Undaunted Hope
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