A Promise of Hope

by Amy Clipston

  Eli turned just as Timothy came up to him. “Ya. Very. I needed to step out and clear my head.” He gestured back toward the shop. “How do you think production is? Jake mentioned he’s swamped. I’m thinking about trying to hire another carpenter.”

  His son shrugged. “I think we’re gut.”

  “Don’t you think projects really piled up after Luke left? He was a gut, fast worker and a talented carpenter.”

  Timothy averted his eyes. “Luke is back where he should be. The shop is fine. We can handle it.”

  Eli studied his son. “Why do you look away when I mention Luke?”

  “He hurt Sarah by telling her all of the stories about Peter’s past. He should’ve quit while he was ahead. I encouraged him to go back to Ohio, away from us.”

  Anger boiled in Eli and his eyes narrowed. “Are you telling me you drove Luke away?”

  “I didn’t drive him away, but I encouraged him to go.” Timothy folded his arms. “He lied about who he was when he first got here, and it just did more damage to Sarah, who was already in a fragile state. Besides, Sarah is going to marry Norman anyway.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I said Sarah and Norman are going to get married. She doesn’t need the distraction of her past around all the time when she’s going to start a new life.”

  “No, they aren’t getting married,” Eli snapped. “She turned him down a month ago.”

  “She did? He never told me.” Timothy grimaced. “I told Luke Sarah was going to marry Norman. They’re gut friends, and it just seemed like they would.”

  “No wonder Luke left in such a hurry. He thought Sarah was going to marry Norman.” Eli shook his head and stalked back toward the shop, fury roaring through his veins.

  “Dat!” Timothy trotted up beside him. “Hang on.” He tried to stop Eli, but Eli yanked away and kept walking. “Let me explain. Please.”

  Eli halted and glared at Timothy. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Sarah is miserable. She’s almost as distraught now as she was after Peter died.”

  His son’s eyes rounded like an animal caught intruding in a pasture of crops. “If you’ll just let me explain.” His folded hands pleaded for forgiveness. “I thought Norman was going to marry her. He told me he was going to propose, and I figured they belonged together. They were good friends, and it seemed natural for them to—”

  “You thought wrong.” Eli jammed a finger in Timothy’s chest. “Do us all a favor and only think for yourself. You made the choice to be alone and not court after Miriam left you, but you have no business making Sarah Rose’s decisions for her.” He left his stunned son in the parking lot while he marched through the shop to his office.

  Closing and locking the door, he sank into his desk chair and wracked his brain for a solution that would make Sarah smile again.

  After several minutes, an idea lit his mind like lightning illuminating the midsummer sky. He fished the piece of paper with Luke’s contact information from his jacket pocket, pulled out a notepad, grabbed a pen, and began to write a letter.

  When he finished the letter, he folded it, deposited it into an envelope, and then sealed and addressed it. As he was angling a stamp in the upper corner, a soft knock sounded on the door.

  “Ya?” Eli called.

  “Dat, please let me in.” Timothy’s voice sounded humble on the other side of the door. “I need to talk to you.”

  Frowning, Eli rose and unlocked the door. Wrenching it open, he glared at his son. “You better be here to apologize.”

  Timothy nodded. “I am.”

  Eli studied him, waiting for an explanation.

  “I thought I was doing what was best for Sarah,” he said. “I wanted to protect her from enduring more pain. We all loved Peter, but seeing her suffer was the most horrific thing I’ve ever experienced.” He sighed. “She’s my baby sister, and I want her to be happy. I don’t care about what happens to me, but I want to see my siblings happy.”

  Eli crossed his arms and rubbed his beard. “You had no right meddling between her and Luke. They love each other. Because of your actions, she may give up on love altogether and wind up alone.”

  “That’s just it, Dat.” Timothy stepped into the office and leaned against the wall. “Norman loves her, and he’d be gut to her. I wanted to see them get together because I care about both of them. Norman is a gut friend, and Sarah is my sister. I thought they would make a good team since they’ve both experienced losing their spouses.”

  Eli shook his head in disbelief. “But that’s not for you to decide. Sarah Rose has the right to choose her own husband.”

  “I see that now. My heart was in the right place, but I was making the wrong choices. I should’ve backed off.” Timothy placed a hand on his father’s shoulder. “I messed up. What can I do now to make it right?”

  Eli held up the letter and shook it. “I’m hoping this will do the trick.”

  Timothy studied the address. “You wrote Luke a letter?”

  “Ya.” Eli shook a finger at him as a warning. “Do me a favor and keep this between us. You’ve already done enough damage.”

  “Ya.” Timothy nodded. “You can trust me. I’ve learned my lesson.”

  “Say a prayer this works.” Eli smacked his son’s arm.

  “I will, Dat. I will.”

  25

  Luke leaned against his workbench and glanced across the empty shop, pondering what had possessed him to agree to come in to work on the weekend. Of course, it wasn’t as if he had anything to do at the house.

  He’d spent last night visiting with Mel and Sally, which meant he spent the entire evening eating too much and longing for the close, loving relationship his best friend shared with his beautiful wife. And those desires conjured up thoughts of Sarah that had haunted him all night long.

  Taking a deep breath, he sauntered to the other side of the shop to Mel’s work area where a half-finished cabinet sat. Grabbing a sander, he set to work, hoping to finish the project for his friend as another way to thank him for the delicious meal.

  Luke was deep at work, struggling to tune out memories of Sarah and concentrate on the hum of the tool, when a tap on his shoulder startled him.

  “You scared me half to death!” he hissed at the teenager who ran the front of the store. “What is it?”

  “You have a visitor out front.” The kid jerked his thumb toward the show room.

  “A visitor?” Luke set the tool down on the workbench.

  “Yeah.” The kid shrugged. “Some girl.”

  “Girl?” Luke’s stomach flip-flopped. Had Sarah come to see him? Had she finally realized she belonged with him and not Norman?

  Rushing out front, Luke stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted an English woman leaning on the counter. “DeLana?” he said. “How are you?”

  “I’m good.” She smiled. “How are you doing?”

  “Fine. What brings you out here today?”

  “I was hoping we could talk.” She nodded toward the front door.

  Luke glanced out the showroom window toward the large drops raining down on the pavement. “It looks a bit wet out there. How about we talk in the break room?”

  She shrugged. “All right.”

  He led her through the shop and into the small room in the back, where she sat at the table. He fetched two cans of Coke from the refrigerator and sat across from her, handing her one.

  “Thanks.” She popped open the can, which fizzed and hissed in response. She then took a long drink before setting it on the table and meeting his gaze. “I had an interesting conversation with someone about a month ago. I’ve been meaning to stop by, but things kept coming up at work. Today I made it my business to come by and tell you about my special visitor.”

  “Anyone I know?” He took a long drink, enjoying the cool carbonation on his dry throat.

  Her smile was smug. “Oh yeah. She’s a pretty blonde who is all into you.”

  He looked at her with curio
sity. “Who was it?”

  “Sarah Troyer.” She lifted her can and took another drink while he stared at her, unable to breathe for a moment.

  “Sarah?” His voice was ragged. “How…Where…” He shook his head, trying to figure out what she meant. “I don’t understand.”

  She grinned. “I gotcha.”

  “DeLana,” he began with frustration. “I don’t have the time or patience for games. How on earth did you meet Sarah?”

  “She came to see me. She had some burning questions about Peter’s past, so I filled her in.” DeLana explained how they’d visited in a restaurant and she’d told Sarah the history of how she and Peter met and about the night he left.

  Hurt radiated through Luke’s soul at the realization Sarah had been a few miles from his shop only a month ago.

  “She came all the way out here but didn’t stop to see me,” he muttered. He ran his hand through his hair as the truth sank in—Sarah never loved him, and he was kidding himself by thinking he’d ever had a chance with her. Maybe she really did love Norman.

  And maybe she did hate him.

  He swallowed a groan.

  “That’s where you’re wrong.” DeLana’s smirk was back. “I drove her out here, but she was too afraid to get out of the car.”

  “Afraid?” He snorted. “Please. Have you ever known me to be intimidating?”

  “No, but her feelings for you are.”

  He studied her eyes, finding no sign of a lie or a cruel joke. He needed to know more. “What do you mean?”

  “It was obvious when she talked about you that she had feelings for you. I tried to encourage her to come and see you, but she insisted the feelings weren’t mutual.” She pushed back a lock of dark hair. “She was afraid you hated her since you had an argument the night before you left. She was in tears over you. It was difficult to watch her break down. She’s such a sweet, innocent thing. I wanted to pull her into a hug.”

  The image of her crying in his arms twisted his heart. He pushed the memory away. Frowning, he shook his head. “It doesn’t matter anyway. She’s marrying someone else.”

  DeLana gave a look of surprise. “She is? She didn’t mention that to me.”

  Luke nearly dropped his can. “She didn’t mention a guy named Norman?”

  She shook her head. “No, she didn’t mention anyone named Norman. But she was very emotional when she talked about you. It’s obvious, Luke, that girl has the hots for you.”

  He frowned in disbelief, but his heart thumped in his chest at the possibility that DeLana was right. “She has ‘the hots’ for me? That’s funny, because she accepted it when I told her I was leaving, and she hasn’t contacted me. Her father has my information. She could get my number from him or look it up in the phone book at the library. There are ways to contact people. And you said it yourself that she went home without seeing me.”

  “You’re just as stubborn as your brother was, Luke. You’re not listening to me. She hasn’t contacted you because she thinks you hate her.” DeLana leaned forward, her eyes serious. “I got the feeling she would love for you to come after her. She needs the fairy tale, Luke. You have to ride in on your white horse and sweep her off her feet like a Disney movie.”

  He looked at her in confusion, and she snapped her fingers.

  “I forgot.” She chuckled. “You aren’t allowed to watch movies or television. Just trust me on this. She wants you to come and save her, but she doesn’t know how to reach out to you. I think she’s afraid of being hurt again.”

  Luke leaned back in the chair and raked his fingers through his hair, letting her words soak into his mind. He crossed his arms and studied her expression. “Why are you telling me this?”

  She placed the can on the table. “To be honest, I’m not sure what possessed me, but I’ve had a nagging desire to come and tell you all this. I guess it’s because I let your brother slip through my fingers eight years ago, and I didn’t want it to happen to you. I love my husband, and I don’t regret marrying him. However, as I told Sarah, sometimes I wonder what would’ve happened if I’d run away with Peter the night he begged me to leave town with him. I don’t want you to let the love of your life slip through your fingers too.”

  He narrowed his eyes, challenging her. “What makes you think she’s the love of my life?”

  DeLana snorted, lifting the can again. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see your expression or hers and figure it out.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice for effect. “Luke, don’t be a dunce. You’re wasting your life away living like a hermit here in Ohio. Go back to Pennsylvania and marry that girl.”

  His mouth gaped. How on earth had she figured out so much about him? While he studied her, she pulled an envelope from her purse.

  “I brought photos of your nephew. He’s almost nine now.” She slapped a few photographs onto the table in front of him.

  Luke flipped through the photographs, silently marveling at how much Cody looked like Peter. Warmth filled his heart. How could he have lived in the same town as his nephew for nearly nine years and never contacted him? He needed to be the uncle the child deserved and the uncle the twins deserved too.

  “He’s grown up so much,” Luke said. “It’s amazing how time flies.”

  “I’d love for you to meet him sometime.”

  He glanced up at her. “Really?”

  She nodded. “Alex and I are going to tell him about Peter soon. We want him to know his other siblings, and Sarah promised to keep in touch.”

  “I’d love to meet him.” He stared at the snapshots.

  They chatted about old times, swapping funny stories about Peter. After nearly an hour, DeLana stood and said she had to get home. Luke walked her to the show room.

  “It was great seeing you again.” DeLana pulled him into a quick hug.

  “You too.” He rubbed her arm. “Thank you.”

  She gave him a wicked grin. “If you want to thank me, then go to Pennsylvania and tell Sarah how you feel about her before it’s too late.” She winked and then rushed out the door into the blowing rain.

  Luke stood at the window while DeLana climbed into her SUV and sped through the parking lot, her tires leaving their wake in the puddles.

  His stomach tightened while he contemplated all she’d revealed about her visit with Sarah. While it cut him to the bone that Sarah had visited DeLana without seeing him, he felt a ray of hope that she could possibly love him.

  For a split second, he considered calling a taxicab, leaving the shop, and heading to the train station.

  But how could he truly know Sarah wanted to be with him and not Norman?

  It just didn’t make sense. Why would Sarah share her true feelings with DeLana, a stranger who had shared an intimate love affair with her late husband, but not tell Luke how she felt?

  He considered the thought. Then another idea struck him—why would DeLana come to see him after all of these years to share a lie?

  A headache throbbed in his temple while he considered all of the possible motives for DeLana’s visit. All he knew for sure was he was more confused than ever.

  On Sunday evening, Luke sank into a kitchen chair and flipped through the letters he’d piled up on the table over the past couple of days. He’d been so consumed with his conversation with DeLana he hadn’t bothered to open his mail or read the newspaper.

  He glanced through the usual bills without much interest and then stopped when he found a handwritten envelope with a Pennsylvania postmark. His heartbeat leapt when he read “Kauffman” in the return address.

  Ripping it open, Luke held his breath as his eyes scanned the block handwriting.

  Dear Luke,

  I hope this letter finds you well. The shop has been busy since you left. We sure could use your hands around here these days. Please remember the job here is always available for you if you decide to come back.

  The real reason why I’m writing isn’t to tell you about the business at the furniture
store. I wanted to tell you that the person who misses you most of all is Sarah Rose. She hasn’t been the same since you left. I haven’t seen her smile or heard her laugh in weeks. She spends most days in her room, reading her Bible and not talking to anyone.

  If you can find it in your heart to come back to Sarah Rose, please do it as soon as possible. I’m sure she loves you. In fact, she admitted to Kathryn that she does. If you come back, I think you both would realize you’re meant to be together.

  May the Lord bless you and keep you in His tender care.

  Sincerely,

  Eli Kauffman

  Luke stared at the letter, reading and rereading it until he’d committed it to memory. Eli’s words were so similar to DeLana’s.

  Then it struck him like a ton of bricks—was God trying to tell him something? Was he, Luke, wrong to think Sarah belonged with Norman and not him? Was he wrong to think it was a sin for him to covet Sarah?

  The questions rang through his mind all night and lingered into the early morning as he rode to work with his English driver.

  Luke cornered Mel in the parking lot and filled him in on DeLana’s visit and then handed him Eli’s letter. He held his breath while he waited for Mel’s reaction. When Mel met his gaze with a grimace, Luke’s heart sank.

  “Are you dense, Troyer?” Mel asked, handing the letter back to Luke.

  “What do you mean?”

  “What are you doing here?” Mel gestured around the parking lot. “What are you waiting for?”

  Luke shook his head. “But isn’t it a sin to covet my brother’s fraa?”

  His best friend raised an eyebrow. “A sin? Why would it be a sin? There’s a verse about it. Let me think…” Mel snapped his finger. “That’s it! It’s from Romans, and it goes something like, ‘By law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.’” He shrugged. “So, where’s the sin in coveting her? Peter was her past.” He gestured toward Luke. “You could be her future.”

  Luke’s stomach lurched with excitement. “You think so?”

  “What are you doing waiting here?” Mel gestured toward the pickup truck sitting by the entrance to the shop. “Go! Get packed and rush to the train station. Go to Sarah before she marries Norman.”