Read Online A Hope for Hannah by Jerry S. Eicher - Free Book Online Page A

— not knowing, yet feeling the capacity to love regardless?
    How will this child turn out? Will it look like Jake or me? When it lays in the crib, so small and newborn, will Betty say she can tell exactly where this child comes from? Likely so, Hannah thought and smiled at the vision of Betty bending over the side rail and discerning the distant lineage of this newcomer.
    Her mother needed to be told. She could write, but that didn’t seem to be the thing to do. Already she could feel the words form in her mind, in letters on the page. Yet, she paused. Her mom was coming soon, so why not wait and tell her in person?
    Yes, she quickly decided she would wait. It would be more fun. It would make her feel closer. She felt tears form. How wonderful it would be to tell her mother while she was sitting in the living room, surrounded by the walls of her cabin—Jake’s and her cabin. This would make it so much more real.
    Still, communion Sunday seemed a long way off. Her parents would stay in the spare bedroom during their visit, and that needed preparation or at least a good cleaning. But not yet. If she cleaned it now, the room would just get dirty again before her mother arrived.
    No, it would require a last-minute rush to prepare, making everything as spotless as it could be in a log cabin. The dust and dirt were downsides to living in a log cabin, but she hoped her mother would see the plus side too. “Romantic” was not a word her mother would use, of course, but it was the word that occurred to Hannah.
    Then she remembered where Jake had gone this morning. So quickly had she forgotten and forgotten also why she wanted to move back East. But did she really? Like Jake, she loved it here. It was the very opposite of what she grew up with, but she dearly hoped it wouldn’t be taken away from them.
    This was no doubt what Jake felt and why he was less shaken by the present than she was. If you knew where you belonged, it made the staying easier and the leaving harder. If only she could be as certain as Jake. If only she had his faith that it would all work out okay.
    Hannah returned to the kitchen. Her dishes were done for the morning, and she turned her attention to other matters—mending, weeding, and the many small chores that presented themselves afresh every morning.

     
    Just before noon she heard the clatter of Jake’s buggy on the gravel and hurried out to the porch. One look at his face told her everything.
    “I’m sorry,” she said even before he stepped onto the porch.
    He looked as if his shoulders carried a great burden. She was struck by how out of place it looked on someone so young.
    “Nothing,” he said simply. “Mr. Howard said in a few weeks maybe, when the snow season starts but not now.”
    “What are we going to do?” she asked.
    “I don’t know. I think I might have to start some business on my own.”
    “Like you were reading about in Family Life?”
    Jake nodded.
    Hannah wasn’t sure what to think. “You’ll need money for that.”
    “I know,” Jake agreed.
    “But from where?”
    He shook his head.
    “My parents are coming soon. Maybe you could ask them,” she offered.
    Jake shook his head again. “Not your parents. We’re not asking them for money. I’m not taking the chance of losing it.”
    Not sure whether Jake was being stubborn or strong, she studied his face.
    “I’m not asking,” he repeated, seemingly reading her thoughts.
    “But the baby—” she said.
    “I know. Something will have to be done,” he replied, and he lapsed into silence.
    “I’ll have lunch ready soon,” Hannah said after a few moments, hoping that would somehow provide a little comfort to his obviously bruised feelings. She wished she could do more, but what?
    “I’ll put the horse away,” Jake said and returned to the hitching post where Mosey waited patiently to be let out of the buggy traces.
    Hannah had sandwiches ready when he came in. Jake sat down at the kitchen table. Outside the