Read Online A Simple Hope: A Lancaster Crossroads Novel by Rosalind Lauer - Free Book Online Page A

here anymore. Don’t take offense, but my father, he’s had bad experiences with the English. It’s not about anything you’ve done.” The words were sour on James’s tongue, a bitter pill. James knew his father had been crushed by a bad experience, but why couldn’t he let bygones be bygones? “But I’m grateful to you, and to Haley.”
    “Just doing our jobs,” Dylan said casually, though James knew it wasn’t true. They had given help and coaching and consolation in their personal time, and now … now Dat wanted to send them both away.
    Haley and Dylan said their good-byes and headed out.
    Without looking back at his parents, James followed them, rolling himself out the door and onto the porch. Once outside, he breathed deeply, trying to find calm in the cool spring air. Steering the right path through Dat’s obstacles was exhausting.
    “You okay, buddy?” Dylan asked, his brows lifted in concern.
    James glanced back at the house. At least Jimmy and Edna had not followed them outside. “There’s an expression folks around here say: ‘If you get to the end of the rope, tie a knot and hang on.’ ”
    Dylan pursed his lips, thoughtful for a moment. “So you’re tying a knot.”
    James nodded. “Every day.”
    “That’s the way, one day at a time.”

    After the visitors left, James returned to the house to find his parents sitting in the living room—a rare event for any afternoon.
    “James.” Dat’s voice summoned him, and from the grim slash of Mamm’s mouth, James knew the weather was not improving.
    “I’m glad that’s the end of the visits.” Jimmy stroked his beard. “No more Englishers in our home.”
    “I wanted to ask you about that. What if just Haley and Dylan kept coming out?” James asked, his voice thin as a dying wind. “Just for physical therapy and counseling.”
    “Counseling.” Dat winced over the word. “Why not get counseling from Samuel or Preacher Dave? When you were baptized two years ago, you agreed to live in this world, but not of it. You should be looking to the church leaders for answers. Not to fancy folk, who are putting dreams and notions of walking in your head.”
    “Dat, please,” James begged. “Don’t blame them because I want to heal. It’s my dream, my plan. And you know how I am. When I set my sights on something, I don’t back down.”
    “We can’t have the Englishers here anymore,” Dat said.
    “But that means I’ll have to stop physical therapy.”
The therapy that got me out of bed … out of the stew of dark thoughts
.
    “You can go see a doctor if need be, but I won’t have the Englishers in this home anymore.”
    “So then …” James pushed back. “I’ll be doing the experimental therapy with Dr. Finley.”
    “Just as long as you don’t go riding in a car.”
    James sank back into the chair, feeling like a hollowed-out tree, a mere shell of life, solitary and decaying. “You know I can’t climb into a buggy just yet.”
    “Maybe that’s Gott’s way of telling you to stay home,” Dat said.
    James set his teeth, staring at his father. He had always known that Jimmy Lapp had backbone, but he’d never bumped up against this solid wall of resistance. He looked to his mother for help, but Edna was staring down at the floor. Did she agree with Dat?
    He didn’t want to think about the days and weeks ahead without visits from Dylan and Haley. Physical therapy had gotten him out to the orchards again. And sometimes, talking with Dylan was the one thing that kept fear from flapping in James’s chest. Dylan had a way of helping James break the knot of tension in his chest so thathe could line his ducks up in a row. It was a wonder, the things that Dylan could do, just by talking.
    “So, that much is settled, then.” Dat’s eyes were dark as shiny lumps of coal. “No more Englishers in the house, and you’ll begin to see that this is where you belong. Walking or not, this is where the Almighty wants you to be,