“And you’ll be home more,” Beth added.
“Definitely,” she agreed, and kissed her daughter on the top of her little blond head. “Then we’ll find a new place to live.”
“With Dad?”
“No, Beth. Not with Dad.” Hope reached for her sweater and purse and glanced at her watch. “Grab your jacket—we’ve got to go.”
“I don’t want to move away. I like it here with Grandma and Grandpa,” Beth insisted.
Hope nodded. “I know you do. We’ll talk about it later. Now, go tell Grandma and Grandpa we’re leaving. She’s fixing fried chicken for you and Dad to have later.”
“Yum! My favorite!” Beth exclaimed as she headed down the staircase away from her mother. She had become more and more independent of Hope since Cassie’s accident. Self-preservation, Hope thought a little sadly. In a way, she missed being needed more by her youngest daughter. At least Eric would be around to give Beth more attention. Once again Hope felt herself panic at the thought of sharing the house for two solid weeks. But Cassie was waiting, and it was time to go.
Hope and Beth entered the pastel blue of the hospital room. “Hi, sweetheart. How are you feeling?” Hope gave two children’s books and a kiss to her girl.
“Daddy and I won you this!” Beth exclaimed as she placed the friendly looking frog beside her sister. “I have one just like it at home.”
“Cool. Thanks, Beth. And I’m doing okay, Mom. I just ate my dinner.” Cassie sat up a little straighter in the bed. “I’ve been watching television.”
“I brought the books you asked for. Beth had to help me find them. They were buried in your box of stuffed animals.”
“They were way down in the bottom,” Beth added. “Down below Brown Bear, Papa Bear and Bob.”
Hope grinned. “Bob” was their oldest teddy bear, and he wore a floppy blue hat and red pants with yellow suspenders. How they had decided on the name, she had no idea, but he’d been “Bob” for as long as anyone could remember.
“Thanks, guys,” Cassie said. “I’ve been missing these books. I’ll read one to you tonight, Mom.”
“Good,” Hope pulled a chair up beside the bed and sat down. “If you feel like it.”
“I feel okay. My fever is down—almost gone, Nurse Trudy said.”
“Great!” Hope responded. “Maybe, by tomorrow, it will be all gone.” She knew that Cassie’s doctor was reluctant to let her go home—despite her continuing improvement—until he was certain she was well. Completely. The last time she came home after being hospitalized with a lung infection, she suddenly became worse and much to every-one’s dismay had to be readmitted. No one wanted that to happen again. “I’ll talk to your doctor in the morning. Then I’ll find out how you’re doing.”
“Are you teaching tomorrow?” Cassie asked.
“Yes,” Hope answered. “Second grade.” She had reduced her workload to substitute teaching after Cassie’s diving accident almost two years ago. But Hope taught whenever she could. Since her separation from Eric six months ago, whatever money she earned proved useful. When they had sold their house earlier in the year, they’d split the equity evenly, and Hope was saving her share with the thought of buying a small house of her own when the time was right.
“Guess what?” Beth asked as she climbed up on the bed to sit by Cassie’s feet. “Daddy’s picking me up in a little while, and we’re going home to eat fried chicken with Grandma and Grandpa.”
“Lucky you,” Cassie remarked.
Her daughter’s complexion looked much brighter than it had yesterday, Hope noticed. She leaned forward to touch the girl’s cheek. “That sounds good to me, too, hon. We’ll have fried chicken to celebrate when you come home, if the doctor says it’s okay,” Hope added.
And until Cassie came home from the hospital or until her grandparents’ vacation ended, Eric would be there, she reminded herself. How could Hope explain to the girls that he would be living with them again, and yet not let them expect too much? Especially, when she was having difficulty keeping her own wants and wishes in line.
“Cassie, Beth. Do you know Grandma and Grandpa are going to be gone for a while? They’re taking a little vacation.”
“Grandma told me they’re going on a cruise,” Cassie confirmed. “She’s always wanted to do that. She told me this morning.”
Hope nodded her head. “Right, well, while they are gone, they think I need someone to help out around the house.”
“Like a housekeeper? Like some of the families on TV have?” Beth asked.
“No,” Hope answered, suddenly feeling thankful that her life wasn’t as mixed up as some of the sitcoms she’d seen. “No, they asked your father to move in while they’re away. So…Dad will be living there. With us. Temporarily.”
The girls’ faces lit up like fireworks. Just the response Hope had feared.
“Yeah! Dad’s coming home! When?” Beth squealed. Cassie was a little more reserved, smiling broadly, but not asking any questions.
“He’s moving some of his clothes and belongings from his apartment—”
“I never did like that apartment he had over the office, anyway,” Cassie remarked. “I’d rather have him at Grandma’s with us.”
“Me, too!” Beth chimed in.
“But, remember, it’s only for a short period of time,” Hope reminded. “Just a couple of weeks or less.”
“Or more,” Beth replied.
“No,” Hope stated firmly, and gathered Beth into her arms. “This is just for a little while.”
“But this is exactly what we were praying for, isn’t it, Cassie? Ever since Dad left—”
“Beth, honey, Dad and I aren’t getting back together. We’re just going to be staying in the same house for a while,” Hope explained as a sudden pang of loneliness hit her. How she wished it did mean more. She and Eric had known many happy years together.
Beth still sounded optimistic. “Maybe he’ll start going to church again. Wouldn’t that be good? He could teach Sunday School like he used to do. I know the kids miss him. And he could be trusted again.”
“You mean a ‘trustee,’” Cassie corrected.
A flash of humor crossed Hope’s face. Then it was gone. Maybe Beth was right. Hope had stopped trusting him. Lord knows, Eric had given her enough reason to do so.
“Girls, this is exactly what I was afraid of. Don’t get excited over this. Nothing has changed between your father and me.”
“But prayer changes things,” Cassie said with sincerity. “You said so yourself.”
“Yes, it can change things,” Hope responded, “but God doesn’t answer every prayer with a ‘yes.’”
“But some of them, He does,” Beth argued.
Some of them, He does. Hope couldn’t argue with that. She’d seen many prayers answered in her lifetime, one of the greatest being Cassie’s complete recovery from serious injuries she’d sustained at a pool two summers