The Forever Husband by Kathryn Alexander

Author:Kathryn Alexander [Kathryn Alexander]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459257870
Publisher: Harlequin

Chapter Six

Eric stood on the porch with his arms full of morning mail and about a dozen thick manila folders. He was just about to leave for the office, when he saw Hope mowing the patch of grass in front of the flower bed. “Have you been to the hospital already?”

She’d seen Eric’s mouth move but couldn’t hear his question over the sound of the engine, so she shut it off. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t hear you. What did you say?”

“Did you go to the hospital?” he asked.

“About an hour ago. Dr. Lewis hasn’t been in to see Cassie yet this morning, so I’ll check later about her being discharged today.” She brushed some grass off her ankles. “How’s your mom? Have you talked to your father?”

“Yes. She’s doing very well. Much better than expected.”

Eric descended the porch steps and walked up to where Hope was standing by the tulips. Red, yellow, purple, white—the colors were impossible to ignore. Eric was reminded of the countless varieties of flowers Hope had planted around the old Victorian home they had owned together. He’d driven out of his way to see the slate-blue house the other day, only to find it was now an odd shade of green. And the new owners had torn out most of the landscaping that he and Hope had spent hours perfecting. Plants, shrubs, even the fragrant lilac bushes in various shades of lavender across the back of the property were gone. Nothing was the same anymore. Not even that simple piece of real estate—

Eric suddenly remembered the topic they’d been discussing: his mother. “Dad’s planning to bring her home soon, so I won’t need to fly down there.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Hope said with a sigh of relief, then considered how her words may have sounded. “Good about your mother feeling better, I mean.”

Eric studied her unreadable expression momentarily, then averted his gaze to the mower. “Yard work is not your responsibility, Hope. If the kid next door can’t do this, I’ll take care of it tonight.”

Hope shrugged. “He said he could mow, just like always, but I gave him the week off so I could do it instead.” She tipped her face up toward the sun, enjoying its warmth. “I haven’t mowed a lawn since we sold our house, Eric. I want to do this to have an excuse to be outside.”

“You could sit on the porch and watch the cars go by, you know. You don’t need an excuse to be outdoors.”

“You don’t, but I do,” she countered. “With me, there’s always something else I could be doing in-side.” She smiled. “Sometimes I’m inside so much it makes me a little crazy. I guess mowing is kind of like my therapy for the week.”

Eric shook his head. “And what will it be next week? Roof repair? Dad said that’s the next project to be done.”

“I don’t love spring weather that much,” she said with a soft laugh. “Anyway, if I did the roofing, we’d probably have more leaks after the work than before I started.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.