The Gift of Hope by Pam Andrews Hanson

Author:Pam Andrews Hanson [Pam Andrews Hanson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B006ISCK4C
Goodreads: 16161319
Published: 2011-12-04T13:00:00+00:00

Hope felt Noah’s eyes on her before she saw him. He was standing off to the side, watching her as she tried to bring order to the children and still monitor the decorators.

“I say we should replace all the bulbs,” Henry Oxford said, interrupting the children’s procession up the stairs. “Save us having to get the ladder out and change them.”

“No need to waste money like that,” Sam Reisner, the church treasurer said.

“I vote for all blue lights this year,” their third helper, John Llewellyn, said. “Give a nice glow to the tree.”

Hope wasn’t surprised by his suggestion. Harriet had been lobbying for all blue lights since before Thanksgiving, so it figured she would pressure her husband to lobby for them.

She needed the wisdom of Solomon to find a workable compromise, but first she had a long lineup of children beginning to fidget. She quickly asked the mothers who were helping to start the procession.

“I’ll be right up,” she said, hoping it was true.

“About the blue lights,” John said.

“It’s a good suggestion,” Hope said, giving herself a few seconds to think.

Noah was still watching from across the room. She looked in his direction and met his eyes. Was he waiting to see whether she could handle this little squabble? She stared intently for a few seconds, hoping he would trust her to smooth things over.

“Let’s do this,” she said in what she hoped was a firm voice. “Take out all the bulbs that are burnt out. If more than half need to be replaced, we’ll go with all blue. If not, we’ll replace them with a mix of colors.”

“Be pretty expensive to get all new,” the church treasurer mumbled.

“Not likely that many are burnt out,” John Llewellyn complained.

“There’s something to be said for putting in all new,” Henry said, “but blue lights don’t say Christmas to me. Red and green would be more like it.”

“Please check the bulbs, and see how many replacements we have on hand,” Hope said “I’ll be back as soon as the children run through their parts once.”

She glanced over at Noah one more time and saw him smiling. Was he laughing at her predicament, or was that sympathy she saw on his face?

By the time all the children had been picked up by parents, the men were already outside stringing the lights. The church owned a stepladder tall enough to reach the uppermost branches of the huge pine tree, but even the thought of going to the top made Hope tremble. She was in charge of the decorating, and she was scared to death of heights.

Fortunately the perch on the highest step was occupied when she came out to help. She looked up at a pair of utility boots and jean-covered legs, her heart in her throat when she thought about what a long fall it could be.

At the base of the tree, her three senior helpers were still squabbling about the color of the lights, and she realized Noah was the man at the top of the ladder.

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