My Hope Is Found Read online

  Praise for

  My Hope Is Found

  “A tender story, told with loving care, My Hope Is Found takes many a twist and turn, as Lonnie must choose between two good men. Her struggle is genuine, and the outcome remains deliciously uncertain until the joy-filled ending.”

  —LIZ CURTIS HIGGS, New York Times best-selling author of Mine Is the Night

  “Joanne has hit a home run with her Cadence of Grace series, and this book wraps up the story nicely. But I was never sure of the ending—either man could have made her happy—until the end. With memorable characters and struggles aplenty, this is the kind of story that will have readers telling their friends, ‘You’ve got to read these books.’ ”

  —LAURAINE SNELLING, author of the Red River of the North series, the Wild West Wind series, along with Wake the Dawn and many other books

  “In My Hope is Found, God’s grace and tender mercies bloom in the rugged hills of early 1900s Appalachia. The familiar characters of the Cadence of Grace series live out the delicious tension of romance and reason, heartache and hope—discovering the true measure of love and lasting peace. If you need a healthy dose of hope for a pesky case of hopelessness, this one is a must-read.”

  —MESU ANDREWS, author of Love Amid the Ashes and winner of the 2012 ECPA Book of the Year, New Author

  “This deeply moving conclusion to the Cadence of Grace series will captivate your heart and keep you turning pages. Once again Joanne Bischof brings her well-drawn characters and beautiful setting to life in an intricately woven tale of faith and love that will leave you wanting more. I highly recommend it!”

  —CARRIE TURANSKY, author of The Governess of Highland Hall

  “Joanne has the rare talent of creating such compelling characters and story worlds that I wish her books would never end.”

  —SERENA B. MILLER, RITA Award–winning author of The Measure of Katie Calloway

  “A soaring conclusion to the Cadence of Grace series! With lyrical phrasing, Joanne Bischof blends measures of faith, hope, and love into pitch-perfect, soul-stirring harmony sure to resonate in every reader’s heart. Bravo!”

  —JOCELYN GREEN, award-winning author of the Heroines Behind the Lines series

  “In My Hope is Found, gifted storyteller Joanne Bischof writes of redemption and reconciliation. Her characters stepped off the page and into my heart as I held my breath over their heartbreaks, disappointed dreams, and ultimate choices, all skillfully woven through with spiritual truths. Bischof has found her calling as a writer.”

  —BETH K. VOGT, author of Catch a Falling Star

  “Amid the beauty of the Appalachians, Lonnie Sawyer O’Riley finds herself in an impossible situation created by her beloved Gideon’s wild past. Having no choice but to give him up and move on, she clings to stubborn hope that all will yet be well, somehow. Like a mountain trail, the story winds through sunlight and shadow, through love and despair, with glimpses of grace at every turn. My Hope Is Found is another keeper from Joanne Bischof.”

  —MEG MOSELEY, author of Gone South

  BOOKS BY JOANNE BISCHOF

  The Cadence of Grace Series

  Be Still My Soul

  Though My Heart Is Torn

  MY HOPE IS FOUND

  PUBLISHED BY MULTNOMAH BOOKS

  12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200

  Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921

  Scripture quotations and paraphrases are taken from the King James Version and the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  The characters and events in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons or events is coincidental.

  Trade Paperback ISBN 978-1-60142-425-9

  eBook ISBN 978-1-60142-426-6

  Copyright © 2013 by Joanne Bischof

  Cover design by Kristopher K. Orr; cover photography by Mike Heath, Magnus Creative

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, New York, a Penguin Random House Company.

  MULTNOMAH and its mountain colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Bischof, Joanne.

  My hope is found / Joanne Bischof.

  pages cm. — (The cadence of grace; book 3)

  ISBN 978-1-60142-425-9 (pbk.) — ISBN 978-1-60142-426-6 (electronic)

  1. Marital conflict—Fiction. 2. Life change events—Fiction. 3. Blue Ridge Mountains—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3602.I75M9 2013

  813′.6—dc23

  2013019611

  v3.1

  To Noah—my husband and best friend.

  And to the moment our lives

  became a celebration that God is mighty

  and He is mighty to save.

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Author’s Note

  Readers Guide

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

  JAMES 1:2–3

  My name is Gideon O’Riley, but most folks called me Trouble. Perhaps they still do.

  I never thought I’d end up with Lonnie, the shy girl—walk her home, steal a kiss. I swear I didn’t think her pa would find out. I hear swearin’s a sin, though.

  Trouble. They say it for a reason.

  A wedding and then a baby. I never deserved one bit of it. But because of her goodness, she showed me how to hang on. A wife. A son. Such joy—I can scarcely describe it. My heart suddenly lived outside my chest.

  They were so
innocent. And though I’d buried my sins in regret, I couldn’t shake the thought that my family would be better off without me. Much better off. Because it didn’t take long for my past to unearth itself; one man, two wives.

  I really should’ve seen that one coming. I hate that I didn’t. If only I’d known that I was still married to Cassie …

  Lonnie, Jacob—my family. No longer mine, for the preachers wasted no time in taking them from me. I’d have given anything to shoulder their pain. I wanted to hate Cassie. I did for a while, to my shame. But through it all, she showed me love. More so when she gave me my freedom. Gave me hope.

  Undeserved as it was.

  A man can sell his soul for a whole lotta reasons. A lesson I learned too late. There’s a way to regain your soul—I’m learning that as well. I don’t know this kind of grace, and I sure don’t know much about the God who gives it.

  But something inside me wants to.

  One

  Rocky Knob, Virginia

  January 1902

  “Go home to them.”

  With Cassie’s words fresh in his heart, Gideon stepped from the woods. The sun hit his shoulders. Warm as a caress. His suspenders bounced around his legs. They’d been abandoned halfway through his trek. Overwhelmed by the reality of what the day would bring, he’d dressed in a hurry, hungry for the sanctuary of these woods. Gideon ran a hand over the back of his neck where the stiff muscles complained. A bachelor once more, he’d bunked out in his shop the night before, leaving Cassie alone in the house.

  Though he’d had both pillow and blanket, sleep had been lost to him.

  With his thoughts ricocheting between Lonnie and Cassie, his past and future seemed muddled. A coil of tangled wire. Rifle slung over his shoulder, Gideon circled his thumb over the smooth wood of the gunstock, the sound of birdsong paving the way to the cabin. Cassie’s cabin—a place he would no longer call home. But it really never had been. He chewed the inside of his cheek. Where was home now? He knew the answer. There was only one place for him, and that was beside Lonnie.

  His heart lurched.

  Never would he have taken Lonnie’s hand had he known he was still wed to Cassie. Never would he have taken Lonnie’s hand had Cassie simply spoken up about what she knew. Secrets revealed too late. Much too late. Kneeling, Gideon checked his final trap.

  Saying good-bye to Cassie should be simple. Especially since Lonnie and Jacob were waiting on the other side. So what was he doing out on a cold morning checking traps? Gideon straightened and gripped his catch, wishing with all his heart that it could be more for Cassie. That it could be better. Her words pressed against the edges of his mind.

  “I want this chance to do something right. Go home to them.”

  And here he was, leaving. With a puff of his cheeks and a duck of his head, Gideon walked on. Surely God had been smiling down on him the night Cassie had spoken those words only days ago. She didn’t have to let go. But she had. He chalked it up to grace and nothing less. Of her own free will, she was letting him go home. Return to the life he once had. The life with his young bride and son. Gideon’s chest tightened at the thought of taking Lonnie and Jacob in his arms.

  He prayed that someday he might extend the grace that Cassie had extended to him. The thought filled him with wonder. Wonder at what it would feel like to have the peace that Cassie felt when she stepped out in faith. In goodness. For in keeping her word, she’d given him his future. Which was why he’d slept fitfully until dawn, overwhelmed by it all.

  He clutched the rabbits tighter. A warm spell had turned the snow to mush, making his steps easy, but the trail was no match for his attention compared to the truths that roiled in his mind.

  He was leaving today. Though it could take weeks before he got word that all was finalized between Cassie and himself—just as it should have been long ago—he couldn’t stay with a woman who was no longer his wife.

  Gideon shook his head and strode toward the cabin. Soon he’d be on his way to Elsie and Jebediah Bennett’s farm, to his family. In a week’s time, he would stand before Lonnie. Pulse racing, he nearly lost his grip on the rabbits’ feet. Gideon tilted his face to the sun, the joy of it all warming him as much now as it had then.

  As he rounded the bend, the smell of coffee all but pulled his feet along, and he spotted the small cabin nestled against a stand of oaks. Gideon rolled his shoulder that ached in the cool weather and stomped up the steps, spying Cassie in the kitchen window. The house was bright and warm when he stepped in. His pack, filled with all that he owned, sat beside the door. Cassie was at the stove, her braid long and dark down her back.

  She glanced at him, her face registering amusement. “I thought you’d be gone.” She watched him as he sifted through her crock of knives. “You were going to leave at first light.”

  “I’d planned on it.”

  “But …” She glanced at the rabbits.

  He found the knife he was looking for, grabbed her worn pan, and flicked his head toward the porch. He lifted the rabbits. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Gideon.” Her hand on his arm made him freeze. “I can do this on my own. All of it.” Her expression drove her implications deeper.

  Nodding slowly, he stepped onto the porch. Sitting, he nestled the pan between his feet on the lower step. She moved in beside him and sat. Her patched skirts swayed soundlessly over her small boots. He sensed a weariness in her flushed cheeks. Though the scarlet fever had long since left her body, her strength was slow in returning.

  “You’re only gonna have half a day of light.”

  He nodded. “I know. I’ll be off in a bit.”

  Hands pressed together, she seemed unsure of what to do with them. “How did you sleep?”

  “Well.”

  “Liar.”

  He glanced over in time to see her faint grin.

  “That shack had to be freezing, and you scarcely had enough blankets.” She touched the toes of her boots together.

  “I’d say it was best that way.” He peered across the farm to where her brothers’ hammers could be heard over the quiet of late morning.

  Cassie smirked, but her eyes seemed sad. “Is that so?” She gave him the look that had made him weak in the knees on more than one occasion. “After months of sleeping in the rocking chair, you would have suddenly had the notion to take me in your arms?” She elbowed him softly. “You do realize you never even kissed me proper.”

  Feeling a half grin form, Gideon ducked his head.

  Her blue-eyed gaze shifted away, over the farm, as if the fallen petals of their lives were scattered about. “Well, the rumors will abound regardless.”

  That they would. He and Cassie had been married for months, and people would think what they wanted. It wouldn’t help that his reputation around Rocky Knob was anything but saintly. Hands stilling in their work, he studied her, his heart aching afresh. “What will you do, Cassie?” How he wished he could shoulder this burden for her.

  With a wave of her hand, she tossed his concerns aside. “There’s more to this world than Rocky Knob. I’ve got a mind to start fresh. Maybe I’ll head to Stuart. Farther, Lord willing.”

  That spark glinted in her eyes—fire and determination—and he knew she was going to be all right. The breeze lifted loose strands of her hair, sending the molasses-hued ribbons dancing.

  Slowly he shook his head, overwhelmed. Through her grace, another burst of joy shot through him. He would see Lonnie again. He would hold his son. Watch him grow up. Memories of them had hung like dusty pictures in his mind, but soon he would add new memories. It was a gift he could never repay Cassie for.

  “I’m going to miss you.” Unshed tears glistened in Cassie’s eyes.

  Throat suddenly tight, Gideon could only nod in return. He rose and, setting the pan aside, dipped his hands in the wash bucket.

  She motioned toward the open door and his pack just inside. “Will you be bringing nothing else? What about everything in your shop? all your too
ls?”

  “Give them to Jack. He’ll make good use of them.” He scrubbed at the creases in his palms, thankful for the friend he’d found in Cassie’s youngest brother. He ran the icy water up his forearms, then grabbed the tattered towel.

  Her expression grew so soft, he warred with the urge to cup her cheek as he once had.

  “He’ll be grateful,” she finally said.

  “He’s a good kid.” He struggled to find more meaningful words, but his gratitude for the young man’s kindness ran deep.

  Eyes down, Cassie leaned against the railing. She crossed her ankles, then uncrossed them. Gideon dried his hands on the towel longer than need be.

  She stomped her foot. “Off with you now. I can’t take this.” She waved him toward the steps as if to set him in motion. “You’re like a stray dog that won’t leave.” She quick-swiped at her damp cheeks.

  He laughed, the sensation filling the empty spaces of his heart.

  She wiped her cheeks again. Gideon captured her hand as it fell. He squeezed it, letting his thumb trace a slow circle on her wrist.

  Without meeting his gaze, she spoke, her voice as soft as he’d ever heard it. “Please don’t say good-bye. I don’t think I could handle it.”

  Gideon swallowed the lump in his throat. “Fine, then …” Cupping the back of her head, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You’re wonderful,” he whispered against her hair.

  Cassie choked out a laugh. “And you’re a scoundrel.”

  He stepped back, wishing there were some way to keep her from hurting. Keep her from taking her next steps alone. But she was no longer his wife.

  She tucked both hands behind her skirts. “Off with you.”

  Gideon stepped inside the doorway and grabbed his pack. He slid it on, bedroll and mandolin strapped snugly against it, and glanced around the small cabin.

  Ducking inside, Cassie returned with an envelope. “Your copy. Though it will take some time for everything to be confirmed once the circuit rider turns in our papers.” Gideon took it, gripping it so hard that it puckered beneath his thumb. He couldn’t lift his eyes. Couldn’t move from the spot. It all seemed so unreal.