Chapter 16 - Hope Learns the Truth
Cora could have softened the story.
She didn't.
Thomas's greatest mistake had been believing love justified hiding truth.
Cora refused to repeat it.
“Your father did bad things.”
Hope's eyes filled.
“But was he bad?”
“People aren't ledgers.”
Hope frowned.
Cora continued.
“You can't add one column of good and another of evil and decide what a person was. Your father lied. He helped powerful men hurt people. Then he understood what he'd done and risked everything to stop them.”
“Did he love me?”
Cora smiled sadly.
“He saw you for only a few months, and he loved you enough for a lifetime.”
Hope looked toward Silas.
He stood near the doorway.
“And Papa Silas?”
Cora smiled.
“He chose you before you could even say his name.”
Hope approached him.
“Did you hate my father?”
Silas answered immediately.
“No.”
“Even though you loved Mama?”
“I respected him.”
“Why?”
“Because he eventually stopped running from himself.”
Hope cried.
Silas hugged her.
That evening, he gave her something he had kept for sixteen years.
Thomas's glove.
Cleaned.
Repaired.
Preserved.
Hope held it carefully.
“Why keep this?”
“Because it led us to him.”
Hope pressed it against her chest.
The next morning, she visited Thomas's grave.
When she returned, something inside her had settled.
“I think I understand.”
Cora kissed her forehead.
“You'll understand differently when you're older.”
Hope smiled.
“Papa said that.”
Cora looked at Silas.
“Did he?”
Silas shrugged.
“Smart man.”
Their daughter rolled her eyes.
Life continued.
Hope eventually became a schoolteacher.
Jacob took over much of the ranch.
Rebecca studied nursing in Helena.
The tiny family born from disaster grew roots.
May you like
And the apple trees finally began producing fruit.
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