A Hope Undaunted
Also by Julie Lessman
T
HE
D
AUGHTERS OF
B
OSTON
A Passion Most Pure
A Passion Redeemed
A Passion Denied
W
INDS
OF
C
HANGE
A Hope Undaunted
W
INDS
of
C
HANGE
a Hope Undaunted
A NOVEL
JULIE LESSMAN
© 2010 by Julie Lessman
Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com
E-book edition created 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – for example, electronic, photocopy, recording – without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-1310-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture used in this book, whether quoted or paraphrased by the characters, is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture marked NIV is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
www.zondervan.com
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
To my beautiful daughter Amy –
not only the inspiration for Katie O’Connor, but
God’s amazing response to my own “hope undaunted.”
You were an answer to prayer then
and you’re an answer to prayer now,
and Dad and I love you to pieces!
Each man will be
like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.
Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will listen.
Isaiah 32:2–3 NIV
Contents
Boston, Massachusetts, May 1929
N
ow
this
is how love should be – nice and neat.
Katie O’Connor sucked the last of her Coca-Cola through a straw and studied her steady beau Jack Worthington with a secret smile. No, siree, no dime-novel notions of love for her. Love requires a focused plan, she thought to herself with certainty. Cool, calm, rational thinking, not a moment in time where one lovesick glance seals your fate. With a loud, hollow noise, she drained her soda and pushed the glass away, assessing Jack through approving eyes. Her lips slanted.
Love at first
sight, my foot.
She noted the dimple that deepened on his chiseled face as he delivered a punch line with a boyish grin, and a satisfied smile tilted the corners of her mouth. Falling in love was for fools –
blind fools
, she reflected with all the mature assurance of her eighteen years. Let other girls “fall” in love with their eyes closed, but not her. No, she preferred to be in control and walk – not fall, thank you very much – into true love. And if she had her way – which she fully intended to have – it would be with a man who was everything on her carefully crafted list.
Laughter disrupted her thoughts, and she found herself grinning along with the two couples sharing their booth as they roared at the finish of Jack’s joke. As usual, Jack’s buddies made a ruckus, whooping and pounding their fists on the table in glee, and Katie couldn’t help but sigh with contentment.
Good sense of humor.
She mentally checked a box on her list and quickly scanned Robinson’s Diner with its black-and-white-checked décor, grateful they had it to themselves at this late hour. Jack and his friends tended to get a bit rowdy, but they certainly knew how to have a good time. She settled back against the red-leather, high-backed booth and shot a glance at the marble counter where a lone soda jerk polished chrome mixers to a gleam.
“For crying out loud, Katydid, you inhaled that soda! And I bet I’ll have to buy you another, won’t I? I’m not made of money, you know.” Jack draped a sturdy arm across her shoulder and pulled her close to his handsome face. The glimmer in his dark eyes matched that of his deep brown hair, stylishly slicked back with Brilliantine. “Or maybe I am,” he teased.
Wealthy
and
attractive.
Check, check.
She drew in a deep breath and gave him a patient smile. “Nobody likes a braggart, Jack, but if you’re willing to put your money where your mouth is, I believe I’d like a hamburger. I’m starved.”
“No, you can’t be!” Genevieve Townsend said with a moan. “How can you possibly be hungry? We just had dinner before the picture show.”
Katie shrugged her shoulders. “That was over two hours ago, Gen.” She wrinkled her nose and teased with a ghost of a smile. “Besides, Valentino makes me hungry.”
Jack leaned in to plant a kiss at the nape of her neck. “Mmm . . . not only for food, I hope.” His wayward tone set off another round of chortles from his friends.
“Save it for the car, Worthington,” Warren Sheffield said with a smirk. “The woman’s hungry – feed her!”
Katie swatted at Jack and broiled his friends with a mock glare. “I’ll take a hamburger and another Coke, please.” She glanced at the large Nehi clock on the wall and frowned – 9:40 p.m. “You better hurry, though – they close at ten.”
Genevieve groaned. “It’s just not fair. How do you stay skinny as a rail?”
“I’ll bet she starves herself at home and saves her appetite for Jack.” Lilly wriggled her pencil-thin brows.
Katie smoothed a tapered hand down the straight lines of her blue, long-waisted dress and carefully crossed her legs, resting her palm on a powdered knee beneath her short hem. “I’ll have you know, Lilly Hansen, that I watch what I eat, just like you and Gen.”
Genevieve’s round face wrinkled into a frown, forcing her cupid-bow lips to pucker into a pout. “Yeah, we watch what you eat too, and sheer logic says you shouldn’t fit in this booth.” Her sigh was heavy. “I’ll take what she’s having,” she announced in defeat.
Jack chuckled and massaged Katie’s shoulder. “Hear that, doll? You’re a bad influence – both on Gen’s figure and my wallet. Anybody want anything? I’m buying.” His gaze flitted to the soda jerk bent over the chrome and leather stools with a rag in his hand. Jack put two fingers to his teeth and let loose with a deafening whistle. “Hey, kid, shake a leg – we have an order.”
The “kid’s” body tightened as he rose to his full height, revealing both a broad, muscled back and the fact that he was anything but a kid. He turned in slow, deliberate motion, eyeing the clock before facing them dead-on. A nerve flickered in his angular jaw while his blue eyes glittered like sapphire. He forced a smile as tight as the short sleeves of his white button-down shirt – which, Katie hadn’t noticed before, strained with biceps as intimidating as the man’s penetrating gaze. “Sure thing, but we close in ten minutes. Sorry, sodas and ice cream only.” He strolled to their booth with a casual gait as steady and slow as the drawl that coated his voice like hillbilly honey. “What’ll you have?”
Katie felt the tension in Jack’s manner as he cradled an arm around her shoulders and lounged back against the booth, eyes locked on the soda jerk with deadly precision. “I know it’s late, but the lady here says she’s hungry. She wants a hamburger and another Coke.”
The man’s blue eyes flicked to Katie and held, his cool smile braising her cheeks with a rare blush. He nodded a head of white-blond thatch toward a large sign over the jukebox. “I sure do apologize, miss, but as you can plainly see, we don’t serve entrees after nine.”
Katie blinked.
Excuse me? And the world would end if
he cooked a hamburger after nine?
Her stomach rumbled, and she straightened her shoulders with willful resolve. The thought of a thick, juicy hamburger taunted her – just like the annoyingly calm look on the soda jerk’s face. Tilting her chin in a coy manner, she gave him the shuttered smile that always worked wonders on Jack. For good measure, she propped her chin in her hand and resorted to a slow sweep of lashes. Her tone softened to a husky plea. “Aw, come on now, mister, you can make one teeny-tiny exception, can’t you? Just for me? We’ll make it worth your while, I promise.”
His gaze shifted to the clock and back, and then he disarmed her with a smile that made her forget she was hungry for food. “I really wish I could, ma’am, but a rule is a rule. But if I say so myself, my true talent lies in making one of the best chocolate shakes in all of Boston.”
She stared, open-mouthed, his polite refusal slacking her jaw. Despite the faint smile on his lips, his eyes seemed to pierce right through her. A second rush of heat invaded her cheeks.
The nerve!
A soda jerk
and
a mule! Katie’s eyes narrowed. If there was one thing on God’s green earth she despised more than not getting her own way, it was pushy, stubborn men who dictated what she could and could not do.
Out of pure instinct and more than a bit of irritation, she jutted her chin in the air and matched his gaze with a searing one of her own. “Yes, well, it’s nice to know you have
some
talent, but no thank you. Not even if they’re the best on the Eastern seaboard. Let’s go, Jack.”
Jack drew her close while his thumb glazed the side of her arm. “Come on, Katydid, settle down. I know you’re hungry, but this guy is obviously new and doesn’t realize who we are.” He cocked his head and flashed a patronizing smile. “We’re some of Mr. Robinson’s best customers, kid. So, tell me, what’s your name?”
Drawing in a deep breath, the “kid” shifted his stance and exhaled. “The name is Luke.” He shot a glance at the clock, then looked back. His gaze softened. “Look, I’m sorry, I really am, but Pop Robinson sets the rules, not me. The grills take forever to cool down, so we do them at nine. Hate to tell ya this, but they’re already clean as a whistle and shut down for the night. Now, I have to be somewhere at ten-thirty, but if you give me your drink or ice cream orders, I’ll get them as fast as I can.”
Katie started to rise, but Jack yanked her back down. “That would be great, Luke, just great. Bring six of your best chocolate shakes and six glasses of water, and we’ll be on our way.”
“But I don’t want his stupid sha – ”
“Hush, Katydid, I do, and if Luke here is nice enough to make them for us, everything is jake.” He smiled again, all the while fondling a golden tress of Katie’s smooth Dutch-Boy bob that curved against her jaw. “Besides, you need something in your stomach. I don’t want you cranky on the way home.” As if to underscore his romantic hopes, his hand absently caressed the long, pearl necklace that draped the front of her dress. His fingers lingered along her collarbone with a familiarity that deepened the already uncomfortable blush on her cheeks.