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  Praise for Hope by Lori Copeland

  “Hope is another fun, inspirational outing from seasoned writer Lori Copeland. Who else but Lori would include among her characters an ornery goat, a stolen pig, a mule called Cinder, and a man named Frog? It’s easy to see why romance readers are circling their wagons around the Brides of the West series!” —Liz Curtis Higgs, author of Mixed Signals

  “I just loved this book! Only Lori Copeland could weave a knee-slapping tale with such a beautifully redemptive message. Her characters are delightfully funny and unpredictable, and her plot is full of refreshing twists and turns. I can’t wait for her next book!” —Terri Blackstock, bestselling author

  “Lori Copeland concocts just the right mix of faith, romance, and humor in Hope. I started chuckling right away and didn’t stop till the end. A cheering, uplifting story of God’s wisdom and love.” —Lyn Cote, author of Whispers of Love

  “Lori Copeland’s third book in the Brides of the West series, Hope, is such a delight! I laughed, I cried, but most of all I thrilled to see how spiritual truths could be woven into a rollicking good story! Lori’s light and lively voice makes for good storytelling! This one’s a keeper!” —Angela Elwell Hunt, author of The Silver Sword

  “This tender and funny page-turner will tug at your heart from start to finish. Hope’s journey to love kept me cheering, sighing, and chuckling as I read. Hope is Lori Copeland at her very best!” —Diane Noble, author of When the Far Hills Bloom

  What readers are saying about Brides of the West

  “Faith is one romance that will sit on my limited shelf space and be read over and over.” —L.C.

  “Your new book in the Brides of the West series is wonderful! Keep up the fantastic work!” —P.G.

  “I love stories that are both uplifting and realistic, and Faith and June really fit the bill. God bless you and may you continue to brighten people’s lives with your God-given talent!” —K.L.M.

  “Thanks for a quality story, well-written and uplifting! I’ll spread the word and recommend this book to others.” —J.B.

  “I truly enjoyed your books, Faith and June. I am looking forward to more of your books. My husband (a bookworm) is impressed that I have actually read two books in three weeks!” —S.T.

  “Absolutely magnificent! The stories are fresh and exciting and inspire me to greater faith and service for God. God has anointed you for a mighty work through your wonderful novels.” —K.M.

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  Glory

  Copyright © 2000 by Lori Copeland. All rights reserved.

  Cover photograph by Al Navata. Copyright © by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

  Author’s photo copyright © 2004 by Quentin L. Clayton. All rights reserved.

  Cover designed by Beth Sparkman

  Interior designed by Melinda Schumacher

  Edited by Diane Eble

  Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard St., Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920.

  Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version.

  Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

  This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or publisher.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Copeland, Lori.

  Glory / Lori Copeland.

  p. cm. — (Brides of the West)

  ISBN 0-8423-3749-0 (sc)

  1. Mail order brides—Fiction. 2. Women pioneers—Fiction. 3. Colorado—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3553.O6336 G57 2000

  813′.54—dc21 00-032561

  ISBN-13: 978-1-4143-1537-9

  Build: 2012-12-06 13:32:37

  To four very special men in my life:

  my grandsons, James, Joseph,

  Joshua, and Gage

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  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

  A Note from the Author

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Writing is a solitary act, but no book is written without the help and encouragement of others. A big thank-you to my editor, Diane Eble, for her strength and vision for my work. Working with you, Diane, is a blessing.

  Thanks to the HeartQuest team—Becky Nesbitt, Kathy Olson, Anne Goldsmith, Diane Eble, Danielle Crilly, Jan Pigott, and Catherine Palmer—for cheering me on. And thank you, Travis Thrasher, for too many things to list! You do Tyndale proud.

  I want to thank my family for allowing me time to write and overlooking my sometimes shameful preoccupation with work. I love you guys.

  Thanks to Janet Colliate, who forfeited retirement time to proofread and offer suggestions on this book in its early stage. I value your friendship, Janet.

  April 6, 2000

  Chapter One

  “Well, well, the least you could do is stay for supper!” Glory choked on dust as Ralph Samuels’s buckboard spun out of the yard on one wheel. Sighing, she glanced toward the shanty, hoping that was squirrel she smelled frying and that Poppy had cooked enough for two.

  Bending over, the petite young woman with a boyish frame picked up the knapsack holding her extra pair of denims and shirt. Poppy isn’t going to be happy about this, Glory thought. It was the third time in as many months that an almost-husband had brought her back. The eager suitor would call on her proper-like; then Poppy would propose marriage. The besotted swain always agreed, only to go back on his word before vows were spoken. Glory didn’t understand it. This time she’d nearly made it through the whole day before this fickle lout got cold feet.

  Men were just too picky. Yes, she’d corrected Ralph a few times this morning—only corrected the man. So what? She hadn’t said that she knew everything. He was thin-skinned and took her harmless observations for a sign of bossiness. Bossy? Her? She wasn’t bossy—just happened to have more knowledge about turnips than Ralph could ever hope to have, and it was his pained expression, not hers, that put a blight on the outing.

  She glanced at the shanty again, wondering if Poppy would be upset with her for coming back—or being returned—a third time. He shouldn’t be. Seemed to her that she was lucky to have discovered Ralph’s headstrong tendencies now rather than later. Wouldn’t it have been dandy to be hitched to a man who couldn’t discuss turnips without blowing up?

  “Poppy!” Glory sniffed the late-afternoon air, her eyes traveling to the piece of metal pipe stuck through the tin roof. Only a faint waft of smoke curled from the chimney. Odd, she thought. That was meat she smelled frying.

  Climbing the steps to the porch, she kept a firm grip on the knapsack. Wasn’t any need to unpack. When Poppy had gotten it in his mind a few months back that he wasn’t going to live much longer, he’d set out l
ike a man possessed to get her married off. No amount of arguing could have convinced him otherwise. She didn’t need a husband; she was able to take care of herself. Been doing it since she was knee-high to a grasshopper. But the old hermit had argued—something Poppy didn’t do that often. He’d fretted day and night about how she couldn’t live in these parts alone—not these days. He’d contended that if Indians didn’t stir up trouble, men with no-good intentions would.

  How could Poppy worry? Glory could fire her old Hawkins rifle better than any man; Poppy couldn’t dispute that. She could haul water and chop wood and skin a bear in less time than it took to talk about it. She wasn’t much on cooking and cleaning, but Poppy did all of that. She knew all she needed to get by. She didn’t want any man telling her what to do.

  Why, if she hadn’t fallen off that wagon when she was a baby and if Poppy hadn’t found her lying on the trail, she probably could have raised herself.

  Her resolve stiffened. She had to talk Poppy out of this foolish notion of marriage; it wasn’t going to work.

  “Poppy?” Glory pushed the front door open a crack and peered inside. Late-afternoon sunlight fell across the dirt floor. A remnant of morning fire had turned to white ashes. The iron skillet was on the stove, and the scent of frying meat—and burnt bread—teased her nose.

  Squinting, her eyes shifted to Poppy’s cot across the room. Poppy, hands across his chest, lay sleeping peacefully between the rumpled blankets.

  Shoving the door open, she came inside. Sleeping at this time of the day! Poppy would be up all night. Pausing beside the cot, she smiled down affectionately on the only father she’d ever known. She didn’t know her real pa’s name, but when she’d fallen off that wagon and nobody had noticed, Poppy had become her family from that day on. If her real ma or pa had come back looking for their infant daughter, they hadn’t found her. Poppy said he’d stayed around the area for over a week, waiting for someone to come back to claim their baby girl. Then bad weather had set in and he’d been forced to bring the infant to his shanty, and that’s where she’d lived ever since, with Poppy; Molasses, the old mule; a cow; and a few settin’ hens.

  For years afterward, every time a wagon rattled by the shanty, the old hermit would flag it down and ask if anyone was looking for a lost child. The weary travelers would shake their heads, saying how sorry they were to hear about the tragedy, but they hadn’t known anyone who was missing a young’un. So Glory had stayed, and the years had passed, and now the old man was worried about dying and leaving her all alone.

  “Poppy?” She gently shook Poppy’s shoulders. “Wake up, sleepyhead. It’s gonna be dark soon, and you’ll not sleep a wink tonight.”

  The old man lay deathly still, his blue-veined hands resting lightly across his frail chest, a faint smile on his weathered features. “Poppy?” she repeated, her breath catching as she bent to press her ear to his upper body. Her heart sank when she realized that he wasn’t breathing. The beat that was once hearty and strong was silent now.

  “Oh, Poppy.” Tears smarted in her eyes, and she gathered the kind old man into her arms. “Why did you have to go and leave me?”

  Sunbeams stretched across the shanty floor and gradually faded to shadows. Glory sat on the cot and cradled the old man like an infant, rocking him gently back and forth, singing a lullaby that he’d sung to her so many times before: “‘Sleep my little child, sleep and run no more. Someone who loves you holds you tight and will forever more.’”

  Poppy was gone. Memories flooded her heart: memories of how the old hermit had taught her to hunt and fish, to track wounded animals to either put them out of their pain or attempt to heal their wounds. He’d taught her to laugh at herself and to care about others, though it was a rare treat when they ever saw another living soul.

  They lived deep in the Missouri hills with only animals and each other for company. Poppy’s brother, Crazy Amos, came around occasionally looking for a handout. Glory was scared of the ferocious-looking giant. He stood heads taller than Poppy, and his massive hands were as big as the hams Poppy had hanging in the smokehouse. Poppy didn’t cotton to his younger brother either. Said he was a freeloader, and Poppy didn’t hold with freeloaders. Had “gold” in his eyes, Poppy contended; all Amos ever wanted was money. Poppy said iffen a man was able-bodied but didn’t work, then it weren’t fittin’ he should eat. Amos lived a spell away and came around only once or twice a year, but that was enough to sour Poppy’s disposition for days.

  Tenderly smoothing her hand over the old man’s forehead, Glory buried her face in his hair and cried. “What am I going to do without you?” She was alone now—completely alone. She’d never had anyone but Poppy, and the cow, the old mule, a few chickens. And now she didn’t have Poppy.

  It took her two days to dig the grave. Glory washed the old hermit and dressed him in a clean shirt and pants. Afterward, she set his battered hat on his head, tilting it at a rakish angle the way Poppy liked it. Stepping back to survey her work, she smiled. “You look mighty perky, Poppy.” Then she dissolved into tears and couldn’t do a thing for the next few hours.

  She didn’t know how to let Amos know about Poppy’s passing; the thought brought only relief. The farther away Amos stayed, the better she liked it. He wasn’t right in the head, and worse, he was mean. Once she’d seen him hit his mule so hard with one of his big hands, the animal wore the mark a week later. He’d boasted about the men he’d killed and the women he’d mistreated. Glory didn’t think he should be proud of his actions, but they seemed to amuse him.

  Amos would pin her with a black-eyed stare until she’d squirm in her chair, heat igniting her cheeks. Finally, he’d laugh and look away but not until he was satisfied that she was weak from fright. He was an evil man, and she hoped she’d never have to set eyes on him again.

  It took all of her might to get Poppy from the shanty to the graveside. She didn’t weigh much, but she was sturdy. Poppy had been proud of her strength, and today she worked hard to live up to his praise. Grasping him under the arms, she dragged Poppy’s lifeless form down the ravine, careful to keep his pants and shirt as clean as possible. The journey to the grave site thirty yards away took most of the afternoon.

  She shoveled the last spadeful of dirt onto the grave and mounded it up. Straightening, she listened to the silence. The stillness overwhelmed her. No Poppy’s voice calling her to supper, no sounds of him putting the animals down for the night.

  Not one other living soul to share the empty days.

  “I cain’t help but feel like I’m leavin’ something undone,” she said to no one, pondering what that something might be.

  She remembered the time Poppy brought home a picture he’d found, saying it’d probably fallen out of a passing wagon. It showed some people standing around an open grave. The women were weeping into their handkerchiefs, and the men held their hats over their hearts, real respectful-like.

  “Surely they must have spoken a word or two over whoever was in that hole.” Glory thought long and hard. “Well, I reckon I ain’t rightly sure one way or the other… . I would sure hate to find out later I was supposed to say something and didn’t.”

  She tried to gather her thoughts as she kicked at a rock. Seeing as how she didn’t own a handkerchief, she took off her hat and held it over her heart.

  For a moment she searched for words. “Don’t rightly know what to say… . Poppy, you was a good man, and you sure was good to me. I thank you for pickin’ me up off that trail when I fell out of that wagon. Weren’t something that just any ole body would’ve done … Well, guess most anyone would’ve picked me up, but not everybody would’ve kept me and loved me the way you did. I’m much obliged, Poppy. I loved you too—a powerful lot—and I’m gonna miss you something fierce.” She had to stop now because tears were choking her.

  The cow waited nearby, wanting to be milked. Molasses, the old mule, munched on late-summer grass near the lean-to. A couple of hens shook their feathers before flying to t
he nest to roost. Everything seemed normal, yet nothing would ever be the same.

  Sighing, she laid a clump of sunflowers on the fresh dirt, wishing for a proper marker. Rocks would have to do for now, but she fashioned them in the form of a fish. Poppy loved to fish. She’d spent many a day on the riverbank catching catfish with him. She carried the shovel back to the lean-to and stored it before she milked Bess, who by now was looking a mite uncomfortable.

  After the burial, days blurred. She got out of bed at the same time, did the same chores, listening for the sound of Poppy’s voice. Every night she visited the grave site and wept from loneliness. It was the first time she’d experienced separation, and the empty feeling deep inside her hurt something awful. She had no one to talk to, no one to explain the hollowness.

  “I don’t know what to do, Bess,” she whispered, leaning against the cow’s warm flank while she milked. The fragrant smell of Bess’s coat and the warm milk hitting the cool bucket gave her a measure of comfort. This animal was a friend, someone she knew when the rest of her world was void of anything familiar.

  Warm weather gave way to blistering heat. Fireflies kept her company at night. By day, she hunted her food and cared for the animals in silence. At night, when the isolation felt as heavy as an iron blanket, she talked to the mule for companionship, sharing stories of her day.

  “Though it don’t seem it, winter will be here in a few months, and I’m afraid,” she whispered to the old mule. “Saw a woolly worm this afternoon. His coat was black and thick; it’s going to be a bad winter.”

  Poppy had taken to town a few times, so she knew there was one not more than a couple days’ ride. Should she leave the shanty before the snows came? The thought terrified her. Life in the woods was the only thing she knew. Squirrels and chipmunks were her friends; she wouldn’t know how to live around other people. But she wasn’t sure she could survive a brutal winter alone in the woods, either.