Redeeming-Love-By-Francine-Rivers

F R A N C I N E R I V E R S
she said. Her eyes flickered with surprise and embarrassment when Angel
pulled her hand free in haste.
Mr. Altman appeared at the back of the wagon, rain running off his hat.
“Is everything all right, John?” Elizabeth said.
“It’ll be good for a ways.” He tipped the brim of his hat to Angel as
Elizabeth made the introduction. “We’re much obliged to you and your husband,
ma’am. I was almost done in until your husband came.” He looked to
his wife again. “Mr. Hosea’s invited us to winter at his place. I said yes. We’ll
head for Oregon in spring.”
“Oh,” Elizabeth said, the relief clearly apparent.
Angel’s lips parted. Winter at Michael’s? Nine people in a fifteen-by-fifteen
foot cabin? Elizabeth touched her, and she jumped. She sat stunned as the
woman thanked her before John lifted her out. The boys and girls followed,
then Miriam, who touched her shoulder in passing and flashed her a warm,
excited smile. Teeth gritted, Angel sat huddled in her blanket in the back of
the wagon, wondering what on earth Michael thought he was going to do
with all these people. He climbed into the seat, soaked to the skin, and she
handed him the spare blanket as they set off again.
“We’ll let them have the cabin,” he said.
“The cabin! Where are we supposed to sleep?”
“In the barn. We’ll be comfortable and warm.”
“Why don’t they sleep in the barn? You built the cabin.” She didn’t much
like the idea of sleeping anywhere but in that nice, snug bed with the fire
close by.
“They haven’t slept in a house in over nine months. And that woman’s
sick.” He nodded ahead. “I’ve been thinking. There’s a good strip of land
bordering Paul’s. Maybe I can talk the Altmans into staying. It’d be a good
thing having another family in the valley.” He glanced at her with a smile.
“You could use women friends around.”
Friends? “What do you suppose I have in common with them?”
“Why don’t we wait and find out?”
They camped beside an outcropping of granite that gave them shelter
from the rain. Michael and John hobbled the horses and pitched a tent while
Angel, Elizabeth, and Miriam set up camp. The children gathered enough
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