My Hope Is Found: The Cadence of Grace, Book 3
Read My Hope Is Found: The Cadence of Grace, Book 3 Online
Authors: Joanne Bischof
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.”
—L
IZ
C
URTIS
H
IGGS
,
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.’ ”
—L
AURAINE
S
NELLING
, 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.”
—M
ESU
A
NDREWS
, 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!”
—C
ARRIE
T
URANSKY
, 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.”
—S
ERENA
B. M
ILLER
, 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!”
—J
OCELYN
G
REEN
, 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.”
—B
ETH
K. V
OGT
, 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.”
—M
EG
M
OSELEY
, author of
Gone South
B
OOKS BY
J
OANNE
B
ISCHOF
The Cadence of Grace Series
Be Still My Soul
Though My Heart Is Torn
M
Y
H
OPE
I
S
F
OUND
P
UBLISHED BY
M
ULTNOMAH
B
OOKS
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.
M
ULTNOMAH
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
.
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
J
AMES
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
.
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.