The Gift of Hope Read Online Free Page B

during the service a few week ago. You did a splendid job. I suggest you sing the solo in the Christmas pageant. You can wear your prettiest dress and perform in front of the whole congregation. Is that something you could do?”
    Emily rubbed both cheeks with the backs of her hands and frowned while she considered the offer.
    “There isn’t a solo in the pageant,” Hope whispered to the minister, completely taken aback by his suggestion. Even though she didn’t know him well, he had earned a reputation for not interfering in the work of church committees.
    “There is now,” he said in a firm voice.
    Emily looked at her frowning grandmother, but Harriet seemed to have lost her fight. She nodded approval, and the disappointed girl somewhat belligerently agreed. The room was quiet as the pair stalked off, even the smallest children picking up that something wasn’t quite right.
    “Can I speak with you a minute?” Hope asked Noah, torn between anger and disappointment at what she saw as interference.
    “Come up to my office,” he said.
    She reluctantly followed him, feeling a bit like an unruly student called to the principal’s office. When he sat down behind his desk, she felt even more diminished.
    When Reverend Green occupied the church office, he had kept it Spartan and a bit intimidating with gray steel files and a matching desk that rarely had anything except a blotter and a penholder on top. In spite of her irritation, Hope had to admit to herself that it was greatly changed for the better. Noah had filled the walls with a collection of crosses and photographs of mission activities. He’d put the files in storage and brought the church records into the twenty-first century by having everything put on the computer that dominated his desk. A modern black leather swivel chair had replaced the old straight-backed oak chair with its faded brown seat cushion.
    “Do you really think it’s a good idea to give in to a spoiled girl?” she asked, speaking more harshly than she’d intended. “There’s no solo in the pageant.”
    “I’m sure the choir director can come up with something,” he said. “It looked to me like you were letting the situation get out of hand.”
    She stared at him dumbfounded, hardly able to believe what he’d said. Now that she thought of it, he hardly ever praised his own daughter in the hearing of others. Was he just being politic by appeasing Harriet?
    “I was doing the job I agreed to do,” she said stiffly. “If you prefer to have someone else in charge, I’ll be happy to resign.”
    “Please don’t.” There was warmth in his voice for the first time that morning. “I was trying to be helpful. If I overstepped my authority, I sincerely apologize.”
    She didn’t know how to respond to his sudden shift in attitude.
    “Can I do the rest of the pageant my way?” She still felt challenged by way he’d pacified Emily.
    “Certainly. I’m afraid the tears got to me. I’ve not very good with crying.”
    She tried to read his eyes, but the deep blue of his pupils was more distracting than illuminating.
    “If you like, I’ll speak to Mrs. Llewellyn and tell her the solo was a bad idea of mine,” Noah said.
    “Then she’ll insist on having Emily play Mary.” She couldn’t believe what a big issue the pageant had become.
    “I’ll tell her it’s your decision, although you needn’t give the part to Anna. She’d hoped to be an angel, but I’m sure she’ll do whatever you like.” He folded and unfolded his hands on the surface of the desk.
    “She’ll be a lovely Mary, and the costume we have will fit her. There’s no way Emily could squeeze into it another year, and I just don’t have time to make a new one.”
    “I understand.” He stood and walked around the desk, reaching out and taking her hand. “I hope there’s no hard feelings between us.”
    “There aren’t,” she agreed in a soft voice.
    Hard feelings or not, she certainly felt something in the