Page 9 of Embracing Hope

“Is Daddy up?”

“You can stop whispering, child. He didn’t come home last night. He stayed in Catskills again. You’re supposed to have those on your feet.” Dolly jutted her chin at the boots dangling from Hope’s fingers. “If I’ve told you once I’ve told you a thousand times to not run around in the grass barefoot. You’ll catch your death.”

“Yes, Dolly. I forgot.” Hope just wanted to appease the woman. Dropping her boots near the coat tree, Hope said, “Please tell me you have coffee made?” She started for the kitchen needing a quick caffeine boost before the meeting with Daddy. Thankfully, there was a freshly brewed pot and she poured herself a large cup, foregoing the usual preference of cream and sugar.

She’d never tasted a better cup of coffee. She savored it while looking out into the yard where one of the hands mowed. The smell of wild onions wafted through the open kitchen window, reminding her of her childhood.

“You look like you’ve been knocked off a horse and drug a mile through a pasture,” Dolly said matter-of-factly. “You’re getting too old to be slinking in the house like you are still seventeen. Best time you found a husband.”

“Are you Daddy’s clone now?” Hope said, hiding her smile behind the rim of her cup.

“Just too old to use my filter, I suppose.” Dolly settled herself at the griddle.

“Independent women can be happily single.” Hope leaned over the counter to watch Dolly flip the silver dollar pancakes.

“Not when they want to be back in their father’s good graces.” She pointed the spatula at Hope. “The old crusty goat and his ridiculous demands.” She shook her head. “I should be retired by now. This old body can’t take the drama.”

“Let me worry about the marriage stipulation.” Hope stopped to kiss Dolly on the cheek on her way to the door.

“You’re not going to eat breakfast? It’s the most important meal of the day.”

“Thanks, but I don’t have time to eat. I must run upstairs and get presentable before this impromptu meeting with Daddy.” She rubbed her temples. The headache was now pounding.

“Wait just a minute.” Dolly opened a cabinet and took out a mason jar of gold liquid tucked behind canned tomatoes and beans. “My mother knew the best cure for a hangover. The hair of the dog that bit you.” Dolly poured a small amount of the moonshine into Hope’s coffee.

Hope swallowed the last dregs in her cup and squinted as the laced coffee burned its way down into her stomach. She handed the empty cup to Dolly. “I’m going to shower right quick.”

“Good idea,” Dolly said, already back at the stove flipping pancakes.

Hope showered, dressed, and made sure the evidence of last night was hidden before she headed back downstairs to Sam’s office. The door was closed and she knocked. “Come in,” she heard him call out.

She entered and her gaze automatically went to the portrait of her beautiful mother hanging above the fireplace. Hope had always been told that she looked the most like her mother. With spiral curls that had a wild untamed mind of their own, high cheekbones, and sky-blue eyes, Hope could see the resemblance. The memories of her mother had long since faded and she now only had a few faint recollections of the woman who used to sing her daughters to sleep every night.

“Have a seat, Hope,” Sam said without looking up from an open folder.

“I thought we were having a family meeting?” she asked as she sat in the chair across from his desk.

He held up his hand to pause her while he finished reading a document, and then he closed the folder to look across his cluttered desk at her. Sadly, he looked tired and pale. “We are family. And this is a meeting,” he grumbled.

“I thought family as in my sisters too.”

“Not this time.”

“You look like hell, Daddy. Where’d you sleep last night? In a barn?”

He sniffed loudly and muttered something under his breath.

“How about we cut to the chase and you tell me what you need to talk to me about that couldn’t wait.” She had things to do, like drop off the publishing contract to her attorney to read, and she’d promised Courtney that she’d watch Marah today.

Sam eased back into his chair, looking at her over the tips of his steepled fingers. His eyes narrowed and his mouth thinned. “Lance Marcum from Marcum Livestock is coming here to get a birds-eye view look of the details of our operations. I need you to take a leadership role. Play host during his stay. Make him feel welcome. Answer his questions. Keep him occupied during times that I'm not available.”

“What are you saying? You’re the one the Marcum brother wants to see. Not me.” Although she disagreed with the merger, she knew how important it was to her daddy. He’d been working on the business deal for nearly a year.

“You’re right, honey. He’d much rather spend his time with an old, sick bastard than with a young, beautiful, intelligent woman. What was I thinking?” He snorted.

“I don’t have time to play tour guide for some rancher who wants to micromanage this merger.”

“It’s good to have a fresh pair of eyes sometimes. I trust that you’ll make Marcum feel welcome,” he said as if he didn’t even hear her.

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