Planted with Hope
Authors: Tricia Goyer
HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Cover by Garborg Design Works
Cover photos © neirfy, Loraliu, llaszlo, SCPhotog, Elysium Multimedia / Bigstock
Published in association with Books & Such Management, 52 Mission Circle, Suite 122, PMB 170, Santa Rosa, CA 95409-5370,
www.booksandsuch.com
Published in association with the Steve Laube Agency, LLC, 5025 N. Central Ave., #635, Phoenix, Arizona, 85012.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the authors' imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
PLANTED WITH HOPE
Copyright © 2016 Tricia Goyer and Sherry Gore
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Goyer, Tricia, author. | Gore, Sherry, 1965- author.
Title: Planted with hope / Tricia Goyer and Sherry Gore.
Description: Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, [2016]
Series: Pinecraft Pie Shop; 2
Identifiers: LCCN 2015038965 | ISBN 9780736961318 (pbk.) | ISBN 9780736961325 (eBook) Subjects: | GSAFD: Love stories. | Christian fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3607.O94 P58 2016 | DDC 813/.6âdc23 LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2015038965
All rights reserved.
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Contents
Vegetables in a California Garden, 1933
Potato Casserole with Eggs in Bacon Nests, 1918
Aunt Effie's Custard Johnny Cake
Gardening is a way of showing that you believe in tomorrow.
A
MISH
P
ROVERB
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
J
OHN
12:24
I needed the quiet so He drew me aside,
Into the shadows where we could confide
Away from the bustle where all the day long
I hurried and worried when active and strong.
I needed the quiet though at first I rebelled,
But gently, so gently, my cross He upheld,
And whispered so sweetly of spiritual things.
Though weakened in body, my spirit took wings
To heights never dreamed of when active and gay.
He loved me so greatly He drew me away.
I needed the quiet. No prison my bed,
But a beautiful valley of blessings insteadâ
A place to grow richer in Jesus to hide.
I needed the quiet so He drew me aside.
A
LICE
H
ANSCHE
M
ORTENSON
E
mma Sutter lifted the ice cream cone to her lips, took another lick, and licked her fingers too. It was chocolate, her favorite, and she wondered if
Aenti
Ruth Ann would let her have it every day. Sometimes things like that happened, mostly because she'd lost her momma. Even though it had been two years, Emma still got two scoops of ice cream when most other kids just got one. Two scoops was a lot for her only being eight years old, and sometimes her stomach hurt when she was through, but she didn't want to tell
Aenti
Ruth Ann that.
Dat
said that people wanted her to feel happy again, and sometimes she was. Sometimes ice cream did help⦠just not deep down where it hurt the most. Not in the hole inside that she was saving for a mother.
Emma took another lick and then glanced up at
Aenti
Ruth Ann to see if she noticed the drips trailing down her fingers. Thankfully, her aunt was too busy chatting with her friend near the front door of the pie shop. Too busy to notice how sticky Emma had become.
The sun was warm overheadâmuch hotter than it had been in Kentucky. She'd asked for ice cream instead of pie. She'd promised to eat it all, but now it was melting faster than she could lick.
Footsteps sounded behind her, and Emma turned. A pretty woman approached, tall and thin, with red hair. Not a bright orange-red, but a light red that looked almost golden in the sun. The woman had a nice smile too. She paused, pulled a wipe from a plastic package, and handed it to Emma. “I thought you could use this.”
“
Danke
.” Emma nodded and then quickly wiped her hand, glancing at her aunt from the corner of her eye. When she finished wiping, the woman took it back, holding it by the corner. It hung limply in her hand.
She handed Emma another clean wipe and pointed to her lips, making a wiping motion. “I always get two scoops at Big Olaf's too, but I've learned to get them in a cup so I don't end up with drippy hands and an ice cream mustache.” The woman laughed, and her eyes twinkled. “This Florida sun is twice as warm as the sun up north, don't you think?”
Emma wiped her mouth, and then she handed the wipe back. “
Ja
. Hotter than the hot side of a wood burning stove.” The woman smiled. Then, looking around, Emma saw the large pots of flowers near the front door of Me, Myself, and Pie. “Are you the gardener? What is your name?”
The woman tucked a strand of hair that had slipped from her
kapp
behind her ear.
“My name is Hope, and I guess you can call me a gardener, but I've personally given up my title.” Hope sighed, placed a hand on her hip, and looked at Emma. Hope didn't have the sympathy in her eyes that Emma usually saw when people looked at her, and she liked that.