A Discovery of Hope (A Coming Home Again Novel Book 3) Read Online Free PDF

meet me for coffee in the morning. I thought this would be good enough to at least bring back the conversation, but all Hope will do is pat me on my shoulder and smile.
    We are seated in the corner of our usual coffee shop, staring uncomfortably into our cups. Mom mumbled a few questions on how school is going and I’ve mumbled an okay so far. She doesn’t even know about my major change and I have no patience for filling her in with it today. Nope. Today I am on a difficult mission I’m not sure how to maneuver. Forgiveness .
    I don’t know how to begin this conversation so I just blurt out as we study our cappuccinos, “I want to forgive you.”
    Mom stops playing with her coffee stirrer and looks over at me through watery gold eyes. “I want you to forgive me too, Willow.” She dabs away an escaped tear delicately so as to not smudge her flawless makeup. I wonder how she plans on continuing to afford such luxuries, but banish the thought with great effort. It doesn’t matter. She places her hand on top of mine. “Please forgive me, sweetheart.”
    I pull my hand from under hers and see the little dagger of pain that move inflicted, so I try covering my action by taking a sip of coffee. After I place the cup back down, I place my hands in my lap. “You left me,” I whisper through the hurt of it.
    “I left your father, not you. Willow, you are a grown woman. You don’t need me anymore, which was clearly proven in this past year.” Her voice catches on this as though she’s close to choking on the words.
    I want to rebuke her claim and cry out that I’ll always need her. Instead, my anger wins over my vulnerability. “Well, it’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?” I ask calmly, trying not to sound too sharp.
    “I just need some time for myself. I know it’s so selfish of me. But, please,” she begs.
    I go back to studying my coffee cup, unable to look her in the eyes. “How can I forgive something I don’t understand?” I ask absently, doubting there is a comforting answer to my query.
    “You’ll understand one day when you fall in love for the first time, and I just bet it’ll happen sooner rather than later. You will find yourself doing what you never thought capable of because of that love.” She says this wistfully with a smile and my stomach seizes with offense.
    “Who wants love if it turns you into a fool?” I snap.
    This slaps the smile off of my mother’s face. We go back to the muted coffee cup stare for a while, until my cup is close to empty and I’m ready to bolt.
    Mom breaks the silence. “Please love me in spite of myself.”
    I look over at her and find her crying again, but I hold my tears back. I refuse to shed any in front of her. “I do love you, Mom.” I glance around the quaint shop, wanting to avoid her gaze.
    She clears her throat and dabs a tissue at her eyes. “Then you will forgive me too,” she says with more confidence than I think she should. “You will forgive me because you love me, not because I deserve it,” Mom clarifies when she sees my brows pinched together.
    Hope appears at this comment. My angel is sitting beside me in the vacant chair at our small table. She quotes a familiar passage of scripture.
    “ Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
    I know I don’t deserve God’s forgiveness, but He gave it anyway when I asked. Simply because He loves me. And I do love my mom.
    “I forgive you,” I whisper, causing my mom and my angel to smile with hope.
    On the slow drive home, I keep eyeing Hope as she searches the radio for a song pleasing to her. She seems infatuated with music.
    “I did as you asked. Why are you still here fiddling with my radio?” She stops on a rap station. I use the button on the steering wheel and change it over to a country station where Miranda Lambert is telling it like it is through bold, twangy lyrics.
    With her hand still resting on the radio nob, Hope