A Hope Remembered Read Online Free PDF

expected.
    The conversation between their fathers centered around the country’s rising number of unemployed workers and its floundering economy. Colin listened as he ate. He hated the feeling of guilt and helplessness that accompanied the news that so many returning soldiers still couldn’t find jobs. These were the men he’d flown alongside. Yet here he sat with plenty to eat and no fear of the future. If only he could think of some way to help.
    “What do you think of the unemployment of our brave soldiers, Lady Sophia?” Colin glanced at her. Would she respond with the intelligence and compassion he hoped?
    She frowned. “It’s most unfortunate. All those men without jobs.” Colin nodded in approval until she continued, “I am grateful they are home and the war is over, though. Now we can put the fighting behind us.”
    “Almost as if it never happened?” he murmured. There were times the war felt more like a long, horrible nightmare. Something one could simply shake off as unreal in the bright light of morning. But when Colin walked past Christian’s empty room, the truth of what he’d seen and experienced in France would hit him with all the force of a German Fokker biplane. In those moments his life at home felt like the dream, and the war the reality.
    “Why dwell on the unpleasantness,” Lady Sophia intoned, breaking into Colin’s troubled thoughts, “especially in such a pretty place like Elmthwaite Hall? Here one can almost believe such a horrid thing as war doesn’t exist at all.” She took a sip of her wine. “I’m quite ready to talk about much more rewarding topics of conversation.”
    He had to force his next question through clenching teeth. “Such as?”
    Once again, his hopes of finding a woman not given over to frivolity had been dashed. How many more of these meaningless conversations, dinners, and weekend house guests would he have to endure before his father realized there wasn’t a single young lady that piqued Colin’s genuine interest?
    “We could talk about fashion or jazz music or dancing. It’s wonderful to have dance partners again. Though some of the men can’t dance like they used to, what with their injuries and all.” She placed her hand on Colin’s sleeve, her gaze flirtatious. “Thank goodness you made it back in one piece, Mr. Ashby. We shall have no trouble dancing, you and I.”
    Sharp anger rose inside him, tightening his collar as effectively as his bow tie. The war and its effects, which Lady Sophia could so easily dismiss, had forever changed his life and the lives of thousands of other soldiers. Colin would never understand how people could so easily brush those sacrifices aside just because the fighting had ended.
    “I’m glad to hear your mind is again at ease, Lady Sophia,” he ground out despite his hardened jaw, “with all this war nonsense over. I shall be sure to thank the Good Lord tonight that I didn’t lose life nor limb, so that I might continue dancing.” The room felt suddenly too hot and confining. He threw down his napkin, unable to bear the thought of remaining a moment longer. “It is a shame, though, that my brother did not fare as well. He was the better dancer, you see.”
    He rose from his chair. “Please forgive me, Lord and Lady Weatherly. Lady Sophia.” At least she had the decency to blush. “I’m afraid I have urgent business to attend to.”
    “What’s this, Colin?” The anger in Sir Edward’s blue eyes belied his causal tone. “The ladies haven’t yet retired to the drawing room.”
    “I am sorry, Father. It cannot wait.”
    Colin noted his mother’s deflated expression with a prick of guilt before he spun on his heel and marched out of the dining room. He paused long enough in his escape to undo his bow tie and loosen the chokehold of his collar. At last able to breathe again, he moved toward the stairs but stopped when he spied Martin at the front door.
    “I am sorry,” the butler said in firm tones,