My Hope Is Found: The Cadence of Grace, Book 3 Read Online Free PDF

he answered.
    The woman lifted her chin from the thick folds of scarf draped around her neck. Glancing southwest, she flashed a crown of silver braids. Turning her gaze back to Gideon, her eyes landed on the apple in his hand. “That all ya got to eat?”
    “No ma’am.” He took a bite.
    “Hmm.” Her gaze roved from his hat to his boots. “I’ve got a stew on.”
    By the look of her threadbare clothing and her bird-thin arms, that stew would cost her dearly. He shook his head and tried to swallow his bite so he could better speak.
    She rested a knobby hand on the top of her walking stick. “Don’t tell me a travelin’ man in the middle of winter nibblin’ on squirrel food is gonna turn down hot stew. You’re half-frozen.” She inched her basket higher up her arm. Several snowflakes floated down from the gray tempest above. A pair of honest eyes stared back at him.
    Gideon scratched his head. “Then I’d say that’s an offer I can’t resist.”
    “Good.” Her gaze sharpened and she glanced at his shirt.
    He fiddled with a loose button absentmindedly, then suddenly remembered that, like a blockhead, he’d simply thrown it over his shoulders.
    Her blue eyes held a hint of amusement. “You weren’t expecting company, I see.” She turned and headed toward the thickest part of the woods.
    Gideon quickly thrust the buttons into place and tugged uselessly at the hem as he strode after her.
    “Name’s Adelaide,” she said over her shoulder.
    “Gideon O’Riley.” His breath was frosty in front of his face. The snowflakes thickened around them.
    “O’Riley,” she repeated without slowing. She flicked a branch out of her way, and Gideon caught it before it smacked him in the face.
    Even as he wiped his cold, wet fingertips on his sleeve, he spotted a small cabin tucked amongst the thick brambles, safely out of sight of passersby. Adelaide pushed against the door and wiped her small boots on a mat just outside. “Kick yer feet.”
    Gideon did as he was told and carefully wiped the snowy mud from his boots until the smell of stew pulled him through the doorway. Heat stung his face. He dropped his pack. Adelaide set her things on the table and quickly went to work stoking the fire. Gideon glanced around the humble space. Dried herbs hung overhead and in every nook and cranny of the small cabin, it seemed. The air was musky and rich with their scents. Straightening, Adelaide rose on her tiptoes and reached for a basket above her head.
    Gideon stepped closer, his eyes adjusting to the dim light of the tiny, one-room house. “Can I lend you a hand with that?”
    “No.” She grabbed a stick from beside the stove and hit the basket until it tumbled into her arms. She squinted at him, and despite the wrinkles that framed them, her eyes held a childlike glow. “But it looks like
you
could use some help.” She moved back to the fire and lifted the lid on a blackened copper pot. He stepped sideways, careful to keep out of her way.“Well, ya just gonna stand there all mornin’?” Adelaide reached to a shelf and pulled down a jar of dried herbs. “Hang up that wet jacket by the fire before you catch cold.”
    He did as she said, his shirt taut across his shoulders as he knelt and held his frozen hands out to the flames. They tingled back to life. He spotted the woodpile that would hardly last the night. “Mind if I bring in some more firewood?”
    With both hands clamped around the jar, her paper-thin skin did little to conceal the sinewy muscles of her small arms. “If it suits you.” She grunted. “But you could start by opening this.”
    Taking the jar, he popped the metal lid and handed her both pieces.
    “That was tighter than usual.”
    “Yes ma’am. It was.”
    She stared at him. “And like I told ya, name’s Adelaide. Most folks call me that, so don’t go callin’ me nothin’ fancy.”
    “Yes ma’am.”
    She thrust a twig of a finger toward him.
    “Yes, Adelaide.” He gulped.
    With