Promise of Yesterday Read Online Free PDF Page A

and cold.”
    “How can you be so mean to me?” Cooper raised his watery eyes to meet hers.
    Marylu huffed, admitted that he didn’t look too good, and then relented. “I’ll get you some tea.”
    He coughed real hard. “Lots of honey.”
    “I’ve made you hundreds of cups of tea in your life, and you’re going to sit there and act like I don’t know how you like it?” Marylu suspected Miss Jenny would coo over him a bit longer. She had a soft spot for the old man. Marylu set about cutting up roast and chopping vegetables for a stew. When the water for the tea came to a boil, Marylu got down the honey and began fixing three cups.
    For all the drama Cooper could drum up, their little ritual of taking tea, and reading the Bible at the end of the workday, never failed to bring its own brand of comfort. They were a mismatched family, to be sure, but they loved each other.
    She loved Cooper even more when he was quiet, though she had to admit that cough had her worried. The sound seemed raw, and she pondered the idea of putting some crushed garlic into his tea to ward off any further sickness.
    When she set the teacups out, a thick silence settled around the room, disturbed only by the vague crackling of the wood fire fueling the stove. Cooper seemed content to warm his hands around the hot cup, his gaze distant. Jenny stirred her tea absently, as if Marylu hadn’t quite worked the sugar into the amber liquid, but she guessed the woman had her mind on business, or a dress or bonnet.
    Marylu slipped down on the bench, not realizing until she got still how much her body needed the rest. Muscles seemed to unbunch, and her knee protested being bent after so many hours. She inhaled the steam and wished she’d put a pinch of cinnamon into her cup, but the prospect of rising didn’t appeal in the least, so she contented herself with sipping the tea plain.
    “Guess we’d best be reading before the night gets away from us.” Marylu grunted and reached toward the Bible sitting in its usual place at the end of the table. No dust collecting on this Bible. Not with Cooper to keep in line, a task made all the lighter since he almost always deferred to her and Miss Jenny to do the reading.
    The leather cover of the Bible had begun to crack from the years of wear. Marylu ran a finger down the fracture and wondered if the local bookbinder could do something to mend the tear. The Bible had been a gift to them from Jenny’s mama and daddy, and she sure and certain wanted to keep it in good repair.
    “You gonna read or start to bawling?” Cooper frowned, though his eyes held a mischievous gleam. A cough choked him up, followed by another.
    “You just worry about sucking down that tea. You hear?”
    Miss Jenny put a hand to Cooper’s shoulder. “I really think I should fetch the doctor.”
    “I’m an old man,” he barked, the words punctuated with another cough. “If I gotta go, no doctor’s gonna prevent it.”
    Marylu flipped the pages to Samuel. “And we’re surely not going to stand in the way, either.”
    “Honestly!” Jenny sent Marylu a stern look. “The two of you are just terrible.”
    Cooper balled a fist and pressed it to his lips as if to stifle another cough. Marylu saw the gesture for what it was worth, a ploy to cover his amusement. The man’s dark, watery eyes met hers long enough to deliver a wink, before another cough yanked at his chest.
    Jenny didn’t notice the exchange, unconsciously patting the man on the back as the coughing fit continued.
    Such a straying of attention made Marylu hold her finger underneath the verse she’d been about to read and frown. Miss Jenny’s stare wasn’t directed at the cookstove in an I-need-to-get-a-new-one kind of way. No, her eyes were focused on something Marylu couldn’t see, and she had a feeling she knew what had her employer and friend so distracted. What
man
had her so distracted, to be exact.
    Marylu ran her finger down the Bible passage they were to