The Letters Read Online Free PDF

moment, all she could do was stare at him, stunned. Galen King was nothing like she’d thought he’d be. He was a helpful neighbor to Vera but preoccupied with the task of raising his younger siblings. Ten years ago, his father had broken his neck after being thrown from a horse and Galen became the man of the house, overnight, without warning. People tended to think that Galen was surly, recalcitrant, a real grump. He had a tough exterior that made him seem older than he was. It was an image he liked to cultivate, but he was never able to pull it off for long. Underneath his curmudgeon exterior, he had a heart as soft as butter left on a sunny windowsill.
    Over the last seven months, Galen had gone out of his way to look after the Schrocks—fixing fences, finding the right horse for Rose, returning straying animals and straying little boys. He made himself quietly useful. Soon, Rose began to see that was what he did, the kind of man he was—and that everyone, including the Schrocks, depended upon him to do it.
    Rose took the basement key from her pocket as she walked to the basement door. Even that was a plus—the basement had its own exterior opening. That topped the list of Bethany’s many objections—that guests would be interfering with the family. Meals and all. Rose didn’t see it that way—as soon as she got the basement fixed up, guests wouldn’t need to go to the house. She would deliver breakfast to them. As for dinner, she didn’t plan to offer dinner at all. She only did so last night because Lois and Tony were in a fix on a stormy night. She reached into her pocket and felt the one-hundred-dollar bill. Imagine that! God’s blessing.

    Galen and Rose walked toward the musty, dusty basement. She hadn’t been in it since they’d moved to the farmhouse last year. That realization triggered memories of their move. Her mother-in-law was the one who had insisted that Dean and Rose bring the children and live with her after their home was taken over by the bank. Dean had put it up as collateral to the bank for loans, and lost that bet. “I’ll have someone in the church help me set up that small room beyond the kitchen for a bedroom for me and we’re right as rain,” Vera had told them.
    “But it’s putting you out of your own house—” Rose had said.
    “No, it’s not. I’m not really able to climb those stairs anyway. Bad knees. This way I have company and a little place to myself. What could be better? I’ve been waiting for the day when Dean and his children would come back where they belonged.”
    Vera kept insisting, Dean acquiesced, so Rose knew she had no choice. They moved the family and all their belongings into the large farmhouse in Stoney Ridge—about an hour’s drive from Dean’s office in York County. Rose had hoped that moving to Stoney Ridge might be a turning point. Instead, it became a point of bracing oneself for the storm.
    Rose worked the key in the lock. The door was warped, so Galen had to use his shoulder to push it open. As they stepped inside, something scurried by their feet—a gray mouse. Then another. When Rose’s heartbeat returned to normal, she followed Galen the rest of the way inside. She could see just enough to make her cringe. She waited for Galen to say something, the way she waited for her children to talk. People would talk when they got their mind around the subject.

    When Galen had looked all through the basement, he folded his arms across his chest. “It’s worth a try.” It wasn’t entirely below ground, another plus. The house was built into a hillside, so the front window of the basement was large and the room was filled with sunlight. It was a big enough space that Galen thought it could be divided into two bedrooms and a sitting area. Maybe a small kitchen could go against one wall—cabinets and a refrigerator and an oven. And a bathroom. Definitely a bathroom. He took the pad and paper from her hands, his fingers brushing hers.
    He