Irene Brand - Summer's Promise

Summer told David.

“Under the circumstances, I can’t stay here at night, but there is one solution. You and I could get married and all be one happy family.”

Summer’s heartbeat sped up at the suggestion, which surprised her, but she knew David was joking as he often did.

“I think we can manage better than that….”

She stood up, and in the darkness she didn’t see the stupefied look on David’s face. He was surprised at himself. What would he have done if she’d taken him up on his offer?

Writing has been a lifelong interest of this author, who says that she started her first novel when she was eleven years old and hasn’t finished it yet. However, since 1984, she’s published twenty-four contemporary and historical novels and three nonfiction titles with publishers such as Zondervan, Thomas Nelson, Barbour and Kregel. She started writing professionally in 1977 after she completed her master’s degree in history at Marshall University. Irene taught in secondary public schools for twenty-three years, but retired in 1989 to devote herself to writing.

Consistent involvement in the activities of her local church has been a source of inspiration for Irene’s work. Traveling with her husband, Rod, to forty-nine of the United States, Hawaii excepted, and to thirty-two foreign countries has also inspired her writing. Irene is grateful to the many readers who have written to say that her inspiring stories and compelling portrayals of characters with strong faith have made a positive impression on their lives. You can write to her at P.O. Box 2770, Southside, WV 25187.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

But grow in the grace and knowledge

of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

—2 Peter 3:18

To the participants in

Harmony’s Thursday night special Bible study

and their continued spiritual maturity.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Epilogue

Letter to Reader

Carrying one small piece of luggage, Summer Weaver deplaned in Scranton, Pennsylvania, hurried out of the terminal and hailed a taxi to take her to the hospital. Four hours earlier she’d learned that her sister, Spring Brown, had been in an automobile accident and was in critical condition. The hospital’s main reception area had closed at ten o’clock, and the driver took her to the emergency entrance. In an unsteady voice, Summer asked for directions to her sister’s room.

Summer took an elevator to the second floor and diffidently approached the nurses’ station. A few staff members worked intently at computers, but other employees leaned on the counter, chatting aimlessly. They ignored her.

In desperation, Summer stammered, “I’m Spring Brown’s sister. Where’s her room?”

That statement got their attention in a hurry, and a nurse rushed to her side. “Right this way,” the nurse said and hurried down the hall with Summer, suitcase rolling behind her, hustling to keep up.

“How is she?” Summer whispered.

The nurse shook her head. Her expression was grave. “Not good. No one knows what caused the accident but the car plunged over a steep embankment. They had to use Jaws of Life to remove your sister and her husband from the wreckage.”

When she entered the room, Summer couldn’t believe the patient surrounded by medical equipment and tubes was her sister. The woman’s head was bandaged until only the middle portion of her pain-marked, ashen face was visible, but a few tendrils of auburn hair, characteristic of the Weaver sisters, had escaped the bandages and identified the woman as Spring Brown. Her eyes were closed.

“She has severe head bruises and abrasions, as well as internal injuries,” the nurse explained as she checked the equipment. Spring’s breathing was uneven and labored.

“Is she going to get better?”

The nurse shook her head. “Not unless God sees fit to heal her. We’ve done all we can do. Perhaps you’d better pray and ask God for a miracle,” the nurse said, patting Summer’s shoulder as she left the room.

Summer stumbled to the nearest chair. If that’s what it took to save her sister, she wouldn’t be any help at all, for Summer had never asked God for anything.

She moved the chair close to the bed, and mindful of the tubes attached to Spring’s body, Summer gently lifted her sister’s hand.

“Spring,” she said, “can you hear me?”

The patient’s eyelids flickered and Summer raised her voice. “Spring. Talk to me.”

Spring’s eyes opened a slit, and she smiled. “Summer! How’d you get here? Are Mother and Daddy with you?”

“They’re at home in Ohio with the kids. Daddy telephoned and asked me to come since I’m close. It didn’t take long for me to get here from New York.”

Tears slipped from Spring’s eyelids. “Have you heard that Bert died in the accident?”

Summer nodded and squeezed Spring’s hand.

“I’m dying, too, but I don’t care. Without Bert, I don’t want to live.”

Summer had never been in love, and she couldn’t understand loving a man so much you’d not want to live if he died. Why wouldn’t Spring want to get well for her children?

“What about Nicole and Timmy? They need their mother.”

Spring shook her head and winced with pain. “You can take care of them.”

Impossible! Summer thought, but she wouldn’t argue with her sister now.

“I want to be buried at home,” Spring rambled on. “When we were on mission assignment in Bolivia, there was never a day I didn’t think about the green fields of Ohio. When I was a kid, I always thought of our large white house as a fortress guarding our family. And tonight, I’ve been thinking about the times when the two of us, and our little sister, Autumn, rode on the big black wagon when Daddy entered his Belgians in competition.”

“We did have lots of fun, but I never enjoyed the farm like you and Autumn did. I like living in a big city. I’d probably never go to the farm except to see our folks.”

Spring choked, and Summer started to ring for a nurse when her sister swallowed and coughed. Summer took a tissue from the table and wiped blood from her sister’s lips.

“You ought to rest now.”

“Will you take Timmy and Nicole?”

The words astonished Summer, and she felt as if a giant hand were strangling her. “What! I don’t know how to take care of children. Besides, you’re going to get well so you can look after them yourself.”

“Promise me!”

Summer was stunned to silence. She couldn’t have spoken if she’d wanted to.

“Promise me!” Spring’s voice sharpened. She sounded exactly like their mother, Clara Weaver, and Summer had never disobeyed that voice.

“All right,” she whispered reluctantly, hoping she wouldn’t be held to a promise made under such duress.

Spring smiled contentedly, then her feverish eyes dulled, and she seemed to have trouble focusing on Summer’s face. “Pray for me. I’m a little afraid.”