Never Without Hope (Sacred Vows Book 1) Read Free

“We could talk more. Get to know more.”
    Surely his question was innocent enough. I really should talk about my faith. So why haven’t you so far, eh?
    I shook off the thought. “Uh, lunch would be okay, I guess. But I’d rather meet at your house…like maybe on a Sunday after church.” Sucking in a deep breath, I released it with a whoosh. “I think it would be nice to meet your wife. I think you’d get along great with my husband, too. Maybe you could even go to church with us.”
    He hesitated; his voice sounded less confident. “Is not good idea. My wife, she is very…how you say…possessive? She would not understand.”
    That should ’ve tipped me off right there. But I can be pretty naïve sometimes. “Okay, well, then I guess you can send me an e-mail. If you think your wife might change her mind, let me know.”
    “ Sounds good. I send you e-mail.”
    “ Sure.” I paused. I really didn’t want to meet him in person again. It would be too…awkward. I’d feel like we were doing something behind our spouses’ backs—at least on his end it would be sneaking around—and that wouldn’t be okay. Sure was a nerve-wracking conversation, and I wanted it to end, but was not sure how to do that tactfully, since I really did need his input on Italian culture for my book series.
    “ Hey! Where you live?” he asked with a smile in his voice, like he was on the verge of laughing.
    “ Why?” I glanced in my rearview mirror. His large black truck tailed me. What if he was a pervert? My chest tightened.
    “ Because I drive behind you. I live near Colorado Drive and Miller Road.”
    I peered closer. Yep, that was definitely him in the truck behind me. Thankful that Miller Road was over twenty miles long, I considered answering his question, but decided against it.
    His signal clicked on and he took a left turn.
    “ See you later, Bella Speranza .”
    Bella Speranza ? What in the world?
    “ That means beautiful hope.”
    “ Okay, uh, bye, Tony.” I winced. Why didn’t I say something about his comment?
    He turned off the road and within seconds was out of sight.
    Again, I wondered what had I gotten myself into. He lived less than five miles from my house. Out in the country, yes, but off the same main road. That couldn’t be good, or could it? I decided it wasn’t good. Told myself that, anyway. Even if I didn’t have enough courage to confront him on calling me beautiful Hope in Italian.
    I snapped my cell phone shut.
    Later that evening I logged onto the computer and checked my e-mail.
    I saw an address I didn ’t recognize, but I knew it wasn’t spam because the subject line read WE MET ON PLANE. I clicked on it . Thanks for getting to know you in airport. This made my day nice. Tony . He attached an adorable smiley to his signature.
    So his grammar was a bit off, but I figured if my first language was Italian I wouldn ’t do much better. I knew he was a nice guy. Sometimes I am just too paranoid. I decided since his comment was innocent enough, I’d write him back. Same here. Hope .
    His reply came quickly. You still plan to mail chapters for me?
    Sure, I replied and attached the completed chapter of my most recent work. Maybe he’d learn something about my faith from my story. After all, that was the only reason I’d keep in any kind of contact with him. At least that’s what I’d told myself.
    I ’d gotten the impression over lunch that he wasn’t a man with a strong belief system. While I hate to judge anyone, the hints I dropped that would normally draw out that type of conversation had fallen on deaf ears. So I was pretty sure I was right. With a sigh, I logged off the computer and got ready for bed.
    After four months of e-mailing back and forth, the contact trickled off. I suppose that was okay, because he ’d given me the necessary details about Italy that I needed to enrich the book. Plus, I got a bit nervous after reading some of his comments. Several times he’d reply with a