She cocked her head and folded her fingers around the coins. “I told you. God answered my prayer.”
Ethan swallowed and held out his hand. “May I please see them?”
Hannah pursed her lips. “You won’t try and put them in the bank, will you?”
Hannah had been suspicious of banks ever since the one time his ATM card had failed and their evening plans to go to the movies had been thwarted. He motioned for her to hand him the coins, which she did, although with hesitation.
He fingered them and read the stamped dates. “They look like they’re real.”
Mrs. Hancock, a tiny woman with frizzy gray hair, drew closer to get a better look. “Goodness,” she breathed. “I bet they’re worth a pretty penny.”
“Not pennies, Mrs. Hancock!” Hannah said. “They’re dollars. Made ofgold.”
“Hannah, where did these come from?” Ethan asked again.
“I told you. God heard my prayer, and He gave them to me so we can buy the gallery.”
“Sweetie.” Ethan tried to temper his voice and mask his frustration. Squatting to her eye level, he met her gaze. “I told you, as much as I’d like to buy the gallery, it’s not for sale.”
“You said notyet.”
“And maybe not ever,” he said gently.
“Then you should get another one.”
If only it were that simple. Oak Hollow wasn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, a metropolis, but it was the closest town to Canterbury Academy. Allie had taken a job at the school because she was friends with the owner. Ethan had gone along because he’d fallen in love with the area’s gently rolling foothills.
“Let’s go and look for one right now!” Hannah suggested.
Ethan nodded, knowing that a walk down Oak Hollow’s Main Street would take less time than trying to change his daughter’s mind.
“Did you feel the earthquake today?” Hannah asked later as they strolled down Main Street.
“I did.” He cast her a glance. “I didn’t see you in the auditorium with the rest of your class.”
“I didn’t know they had gone there,” she told him. “You know we got there late. The earthquake happened right before I went to class, so when I got to homeroom, everyone had been evacuated. It was so weird to be in there all by myself. But then I saw the coins, and I knew God had put them there for me to find.”
Ethan didn’t know how to argue with this logic, so he didn’t try.
#
ZOE LOOKED UP WHENCourtney blew into the bakery. Her sister always managed to show up after the mopping but in time to take home the day’s unsold donuts. And, to add insult to injury, the donuts didn’t seem to pad her hips and waist. Courtney remained willow-thin no matter how many donuts she collected. Could it be she wasn’t eating them herself?
No. Generosity wasn’t in her sister’s vocabulary.
Recognizing that as an ungenerous thought, Zoe shook herself, and went to put away her mop and grab a box for Courtney’s daily haul.
“Where’s Laurel?” Zoe asked. As much as she loved her sister, she loved Laurel more and looked forward to her niece’s visits.
“Jess took her to the Ice Capades.” Courtney helped herself to a cake donut with pink frosting and settled onto a bistro chair. After kicking off her shoes, she propped her feet up on the seat across from her. She bit into her donut and let out a contented sigh. “I’m so glad you opened a bakery. Sometimes I think I should abandon my consignment shop and just come and spend the day with you here.”
Because Zoe knew this wasn’t a good idea, she cast around for a change of subject. “Jess is in town?”
“They’re filming just north of here.” Courtney licked her fingers. “He has four tickets to the Rabid Rabbits concert this weekend. Do you want to go?”
“You know I can’t. I have to be up at four to start the bread.”
“Get Claire to do that.”
