Everyday Blessings by Jillian Hart Page A

home this tired? You know drowsy driving is just as dangerous as being intoxicated—”
    Dani gasped. “What’s this? I don’t remember putting anything here?”
    Oh no. The anniversary gift. Aubrey mentally groaned. She’d forgotten it was hidden in the closet, and that was one more emotional hit Danielle might be too fragile to take. “Don’t worry about it. Just grab your robe.”
    Aubrey popped back into the room, but it was too late. Danielle was already kneeling down to read.
    â€œThere’s a business card from William Corey. How strange is that? He was at the hospital. I had no idea Jonas had helped him when his wife had been in a coma.”
    â€œSpence knows William, too. Spence caught me looking at one of William’s books in the break room and had a major meltdown over the expensive book being near a large order of Mr. Paco’s nachos.”
    â€œSounds like Spence.” Danielle’s eyes were already filling. “Is this a picture?”
    â€œWilliam came by to leave that for Jonas. It’s an anniversary gift for you.”
    Tears brimmed Dani’s eyes but did not fall. Her jaw dropped as she let the realization settle in. “Jonas planned this. He…”
    She said nothing more, but the tears started to fall, soundlessly, one after another rolling down her face. “What was Jonas thinking? This can’t be an original. He knows we can’t afford something like that.”
    Aubrey didn’t know what the picture was, only that her sister was falling apart. She gently took the robe from the hanger. Her heart was breaking. True love, once found, should not be torn apart like this. “I imagine Jonas would think you were worth every penny that picture cost him.”
    Dani tugged at the string bow and drew the paper away from the simple black frame. Even in the shadows, the photograph glowed with light.
    Staring at the work, her hand to her heart, she thought she’d never seen anything so arresting.
    It was no ordinary snapshot. It lived. She felt overpowered by the emotional pull. It was a simple shot of a snow-covered evergreen bough, green needles fighting through the mantle ofpristine snow. The bough reached upward, like an arm to the sky. A sky where thin, gold and peach rays of sun broke like hope through dismal storm clouds.
    The image settled in her heart and in her soul. And it tugged at her spirit like a little reminder of faith.
    William Corey, with his artist’s eye and poet’s soul had been able to capture, for a brief microsecond in time, the divine shining out of the ordinary.
    Whatever the man’s sorrows, he’d had a gift.
    â€œIt’s my favorite work.” Dani swiped at her eyes. Her fingers came away wet. “It’s called Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. One of my favorite passages. And a good reminder.”
    â€œIt’s lovely. Jonas went to a lot of trouble to get this for you.”
    â€œI see that. The doctors spoke to me about letting Jonas go. They say he’s probably not going to come back. They think he’s already gone. That’s why I came home. To think over what they said. To figure out what to do. Or at least be prepared if his coma worsens much more, for then there’ll be no hope at all.” Danielle stared at the photograph, silent for a long time. “But this, it’s like a sign.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œI came home too weary, I just am burned-out and worn-out and out of hope.” Dani rubbed hereyes again. “This was just the sign of faith I need to go on. When you talk to William Corey, tell him thank you for this. Tell him this has made all the difference.”
    Aubrey suspected he already knew.

Chapter Five
    T he ring of the phone echoed through the dark corners of the great room, shattering the tense stillness of the gathering thunderstorm. William