With speed that was both entertaining and a little bit embarrassing, Katie and Joseph ushered their family out of the room and through the door to the dining room. Burke and Sophie were granted privacy, but there was no doubt the family suspected the feelings that had been growing between them.
If only Burke wasn’t coming to deliver difficult news.
“Whatever you’ve come to say must be urgent,” Sophie said. “You look ready to burst.”
He nodded. “I’ve given a lot of thought to the many conversations we’ve had, and the things that have happened here in Hope Springs. And I’ve made a decision about the offer Mrs. Archer has extended.”
“Well, that’s a coincidence.Ihave made a decision about my own future as well.”
“You have been pondering your future?” She hadn’t mentioned that to him.
“I have been. And I’ve struggled with it as much as you have.”
“What have you decided?”
She shook her head. “You first. I don’t think I can endure the suspense of waiting to hear.”
“I know I could be a successful doctor in Baltimore. I could do the job well. The doctor whose practice I would take over there would be pleased. The patients I looked after would be well cared for and receive the best medical care I could offer them. And that would mean a lot to me. But I could have that anywhere. I would be a good doctor no matter where I was practicing.”
“That's true,” Sophie said. She watched him closely, seemingly as interested in his answer as he had been in reaching it.
“But, in Hope Springs, I have more than that. I have family. I lived my whole life without that, so I didn’t recognize what I had here for what it was. Only while standing in my infirmary, looking at all they had done for me, did I realize that’s what I’ve found here.”
“They really do think of you that way,” Sophie said.
“I don’t know that I would have that in Baltimore. I wouldn’t be as much a part of my patients’ lives as I am part of my neighbors’ lives here. And that isn’t something I’m willing to give up.”
Sophie pressed her palms together and rested her fingers against her lower lip.
“I’ve decided to stay in Hope Springs,” he said. “It will never be impressive to some people, but I love what I’ve made here, and I’m proud of the life I’ve built.”
“I cannot tell you how happy that makes me.”
He took her hand. “I’m grateful to you for helping me sort through it. You asked me difficult questions, but they were the ones I most needed to answer. I would still be wallowing in that doubt now if not for you.”Burke raised her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers softly. “Thank you, Sophie.”
“This makes me so happy,” she said again, squeezing his fingers.
“What is ityou’vebeen debating?” he asked.
She kept her hand in his, but her expression turned heavier.“Actually, your decision complicates mine a little.”
“How so?”
“For a little while now, I’ve been pondering staying in Hope Springs instead of returning to Baltimore.”
His heart leapt in his chest. Was she staying?
“You see, if I stay, and so do you, there’ll be no one to travel back with Mrs. Archer.”
At that, hope bubbled further. “Haveyou decided to stay here?”
“I have. Or I had, anyway. But I can’t leave Mrs. Archer in the lurch.”
Burke set his arms around her. She leaned into his embrace.
“We will think of something,” he said. “We’ll think of a way for both of us to stay here and her to get back home.”
She smiled up at him. “I hope so. That both of us decided independently to stay here is a gift of fate I don’t think we ought to ignore.”
