Marta's Legacy Collection Read online

  Praise for the Marta’s Legacy series

  “Writers like Rivers are why people buy Christian fiction: it’s dramatic, engaging . . . [and] this well-told tale will have readers eagerly awaiting the story’s resolution.”

  Publishers Weekly

  “An emotionally rich exploration . . . Rivers’s novel will appeal to readers who enjoy historical fiction and sweeping family sagas with exotic settings. As her compelling characters seek to do what they feel their faith demands, Rivers sets their resonant struggles against dusty streets, windswept Canadian plains, and California vineyards in vivid scenes readers will not soon forget.”

  Booklist

  Starred Review

  “Her Mother’s Hope has all the meaty elements of a blockbuster. . . . It’s a solid novel of family relationships, a page-turner that appeals far beyond both the romance and the Christian categories.”

  Denver Post

  “This long-awaited novel is every bit as engrossing and stunning as Rivers’s previous books. The prose is elegant and life changing, and the characters are memorable. This sweeping family saga will touch both the heart and soul.”

  Romantic Times

  Top Pick

  “Best-selling author Rivers delivers another captivating novel in Her Mother’s Hope. . . . Rivers proves once more than she can keep readers transfixed and wanting more.”

  Christian Retailing

  Top Pick

  “Top-notch writing and storytelling . . . make Her Mother’s Hope quite the saga and an exceptional work of historical fiction.”

  Bookreporter.com

  “The conclusion to Rivers’s two-book saga featuring mothers and daughters is both engrossing and emotionally satisfying. . . . The sweeping time period from the 1950s through the present day allows the reader to engage personally in the amazing narrative.”

  Romantic Times

  4½ Star Review

  “Rivers has written another page-turner. . . . This heartfelt and sweeping saga is as ambitious as its central matriarch.”

  Publishers Weekly

  “Her Daughter’s Dream . . . is a not-to-be-missed novel for anyone who enjoys good writing. Spanning the 1950s to the present, Rivers stays true to each generation.”

  Christian Retailing

  “Hauntingly beautiful, Her Daughter’s Dream explores the bonds of love between four generations of mothers and daughters. Francine Rivers holds nothing back in often fragile, always emotional, and sometimes explosive relationships. . . . Like an exquisite melody, Her Daughter’s Dream will stay with you long after you turn the last page.”

  Novel Journey

  “Stunning. . . . Few books these days really change your life as you’re reading. Her Daughter’s Dream accomplishes this and more.”

  Fictionaddict.com

  Visit Tyndale’s online at www.tyndale.com.

  Check out the latest about Francine Rivers at www.francinerivers.com.

  TYNDALE and Tyndale’s quill logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

  Her Mother’s Hope copyright © 2010 by Francine Rivers. All rights reserved. Originally published under ISBN 978-1-4143-1863-9 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

  Her Daughter’s Dream copyright © 2010 by Francine Rivers. All rights reserved. Originally published under ISBN 978-1-4143-3409-7 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

  Published in association with Browne and Miller Literary Associates, LLC, 410 Michigan Avenue, Suite 460, Chicago, IL 60605

  Cover illustrations copyright © 2010 by Robert Papp. All rights reserved.

  Her Daughter’s Dream cover photo of woman copyright © Konstantin Igoshev/iStock. All rights reserved.

  Her Daughter’s Dream cover photo of woman copyright © Michele Princigalli/iStock. All rights reserved.

  Interior images copyright © by Duncan Walker and iStockphoto. All rights reserved.

  Interior photos of author’s family used by permission from the Rivers family collection.

  Designed by Beth Sparkman

  Edited by Kathryn S. Olson

  Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible,® copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

  Scripture quotations in chapter 41 of Her Daughter’s Dream are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

  This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.

  Build: 2012-08-08 09:17:09

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Her Mother’s Hope Dedication

  Part One: Marta Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Part Two: Hildemara Rose Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Part Three: Marta Chapter 44

  A Note from the Author

  Discussion Guide

  Her Daughter’s Dream Dedication

  Prologue

  Part One: Hildemara Rose Chapter 1

  Part Two: Carolyn Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Part Three: May Flower Dawn Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49
/>   Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Part Four: Jenner by the Sea Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Epilogue

  A Note from the Author

  Discussion Guide

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Most of the novel you are about to read is purely fictional, though there are bits and pieces of personal family history woven throughout. The manuscript has taken various forms over the last two years, and in the end morphed into a saga. Many people have helped me in the process of writing the stories of Marta and Hildemara in the first volume and Carolyn and May Flower Dawn in the second. I want to thank each and every one of them.

  First of all my husband, Rick, has ridden the storm through this one, listening to every variation of the stories as the characters took form in my imagination and acting as my first editor.

  Every family needs a historian, and my brother, Everett, has played that role to perfection. He sent me hundreds of family pictures that helped flesh out the story. I also received invaluable help from my cousin Maureen Rosiere, who described in detail our grandparents’ almond and wine-grape ranch, a pattern I used in this novel. Both my husband and my brother shared their Vietnam experiences with me.

  Kitty Briggs, Shannon Coibion (our daughter), and Holly Harder shared their experiences as military wives. Holly has been a constant help to me. I know of no other person on the planet who can find information on the Internet faster! Whenever I ran into a wall, Holly tore it down. Thanks, Holly!

  Holly’s son, U.S. Army Lieutenant Daniel Harder, gave me information on the engineering and ROTC programs at Cal Poly. He is now on active duty. Our prayers are with him.

  Ila Vorderbrueggen, a nurse and personal friend of my mother’s, helped me fill in information about long-term patient care in the Arroyo del Valle Sanatorium. I’ve enjoyed our correspondence.

  Kurt Thiel and Robert Schwinn answered questions about InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Keep up the good work, gentlemen!

  Globus tour guide Joppy Wissink rerouted a bus so that Rick and I had the opportunity to walk around my grandmother’s hometown of Steffisburg, Switzerland.

  All along the course of this project, I have had brainstorming partners when I needed them. Colleen Phillips raised questions and encouraged me from the beginning. Robin Lee Hatcher and Sunni Jeffers jumped in with ideas and questions when I didn’t know which way to go. My agent, Danielle Egan-Miller, and her associate, Joanna MacKenzie, helped me see how to restructure the novel to show the story I wanted to tell.

  I would also like to thank Karen Watson of Tyndale House Publishers for her insights and encouraging support. She helped me see my characters more clearly. And, of course, every writer needs a good editor. I am blessed with one of the best, Kathy Olson. She makes revision work exciting and challenging rather than painful.

  Finally, I thank the Lord for my mother and grandmother. Their lives and Mom’s journals first inspired the idea of writing about mother-daughter relationships. They were both hardworking women of faith. They both passed on some years ago, but I cling to the promise that they are still very much alive and undoubtedly enjoying one another’s company. One day I will see them again.

  For Shannon and Andrea

  1

  Steffisburg, Switzerland, 1901

  Marta usually loved Sundays. It was the only day Papa closed the tailor shop and Mama had a rest. The family dressed in their finest clothes and walked to church, Papa and Mama ahead, Marta’s older brother, Hermann, behind them, and Marta and her younger sister, Elise, bringing up the rear. Usually other families joined them along the way. Marta would watch eagerly for her best friend, Rosie Gilgan, who’d run down the hill to join her and walk the rest of the way to the old Romanesque church with its arches mortared shut and the white clock tower.

  Today, Marta hung her head, wishing she could run away and hide among the pines and alders while the townsfolk gathered for services. She could sit on her favorite fallen tree and ask God why Papa despised her so much and seemed so set on making her suffer. Today, she wouldn’t have complained if Papa had told her to stay home and work in the shop alone and not step foot outside the door for a week, though it would take longer than that for the bruises to fade.

  Despite evidence of the beating he had given her, Papa insisted everyone attend services. She wore a knitted cap and kept her chin down, hoping no one would notice. It wasn’t the first time she had borne the marks of his anger. When people came close, Marta shifted the woolen scarf or turned her face away.

  When they came into the churchyard, Papa sent Mama ahead with Elise and Hermann. He caught Marta by the elbow and spoke into her ear. “You’ll sit in back.”

  “People will want to know why.”

  “And I’ll tell them the truth. You’re being punished for defying me.” His fingers dug in painfully, but she refused to utter a sound of pain. “Keep your head down. No one wants to see your ugly face.” He let go of her and went inside.

  Fighting tears, Marta went in alone and stepped into the last row of straight-backed chairs.

  She watched her father join Mama. When he glanced back, she tucked her chin quickly, looking up again only after he had seated himself. Her sister, Elise, looked back over her shoulder, face far too pale and strained for a child. Mama leaned close, whispering, and Elise turned face-forward again. Hermann sat between Mama and Papa, his head turning to the right and left. No doubt he was looking for friends and would disappear as soon as the services ended.

  Rosie passed by and sat near the front. The Gilgans had eight children and took up an entire row. Rosie glanced toward Marta’s mother and father, then back. Marta hid behind Herr Becker, sitting in front of her. She waited briefly and peered around the baker again.

  All the murmuring stopped when the minister stepped into the pulpit. He opened the service with prayer. Joining with the congregation, Marta said the prayer of confession, and she heard the minister’s assurance of God’s mercy and forgiveness. As the creed and Scriptures were read, Marta let her mind drift like the snow blowing across the Alpine meadows above Steffisburg. She imagined herself spreading her arms like wings and letting the white swirling flakes lift and carry her wherever God willed.

  And where would that be? she wondered.

  The minister’s voice rose as he preached. He always said the same thing, but used different words, different examples from the Bible. “Strive harder. Faith is dead without good works. Do not become complacent. Those who turn their backs on God are destined for hell.”

  Was God like Papa, never satisfied no matter how hard she tried? Papa believed in God, but when had he ever shown her mercy? And if he believed God created everyone, then what right had Papa to complain over how tall she was, how thin, how white her skin, how large her hands and feet? Her father cursed her because she passed the school examinations “and made Hermann look a fool!”

  She’d tried to defend herself. She should have known better. “Hermann doesn’t apply himself. He’d rather hike in the hills than do his studies.”

  Papa came after her. Mama tried to get between, but he shoved her roughly aside. “You think you can talk to me like that and get away with it?” Marta raised her arm to protect herself, but it did no good.

  “Johann, don’t!” Mama cried out.

  Still gripping Marta’s arm, he turned on Mama. “Don’t you tell me—”

  “How many times must we turn the other cheek, Papa?” Something white-hot rose up inside Marta when he threatened Mama.

  That’s when he used his fist on her. He let go of her abruptly and stood over her. “She made me do it. You heard her! A father can’t tolerate insolence in his own home!”

  Marta didn’t know she’d fainted until Mama stroked the hair back from her face. “Be still, Marta. Elise is getting a wet
cloth.” Marta could hear Elise crying. “Papa’s gone to the tanner. He won’t be back for a while.” Mama took the cloth Elise held out. Marta sucked in her breath when Mama dabbed her split lip. “You shouldn’t provoke your father.”

  “So it’s my fault.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “I pass the examination with the highest marks in school and get a beating for it. Where’s Hermann? Strolling along on some mountain trail?”

  Mama cupped her cheek. “You must forgive your father. He lost his temper. He didn’t know what he was doing.”

  Mama always made excuses for him, just as Papa made excuses for Hermann. No one made excuses for her.

  “Forgive,” Mama said. “Seventy times seven. Forgive!”

  Marta’s mouth twisted as the minister spoke of God the Father. She wished God was like Mama instead.

  When the service ended, Marta waited until Papa motioned her to join the family. Head down, she fell into step beside Elise.

  “Johann Schneider!”

  Papa turned at Herr Gilgan’s voice. The two men shook hands and talked. Hermann took advantage of the distraction to join some friends heading up the hill. Mama took Elise’s hand when Frau Gilgan joined them.

  “Where have you been all week?” Rosie spoke softly and Marta turned. Rosie gasped softly. “Oh, Marta.” She moaned in sympathy. “Again? What was his reason this time?”

  “School.”

  “But you passed the examination!”

  “Hermann didn’t.”

  “But that’s not fair.”

  Marta lifted one shoulder and gave Rosie a bleak smile. “It does no good to tell him so.” Rosie would never be able to understand. Her father adored her. Herr Gilgan adored all his children. They all worked together in the running of Hotel Edelweiss, encouraging one another in everything. They teased one another with good-natured humor, but never mocked or belittled anyone. If one of them had a difficulty, the others lovingly closed ranks around him and helped.

  Sometimes Marta envied her friend. Every member of the Gilgan family would finish school. The boys would serve their two years in the Swiss Army and then go off to university in Bern or Zurich. Rosie and her sisters would learn fine cuisine and the art of running a large household that embraced up to thirty outsiders. She would be tutored in French, English, and Italian. If Rosie had further aspirations, her father wouldn’t deny her simply because she was a girl. He would send her to university along with her brothers.