The Course of True Love - Book l

Beecher's Hope - A New Jerusalem

One month later...

Charles, John, and Arthur slowly stood back to admire the house they had just built. Seeing that it was much bigger and more extravagant than in the brochure, it was definitely a work of art. "You know, Marston, I didn't think you had it in ya." Arthur poked, patting John's shoulder. 

"I didn't either," John chuckled, shaking his head. "But thank you. Especially for you and Minnie putting your lives on pause just to help me." 

"It's not a problem, John. We know you would do the same with us." Minnie smiled, assuring him.

"I know. Thank you."

"When we get back home, we'll put a word in with Mister Geddes. He's got a whole barn full of furniture from when he remodeled his house. I'm sure he wouldn't mind sendin' you some."

"Really? That's great. Yeah, if you wouldn't mind. I'm sure Abigail wouldn't be too fond of coming home to a new house without furniture." He chuckled. 

"That's if she comes back..." Uncle chimed in. 

"How long the doctor give you for your Lumbago, Uncle?" Arther asked sarcastically. 

"It's a terminal disease."

"So... He didn't give you a lifespan?" 

"...No?" 

"Good, because I'm about to shorten it." 

Uncle scoffed, "You and your jokes, Morgan. I've had just about enough of 'em."

"Yeah? And I'm sure we've all had enough of you." 

"Hey, I've been a good help around this place!" 

"Yeah, makin' sure that oak tree over there don't go nowhere." John added with a roll of his eyes, referring to Uncle's constant nap sessions. 

"Actin' just like him, John Marston. I definitely don't miss when you two would gang up on old Uncle." 

"We're about to do it for real this time if you don't shut your trap!" John warned, walking up onto his new porch. "Now if you excuse me, I got a letter to write." 

Sitting atop an old crate and using another one for a table, John softened the lead on his pencil before pressing it gently onto the paper below him:

𝓜𝔂 𝓭𝓪𝓻𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓐𝓫𝓲𝓰𝓪𝓲𝓵,

𝓘 𝓱𝓸𝓹𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓭𝓸𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝔀𝓮𝓵𝓵. 𝓘 𝓻𝓮𝓶𝓪𝓲𝓷 𝓪 𝓯𝓸𝓸𝓵 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓘'𝓶 𝓼𝓾𝓻𝓮 𝓘 𝓼𝓱𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓭𝓲𝓮 𝓪 𝓯𝓸𝓸𝓵, 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓘'𝓶 𝓽𝓻𝔂𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓮 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓶𝓪𝓷 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓭𝓮𝓼𝓮𝓻𝓿𝓮. 𝓘 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓭𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓼𝓲𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓲𝓷 𝓪𝓷 𝓮𝓯𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓲𝓶𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝔂𝓸𝓾. 𝓐𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓲𝓼... 𝓘'𝓿𝓮 𝓹𝓾𝓻𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓼𝓮𝓭 𝓪 𝓱𝓸𝓶𝓮. 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭 𝓪𝓫𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓷𝓮𝔀𝓼𝓹𝓪𝓹𝓮𝓻 𝓾𝓹 𝓪𝓽 𝓑𝓮𝓮𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓻'𝓼 𝓗𝓸𝓹𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔀𝓮 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓰𝓸𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓻𝔂 𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓪𝓽 𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰. 𝓜𝓻. 𝓖𝓮𝓭𝓭𝓮𝓼 𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓭𝓵𝔂 𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓹𝓮𝓭 𝓶𝓮 𝓫𝓾𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓭. 𝓘 𝓶𝓮𝓽 𝓤𝓷𝓬𝓵𝓮 𝔀𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓮 𝓘 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓫𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔀𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓮 𝓘 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓯𝓮𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 𝓪𝓫𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓱𝓲𝓶 𝓱𝓮 𝓱𝓪𝓼 𝓫𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓮𝓷𝓸𝓻𝓶𝓸𝓾𝓼𝓵𝔂 𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓹𝓯𝓾𝓵 𝓲𝓷 𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓯𝓪𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓸𝓷. 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓵𝓮𝓼 𝓢𝓶𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓱𝓪𝓼 𝓪𝓵𝓼𝓸 𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓲𝓼 𝓾𝓷𝓼𝓾𝓻𝓹𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓵𝔂 𝓪 𝓹𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓪𝓻 𝓸𝓯 𝓼𝓽𝓻𝓮𝓷𝓰𝓽𝓱. 𝓗𝓮 𝓽𝓸𝓵𝓭 𝓶𝓮 𝓪𝓫𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓐𝓻𝓽𝓱𝓾𝓻 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓜𝓲𝓷𝓷𝓲𝓮 - 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓱𝓪𝓭 𝓫𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝓷𝓮𝔁𝓽 𝓭𝓸𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓸 𝓜𝓻. 𝓖𝓮𝓭𝓭𝓮𝓼' 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓬𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔀𝓮 𝓭𝓲𝓭𝓷'𝓽 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓲𝓽. 𝓢𝓶𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓵𝓭, 𝓻𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽? 𝓣𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓬𝓪𝓶𝓮 𝓭𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓹𝓮𝓭 𝓶𝓮, 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓵𝓮𝓼, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓤𝓷𝓬𝓵𝓮 𝓫𝓾𝓲𝓵𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓼𝓮. 𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓲𝓻 𝓵𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓵𝓮 𝓫𝓸𝔂 𝓲𝓼 𝓪 𝓼𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓼𝓮𝓮, 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽'𝓼 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓼𝓾𝓻𝓮. 𝓗𝓮'𝓼 𝓼𝓸 𝓼𝓶𝓪𝓻𝓽 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓪𝓰𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓹𝓮𝓭 𝓾𝓼 𝓵𝓪𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷... 𝓔𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓱𝓮 𝓭𝓲𝓭 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓻𝓸𝓬𝓴𝓼, 𝓱𝓮 𝓽𝓸𝓸 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓹𝓯𝓾𝓵. 𝓣𝓸𝓰𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻, 𝔀𝓮'𝓿𝓮 𝓫𝓾𝓲𝓵𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪 𝓱𝓸𝓶𝓮. 𝓘 𝓱𝓸𝓹𝓮 𝓼𝓸𝓸𝓷 𝓽𝓸 𝓼𝓱𝓸𝔀 𝓲𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝔂𝓸𝓾. 𝓘 𝓶𝓲𝓼𝓼 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓫𝓸𝔂 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓷 𝓘 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓮𝔁𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓼. 𝓟𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓮, 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓽𝓸 𝓶𝓮.

𝓨𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼 𝓪𝓵𝔀𝓪𝔂𝓼,

𝓙𝓸𝓱𝓷