Chapter 150

The children absolutely loved the playground, and Hope promised them they could have an extra few minutes to play after lunch if they did well on their assignments that morning. After school, those who walked home went back outside to play for quite some time before they scurried to their houses, liable to be in trouble for being late. Hope was packing up her items to take home, including the hat she'd have to smuggle upstairs when Nicholas's wagon pulled in and her plan to be sneaky went out the window.

His mouth was wide as he looked around. Hope decided she may as well go on out and meet him, so she took her regular items and the large hat box and headed for the door. "Good afternoon, Doc."

"Well, I'll be, Miss Tucker. How'd this happen overnight?"

"I'm not quite sure," Hope admitted, "but I have a feeling most of it was constructed off-site."