دانلود رمان انگلیسی “از این روز”

The stagecoach rocked and rattled at the driver’s frantic call. Now what? Addie kept the words inside her mouth. She reached out her arm to steady Mother Stone. They’d been delayed with an injured horse, and now this rain was slowing them down. Addie wanted to get to their destination and bury herself in the work she did helping the Stones. How else could she find purpose and satisfaction? The older woman, who’d been mother to Addie these past eight years, blinked awake. “What’s happening?” “I don’t —” The door jerked open, cutting off her reply. The coach tipped as a man stepped aboard. Water dripped from his soaked clothing, ran off his hat brim, and puddled on the floor. Addie shifted her feet aside and turned her knees to avoid getting wet. “Sorry, folks, but I need a ride.” Rain blew in the open door, dampening the air and Addie’s clothes. “Close the door.” The wizened man across the narrow aisle who continually wheezed, coughed, and mopped his brow coughed. “We’ll all catch the death of a cold.” His words choked off as he gasped for breath. Although she’d steeled herself to hide her thoughts and kept her face expressionless, Addie wondered if it wasn’t too late for the elderly man, who had introduced himself as Zeke Zacharius, to worry about the effects of the damp weather on his health. The newcomer pulled the door closed. Cold air from the curtained windows continued to chill them. The other passenger—a portly man who seemed full of his own importance—huffed. “Where do you expect to sit?” Mr. Bertrand spread his bulk across a large portion of the seat.