A Matter of Heart by Tracie Peterson

Author:Tracie Peterson [Peterson, Tracie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC042030, FIC042040, FIC042000
ISBN: 9781441264787
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2014-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Feeling nearly recovered from her bout of sickness, Jessica sat reading by the fireplace. The day was warm enough that a fire wasn’t needed, but this chair was Jessica’s favorite. Upholstered in a soft mauve color, the fan-backed chair was far and away the most comfortable. With an added ottoman, Jessica felt like a queen on her throne. Of course, she never told anyone that and would now have been quite embarrassed if she had. She’d given a lot of thought to how she might go about changing the way people saw her. Jessica wanted desperately to have people love her and respect her just as they did Mrs. Barnett or even Mother, and taking on queenly airs wasn’t the way to accomplish that.

She was looking at the words of Matthew chapter five and pondering the meaning of the Sermon on the Mount when her mother ushered visitors into the front room.

“Look who I ran into, Jessica, as I was coming back from the springhouse.”

It was Marty Wythe and her sister Hannah.

“Miss Hannah . . . Marty,” Jessica greeted with a nod.

“How are you feeling, Jessica?” Hannah Barnett asked.

Jessica smiled. “Much better, thank you.” She could see that the ladies clearly had something on their minds. “If you need, I can retire to my bedroom.”

Hannah shook her head. “No. You can be of help in this matter. We are putting together a group of women to pray.”

Jessica grimaced. For all that she had been doing to try to know God better, she wasn’t at all sure her prayers would avail much. But already Hannah Barnett was looking to Mother.

“We have a problem, a family problem, and we need the Lord’s counsel and protection.”

“Why don’t you sit down and tell me what’s happened,” Mother more insisted than questioned.

The two women took a seat on the sofa and began to share the story, first one explaining and then the other.

“We can’t help but think that Mr. Morgan means to see Jake put in jail unless he goes to Colorado and helps him,” Hannah told them.

“But how can he possibly do such a thing?” Mother asked. “Surely no one would believe that Jake embezzled anything.”

Marty spoke up. “Mr. Morgan gave us everything and made us feel that it was a perfectly normal procedure for him to follow with his employees. We had no way of knowing that the money, gifts, and even the lower interest rate on our home were part of his scheme to control Jake. Of course, Mr. Morgan had no idea the financial crash would come and close down many of the banks.”

“But Jake no doubt worked hard for the man,” Mother countered.

“He did. He did all that he was instructed to do. But that doesn’t seem to matter,” Marty replied. “Jake said there’s no way to prove that those things were gifts or that the extra money was given and not taken from the bank. Mr. Morgan told Jake that he has plenty of friends who will help him doctor the books and make it apparent that Jake stole from Mr.

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