Escape To Sanctuary by M. J. Conner

Author:M. J. Conner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2013-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

eleven

Sunday afternoon, the Sloan family retreated to their separate rooms to rest. In her room, Emily selected a book from Ben Sloan’s collection and settled down to read. Before she opened the cover, Sarah tapped on the facing of the open door.

“I thought you might like to visit,” she said.

“Yes, I would like that.” Emily laid the book, A Tale of Two Cities, to one side and settled back in the armchair.

Sarah pulled the chair around from the desk to face her and sat down. “How did you like church?”

“I enjoyed the service very much.”

“What about the sermon? Did you think it was good?”

“Very inspiring.” Emily smiled.

Sarah worked at an imaginary hangnail. “How do you like Brother Michael?”

“I found him to be a gifted speaker.”

“Oh, he is!” Sarah looked up, her face aglow. “He’s very intelligent and a dedicated Bible scholar.”

“Yes, I can see that.” Emily pulled the woolen shawl from the back of the chair and wrapped it around her shoulders. “How long have you been in love with Brother Barnes, Sarah?”

“Oh, no, I didn’t mean. . .” Sarah looked down at her clasped hands for a moment before raising tear-filled eyes. “I don’t remember when I didn’t love Michael.”

Emily remained silent, waiting.

“He doesn’t share my feelings.” Sarah’s sigh quavered with unshed tears. “He sees me as Ben’s little sister, nothing more.”

Emily had detected something deeper in the young minister’s expression when he spoke to Sarah. “I feel you are mistaken,” she said. “There is a special tenderness in his eyes when he looks at you.”

“Oh, Michael loves me,” Sarah said. “He just isn’t in love with me. He thinks of me as a younger sister. You see—” She took a folded quilt from the foot of the bed and wrapped it around her before sitting back down. “Michael lost his parents when he was a little boy. After that, he came to Montana to live with his grandparents. They passed away when he was a young teenager, and he came to live with us. Ben and Michael had been friends since he moved in with his grandparents; after he came here, they were inseparable.”

Sarah adjusted the blanket around her shoulders. “I followed them everywhere. Ben made no secret of the fact that he considered me a nuisance. Michael probably did, too, but he was always patient and kind. Have you ever been in love, Emily?”

The unexpected question caught her off guard. Adam Jacobs’s face passed through her mind. “No,” she said, shaking her head, “I never have.”

“I know—well, probably everyone in Sanctuary knows—you came here to marry Adam, and I was wondering. . . Well, don’t you find him attractive?”

The image Emily often had to shove from her mind reappeared—the first time she had seen Adam shaved and clean and standing in the Jacobses’ kitchen. She had been shocked to find such a handsome man under that atrocious beard he had worn as a mask. She swallowed before answering.

“Yes, I do find Adam Jacobs attractive, but I had no intention of marrying him when I came west.

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