First Light in Morning Star by Charlotte Hubbard

Author:Charlotte Hubbard [Hubbard, Charlotte]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zebra Books
Published: 2020-09-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

As the next hours passed, Jeremiah’s arms grew leaden from holding up the lantern. His legs felt as heavy as concrete columns with the effort of combing the wooded areas behind the schoolyard. The thick trees followed the narrow, winding fork of the river well beyond the city limits of Morning Star, and more than once he stumbled over roots and debris he couldn’t distinguish because the lantern’s glare fooled his tired eyes. He’d started out walking west, covering areas other men had searched earlier—figuring that Ella would’ve kept moving, perhaps in circles, as she became confused in such unfamiliar territory. He’d left Mitch in the pole barn at the school because riding the tall Percheron among the dense trees would’ve been hazardous to both of them.

At least he hadn’t spotted a small, lifeless body floating in the river, or caught on the rugged rocks along the shoreline.

“Ella? Ella, are you here?” he called out every now and again.

To stay awake—to keep from sitting on a stump too long and falling asleep—he prayed out loud whenever he stopped to rest. “If I really do have an in with You, Lord—if it’s Your will that I find Ella,” he said loudly, “then please guide me in the direction I’m supposed to go. I don’t believe You’ll allow Your little lamb to come to harm.”

Jeremiah firmly believed what he said. But as he doubled back to the schoolhouse—twice—and read the deepening despair on the two young women’s faces, he began to wonder. The best he could hope for was that a family in Morning Star had spotted Ella and taken her in for a warm meal.

But wouldn’t they take her home as soon as they found her? Wouldn’t Ella tell them her parents’names and where she lived? Are we missing something, Lord? Looking in all the wrong places?

As the hours plodded by, occasionally punctuated by the calls of other searchers in the distance, Jeremiah had no idea what time it was. Time ceased to matter to him, except that every passing minute represented the potential for Ella to fall and hurt herself, or to meet up with other forms of danger he didn’t want to ponder.

Jeremiah reached a point where he needed to regroup, mentally and physically. His lantern was getting low on kerosene again. After checking in with Lydianne and Julia, he mounted Mitch and rode carefully toward the road, grateful for the streetlights as he passed through town. Spending ten minutes at home to drink a glass of water and grab a quick snack would give him a chance to warm up before he began searching again.

He started up the lane and then stopped Mitch halfway to the house. Pink ribbons of dawn were visible on the horizon, and the air around him took on a serene stillness. The countryside vibrated with a silence only heard along winding, unpaved roads, away from the noise of town—a silence that reverberated within Jeremiah’s soul.

His heart told him to visit his favorite spot on the riverbank, where he so often meditated and received inspiration.

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