Joy in His Heart by Kate Welsh

Author:Kate Welsh
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2005-10-15T20:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Joy watched Chad and Kevin scamper across the clearing to the stream. Dan was lying on a litter Brian had devised, and Adam supervised today’s fishing effort. The sky above was bright as a new dime. Fluffy clouds floated across the not so distant mountaintops and a warm breeze blew the smoke from the fire away from her for a change. All in all, except that the nearest house was nowhere in sight, it wasn’t a bad day. She wished this was just a nice picnic she was on.

She’d ventured as far as the glittering stream herself a few times and had even fished this morning. Sleeping in the shelter was easier, proving, she guessed, that the human psyche could get used to anything. And though she had come to appreciate the rugged beauty of the preserve, she still wasn’t comfortable being out there.

She glanced toward her and Candy’s shelter, where the little girl had fallen asleep, worn out by another day of overenthusiastic nursing. Once again, on this third day since finding the children, Brian had asked Joy to keep the children in sight and had headed across the valley to the mountain. Until that morning they’d been able to catch enough fish to sustain them through each day. The children had grown strong on the protein the fish provided. But the meager number they’d had for breakfast had sent Brian off to implement whatever emergency plan he’d come up with that first day.

With time to do nothing but think and heal these last two days after hiking down the mountain to find the kids, she’d finally realized what had bothered her about Brian’s departure that first morning at the camp. It was the way he’d taken such deliberate care to let her know how long he expected to be gone. Had he anticipated her being suspicious that he might try to go to the plane alone? Or had she given her fear away? For which reason had he been trying to reassure her?

Even with time to ponder that disquieting idea and to watch Brian for any sign that he knew the depth of her fear, she had come to no conclusion. The man could hide his thoughts as well as a clam. And she wasn’t unaware of the way he watched her. Even at night across the campfire as he sang and played the old beat-up guitar of Pastor Harry’s that the children had carried with them on their desperate trek, she felt his eyes on her. It seemed as if he’d no longer use such information against her but she was still leery of giving away too much of herself to him anyway.

Just then the boys waved to someone—she assumed Brian. Aside from a certain lack of elation, she knew it couldn’t be anyone else. Pastor Harry had brought along a small cassette player/radio that was now out of juice. Listening to the news during the few minutes Brian had eked out of it had made

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