Sweet Forever by Ramona K. Cecil

Author:Ramona K. Cecil
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, Christian, Fiction
ISBN: 9781620293270
Publisher: Barbour Books
Published: 2012-02-29T22:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

Rosaleen fidgeted on her seat beside the piano. For the first time since she’d begun playing for Sunday services, she felt eager for the benediction.

She hadn’t been able to look Jacob in the eye after her humiliating encounter with him outside Alistair’s room. His demeanor toward her had not thawed one degree, and her heart screamed to give him a true accounting of last night’s events. But even if she could tell him about her involvement in helping the runaway slaves, would he believe her if she tried to explain?

This morning, his sermon, taken from the second chapter of Proverbs, dealt with wisdom. She wondered if he’d chosen the theme especially for her benefit, though his gaze seemed to diligently avoid hers.

“ ‘To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words,’ ” Jacob read from verse sixteen.

She remembered the look on Jacob’s face when he’d watched her stumble from Alistair’s room. What emotions had she seen playing across his features in the vacillating light and shadows of the flickering candle? Astonishment? Of course. Anger? Disgust? Had he, like Wilfred Maguire, decided that she was beyond redemption?

The next passage of scripture that boomed from Jacob’s voice seemed directed at her. “ ‘But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.’ ”

Wicked.

There it was again—the word Reverend Maguire had consistently attached to her. And now she’d heard it from Jacob’s own mouth. It reverberated through her stricken heart as if the very ax of the Almighty had fallen, severing her from any prospect of salvation. The hope she’d nurtured during hours of searching the Gospels for Christ’s acceptance had all at once been consumed to ashes and blown away. Reverend Maguire had been right. She was wicked—wicked and irredeemable.

Struggling for breath, Rosaleen knew she had to get away. Gathering her skirts in her fists, she leaped from her seat and ran from the room, through the boardinghouse, and out the kitchen door. Her vision obscured by tears, she ran on trembling legs as if to escape the wrath of God. She hadn’t even realized how far she’d gone until several minutes after she sank to the bench beside Jacob’s new church.

Lifting her head, she gazed two blocks south where the sunlight danced over the Ohio River like silver sprites. A strong southwest breeze carried the dank, fishy scent of the river that blended with the fresh smell of new lumber. Cool river breezes dried her tears and brushed the leaves of Orville Whitaker’s willow tree against her shoulder.

She’d so wanted to believe the promises of Christ were meant for her. But after the things Bill McGurty had forced her to do, how could she expect Jesus to look upon her with anything but disgust?

“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Jesus’ words from the fifth chapter of Matthew seemed to seal her doom. Convinced she’d been sullied beyond repair, she pressed her face in her hands and sobbed.

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