White Heat (2010) by Novak Brenda

Author:Novak, Brenda [Brenda, Novak,]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-01-14T19:10:47+00:00

17

Rachel felt Bartholomew's eyes on her before she'd even reached Sarah. At first, she was afraid he'd intercept her, but he didn't. He watched from where he stood, like a sentry at the door.

Grateful for the crowd, which obstructed his view at least some of the time, Rachel got herself a drink and sidled over to Martha's friend. She tried to make it look like she was just searching for a place from which to see the festivities and hoped Bartholomew would believe she had no ulterior motive for choosing this particular spot.

After about five minutes of watching the dancers, she offered Sarah a smile. "Hello."

Sarah squirmed in shy discomfort, but responded with a softly spoken, "Hi."

"I'm new here."

Ducking her head as if to hide her scars, she muttered, "Yes, I know."

"How long have you been part of the group?"

"Three years."

"How did you first become interested in the Church of the Covenant?"

She smoothed her robe. "I joined when Ethan and four of the Brethren came through my village."

"Village?" Rachel had hardly ever heard an American refer to his or her hometown as a village.

"It's sort of a bedroom community outside Albany, New York," she said. "There are only six hundred residents."

"That's pretty small."

When she didn't respond, Rachel had to come up with another way to keep her engaged. "So the Holy One came to visit and you...what? How did you become familiar with him?"

"I heard he was holding an Introduction near the Appalachian Trail, so I attended to see what all the uproar was about."

"Uproar?"

"My father's an atheist. He thinks people who believe in God are weak-minded fools, that the stories in the Bible are merely that--stories, which have been handed down for centuries."

"I've heard his take on the Bible before." She gave Sarah a conspirator's smile. "I guess Noah's Ark and Jonah and the whale are particularly difficult to accept from a realistic standpoint."

"I guess, but...I believe anything is possible--with God."

Didn't Rachel believe that, too? Sometimes. She wasn't an atheist, despite what she'd been through. "So you went to hear Ethan even though you knew your father wouldn't be happy about it?" She definitely could relate to that.

"I wanted to make up my own mind about Ethan."

"You must've been impressed with his doctrine."

"He's a powerful speaker."

And joining his group offered her an escape from her father. How much did that enter into it? "I'd have to agree. I attended the meeting the other night and was quite impressed."

Sarah's earnestness suddenly overcame her shyness. "You could feel the Holy Spirit so strongly at that meeting, couldn't you?"

"You were there?"

"I go to all the Introduction Meetings. I love spreading the word of God, I love bringing those who suffer in darkness into the light. I want to tell everyone about the peace I've found in Christ." She looked away, obviously embarrassed to have grown so passionate.

"I can see why you might like that," Rachel said. "But...what about all the rumors? They don't bother you?"

She shifted, instantly uncomfortable again. "What rumors?"

"You know, the ones in Portal and probably other places, as well, about some woman getting stoned out here.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.