Rising Darkness by Mehl Nancy

Author:Mehl, Nancy [Mehl, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: FIC042060, Women journalists—Fiction, FIC042040, FIC053000, Mennonites—Fiction, Man-woman relationships—Fiction
ISBN: 9781441228864
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2015-09-29T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

THIRTEEN

“Here’s your hot chocolate.”

I jumped involuntarily at the sound of Zac’s voice. He’d been so quiet I hadn’t heard him enter the room. I walked over to the small stool Jonathon had put next to the bed so I could climb in.

“I’ll take that,” Jonathon said, sounding tense. “We need a few minutes, Zac. Do you mind?”

Zac looked back and forth between us. “I—I guess not,” he said, handing the cup to Jonathon. He nervously cleared his throat and looked at me, confusion on his face. “I’ll be downstairs if you need me.”

“Thank you. I’ll be fine.”

Jonathon didn’t say anything as Zac left the room. We could hear his steps going down the stairs. I climbed up on the bed, put the pillows behind my back, and pulled the covers over myself. Try as I might, I couldn’t think of anything to say. My trip to Sanctuary had come to an end. There was no way I would be able to stay here now. I’d have to go home a failure. Something I was used to.

Jonathon threw my wallet on the bed next to me. “I need you to explain what you’re doing here. Did you come to Sanctuary to find me?”

My mouth dropped open. “Of course not. I had no idea you were here.”

“Then what’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you everything, but not right now. I took some pain pills, and I’m so sleepy . . .”

“Give me the short version. Then when you’re feeling better we’ll talk more.”

I quickly ran through my reason for being in Sanctuary. My meeting with Tom and my need to find Terrance Chase for a story. “And that’s it. I’m not here to hurt anyone, or to cause trouble. I’m trying to track down a murderer. Someone you shouldn’t want hiding out in this town. After I find him, I’ll be gone.”

“You just want the story. You don’t care about this town any more than you cared about Kingdom.”

Maybe it was the pills, but tears filled my eyes and spilled down my cheeks. “That’s not fair. I cared enough to leave. I know what I did was wrong . . .”

“You burned down our church,” Jonathon stated emphatically. “You could have killed someone. I had to run inside to save Pastor Mendenhall. That’s not some kind of youthful stunt, Sophie. It could have been a terrible tragedy.”

“I know that,” I said, the words slurring. “Tom told me to do it . . .”

“You can’t blame Tom for everything you did.”

“I’m not. It was my fault. I wrote a letter to Pastor Mendenhall and told him what I’d done. I asked for forgiveness, and I left town so I wouldn’t hurt anyone else.” I wiped tears from my face with the back of my hand. “I’ve changed, Jonathon. I’m in college, working toward a degree. I’m educating myself, and I’ve been trying to make something out of my life. I’m not the same person.”

He shook his head. “How can you say that? You’re here under false pretenses.

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