by Emma Easter
“I cannot believe you’re alive,” she said softly and kissed him again. She planted kisses on his forehead, his cheeks, and his chin and then her lips found his once more. Time seemed to stand still as they kissed and held each other tightly. Finally, Rachel stepped back again and laughed, her face radiant with joy.
“I love you so much,” he said, kissing her hair. “When I thought something bad had happened to you, I thought I was going to die of heartache.”
“I didn’t know if I could go on living when I thought you were dead,” she said.
He stared at her in surprise. “You thought I was dead?”
“Yes. Mike showed me a picture of you lying in the grass, looking lifeless. He told me you were dead.”
Keith shook with rage. “That wicked man.” He told her how he had been followed by an SUV when he was driving to Eric and Paula’s to see her. “The car hit me from behind, and I lost control and crashed into a tree. I fell unconscious and woke up in the hospital hours later. Some kind people walking by saw my car and found me some distance away and brought me here.”
Rachel covered her mouth. “If not for Emily, I know I would have given up completely when Mike told me you were dead.” She flung her arms around his neck and pressed her body to his. “I cannot believe you are here, Keith, after believing you were dead for days.” She kissed him again. “I am never letting you go.”
He laughed. “Well, we cannot stand here forever, kissing.”
“Why not?” She gave him a lopsided smile.
He smiled back and asked if she could help him back to bed. His leg was already aching from standing for too long. After they sat side by side on the edge of the bed, he took her hand and said, “Tell me everything that happened.”
Rachel wove her fingers through his and began to tell him how she had been kidnapped and had woken up in Fallow Creek. She told him about being separated from her daughter and taken to the Restoration House, about the brainwashing that went on there, about Lily, her childhood friend who she’d gotten along with, and then how she had sent a letter to Taylor asking for a fair hearing before the elders.
As she talked, Keith’s heart grew heavier and heavier for her. She had gone through so much. He raised their joined hands and kissed the back of her hand.
She smiled at him and went on. She told him about the hearing and then finally about the elders’ final ruling. She bit her lip, her voice choked with emotion, as she said, “They asked me to choose between going back to Mike and to Emily, or leaving the town and never seeing Emily again. But for me, the choice was between going back to live in sin with Mike, thereby disobeying God, or leaving the town in order to obey God, but leaving my daughter behind.” She shut her eyes as tears ran down her cheeks. He put his arm around her and drew her to him. He rubbed her back, trying to comfort her.
She pulled back slightly after some time and then continued talking. “I went back to that Restoration House already knowing the difficult decision I was going to make. As much as I loathed Mike and did not want to continue to live in sin with him, I felt like I had no choice because of my daughter.”
Keith listened as she talked about praying and then opening up her Bible. Her eyes were overwhelmingly sad as she quoted the scripture that she’d read.
“I knew without a doubt that the Lord was asking me to follow Him in spite of what I would lose, which was having my daughter with me.”
She told him about the other scripture that she had read, which had given her a little bit of comfort. “Because of that scripture, I knew without a doubt that I would see Emily again, no matter how long it took. Now that I see you are alive, I see the wisdom of God. I will have you by my side no matter how hard things will be in the future, and that is extremely comforting.”
Keith ran his hand down her back, his heart breaking over and over again for her. The decision she had made was one no mother should ever be forced to make. “I’m so sorry, Rachel,” he said. “It might all be hard for you now, but I believe you will see Emily soon. We will fight Mike with all we have.”
Rachel nodded. “Mike will not go unpunished.” Pain and anger shone through her eyes and he understood how she felt. He hugged her to him again, and then remembered what he’d planned to ask her some days ago, before the accident.
She pulled his head down and kissed him slowly.
He drew back from her, eager to ask her if she would spend the rest of her life with him, but she wrapped her arms around him and leaned in to kiss him again.
“Wait, Rachel,” he said, pulling away from her. “I have something important to ask you.”
She stared quizzically at him. “What is it?”
His pulse raced as put his hand in his left jeans pocket. The engagement ring wasn’t there anymore. He stuck his hand in the right pocket. It wasn’t there, either.
Rachel stared at him with an amused smile. “What is it, Keith?”
He slowly stood up from the bed and Rachel immediately stood and put her arm around him. His heart began to race with worry and he forced himself to calm down. Maybe it had fallen out in the wardrobe.
He began to walk to the wardrobe on the other side of the room, Rachel’s arm around him, steadying him. Lord, please help me find it. He opened the wardrobe, praying he would find it, and then heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the small blue box lying on the wardrobe floor. He asked Rachel to close her eyes so she would not see the box.
Rachel laughed. “Why?”
“Trust me, Rachel. Just close your eyes.”
She did, and he slowly picked up the box, ignoring the pain that shot though his arm. He put it in his pocket and then told her she could open her eyes. She smiled, looking at him suspiciously. “What are you hiding from me, Keith?” she asked.
He shrugged and she led him back to the bed. When he sat again, she said, “Okay. What is it, Keith? What do you want to ask me?”
He could see from her eyes that she’d probably guessed what he was up to. There was no need to delay any further. He brought out the box from his pocket. He considered kneeling but knew he would not be able to manage. He felt slightly disappointed at the fact, but he quickly brushed it away when Rachel smiled at him. He might not be able to kneel and propose to her, but the fact that she was here and he could finally ask her to marry him was all that mattered.
“So, Rachel Dalton,” he took her hand, “the truth is that I fell in love with you the very first day I saw you. But I thought you were married, so I tried to bury my feelings. But I could not get you out of my mind. When I finally found out that you were single, I let my feelings show, and you can imagine how much joy I felt when you told me you loved me too.”
Her eyes were soft as she looked at him. She touched his cheeks and said, “I love you with all my heart, Keith. Sometimes I feel like my heart will explode with just how much I love you.”
He chuckled and went on. “I love everything about you. I wake up every day thinking about you and go to bed dreaming about you. I want you to be with me always.” He brought the box out of his pocket and opened it. She covered her mouth with her hand and tears welled up in her eyes.
He held the box out to her and said, “Will you marry me, Rachel? Will you make me the happiest man in this world?”
She flung her arms around him and pressed him tightly to her. She kissed him and whispered, “Yes, Keith. I will marry you.”
He grinned as his heart soared with joy.
She hugged him again and he drew back and slipped his grandmother’s ring on her finger. He kissed the ring, and then turned around when he heard people clapping and cheering. He grinned at Paula, the doctor, and nurses who were standing at the door. Ann, one of the nurses who had come in every day to give him his medicine, said, “Finally, our pastor is getting married!”
Keith laughed. He kissed Rachel again and then searched her eyes while she searched his. After the cheering and clapping subsided, he said to her, “I have one more thing to ask you.”
&nb
sp; “What is it, Keith?”
“I want us to get married as soon as possible so you can move into my house. Then we can start the process of getting Emily back to you.”
She nodded eagerly as her eyes lit up. “There is nothing I want more than to marry you.” He hugged her and she said, “I have something to tell you, too.” She told him about the letter she had sent to her brother and her request. And then she told him about the check she had given the mayor from her brother. “When I thought you were dead, I knew I had to do something to remember you by. Something you would want more than anything else in the world.” She smiled at him. “And that is to rebuild the town you love.”
He couldn’t believe what she’d just told him. “Two hundred thousand dollars, Rachel! But your brother doesn’t even know Destiny.”
She smiled at him. “It’s the answer to all your prayers, Keith. And also, Taylor owns a construction company and he promised to send equipment and builders… practically everything we need to rebuild the town.”
Keith shook his head in wonder and then silently whispered a prayer of gratitude to God. “I am completely overwhelmed, Rachel. Thank you so much. Thank you for the money to rebuild our town.” For a brief moment, his mind was consumed with thoughts on the best ways to use the money, and then he brushed it all aside and focused on Rachel, more precious than all the money in the world. She had suffered so much and given up so much to come here. He would protect her until his dying day. “No matter how long it takes, Rachel, I promise you, we will get Emily.”
She smiled at him. “I hope so, Keith. For now, though, I have you and the Lord, and I am content.”
She took his hand and he beamed, overwhelmed with his love for her. “Can we pray?” he asked, and she nodded.
They bowed their heads, their hands joined together, and Keith thanked the Lord for bringing Rachel back to him and asked that the Lord would give them strength for the long battle ahead. And then, with a smile, he asked the Lord to bless their future union and that they would always put Him first, no matter what.
He ended the prayer and reached out to caress her cheek, marveling at how gracious the Lord was to him. She was everything he had ever prayed for. The road ahead would not be easy, but she was right. As long as they had each other and the Lord, everything would work out eventually.
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Emma Easter
A Look at The Path to Destiny
The Destiny Series 2
A STORY OF FORGIVING THOSE WHO HAVE DONE WRONG AND BRINGING LIGHT TO THE DARKNESS – THE DESTINY SERIES IS CHRISTIAN ROMANCE, SUSPENSE AND INTRIGUE AT ITS BEST.
Newlyweds Keith and Rachel are basking in their newfound love, rebuilding their lives and the small town of Destiny. It all seems idyllic except the sorrow over Emily, Rachel’s absent infant daughter who has been separated from her mother by an obsessive father. Rachel’s first husband Mike Caldwell is a town elder of a small polygamist community, Fallow Creek where Emily is being kept and where Rachel had lived. Having Emily, escaping Fallow Creek and discovering herself in Destiny led Rachel to Keith.
With a closer connection to God than she has ever felt before Rachel receives a calling, by the Lord to go with Keith to Fallow Creek and to bring the word of God there… a light in the darkness. Rachel felt the Lord speak to her, telling her to forgive those who had wronged her and to follow his plan.
COMING JUNE 2020
About Emma Easter
Like the characters in her stories, Emma Easter juggles a range of identities.
In the low-income community where she works, Easter is known as a family medicine physician who treats patients of all ages and backgrounds, including those who’ve been historically under-served by the healthcare system. But it’s less known that she’s also experienced life on the opposite end of the stethoscope as a cancer patient, now in remission.
College friends see her as an accomplished musician, having studied and mastered five classical instruments—but behind closed doors, she’s just as comfortable rocking an air guitar to Creed. And when she isn’t giving her heart, soul, and sanity to her three young children she’s indulging in her most secret identity of all: meeting new characters, crafting fresh plots, and exploring every corner of her imagination.
Across all these different roles, one cohesive thread has tied everything together: her faith and love of Jesus Christ.
The Sisters of Rosefield is Easter’s first series, soon to be followed by a second, The Destiny Series. Both center around themes close to Easter’s heart: The importance of family, the redemption of true love, and the power of faith through harrowing adversity.
Emma Easter loves hearing from her readers. You can reach her at EmmaEaster.com.
Find more great titles byEmma Easter and Christian Kindle News at https://christiankindlenews.com/our-authors/emma-easter/