A Mother's Promise. Ruth Scofield

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СКАЧАТЬ mean I’ve consulted a lawyer about adopting Cecily.”

      “You can’t do that, Aunt Katherine! I don’t intend to give Cecily up.”

      “You’re an unfit mother! I think that will speak in the court system.”

      Lisa gritted her teeth to prevent herself from saying something she’d regret. “I never once neglected Cecily, ever,” she said at last. “I made some bad choices about…about her father, that’s true, but I thought— Never mind. I love Cecily with my last breath. I won’t sign any such papers.”

      “That still might not affect what a judge decides,” Katherine warned, a gleeful note in her voice.

      “My life is different now.” Lisa prayed her fear wouldn’t rob her of determination to put her old ways behind her. She had changed, but she hadn’t had much time on her side to prove it. “Any judge will take that into account.”

      “We’ll see, won’t we? We’ll just see.”

      Those words resounded in Lisa’s ears all the way home. A threat. Rage and a sense of betrayal made her seethe. What a hard case Aunt Katherine could be. Well, she’d show her…she’d show everybody.

      But in her own way, at least Aunt Katherine cared about Cecily. She would take good care of her.

      Lisa shook her head to dispel her irritations. To get her daughter back, she had to look out for herself, to plan and save, to be prepared and strong. Not like before.

      Lord have mercy, she’d been so gullible… At her age, too. She’d been long past the time in life when one could label such dewy-eyed trust as youthful foolishness.

      Never again.

      If only she could find Rudy, that double-dealing, lying two-headed snake. If she could track him down, she’d personally throttle him until his face went purple. Then she’d kick him until he couldn’t sit and truss him up like a prize deer, tie him atop the truck, and parade him all the way to the police department.

      She nosed the old truck onto the gravel space that Uncle Fred used as a parking spot, picturing how silly and satisfying such a sight would be. She even felt a chuckle bubbling up at the thought. Then she sighed. Beth Anne and everyone else would say she should let the police handle Rudy. Or point out the Lord’s directive, “Revenge is mine…”

      “I can’t do that just yet, Lord,” she muttered aloud. “I have to know that skunk is going to pay for what he’s done.”

      If she ever got Rudy in her sights again, she’d go after him with everything she had in her power, and she didn’t envision a pretty outcome. Over the last twenty months, a number of delightful ideas had come her way. Dumping a bucket of red paint all over him as he slept was a favorite. Or hot tar…yeah, she liked that old-fashioned way of dealing with deceivers. Tar and feathers. She’d use an old feather boa or two, bright red…

      What would really please her would be to see him prosecuted for his embezzlement, as she had been. But as far as she knew, he was sunning himself alongside his “poor, dying wife” somewhere on a Caribbean beach, untouchable.

      Uncle Fred, white-haired and paunchy, lay sprawled across the couch listening to the late news, when she entered the small cottage-style house. The phone rang as she closed the door.

      “It’s for you, Lisa.” Uncle Fred yawned widely and handed her the old-fashioned rotary phone.

      “Oh? Who is it?”

      “Don’t know. Same guy who called thirty minutes ago.”

      Someone checking up on her? Already? Had Aunt Katherine made a complaint against her after all? She was only thirty minutes late.

      “Hello?” She perched on the sagging edge of the only chair in the tiny living room.

      “Hi. Lisa?”

      “Yeah?”

      “Oh. Glad you’re home. This is Ethan Vale.”

      “Ethan? Oh, hi.” What did he want?

      At Uncle Fred’s raised brows, she waved him away. He punched the TV’s off button, then left the room, heading toward the kitchen for his usual bedtime snack of crackers and milk.

      “Beth Anne asked me to call to make sure you got home all right. And she wants to know if you’d like a ride to the Bible Study at Jimmy’s house. That came up after you left, I guess. We’re starting tomorrow night.”

      “Who else will be there?”

      “Not too sure. Cindy and Pam, probably. Me and Jimmy. We can arrange a ride for you, if you need one. Beth Anne said you might.”

      Another gathering so soon? And Lisa wasn’t too keen on Bible Study. It sounded dry. All that stuff about people dead thousands of years? What would their lives have to do with hers? Up until now, she’d depended on Beth Anne to show her the Scriptures she could apply to her life.

      What do you have to lose but ignorance?

      The small urging came gliding through her thoughts. She’d had more of the same lately, and she found it a bit spooky sometimes. But Beth Anne thought it perfectly natural in a believer.

      “Okay.” The sudden acceptance popped out of her mouth before she realized it. “I work later on Fridays. I need to get stuff ready for the evening shift. If someone can pick me up at the restaurant where I work, I’ll come. Uncle Fred is usually out on weekends, so I don’t have his car.”

      “Great. I’ll make sure to be there on time.”

      He would? If Ethan Vale thought this was some kind of date, then he had a rude awakening. No dating for her now or in the future, and even if there were, she sure wouldn’t choose a self-absorbed easy charmer like Ethan Vale. She was through with men. Totally, forever through with men. Romance didn’t work in her life, she’d painfully discovered. Besides, all the good men were taken.

      But…if Ethan wanted to put himself out to help her, why should she care? She’d let him. His personal interest would be short-lived, anyway, because as soon as he found out about her recent troubles, he’d run scared. Men did that.

      Meanwhile, she could use the promise of her new associations to impress her parole officer.

      “Suit yourself.”

      In the background, she suddenly heard the wail of a small child. “Daddy…”

      “Uh-oh, gotta go. See you tomorrow night.”

      The phone line clicked. He’d hung up.

      So Ethan was a parent, too. What was his story?

      It didn’t matter. She set the phone back on the scratched mahogany end table, wondering how Ethan expected to pick her up from her place of work when she hadn’t told him where to come. And how had he known she’d need a ride? What had Beth Anne told him?

      Chapter Three

      “C’mon, СКАЧАТЬ