Let There Be Light (29 page)

“You aren’t going to repent and believe the gospel until its light shines into your darkness. And here in verse 6, it is stated of believers that God has shined His light into our blinded hearts. I was once like you, Jenny. I heard about salvation in Jesus, and all that goes with it, but I just couldn’t see it. But when I found my life so miserable and was fearful of what lay beyond death, I allowed Him to shine His light into my Satan-blinded heart and mind. I saw the truth, and in repentance of my sin, I opened my heart to Jesus and received Him as my personal Saviour.”

Jenny’s face had a deadpan expression.

Laura smiled. “Notice here in verse 6, Jenny, that it refers to God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. See that?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Laura held her place in 2 Corinthians and turned back to Genesis chapter 1. “Look here in verse 1. ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.’ Now watch verse 3. ‘And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.’ ”

Jenny’s expression had not changed.

Laura turned back to 2 Corinthians 4. “Now, look at verse 4 here again, Jenny. Read it to me.”

Reluctantly, Jenny read verse 4 aloud.

“All right. You get the picture, don’t you? Satan has blinded you so the light of the gospel should not shine unto you. He doesn’t
want you to be saved. He wants you to die without Christ and spend eternity in hell. Now look at verse 6 again and read it to me.”

Jenny nodded and read the verse aloud.

Laura smiled at her. “Look there. ‘For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts’ … the hearts of those like myself, who have put our faith in Christ. When I gave God the chance, Jenny, He shined the light of the gospel into my spiritual darkness. What I couldn’t see before that moment, I could see clearly then. And when I saw what the gospel was, I realized that Jesus had gone to the cross of Calvary, shed His precious blood for my sins, died for me, and came out of the grave three days later so He could save me if I would open my heart to Him.

“That’s what the gospel is, Jenny, according to 1 Corinthians 15:3 and 4: ‘How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.’ There is no one else in the gospel, because only Jesus can save us. We must put our faith totally in Him for our salvation, Jenny, based on the finished work of His blood-shedding death, His literal burial, and His literal resurrection from the dead.

“If you will let God shine His gospel light into your darkened heart and mind, He will do it. He will not force it on you. But if you will, you will see the light. When you do, you will repent and open your heart to Jesus.”

Laura flipped back to Romans chapter 10. “Here, honey. Read verse 13 to me.”

Noting that this verse was also underlined in red, Jenny read it aloud. “ ‘For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ ”

“It’s that simple, honey. Put that together with what we’ve already read. If you call on Jesus to save you in repentance of your sin, believing the gospel, He will save you. You will then have Jesus living in your heart. God will say, ‘Let there be light,’ and all your darkness will be gone. All your sins will be washed away in His precious blood, and you will go to heaven when you die, not to a horrible burning hell.”

Jenny licked her lips but did not respond.

“I’ll be glad to help you, honey.”

Jenny shook her head. “I still can’t see it, Laura. I’m really busy right now. I need to get back to what I was doing when you knocked on the door.”

Laura surprised Jenny by closing the Bible and placing it in her hands.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m giving this Bible to you. I bought it for you when I was in Pittsburgh. Did you notice that I had the verses underlined that I showed you?”

“Yes.”

“I did that so you could find them easily.”

Jenny smiled. “Laura, that was sweet of you. You’re very kind. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Will you promise me something?”

“What?”

“That you will read the underlined passages over and over again, on your own.”

Jenny nodded. “I will.”

“And may I come back and talk to you again about this?”

Jenny felt her stomach tighten. “I’m … ah … going to be gone for a little while, but maybe sometime later.”

Laura would have liked a more positive answer, but she wouldn’t push Jenny too hard. She wanted to deal with her again after the Word had some time to take root in her heart. She hugged Jenny, saying again how sorry she was for the loss of her parents. Jenny laid the Bible on a small table by the sofa, then walked her to the door. When she closed it, she went back to the parlor, sat down in the rocking chair, and put her mind on the search she would make for Dan Tyler.

A few minutes later, she left the house and walked to the railroad station to see when the next train was leaving that would carry her to Richmond.

When Jenny returned to the silent house, she took her satchel from the storage closet, and without much thought of what she was
doing, began to pack a few items for her trip. Closing the fasteners, she placed the bag near the front door.

Her next stop was the kitchen, which once was the liveliest room in the house. She stoked up the stove, filled the kettle with water, and placed it where it would get hot the quickest.

I’m not the least bit hungry
, she thought.
But for the task ahead of me, I must maintain my strength
.

After eating a light supper and washing her few dishes, Jenny stood at the cupboard, drying her hands. Her heart began to race in anticipation of her trip and eventual quest to find and destroy Dan Tyler.

She decided to give the house a good cleaning, since she would probably sleep very little, anyway. She tied on her apron and decided she would start in her parents’ bedroom. Pouring hot water from the kettle into a bucket, she picked up a mop. Upon entering the room, she saw a gorgeous sunset through the window. She paused a moment and watched the sun throwing its slanted rays through the lace curtains, duplicating their pattern on the wooden floor.

Her eyes traversed the room. There was the bed, standing in stately fashion near the window, overlaid in a blue and white coverlet with a colorful quilt folded across the foot. The next to draw her attention was the washbowl and pitcher on the dresser, decorated with painted flowers and ivy. Next to them were her mother’s comb and hairbrush. Pegs along the wall by the closet still held some of her mother’s clothes. There was even her father’s favorite jacket on a peg, left their purposely by her mother.

Tears filled Jenny’s eyes. She moved to the items on the pegs and touched them. “I love you, Mama.” She told her father she loved him too.

The moment became too much. A deep sob escaped her lips.

She whirled about and threw herself facedown on the bed, sobbing into the pillows in an attempt to rid her heart of the unending ache inside.

The next morning, Jenny went next door and told the Bowdens she was taking a little trip in regard to her father’s death, and asked them
to keep an eye on the house. As she had stated to the Hendersons, she told the Bowdens she wasn’t sure exactly how long she would be gone, but she was estimating it would be a week or a bit longer.

At seven o’clock that evening, Jenny boarded the southbound train that would take her to Baltimore, through Washington, D.C., and on to Richmond.

While the train rolled southward in the night, Jenny was alone on the seat. She watched the lights in the windows of farmhouses for a while, then put her mind back on the purpose for her trip. She slipped her hand into the purse and gripped the .38 revolver. She gritted her teeth.
I’ll find you, Dan Tyler, wherever you are. You will pay for what you did. You put my papa in his grave, and by so doing, you put my mama in her grave. I am going to put you in your grave!

When the train stopped in Baltimore, Jenny watched passengers get off and go into the arms of loved ones. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she faced the realization that never again would she ever be in the arms of her father and mother.

Her mind went back to the night in April 1861 before her father left home to go into the Civil War the next morning …

Myrna Linden was helping her husband pack his bags in their bedroom, while fifteen-year-old Jenny was doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen.

When Jenny finished her work in the kitchen, she walked down the hall toward the bedroom and heard her parents talking about the War and how it was tearing families apart. When Jenny appeared at the door, her father was holding her weeping mother in his arms. William Linden set loving eyes on his daughter and opened an arm for her.

Jenny hurried to him and let him encircle her in the arm. Tears were in her own eyes. She put an arm around him. “Oh, Papa, please come back to us. Please don’t get killed in that awful war!”

William squeezed his daughter tight. “Honey, I’ll come home to you and your mama when the War is over.”

Jenny sniffed and blinked at her tears. “Promise?”

William Linden wanted to encourage his daughter. “I promise,
sweetheart.” He then looked into her tear-dimmed eyes. “Now, if this war goes on for a few years, you’re not going to get married while I’m gone, are you?”

Jenny sniffed and blinked at her tears again. She thought of Nate Conrad. Nate had left for Washington, D.C., two days earlier to be inducted into the Union army. He would also be gone until the War was over. She forced a smile. “No, Papa. When I get married, I want you at my wedding.”

William leaned down and kissed her wet cheek. “I want you to have a church wedding, and I’m going to be there to walk you down the aisle.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

The train was pulling out of the Baltimore station when Jenny’s thoughts came back to the present. She wiped at her tears and whispered, “And I know you meant that promise, Papa, but that murderous Dan Tyler took your life. He made it so you couldn’t keep your promise.”

Vengeance burned within her as she told herself she would figure out how to kill Tyler once she located him. Once again, her hand slipped inside the purse and gripped the revolver.
I’m not an expert with a gun, Dan Tyler, but you can bank on it. I’ll come up with a way to be close enough when I pull the trigger. I won’t miss
.

Soon the train was once again rolling through the countryside. While Jenny watched the twinkling stars in the sky and the winking lights in the farmhouses, her thoughts went to Nate Conrad, and how he had betrayed her.

She wondered if she would ever get married.

T
HE TRAIN PULLED INTO THE
R
ICHMOND DEPOT
at nine-thirty the next morning. With the satchel in one hand and the purse in the other, Jenny Linden walked out to the street and hired a buggy to take her to the capitol building.

The woman at the receptionist’s desk directed her to the offices that had been occupied by officials of the Confederate army during the War. She found a small number of men there, doing paperwork in regard to the War. One of the men directed her to the Confederate military records office, which was on the second floor.

Topping the stairs, Jenny moved past three other government offices, then spotted the sign that read:
Military Records
.

The door was open. Jenny stepped in and approached the counter. A handsome young man rose from his desk, smiled, and moved up to the counter. “Good morning, ma’am. May I help you?”

Jenny noted that the nameplate on his desk identified him as Eldon Wheeler. She smiled in return. “I believe so, Mr. Wheeler. I’m from Pennsylvania. My father died in the Andersonville Prison Camp in Georgia during the latter part of the Civil War. Of course, I didn’t know about his death until some time after the War was over, you understand.”

“I understand.”

“Several weeks after the War ended, the Union soldiers who had
been in Confederate prison camps came home. I was told by a Union officer who had been with my father at Andersonville that he had died there shortly before the War ended. This officer told me that one of the camp guards, a Sergeant Dan Tyler, was the last man to see Papa alive. I desperately need to locate Dan Tyler and talk to him.”

Wheeler nodded. “Certainly, ma’am.” He now had a pencil in hand, and a pad of paper. “What is your name, ma’am?”

Jenny’s heart lurched. She dare not leave a trail that could lead the authorities back to her when they found Dan Tyler dead. The first name that came to mind was her mother’s maiden name. “My name is Jenny Blair, sir. B-L-A-I-R.”

Eldon Wheeler scratched the name on the pad. “And the Confederate guard’s name is Dan Tyler. He was a sergeant, you say?”

“Yes.”

“Would you happen to know where Sergeant Tyler is from? What state, I mean.”

“No, sir.”

When Wheeler had written down this information, he said, “I’ll put a clerk on it right away, ma’am. It could take some time, like maybe a couple of hours for the clerk to find Tyler’s file.”

“That will be fine. Is there somewhere I can wait?”

“Yes,” said Wheeler, heading for the small gate at the end of the counter. “There’s a small room a couple of doors down.”

Wheeler led Jenny down the hall to the room, opened the door, and motioned for her to step in ahead of him. The only light was from the hall, but Jenny could see the overstuffed chair, a small table beside it, and three wooden chairs nearby. A ticking clock hung on the wall.

Wheeler quickly lit two lanterns. “There you are, Miss Blair. I assume it is
Miss
Blair. I noticed you’re not wearing a wedding ring.”

Jenny smiled thinly. “Yes, it is
Miss
Blair.”

“As you can see, there are some magazines on the table here by the chair. Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be back as soon as the clerk brings me Sergeant Tyler’s file.”