Let There Be Light (40 page)

“Yes, Jenny. I … I’m so happy you’re here. Could—could I give you a welcome hug?”

The thought of her father’s murderer touching her was disgusting, but she knew it had to be. Holding the smile, she nodded. “Uh-huh.”

While Dan was giving her a brotherly hug, Jenny felt revulsion, and her hatred for him seethed in her like cold acid, but she had to keep up her act. She hugged him in return. When they released each other, Jenny covered her true feelings. “I’m so glad to finally meet you.”

Dan looked down into her blue eyes. “Same here. You’re even more beautiful than your picture.”

She gave him another smile just as Harry Eubank stepped up with her satchel in hand. “Here you are, Miss Blair.”

Dan took the satchel and thanked the shotgunner. “The wagon’s right over here.”

As Jenny walked beside him, she felt the weight of the .38 caliber revolver in her purse. It sent a tingle slithering down her spine. Dan placed the satchel in the wagon bed and helped her up into the seat. To keep up her act, Jenny slipped close to him when he settled on the seat and took up the reins.

As the wagon headed out of town, Dan told Jenny about Suzanne Brady’s sudden death three days ago, and how surprised he was to learn from Suzanne’s attorney that she had willed the ranch to him, including what money she had in her bank account.

Jenny found herself strangely attracted to Dan, but struggled against it. This news settled the question as to whether she would kill him before or after the wedding. She would wait until they were
married, then as his widow, the ranch would be hers. She would sell it and go back to Harrisburg a wealthy woman.

Dan then explained that since Suzanne wouldn’t be at the ranch, it would not look good with just the two of them out there, and not married.

Jenny agreed.

“I want you to see the ranch, then I’ll bring you back to town. My friend Clay Holden and his new wife, Mary, have offered to let you stay in their home until the wedding. The house has a nice spare bedroom.”

“That’s fine, Dan. It won’t be very long, anyway. That is, if you agree. You see … I already know I’m in love with you. As far as I’m concerned, we can get married real soon.”

Dan slipped his free arm around her and gave her a big smile. “Jenny, I’m already in love with you too. I know you are the one the Lord has chosen for me. I have perfect peace about it.”

“Me too,” she said, secretly meaning something totally different. Her plan was working already.

“To be proper, we should wait at least a month, then marry.”

Jenny would rather get it over with sooner, but she told herself it would take a little while to figure out how to shoot him and make it appear that someone else did it. “A month is fine, darling.”

As the wagon drew up to the gate, Dan pulled rein and explained that the sign that hung over the gate on the thick posts would soon be changed from
Box B Ranch
to
Box T Ranch
.

Jenny smiled up at him and squeezed his arm. “Sounds wonderful to me.”

Dan put the wagon in motion again, and as they moved down the lane, Jenny ran her gaze over the wide fields dotted with cattle. “This is sure different than Pennsylvania, but I like it.”

Dan smiled. “I knew you would.”

They were drawing near the ranch house. It stood proudly in the bright September sunshine. To Jenny, every window sparkled, as if with a smile of welcome.
Oh my. Under other circumstances I would really love this place. Well, at least it will be mine for a little while … till he’s dead, and I sell it
.

Dan helped Jenny from the wagon and held her for a moment.
She forced another smile and tilted her face toward him. Though it repulsed her, she let him plant a soft kiss on her lips.

Dan’s heart pounded as he took her through every room in the house. From the kitchen door, he showed her the cabin out back where he used to live. Jenny found that she genuinely liked the ranch and the house, but lied once again as they stood on the front porch. “Oh, Dan, I’ll be so happy here as your wife!”

Dan kissed her again, then helped her into the wagon seat.

That evening at the parsonage, Jenny found that she actually liked Pastor David Denison and Clara. And strangely enough, she liked Clay and Mary, and Joel and Martha. The dinner Clara and her daughters had prepared was exquisite. Later, when the Holdens showed her their guest room and welcomed her warmly, she thought that these born-again people did have some fine qualities.

On Sunday, Jenny carried her Bible to church and found that she also liked the members, who welcomed her so warmly.

Dan had told her she should join the church right away, so at the invitation, an inwardly nervous Jenny walked the aisle and told the pastor she wanted to become a member. He asked for her testimony of salvation while the congregation continued to sing the invitation song, and because what Laura had shown her in the Bible was fresh in her mind, she was able to fool the pastor.

On Monday, Dan and Jenny sat in Pastor David Denison’s office, and Dan explained that they were already in love and were certain the Lord had chosen them for each other, but felt they should wait at least a month before getting married.

Denison smiled and nodded. “I believe that’s wise, Dan.” He looked at the small calendar on his desk. “How would Saturday, October 14, be? That’s just a little more than a month.”

Dan looked at Jenny, who was once again wishing it could be sooner.

“That sound all right to you, sweetheart?”

“Sounds perfect! October 14, it is!”

As the days passed, Jenny nursed her grudge against Dan Tyler for what he had done to her family, but as she became better acquainted with him, she struggled with the uncontrollable emotions that ran through her when she was with him. She could hardly believe that this kind and gentle man was capable of murder. But she knew he was, because Edgar Toomey was there at the prison camp and told her so.

On Sunday, October 8, Pastor David Denison reminded the people from the pulpit at offering and announcement time that the Tyler-Blair wedding would take place at the church on the following Saturday afternoon at three o’clock.

Sitting in the pew with Dan at her side, Jenny’s heart pounded within her. He looked at her and smiled, and she smiled back. The Holdens and the Stevenses were in the same pew, and flashed their smiles at Dan and his prospective bride.

Jenny told herself that once they were married, she would finalize her plan as to how she would exact her justice on Dan and make it look like someone else had shot him. When he was buried, she would work with the attorney to sell the ranch and collect her money. And then, it was back to Harrisburg.

A ladies’ trio sang a special song, then Pastor Denison stepped up to the pulpit and opened his Bible.

“My initial text this morning is Genesis 1:3. Please turn there with me in your Bibles.”

When Jenny opened her Bible to that familiar page, her eyes fastened on the verse, which Laura Denton had underlined. The words “Let there be light” seemed to be written in letters of fire.

After reading the verse to the congregation, Pastor Denison commented on how God dispelled the darkness found in verse 2 with the light. He then took them to 2 Corinthians 4:3–6 and preached on how God brings the true gospel light into Satan-blinded, sin-darkened hearts through hearing and reading the Word.

As he preached, something was happening in Jenny’s heart. Suddenly she saw the truth of the gospel, and of heaven and hell.
She saw her lost condition before God so clearly, it startled her. At that moment, as the preacher went on, to Jenny it was like God was speaking to her almost audibly, saying, “Yes, Jenny: Let there be light!”

Tears were misting Jenny’s eyes as she moved her lips silently. “And there was light!”

She blinked her eyes in an attempt to keep the tears back. She was successful. She didn’t want Dan to see her tears.

The preacher went on in his sermon and described hell from a graphic Bible passage. He then warned of clinging to the darkness when God had shined the light of the gospel into a lost sinner’s heart. He closed the sermon and gave the invitation. Two teenage girls and one man walked the aisle to receive Christ.

Jenny stood there during the invitation, struggling with the light that was penetrating her darkness, but she managed to hold on till the invitation was finished and the service was over.

The sermon in the evening service was on Christian living, but the gospel was also included. Jenny had another battle when the invitation was given, but once again, managed to stay in the pew.

A
S
D
AN
T
YLER WALKED HIS BRIDE-TO-BE
to his wagon after the service, he could tell that something was bothering her. When they drew up to the side of the wagon, he said, “Sweetheart, is something wrong?”

A bit distracted by what the gospel light was doing in her heart, she looked up him. “Hmm?”

“I asked if something’s wrong.”

“Oh. No, darling. I … I was just thinking about the friends I left in Harrisburg, including Zack and Emma Henderson, who were so good to me on my job. Please don’t misunderstand. I’m happy to be here, but I still miss them.”

“Well, of course. I understand. I’m glad that’s all it is.”

Dan helped Jenny into the wagon at the same time Clay was helping Mary into their buggy close by.

Dan and Jenny followed the Holdens to their house. Dan was invited in, and after coffee and oatmeal cookies were served and devoured, Dan and Jenny walked out onto the front porch. They kissed good-night, and Jenny waited on the porch and waved to him by the light of the porch lamp.

When Jenny was in her room for the night, her stomach was churning. She picked up her Bible and once again read the verses Laura had underlined.

Tears were blurring her vision when she read Genesis 1:3 and 2 Corinthians 4:3–6 one more time. Laura and Pastor Denison were both right. Satan had her blinded, but God was now shining His light into her darkness. Suddenly, she burst into sobs and dropped on her knees beside the bed.

She trembled and her voice quivered as she bowed her head, closed her eyes, and sobbed, “Dear Lord Jesus, I clearly understand now why You went to the cross, shed Your precious blood, died, and raised Yourself from the grave. It was to give sinners like me salvation. I have no doubt that hell exists and is real eternal fire. I know I’m lost and walking the road that leads to hell. I … I can’t stand it anymore!”

Jenny gulped at the tears in her throat. “Lord Jesus, here and now I repent of my wicked sin. Please come into my heart and save me. Forgive me and wash me clean in Your blood.”

When Jenny rose to her feet, she picked up the Bible and held it close to her heart. God’s Word said if she would repent and receive Jesus into her heart as her Saviour, she would be saved. Because she now believed every word in the Bible was true, she knew she was saved.

She had been born again. She was now a child of God and would go to heaven when she died.

She sat down on the edge of the bed, wiping tears. “Lord,” she said in a soft voice, “thank You for saving me. I … I know that my plan for vengeance is over. Now that I’m Your child, there is no way I could kill Dan Tyler. In fact, I must now tell him that I can’t marry him—that I’m going back home. The … the strange thing about this whole thing, Lord, is that in spite of what he did to my family, I … I have these strange feelings toward him. Please help me to do this thing right.”

All day Monday, Jenny struggled with what she had to do. She still harbored the grudge toward Dan as before, but she told the Lord
she would leave the punishing of the man who murdered her father to Him. She wouldn’t bother to tell the hypocrite that she had gotten saved. She would simply tell him she needed travel fare to get back home, and then she would get out of his life. If it broke his heart, so what?

That evening, Dan and the Stevenses arrived at precisely six-thirty, for the Holdens had invited them on Sunday for supper.

Dan was asked to lead in prayer over the food, and Jenny felt anger inside toward him.
How could that hypocrite word such a beautiful prayer?