Read The Reluctant Bride Online
Authors: Kathryn Alexander
The Reluctant Bride (17 page)
“‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…’ After I became a Christian, the Twenty-third Psalm was the first passage of scripture I memorized. And since the Lord is my shepherd and like a father to me, I decided to think of myself as the daughter of a shepherd.”
“That's beautiful, Micah,” he commented as a seriousness creased his forehead. “You know your Heavenly Father loves you, but your dad does, too. He wants to see you.”
“Did he say that, or is it just your opinion?”
“He said it, I'm only delivering the message.”
Rob touched her cheek gently. “He regrets the past, Micah, and he hasn't been able to reach you to apologize.”
“He's the one who told me to change my name and never contact him again. It was his idea.” Her words were sharp, but only hurt shone in her eyes.
“He did that to protect you, in case someone thought you had access to the missing money.”
“Well, now he can get in touch with me if he chooses. He knows my last name.”
“No, he doesn't.”
She frowned. “But you said you saw him—”
“I did, but I didn't give him your name or address. You've spent a decade establishing a career, a life with the name Shepherd. I didn't feel I had the right to give that away to the man who made you change it.”
“But he knows you now….”
“He doesn't know my last name or even what part of the country I come from, that is, unless he detected that Columbus, Ohio, dialect in my speech.” Rob's eyes shone with gentleness. “He's tired, and he's lonely…and he misses you. I told him I'd take you to see him if you wanted to go. I don't promise things that aren't mine to give.”
A disconcerted look flashed in Micah's gaze as she considered the possibilities. “I don't know if I can do that. See him again after all these years.”
“You won't know unless you try,” Rob suggested. “He loves you.”
When Micah's eyes met Rob's again, they filled with tears. She wiped at them with the back of her hand. “I love him, too,” she softly admitted.
“Then tell him, Micah. You are all he has left in this world.”
“Yeah, just me and about half a million dollars hidden somewhere.”
“I don't think so,” Rob said. “I don't know how
much this will upset you, but your father believes that his wife somehow took the money from his accounts and moved out of the country to live a life of luxury. From the things he's told me, I'm inclined to agree with him.”
“Nothing she does could surprise me. She left Dad when he needed her most—”
“And you. You needed her, too, Micah. You were just a kid.”
“I was never the kind of daughter she wanted. I didn't have any interest in studying law or being like her. I wanted to paint and to teach others to paint”
“That's because you are
exactly
like your mother.”
Micah frowned. “No, I meant—”
Rob reached for her hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb while he responded quietly, cautiously, “I know what you meant, but what you don't know, what your father didn't tell you, is that the mom you grew up with was not your biological mother.”
“Rob?” She pulled her hand away from him suddenly. “What are you talking about?”
“Your father's first wife was a beautiful redhead who taught art. She died right after your birth.”
“Died? My mother died?” Micah repeated in near disbelief with one hand flying to cover a gasp.
Rob nodded. “Your dad will explain more when he sees you, but, Rita, the mom you grew up with, adopted you when you were about a year old. Everything
was fine until she learned she couldn't have a child of her own. Then the criticism and resentment of you started. The distance you've felt from Rita was not your fault.”
“I thought all along that my mother didn't love me, that it was my fault. It would have been so much better if they would have told me the truth.” Micah returned to Rob's arms, that place of comfort she now knew would always be hers.
“And it would have been better for you to have told me about the murder charges…and the law student.”
“I know that now. I'm sorry, Rob. No more secrets. I promise.” She smiled up into a gaze filled with tenderness.
“Good,” Rob answered as his mouth slanted into the familiar smile that Micah had suspected would be her downfall from the beginning. “I can hardly believe you're really mine. You're so beautiful and lovely and—”
“Yours,” Micah added with a boldness his love afforded.
“And no more reluctance about our future, right?” he added.
“None. Ever.” She raised up, touching her lips to his. And when the wind shifted, the soft summer rain blew inside their shelter, showering their kiss with its blessing.
“R
ob, do you have Sunday's sermon ready yet? I need to add the title to the bulletin I just typed.” Micah stepped out the back screen door onto a small patio lined on both sides with red and yellow tulips.
“Not yet,” Rob responded, looking up at his wife from where he stood by the back fence. “But I'm working on it.”
Micah dried her hands on the dish towel she held and walked toward him. “It looks more like you're working on that gate.”
“But I'm thinking all the time I'm hammering,” he answered with one corner of his mouth curving into a playful smile. “Quit worrying.”
“It's Saturday afternoon. You rarely run this late with a message.”
He placed the hammer on the ground and held out a hand, which Micah instinctively reached for,
smiling back at him. “Sermons are kind of like manna from heaven,” Rob stated. “God will give me this one when I need it.”
“And if He doesn't?”
“Sounds like I need to preach a message on faith—to my wife, at least.” Rob pulled her gently into his arms. “Don't worry so much. It can't be good for you or the baby.”
Micah's hand moved to rest against the abdomen that had yet to show any signs of the child within. “I can hardly wait, Rob. Less than seven months, then we'll see his little face.”
“His?” Rob questioned before kissing Micah's forehead and releasing her. He leaned down to retrieve his hammer. “Why are you so sure it's a boy? Just think, Micah, we could have a little girl with your green eyes, all that lovely auburn hair and my plea-bargaining abilities. She'd be able to talk us into
anything.”
Micah laughed softly. “I don't even like red hair,” she admitted, tugging on a long strand of her own curls.
A frown crinkled Micah's forehead. “Plea bargaining. That's the first legal term I've heard you use in a while.” Then she asked the question that had weighed heavily on her heart during the past few hectic weeks at the parsonage. “It's been nearly two years, Rob. Are you sure you don't miss it? I mean, the law and everything that goes with it?”
Rob's laugh was quick and sincere. “I miss seventy
thousand dollars a year, and the ministry offers me the undeniable opportunity of missing that income all my life.” But his amusement faded when he glimpsed the concern in his wife's cautious gaze. “But, no, Micah, I can't imagine ever
missing
being out of the Lord's will. It's a lonely place…in more ways than you can imagine.”
“Thank you,” she said in little more than a whisper. Then she leaned forward to kiss his cheek lightly.
“For what?”
“For thinking the way you do. I don't know why you love me so, but I'm thankful that you do.”
“I'll love you forever, Micah, for a thousand different reasons.”
She smiled and touched his mouth with her index finger. “Forever can be a very long time, you know.”
“I'm counting on it,” he responded and tugged on her hand. “C'mon. Come inside with me. I'm going to kiss my wife the way I want to…without the neighbors for an audience.”
“Hmm,” Micah commented. “Maybe that sermon will have to wait until later.”
“Much later,” Rob assured her as they walked, together, toward their back door and into the life and the love they would share. Forever.
* * * * *
Dear Reader,
It's a dream come true for me to see my manuscript become my first published book,
The Reluctant Bride.
Creating Micah Shepherd and Rob Granston and allowing their story to unfold was an amazing process, one I loved being involved in, and I am delighted that this story found a home with Steeple Hill's Love Inspired line.
Occasionally someone asks where writers get their ideas, and I don't know the right answer to that question. For me, the characters and their stories seem to somehow find their way into my mind, and I attempt to capture them—their personalities, hopes, heartaches, challenges, faith in the Lord—on paper so. that, hopefully, they can find a way into
your
heart.
Happy reading!
ISBN: 978 1 472 06429 5
THE RELUCTANT BRIDE
© 2013 Kathryn Alexander
First Published in Great Britain in 2013
Harlequin (UK) Limited
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
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