Kicking (New Beginnings, #2) E-Book

Robin Merrill

• Herausgeber: New Creation Publishing
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Esther is her granddaughter's last chance.

Esther hasn't seen Zoe in years and hardly knows her. But she's not going to turn her away. Zoe is family, and she's a child.

A wild child. How will Esther keep her from self-destructing? 
Rachel.
Zoe wants nothing to do with the crazy-hat lady from her grandmother's creepy old church. But as Rachel starts to share herself with young Zoe, Esther sees a change. Will it be enough?

Leseprobe

Kicking

New Beginnings Book 2

––––––––

ROBIN MERRILL

New Creation Publishing

Madison, Maine

––––––––

KICKING. Copyright © 2020 by Robin Merrill. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

––––––––

Scripture quotations taken from American Standard Version (ASV).

––––––––

This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Chapter 64

Chapter 65

Chapter 66

Chapter 67

Chapter 68

Chapter 69

Books by Robin Merrill

And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying unto me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the goad. —Acts 26:14

Prologue

The little girl knelt beside her bed. Her shoulders shook with her sobs.

She had been so excited for this party. She’d invited every girl in her class. Why, God? Why hadn’t anyone come? Why didn’t anyone like her?

Then her mother had hollered at her for letting her spend so much money on a party that no one was going to come to. The little girl had never been so sad. She’d never felt so alone. “Why, God?” she said aloud. “Why am I like this?”

She tried to start her normal bedtime prayers, but she couldn’t. All she could say was, “Why?”

Suddenly, someone was kneeling beside her. She knew that if she opened her eyes, she wouldn’t be able to see him—but he was there.

She knew that it was Jesus.

His arm slid around her and pulled her toward him. She leaned her wet face into his chest and sobbed. And he held her there.

Her crying gradually slowed, and she grew sleepy.

She’d had a horrible birthday. No one had come to her party. Her mother had been embarrassed and had taken it out on her.

But she was still loved.

She still belonged to Jesus.

Chapter 1

Zoe

Zoe’s foot struck something hard and unyielding, and she pitched forward into the darkness. She shoved her hands out in front of her to brace herself, but her face still hit the cold ground. She cried out, too loudly, and then froze. She held her breath. Had they heard her? Were they still coming for her?

A flashlight beam swung across the trees in front of her.

Yes. They were still coming.

She pushed herself to her feet and veered off to the left, hoping not to be lit up by their beams. Though her chest burned and she couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of her, she started to run again. How far into the darkness could those flashlights shine? Pretty far, she thought.

Just because she’d seen the light didn’t mean they were on her trail, she told herself. They might not even be after her at all. Several kids had scattered into the same patch of woods.

The cops couldn’t catch them all.

She needed to be one of the ones who got away. She didn’t know what would happen if they caught her. She didn’t know what she’d be charged with. She’d used, but could they prove it? Could they make her take a test? She didn’t know. She didn’t have anything on her, so they wouldn’t think she was selling. She’d just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe they’d go easy on her. She’d only been arrested twice before, and both of those times were for drinking. This would be her first drug-related offense. Maybe they’d have mercy on her.

Did mercy even exist?

And even if they did take pity on her, that didn’t mean that her stepfather would. She had no idea how he might react to a drug charge. He’d called strike two about eight strikes ago. Eight? Or was it nine? She’d lost count. But she didn’t know how much more he could take. He hated her, wanted her gone, had been threatening to send her to some “facility” for “at-risk youth.” How she hated that phrase! At risk for what? Punching him in the throat, maybe.

Shouting. And the deep bark of a dog. Had that been her imagination? Surely the cops wouldn’t bring out the bloodhounds to search the woods for some teens? She had a terrible thought: maybe the teens weren’t the only ones in these woods. She slowed down a little, as if that would help her spot others. This was ridiculous. She could stand perfectly still and still not see anything.

She pushed her burning legs to go faster again. The terrain was uphill now. She had no idea where she was or where she was going. She hoped there were other teens in the woods, other kids for the cops to catch. She hoped the hookups weren’t in the same woods. She didn’t know those guys, but they hadn’t looked especially friendly. She didn’t want to run into one of them out here. She thought they’d probably string her up to slow the cops down.

She didn’t know how much more she could run. She wasn’t in particularly good shape, and her lungs really hurt. She couldn’t catch her breath. It was all uphill now. Should she turn and go back down? Try to slant away from them? She stopped and turned. She couldn’t see anything. No movement. No flashlights. Maybe she was okay. Maybe she’d lost them. Maybe they’d given up.

She changed her course by ninety degrees. She wouldn’t go up or down; she would go sideways, give her legs a break. She didn’t run. She tried to walk quickly, but she knew there was no quick left in her. She heard another bark, and then her left foot missed the ground. She cried out again as her left foot kept sinking. Where had the ground gone? She flailed her arms for something to grab onto. Her right fingers found the needles of an evergreen tree, but as she grasped at them, they came off in her hands, and then she was falling ... falling ... sure this was it ... she was going to die this time.

And all she could think about was her mother.

Chapter 2

Esther

“It’s hard not to be discouraged,” Dawn lamented.

Esther tried to ignore her.

“Are you kidding?” Rachel looked around the sanctuary in wonder. “God has given us this beautiful building and beautiful people to love on. What’s discouraging about that?”

“He didn’t give us the building,” Vicky broke in. “Cathy bought it.”

“I had lots of help,” Cathy said quickly. “And I never would have been able to chip in if it weren’t for God’s provision.”

“A little less talk and a little more action, ladies.” The furnace wasn’t working, and they were running around trying to find outlets that worked so they could plug the space heaters into them. But Esther was doing most of the running around.

“It’ll be fine, Esther,” Rachel said. “It’s October, not January. No one is going to freeze to death.”

Esther bristled. “I want them to be comfortable.”

“Who?” Dawn cried. “Who do you want to be comfortable? That’s the discouraging part! We’ve been at this for months, and still no one has come!”

“That’s not true—” Rachel tried, but Dawn interrupted her.

“I know, I know. The Puddys. And they’re wonderful. But when they walked in that first Sunday, didn’t you all think that they were a sign of things to come? I certainly did. But they weren’t. They were it. No one else is coming.”

“People will come.” Esther tried not to grind her teeth. “Would you all please help me?”

Rachel picked up a heater and moved toward the altar outlet. “It’s only been a few months. And we haven’t done much outreach yet.”

“Outreach?” Dawn cried. “We’ve fed nearly a hundred people! And Tonya gave away nearly everything she owned!”

Esther really needed Dawn to be quiet. Esther wasn’t discouraged, but Dawn’s attitude was contagious. Trouble was, she didn’t know how to make Dawn stop talking.

The old door creaked open. Esther glanced at the clock. It wasn’t even ten yet. Someone was early.

A man with long, greasy hair stepped into their sanctuary. His clothes were torn. He was filthy. Vicky audibly gasped.

“Good morning!” Esther hurried to say. “Welcome to New Beginnings!”

“It’s getting kind of cold out there,” the man said slowly. “I was wondering if I could warm up a bit in here.”

“Of course!” Esther said before Vicky or Dawn could say otherwise. “Make yourself at home.”

Vicky headed her way, and Esther picked up the last space heater and scurried in the other direction.

Vicky caught her anyway. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“I know you don’t. But this is a church, and we don’t turn people away.”

“But he’s not here to go to church.”

“How do you know?” Esther snapped and then felt guilty. She bent down to plug in the heater. Nothing happened, and she moved on to the next outlet. “We know nothing about him, but he can do no harm to us just sitting there.”

As if she’d directly challenged him to cause trouble, he started to sing. Vicky gave her a knowing look that she didn’t appreciate. His voice grew louder and more confident, and his song—which Esther was fairly confident she hadn’t heard before—featured a few expletives.

“We’ve got to get him out of here,” Vicky said without moving her mouth, “before the children arrive.” She looked like an amateur ventriloquist, and Esther didn’t know why she’d bothered. He was singing too loudly to hear anything.

“He’s fine. We told him to make himself at home. He is.”

“We told him no such thing,” Vicky argued. “That was all you.”

The newcomer tipped his head back and howled at the ceiling.

“For all we know, that could be Christ himself.”

Vicky gave her a sardonic look. “Christ doesn’t howl.”

Esther hadn’t enjoyed his singing, but when he stopped howling and returned to singing, she was grateful. She headed in his direction. Don’t get too close. No, get as close as you can. He is a child of God. “Would you like some coffee?” She forced a smile.

He looked stunned by her offering. “Sure! Thank you!”

See? Quite polite! “Cream and sugar?”

He looked confused. “Sure,” he said again, after a pause.

She went to the back of the sanctuary, where their coffee pot was set up. Her friends gathered around her to bicker. They were all talking very quietly and very quickly, but it was still easy to get the gist of what they were saying. Half of them wanted him gone. Half were excited he was there. Vera remained quiet on the subject. There was a chance she hadn’t heard the howling.

Esther stirred the coffee and then turned to leave her friends behind. She took long strides across the sanctuary, trying to look confident. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” He took the coffee from her outstretched hand.

She forced herself to edge closer. “I’m Esther.”

He took a sip of coffee that had to have been too hot to drink. He didn’t say anything.

“What do people call you?”

The door opened, and Fiona came in, struggling to carry a bag heavy with her sheet music.

The man whirled toward her, dropping his coffee on the carpet.

Esther suppressed her cry.

Vicky did not.

“Who are you?” he said to Fiona, who had stopped walking and stood staring at the newcomer.

“Who are you?” she fired back. This made Esther very proud of their organist.

The visitor wasn’t amused, though, and whipped a small knife out of his pocket.

Esther reflexively took a step back, but then she tried to be objective. It was a small knife. There were eight of them. Granted, they were all over seventy, but still—eight against one. And he hadn’t moved. He simply stood there looking at Fiona, holding the knife menacingly.

Fiona backed up a step.

Esther feared that if Fiona left the building, she’d never come back. She couldn’t let that happen. “What’s wrong?” She tried to step into his peripheral vision.

He ignored her.

“If you tell me what’s wrong, we’ll try to help.”

He continued to ignore her. The arm that held the knife was shaking, and his lower lip trembled.

Keeping her eyes on their newcomer, she tried to keep her voice even as she said, “Rachel, call Roderick.”

Chapter 3

Zoe

Had she broken her skull? That was the only explanation Zoe could come up with that would explain this level of pain. She tentatively reached one hand up to the side of her head, afraid of what she might find. Her hair was sticky with blood, but her skull felt intact. No dents, cracks, or holes. She breathed a sigh of relief and tried to open her eyes.

The sun felt unreasonably bright. How much had she drunk last night? She blinked and looked around.

The woods.

It all came rushing back to her, a wave that made her ill. She had drank and she had used, but that was the least of her problems. She was somewhere in the woods, far from home. Why? Why had she done this? Why had she come to a party in hillbillyville? Now she was lost in the Ozarks, and even if she could find her way back to the party house, she didn’t know if it was safe. There could be cops there. Or worse.

She closed her eyes and lay there. Why couldn’t she have died in the fall? Maybe if she lay there long enough, she would die. Maybe a mountain lion would get her. That would be fun. Or a bear. Or a coyote. Or maybe they could all work together to make her demise swift and painless.

She wouldn’t be that lucky. She was never lucky.

She tried to sit up, and the pain in her head magnified, making her brain swim. She pushed her hand into the ground to steady herself. Finally, sitting up, she looked around, squinting in the daylight. She squinted up at an overcast sky. How was the sun so bright with all those clouds?

Her eyes landed on a ledge above. Had she fallen from there? She looked around, but saw no other explanation. But it was so high! How was she still alive?

She felt her body over, looking for blood or breaks, but she couldn’t find anything amiss except for her head. Slowly, she got to her feet. The dizziness came again, and she almost toppled over, but she spread her feet apart and gave herself time to adjust, breathing slowly. Her mouth was full of cotton. She needed water.

The dizziness passed, and she scanned the forest. She didn’t know what direction to walk in. She couldn’t tell where the sun was. Again, she wished the fall had killed her. And she didn’t know how it hadn’t.

She listened for cars, listened for water, listened for anything that might help orient her, but there was nothing but the wind. She knew she’d come from the ledge, but she wasn’t about to try climbing back up there. She made eye contact with a black bird. It seemed to be judging her. She couldn’t stand it, so she turned her back on the uppity creature and headed away.

Her head pounded. She didn’t know where she was going. But she put one foot in front of the other. She couldn’t think of any other option.

Chapter 4

Esther

Roderick Puddy flew through the door and headed straight for the knife-wielding stranger. As if he did such feats every day, he rounded on the man and from behind, dropped a firm arm over the knife arm. Stunned, their visitor dropped the knife and tried to wheel around to face his attacker, but Roderick wouldn’t allow it. He pinned the man’s left arm behind him at a painful angle.

The nameless man wrestled against Roderick’s grasp, whimpering.

“Could one of you ladies grab that knife?”

At first no one moved. They all looked at one another, waiting for someone else to do it. But then Rachel, though she was the farthest away from the action, stepped into the fray to retrieve the small weapon.

Once she was back to her spot, Roderick calmly but firmly said, “If you stop working against me, I’ll let go.”

Instantly the man’s body went rigid, and he nodded.

Slowly, Roderick released his grip. “Did you call the police before you called me or after?” He didn’t look at any of them when he asked but kept his eyes on the newcomer.

The women exchanged another wordless look.

Roderick finally looked at Esther for an answer.

“Police?” She felt foolish. “We didn’t call the police.”

Roderick snickered. “Well, I’m honored to be your first resort, but you should call them now.”

Esther wasn’t so sure.

“I’ll do it,” Rachel said.

“Thank you,” Roderick said.

“Wait!” Cathy held an arm out toward Rachel. “Is that really necessary?”

“He threatened me with a knife!” Fiona cried. Though the circumstances weren’t ideal, Esther still thought it was nice to hear her voice. She rarely spoke to any of them.

“He didn’t, though,” Cathy said. “Not really.”

Esther knew where this was going. Someone had finally come through their doors, someone who obviously needed help. Cathy wanted to help him, not throw him back outside. But if Cathy didn’t acknowledge Fiona’s thoughts on the matter, they would lose her instead. And Esther didn’t think this guy could play the pipe organ. “Fiona’s right,” Esther said quickly. “We need to call the police.”

Cathy looked surprised. People didn’t usually argue with her. But she was usually right and therefore didn’t need to be argued with.

Esther didn’t know who was right in this situation, but she wanted to protect Fiona. “It doesn’t mean they’ll even arrest him.” Esther nodded at Rachel. “Please call.” Then she turned her attention to their visitor. “You are welcome here, sir. But church needs to be a safe place. We can’t have you threatening people.”

He looked confused. “I wasn’t threatening anyone.” He pointed at Fiona. “She was trying to sneak up on me.”

Fiona barked out a laugh. “Oh, that’s believable.”

The man started babbling nonsensically as Rachel spoke into her phone.

“Would you like another cup of coffee?” Esther asked.

The man looked down at his hand and seemed surprised and confused to not find coffee there.

“You dropped yours,” Esther explained.

The man looked up at her and gave her a smile so warm and so friendly that it almost knocked her back a step. “That would be lovely.”

“We still didn’t catch your name,” Esther said.

It took him a few seconds to come up with it, and she wondered if he was going to make one up. “Derek.”

“Good to meet you, Derek.”

On shaky legs, Esther returned to the coffee pot. They really should be attacking the stain that his previous serving was forming on the carpet, but he was straddling it. She returned with a half-full cup and, keeping a pew between herself and the men, stretched the offering out toward Roderick.

He smiled, took it, and handed it to Derek.

Derek looked down at the pew. “Can I sit?”

Roderick nodded. “Sure.” Then Roderick sat beside him. “Where are you from, Derek?”

He shrugged. “Nowhere.”

“Do you live around here?”

He looked down at his coffee and shook his head. “Don’t live anywhere. Used to live in Thorndike. Then I was in the shelter in Belfast. But they kicked me out.”

Vicky wobbled on her feet and grabbed a pew to steady herself.

They heard a siren. Oh great. Now everyone in town would look out their windows to see the police pulling up to New Beginnings Church.

Fiona stepped closer. “Why’d they kick you out?”

He shrugged. “I was dating someone. We broke up, so they gave me the boot.”

This didn’t make any sense.

“Did you pull a knife on her?” Fiona mumbled.

At first it appeared Derek didn’t understand her quip, but then understanding dawned on his face, and he looked at Roderick. “Can I have my knife back?” he asked, as if he’d just remembered he’d ever had a knife.

“I’ll give it to the police,” Rachel said.

Esther was proud of the kindness in her voice. This wasn’t exactly a scenario they’d been expecting, but she thought they were handling it well enough. No one had been stabbed.

The door opened, and a policewoman stepped inside. Esther didn’t know her personally but had seen her around town. Carver Harbor didn’t have very many police officers.

“Ah, Derek. I thought it might be you.” She strode toward him but cast her eyes at the ceiling. She whistled. “Wow, look at this place. This is gorgeous.”

“Thank you,” Esther said because she didn’t know what else to say.

The policewoman told Derek to stand and then looked him over. “Where’s the weapon?”

“Here.” Rachel hurried to give it to her.

She looked at it, seemingly surprised by the diminutive nature of it, and then looked at Derek. “Really? What were you thinking?”

He pointed at Fiona. “She was sneaking up on me! She was going—”

“Come on.” She spun him around, but he kept talking. “You know the drill.”

“What will happen to him?” Barbara asked.

“That depends on a lot of factors,” the policewoman said evasively. Then she looked at Fiona. “Are you the one he threatened?”

Almost imperceptibly, Fiona nodded.

“Let me get him into the car, and then I’ll come back and get your statement.” She pulled Derek into the aisle.

“I’d rather not.”

She stopped. “I’m sorry?”

“I don’t want to give a statement. I don’t want to get any more involved with any of this.”

Fiona was fraying at the edges. Esther was scared she was going to run away and not come back.

“If you choose not to press charges, then the DA probably won’t proceed with this.”

Fiona waved a hand dismissively. “I don’t care. I’m going to my organ.”

Chapter 5

Esther

One week after Esther met Derek, she found him sitting on the front steps of the church. She’d left home early to unlock the building and get some heat going, and there he was. She stopped on the sidewalk, unsure of how to proceed. Should she turn around and go back home until the other ladies arrived? Then they could all deal with him together?

She didn’t want to call Roderick Puddy again. They couldn’t be bothering that poor man every time one of them got a splinter.

Derek spotted her. Oh no. Too late to turn around. He lifted his arm in a genial wave, and she tried to make her return wave just as friendly.

She got her feet moving again. “Good morning, Derek! How are you today?” The closer she got, the more nervous she got. She still wasn’t sure what she was going to do when she got there.

“I’m all right.” He studied her. “Don’t worry. I won’t follow you inside until others get here. I don’t want to make you nervous.”

Should this self-awareness comfort her? Or frighten her further? “I’m actually not going inside just yet.” She forced a smile. “It’s still early.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

She looked around the yard, trying to come up with a lie. Why had she come to church so early if she wasn’t going to go inside? She could claim she’d come to rake the leaves, but there was no rake. She could pretend to check the mail, but he was sitting inches from the mailbox. She could say she was going for her morning walk, but then ... “Actually, Derek, I was going to go inside, but now I’ve changed my mind. I’ll think I’ll wait for the others.” She braced herself, waiting for him to be offended.

He nodded understandingly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He stood up. “I was just eager is all, and I’ve got nowhere else to go. But I’ll go for a walk. You go on inside and get things ready. I’ll come back later.” He smiled, but his eyes were sad. He came down the steps toward her.

She felt guilty. Maybe she shouldn’t be so nervous. God would protect her. “Nah, it’s all right. You can come in.”

He watched his feet as he walked. He shook his head. “Nope. You were right the first time.” He kicked at the leaves. “I’ll go try to find a rake.”

She watched him go and then, realizing how cold she’d gotten with all her indecisiveness, hurried inside. She locked the door behind her and then went to turn the heat up. Barbara’s son Kyle had finally gotten the furnace working, and they’d even managed to squirt a bit of oil into the tank, so they wouldn’t have to mess with the space heaters today. Those had worked well enough, but they’d flipped two circuits in the process. She didn’t need to be trudging up and down the stairs during the service to flip circuits.

With the pastries out and the coffee on, she sat in the front pew to catch her breath. All the windows were installed now, and the soft morning sunlight streamed through the windows and lit up the old wooden cross over the altar. Thank God for Kyle. He’d done a lot of work on the place already. It still looked like a work in progress, but it no longer looked like an abandoned building.

Her pocketbook started to vibrate and she pulled it closer to her and dug out her phone. She assumed it was one of the ladies calling to say they were feeling under the weather. It was getting to be that time of year. But her heart leapt when she saw the caller ID. It was her daughter!

“Christy! Good morning!” She made no attempt to keep the glee out of her voice.

“Mom ...” That’s all she said, but Esther could hear the pain.

“What is it? Are you all right? Is it Zoe? Or Danielle?”

Christy swallowed hard. “We’re all okay. Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. But ...” Her voice cracked. “But I am scared. It’s Zoe. I don’t know what to do, Mom. She won’t listen to me. She won’t stop.”

Chapter 6

Esther

Esther didn’t know what she meant. Stop what? What was Zoe doing? “Back up a little, honey. What’s going on?”

“Oh, you know. The drinking, the pot. She stays out all night. I never know where she is. She’s skipping school and hanging out with criminals.” She said all of this as if Esther had already known it.

But she hadn’t. She had no idea it had gotten this bad. Was Christy exaggerating? Surely Zoe wouldn’t smoke pot.

“Last weekend she came home with a giant gash in her head, and she wouldn’t tell me what had happened. She wouldn’t let me take her to the hospital, and I know it needed stitches ...”

Esther’s breath caught. What was going on? If a child needs stitches, you get them to the hospital. You don’t let them have a say in the matter! She realized Christy was still talking and made herself focus. “Trace is done. He says he’s going to send her to Reboot, but I can’t—”

“Reboot?” What was Reboot?

“It’s here in Missouri. It’s a residential facility for at-risk youth. And I don’t think she should go there. I don’t think she belongs there. She’s not some abused, mentally ill criminal or something. But Trace says that she’s exactly the kind of kid that Reboot is for. But it would be like jail, and we would never see her. It’s three hours away from here. She would live there and go to school there—”

“Is it juvenile detention?”

“No,” Christy said quickly. “That would almost be easier.”

A chill raced over Esther. Had her daughter really just said that?

“This is a private facility. It’s more like a rehab, but for teens, and they go to school while they’re there.” She laughed bitterly. “I guess you could call it a private school, even. It costs a fortune to go there.”

How could they afford it then?

“But Trace will pay anything to get her out of his hair.” She sobbed. “Mom, I don’t know what to do. He says it’s not safe for Danielle. I know Zoe would never hurt Danielle, but eventually she’ll just be a bad influence ...”

Esther’s chest tightened in defense of the granddaughter she hadn’t seen in four years.

“And the people she’s hanging around with. I can’t let those people around Danielle!”

“But you don’t want them around Zoe, either, do you?”

Christy stopped talking. “What? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Esther groaned. She heard someone’s key in the lock. “Sorry. I really didn’t mean to be critical.” But she’d felt critical, hadn’t she? Why was Christy acting like Danielle was the only one who needed protecting? “I only meant that we need to get Zoe away from them too.”

“But I can’t. Mom, I’ve tried everything. We’ve tried rewards. We’ve tried punishment. We’ve tried tough love and talking about her feelings.”

Had they tried Jesus?

“I’m out of options. And I know you can’t fix it. I’m not expecting you to come up with some magic wand, but I was hoping you had some advice. You were such a great mother to us. But I know I never put you through what Zoe is doing to me.”

Rachel sat beside Esther on the pew. After one glance at Esther’s face, her smile slid away, and she put a hand on Esther’s shoulder.

“You’re not out of options.”

“I’m not?” Her voice was laced with hope, but then it vanished. “Mom, do not say get her into Jesus, because that’s not going to work. She would never step foot in a church or a youth group or anything.”

“I wasn’t going to say that.” She was thinking it, but she wasn’t going to say it. She knew better than to ask a teenager to go to church when her own mother refused to.

“Then what were you going to say? What option do I supposedly have?”

Esther looked at Rachel as she said, “Send her here. That’s your option. Send her to me.”

Chapter 7

Rachel

Rachel watched her longtime friend hang up the phone. “Send who to you? What’s going on?”

“Zoe. My granddaughter. She’s in trouble, I think.” Esther sounded scared. This wasn’t like her. If she was ever fearful, she hid it well.

“How old is she now?” She added the word “now” as if she had any idea how old the child was. Time flew so fast, the kid could be thirty for all she knew.

“Sixteen.”

Rachel whistled. “That’s a tough one.”

Esther looked defensive. “That’s a bunch of malarkey. The teen numbers are the same as any other number. A human doesn’t get to lose their mind when they’re thirteen.”

“I didn’t say that—”

“It’s like our world convinces teenagers that they have a right, no more than that, a duty to be a punk until they turn twenty. But that’s a lie. Back in my day, teenagers were respectful, responsible young adults.”

Rachel held up one hand to stop the sermon. “I’m on your side, Esther. I wasn’t arguing with you. Nor was I trying to speak some sort of chaos over Zoe’s life.”

Esther closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m a little overwhelmed right now. I found Derek sitting on the front steps. He should be back any minute.”

Rachel didn’t want to be done talking about the girl. “Forget the big lie that teens are automatically punks. I’m trying to make a separate point. I’m saying that since the Lord invented hormones, being a teenage girl isn’t easy.”

Esther laughed. “I guess I’ve forgotten. But menopause was no picnic.”

Rachel joined her in her laughter. “True. But back to Zoe. So her parents get divorced, and then her mother moves her halfway across the country.” She held up a hand to stave off another defensive tirade. “I’m not blaming Christy for anything. I’m only recounting the facts. So Zoe is in a new place with a new stepfather and a new baby sister, and she just started a new school year. There could be jerks in her class. Or maybe she’s all gaga over some boy. Probably some boy broke her heart. So she’s acting out. What did Christy say, exactly?” Was that prying? “If you don’t mind me asking.”

Esther took a deep breath. “I think it’s more than that, unless Christy is exaggerating. She’s drinking—”

“Which could very well be due to the boys.”

“And maybe using drugs.”

Uh-oh. That wasn’t good.

“And she’s skipping school—”

“Which fits perfectly with my theory.”

Esther scowled at her. “And according to Christy, she’s hanging out with criminals.”

Double uh-oh. “I see. So you have invited her to come here?”

Esther looked around the sanctuary. “I panicked. They are thinking about sending her to some home for wayward juveniles.”

A pain stabbed Rachel’s chest. Esther was right. She had to interfere. “Will your building let her stay with you?”

“I think so. Why wouldn’t they? It’s not a nursing home.”