He sank to his knees and watched the alcohol drip from the mantel onto the tile floor. “Oh, Lord Almighty.” His desperate plea echoed in the silence of the lonely town house. He bowed his head and tried to breathe past the bitterness rising in his throat.

What was wrong with him? The drinking hadn’t brought his dad relief. Maybe it worked in the short run to make him forget his problems. But it had turned him into a deserted wasteland.

Was that what pushing people away would do too? Bring only emptiness and pain? Jericho had used the excuse that he was leaving Ivy to keep her safe. But maybe all along he’d been trying to keep himself safe.

Dylan was right. He was a coward.

“God. Tell me what to do.” The truth was, he couldn’t find relief in drinking or in isolating himself from those he loved or even in chasing after elusive happiness like Dylan. Ultimately the only One who could give him freedom from his emptiness was the Almighty.

The verse Judd had read to him in the summer sifted through his mind: “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD. . . . Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.”

The verse assumed they would fall. It wasn’t a matter of if but when. And God was promising that when Jericho hit his knees—just like he had at that moment—the Almighty’s hand would be there to hold him up. All Jericho needed to do was reach out and grasp it.

Could he do it?

His labored breathing filled the silence. His chest tightened. And then before anything could work to stop him, he held out his hand. “I’ve fallen down, God. I need you to hold me up and walk alongside me.”

He waited and prayed, letting God’s presence and peace settle around him. Although he might stumble many more times in his life, he wanted to move forward as a good man whose steps were ordered by the Lord. And to do that, he knew exactly where he needed to go.

Chapter
28

“How much longer do I need to wear this blasted thing?” Ivy tugged at the neckerchief covering her eyes.

Judd guided her toward the door of the cabin they’d built last month. “Quit your bellyachin’, or you’re gonna ruin the surprise.”

“I’ve got too much work to do today for surprises.” Even as the words left her mouth, she couldn’t contain her smile.