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Back When She Returned Save as PDF
Chapters (48)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT
  3. CONTENTS
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. ONE
  6. TWO
  7. THREE
  8. FOUR
  9. FIVE
  10. SIX
  11. SEVEN
  12. EIGHT
  13. NINE
  14. TEN
  15. ELEVEN
  16. TWELVE
  17. THIRTEEN
  18. FOURTEEN
  19. FIFTEEN
  20. SIXTEEN
  21. SEVENTEEN
  22. EIGHTEEN
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. THIRTY-ONE
  36. THIRTY-TWO
  37. THIRTY-THREE
  38. THIRTY-FOUR
  39. THIRTY-FIVE
  40. THIRTY-SIX
  41. THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. THIRTY-NINE
  44. FORTY
  45. FORTY-ONE
  46. FORTY-TWO
  47. FORTY-THREE
  48. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“We have no choice,” Abner had screamed last night. Fury had lined his face and filled his voice. “This land is cursed. If you don’t believe me, then look around at the bloodshed tonight.” He waved his arm at our bloodstained paths. Sam’s body lay covered in a sheet outside the gathering tent. Bekah’s lay inside the birthing tent. Their baby was the only one who’d survived.

“Take him.” Abner had shoved him into my arms shortly after he’d cut him out of Bekah, and I’d been holding him ever since. Images of his birth flashed through my mind unbidden, and I shoved them down. I would push them down as far as they would go, and, when they couldn’t go any further, I would find another way to make them disappear. I kept telling myself over and over again that at least Bekah was dead when it happened, but it didn’t matter how many times I said it. Her body was still warm when we cut into her.

The baby stirred against me. He was starving. I stuck my finger into his mouth, hoping it would pacify him. Without Bekah’s milk, I didn’t know how we’d feed him. I’d given him small sips of water with a few sprinkles of sugar in it, but that hadn’t been enough. He had cried all night and into this morning. He was only quiet now because he was too exhausted and hungry to cry.

Margo sobbed behind me, a steady stream of tears as we walked. Will was holding her up while they went, and she plodded along as if each step hurt. I knew that feeling. The pain of being alive when someone you loved dearly was gone. It hadn’t lessened.

She wasn’t the only one crying. Intermittent sobs broke into the early morning as we stumbled along in shock. We’d failed God miserably. Abner had made that clear last night when he was the only one who’d remained calm and sought God’s help while the rest of us flailed around hysterically. It had been utter chaos. Everyone had been fighting. Screaming—some for help, others for deliverance. He had had to fire the gun again just to get us to stop and settle down. He had ordered us to build a fire, and we had immediately moved into action, grateful to have a voice to listen to. We had stood around the fire when we’d finished.