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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

The hairs on the back of my neck bristled. That wasn’t exactly true. She’d been dead by the time he had laid a hand on her. She’d begged me and Margo to save her baby and let her die after she’d given up on going to the hospital. I forced myself to listen to what he had to say next.

“She entrusted her baby into our care and family. Despite all the ugliness going on and swirling about us right now, we are responsible for this baby.” He cuddled him against his chest. “How many times have I said we are all one?” He stopped talking, and silence reigned for a few seconds, but he didn’t expect an answer. It went without saying, since he’d said it hundreds of times over the years. It was part of our core, the thing that made us who we were. “I belong to you, and you belong to me. We are still bound by that agreement. We made it before the Lord and each other. Family, we are bound to care for this life.” I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. Margo sat up straighter. “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come out to me.’ Children were given to us by God, and they belong to all of us. They are our responsibility. This child?” His voice rose. “He is our future. We must all work together to train him up in the way he should go. The responsibility was never meant to be for just one or two. It was always meant to be shared.” He paused a moment before continuing. “Who is with me?”

Margo surprised all of us by raising her hand first. Will followed quickly after her, and before long hands shot up all around the fire. Mine was there too. I didn’t want to get called out for not joining in.

Abner’s eyes filled with tears. “I want the rest of the children to come stand next to me,” he said. He walked around the fire and held out his hand to each of the children in our group. The children came out and joined him, never taking their eyes off their parents. There were six, but I barely paid them any attention. They were more like cats swirling around my feet as I went about my days.

Anne clung to Michael’s arm. She nudged him forward as if to say, “Do something.” They had three kids in the circle—Chad, Shane, and Ben. Their boys held hands in the middle of the group. Nervous laughter filled the night as he positioned them and stood behind them with his arms spread out like they were going to take a picture.