Read Online A Memory Worth Dying For by Joanie Bruce - Free Book Online

forget Daniel, her heart wasn’t listening. Now, the sharp pain she felt when she read those three words wouldn’t go away. It kept stabbing her heart into little pieces, leaving deep wounds that would never heal.
    Now going to Texas had a whole new meaning. She needed to see him—even if it was just to say goodbye.
    She looked at the letter again. Gerald was begging her to return quickly. A cold chill washed over her when she remembered the man in the alley. Those threats were real and made returning to Texas a scary thing.
    What was she going to do? If she went to Texas, Sandra and Wade would be in danger. The stalker had threatened to burn the gallery. No matter how hard Wade tried to keep them safe, he couldn’t be in two places at one time, and he couldn’t keep Sandra with him the whole time Marti was gone.
    One bullet was all it took, and their lives would be destroyed.
    And hers.
    If Sandra or Wade were killed, she would never forgive herself for caving in to the selfish desire to see Daniel one last time.
    Crowds circled around her, and she realized people were staring. She gathered the gallery mail and stood up on shaky feet. The steps home were slow and deliberate. She watched the birds flitting from one power line to the next, wishing she had as few worries as they did. The Bible said God took care of the birds. She wished she could count on Him to take care of her as well. But she had learned long ago that His watchful care was selective, and she wasn’t one He favored to protect.
    When Marti reached the gallery, the door opened by itself. She understood why when Sandra popped around the open door and pulled her inside.
    “What in the world’s wrong with you? I’ve been watching you since you left the post office. You look whiter than the mail in your hand. Who was that man you were talking to? Is something wrong?”
    Marti said nothing but handed Sandra the letter.
    When Sandra was done, she looked at Marti with clouded eyes. “You have to go, love. You need to see Daniel and get this settled between the two of you before it’s too late.”
    “I’m scared.”
    “Hon, you need to trust the Lord for guidance.”
    Marti swallowed a painful lump in her throat. “I can’t hear Him anymore, Sandra. I don’t know what He wants from me. As soon as I gave Him my life, He left me. All those horrible things happened, and He ignored me. How can I trust that He’ll lead me in the right direction now?”
    Sandra pulled Marti to the loveseat situated near the front door of the gallery and sat down beside her.
    “Marti, I know you feel like God pushed you out on a limb and let it fall when you stood up for Him in front of your family, and I know it’s hard to understand why He let your family turn away from you, but I know He had a reason. The Bible says ‘all things work together for good to them that love the Lord.’ The world is a beastly place, and wickedness touches our lives even if we are God’s children, but God will never . . . ever . . . abandon you. God stays the same. If we feel far from Him, it’s because we’ve moved—not Him.”
    Marti’s tongue felt numb. She couldn’t say a thing. Deep down inside her heart, she knew what Sandra said was true, but once you’ve been hurt, it is almost impossible to trust again.

TWELVE
    TEXAS
    THE ATMOSPHERE AT THE MARVEL County Clinic in Carson, Texas, buzzed with static as Lydia Barnes, the oldest nurse in the clinic, stared up at the face of the demanding woman standing in front of her. “What do you mean you want the key to Mary’s office?”
    The tall nurse, Clara Watting, stood to attention and faced the other three nurses in the small reception area like a sergeant in front of a group of boot camp trainees. Her blue nurse’s uniform was starched and perfectly pressed with creases in all the right places, and she looked down her wire-rimmed glasses at the women staring at her in awe.
    The other two nurses, Cynthia Morrison and Skyler