Read Online No Regrets by Joann Ross - Free Book Online Page A

matter.”
    â€œOn that we’re in full agreement.” Molly scooted up in bed, wincing at the pain in her hips. Obviously Reece had cut back on his orders for drugs. “How’s Lena?”
    â€œYour sister’s going to be fine.” The nun fingered her rosary beads absently. “Thanks to her husband. The man appears to be a rock.”
    â€œHe is that.”
    â€œFather Murphy said a mass for you this morning,” Sister Benvenuto announced. “And the congregation is praying for you. As are all the members of the order, of course.”
    â€œTell everyone I appreciate their prayers.” Molly glanced around the room. “It looks as if someone threw a hand grenade into the middle of the Rose Parade.”
    â€œYou have a great many friends. The red and white carnations in that plastic Santa Claus vase are from Thomas. I have every suspicion that he stole them from a supermarket.”
    Molly figured Sister Benvenuto was undoubtedly correct in her assumption. “It’s the thought that counts.”
    The older woman shook her head. “You’re too easy on him. With the proper motivation he could return to the work he was called to do.”
    â€œIf God can’t provide the impetus, I’m not about to try.” Molly sighed as she thought about Thomas. “Besides, if he hadn’t given up the priesthood, he wouldn’t have been there to help me.”
    â€œI suppose we’ll just have to write it off as another case of the Lord working in mysterious ways.” Theolder woman’s gaze sharpened as she studied Molly. “I was afraid we were going to lose you.”
    â€œThere was a moment I thought that, too.”
    Molly knew the nun was not talking about her leaving the order, something they’d discussed on more than one occasion. Each time Molly had dared to profess doubts about a true vocation, Sister Benvenuto had assured her that such thoughts were not only normal, but expected. That such reflection would ultimately make her even more committed to her religious calling.
    â€œIt’s going to be difficult to deal with,” the nun predicted. “But you’ve always been strong, Molly. And with God’s help, you’ll survive this test of faith just as you’ve survived every other trial in your life.”
    Although she didn’t believe that God would have deliberately caused her to be brutally attacked, to test her as he had Job, Molly saw no point in arguing. Even during her teens, when she’d been an angry young girl, rebelling against the myriad rules the sisters who ran the Good Shepherd Home for Girls had expected her to obey without question, Molly had admired the nun’s seemingly unwavering faith. So unlike her own, which always seemed to question everything.
    â€œWhat would I ever have done without you?”
    â€œGod only knows. Although there’s always the possibility you could have ended up on the street, like those poor girls I pass every day,” the no-nonsense nun said briskly.
    â€œBeing sent to Good Shepherd was the best thing that ever happened to me.” What at first had seemed to be punishment, had, in the end proven a blessing. The home for girls had been a sanctuary, the first Molly hadever experienced. “I wish Lena could have had the same security.”
    Molly had often thought it ironic that Lena, who’d tried so desperately to fit in, was the one who’d suffered the most by being constantly shuffled from foster home to foster home.
    â€œLena is going to have to learn that true strength comes from within,” Sister Benvenuto said sagely.
    Unable to argue with that, Molly was grateful for Yolanda’s interruption.
    â€œI vant to suck your blood,” she said in a ghoulish voice. The sight of the gag store fangs gleaming white and red in the nurse’s dark face made Molly laugh. When you worked in a world where the bizarre and horrific were