Read Online The Regime: Evil Advances by Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins - Free Book Online Page B

nostalgic over years that seemed so recent and had flown so quickly. Rayford could tell Irene was easing into her real subject, the true reason for this getaway, when she waxed melancholy about Chloe.
    “I’m worried about her, Rafe. She’s too much like you…. I didn’t mean that to sound the way it did, but she’s only twelve years old. I had always hoped our kids would remain tender longer than most. Tender doesn’t describe her anymore, does it?”
    “No, but it describes Raymie,” Rayford said, “and that troubles me.”

    “Rafe, he’s only four.”
    “A very soft four.”
    “He ought to be soft at four. And don’t worry; no son of yours is going to grow up soft.”
    Rayford liked the sound of that.
    “We’ll get to Raymie,” she said. “We need to talk about Chloe. She’s a skeptic already, challenging everything, believing nothing.”
    “Not believing like you, you mean.”
    “Well, there is that. A kid her age ought to have no trouble believing in and loving Jesus.”
    “Unless she doesn’t,” Rayford said.
    “What does that mean?”
    “Well, as long as we’re getting into this—I mean, you want to, right?”
    “More than anything.”
    “That’s what I was afraid of.”
    “Rafe, don’t do this.”
    “Okay, let’s just talk. But since you’ve gone to all this trouble, let’s be frank.”
    “Can we be kind at the same time?”
    “Sure. I’ll try. But this is as much a hot button for me as it is for you, Irene. We’ve been dancing around this for months, and it’s time to get it all on the table.”
    Irene clasped her hands behind her head and sighed. “Fire away.”
    “You don’t want to hear it. I can tell.”
    “No, I do. I just think I’ve heard it all before.”
    “Fine. Then I won’t repeat myself.”
    “No, Rayford, please. I shouldn’t have said that.

    I hope you can surprise me with some new insight. Really, I do.”
    He turned to face her and leaned up on an elbow. “Chloe’s okay with God and church and all that. Just like I am. We’re simply not as into it as you are. You’re the most religious person I know.”
    “It’s not—”
    “Irene, listen to me.” His voice had an edge of annoyance he didn’t care to blunt. “If you get into that business of its not being about religion but being about Jesus, I’m going to explode. I know, okay? I know. You say it all the time. Religion is our attempt to reach God. Jesus is God’s attempt to reach man. I’ve heard it so many times that it’s just words by now. It’s something—forgive me—that a religious person would say! Don’t you see? You come off like a nun or a saint or a Bible student or something. We all have to be as religious as you or we don’t qualify.”
    For once he had silenced her, and he wasn’t so sure that was a bad thing. Now he could turn and, he hoped, sound more reasonable.
    “Think of what you could have for a husband. An abuser. A womanizer. A drunk. Someone who never goes to church. I go to church, Irene. Maybe not as much as you think I should, but I go. I believe. I believe in God and I even like hearing about Jesus. That stuff’s all okay with me. I just don’t want to be a weirdo. I don’t want it to overwhelm my life, make me awkward around my friends. They have their beliefs and I have mine. It’s a free country.”

    Rayford wanted to fill the glaring silence with his views on when he was and wasn’t going to church and how he planned to go less and play golf more, but that could wait. He didn’t want to press his luck. He knew he was saying other than what Irene hoped to hear. In fact, he was likely fulfilling her worst nightmare. Well, this had been her idea. She wanted to know where he stood, and this was where.
    “We were talking about Chloe,” she said quietly.
    “We were? Okay. What about her?”
    “She worships you. You’re her hero. She wants to be just like you.”
    “Is that so bad? She could do worse. Wouldn’t you love for her to be a