Read Online Topaz Heat (Christian Romance) (The Jewel Series) by Hallee Bridgeman - Free Book Online

they clasped hands then beat each other on the back again. “Good luck in your new job tomorrow.”
    “Thanks.” After Peter walked away, Derrick looked at his watch. He didn’t really need to sit through another service. Deciding that he’d take the afternoon to just relax and mentally prep for the week, he turned and nearly barreled into Tony.
    “Robin is expecting you for lunch.”
    With a self mocking laugh, Derrick nodded. “Of course. I’ll be there. At the new place?”
    “Do you know where it is?”
    “Yeah. You showed me the site before you broke ground.”
    “Okay. We’ll serve around one.”
    That gave him about three hours to do other things. “Great. I’ll see you then.”
    He started to walk by, but Tony put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry the reunion wasn’t what you’d hoped, but if God has a plan, then it will be.”
    The thought comforted him. “Thanks, brother. I’ll see you in a few.”
     

    “MOM , I really don't understand. At least help me understand.” Sarah slumped into her father’s recliner and toyed with the swath of lace covering the arm. She had come to her mom’s house after church and had just tried to convince her to go visit her father with her.
    Darlene Thomas fiddled with the locket that hung on her neck. She was nearing seventy, and her blonde hair had long since turned white. She was barely Sarah’s height with a petite frame that made her seem frailer than she actually was.
    “He doesn’t know the difference.”
    “He might.”
    “Sarah, honey, I don’t even know if I can explain it. When I look at him, a man I’ve been married to for forty-eight years, and see him stare at me blankly or rage and demand to know who I am, it breaks my heart. I can’t handle it. I don’t want my memories of him to be … that. I want to remember the man I knew before he was sick.”
    Sarah pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes. “It’s so unfair.”
    “I know, honey, no one knows it better than I do.”
    “I wish you had kept him home. I could have taken a leave of absence from the hospital. I could have …”
    “You could have, Sarah, but I couldn’t.”
    Sarah surged to her feet and paced. “You didn’t even discuss it with me!”
    “Really, it wasn’t your decision.”
    Sarah gasped and whirled around. “How could you say that?”
    The telephone at Darlene’s elbow interrupted her attempted reply. She looked imploringly at her daughter as she picked up the receiver. “Hello?”
    Sarah threw herself back into the chair and watched her mother’s face. She felt her stomach knot when her mom’s lips tightened and the blood drained from her face.
    “I see,” she said, “thank you.” As she hung up the phone, her lower lip trembled.
    “No,” Sarah rasped out.
    “I’m sorry, honey.” Darlene put a shaking hand to her lips and took a deep breath. She opened the drawer on the telephone table and pulled out a small book. “I need to call the pastor.”
     

    AS  the cloud covering the sun shifted, Derrick pulled sunglasses out of his pocket and slipped them over his eyes.
    “I love this house,” he said, taking a sip of his iced tea while he looked beyond the deck to the beach and water.
    “Tony had it built when I was pregnant with Madeline,” Robin said as the maid set a tray of sandwiches on the table. “I was perfectly happy with the apartment, but he insisted. I still get lost inside.”
    Derrick cut his eyes to the massive stone and glass structure behind him. Dozens of windows spread throughout the three stories winked back at him, reflecting the sun. “Well, the plus side is that you have room for a couple hundred more kids.”
    She laughed. “At least.” She handed him a plate and gestured at the beach below. “Look at him,” she said as Tony lifted Madeline into a rowboat and knelt next to it, gesturing with his hands. On the sand next to them, TJ rolled on the ground with a black puppy. “He’s such a good