Read Online Twilight's Serenade by Tracie Peterson - Free Book Online Page B

God has changed you.”
    “I haven’t heard from any of them since Mother died. Of course, I didn’t really try to stay in touch—not even with my brother.” He sighed. “I don’t think any of them would have wanted to talk to me. I broke their hearts.”
    “So let them know that things are different now. Let them know God has turned your life around and that you’re a new man.”
    He sighed. “How can you be so sure my change is permanent?”
    She laughed. “You are the proof I need. You’re enjoying this new life, I can tell. Of course, you’ve had the shock of losing your wife and acquiring responsibility for two little girls, but even that can’t deter the joy of being free from the demons that once held you captive.”
    “That’s exactly how it feels. Remember that story in the Bible where Lazarus is raised from the dead? He was all bound up in burial cloth, and they had to free him up. That’s how I see myself. I was all tied up in drink and destruction. Morris James came along and helped me turn to Jesus, and He called me out of the grave—out of my burial cloth.”
    “It’s a sweet liberty that none of us should ever take lightly,” Lydia said.
    “But some folks don’t have to sink as low as I did. Some folks just accept God without a struggle and they never know the misery I lived through.”
    “That’s true. But we’ve all sinned, as the Bible says, and the consequences of those sins are as varied as the sins themselves. Your sins are truly no worse than mine, but perhaps the scars you bear are.”
    “You’re a very wise woman, Mrs. Lindquist.”
    “You know to call me Lydia,” she said with a smile. “I might as well be your auntie, for all the time you spent here as a child.”
    “Those are good memories. I always envied your family.” He sighed. “You never seemed to struggle or have any real problems.”
    Lydia surprised Yuri by laughing. “You know the truth of Dalton’s birth and kidnapping. You know how evil my first husband was, and how his family treated me and tried to separate us from Dalton.”
    “I’d nearly forgotten. I guess you have had your griefs to bear.”
    “We all have, Yuri. It’s just that bearing them with the Lord makes all the difference.” She fell silent and looked off toward the water.
    For several minutes they sat quietly, watching the morning unfold. Yuri considered her offer of a place to stay. He didn’t relish the idea of returning to the ramshackle cabin he’d shared with Marsha. There was nothing there he wanted or needed.
    “I suppose I could stick around here with you until Kjell and Dalton get back. I could do some work for you to earn my keep. Chop wood and such.”
    “That would be nice,” Lydia said. “Britta and I can care for the girls while you’re busy. Kay can help, too. I know you probably don’t remember her too well, but she’s been a great addition to our family.”
    “Frankly, I was usually too intoxicated to remember anything very well,” he admitted. “I’ll have to decide soon what to do with the children. They’d probably be better off without me.”
    “How can you say such a thing?” Britta questioned as she joined them on the porch. The screen door slammed into place behind her.
    Yuri found himself taken aback momentarily. Britta’s dark brown eyes pinned him to his chair. Though petite and angelic in appearance, Yuri could see a fiery determination in her eyes that betrayed her strength.
    “They don’t really know me, Britta.”
    “But that doesn’t mean they can’t get to know you. Laura is starved for affection. She needs your love. You’re all she has, and even if Darya . . .” She fell silent and looked at her mother before turning her gaze back to Yuri. “Even if Darya is just a baby, she needs love and attention.”
    “I told Yuri that he and the girls can live indefinitely at Zee’s cabin,” Lydia said. “I figure we could clean it up and make it a nice little home for