The Lightkeeper's Bride (35 page)

Authors: Colleen Coble

1. Have you ever discovered something about a loved one that had been so hidden you didn’t believe it at first? How did this make you feel?

2. Will believed in taking responsibility for our actions. If his brother wouldn’t do it, Will would. What did you think about that? Was he right?

3. Katie didn’t want anyone to know of her real background. What are the advantages and disadvantages of letting out the truth in our lives?

4. Katie’s feelings for Will were revealed when she forgot her hat. Actions speak loudly. What is the most loving thing someone can do for you?

5. Stepping into criminal activity can happen in small steps. What steps led to Katie’s father getting involved in something criminal? What should he have done to stop?

6. Katie didn’t like surprises. Do you like them or do they frighten you the way they did Katie? Why do you feel this way?

7. Have you ever been torn between duty and love? How do you decide the right course of action?

8. Katie had a plan for her life. How can you tell if your plans parallel God’s plans?

9. Do you crave adventure or for the days to flow by evenly? What can you do to step outside of your comfort zone?

10. Katie realized that God was the one who was her ultimate Provider and this life is temporary. Do you hold to things here too tightly? What can you do to begin to have an eternal perspective?

AN EXCERPT FROM
Lonestar Sanctuary

T
HE RODEO CROWD, REEKING OF BEER AND PEANUTS, FINALLY REELED OFF
into the night. Allie Siders heard their good-bye calls faintly through the faded cotton curtains. The twin bed sagged under her weight as she sat down and slipped off her worn cowboy boots. She smelled like horse—not a bad smell, but pungent nevertheless. A hot shower would ease her muscles, taxed with riding around barrels all day.

Her five-year-old daughter, Betsy, slept with one fist curled under her cheek in the youth cot next to Allie’s bed, and Allie watched her sleep for a moment. So innocent, so beautiful.

So damaged by the blows life had dealt.

But things would get better soon. They could hardly get worse. Once Allie won the barrel-racing championship, the money would come rolling in, and they’d have a better place to live than this old, broken-down trailer.

Allie dreamed of the day she and Betsy would have a real home again. They had one once upon a time, until the rough seas washed the sand castle away. But she’d find a way somehow. Betsy deserved more.

Allie slipped out of her dusty jeans and padded to the hall in her bare feet. The floors of the tiny travel trailer creaked and groaned under her weight as she tiptoed toward the bathroom. She left the door open a crack in case Betsy called out for her, though the chance was unlikely. The little girl hadn’t spoken a word in nearly a year.

The tiny bathroom was spotless except for the rust stains Allie couldn’t get off the worn fixtures. The Lysol she’d sprayed still lingered in the air, and she resisted the urge to sneeze.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror.The rodeo queen’s smile was one that vanished with the crowds.

She went to the tub and turned on the shower.The hot spray sputtered from the rusty showerhead and struck her sore arm, soothing it, enticing her to step fully into the welcoming warmth.

Straightening, she tugged her shirt over her head. A creak like someone stepping on the weak floor came from beyond the door. She whirled in time to see it slam shut. Allie jerked her shirt back down.

Gooseflesh pebbled on her arm when the creak came again.

“Yolanda, is that you?” she called.

Her friend’s cheery voice didn’t answer. Allie wet her lips. She was being a nervous Nellie tonight. The noise was probably the old trailer settling. Her hand gripped the bottom of her shirt again to remove it.

Something scratched at the door, and she caught her breath.

“
Aaaallieee
,” the taunting voice whispered through the door. The scrape sounded once more. “
Aaaallieee
.”

A man’s voice, low and guttural, maybe even deliberately pitched so she wouldn’t recognize it. A sharp edge under the low, cruel voice vibrated.That voice could cut to the bone without a weapon.

Allie took a step away from the menace, her back pushing away the wet shower curtain until water sprayed her neck. It was like a wet slap, bringing her back to what mattered most.

Betsy!

She grappled with the embrace of the wet shower curtain and managed to disentangle herself from it. She leaped to the door and grabbed the doorknob, yanking hard, but the door didn’t move.With her hand on the cold metal knob, she could feel his movements on the other side.

“Let me out!” she screamed, pounding and kicking at the door.

“You want out?” He chuckled, the razor edge of his voice contrasting with the smooth laugh. “Your sister wanted out.”

The room felt close, airless. Her lungs strained to pull in enough oxygen. She wanted to scream for Betsy but didn’t dare call the man’s attention to the fact that her daughter was in the bedroom.

“You sure you want out, Allie?” he whispered.

Terror whirled inside like a mounting tornado. She forced it deep, down to the dark place where she kept all the things she feared. For Betsy’s sake she had to keep herself together.

Maybe she could get out, circle around to Betsy’s window, and get to her. She spun around and ran to the bathroom window, but it was too small to allow even her tiny frame to exit. She turned back to the door and tried to open it again. It opened a crack against the force of his hand holding it to on the other side, then slammed shut before she could get it open wide enough to get her leg through.

“Let go of the door!” She tugged harder, kicked at it. Her fear morphed into a cold anger. If she could face him, she’d tear at his face with her nails. She would allow no one to hurt her baby girl.

The man’s laugh—if such an evil sound could be called laughter— whispered through the door again. “Your sister was so pretty. Not nearly as pretty as you, though. Especially not now.” A knife poked through the crack. “She screamed when she saw the knife. Are you going to scream, Allie?”

Allie stared at the blade slicing through the door. It wasn’t true, couldn’t be true. He was just trying to scare her.

Tammy had walked in on a burglar.

The knife blade danced in the crack, moving forward, then pulling back long enough to make her think he was leaving.Then it reappeared, the edge sharp and dangerous.

She pulled on the knob again. “You coward,” she yelled. “Face me like a man! Quit hiding behind whispers and phone calls.”

“You might faint if you saw my face,” he whispered. “Just like Tammy did.”

The fear tried to surge out of the box she’d stuffed it into, but Allie tightened her control. Her sister’s face flashed through her mind, and sorrow welled in her eyes. Had this man really been the one? She couldn’t let herself believe it.

Allie laid her head against the door. “What do you want?”

“I want you to pay,” he said, his whisper harsher. “I’m going to take everything you love, just like you destroyed the things that mattered to me.What matters most to you, Allie?”

Betsy, he would take Betsy!

Allie’s frantic gaze ran around the room. What could she do? Though she knew it was so late no one would be out there to hear, she ran to the window and screamed, “Help, somebody help me!” Her cries fell into the silent yard. No one answered her scream.

“Don’t do that,” he growled.

Allie ignored his commanding tone and raised her voice so loud it hurt her throat. “Help! Please, someone help me!”

Then she heard the sweet sound of another voice.A shout answered her, feet shuffled through the dust toward her trailer. Help was on its way. She whirled and leaped back to the door.The knife was gone.This time the knob turned easily under her fingers, and the door flew open.

The hallway was empty.

Allie bounded from the bathroom and raced across the hall. “Please, oh please, God, let Betsy be all right.” She rushed into the room and saw Betsy’s tousled dark curls on the pillow. “Bets?” she whispered.

Betsy stirred and rubbed her eyes, then rolled over and went back to sleep.

Allie sagged against the doorframe. Her legs trembled, and she wanted to crawl into the bed herself, pull the covers over her head like she used to when she was afraid of the boogeyman.

But this was a real-life monster.

Someone pounded on the front door hard enough to make the whole trailer shake. She tottered down the hall and threw open the door.

Her best friend,Yolanda Fleming, stepped through the door. “Allie, what’s wrong?”

Allie clutched her. “He was here, in my house!” Aware she wore only her shirt and underwear, she backed down the hall. “My sister. He said he killed Tammy!”

Horror began to dawn on Yolanda’s face. But even as Yolanda hugged her, Allie knew none of her friends would be able to protect her and Betsy.There was only one thing she could do.