Free Return to Me by Robin Lee Hatcher

movies, television shows, and advertisements. It was sold to them in maga- zine articles, newspaper columns, and televised news reports. Most of the world swallowed the lie. It pervaded every part of American society. The home. The workplace. The schools. It even pervaded the church.
    Wyatt had been Roxy’s first lover. She was jailbait ⎯ sixteen
    to his nineteen ⎯ but that didn’t stop him. He should have known better, should have had the willpower or good sense to say no.
    If not for Wyatt, maybe Roxy wouldn’t have rebelled against everything her father tried to teach her. Maybe she wouldn’t have cut herself off from those who loved her. Maybe she wouldn’t have rejected God. Maybe . . .
    With his elbows braced on the table, he covered his face with his hands. “I’m sorry, Lord.”
    He knew in his head that he had God’s forgiveness, that Christ’s blood covered his sin, but his heart felt shame and regret all the same. He’d escaped the memories while Roxy was in Nash- ville. Out of sight, out of mind. But now that she’d returned, now that he’d looked into her eyes and seen her pain, how could he not also see his culpability?
    Four days earlier, he told the youth group at church that God promised to cause all things to work together for the good of those who love Him. Did Wyatt believe those words today? Did he trust that God’s promise would hold true in this situation?
    “How do You make good out of this, Lord?”
    Wyatt believed the Bible was the final authority. God’s prom- ises were true. When the Bible said the things that are impossible for man are not impossible for God, he believed it.
    But this? How could God turn this tangled web of emotions and mistakes into something good? Wyatt had wronged the Burke family, whether he meant to or not. He took Roxy’s innocence, then aided and abetted her in her rebellion against her father. At the time, he was young and ignorant, foolish and far from God. But that didn’t excuse him.
    Wyatt pushed from the chair and crossed the kitchen to pour himself another cup of coffee.
    He’d loved Roxy once, in a selfish, immature way. It seemed a lifetime ago. In a way, it was another lifetime, for he was a different man today. God had done a lot of work in Wyatt in the years since Roxy refused to marry him.
    His head throbbed.
    What did Elena feel about her sister’s return? He wished he could read her mind. Their conversations by phone the past two days hadn’t revealed much, but he sensed her troubled spirit.
    That was his fault too. Long before now, he should have dis- cussed the past with Elena. He should have confessed everything. Then they could have hashed it out, brought their feelings into the open so God could heal the hurts. Hidden in the dark, a wound festered, and that’s what this silence between them had become — a festering wound.
    He hoped he hadn’t realized it too late.
    =

    Roxy turned the sky-blue Lincoln off Cole Road into the mall parking lot. At ten thirty on a Thursday morning, she was able to park close to the Burke’s entrance. She slid the gearshift into park and turned the key, killing the engine.
    Boise had grown while she was away, and yet it seemed unchanged and familiar. Her drive across town didn’t take more than half an hour.
    “If you feel like getting out today,” her father had said at break- fast, “here are the keys to the Lincoln.” He slid the keys and several crisp hundred dollar bills across the table. “Do something fun for yourself. Get a massage. Have your hair done. Buy a new outfit. Buy several. I’d love to see you looking happy again, honey.”
    She’d given him a smile, although there wasn’t much feeling behind it.
    “If it’s a job you’re looking for, I’m not opposed to exercising a bit of
    nepotism. What good is owning a business if I can’t hire my family?”
    Unlike her sister, Roxy never wanted a career in the family firm. She’d wanted . . . more. Lots more. She’d wanted to