Free The Rescuer by Dee Henderson

were smart she would get over the anger before he got here, but then again maybe not. Maybe it would be better to just give him both barrels of her emotion so at least he'd have to deal with it. Running away. Repeating history. She thought she'd broken him of the habit when they were children.
    She pul ed out a chair, stopping her hand at the last moment to move the chair slowly until she figured out she wasn't going to give her dog a headache. Did Stephen real y think leaving was going to help? She was an expert on running from unattractive realities in life, and it just meant he would inevitably crash into a wal and do it far from home and everybody who cared for him.
    Meghan rested her elbows on the table and turned her cup around to grasp the handle. This was a lot more serious than the whispered words from Kate last night had made it out to be.
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    Meghan adored family members that had the nerve to meddle, but had Kate whispered in the right persons ear? It had been over a year since she last talked to Stephen for more than a casual, "Hi, how are you?"
    and she was supposed to rescue him tonight?

    Jesus, I'm no rescuer. Stephen has that title locked up in spades. As do You.
    Thunder crashed overhead and she flinched. For years she had chased lightning and hail and tornadoes with Ken and laughed at natures fury Now thunder cracked without warning and her nerves couldn't handle it. The storm sounded as if it were directly overhead.
    Jennifers funeral had been this morning. Stephen needed to go out in this storm somewhere and cry his eyes out, release the emotions. But he wouldn't do it.
    Instead he'd run. And she knew for certain that if he ran, he would come to regret it. But she wouldn't push, not if his family had already decided to back off and let him go.
    ' Lord, please help me figure out what to say tonight. At least
    blindness had clarified her sight in other ways. Al of life was a
    ('spiritual battle on one level or another-acceptance, endurance,

    peace, joy Trying to find those things without Christ was an exercise in futility. If he kept avoiding the subject of Jesus, Stephen wouldn't find the peace he sought.
    Maybe she would have a chance to talk with him about seri-
    ,/ous things during the drive. Her bags were by the front door, the
    bed was already stripped, the sheets washed and now in the
    V dryer. She'd been planning to crash on the couch for the few
    , [hours before her father arrived. Since sleep wasn't going to hap-
    'dpen in this storm, she'd much rather be on the road.
    "^Meghan set down her cup of tea and stood. She walked
    through her grandparents' vacation home to turn on the outdoor lights.
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    Stephen needs to find some comfort tonight, Lord.
    Since he doesn't know You, I'l have to reflect to him how much You care about him. The sadness he's feeling about Jennifer must be incredible. 1 wish he understood that You're therefor him. The man needs to find You. She knew it in her head and felt it in her heart, and she ached at the realization that he didn't. Years of praying for Stephen hadn't opened the door, but Meghan wasn't giving up on him. God hadn't. Please remind him to drive careful y. There have been enough tragedies on nights like this.
    Outdoor lights came on next door.
    Jonathan Peters froze. Meghan was blind and couldn't see him, but if she had company coming over... He finished unlocking the side door of the dark house.
    He'd like to give Neil another stroke for not hiding the gems that needed to cool off in something straightforward like a box buried under the woodpile or beneath attic insulation. Neil's wife, now deep in the confusion of Alzheimer's, had sold her china dol col ection to her sister without asking her husband-and with it a hidden ruby bracelet worth a smal fortune.
    In the interwoven friendships of Silverton there was a certain logic to Meghan's grandparents buying a vacation home next door to Neil's wife's sister.
    Jonathan eased open the door. Neil had given him