Free The Divided Family by Wanda E. Brunstetter Page A

be his old self again, ready to romp and play in the snow.

    Akron
    Joel entered his mobile home, slung his jacket over a chair, and glanced at the cell phone, noting it was nine o’clock—too late to head for Farmerstown. The school program had probably been over awhile already. He’d planned on going, but his day had been busy, and he’d worked longer than he expected. To make matters worse, it had started snowing about an hour ago, and the vehicles ahead of him had been crawling along. It didn’t help that the snow was coming down heavier and sticking to everything. The temperature had dropped suddenly, and the roads could get slick.
    Joel’s thoughts went to Kristi. He hoped if she was coming home from work, or was on the road for any other reason, that she’d be careful out there. As Christmas drew near, he found himself missing her more than ever.
Sure wish she would have forgiven me and agreed to start over.
    He reached for the TV remote and found the local weather report to see what the forecast was for their area. Turning up the volume so he could hear it from the kitchen, he made himself a sandwich.
    Maybe it’s for the best I didn’t go to the program,
Joel thought when he returned to the living room with a ham-and-cheese sandwich.
With the tension between me and my sisters, I may have said or done the wrong thing.
Sometimes Joel felt as if his family looked for things they didn’t like about him. If his sisters cared about his financial situation, they would have spoken up when John had read the will and admitted that Dad’s demands were ridiculous. If they’d all stuck together on this, they could have opened their envelopes by now. But of course, they’d have to get Aunt Verna to agree to it, as well. Joel had always liked and respected his aunt, but sometimes she could be downright stubborn, like his dad.
    “She should have accepted my apology to Anna as a selfless act,” he mumbled, leaning his head against the back of the couch. “Now I’m stuck trying to figure out what my next move should be.”
    When Joel had left his dad’s place after his conversation with Aunt Verna, he’d decided to stop trying to come up with something everyone would see as heartfelt. But after he’d cooled down, and taken another look at his bank account, along with the few jobs he had lined up for the rest of the month, Joel realized he needed to keep trying to meet the stipulations of the will. There had to be something he could do that wouldn’t be a big sacrifice for him but would still satisfy his sisters and Aunt Verna. He needed to figure out what it was.

    “I see you’re working the evening shift again,” Yvonne Patterson, one of the other nurses, said when she passed Kristi in the hall. “Are you filling in for Barbara?”
    Kristi turned to face Yvonne. “Yes. Shortly before I was supposed to get off work, our supervisor let me know Barbara had called in sick. I volunteered to take her place.”
    “How come? I would think you’d be exhausted after working all day.”
    “I’ll admit it’s not easy working back-to-back shifts, but as the week’s progressed, Audrey’s gotten worse, and I wanted to be with her tonight.” Kristi sighed. “She hardly recognizes me anymore, but I keep hoping she’ll rally a bit.”
    Yvonne gave Kristi’s arm a gentle pat. “You have a genuine heart for your patients, and everyone here speaks highly of you. I’ve heard some folks call you a saint.”
    Kristi felt the heat of a blush erupt on her cheeks. “I’m definitely not that. I just try to treat everyone kindly and do what the Bible says.”
    “Your Christianity shows. You don’t talk about it all over the place. You live it.”
    Kristi and Yvonne visited a few more minutes, then moved down the hall to check on patients. Unexpectedly, an image of Joel flashed across Kristi’s mind.
I think I may have failed at being a Christian example to him,
she thought with regret.
If I’d been more Christ-like,