Free Love Redeemed by Kelly Irvin

wanted to slap her hands over them, but it wouldn’t do any good. The memory would play over and over again inside her head.
    â€œWe can pray.” Molly said, her hand rubbing in a circular motion on Hannah’s back. “That’s what we do. Pray.”
    Michael didn’t turn around. He seemed mesmerized by the expanseof water in front of him, with the brilliant sun bouncing across it like a light hitting a sheet of ice and reflecting at odd angles.
    â€œWe pray.” Phoebe nodded.
    They bowed their heads. She didn’t peek to see if Michael joined them. The silence stretched, broken by Sarah’s cooing and the other kinner chattering on the playground, oblivious. Safe and sound.
    â€œAmen.”
    Phoebe raised her head. Fear tightened in a knot between her shoulders. If she didn’t do something now, she’d be twisted like a pretzel on the ground any minute. “We have to do something. We can’t just stand here, waiting, while she wanders farther and farther away.” She marched toward the edge of the road and then stopped. “It could take them twenty minutes or more to get back here from where they’re fishing with the time it takes Rachel to walk over there.”
    â€œShe wasn’t walking, she was running.” Hannah’s voice cracked. “Even so…”
    â€œMichael.” Phoebe whispered his name. What had they done? Gott, please, let him be the one to find her and bring her back. It was a selfish prayer. Let someone, anyone, find her and lead her home safely. Lord, I pray. And forgive me. Lord, forgive me.
    â€œTell them I’ll take the route to the next swimming beach and then double back.” Michael’s voice brooked no argument. He sounded much older now. Older than her Daed even.
    â€œDon’t get lost.”
    â€œIf I don’t find her, it might be better if I did.” The words were distinct even as they faded into the heavy, humid air between them. “For everyone.”

Chapter 6
    P hoebe found she couldn’t sit. So she stood. Waiting at the edge of the campsite, the lake shimmering in the distance. Waiting. Any minute now. Who would come first? Mudder or Daed? Which would be better? Mudder, definitely. Or maybe it was better to face Daed’s fierce sternness than Mudder’s infinite disappointment. She tried to pace but her legs wobbled, so she leaned against the closest tree and waited. How long had it been? Five minutes? Ten minutes? She couldn’t tell. Each minute that Lydia didn’t skip her way back into view seemed like a dozen years.
    Gott, please, let her come back. Please bring her home. Show her the way, Gott. I know she’s in Your hands. I know You’ll keep her safe. You’ll bring her home. You are Gott. Our Savior and Provider. All this is according to Your plan.
    According to Your plan?
    She drew a long, painful breath and let the smell of earth and decaying leaves calm her.
    The sound of an engine revving made her jerk upright. Mudder or Daed? An old blue van rolled around the bend in the road and heaved to a stop, gears grinding. Daed was in the front seat with Mr. Lewis, their Englisch neighbor from New Hope, who loved to fish and came here every year. Daed thrust upon the front passenger door before theengine died. His boots thudded against the dirt, little puffs of dust rising around him.
    Luke, Thomas, and Tobias piled out, followed by all the children who had been with them. No one spoke. No jokes or chatter or my fish was bigger than your fish stories, no stories of the big one that got away. Her daed strode directly toward Phoebe, his eyes squinting against the sun, his glare unrelenting.
    â€œWhat’s this I hear from Rachel?” he demanded. “Where’s Lydia?”
    â€œShe wandered off.” Phoebe began. Her voice quavered and she fought for control. “Michael’s looking for her.”
    â€œRachel said something about Mudder going