Free Love's Stormy Gale (Heartsong Presents) by Lynette Sowell

reaction to a threatening event?
    Then Jonathan spoke up. “They let their circumstances and present surroundings affect them more than the words of Jesus.”
    Ouch. For some reason Olivia’s chair felt more uncomfortable than usual this morning. She took a sip of coffee and doodled a design in the margin of her lesson book.
    “That’s true, Jonathan. When we find ourselves in threatening or uncertain conditions, it’s easy to forget the words that the Lord has for us. Right here.” Jeremy held up his leather-bound Bible.
    Olivia kept doodling, concentrating on her design. She’d read the Bible before, and even knew some verses from memory. Had her mind merely memorized the words? Had the knowledge penetrated to her heart?
    The whisper of turning pages grabbed her attention. “Oh, where are we turning to now?” She glanced at Jonathan’s Bible, where he’d flipped to Romans 8.
    “Beth, could you read verses thirty-five, then thirty-seven through thirty-nine, please?” Jeremy asked.
    “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
    “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
    “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
    Olivia kept focusing on the lesson’s theme. If the Bible said nothing on this earth could keep Olivia from God’s love, why did she feel so unconvinced? Had her fear and possessiveness caused hurt to those around her? If she had been less possessive and fearful about Robby, would he still be here today? No, that wouldn’t have changed the outcome.
    Olivia felt a weight pressing down on the back of her chair. Jonathan’s arm brushed her shoulders. Normally the sensation would have comforted her.
    She didn’t deserve Jonathan’s comfort. Not when the very words that should have helped her made her feel worse than before.

Chapter 8
    O livia touched a soft cotton blanket woven in pastel colors. She’d driven with Maggie riding shotgun, and now they were in a baby furniture store just over the New Hampshire line.
    “No sales tax,” Maggie had said with a mischievous grin.
    One day, Olivia wanted to go through the whole process. What would it be like to finally be married and start a family? She’d made some relationship mistakes in the past. She’d let Robby be the main focus of her life. Even above the Lord. Olivia swallowed hard at the realization that Robby had been right. It wasn’t just being a wedding-crazy woman or her natural grief over losing him. She’d made him her rock when he was only a man.
    “I said, what do you think of this? Do you think it’ll be too dark for the nursery?” Maggie lovingly stroked an elegant sleigh-bed crib of cherrywood.
    “I’m sorry, I was thinking.”
    “Yeah, I could tell. So what else do you think? If you had to buy a crib for the nursery, which one would you choose?”
    That was easy. A rich maple crib, with wood tones warm enough to complement any style of crib bedding. Couldn’t she imagine standing at its edge, looking down at a sleeping infant with dark licorice hair curling over his head, just like his father’s?
    “This one here.” Olivia’s cheeks flamed at her musings.
    Maggie joined her at the piece of furniture. “Yeah, this is beautiful. You’re right. I like this even better than the other piece.” She flipped over the price tag. “Ouch, that hurts. But I have an idea.”
    Olivia nodded absently. How could she be thinking of Jonathan now? And what would he think if he knew her thoughts? No more jumping headlong into another relationship. This time she’d go in with eyes open, slow and wary.
    Maggie held up her phone and snapped a picture of the crib. “I’m going to