Halfway to forever by Karen Kingsbury

A wall that separated the church from the state, not the state
from the church. The state was the power that threatened the
church, not the other way around as was so often interpreted
today
Every case Tanner and Matt had ever fought had somehow
been birthed out of that single letter from Jefferson, but never had
Tanner turned the tables and used the same argument in favor of
a client
Until now.
His approach would surprise not only the attorneys representing
the city of Benson, but in time it would surprise the entire
nation. The case could he that big. The reason it was taking so
much time, though, was that while Tanner's premise was simple,
proving it would be something entirely different.
But if Tanner thought building a precedent-setting case
184
gainst a hostile city council was difficult, it was nothing comred to the effort of concentrating on work
while jade was wasta' tg away at home.
He clenched his teeth and turned his chair toward the window. The sun was setting, leaving a trail of
pinks and oranges that
was characteristic of the Southern California evening sky. Who was he trying to fool? He should be home
with jade, caring for her, waiting on her, loving her.
But watching her waste away was more than he could bear.
Even if he couldn't think straight, he was better off at the office,
doing his best to push the hands of time to a place where the nightmare they were living might be over.
Besides, jade didn't miss him. She slept most of the time and when she was awake...
Tanner's eyes burned with the onset of tears. When she was awake, she could hardly carry on a
conversation. The medication had affected her that much. Snapshots from the past few weeks flashed in
the photo album of his mind. Jade trying to climb out of bed and falling to her knees; jade picking at a
plateful of food, unable to eat.
But worst of all were their conversations. Moments like the one that had taken place the night before. He'd
come home late again and found Ty and Helen watching I Love Lucy reruns. He kissed Ty and asked about
his baseball practice. After a few minutes he looked around. "Is jade in bed?"
"She wanted to stay awake until you got home." Helen cast him a disapproving look. "But she was too
tired."
Tanner ignored the unspoken accusations. "Oh." He looked at Ty. "I'll be back in a minute."
Upstairs he found jade asleep, propped against a stack of pillows. He took quiet steps toward her and sat
on the edge of their bed. 'jade..."
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ii
She moaned and moved her head an inch in either direction. Tanner angled his head, his heart breaking at
the sight of her,
weak and frighteningly thin despite her pregnant belly. `Jade, I love you.'
"Hmmm." She blinked several times, squinting at the light
and then recognizing Tanner. "Oh... hi. You're home."
Her words were slow, measured. Tanner steadied himself.
"How're you feeling?"