Redeeming-Love-By-Francine-Rivers

R E D E E M I N G L O V E
She took care of his garden. She cooked, swept, washed, ironed, and
mended. When he mucked out a stable, she found a shovel to help. When
he chopped firewood for the winter, she filled her arms and made neat
stacks against the barn.
By the time four months had passed, her skin was brown, her back
strong, and her hands rough. She looked in the shiny tin again and saw that
her face was back to normal. Even her nose had healed straight. It was time
to start making plans to go back.
“Do you suppose those vegetables I’ve been tending for you would be worth
a sack of gold back in Pair-a-Dice?” she asked him one evening over supper.
“Probably more.” Michael looked up. “We’ll have enough to buy a couple
head of cattle.”
She nodded, unduly pleased at the thought. Maybe he would buy a cow,
and they would have milk. Maybe he would teach her how to make cheese.
Angel frowned. What was she thinking? What did it matter to her if he
bought a dozen cows? She had to go back and set things right in Pair-a-Dice.
She lowered her eyes and ate slowly. The day was coming when she could
take off his mother’s ring and forget all about him.
Angel washed the dishes and ironed while Michael read the Bible aloud.
She didn’t listen as she pushed the sadiron around until it was cold and useless.
She put it back on the grill. She had lived here with this man for
months. She had worked like a slave; she’d never worked this hard back at
the Palace. She looked at her hands. Her nails were broken and short, and
she had calluses. What would the Duchess have to say about that? She
picked up the sadiron again.
She tried to make plans, but her mind wandered to the garden, to the
baby birds in a nest outside the bedroom window, to the deep, quiet serenity
in Michael Hosea’s voice as he read. What’s wrong with me? Why do I feel this
heaviness inside again? I thought it was gone.
It won’t be gone until you go back to Pair-a-Dice and get what the
Duchess owes you.
Yes, that must be it. Until she went back to Pair-a-Dice, everything would
be left hanging. The old harridan had cheated her. Angel couldn’t let her get
away with it.
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