Redeeming-Love-By-Francine-Rivers

R E D E E M I N G L O V E
see her as beautiful. Paul didn’t intend to make any judgments until he saw
her for himself. “Let me put up in the barn tonight,” he said. “I’m dead on
my feet, and I’d like to meet your wife after I’ve cleaned up.”
Michael brought him a blanket, soap, and a change of clothes. Paul was
too tired to even get on his feet. All he could do now was lean back against
the wall, feet outstretched. Michael came back again with a hot meal. “You
should eat something, old man. You’re skin and bones.”
Paul smiled weakly. “Did you tell her there was a filthy beggar in the
barn?”
“She didn’t ask.” He pitched hay. “Burrow into this with the blanket and
you’ll be warm enough tonight.”
“It’ll be like heaven after hard ground for so many months.” It was the
first roof over his head in weeks. He tasted the stew and raised his brows.
“You got yourself a good cook. Thank her for me, would you?” He wolfed
down the rest and wilted into the hay. “I’m tired. I don’t think I’ve ever been
so tired.” He couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. The last thing he saw
was Michael bending down to cover him with a thick blanket. All the tension
he had carried for months left him.
Paul awakened to a horse whinnying. He was stiff and sore when he got up.
Stretching, he went to look out the barn door. Michael was digging a hole
for a fencepost. He leaned against the wall watching him for a long while.
Then he went back to the hay and got the borrowed clothing.
He bathed down at the creek so he wouldn’t offend Michael’s wife. He
shaved off his beard. Shrugging into Michael’s red wool shirt, he went to
help him.
Michael stopped work and leaned on his shovel. “I wondered when you
were going to wake up. You’ve slept two days clean through.”
Paul grinned. “Just goes to show you panning gold is harder work than
putting up fences.”
Michael laughed. “Come on back to the house. Amanda will have breakfast
ready.”
Paul was beginning to look forward to a woman being around. He
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