Redeeming-Love-By-Francine-Rivers

F R A N C I N E R I V E R S
“Can I play here?” Little Ruth asked, standing on the gate. “Mama’s washing
and says I’m being a pest.”
Angel laughed. “Come in, sweetheart.”
Ruthie sat in the pathway where she was working and talked incessantly
as she pulled up the weeds Angel showed her. “I don’t like carrots. I like
green beans.”
“So there you are,” Miriam said, swinging the gate open. “I told Mama I
knew where to find you,” she said, wagging her finger at her baby sister.
Stooping over, she chucked Ruthie’s chin. “You know better than to leave
her and not say exactly where you’re going.”
“I’m with Mandy.”
“Mandy?” she said, straightening, her eyes dancing over Angel. “Well,
Mandy’s working.”
Angel lifted the small carrot from the basket. “She’s helping.”
Miriam sent Ruthie to report back to Mama and knelt to work with
Angel. “It suits you better,” she remarked, thinning bean plants.
“What does?” Angel asked tentatively.
“Mandy,” Miriam said. “Amanda just doesn’t seem right somehow.”
“My name was Angel.”
“Really?” Miriam said, raising her brows dramatically. She shook her
head, eyes twinkling. “Angel doesn’t fit you either.”
“Would ‘Hey-you’ do?”
Miriam chucked a dirt clod at her. “I think I’ll call you Miss Priss,” she
decided. “By the way,” she added, tossing weeds into the bucket. “I wouldn’t
be so embarrassed about your unmentionables.” At Angel’s startled response,
she laughed. “You should see mine!”
A few days later, Elizabeth gave Angel something wrapped in a pillowcase
and told her not to take it out in front of anyone. At Angel’s curious look she
blushed and hastened back to the cabin. Curious, Angel went into the barn
and dumped out the contents. Picking the things up, she found a beautiful
camisole and pantalets. The cutwork and embroidery were exquisite.
Clutching the lovely things in her lap, Angel felt the heat pouring into
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