Redeeming-Love-By-Francine-Rivers

F R A N C I N E R I V E R S
They watched her walk away alone.
Paul put his arm around Miriam’s shoulders and watched Amanda. He
remembered how Angel had always walked, head high, back straight.
Arrogance, he had thought, but it had been pride that had held her together
for so long, and pride that had kept her separate. She had a quiet grace
about her now, a beautiful humility.
“She’s afraid,” he said quietly.
“She’s always been afraid,” Miriam said, leaning against him. “Do you
think we did the right thing, Paul? Maybe we should have let her come back
on her own.”
It was the first time he had heard Miriam uncertain. “She wouldn’t have.
She had made up her mind. She thought you were married to him.”
“Because she told me to. She said she wanted me to have his children.” She
looked up at him, her eyes swimming with tears. “But I only wanted yours.”
“Oh, my love.” He held her close. “We’ll have to remember the man
Michael is.”
“Yes.” She put her arms around him. “It’s really up to them now, isn’t it?”
Paul turned her face to him and kissed her with all the longing he had
felt during the weeks of their separation. “I don’t know what I’d do without
you.”
She reached up and pulled his head down to kiss him back. It was a
lover’s kiss this time. “Let’s go home.”
Angel could see Michael working in the field. She was so full of conflicting
emotions she could hardly bear it. Self-doubt, self-hatred, struggling pride,
and fear. All the things that had sent her running so long ago and some that
had kept her from going to him before now. She couldn’t allow them to stop
her again.
Oh, God, give me strength. Please. Walk with me. Help me. I don’t know if I
can go through this.
I have not given you a heart of fear.
She knew the moment Michael saw her. He glanced up as she was crossing
the meadow. He stood very still, staring at her in the distance.
459