Bridge to a Distant Star - Carolyn Williford [132]
Vigorous nods and affirmations of “Oh, yes,” from everyone followed. His gaze traveled from one to another, but he allowed it to rest longer on Fran and Aubrey. Aubrey had latched onto Fran’s gown again, and Bill looked lovingly from his daughter’s hand to the woman Aubrey had miraculously claimed as someone she would determinedly love. And who would in turn love her, Colleen … and me? Bill pondered.
Minutes later, Sarah helped Michal with the ungainly IV, tucking her back into bed, even though it would be a brief respite. Sarah took Michal’s hands between her own, holding them tightly.
“Aunt Sarah, I … I need to talk to you about something.”
Sarah smiled at her, reassuringly. “About why you were on the bus.”
What she’d left behind came rushing back, and Michal nodded her head, her eyes flooding with tears. “Beth—” Michal could get no further, and abruptly stopped.
“I heard. Amongst the crowd waiting out there is a Miss Hamilton, your RA, I understand?” Michal nodded. “So Beth had a baby in the dorm. And no one knew she was pregnant. I take it … you didn’t know either?”
Michal shook her head. “I had no idea, Aunt Sarah. And the night before I left, she had the baby right there in our room.” It was a relief to finally tell it all, to let the truth come tumbling out. “She went through all that without telling me—being pregnant. Labor. Not confiding in me because I wasn’t worthy of her trust.”
“You shouldn’t blame yourself, Michal. Beth made her own decisions.”
“But that’s not all. Something else happened too.” She turned away, felt her face flush crimson.
“You know I’m just going to keep on loving you, no matter what you tell me.”
Michal took a deep breath, still avoiding her aunt’s steady gaze. “Stephen tried to … touch me.” Her voice caught, and between sobs she choked out, “He said it was God’s will. That I wanted it—that I’d led him on. I tried to push him away. But he was so strong.
“And then suddenly Allistair was there. Pulling Stephen off me. I hate to think what would’ve happened if he hadn’t. But I was so ashamed that Allistair … what he saw. I don’t think I can ever face him again.” She turned, her eyes boring into Sarah’s now. “So you see why I just had to get away from there. I don’t want to ever go back. And please don’t send me to Ethiopia either. Could I … could I come live with you? Please, Aunt Sarah?”
Sarah’s eyes were soft, but her answer was firm. “No, Michal, you can’t.”
The unexpected rejection hit like a punch to Michal’s stomach. But before she could utter a word, Sarah reached up to cradle Michal’s face in her hands. “The feelings and memories will forever be with you. But hear me, Michal. Hear my heart. Following God means you may have to go where it hurts. Don’t waste the pain, Michal. Follow it all the way to the cross with Christ.”
Her voice flat, Michal stated, “You think I have to go back. To face Stephen. And Allistair.” Michal squeezed her eyes shut, attempting to erase the images from her mind. The way Allistair had looked at her. The sympathy in his eyes. “I don’t think I’m brave enough to do that.”
“Yes, you are. You’ve survived boarding school, adapted to a culture on the other side of the earth, and then returned to a foreign home. And now you’ve survived a collapsed bridge. That’s the brave young woman I know—and that’s the same one who can face all her fears.”
There was a knock at the door again. The doctor poked his head in, apologizing profusely. “I am so sorry to bother you yet again. But there’s someone out here, Miss McHenry, who’s insistent on seeing you before the others.”
Sarah