She knew her faith might impact Jesse for the rest of his life. Had she said the right thing? Was she prepared to be an example? What if she failed?
Jesse raced to the door, then turned and looked at her, his eyes twinkling with trust and admiration. “Thanks, Abby.”
He went out the door and pulled it closed behind him.
Kate glanced at the framed family portrait on her dresser, reality sending pain to every nerve in her soul. How different life had been back then, when Micah and Riley Jo were home and the Cummings family was whole and happy. It was hard enough dealing with the unknowns of the disappearance without Abby coming home again with a random photo of some little girl she imagined could be her baby sister.
Would this nightmare ever be over? Each time Kate thought she had moved forward, something would happen to drag her back into the grief and the aching loss that was almost paralyzing.
There had been no closure. No coffins. No headstones. No explanation. Her life was on hold—indefinitely. She couldn’t go forward or backward. She was stuck somewhere in the middle.
She held out her hand and looked at her wedding ring. Was she still married—or widowed? Not that she could ever love another man the way she loved Micah. But if he was dead, she wanted to know, wanted to give him a proper burial and move on with her life. As much as she wished to believe her husband and daughter would come home one day, it hurt too much to cling to such hope.
Maybe they were in heaven with God—though she wasn’t sure anymore if God existed. At least not the God she had once loved. The God she had walked with. Had worshipped and adored. If He was real, then He had repaid her devotion with cruelty. Kate sighed. Or was it possible that all things holy were mythical? And that evil was no respecter of persons? She didn’t have the energy to figure it out. Her father had encouraged her to get into a support group. To what avail? The last thing she wanted to do was talk about the uncertainty she lived with every moment of every day. Either Micah and Riley Jo had fallen prey to some vile murderer or wild animal—or Micah had voluntarily taken their youngest child and chosen to vanish. Either truth was intolerable.
Her mind flashed back to that last time she had been with Micah …
Kate heard a knock on the open door and looked up from her desk.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Micah said. “I’m taking Riley Jo down to the pier so she can catch some perch.”
“Did you put sunscreen on her?” Kate asked.
“Total sunblock. No chance of sunburn on that delicate skin.” Micah walked over and stood next to her desk. “Kate, I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier. But I think this potential investment deserves a closer look before you just slam the door shut on it.”
“You know I’m not comfortable with anything risky.”
“Chad’s the one who brought it up,” Micah said. “He’s done a pretty sound job of putting together our portfolio up to now. Why so much resistance? He feels this is something we should do. We’re only talking about moving fifteen percent for the short term.”
“I don’t feel good about it.”
“And you base this on …?”
Kate felt her face get hot. “Call it women’s intuition. Discernment. Gut feeling. Opinion. Fear. Common sense. Whatever name you want to put to it. I just don’t think we should put that much money in a risky investment.”
“Chad will watch it carefully. He’s not going to mislead us. The lodge is barely breaking even, and we can’t keep putting off making improvements. This is our chance to give the operation a shot in the arm without having to borrow.”
Kate shook her head. “We’ve worked too long and too hard, just getting Angel View in the black. I don’t want to take that much out of bonds.”
“Even if we could double our investment?”
“What if we lose?”
“Chad feels this is practically a sure thing.”
“Practically isn’t good enough.”
Micah came over to her and sat on the side of the desk. “No investment is totally safe, but when our financial adviser is telling us this is a timely opportunity, we should listen. Is there nothing I can say to get you to at least consider all the facts before you dig in your heels and turn into the Wicked Witch of the West?” He flashed