Child of Promise Read Online Free PDF

room opened up here. Why, I’d bet Millie would be plumb tickled for another woman’s company. And you could help her out whenever she had problems with little Emily, too.”
    Emily. Noah’s daughter. In several of her letters, Abby had mentioned her and the tragic circumstances surrounding her disability. Beth could well imagine that Millie—and Noah, too—might welcome some help with the little girl.
    But did she want to get involved with them and their lives, even if only for a short time? She wasn’t some love-struck girl anymore; Beth felt certain she was past her schoolgirl crush on Noah. But Noah and Millie weren’t the sort of people you could keep at arm’s length. And Beth wasn’t all that keen on investing her emotions with anyone just now.
    She needed time to crawl off into some corner and lick her wounds. She needed to rebuild her reserves, to find some answers, and to get her life back on track. What she definitely didn’t need were two good, godly, loving people and a crippled little girl. Especially not another little girl, especially not in the close, cozy haven of a home.
    “Well, I’m not sure what I’ll do in the meantime, but would you be so kind to add me to your waiting list?” Beth climbed to her feet. “Until I find other lodging, you can always contact me at Doc Childress’s office.”
    “I’ll do that, honey. Keep Millie in mind, though.” Mamie paused to scan Beth from head to toe. “Yep, Millie’s might be just the thing for the likes of you. If you don’t mind me saying so, you could use a bit of fattening up.”
    This time, Beth couldn’t help it. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she turned to the door. “I’ll take that suggestion under careful advisement, Mrs. Oatman. Thank you.”
    As determined as she was to do just the opposite, a curious thing happened just as soon as Beth departed Mamie’s boardinghouse. Almost as if her limbs had suddenly taken on a mind of their own, Beth found herself heading down the boardwalk, in the strangest direction. Heading down through Grand View, toward the Episcopal church and rectory at the far end of town.

3
If any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
1 Corinthians 8:2
    Beth drew up before the white picket fence enclosing the rectory. Now that she was here, all her fears assailed her once again. She just couldn’t live with people like the Starrs. It was crazy. She shook her head and turned to leave. No sense asking for—
    “Well, are my eyes playing tricks on me, or is that little Miss Beth MacKay, all grown up and become a doctor?”
    At the sound of Millie’s warm, welcoming voice, Beth knew she had failed to make her escape. Plastering a smile on her face, she turned back around.
    “Yes. Yes, it is, Millie.” She forced a semblance of enthusiasm into her voice. “I’m home and decided to pay a call on some old friends.”
    As Millie stepped from her house and hurried down the gravel path to the front gate, her white head of hair gleamed in the sun. “Come on in,” she said, unlatching the gate and swinging it open. “It’s almost noon. I just took a loaf of fresh wheat bread from the oven, the coffee’s hot, and we’re having warmed-up beef stew from last night for lunch. There’s plenty for an extra guest.”
    “We?” Beth’s heartbeat faltered. “Oh, you mean you and Emily, don’t you?”
    “Yes.” Millie nodded. “Noah might or might not show up. The poor lad gets so engrossed in all his projects that sometimes he plumb forgets what time it is. He’s been trying harder of late, though, to come home for meals, if not for himself, then to spend some time with Emily.”
    With any luck, maybe this would be one of the days Noah forgot about lunch. Beth certainly hoped so. She wasn’t sure she could handle seeing Millie’s handsome nephew right now, although why that was, Beth didn’t care to consider.
    “It’s really not necessary,” Beth said, shaking