No Weapon Formed (Boaz Brown) Read Online Free PDF Page B

working? If you can honestly answer ‘yes’ I won’t bring it up again.”
    Stelson had thrown the kids
and our household into the equation, but in my heart, I knew he was pleading
for himself more than all of the above.
    “You’re asking me to predict
the future.”
    “No. I’m asking you if the
past and the present are an indication of what we can expect in the future.”
    Sometimes, I thought it would
have been easier if I’d married a man who didn’t have any godly expectations.
Then I could be the only “holy” one in the family, like my mother and my
grandmother had been. No one would be able to question my motives.
    But Stelson was no ordinary
husband. He was my Boaz. The godly man I’d asked for. Waited for. The father of
my children who worked hard to provide for us and lead us as the Holy Spirit
led him. Even if I disagreed with him, I had to respect his position.
    The loud exhale I gave him,
however, wasn’t quite as respectful as the Lord would have wanted. “Okay. I’ll
do better. I promise. I’m gonna get a housekeeper. I’m gonna get in touch with
that personal chef lady who catered the women’s conference at church. Her meal
preparation service was reasonable, remember?”
    I reached across the center
console of our Chevy Tahoe and rubbed his shoulders. The rock-hard tension
caught me by surprise. “Stelson, honey, this is just a different season in our
marriage. We have little kids. We’re busy. We’ll make it through.”
    “You know…” He rolled his
lips between his teeth. “We can hire someone to help with the house and the
cooking. We can even hire someone to help with the kids. But we can’t hire another wife.”
    My neck and my hand snapped
back. “What is that supposed to mean? Is that a threat?”
    Zoe stirred with the sharp
tone in my voice. Sitting in the car seat without the vibration of a moving car
was prime cause for a hissy fit in her world.
    “No. That’s not what I’m
saying.”
    “Then what are you
saying?”
    “I’m saying that in this season ,”
he slung my churchy term at me, “I’d like for you to slow down.”
    “What about you? Are you
going to slow down, too? I don’t like it when you travel and when you work
late. Makes me feel like a single parent.”
    He nodded. “That’s fair. I
can slow down, too. I did most of the traveling when Cooper’s kids were
younger. I’m sure he’d be willing to return the favor if I asked.”
    Of course he could slow down.
He was the “Brown” of Brown-Cooper Engineering. He was one of the bosses, and
his partner was a perfectly reasonable man who would do anything to help
Stelson through a rough patch.
    Zoe’s whimpering permeated
the car, causing me to tear away from the conversation with my husband. “It’s
okay, Zoe,” I bubbled.
    In baby language, she told me
that she wanted out of those straps.
    Stelson went to retrieve our
son while I dug through Zoe’s bag for a toy to keep her occupied. She smiled as
I presented her a plastic key ring. “Here you go!”
    With my baby temporarily
distracted, I whispered to God, “You gave me this man. You gave me this family.
You also gave me my degrees and my job. You know I just can’t see myself as a
stay-at-home mom. Am I wrong for—”
    The screen door of my
parents’ house swung open violently as Stelson ordered Seth to get in the car.
    Father God, what did my
child do now?
    Seth skipped to my side of
the car and opened the door. “Hi, Mommy.” He hopped in. He rubbed his forehead
across Zoe’s forehead, a roughhousing move that she adored. “Hi, Zoe, Zoe,
Zoe!”
    He didn’t act or sound like a
little boy in trouble.
    Zoe giggled in complete awe
of her big brother. He was the only one who could invade her space with such
gruff treatment and get away with it.
    Stelson went back into the
house, but the main door was still open so I could hear him and my father
having a simmering discussion. I pressed the button to lower my window and
eavesdrop, but