Shattered Justice Read Online Free PDF

chewed on that for a moment. “So, it’s like, okay, so Aaron hurts me—”
    “Sure, make
m
e the bad guy.”
    Shannon ignored her brother. “So grace means I forgive him for being stupid and mean and—”
    Dan put his hand out to stop Aaron’s protest. “I think we get the point, Shannon.”
    She snickered. “Okay, fine. But it takes a while sometimes to trust people who hurt you, even after you forgive ’em. So that’s the consequence he has to deal with, that I might not trust him for a while?”
    Sarah hugged her. “That’s right. The one who hurts youreceives grace when you forgive him. And he faces the punishment of losing your friendship for a while.”
    “Okay.” Aaron stood again, yawning. “I think I get it.” He grinned and wagged his eyebrows. “But I still like it when the
real
bad guy—” he made a face at his sister—“gets his.”
    Yup. Dan grinned to himself as laughter filled the room. A definite case of like father, like son.

THREE

    “Parting is all we know of heaven

and all we need of hell.”

E MILY D ICKINSON
    “He was … a man of sorrows
,
acquainted with bitterest grief.”

I SAIAH 53:3
    “STAND ASIDE, KNAVE, OR PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE!”
    Dan crossed his arms. “You gotta be kidding me.”
    Sarah peeked at him from behind her hand holding an arrow nocked against the string of her bow. She hadn’t drawn the bow, of course, so there was no danger.
    Not unless you counted what Dan’s eyes did to her heart rate. Yes indeedy.
That
was danger. And all she could say was, bring it on!
    A pout tinged her features. “Come on, Dan; I got set up first. You have to let me shoot.”
    He hesitated, and she could almost hear the gears turning in his brain as he tried to come up with an argument that would win him first shot. But finally he surrendered, stepping aside with a heavy sigh and a gallant wave of his well-muscled arm.
    “After you, my lady.”
    My lady
. Oooo, she liked the sound of that. Even better, she liked the feel of that. Being Dan’s lady.
    She tossed him a kiss, then took her stance. She drew a bead on the target, pulled back the notched arrow … then let the arrow fly.
    Dan slipped an arm around her waist as they followed the projectile’s sure path, straight to the heart of the target they’d chosen: a thick piece of moss-covered bark leaning against a boulder.
    “Perfect!”
    Sarah grinned up at him. “The shot or the shooter?”
    The evocative curve of those broad lips sent a shiver across her nerves. “Both.”
    Their mutual love of field archery had been a happy discovery early on in their dating years, back in college. Some of their best times in the nearly seventeen years they’d been married had been times just like this, where they hiked, taking turns choosing a target, then seeing who could hit it with the most speed and accuracy. A competitor to the core, Sarah loved it when she shot better than Dan—which even he admitted was most of the time. She seemed to have an uncanny eye.
    At the end of the first day they shot together, Dan gave her a lopsided grin as he helped her into his Jeep. “Remind me never to make you mad at me while you’re holding a bow.”
    She leaned forward, slid her arms around his neck, and pressed a kiss to his lips. “Even if you did, it would be okay.”
    His arms encircled her. “Oh, yeah?”
    She nuzzled his neck. “Yeah. I’d make sure to miss all the vital organs.”
    Sarah chuckled at the memory.
    “What are you laughing at, Mrs. Justice?”
    She glanced up at her husband. The wind ruffled his thick, brown hair. She’d tried so hard to get him to wear a hat when they were out in the wilderness, but to no avail. And for once, she was glad. Slinging the bow over her shoulder, she reachedup and tugged at his wind-tumbled hair. Even cut short, it was thick and soft, and she loved to comb her fingers through it.
    “I’m not laughing
at
anything, Mr. Justice.” Her fingers caressed the back of his neck.