The Marshal Meets His Match Read Online Free PDF Page A

the door warned her, and she turned as Dr. Kilburn and his wife entered.
    “Good morning, dear. I have breakfast almost ready. You have a few minutes to wash and freshen up if you like. I also washed and pressed your clothes for you. They’re hanging in the spare room.” Mrs. Kilburn smiled softly at Meri as she issued the invitation before hurrying back to her kitchen.
    Meri delayed leaving the room, hovering over the doctor as he examined her father. “Still no change,” he muttered.
    “Is there anything we can do?” Meri asked in frustration as she looked at the pale, quiet figure of her father.
    “Yes. We can pray for God’s healing and wait for it to occur. Your father had a pretty big shock to his system, but so far he’s holding his own.” The doctor moved away from the bed and patted Meri’s shoulder reassuringly. “Go freshen up and get some food in you. I’ll leave the door open. We’ll be close enough to hear if he stirs.”
    Meri allowed herself to be ushered from the room to the spare room across the hall. By the time she’d finished her morning ablutions, dressed in the neatly pressed skirt and blouse and headed for the kitchen, another voice had joined those of Dr. Kilburn and his wife.
    Pastor James Willis was sitting at the table drinking coffee but stood when she entered the room. “I’m sorry for disturbing you so early, I wanted to check on Ian and see if there’s any way I can be of assistance.”
    “Doc says all we can do now is pray and wait.” The words felt like shards of glass in her throat.
    “They’ve been keeping me apprised of Ian’s condition—” he waved his hand toward Dr. and Mrs. Kilburn “—and the church family has been lifting him up in daily prayer, but what can we do to help you? ” Pastor Willis gently asked.
    “I don’t know…” Meri choked as the pressure of the past three days suddenly clawed its way up her throat and overwhelmed her. The need to get away before she screamed and made a complete fool of herself robbed her of any semblance of social skills.
    “I’m sorry, I… Excuse me!” Meri rushed out the door of the kitchen into the backyard.
    “What about your breakfast, dear?” Meri heard Mrs. Kilburn ask as she cleared the door.
    “Let her go. Food’s the last thing on her mind right now.”
    Dr. Kilburn’s voice faded as Meri left the yard, running blindly. She didn’t know where she was going; she just followed her feet as they carried her away from the place where her father lay unconscious.
    Adrenaline had carried her through the past couple of days, but the uncertainty of her father’s health could not be ignored any longer. The doctor said wait and pray.
    She’d been waiting.
    She’d been praying.
    Why wasn’t God listening? She’d prayed and waited and waited and prayed through her mother’s illness but lost her anyway. Now here she was again, in the same position with her father. She couldn’t go through this again. She couldn’t!
    Fear and grief met with the fury of a mountain thunderstorm and raged in Meri’s chest. Her breath came in ragged gasps, and her eyes and throat burned. She needed to get away from curious eyes. She needed to be on the range where she could run and scream. Where no one could hear and accuse the “old maid” of finally snapping.
    Where could she go? For that matter, where was she?
    Disoriented, Meri glanced around and realized she’d run from Pastor Willis, straight to the church building. Well, maybe praying at an altar would be more effective than the silent, incoherent pleas ricocheting around her brain the past three days.
    Trying the handle of the spick-and-span little white building, she walked inside, pausing to let her eyes adjust to the dimmer light. The room that rang with preaching and singing on Sundays, and the schoolchildren’s recitations the rest of the week, was unnaturally quiet and dim. The sun had just started peeking over the horizon, not yet bright enough to illumine