Waiting For Rachel: A Christian Romance (Those Karlsson Boys) Read Online Free PDF Page A

through this first Christmas without Mom. I know she wouldn’t want me to be down, but it’s so hard being all alone. Let me feel your presence, Lord, and give me some opportunities to minister that will take my mind off what is dragging me down.”
    Still keeping her eyes closed, Rachel focused her thoughts on the good things in her life. Mentally she made a list. The store and the success it’s having. My health, which I’ll never take for granted again after Mom’s struggle. The church -- hopefully there will be a place for me to minister now that I have the time. And even Christmas, what it really means -- not just the presents and family gatherings, but Jesus’ birth.
    On that positive note Rachel opened her eyes. The strains of “Silent Night” calmed her heart, and the lights of the tree seemed just a bit brighter. Finishing off the can of soda with a final sip, she got up to throw it away. On the way to the kitchen she stopped to get her mail from the mailbox at the front door. Standing at the kitchen counter, she quickly flipped through it, pausing only when she saw an envelope addressed with heavy masculine scrawl.
    Frowning, Rachel slit the flap. She pulled out a card and opened it. Even though she knew who had sent it, her gaze searched for confirmation in the sender’s name. Seventeen years. It had taken seventeen years, but finally she was getting a card from her father.
    “ My darling daughter Rachel ,” it began. Rachel blinked back tears. She hadn’t been his darling since the day he’d walked out, taking her older brother Matthew but leaving her behind with their mom. Rachel fought the urge to rip the card to shreds.
    Please forgive me. He certainly hadn’t beaten around the bush, Rachel thought .  Because of what I’ve done I have no right to even ask for your forgiveness, but still I must. I know I haven’t been the world’s best father, in fact, I’ve probably been the worst, but God has begun working in my heart lately, and I need to make things right with you and your mother .
    He didn’t know Mom had died, Rachel realized. She had never had a contact number for her father, and when she’d tried to reach her brother after their mom had died, she’d discovered the number had been disconnected. Letters she’d sent to him had been returned. She had tried her best to let them know, but in the end she’d been left alone to grieve.
    Her brother had kept in contact with them at first, but there had been nothing from him in over six years. Last she’d heard, he had been on his second marriage and their father had been on his third. Clearly the decisions they’d made in their lives had brought them no joy.
    Rachel turned her attention back to the card to read the remainder of her father’s message. Now that Christmas is nearing, I just had to send this to let you know I’m thinking of you. I’m missing you more than ever this year, and my heart is filled with a deep longing to see you again. Or at least talk with you. Will you call me? The number he gave was still a Chicago area code.
    If you can’t afford to call me directly, please call collect. I’ll always accept the charges. You have every right to not want to talk to me. This will be the only time I contact you, because I don’t want to interfere in your life. I will leave it up to you even as I pray that you will give me a second chance.
    A second chance? She slammed the card down on the counter, causing her hand to sting with the impact. He had run off with a woman not even seven years older than Rachel had been at the time. Even though he’d been a Christian, a deacon in their church, he’d fallen into the arms of a younger woman and, without a thought, had torn their family to shreds. No one had seen it coming. One day he’d just up and left. He didn’t deserve a second chance.
    She would not be calling him or contacting him in any way. Surely God wouldn’t ask that of her.
    Resolutely she pushed the thoughts of her