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Clementine Benton Nelson had come shortly after Mother’s death to take care of her brother’s youngest children.

Father had been most grateful for her help but less than happy when he learned of her insistence that the children attend church with her.

He relented to allow Rose to go but let the boys decide for themselves.

Tommy blamed God for his mother’s death and refused.

Walter and Ernest went a few times, but when Colton remained home, they were soon persuaded to remain there as well.

As Rose grew older and her condition caused more questions, Father insisted Aunt Clementine keep her home.

But that didn’t stop the older woman from “Training a child up in the way they should go,” as she always said.

“Did you hear me? I wondered if you thought Tommy was in heaven?”

“I don’t hold with such things, Rosie. You know that.”

“But, Colton, God is real, and if you don’t have Jesus as your Savior, you can’t go to heaven.”

He looked at her for a moment. “And you think that’s fair? You think God is loving to act in such a way? Sending people to hell?”

“God doesn’t want them to go to hell.” She shook her head and furrowed her brow. “He sent Jesus so they didn’t have to go.” There was a decidedly childlike innocence to her reasoning on the matter. “People go to hell because they choose that instead of God.”

“Oh, bother. I don’t want to discuss this now. Look, if you’re good, then we’ll go see Emma in the morning. But for now, let me get some work done.”

She smiled. “Do you want some coffee and pie? The cook made your favorite pecan pie.”

The thought did intrigue him, but it was getting too close to suppertime. “No, I’ll wait and have some with dinner.”

Rose hugged him again. “I’ll go out to the garden. Miguel is getting the dirt ready to plant new flowers. He said I could help.”

“All right. You go ahead.”

Colton watched her all but skip away. Recently Emma had been working with her to walk in a more ladylike manner.

For years they’d done very little to train Rose in any particular etiquette, certain that she would be unable to learn anything difficult.

Father had even forbidden his sister to impose rules upon the child.

It was to their benefit Rose had such a sweet and simple nature.

A more unruly child might have brought the entire house down.

Still, she surprised them all by picking up little things.

She especially learned from Emma, who thought it nonsense to keep Rose hidden away without any training.

Perhaps she was right. Maybe they’d been wrong to shelter Rosie and keep her from outsiders.

Father had feared her being embarrassed or, perhaps even more so, feared her being an embarrassment to him.

But Emma didn’t see things that way. Emma had taught her about numbers and the alphabet, certain Rosie could learn to read.

She went proudly for walks with Rose, and from time to time Tommy accompanied them.

Last year they’d even taken Rose to the fair, where after brief instruction, she had won a game of ring toss.

The memory brought a smile. “I believe we’ve underestimated you, Rosie girl.”

But that thought gave him hope for the future. Rose needed them more than ever, and that was how he would convince Emma to stay. He’d explain how she was the only one who could help Rose live up to her full potential.

Emma fought nausea along with the pain. The doctor said she was running a slight fever, which wasn’t unusual, and encouraged her to drink plenty of liquids.

But no sooner did she drink than it all came back up.

Lucille and Papa had visited earlier and brought some peppermint lozenges.

Emma had to admit they did help. She just wished things could go back to normal.

She wanted to get up. To go for a long ride. Anything but lie in bed ... thinking.

As the sun set and she faced another long night in the hospital, Emma couldn’t help but relive the shooting all over again.

She longed to wipe away the image of Tommy dead on the floor, but it haunted her.

Worse still, she could recall every sermon she’d ever heard about salvation. It played over and over in her mind.

She had memorized Acts four verse twelve as a child. It was that verse that echoed in her thoughts. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

That name was Jesus. Neither she nor Tommy had given it much consideration.

Tommy had gone to church as a child, and so had she.

Both had been told of the need for Jesus, and both had prayed as directed, asking for salvation.

But neither had any real purpose for God or religion as they grew older.

They had talked more than once about their encounters with the Gospel message.

Tommy related accepting Jesus as Savior at his mother’s knee.

She had been a woman of great faith and held the Gospel dear.

However, when she passed away, Tommy had been quite angry at God.

It was unfair, he told Emma. Unfair that a God supposedly full of love should take a mother away from her children.

He wanted little else to do with God, and neither did his brothers.

From how Tommy had described her, it sounded like Aunt Clementine had worked to undo his anger.

She had loved Tommy quite dearly, seeing in him the son she might have had.

As a childless widow, Aunt Clementine had lavished love on all of the Benton tribe, but Tommy and Rose received the lion’s portion.

She had babied Rose, hiding her away from the world as instructed by their father.

Tommy had told Emma how Aunt Clementine often explained that Rose was a special kind of being.

Not quite an angel, but more than human.

Rose recognized spiritual things easier because her mind wasn’t bogged down with earthly woes.

Emma wondered at times if that was true.

Rose did seem closer to God. She was always speaking of things in the Bible she’d been taught by Aunt Clementine or had heard from the pulpit.

Emma found the young woman’s ability to recall such things nothing short of a miracle.

Rose could neither read nor write, and yet she memorized Scripture like no one Emma had ever seen.

She was also quite adamant with Emma about seeking God. Emma had once confessed to having accepted Jesus quite young, but then told Rose about the time she had decided she didn’t want to be a Christian. That Christians had no happiness in their hearts.

“Oh, Emma, you are silly. Of course we have happiness. God is love, and love makes me happy all the time.”

Emma fought back tears. How she wished Rosie might be with her right now. Rosie always had a way of comforting her, even if it was with her religious views.

Never had Emma’s heart been so heavy. Not even when she’d hurt Mama by declaring her desire to forgo God and Christianity. Then, Emma had ignored the sense of guilt, but at the moment she couldn’t begin to avoid it. Guilt consumed her. Overwhelmed her.

How she wished she could pace the floor, but the medicine they’d given her clouded her mind and made her body feel incapable of obeying directions. She was swimming in a haze of regret and despair.

Had Tommy gone to hell?

She was so uncertain of how it all worked, despite having a dozen memorized Scriptures come to mind. Why hadn’t she paid more attention? She knew she’d heard plenty of sermons about souls who were condemned without Jesus, but what about those who had accepted Jesus and then hid from Him after that?

“Who are you fooling, Emma John—Benton? You didn’t just hide from Him; you denied Him. Denied Him like Peter did in the Bible. You didn’t want to follow His rules. You wanted to have fun.” Her whispered voice seemed to echo in the silent room.

Tears flowed at this thought. She had done so many foolish things.

She’d ignored doing anything of value with her life, and she most assuredly had ignored God.

Could she be forgiven? Would God be willing to take her back again?

How she wished there was someone she could ask.

It might be too late for Tommy; she didn’t know.

Maybe in the moment he faced that gun, the truth had come back to him.

Maybe he sought forgiveness. She couldn’t know.

To her surprise, the door to her room opened just a bit, and her stepmother, Lucille, peered inside.

“I hope I didn’t wake you,” she said, smiling.

“No, no.” Emma sniffed back tears and dabbed her face with the edge of the sheet. “Please come in. I was just wishing I could talk to someone.”

Lucille slipped into the room. “I know it’s past visiting hours, but I felt the need to come here. I told your father that something compelled me to see you.”

“It’s God.” Emma’s tone was hushed and filled with awe. Did He still care for her after all she’d done?

“God?” Lucille came to Emma’s bedside and took hold of her hand.

“Yes.” Emma nodded and met Lucille’s kind gaze. “I’ve been so wrong to put God from me. You can’t imagine the guilt I feel. It’s pressing down on me like nothing I’ve ever known before. I fear the worst for Tommy and can’t bear to go on without making things right with God.”

“Oh, my dear girl, that blesses my heart to hear. I know how hard your mother prayed for this day. We both did.”

“You prayed for me?”

“Of course. Your mother and I were good friends; you know that. She used to grieve over your desire to put God out of your life. She asked me to pray with her. On her death bed, she made me promise I would never stop praying for you to find your way back to God. She just knew that you would.”

“She did?” Emma felt the first tiny bit of hope. “How could she be so sure?”

“She knew the truth, and that God would one day make it clear to you. You were her prodigal son—or daughter, in this case.” Lucille brushed back Emma’s hair from her face. “A mother never gives up hope that her child will find their way home.”

“Oh, Lucille ... I want so much ... I want to make things right. I don’t know how. Please tell me what to do.” Emma reached for her stepmother and sobbed against her, ignoring the pain from her wound.

“Seek the Lord’s forgiveness and recommit yourself to Him, Emma. He stands willing to receive you. He loves you and has never stopped.”

Emma closed her eyes, and her mother’s face came to mind. She could hear her mother’s words from the time she had led Emma to Jesus. “ Pray and ask Him to forgive your sins and come into your heart, Emma. Believe in Him as your Savior, and you will be saved.”

Mama then shared a verse from Romans ten. “‘That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.’”

Emma’s voice was barely a whisper. “Please, Lord, let it be so. Forgive me for the way I’ve acted. Please forgive me for my disbelief. Cleanse me, Lord, and take me back. I want You for my Lord and Savior.”

A peace unlike any she had ever known settled upon her. Emma looked up at Lucille, who was also crying. They shared a smile, and Emma knew without any doubt that God had taken her back.

“Do you think my mama knows?”

Lucille nodded. “I’m sure she does. I’m sure all of heaven is rejoicing, and she’s the loudest of them all.”

Emma settled back in the bed. “Thank you, Lucille. Thank you for listening to God and coming here tonight. I wouldn’t have known the way if you hadn’t come.”

Her stepmother gave her cheek a gentle touch. “God is faithful to draw us to Him. If not me, then He would have sent another. He always hears His children when they long to come home.”