Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers Read Free Book Online

some way.
    Rain drummed against the window. She put out her tin cans and blocked her mind to everything but the sound of the drops plinking into them, making music in the cold, dull room.
    She was glad, she told herself, really glad. No one would come knocking at the door. No one would bother them anymore.
    Rab was guilt-ridden in the morning. He cried again. “I gotta keep my promise to Mae, else she won’t rest in peace.” He held his head in his hands and peered at her with bloodshot, sad eyes. “What am I going to do with you, kid? I need a drink. Bad.” He looked in the cupboards and found nothing but a can of beans. He opened them and ate half, leaving the rest for her.
    “I’m going out awhile and think things through. Gotta talk to a few friends.
    Maybe they can help.”
    Sarah lay on the bed and pressed Mama’s pillow against her face, comforting herself with the lingering scent of her mother. She waited for Rab to come back. As the hours passed, the trembling started deep inside her.
    It was cold; snow was falling. She lit the fire and ate the beans. Shivering, she dragged a blanket from the bed and wrapped herself in it. She sat as close to the grate as she could.
    The sun was going down, and the silence was like death. Everything slowed inside her and she thought if she closed her eyes and relaxed, she could stop breathing and die. She tried to concentrate on that, but she heard a man’s voice, talking and excited. It was Rab.
    “You’ll be pleased. I swear. She’s a good kid. Looks like Mae. Pretty. Real pretty. And smart.”
    She was relieved when he opened the door. He wasn’t drunk, just lightly in his cups, his eyes bright and merry. He was smiling for the first time in weeks. “Everything’s going to be fine now, kid,” he said and brought another man into the shack with him.
    The stranger was built like the stevedores on the pier, and his eyes were hard. He looked at her and she drew back. “Stand up,” Rab said, helping 37
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    her. “This gent’s come to meet you. He works for a man who wants to adopt a little girl.”
    Sarah didn’t know what Rab was talking about, but she knew she didn’t like the man who had come with him. He came toward her, and she tried to move behind Rab, but Rab held her in front of him. The stranger cupped her chin and lifted her face, turning it from side to side to study her. When he let go, he took up a handful of her blonde hair and rubbed it between his fingers.
    “Nice,” he said and smiled. “Real nice. He’ll like this one.”
    Her heart drummed wildly. She looked up at Rab, but he sensed nothing wrong.
    “She looks like her mother,” Rab said, his voice breaking.
    “She’s thin and dirty.”
    “We’re poor,” Rab said piteously.
    Taking some bills from his pocket, the man peeled off two and handed them to Rab. “Clean her up and get her some decent clothes. Then bring her here.” He gave him an address and left.
    Rab whooped. “Things’re lookin’ up for you, kid,” he said, grinning.
    “Didn’t I promise your mama I’d take good care of you?” He took her hand and walked her quickly to another shack several blocks away. A woman in a thin wrapper answered his knock. Her curly brown hair fell about her pale shoulders and she had circles beneath her hazel eyes.
    “I need your help, Stella.” After he explained all, she frowned and chewed on her lower lip.
    “You sure about this, Rab? You weren’t just drunk, were you? It don’t sound right somehow. Didn’t he give a name or nothin’?”
    “I didn’t ask him, but I know who he works for. Radley told me. The gent who wants to adopt her is rich as Midas and way up in government.”
    “Then why’s he looking on the docks for a daughter?”
    “It don’t matter, does it? It’s the best chance she’s got, and I promised Mae.” His voice trembled with tears.
    Stella looked at him sadly. “Don’t cry,