The Preacher's Daughter by Fiona Wilde Read Free Book Online

nonsense from him growing up. She's just repeating what she's been told."
    "Yeah, but she suggested you were into some sort of sex trade," he said. "That's offensive. You aren't that kind of girl."
    Naomi pulled her sunglasses down so he couldn't see her eyes. She had been that kind of girl.
    "Panhandling is one thing," he said. "But begging for food or even stealing to survive isn't the same thing as defiling and debasing yourself for money."
    "No," Naomi said. "It's not."
    He put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't let her get you down," he said. "You're a good girl. We both know it."
    He blasted his whistle then and headed out to warn two boys that they were going out too far. Naomi sighed with relief as he went.
    "Defiled. Debased. Those words suggested a kind of dirtiness that could never be washed away. A permanent stain. A scarlet letter. "W" for whore. And hadn't dancing been a form of prostitution? She'd stripped herself bare night after night, gyrating her hips just feet from men's faces. She's dipped into squats, twirled with legs akimbo on the stripper pole.
    "You're so beautiful," one regular customer told her.
    But she never felt beautiful. She felt like a piece of meat dangled before a pack of slobbering, snapping dogs.
    Naomi reached back and touched the fallen angel on her shoulder. Eric had said she'd need to get another one representing the angel's climb back up. But she knew that was only because he didn't really know how far this angel had fallen.

     

Chapter Four

    A car was outside the parsonage when they came back that afternoon.
    "Uh-oh," Rev. Feagans said in an irritated tone. "That's Merle Watkins' car."
    "Merle Watkins?" Naomi asked.
    "Chelsea's father," Eric confided. "She must have called him from her cell phone after we sent her back to the bus."
    Naomi glanced up in the big round mirror that allowed drivers and bus monitors to see the passengers. Chelsea sat looking towards Naomi and Rev. Feagans with a smug expression that indicated they weren't the only ones who'd noticed the car.
    "I've never even met him," Naomi said.
    "He and his family apparently joined right after you left," Eric said. "He's a big tithe-er."
    "Which explains why he'd head deacon," Naomi said cynically.
    The van pulled into the church parking lot. Parents were already waiting to pick up their teens. Naomi wished them all a good day as they departed.
    "It was fun," Beth said. "You're cool."
    "Thanks," said Naomi. "So are you."
    She went to the back of the bus to help Eric unload.
    "I was proud of you today, Naomi," he said. "You were great with the kids and handled that whole thing with Chelsea with grace and class."
    "I'm sure I'll handle it better than I handle my father," she said. "Even though you put Chelsea on the bus he'll find a way to spin this as my fault."
    "We'll see about that," he said. "I plan to walk you home. Don't' worry. I'm not going to make you face him and Deacon Watkins alone."
    "You don't have to do that," she said as she handed him the last inner tube.
    "I know I don't. I want to."
    He locked the storage room and took her hand, squeezing it for reassurance
    "Come on," he said and walked her towards the parsonage. A slight breeze was blowing and he late day sun through lengthening shadows across the cross-cropped lawn. Naomi could smell the scent of dinner wafting through the open window. Her mother was cooking meatloaf and mashed potatoes and green bean casserole.
    They walked in the back door. Her mother smiled at their arrival.
    "Did you have fun?" she asked.
    "Yeah, we had a great time," she said.
    "You got a lot of sun," her mother observed. Naomi looked down at her arms. In L.A. she kept a tan but since coming home she'd not been out much. Today had put some of her color back.
    "How was her first day?" Naomi's mother turned to the youth minister.
    "She was a huge hit," he said. "I see a full-time summer job for her if she's up for it."
    Naomi's mother cast a concerned look towards the living