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

to a walk.
    Naomi felt silly. Here she was, a grown woman and still running away from the condemnation of her inflexible father. It might not be an entirely bad move if she had a plan, but it seemed she couldn't even run away right. First L.A. and now the middle of the woods. Nice.
    "Stupid," she said to herself as she sat on a rock and scooped up a handful of pebbles and began to toss them in the creek. Plop. Plop. Plop. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
    She sat there until the light faded and the mosquitoes buzzed around her in an ominous, blood-sucking cloud. With a reluctant sigh, Naomi got to her feet and trudged back to the house. It would be silly to go back through the window like some burglar breaking into her own house. She went around to the back door.
    Rev. Feagans was sitting on the back stoop waiting for her. She rolled her eyes.
    "Don't you ever take a day off?" she asked.
    "When it comes to you, no. In case you haven't noticed, you're now my fulltime project." He stood up. "So where did you go?"
    "A private place I used to go to when I was little. If I tell you will you promise not to follow me there?"
    He smiled. "No."
    "Then it'll remain private," she said.
    She went to move past him to go in but he took her arm.
    "Not a good idea," he said, turning her around and steering her across the yard towards the church. "Your father is still - what's a nice way to put this - worked up?"
    "He's not the one who should be upset," she said. "It's cruel and twisted to expect someone to stand up before a bunch of sanctimonious strangers and list their sins. My father is guilty of his own sins - gluttony, for instance. I don't ever recall him standing up on Sunday and confessing to those double helpings of apple pie."
    "That's a valid point," he said.
    She stopped. "You really think so?"
    He turned to her. "Your father has some very antiquated notions. He built this church on fire-and-brimstone rhetoric and to a certain segment of people fear of God's wrath and public humiliation are necessary tools to keep them on the straight and narrow."
    "The idea of standing up and admitting my sins to a bunch of people who may be doing much worse things doesn't make me want to go straight. It makes me want to turn away from the church," she said.
    "Naomi, calm down," he said. "I'm not disagreeing with you here. I think you're father's misguided. But there are ways to get your point across with him, and going on the attack makes him turn away from you!"
    "Like I care," she said.
    He took her arm them and led her towards the church. In the back of her mind, Naomi knew she'd gone too far. And she knew she'd let herself do it. But why? Did she want to test this man? She knew what would happen if she did. Did she want it to happen?
    "Please..." She tried to twist away as he opened the side door of the church and pushed her through, ignoring her as he then steered her down the hall to his office.
    He flipped the light on as he pushed her inside and then stood there with his arms crossed, blocking the just-closed door.
    "You want everyone to understand you," he said. "And yet you refuse to understand anyone else."
    "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she asked.
    He put up a finger in front of her face. "Do not use profanity in my presence, Naomi."
    "Fine," she said. "What is that supposed to mean? I understand people just fine."
    "You don't seem to understand your father."
    "What's there to understand? He's a narrow-minded, fat hypocrite."
    Rev. Feagans took a step towards her. "Do you have any idea how difficult it is for me not to put you over my knee and spank you this very minute?"
    "I don't really care," she said, pushing him. "My father obviously thinks I deserve to be punished. Should it surprise me that you would think the same thing?"
    "Silly girl," he said. "You don't know the difference between punishment and correction. And here I was thinking you were smart..."
    He turned away from her shaking his head. "You can go, Naomi."
    She