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Yet in this case was her love enough to hold and keep him?
That burning question was the one torturing her now. If Sydney ever had to give him up like the woman in the story, she wouldn’t want to go on living… She’d done it once and she knew she didn’t have the strength to do it again.
Before Jarod reached the motel, his cell phone rang.
Sydney?
But one glance at the caller ID extinguished that hope. He clicked on. “Rick?”
“Is this bad timing?”
“Not at all,” Jarod muttered.
“Have you been with Sydney?”
He closed his eyes tightly. “I have.”
The image of those first moments was indelibly engraved in his memory. One glimpse of the hunger in her eyes and he didn’t worry about the frozen expression of her features. She’d gone so still he was able to trace the perfect symmetry of her oval face.
Every time she’d come to his office in the past, he’d studied those same unforgettable features and straight nose that gave her so much character.
Tonight his gaze had followed the lines of those lovely bones beneath a complexion that had turned pale despite her suntan. Her sculpted mouth looked drained of its natural pink tinge.
All her color had seemed to be pooled in those dark-fringed eyes whose myriad of rainbow flecks reflected the blue tone of the cotton sweater she was wearing. They pulsated with life though the rest of her body had gone perfectly still.
She’d emanated a quiet anger that would have daunted him if he didn’t know through years of counseling that anger masked many emotions. He’d wanted to surprise her in order to judge her first reaction. Whatever she felt, she hadn’t been indifferent to him. He’d needed that much positive reinforcement to counterbalance his own deep-seated fears.
“Did her reaction tell you everything you needed to know?”
“That and a great deal more than I had imagined…”
“You sound like you’re in torment.”
“I’ve given her until Thursday to find the courage to really face me.”
“What happens if she can’t?”
“I haven’t asked myself that question yet. How is Father Lane handling everything?” He needed to change the subject or go a little mad in the process.
“I say this in charity. He’s trying his best, but Father Kendall’s shoes are impossible to fill. The phone has been ringing off the hook. Kay says everyone in the parish wants to know where you are and when you’ll be back. Before this place explodes, the hierarchy needs to make some kind of announcement soon.”
Jarod bowed his head. “All anyone needs to know is that I’m on retreat. Give it another couple of months and things will settle down.”
“That’s what you say, but I don’t think so.”
“How’s Kay?”
“If you mean, how did she react when I told her the news, she cried all night. By morning she’d recovered enough to tell me she loves you more for knowing your own heart and doing something about it. She knew I was going to phone you, and told me she was praying you and Sydney will get together.”
“Coming from your wife that means a lot, Rick.”
“I’m sending my prayers with hers.”
“I’ll need them,” Jarod admitted. “Sydney blames herself for my leaving. She has begged me to go back before it’s too late.”
“That’s only natural. You’ve had fifteen months to consider your actions. She needs time for the shock to wear off.”
He rubbed his forehead. “I’ve counseled hundreds of people, but I’ve never met anyone whose g
