Everlasting Love

Everlasting Love
Valerie Hansen

Hi, Mom! Camp is going well. (I feel like a child writing home instead of the animal therapist assigned to work here with the troubled kids!)Since James Harris has seen the success of the program, the skeptical camp director is much more charming - we've been having some late night talks…and a surprising good-night kiss! He didn't even complain when I brought Roxy along - you remember how my sister didn't want to join me.And there was a scare - Roxy and another teen disappeared - but James and I found them. You know, Mom, I think James needs some healing of his own - his soul seems…wounded. I think my strong faith might even help him regain his…if he'll let me. Love, Megan

“You’ve had a comfortable life. Some of us weren’t so lucky.”

Instead of revealing background information that was none of James Harris’s business, Megan merely said, “It’s not luck. It’s a choice. I look at life’s roadblocks as opportunities to triumph over adversity.”

Her smile grew to a full-blown grin as her glance traveled from his booted feet to the top of his head. “And you, mister, are about as big a roadblock as I’ve ever had to overcome. The time we’re about to spend working together with the camp children and my animals should be very challenging.”

“Now that we agree on.”

VALERIE HANSEN

was thirty when she awoke to the presence of the Lord in her life and turned to Jesus. In the years that followed she worked with young children, both in church and secular environments. She also raised a family of her own and played foster mother to a wide assortment of furred and feathered critters.

Married to her high school sweetheart since age seventeen, she now lives in an old farmhouse she and her husband renovated with their own hands. She loves to hike the wooded hills behind the house and reflect on the marvelous turn her life has taken. Not only is she privileged to reside among the loving, accepting folks in the breathtakingly beautiful Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, she also gets to share her personal faith by telling the stories of her heart for Steeple Hill’s Love Inspired line.

Everlasting Love

Valerie Hansen

Moreover, let us also be full of joy now! Let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patience and unswerving endurance.

—Romans 5:3

To Manda, whose trials have been many, especially lately, and who has all my love and prayers

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

Letter to Reader

Chapter One

Megan White was annoyed with herself for feeling apprehensive. This was the chance of a lifetime. She should be ecstatic. Appreciative of all the blessings involved. Thrilled to have the opportunity to help her teenage sister, Roxanne, as well as the homeless kids they were about to meet. And she was glad. Really. She just needed to keep reminding herself to be thankful for everything, even her brooding companion.

Sighing, she glanced over at Roxy. The fifteen-year-old had relaxed some since she’d picked her up at their mother’s house, but Megan could tell there was still a huge chip on the girl’s shoulder.

“Hey, look at this great weather,” Megan said cheerfully. “We couldn’t ask for a prettier day.”

Roxy merely grunted.

“And the beautiful dogwood trees. Wow! Don’t you just love the Ozarks?”

“I guess.”

Megan paused a moment, then plunged ahead, following her heart. “Look, Roxy, I know this trip wasn’t your idea, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make the best of it. It’ll be fun. You’ll see.”

The girl’s head whipped around. Her expression was half stoicism, half vulnerability. “You don’t have to do this, Meg. All I want is to get away from Dad’s new wife and her snotty kid for a little while. I could stay with Mom if she’d take me back. How long do I have to pay for going to live with Dad? All my life?”

“We can’t change the past, honey. I’m trying to make things better for you. So is Mom. It was hard on all of us when they got divorced.”

“Yeah, but you could go off to college. I was stuck.”

“I’m sorry if you felt I was ducking our problems instead of sharing them with you.”

Roxanne’s eyes widened. “How did you know?”

“I’m a psych major, remember?”

“You think that makes you smarter? You don’t have any idea what it was like for me after Dad decided to marry that witch. Her kid was supposed to be some kind of perfect angel. I couldn’t do anything right.”

“Remember those feelings when you’re talking to some of the kids we’re going to meet. Compared to the kind of stuff they’ve been through, you and I’ve had it easy. We started out with both parents and a nice place to live. Lots of them never had anything like that.”

“I won’t know what to say.”

“Just be kind. Be their friend. Working with my therapy animals should take care of the rest.” And maybe heal your broken heart the way they’ve healed mine.