Page 69 of One Last Stand

“It’s never fun to be poor.”

“But your parents, your sister—you were all together. You couldn’t avoid each other.”

He glanced at her. She hadn’t meant to argue. “Seriously. Sometimes I didn’t see my parents for months, with all their travels and my boarding school.”

He paused then. “Yes. I did have that. My father lived by the will of the Lord, which often felt only as far as his gas tank would take him, but he did love us. And they loved Jesus. He lived by the mantra of Romans 12:18—‘If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.’”

And suddenly Shep’s words about not wanting to be a man of violence returned to her. His father had rubbed off.

“We had a simple life. No television. We were outside a lot. But my dad did spend time with us. When we were little, we’d curl up in our bunks—he’d built them into the Winnebago—and he’d read us his favorite books, likeWhere the Red Fern Grows?—”

“Oh no, I can’t even bear that one.”

“I cried for days.”

She looked at him, and he smiled, winked.

Andoh,she just wanted to step up to him, pull him down to her?—

No. Just keep walking.

“AndCharlotte’s Web.”

“What was wrong with your father?”

He laughed. “AndThe Velveteen Rabbit.”

“C’mon!”

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?”

“Better.”

“The Phantom Tollbooth.”

“There we go.”

“The Chronicles of Narnia.”

“He’s forgiven.”

“The Mouse and the Motorcycle.”

“I still think if I make the noises, it’ll go,” she said, then made thebrrnoise.

He laughed, andoh,it fueled her soul, deep and delicious and rumbly in her bones.

“Right?” he said. “I spent hours trying to make that happen with an old dirt bike my dad found. My favorite adventure, however, wasThe Call of the Wild. Maybe that’s why I love Alaska. And I loved Buck, the dog, and all the ways he touched people’s lives.”

Now, that explained a lot. Andoh no,now her heart started to swell.

“My dad always wanted me to join him. You know, share the gospel, rescue people from darkness. I think he was always a little disappointed in me.”

Seriously?

“Anyway, yeah, we were poor, but we were happy and warm, and it was an adventure. But I’m over adventures. I’d prefer to read about them, thank you. There and back again.” He gave her a look then, his mouth tight.

“There and back again?”

---