Page 85 of Rescued Faith

“I don’t like it, but the other agencies believe Sosa will show if we continue on as planned.” Jason turned toward Penny again. “Brooks said you have some protection detail training and you can recognize Sosa by voice, so the governor wants to add you to the crew tonight. Wear evening dress. If you come with me, we can go over particulars.”

She glanced over at Bryce and Olivia before facing Woods once more. “Anything to be of service.”

Bryce didn’t like the sight of her walking away with Jason at all, but it wasn’t like he was a threat. The man was more wind than substance. But Bryce wanted to be the one at her side. Too bad he wasn’t a bodyguard for hire too.

Olivia nodded toward the flurry of activity in the bullpen. “Come on, Bryce. Let’s look into the militia members and see what we can find before the ball.”

TWENTY-SEVEN

“You look so pretty!” Hazel said as she stared at Penny in the full-length mirror in Andi’s bedroom. The red beaded gown with the halter top was surprisingly comfortable for formal wear. The slit up the side went high enough to easily access her holster there but not reveal the weapon. She needed to blend in with the crowd tonight and still do her job to keep the governor safe and find Sosa.

Libby appeared in the doorway. “All right, munchkin, why don’t you help your brother in the kitchen. He’s making cookies with Andi, and I hear they need a taste-tester.”

“Cookies? Bye, Aunt Penny! Have fun at the ball!” Hazel was already out the door and down the hall.

“That’s one way to occupy her so you can lecture me.” Penny put the finishing touches of red lipstick on.

“You make it hard to get you alone. I had to be creative.” Libby fixed a stray lock of hair that had escaped the updo. “But I didn’t come to lecture you.”

“Sure you did. You have that look.”

“I just want to see you settled and happy, Pen. Put down some roots. Maybe even get married someday. Is that so bad?”

“Weren’t you the one that always told me to never find my happiness in a man? And then you went and married one. Talk about mixed messages.” Penny reached for the earrings Andi had left out for her. “Besides, wasn’t too long ago you and Dan were on the verge of splitting up.”

“Yeah. Moving here was my last-ditch effort to save our marriage. I hoped a less stressful job, a small-town vibe would give us more family time.”

Penny studied her sister in the mirror. Despite the stress and trauma of everything that had gone on, she’d never seen her so at peace. Content. “You seem better now. Guess it worked.”

“It wasn’t the new job or the move. It was God.” Libby watched her put the earrings in.

“Ah. So this is the part where you tell me I need Jesus.” Penny swiped her clutch off the bed and dropped her lipstick into it. “But I need to leave soon.”

“I just hope you’ll give Bryce a chance. He’s one of the good ones.”

“I’m not denying that Bryce is a good man. But I’ve seen what loving someone can do. Two isn’t always better than one.”

“No, but three is.” Libby looked down at her wedding ring a moment. “You want to know what really saved my marriage? A verse from Ecclesiastes that said a cord of three strands is not easily broken.”

What was she talking about? “You and Dan have an open marriage? I’m not religious, and even to me that doesn’t sound right.”

Libby laughed. “The third strand is God. When we both came to understand who He is, what He’s done for us, everything changed.”

Penny wanted to swat all the words away, but something she’d never heard in Libby’s voice stayed her. “What changed?”

“For the first time in my life there was something—no, Someone bigger than us. I found hope and purpose and love in God.”

“And that magically fixed everything?”

Libby sat on the bed. “There wasn’t anything magical about it. It’s still hard work to keep our marriage going. But as Dan and I went through counseling and read the Bible and got to know the Lord on our own, priorities shifted. I wasn’t looking to Dan or our marriage to fulfill me in ways it was never meant to. Things that used to be so important to me didn’t mean as much anymore.”

“Things like what?” Penny picked at the beading of her clutch, not necessarily ready to reveal how much she wanted what her sister seemed to have already found.

“For one, I didn’t need the stability and recognition from my job or Dan or the kids. I found that all in Christ. I never realized how much I worried about how other people saw me. How I had this image of having it all together that I felt pressured to maintain. I still struggle with that, but it’s better. And I went from asking ‘What do I need from Dan, what is he not giving to me, and why won’t he just pick up his dirty towels in the bathroom and make my life easier?’ to ‘What can I do for Dan? How can I show him love today?’ I’ll tell you, that’s not marriage advice or life advice you’ll find in a magazine article or most of the psychology podcasts I listened to, but it’s made all the difference for us.”

“And what if the worst thing happens to Dan? Or the kids? What happens when you lose them? God’s gonna pick up all the pieces and make it better?” Penny stared right at Libby, daring her to speak truth.

“I can’t imagine my life without them, but yeah, if something happened and I lost them, I know I’ll see them again. And I’d grieve. My heart would shatter. But I know God would hold metogether, because I’ve realized I never had it together in the first place. I’ve tried. I spent a lot of years that way, and now that I have the freedom to let that worry go, I want it for you too.”

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