Need You Now
Acclaim for Beth Wiseman
“You may think you are familiar with Beth's wonderful story-telling gift but this is something new! This is a story that will stay with you for a long, long time. It's a story of hope when life seems hopeless. It's a story of how God can redeem the seemingly unredeemable. It's a message the Church, the world needs to hear.”
âS
HEILA
W
ALSH, AUTHOR OF
G
OD
L
OVES
B
ROKEN
P
EOPLE
“Beth Wiseman tackles these difficult subjects with courage and grace. She remindsd us that true healing can only come by being vulnerable and honest before our God who loves us more than anything.”
âD
EBORAH
B
EDFORD, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF
H
IS
O
THER
W
IFE
,
A R
OSE BY THE
D
OOR
,
AND
T
HE
P
ENNY
(
CO-AUTHORED WITH JOYCE MEYER
)
“Beth Wiseman writes with a masterful hand that reaches the recesses of the soul. Her capability for understanding the human condition exceeds traditional empathy and moves the reader to both introspection and exhilaration. Characters connect, transform, and redeem, making for a must âone sit' read. Wiseman's comprehension of grace and redemption plays out in the subtle confines of the everyday and teaches the reality that new life is possible for all.”
âK
ELLY
L
ONG, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF
S
ARAH'S
G
ARDEN
“Wiseman's voice is consistently compassionate and her words flow smoothly.”
â
P
UBLISHERS
W
EEKLY
REVIEW OF
S
EEK
M
E
W
ITH
A
LL
Y
OUR
H
EART
“In
Seek Me With All Your Heart
, Beth Wiseman offers readers a heartwarming story filled with complex characters and deep emotion. I instantly loved Emily and eagerly turned each page, anxious to learn more about her pastâand what future the Lord had in store for her.”
âS
HELLEY
S
HEPARD
G
RAY, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF THE
S
EASONS OF
S
UGARCREEK
S
ERIES
“Wiseman has done it again! Beautifully compelling,
Seek Me With All Your Heart
is a heartwarming story of faith, family, and renewal. Her characters and descriptions are captivating, bringing the story to life with the turn of every page.”
âA
MY
C
LIPSTON, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF
A G
IFT OF
G
RACE
“
Seek Me With All Your Heart
by Beth Wiseman is a heart-stirring story of second chances and learning to trust God in difficult circumstances. You won't want to miss the start to this new Amish series!”
âC
OLLEEN
C
OBLE, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF
T
HE
L
IGHTKEEPER'S
B
RIDE
AND THE
R
OCK
H
ARBOR
S
ERIES
Need You Now
Also by Beth Wiseman
The Daughters of the Promise series
Plain Perfect
Plain Pursuit
Plain Promise
Plain Paradise
Plain Proposal
The Land of Canaan series
Seek Me With All Your Heart
The Wonder of Your Love
Novellas found in
An Amish Christmas
An Amish Gathering
An Amish Love
An Amish Wedding
Need You Now
BETH
WISEMAN
© 2012 by Elizabeth Wiseman Mackey
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansâelectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherâexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Thomas Nelson books may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Publisher's Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wiseman, Beth, 1962â
   Need you now / Beth Wiseman.
      p. cm.
   ISBN 978-1-59554-887-0 (trade paper)
 1. Domestic fiction. I. Title.
   PS3623.I83N44 2012
   813'.6âdc23
2011049553 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Printed in the United States of America
12 13 14 15 16 17 QG 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Kelly Long (aka June)
Contents
Darlene's chest tightened, and for a few seconds she couldn't move. If ever there was a time to flee, it was now. She put a hand to her chest, held her breath, and eased backward, sliding one socked foot at a time across the wooden floor of her bedroom. She eyed the intruder, wondering why he wasn't moving. Maybe he was dead.
Nearing the door, she stretched her arm behind her, searching for the knob. She turned it quickly, and at the click of the latch, her trespasser rushed toward her. In one movement, she jumped backward, across the threshold and into the den, slamming the door so hard the picture of the kids fell off the wall. She looked down at Chad, Ansley, and Grace staring up through broken glass, then hurried through the den to the kitchen. Her hand trembled as she unplugged her cell phone and pressed the button to call Brad.
Please answer
.
It was tax time, so every CPA at her husband's office was working long hours, and for these last weeks before the April deadline, Brad was hard to reach. She knew she wouldn't hear from him until after eight o'clock tonight. And she couldn't go back in her bedroom. What would she have to live without until then? She looked down. For starters, a shirt. She was later than usual getting dressed this morning and had just pulled on her jeans when she'd noticed she wasn't alone.
She let out a heavy sigh and rubbed her forehead. Brad answered on the sixth ring.
“Bradley . . .” She only called him by his full name when she needed his full attention.
“What is it, babe?”
She took a deep breath. “There is a
snake
in our bedroom. A big black
snake
.” She paused as she put a hand to her chest. “In our
bedroom
.”
“How big?”
She'd expected a larger reaction. Maybe her husband didn't hear her. “Big! Very big. Huge, Brad.”
He chuckled. “Honey, remember that little snake that got in your greenhouse when we lived on Charter Road in Houston? You said that snake was big too.” He chuckled again, and Darlene wanted to smack him through the phone. “It was a tiny little grass snake.”
“Brad, you're going to have to trust me. This snake is huge, like five or six feet long.” A shiver ran down her spine. “Are you coming home or should I call 9-1-1?”
“What? You can't call 9-1-1 about a snake.” His tone changed. “Darlene, don't do that. Round Top is a small town, and we'll be known as the city slickers who called in about a snake.”
“Then you need to come home and take care of this.” She lifted her chin and fought the tremble in her voice.
Deep breath on the other end of the line. “You know how crazy it is here. I can't leave right now. It's probably just a chicken snake, and they're not poisonous.”
“Well, there are no
chickens
in our bedroom, so it doesn't have any business in there.”
“Chad can probably get it out when he gets home from school. Maybe with a shovel or something, but tell him to be careful. Even though they're not venomous, it'd probably still hurt to get bit.”
Darlene sighed. “Our girls are going to freak if they come home to find a snake in the house.” She turned toward a sound in the entryway. “I'll call you back. There's someone at the door, and I'm standing here in my bra. I'll call you back. Love you.” She clicked the phone off, then yelled toward the door, “Just a minute!”
After finding a T-shirt in Ansley's room, she pulled it over her head as she crossed back through the den toward the front door. This was the first visitor she'd had in the two months since they'd moved from Houston. She peeked around the curtain before she opened the door, realizing that her old city habit would probably linger for a while. Out here in the country, there probably wasn't much to worry about, but she was relieved to see it was a woman. A tall woman in a cowgirl hat. She pulled the door open.
“Your Longhorns are in my pasture.” The woman twisted her mouth to one side and folded her arms across her chest. “This is the second time they've busted the fence and wandered onto my property.”
Darlene thought this cowgirl could have walked straight off the set of any western movie. She was dressed in a long-sleeved denim shirt with her blue jeans tucked into brown boots. She was older than Darlene, possibly midforties, but she was gorgeous with huge brown eyes and blond hair that hung in a ponytail to her waist.