Now and Always
Now and Always
Also by Lori Copeland
Morning Shade Mystery Series
A Case of Bad Taste
A Case of Crooked Letters
A Case of Nosy Neighbors
Child of Grace
Christmas Vows
Brides of the West Series
Faith
June
Hope
Glory
Ruth
Patience
Roses Will Bloom Again
Men of the Saddle Series
The Peacemaker
The Drifter
The Maverick
The Plainsman
Stand-Alone Titles
Monday Morning Faith
Simple Gifts
LORI COPELAND
Now
and Always
ZONDERVAN
Now and Always
Copyright © 2008 by Copeland, Inc.
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ePub Edition January 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-54060-1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Copeland, Lori
Now and always / Lori Copeland.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-310-26351-7
I. Title.
PS3553.O6336N69 2008
813'.54 â dc22
2007051420
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the
Holy Bible,
New International Version
®
. NIV
®
. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means â electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other â except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
08 09 10 11 12 13 14
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In loving memory of my brother
Danny Lee Smart
September 8, 2007
Blessed by God
Loved by family
Contents
Now and Always
No one could say exactly how he got five hundred birds in one car.
Electronic carnival lights flashed myriad colors. Loud music blared from rides with names like The Octopus, The Whip, Flying Scooter, and Dodgem Cars.
Nine-year-old Katie and her friend, Essie, stood transfixed, rounded eyes focused on a sideshow where a ten-foot-tall man proceeded to load crates of canaries in a compact car and then folded his legs and nimbly climbed inside behind the wheel.
Another man with a bullhorn promised even more amazing feats, and he gestured the carnivalgoers inside for an astonishing thirty-five cents.
The girls moved on, pausing minutes later in front of the gypsy tent. If a picture was worth a thousand words, this attraction was worth every penny of twenty-five cents.
Katie glanced at Essie and Essie nodded. Here was a real, honest-to-goodness gypsy with stringy, long black hair, witch's fingernails, and evil â
very
evil eyes.
Squirming, Katie knew that Grandpops and Tottie would kill her if they knew what she was doing. Essie's parents weren't religious like
Katie's folks. They'd forked over fifty cents to each girl and told them to “have fun.” One turn on the Ferris wheel would have eaten their fifty cents, but for twenty-five cents they could have their future told and still buy cotton candy. The nine-year-olds paid the admission price, parted the tent, and entered the dim interior.
There she sat, big as life.
Katie's foot struck the metal folding chair, and she sucked in her breath and dropped onto the cool hardness.
The gypsy focused on them, running her hands over the crystal globe, evil eyes bright with supernatural knowledge. Katie studied the soothsayer, feeling a bit evil herself. Grand-pops said evil powers belonged to Satan. She shouldn't be here. It was wrong, clearly against God's teachings. But she had one question, one burning question she needed answered, and chances were she'd never again have an opportunity to ask it.
The old woman eye's settled on Katie. “Little one. What do you wish to know?”
Katie's mind went blank as a sheet of paper. What did she want to know? What did she want to know? Her mind was as vacant as the little boy, Ralphie, in
A Christmas Story
who wanted a Red Ryder BB gun.
The Knowledgeable One waited.
Katie couldn't think. She couldn't breathe! She sank deeper into the folding metal chair.
“Eh? Speak up!”
Katie couldn't talk. God had rendered her speechless and with good cause.
Essie edged forward. “I know what I want.”
The old woman's eyes switched. “And what is that, little one?”
“I want to know if I'll get married when I'm old.”
“Married?” She cackled. “Married, you say.” She moved her hands over the top of the ball, leaned, and peered closer. “Ah . . . yes. I see.”
Essie slid forward in her chair. “What? What do you see?”
“A handsome man, indeed, very handsome. Fair of color, fair of hair. He will come into your life most unexpectedly, and you will know immediately that he is the one and only.” She looked up, revealing a yellowed grin.
Essie sighed blissfully. “I knew it.”
Katie's brain still refused to function. Her mind screamed for answers! She'd spent twenty-five cents; she deserved an answer!
The gypsy began to fold a black velvet cloth over the magic globe. She was through. Katie grappled for coherent speech.
She's through. Say something
!
“Wait!”
The woman fixed evil eyes on her. “You had your chance. Now move on.”
“No. Wait.” Katie swallowed, then blurted, “I remember my question!”
The mystic snorted, uncovered the ball. “What is it?”
“Will I get any taller?”
There. She may go to hell, but now she'd know, even if Grandpops would skin her alive for consulting an evil power. She'd shot up five inches in the past year, and by golly she couldn't tolerate any more height. She was taller than every boy in her class, and the girls were starting to call her Giraffe.
The gypsy eyed her. “That's your question? How tall will you get?”
Katie swallowed. “Yes. How tall will I be?” If the gypsy said seven feet she'd die, right here in this tent on this cold metal folding chair, and pray nobody ever told Grandpops, Grandmoms, or Tottie where she was when it happened.
The mystic sighed and then quickly ran her hands over the top of the ball. “How tall will â what's your name?”
“Katie. Katie Addison.”
“How tall will Katie Addison grow?” The old woman leaned and peered inside the clear ball. “I see. You will grow very tall â ”
“How tall?”
“How tall do you want to grow?”
“No taller than I am. In fact, I'd like to shrink if you can do that. I have another quarter.” She fumbled in her pocket, but the old woman stopped her.
Her gaze returned to the ball. “You will grow no taller than six feet.”
Katie felt color drain from her face. Six feet. A giant. A big, old, ugly giant.
“But take heart, my child. Your forever love will come along early in life, but you will not recognize him. It will take many years and many trials to distinguish him from other men, but when you do, you will live happily ever after.” She reached for the velvet cover and draped the ball, and before Katie could blink, she'd disappeared through a colorful beaded curtain.
Katie gaped at Essie, astounded. “Did you hear that? I'm going to be a giant.”
She nodded. “I heard. Sorry â but you have pretty hair.”
The girls got up, exiting through a maze of thick electrical cords. Music blared. Screams came from The Octopus, and the smell of popping corn filled the air. Everything seemed so normal, but Katie's life was over.
Essie shouted above the confusion. “Want some cotton candy?”
Numb, Katie nodded, putting one wooden foot in front of the other. She might as well eat until she burst. No man was ever going to want her. Her conscience pricked her. This was God's punishment for going to a gypsy.
Very few things distracted Katie Addison when she was on a mission, but the sight of three dead horses strewn across the winding road stopped her in her tracks. Her jeep skidded and veered to the right before stopping. Motorists set out flares. The highway patrol began the process of diverting traffic around the gruesome sight.
Putting a tissue over her nose, Katie exited the jeep. Thick smoke covered the area from the fire burning on the ridge below Devils Tower. Wildfire had broken out in the thirteen-hundred-acre park, and crews had been battling it all day. A suffocating haze blanketed the landscape.
Confusion reigned as Katie threaded her way through curious onlookers and fellow travelers who'd stopped to help. Her eyes focused on the black skid marks, and it didn't take a sleuth to see that the overturned truck and stock trailer had veered to the center and jackknifed, blocking most of the road.
Blowout? Deer blocking the road?
The long, white trailer lay on its side in the ditch. The sides were enclosed, and the top was lined with openings for ventilation. The terrified screams of trapped horses, kicking and lunging, trying to break free, sent a shudder up her spine. She'd lived on a ranch all her life, and while she wasn't a vet, she knew almost as much as anybody about animals. She took care of her own â three dogs, three cats, a goat, and an aging Appaloosa. She'd sewn up more than one wire cut by lantern light.