Margaret Daley - Light in the Storm

“No. We’ve been through this before, Samuel. I don’t want your money. I’m doing this for your daughter.”

“Then at least let me take you out for dinner.”

“I don’t—”

“Please, Beth. I feel like I should do something for you.”

She paused on the porch, looking back at Samuel framed in the doorway with the light behind him and his features in the shadows. Dinner? Like a real date? The more she found out about Samuel, the more she liked him—and he didn’t fit into her future plans at all, especially with his ready-made family.

THE LADIES OF SWEETWATER LAKE:

Like a wedding ring, this circle of friends

is never ending.

GOLD IN THE FIRE (LI #273)

A MOTHER FOR CINDY (LI #283)

LIGHT IN THE STORM (LI #297)

feels she has been blessed. She has been married thirty-three years to her husband, Mike, whom she met in college. He is a terrific support and her best friend. They have one son, Shaun, who married his high school sweetheart in June 2002.

Margaret has been writing for many years and loves to tell a story. When she was a little girl, she would play with her dolls and make up stories about their lives. Now she writes these stories down. She especially enjoys weaving stories about families and how faith in God can sustain a person when things get tough. When she isn’t writing, she is fortunate to be a teacher for students with special needs. Margaret has taught for over twenty years and loves working with her students. She has also been a Special Olympics coach and has participated in many sports with her students.

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With us is the Lord our God

to help us and to fight our battles.

—2 Chronicles 32:8

To my readers—I appreciate your support.

To my local RWA chapter, Romance Writers Ink—

You are a wonderful group of writers.

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed Beth and Samuel’s story in Light in the Storm. I am a high school teacher who has worked with students with learning disabilities. It is important to convey to them that they have strengths as well as weaknesses. Sometimes we dwell on our weaknesses and our self-esteem suffers for it. Yes, we need to be aware of what we need to work on, but no one is perfect. Jane needed to learn that in this story, as did Beth and Samuel.

Another aspect of my story was Beth’s battle with breast cancer. With it being one of the common forms of cancer for women, I wanted to stress the importance of early detection. One way is monthly self-examination. There is a Buddy Check program that advocates a woman forming a partnership with a friend or family member; each reminds the other to self-check monthly.

I love hearing from my readers. You can contact me at P.O. Box 2074, Tulsa, OK 74101, or visit my Web site at www.margaretdaley.com.

Best wishes,

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

Epilogue

With a huff Jane Morgan plopped into her desk. “I don’t see why I have to be here.”

Beth Coleman sighed, turned from watching the snow falling outside Sweetwater High School and said, “Because you’ll be the topic of conversation. It’s your future we’ll be discussing. I thought you should have a say in it.”

Flipping her long, dark brown hair behind her shoulders, Jane slouched in her desk, her arms folded over her chest, a pout firmly in place. “What future? Don’t you get it? I don’t want to be here.”

Beth again looked at the snow coming down and wondered if this was the best time to have a parent conference. Of course, when she had contacted Jane’s father yesterday, there hadn’t been any snow. “Does your father have a cell phone?” Maybe she should call him and cancel until the weather was better. She could drive Jane home.

“Yes.”

As with Jane’s performance in class the past few weeks since the teenager had enrolled at the beginning of the second semester, Beth realized she would have to ask what the number was, because Jane wouldn’t give any information unless she absolutely had to. “What is—”

“Sorry I’m late, but as you can see, the weather is getting bad.” A large man with blond hair and brown eyes stood framed in the classroom doorway.

Speechless for a few seconds, Beth just stared at Jane’s father. Samuel Morgan wasn’t anything like her image of him when she’d talked to him briefly the day before. His voice was gruff and deep, but his looks were refined—handsome but not ruggedly so. More along the lines of a male model she’d seen in a magazine selling cologne. Whoa! Why in the world had she thought that?

Beth mentally shook her head and crossed the room. Presenting her hand, which he took in a firm grip and shook, she said, “I’m Jane’s English teacher, Beth Coleman. Please come in and have a seat—unless you’d rather reschedule this meeting because of the snow. It doesn’t look like it’s going to let up any time soon.”

He shrugged out of his heavy black wool overcoat, ran a hand through his wet, conservatively cut hair and entered the room. “No, this is too important to postpone. And besides, I’m here, so we might as well talk now. Don’t you agree, Jane?”

When Samuel squeezed into the desk next to his daughter, Beth noticed how he dwarfed it, even though it was standard size for a high school class. She knew he was a minister, and yet for a brief moment he seemed more a warrior than a peacemaker.

“Sure. Why not?” Jane averted her face, staring off into space, defiance in every line of her body.

“On the phone, Miss Coleman, you said that Jane was having a problem with the work you’ve assigned.”

Beth took a desk near the pair, scooting it around so she faced both of them. “She isn’t doing any of the work. She’s been here nearly two weeks and I have yet to see anything from her. We’ve had four graded assignments so far this semester. She has a zero right now.”

“Not one grade?” Samuel asked Jane, his tension conveyed by his clenched jaw and frown.

His daughter lifted her shoulders in a shrug, but didn’t say a word, her head remaining turned away.

“Is there a problem I’m not aware of?” Beth saw a flash of vulnerability appear in his dark eyes before he masked the expression. It touched a part of her that over the years had seen many single parents struggle to do the job of both mother and father.

“As I’m sure you’re aware, we’ve just moved here.” He glanced at his daughter. “Jane has never adjusted well to new towns.”

“How many times have you moved?”

“This is our sixth move. I was a chaplain in the army until recently. We’re both looking forward to settling down in one place.”