Her forehead still resting on the steering wheel, she breathed a quiet prayer. “I’m sorry, Daddy, but I have to talk with the pastor, and I was too distraught to think about how I looked. Please understand.”
She pushed open the heavy door of the Buick and walked rapidly toward the side door to the pastor’s office. She knocked.
“Come on in, Sister,” a voice said from within.
Brother Reynolds leaned back in his desk chair, which creaked in agony from the weight of his ample body. He didn’t even try to hide surprise from his face as he saw the unkempt appearance of one of the leading women in his congregation. The pastor before him had established the policy of sanctioning this solitary woman and forgiving her husband and child for their misguided attendance at a tiny Catholic church near
