God's Love

By Ruth E. Sheets

Ruth E. Sheets, author of From Darkness to Light, presents God's Love. This novel portrays the pain and tragedy that occurs to military persons and their families due to war.

Ruth is a registered nurse and has worked with the physically and mentally afflicted. She is a minister and has assisted in prison ministry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638745846

Book preview

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God's Love

Ruth E. Sheets

Copyright © 2022 by Ruth E. Sheets

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Dedicated in memory of Prof. Nelson F. Sheets and to our family:

Stephen D. Sheets

Michelle K. Arbogast

Melody J. Abinante

Nelson David Sheets

Chapter 1

The cold, damp night air swept around and through the poorly framed window above Danielle Jayne’s bed. Shivering involuntarily, she wrapped the blanket closer around her but could not stop shivering. Yes, she was cold, but that was not what had awakened her.

A single light bulb shed some light into the small room. She could see outlines of the unpacked boxes and suitcases they had brought in from the car last night. They had left them strewn across the floor. It had been late, and they were tired.

Stretching then yawning, she snuggled deeper into her blankets and prepared to go back to sleep.

"Dani… Dani, my chéri! Where are you?"

I’m right here, mommy. I’ll be there in a minute.

Drink… A cold drink… Can’t drink the water in Cu Chi. It’s polluted. This whole place is filthy. Her voice trailed off as her glazed eyes closed.

There is no one! Just my mother and myself. My father? Mommy told me he wasn’t able to come home from Vietnam yet.

Here, Mommy! Let me lift your head so you can take a sip of water.

Thank you! What would I do without you?

A cold finger of fear curled its way down Dani’s spine.

It had been dark when she had first heard the cry of her mother. Now there was a thin light streaming through the window unto her mother’s flushed face.

She huddled by the low cot on which her mother lay. The cold and damp air had crept its way through the floorboards during the night. Shivering, she pulled her thin cotton dress over her knees in a vain effort to warm herself.

Mommy said that this house was where she lived as a child before she and my grandmother moved to Lafayette. I don’t think it’s much of a house!

The morning birds singing from the branches of the tree near the house sang strange new songs as they flitted from limb to limb. She was used to city sounds, not the sounds of birds chirping and animals calling to each other. The sounds were foreign to her.

The light in the room was slowly getting brighter. Danielle could now clearly see the suitcases and boxes they had brought in from the car last night and scattered across the floor.

Dani, I’m not feeling well, Mommy had told her last night as she pulled their car close to the house. In fact, she hadn’t been feeling well for a long time.

It’s one hundred ten degrees in here! What am I doing in bed under these blankets? These sheets smell! I’m hot! Too hot! Take these covers off of me, Leticia Lourselle cried out, pushing them from her emaciated body.

With clumsy, childish effort, Danielle Jayne pulled the covers back up to her mother’s shoulders.

It’s cold in here, mama. You need to stay covered.

They wash these sheets in the rice paddies! Got to get up! The soldiers need to have their bandages changed… They haven’t—

Leticia struggled to get up from her cot but fell backward.

Two tears started down five-year-old Danielle’s cheeks. She leaned toward her mother and placed a kiss on her forehead. Fear clutched at her chest.

Leticia’s eyelids fluttered and then opened.

"Dani, my little chéri… What’s going to happen to you? Her eyes, no longer glazed, were now filled with all the tenderness a young mother holds for her only daughter. Go to the bureau and take my locket out of the box… Always keep it… Your father gave it to me when we were married. Her voice faltered. Hurry! Go to Ms. Rose home at Covey’s Corner."

I can’t leave you, Mama!

Go now! I need help!

Raising her head from the pillow, Leticia looked at her five-year-old daughter. Go, Dani!

Exhausted with the urgency of her words, she fell backward, her head resting in the shallow hollow of her thin pillow.

Covey’s Corner. I remember driving past the big white house where Mama said Ms. Rose lived.

Going to the bureau, she pulled open a drawer and saw a small black box. Upon opening it, she saw the locket softly glimmering in the grayness of the morning light. Slipping the locket’s chain over her head, she shoved it inside her dress; there it dangled cold against her bare skin.

"I’m going now, Mama!