For Better or Worse Read Free Page A

this turmoil with Zoey. Help me be a good husband to Kelly, father to her daughters, and witness to those around me
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    The truth of his short prayer weighed on his heart. He would become the only living father Zoey would have from this point. He’d have to let God change his heart toward her.

    “I’ve been waiting all day for this.” Fifteen-year-old Brittany slid into the front seat of Kelly’s car.
    “Who said you got to sit in front?” Candy stamped her foot and placed her hands on her hips.
    “I got here first.” Brittany stuck her tongue out at Candy.
    “Mom, it’s my turn!” Candy wailed.
    Kelly raised her hand. “Enough.” She pointed to the backseat. “Candy, you sit in the back. You can sit in the front on the way home.”
    “But—” “No buts.”
    “Fine,” Candy groaned as she slid into the back. “Where’s Zoey?”
    Kelly forced a smile. She refused to let the younger girls’ squabble and Zoey’s earlier actions take the joy out of the shopping trip. “Not coming.”
    “Oh no. What happened?” Candy growled from the backseat.
    Kelly turned around in her seat. “Zoey doesn’t want to come, and you know what, Candy, we’re not going to worry about it.” She looked at her middle daughter. “I pray for Zoey and her pain every day, but for now, the three of us are going to have a good time.”
    Brittany buckled her seat belt. “Finally.”
    “Where are we going to eat?” Candy asked.
    Kelly smiled. Her youngest thought of little else but from where she’d receive her next meal. “Let’s go to the boutique first.”
    Brittany let out a long breath. She twisted her purse strap between her fingers. “I can hardly wait to get there. I’ve been looking up dresses on the Internet this morning. There’s just so much to choose from.”
    Not only was Brittany the most interested in sports, she was also a hopeless romantic. During the summer months, her sisters had to beg Brittany to stop watching one bride show after another. Candy, the dance queen of the family, knew the lyrics of nearly every song and the words of every movie she’d ever watched, but she was not overly interested in romance—which Kelly decided was a good thing since the girl was only eleven.
    Kelly pulled into a parking space in front of the boutique Sadie, her sister-in-law, had suggested. The place was not at all what Kelly had envisioned, simply a small, office-style space in a strip mall of sorts. The store’s name was posted in small, anything-but-ostentatious letters above the door. If Sadie hadn’t suggested the place, Kelly would never have given it a second look. Kelly shifted the car into park.
    “This is where we’re going?” Brittany wrinkled her nose and pointed toward the plain door with such small lettering Kelly had no idea if it fronted a boutique or not.
    “I guess so. Let’s not judge a book by its cover.”
    Kelly and the girls stepped out of the car then walked into the boutique. Three hundred sixty-degree mirrors filled the back wall. Two ornately draped fitting rooms bookended each side of the mirrors. Rich paint and wallpaper covered the remaining walls, but Kelly couldn’t help noticing the almost bare racks.
    Candy tugged her arm. “I’m not so sure about—”
    “Can I help you, ladies?” A man—who had to have only moments before hopped off a Harley-Davidson motorcycle—stepped out from one of the fitting rooms. His long, wiry, sandy-brown hair was tied back in a ponytail. His beard, a much redder color, was also tied in a ponytail at the base of his chin. His skin bore a coarse texture from years in the sun or acne or the combination of both. His black T-shirt and black pants had seen better days, but the black leather vest he wore appeared to be in good shape.
    “Mom.” Candy grabbed Kelly’s hand, and Kelly felt Brittany take a step back.
    Kelly lifted her chin. The man looked rough, but that didn’t mean he was a bad guy. She didn’t want her girls to prejudge the