Let There Be Light Read online

  OTHER BOOKS BY AL LACY

  Angel of Mercy series:

  A Promise for Breanna (Book One)

  Faithful Heart (Book Two)

  Captive Set Free (Book Three)

  A Dream Fulfilled (Book Four)

  Suffer the Little Children (Book Five)

  Whither Thou Goest (Book Six)

  Final Justice (Book Seven)

  Not by Might (Book Eight)

  Things Not Seen (Book Nine)

  Far Above Rubies (Book Ten)

  Journeys of the Stranger series:

  Legacy (Book One)

  Silent Abduction (Book Two)

  Blizzard (Book Three)

  Tears of the Sun (Book Four)

  Circle of Fire (Book Five)

  Quiet Thunder (Book Six)

  Snow Ghost (Book Seven)

  Battles of Destiny (Civil War series):

  Beloved Enemy (Battle of First Bull Run)

  A Heart Divided (Battle of Mobile Bay)

  A Promise Unbroken (Battle of Rich Mountain)

  Shadowed Memories (Battle of Shiloh)

  Joy from Ashes (Battle of Fredericksburg)

  Season of Valor (Battle of Gettysburg)

  Wings of the Wind (Battle of Antietam)

  Turn of Glory (Battle of Chancellorsville)

  Hannah of Fort Bridger series (coauthored with JoAnna Lacy):

  Under the Distant Sky (Book One)

  Consider the Lilies (Book Two)

  No Place for Fear (Book Three)

  Pillow of Stone (Book Four)

  The Perfect Gift (Book Five)

  Touch of Compassion (Book Six)

  Beyond the Valley (Book Seven)

  Damascus Journey (Book Eight)

  Mail Order Bride series (coauthored with JoAnna Lacy):

  Secrets of the Heart (Book One)

  A Time to Love (Book Two)

  Tender Flame (Book Three)

  Blessed Are the Merciful (Book Four)

  Ransom of Love (Book Five)

  Until the Daybreak (Book Six)

  Sincerely Yours (Book Seven)

  A Measure of Grace (Book Eight)

  So Little Time (Book Nine)

  This book is a work of fiction. With the exception of recognized historical figures, the characters in this novel are fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  LET THERE BE LIGHT

  © 2002 by ALJO PRODUCTIONS, INC.

  published by Multnomah Books

  Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.

  MULTNOMAH and its mountain colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.

  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—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission.

  FOR INFORMATION:

  Multnomah Books

  12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200

  Colorado Springs, CO 80921

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Lacy, Al.

  Let there be light : Al and Joanna Lacy.

  p. cm. -- (Mail order bride)

  eISBN: 978-0-307-76940-4

  1. Prisoners of war--Family relationships--Fiction. 2. Mail order brides--Fiction. 3. Women pioneers--Fiction. 4. Arizona--Fiction. 5. Revenge--Fiction. I. Lacy, Joanna. II. Title

  PS3562.A256 L49 2002

  813’.54--dc21 2002009316

  v3.1

  This book is affectionately dedicated to our faithful fans in

  Salem, Virginia:

  Lawrence and Rebecca Snapp and their daughter, Charlotte.

  God bless you!

  NUMBERS 6:26

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Introduction

  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

  Prologue

  THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA reports that the mail order business, also called direct mail marketing, “is a method of merchandising in which the seller’s offer is made through mass mailing of a circular or catalog, or advertisement placed in a newspaper or magazine, in which the buyer places his order by mail.”

  Britannica goes on to say that “mail order operations have been known in the United States in one form or another since colonial days but not until the latter half of the nineteenth century did they assume a significant role in domestic trade.”

  Thus the mail order market was known when the big gold rush took place in this country in the 1840s and 1850s. At that time, prospectors, merchants, and adventurers raced from the east to the newly discovered goldfields in the west. One of the most famous was the California gold rush in 1848–49, when discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, near Sacramento, brought more than forty thousand men to California. Though few struck it rich, their presence stimulated economic growth, the lure of which brought even more men to the west.

  The married men sent for their wives and children, wanting to stay and make their home there. Most of the gold rush men were single and also desired to stay in the west, but there were about two hundred men for every woman. Being familiar with the mail order concept, they began advertising in eastern newspapers for women to come west and marry them. Thus was born the “mail order bride.”

  Women by the hundreds began answering the ads. Often when men and their prospective brides corresponded, they agreed to send no photographs; they would accept each other by the spirit of the letters rather than on a physical basis. Others, of course, did exchange photographs.

  The mail order bride movement accelerated after the Civil War ended in April 1865, when men went west by the thousands to make their fortunes on the frontier. Many of the marriages turned out well, while others were disappointing and ended in desertion by one or the other of the mates, or by divorce.

  In the Mail Order Bride fiction series, we tell stories intended to grip the heart of the reader, bring some smiles, and maybe wring out a few tears. As always, we weave in the gospel of Jesus Christ and run threads of Bible truth that apply to our lives today.

  And God said, Let there be light:

  and there was light.

  GENESIS 1:3

  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,

  hath shined in our hearts,

  to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

  2 CORINTHIANS 4:6

  Introduction

  IN MALACHI 4:2, God tells us that the day is coming when the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings. The Sun of righteousness is also the Son of God.

  There is only one sun in our solar system, and there is only one Mediator between God and men. As at sunrise each day, the sun dispels the darkness of night; so Jesus Christ, the Sun of righteousness, dispels the spiritual darkness in the human heart when that heart is opened to Him.

  Whe
n the Scripture speaks of the “light of the glorious gospel of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4), the very light of the gospel is the Sun of righteousness, Jesus Christ!

  Jesus said in John 12:46, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.” As the earth cannot abide in darkness where the sun is shining, neither can a human heart abide in darkness where the Sun of righteousness shines.

  “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

  There is an ancient allegory written for children based upon the premise of this verse, but serviceable to adults.

  Once upon a time to a cave, deep underground, came a voice calling: “Mr. Cave! Mr. Cave! Come up to the earth’s surface and see my light!”

  The cave called back, “Who are you?”

  “My name is Mr. Sun. Come up and see my light.”

  The cave retorted, “I don’t know what you mean. There isn’t anything but darkness.”

  “Oh, but there is! Come up and see!”

  Finally, Mr. Cave ventured forth and was surprised to see brilliant light everywhere. Looking up to the sun, he said, “Come with me and see my darkness.”

  “What is darkness?” asked Mr. Sun.

  “Come and see.”

  So Mr. Sun accepted the invitation. In his blazing brightness, he entered the cave, looked around, and asked, “Where is your darkness?”

  Where the Sun of righteousness is, there is no darkness! We praise the Lord that He has used our novels to shine the gospel light into the hearts of many of our unsaved readers, and they have come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour.

  May this final book in the Mail Order Bride series be a blessing to our Christian readers, and may it also be used of God to open sin-darkened hearts and say, “Let there be light.”

  1

  IT WAS TUESDAY AFTERNOON, May 5, 1863. Beneath a clear, sunny Missouri sky, the train rolled southwestward toward Kansas City. The early spring day was unusually warm and in the coach just ahead of the caboose, lovely twenty-two-year-old Lorna Lee turned to elderly Madeline Rudeen. “It’s a bit stuffy in here, don’t you think?”

  Madeline’s wrinkles deepened around her mouth as she smiled and fanned her face with her hand. “It certainly is. Would you mind lifting the window a little?”

  Lorna smiled. “I was going to ask if you’d mind if I did that very thing.”

  Lorna and Madeline had boarded the train in Chicago and had barely talked enough to become acquainted. Madeline had fallen asleep shortly after the train had slipped into its gentle sway and the wheels settled into their rhythmic clicking beneath the coach. She had only awakened for brief moments until some twenty minutes ago.

  When Lorna raised the window, a fresh breeze swept in accompanied by a louder sound of clicking wheels.

  “Ah, that’s better,” said Madeline.

  “Yes.” Lorna paused, then said, “We haven’t been able to talk very much since we left Chicago. Where are you bound, Mrs. Rudeen?”

  “Topeka, Kansas. That’s the train’s next stop after Kansas City. Topeka is my home. I’ve been visiting my oldest son and his family in Riverdale, just south of Chicago.”

  At that moment, the train moved onto a trestle over a wide, sunlit river. As Lorna looked down at the rolling water, Madeline said, “That’s the Missouri River, dear. In case you didn’t know.”

  “I knew it was in the Kansas City area, but that’s about all. I’ve never been here before.”

  The front door of the coach opened, and the conductor entered. Moving along the aisle, he called out, “Kansas City … fifteen minutes! Kansas City … fifteen minutes!”

  Madeline looked at Lorna. “So where are you going, dear?”

  “Mogollon, Arizona.”

  “Oh, really? Just where is Mogollon?”

  “It’s in eastern Arizona. Do you know where Holbrook is?”

  “Oh yes. It’s just a few miles west of the Petrified Forest. I read about it in a magazine not long ago.”

  “All right. Mogollon is thirty miles west of Holbrook.”

  Madeline frowned. “There are no railroads in Arizona yet, are there?”

  “No. The train I’ll take out of Kansas City will get me to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I’ll have to take a stagecoach from Santa Fe down to Albuquerque. I’ll board another stagecoach there, which will take me all the way to Mogollon.”

  Madeline nodded. “So you’ve got a long trip ahead of you.”

  “Yes.”

  At that instant, the train started to slow down. Passengers began leaving their seats to take hand luggage out of the overhead racks.

  “Do you need to get past me to take down your bag, dear?” asked Madeline.

  “No, that’s all right. I’ll get it when the train stops.” Lorna felt a cool gust of air sweep through the opening in the window. She pressed her face to the glass. “I see some dark clouds gathering to the north. We just might be in for a thunderstorm.”

  “That’ll cool the air for sure.”

  No sooner had Madeline made her comment than a jagged bolt of lightning stabbed through the dark clouds. A few seconds later, a low, rumbling thunder could be heard.

  “I think you’re right, dear,” said Madeline, craning her neck to peek out the window. “One thing is for sure. God is in control of the weather, and a little rain would be refreshing right now.”

  “You’re right about that. I just hope it holds off until I change trains.”

  The terminal came into view and the train slowed. The whistle on the big engine let out a blast, and within a few minutes, the train chugged to a halt in the depot.

  Lorna stood up, moved past Madeline, and retrieved her small bag from the overhead rack. Passengers were making their way toward both doors. Lorna looked down at Madeline with a smile. “It was nice to have met you, Mrs. Rudeen. I hope you have a safe journey the rest of the way to Topeka.”

  “Thank you, dear. And you have a safe journey all the way to Mogollon.”

  “I’m trusting the Lord to see to that,” Lorna said softly, smiling again. “Good-bye.” With that, she slipped into the line of passengers and stepped off the train into the cool, refreshing air. She could hear distant thunder as she made her way amid the crowd and passed through one of the doors that led inside the terminal.

  It took her only seconds to locate the large chalkboard in the center of the depot. Threading her way through the crowd, she made her way to the chalkboard. Her heart sank when she found the schedule of the Santa Fe–bound train on the board with a chalk message next to it, saying that it had been delayed indefinitely.

  Lorna sighed. Her nerves were already a bit on edge with the prospect of what lay ahead in Mogollon. She was anxious to get there, have the initial meeting, and see how things would develop.

  Squelching the anxiety, she wheeled and headed for the ticket counter. There were three agents taking care of people who stood in line. Behind them, at a large desk, was a young man in a wheelchair, operating a telegraph key. Lorna chose the shortest line. Lord, I really need to get to Mogollon as soon as possible.

  Some ten minutes had passed when the man in front of Lorna turned and walked away. As she set her bag down and stepped up to the counter, the silver-haired agent said, “May I help you, young lady?”

  “I hope so, sir,” she said a bit timidly, placing her ticket in front of him. “As you can see, I’m booked on the train to Santa Fe. What can you tell me other than it’s delayed indefinitely?”

  The agent looked at the ticket, lifted his billed cap and dropped it back in place. He met her gaze. “Well, Miss Lee—it is Miss Lee, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “There’s been a battle between Union and Confederate forces near Dodge City, Kansas. The battle is over, but the Confederates tore up a section of the tracks, and there’s been no
word as yet from the railroad officials as to when they expect the damage to be repaired. Since we’ve gone through this kind of thing before, my own guess is that it will be done within twenty-four hours.” He placed the ticket in her hand. “If you will check with me periodically, I’ll let you know when we get word. I see you’re going by stagecoach to Albuquerque, then on to Mogollon.”

  “Yes.”

  “Once we know about the train’s schedule, we’ll wire the Wells Fargo office in Santa Fe and set up new stage reservations for you.”

  “Thank you,” said Lorna, then sighed wearily, placed the ticket in her purse, and looked at the large front windows of the terminal. A sign across the street caught her eye, and at the same moment, her stomach growled from hunger. She looked back at the agent. “Sir, do you think it would be all right if I stepped across the street and had a bite to eat at the diner?”

  The man grinned in an attempt to calm her fears. “Sure. You’ll have plenty of time to do that. Check with me when you come back. Have yourself a nice meal.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Lorna picked up her bag. “I won’t be gone long.”

  When Lorna stepped out of the terminal, she found the wind gusting, and noted that the clouds were now about to cover the sun. She waited for the traffic to clear, bent her head against the wind, and set her gaze on the diner. A break came seconds later, and as she made her way across the street, she thought, A cup of tea and a bowl of hot potato soup sound tasty.

  There was no one in line at the ticket counter when Lorna returned to the terminal. The same agent she had talked to before was at the counter and saw her coming.

  A smile broke across his face as she drew up, wiping rain from her face. “Well, young lady, did you have a nice meal?”