Cont....

Mom folded the letter with tears running down her face. Rachelle felt as if she was in a dream! She had a sister! Not an adopted one, but her own flesh and blood. WOW. She looked at her mom wondering what her next move should be. "Kayla, wow, I never thought I'd have a sister older than me! I mean, I never thought I'd see you ever. Mom just told me about you, Kyle and Jamie last year!" She was getting really excited now, thinking of  all the fun she would have with an older sister to look up to. "Well, " Kayla began. " I feel like I don't know any of you. I guess I don't." she said quietly and shyly.      " But I have the rest of my life to get to know you." She finished. "oh honey! theres so many details that we don't know yet!" mom exclaimed. "Where did you live with Mr. Styver?" Rachelle asked. "um, well, about two hours from here. Course, I never knew that I was that close to my real family. Actually, I thought he was my Dad for real and I always asked him where my mom was, why other kids had a mom and I never did. But he would never tell me." she said sadly. " But then, he found God from one of the nicest people we had ever met. He had to work and work with Mike, and slowly but surly he began to change. It was all so wierd to me. That man led me to God too. And I'm so glad." They sat there and talked for hours on end catching up on eachothers lives. Mom called Dad and told him what had happened. First he didn't beleive her, until alot of convincing and he came home and saw her with his own eyes. Rachelle felt like they had a real family now. She sat there and smiled all evening. Now she felt like she knew Kayla all those years. Kayla was eighteen now, and throughout the evening Rachelle realized more and more what an awesome personality she had. She was outgoing, and loved to talk. She would always be shy at first, but then she couldn't ever get done talking. Finally when they realized that it was now two in the morning, they decided that they should get some sleep. Kayla slept in Rachelle's room that night, and the next day they would fix up Jamie's old room for her. Joy bubbled inside of Rachelle and she just couldn't get tired. For Kayla, it would be different to get used to actaully have a family and not just a Dad. Days past and Rachelle went to School with a smile on her face every day. Kayla had already graduated, so she spent her time looking for a job. One thing that was aweful hard for Kayla, was that Mr. Styver was sentenced to 6 years in jail for what he did. Every week Kayla would go visit him. Sometimes the whole family would go. People thought it was wierd that a christain was in prison. But he used whatever chance he got to witness to others. Things seemed perfect in Rachelle's life after that. Of course she had hard times, like her first fight with Kayla, now THAT was not fun. But she grew to realize how good God was to her and her family. But God still had to mold her into his perfect child with yet some more hard times to come.

To be continued..........

Rachelle stood wide eyed before HER sister and mother. She absolutely could not believe that she was alive! after all these years. Was somebody lying? was this some sort of trick? "mom..." she stammered. "I....I thought" "I know honey, I never told you." Her mom was quick to explain. But not quick enough for Rachelle. She just stopped and didn't explain further. Rachelle pressed on. "told me WHAT!!??" Kayla stood and smiled at Rachelle. She was gorgeous Rachelle thought. "this must be MY sister? I've never seen you before. You weren't born when....when" "Let's not go into that Kayla." mom said. "okay mom. What's your name?" she pointed out to Rachelle. "umm, umm, Ra-Rachelle. All the sudden her mouth was dry. "oh, mom, I love that name. I remember that was my best friends name." Kayla said dreamily wiping her tears away. "mam," the officer cut in. We are glad your daughter is here again, and set free, but we do have buisness to take care of. I understand that this man will be sentenced for kidnapping her. We will need to see you in court, to give your case, this following Monday." "uh-yes, okay." her mom stammered. This was all to weird. Rachelle needed an explanation and NOW. "I need you to sign this please, and we will be on our way." the officer said. "wait!" the man said. "I have to say goodbye, and....and something else too." "alright now hurry up." the officer said loudly. The man, in which for the last year Rachelle had come to hate, began to speak. "I...I want to tell you I'm sorry Mrs....Mrs--Lindeman. I understand that is such a stupid thing to say and that I will never be able to give back what I took, but Jesus has forgiven me, and I now know that I am free." He choked out. Rachelle was crying, mom was crying, Kayla was crying, and even the officer had some tears in his eyes. mom never thought she would hear those words from the man who murdered her children, and had to pinch herself to make sure it was all true, as did Rachelle. At that moment Kayla threw herself into the arms of the man that had taken her from her beloved parents, and killed her two siblings and wept. "I love you very much Da--M..Mike. I'll miss you so very much!" they stood there and held eachother for moments. This was so weird to Rachelle. Kayla, her sister, was telling her kidnapper that she loved him and would miss him! "I'll never forget you. And I thank God that you took me, so now I have a special freind for life." she continued. At that, she broke away and clung to her mother. "I won't bear to see you go!" she sobbed. The man was crying unshamfully now. "I'm sorry about this." he acknowledged. " my name is Michael Styver. I want to give you this." He handed to mom what looked like a letter. "come on. We better go now Mike." the officer said. and then they were gone. Just like that. Mom slowly opened the letter and read:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Lindeman,                                                                  

I don't know where to begin. First of all I would like to tell you I'm sorry. I understand if you can't forgive me, for what I have done is very shameful. But I have found Christ and know he frogives me. I don't know what I was thinking those 14 years ago when I took your children. I am returning your youngest, which is only one. I wish so bad I could return to you all of them. I confess, I killed your other two, bacause I hated them. I cannot explain to you why, because I had saten within me. I loved your daughter Kayla, and over the years have grown to wrongfully call her mine. I taught her to call me Dad. I still love her very much and will miss her as a daddy would miss his own child. But that is my own fault, and I have realized that I must return her. This is a very difficult thing for me to do, but i must reap what I have sown. please, please forgive me! I beg of you. If you can't, I understand. I hope that after this, Kayla will finally get the loving parents she has always deserved. Treat her well. I know you will.

Sincerily, Michael Styver

To be continued....

Cont...

she felt like crying. Oh why did it have to happen? "dad, what happened to them?" Dad looked up and started to tell her what happened. "well, we'll never know how they died." he choked. "but, where did you find them?" she wondered."We found them....we found them in the woods behind the house." really...She wanted to find that man, kill him if she had to! What had he done to her siblings?! She couldn't believe that she actually had other siblings at one time. What would her brother Kyle look like? she was sure he would be the best looking boy around. To think that if he would be living he would be 25!! Deffinetly NOT a boy anymore. And Jaime, she would be 20. Kayla would be 17. She was sure that her sisters would be gorgeous, probably married. "mom, dad, why didn't you tell me sooner? it wouldn't be so wierd, so sad..." Her mom was crying softly. "well, honey..." she began. "We probably should have. I just couldn't. Not yet. I wanted to forget." "mom, WHERE is that guy!" she spat. Her mom got a look of bitterness in her eyes, then they softened. "I've been stuggeling all these years to forgive him, even though he never got his rightful punishment. For many years I hated him. Despised him, wanted to get revenge for killing my babies." her mom let out a groan of despair. "I'm still trying," she said with tears running down her face."to forgive him. Honey, it's the hardest thing I have ever had to do, FORGIVE him? I thought it the stupidest thing to do! But I always try to remember, what Jesus did for all of us. To think he himself has to forgive that man. And not only him, but everyone! Honey, let me tell you, it has helped me love him even more. With only God's grace have I been able to forgive him." Rachelle had to let this sink in. At that moment though, she could not see how in the world her mother could forgive him! She HATED that man with a passion. "well, hon, you do need to get to bed. I'ts a good thing it's Saterday tomorrow, cause it's about 11:30 now. I know you probably won't be able to sleep very well, but at least you can try." Rachelle nodded and headed to her room. Her mom was so right. She couldn't sleep. she wouldn't sleep all night. She sat on her bed slowly. Then the tears started to flow. She had never had this much problem forgiving someone in her all life. But then, why did she have to forgive someone she had never met, never even seen? It did seem stupid. But then again, her mom was talking about how Jesus forgives everyone. She batteled with this late into the night, into the early morning. She wasn't even tired. What a burden.

Several days passed, months and then it had been a year since her parents had told her. Her 14'th birthday swirled around the corner and then was gone. She never thought about the man she still hadn't forgiven, because she pushed him way into the back of her head. Then came the day when the least she was expecting happened.

To be continued......