A Brush of Wings Read Online Free

like Marcus and promising him forever. The precious warmth of my very own newborn in my arms and the journey of growing old next to the love of my life.
Together loving You and loving people for a hundred years.
If You’ll let me live those things out when I sleep, Lord, that will be enough. I promise. No tears, no complaining, no doubting. I am Yours, always. No matter how many days You give me.
    There was one more adventure just ahead, one more dream that actually would come true. Her dream of going back to Africa. The orphanage in Uganda had just opened. Already forty-three kids called the place home. Mary Catherine would organize it and make a plan for food and schooling. She would teach, and hire other teachers, and bring in caretakers for the children.
    Yes, Mary Catherine would make sure the orphanage thrived. She knew exactly what needed to be done. God had given her this mission—she had no doubt.
    She opened her eyes. Long ago when no guys seemed interested, when no one invited her to the prom and all of her friends were finding someone special, Mary Catherine had made a pact with God.
    She could live without love, as long as she could love where she lived.
    And that place—she had known from the minute she went on her first African mission trip—would be Uganda. At times she had hoped she might have years there, pouring herself into the people, helping them know the salvation of Jesus and giving them a purpose. Teaching trades and digging wells for clean water and providing education to better their chances at a future.
    She moved to Los Angeles intent on making a difference and saving money before moving to Africa. But she hadn’t known how little time she actually had.
    A text from Sami flashed on her phone.
    How was the beach?
    Mary Catherine felt a ripple of guilt. That was something else. She had told Sami about her valve condition, but her friend had no idea that without a heart donor, Mary Catherine might have less than a year to live.
    No one knew but the doctor. Mary Catherine hadn’t even told her parents—although she needed to find a way to do that. Probably before Africa. The problem was, she didn’t want her family or her best friend feeling sorry for her or worrying about her. She wanted them to believe in this trip, and to pray for a miracle. And if she didn’t get one, then she wanted them to rejoice that she had lived a full life.
    Regardless of how the news was perceived, Mary Catherine had promised her doctor that sometime soon she would tell Sami. Her, at least. She would make Sami promise not to tell Tyler or Marcus. Nothing good could come from them knowing how sick she was. They needed to focus on the coming baseball season.
    But in case something happened in Africa, she really should have at least one friend who knew the truth, who could get word to her cardiologist in an emergency. Sami would be that friend. No matter how much Mary Catherine didn’t want to tell her.
    Mary Catherine closed the journal. She could still see the concern on Dr. Cohen’s face when she told him she was serious about spending six months in Africa. He had tried to talk her out of it, but ultimately he had agreed. Six months, no longer. And only if she had easy access to transportation back home.
    In case she became sicker.
    And so with what might be the final months of her life, she would live out the one dream she could still make a reality. The dream of helping orphans. And at night, when the strange sounds of the African plains kept her awake, she would allow herself to go back. Back to Marcus Dillinger, and a love that would only ever be possible when she fell asleep.
    In the quiet of her dreams.

2

    S AMI ONLY HEARD FROM TYLER every few days—whenever he had a spare moment and no one needed him to run a meeting or stage a coaching conversation or help out in the dugout. Spring training in Arizona kept him constantly busy.
    Sami missed him with every breath.
    So when Tyler’s call came that