Never Without Hope (Sacred Vows Book 1) by Michelle Sutton Page A

you. No reason given. What would you do? Would you do like Tamar in the Old Testament and try to seduce him anyway, like she did when she waited on the side of the road? Or would you be faithful to him no matter what?”
    “ What a ridiculous scenario. No man would do that!” Claire rolled her eyes. “All men want is sex, sex, and more sex.”
    Annabelle coughed. I looked at her. “Not all men. My husband stopped paying attention to me about a year before he died from his heart attack.”
    “ Yeah, but he was fifty. That’s not twenty-five.” Claire snorted.
    I peered at Annabelle, amazed at the sensitivity of her disclosure. She ’d never shared personal things before. Never! I’d thought she was as close to perfect as a Christian woman could get.
    Wondering how she handled her situation, I asked, “How’d you deal with the pain?”
    Annabelle shrugged. “I prayed a lot, wept a lot. In the end I realized it was his health more than anything that had made him pull away from me. His circulation was messed up from his heart condition and neither of us realized that’s what had caused his problems. If he had seen a doctor for his impotency, maybe he would’ve gotten it fixed before his heart gave out on him.”
    “ Really?” I blinked.
    Could James have a health problem that was causing his difficulty? He was almost the same age. Maybe there was hope after all! Excitement bubbled within me until I thought about the past few weeks and what I ’d done behind my husband’s back. I wanted so much to tell him, and at the same time I never wanted him to know. It would kill him to find out that I was no different than the others who had cheated on him.
    “ Yes. But it’s too late now.” Annabelle sighed. “I just wish I hadn’t held it against him. It wasn’t his fault, but at the time I thought he didn’t want me anymore.” She grabbed a tissue and wiped her nose.
    That was the most emotion I ’d ever seen from her in all the years we’d attended the same church. So why couldn’t I open up?
    Because I was the other woman. It was different for me.
    The affair was my fault.
    “ You okay?” Maryanne tapped my hand.
    I hadn ’t realized until my chin started itching that I was crying. Shaking my head no, I stood and excused myself. Running into the bathroom, I sat in a stall and sobbed. Nothing was worth this kind of heartache! Not even Tony.
    When I finally looked presentable, I exited the ladies ’ room. My husband stood at the end of the hall talking to our pastor. I watched as the pastor laid hands on James and prayed for him. James wept and hugged our pastor tight, slapping him on his back like men do when they’re trying to be affectionate without getting too intimate.
    Jimmy sat at a table in the rec room with his friend and had a deck of cards in his hands. Since he didn ’t seem ready to leave anyway, I approached my husband and the pastor. “Hey, James, Pastor.”
    My husband held me tight and whispered into my ear, “I told the pastor about my problem. That we can’t…you know…I…I want us to get some counseling, Hope.”
    Shock from his statement hit me like ice water to my chest, making me suck in my breath. He ’d told the pastor that he couldn’t stay aroused? After being so angry and fearful that someone would find out about us? I didn't understand, but supposed I should be thankful we were now heading in the right direction.
    “ Okay.” I peered at him, then over at the pastor. Following like a child, I let my husband lead me by the hand to the pastor’s office until he sat down. I eased on to the chair next to my husband. Someone knocked on the door. “Mom, Dad?”
    “ Yes, son?”  I cleared my throat.
    “ Can I play some more cards before we go home?”
    I sighed with relief. He’d be occupied while we talked.
    “ Sure, just be back here in fifteen minutes. K?”
    “ K, Mom.” I heard his feet slapping the tile flooring as he scampered off.
    Our pastor said,