Season of Blessing by Beverly LaHaye

“That will help a lot.”
    Sylvia nodded and averted her eyes.
    â€œSo what do you want to do to get your mind off of this?” Brenda asked.
    â€œI don’t want to get my mind off of it,” Sylvia said. “I want to keep my mind on it. I want to read the stuff the doctor gave me, and go to the bookstore and get every book I can find on the subject. And I want to stay up late tonight reading until I feel like I have a better handle on this. I know that God is in control. There’s no doubt about that. And I know that he’s faithful. I’ll hold onto that as I go. But I feel like a certain amount of this is under my control, and I need to know more to make the right decisions.”
    â€œOkay,” Cathy said, “then let’s go.”
    Sylvia looked around at them. “All four of us? What about the kids? What about Hannah?”
    â€œAnnie’s got the kids,” Tory said, “and she’s great with Hannah.”
    â€œShe’ll be fine,” Brenda added. “You trained her well in León.”
    So they headed off to the bookstore on a mission to find the information that could help save Sylvia’s life.

C HAPTER
    Fifteen

    Harry’s hands trembled as he sat at his old desk at the back of his clinic and dialed the number for the airline. When they put him on hold, a screaming sense of injustice shivered up inside him. Jeb Anderson, one of the other missionaries who ran the orphanage, stepped into the doorway. Noting the sweat on Harry’s brow and the expression on his face, he asked, “Harry, you talked to Sylvia, didn’t you?”
    Harry nodded quickly, as if he didn’t have time to answer.
    Jeb stepped closer. “Was it malignant?”
    Harry raked his hand through his hair. “Yes, it was. I’m going home tomorrow, Jeb.” He looked up at his friend and saw the dread on his face.
    â€œOf course you are.” Jeb crossed the room and looked into Harry’s face. “Harry, don’t worry about anything. I’ve been talking to Carlos Gonzales, and he thinks he can run things here while you’re gone. He’s been on the phone with some churches back in the States, and he’s trying to get some doctors to come here on medical mission trips to fill in while you’re gone.”
    Harry’s eyes widened as he looked up at Jeb. “You were anticipating the worst.”
    â€œWe know how bad Sylvia’s been feeling.”
    â€œIt’s not supposed to have anything to do with the cancer. But if they’re wrong and it does, then it’s more advanced than we think.”
    The airline clerk finally answered the phone. “Le puedo ayudar?”
    â€œYes. Uh…I need to get the first flight for the United States out of Managua tomorrow morning,” he said in Spanish. He fumbled through his wallet for his credit card.
    When the flight was finally booked, he hung up and leaned back.
    â€œHarry, are you all right?” Jeb asked.
    Harry evaded the question. “I’ve just got a lot to do tonight. I need to put things in the clinic in a little better order so that anybody who comes in here can take over. I need to check on Mrs. Hernandez and make sure she has enough antibiotics to get her through her infection. And I’d probably better go by and see baby Maria. She wasn’t doing well and I was worried she wouldn’t even make it through the week.” His voice broke off and his shoulders began to shake.
    â€œThey’ll be all right, Harry,” Jeb said. “I’ll go see her every day and make sure they’re giving her the medicine.”
    â€œThey sell it, you know.” Tears began to stream down his face. “They sell it to buy food. And can you blame them? But they don’t seem to understand that without it she could die.”
    â€œI’ll make sure,” he said. “In fact, if you want me to ration it out and take it daily one