Part 1 (1/2)
Bad Girls of the Bible.
Higgs, Liz Curtis.
And What We Can Learn From Them.
ALWAYS AND FOREVER,.
to my brilliant husband, Bill Higgs, Ph.D.-.
who read every word (and changed several!), who held my trembling hand through
the entire project, and who has extended
more grace to this former Bad Girl
than she ever imagined possible.
I love you with all my heart.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
Heartfelt hugs to the following Good Girls who caught the vision for Bad Girls of the Bible from day one, read every chapter as it slithered out of their fax machines, and offered much-needed encouragement, loving guidance, and prayerful support...
Rebecca Price, WaterBrook Wonder Woman.
Sara Fortenberry, Amazing Literary Agent.
Carol Bartley and Laura Barker, Editorial Empresses.
Lois Luckett, MSW, LCSW, Therapeutic Princess Lisa Tawn Bergren, Stellar Storyteller.
Cynde Pett.i.t, Queen of the Questions.
and especially Diane n.o.ble-my soul sister, e-mail encourager, best friend in fiction, and virtual midwife for this baby. I love and appreciate you more than 256 pages can say!
Many thanks to those friends involved in women's ministry who read early chapters and gave me valuable feedback, wise direction, and a reason to keep writing...
Judy Russell.
Rosanne Russell.
Doris ”Kentucky Mom” Foster.
And to ten wonderful booksellers from the ten cities where our modern Bad Girls reside, bless you for reading the fictional portions and providing input and enthusiasm...
Joni Merchant, Family Christian Stores, Savannah, Georgia Joyce Gronde, Light & Life Bookshop, Indianapolis, Indiana Sandy Rowe, The Mustard Seed, Ellensburg, Was.h.i.+ngton Brian Ehline and Angela Anthony, Christian Supply, Portland, Oregon Sue Goodman, Family Book Center, Dallas, Texas Linda Lewis and Rianne Rome, Family Christian Stores, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Margaret Lee, Harvest Bookstore, San Francisco, California Demetra Osirio, Baptist Book Store, New Orleans, Louisiana Sue Cleveland, Mardel Books, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma YoLonda Rivers, Family Christian Stores, Charleston, South Carolina ...One and all, you are the best!
Finally, I pray our collective efforts will bless you, dear reader, as you've certainly blessed me by choosing this book.
INTRODUCTION.
TURN SIGNAL.
And when she was good.
She was very, very good, But when she was bad she was horrid.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.
Ruthie never saw it coming. His fist flashed toward her so fast she couldn't duck or turn away in time.
”Nooo!” Her cry echoed off the winds.h.i.+eld of the Pontiac but went no further. Who would hear her in this parking lot anyway? With trash cans and alley cats for neighbors, she could hardly expect some hero in a white Ford Mustang to drive by and rescue her, not at this late hour.
Hayden was leaning inside the open car window now, rubbing his knuckles as if to say, ”There's more where that came from.” As if she hadn't figured that out. As if she wasn't watching his every move.
Ruthie was nineteen, but she was n.o.body's fool.
Except Hayden's.
She stared at the dashboard, feeling her cheek swell as the pain inched around her eye, along her nose, toward her temple. In her whole life no one had ever deliberately hit her. Even as a child, she hadn't been spanked at home or paddled in school.
She was a good girl. National Honor Society. State chorus. Editor in chief of her small-town high-school newspaper.
n.o.body ever needed to hit Ruthie, for any reason.
So much for that claim to fame. She'd been hit now, and hard. Slowly, hoping Hayden wouldn't notice, she moved her jaw back and forth, grateful it could move.
He snorted, obviously disgusted with her. ”I didn't break anything. But I could have. Now slide over or get out.”
Not much choice there.