ALL MY BELONGINGS by Cynthia Ruchti is a story marked by tragedy and mystery, but overcome by love and hope. We are taken on a journey with Jayne Dennagee, the daughter of a "mercy killer". All Jayne wants is for life to be normal, to go to nursing school and not be marked by her father's name. With the help of a dear friend, Jayne moves to California to take care of Geneva's sister. While there God begins to soften Jayne's heart, He brings love and kindness into her life. Prior to moving Jayne has her name changed, in order to break away from her father. Unfortunately the deception and lies catches up to her as she watches this new life swirl into disaster.
ALL MY BELONGINGS brings you into a life full of pain and neglect, but shows how a little bit of light and love goes a long way. Cynthia Ruchti takes us on a journey in which we learn to rely not on our own strength and understanding, but on God's. ALL MY BELONGINGS is one of those stories that take root in your heart, because it is true for all of us. It holds secrets and truths that we all long to know. We all long to belong and that is exactly what Cynthia Ruchti has done. She uses Jayne's story to show us where we belong, and that makes for a beautiful story. I encourage you to get lost in the purity and love that is ALL MY BELONGINGS.
After spending years running from the shame her father put
on her family, Jayne is determined not to let him steal
her
future in the same way he stole her childhood. Changing
her
name to Becca Morrow, she moves to California and settles
into a new life and new job caring for the ailing mother
of
the intriguing but caregiver-challenged young businessman,
Isaac Hughes.
But just as she's wondering if she and Isaac are headed
for
a relationship, Becca's patient passes away under unusual
circumstances. Suddenly, her past catches up with her and
the unnerving details of her heritage threaten to destroy
all sense of home and all hope for love.
Even if she could clear her name, a phone call wraps a
suffocating shroud around her heart. Her estranged father
needs her help. But can Becca open her new life to the man
who ruined her past?
The coffee tasted like burnt marshmallows. The charred bits.
Jayne set the vending machine cup on the corner of her
advisor's desk.
Patricia smiled over half-glasses. "Don't blame you." She
nodded toward her oversized thermal tankard. "I bring my
own from home."
Home.
"I'm surprised you wanted to see me today, Jayne. Aren't
they—?"
"Yes." She directed her line of sight through Patricia
Connor's office window, over the tops of the century-old
oaks and maples lining the campus, toward the courthouse in
the center of town.
"And you didn't want to be there?" The woman removed her
glasses as if they interfered with her understanding.
Oh, I'm there. I've been there every agonizing moment.
Several little shards of me are embedded in the hardwood
floor in the court- room. What's left of me wants an answer
from you. "I need to find out if I can reenter the program
where I left off."
Patricia leaned back in her nondescript office chair. "And
you have to know today?"
"Yes."
Her advisor's head shook so slightly, Jayne assumed the
movement originated in the nervous bounce of the woman's
knee, not her neck. "We've had . . . concerns."
"My grades were good."
"It's not that. Most nontraditional students are committed
enough to pull decent grades."
Twenty-seven and nontraditional. In every way. Jayne leaned
forward and added, "And work two jobs while doing it." She
wouldn't look out the window again. Her future lay here, in
this decision. "If you're worried about the financial
aspect. . . ."
"Aren't you? Word is, you're tapped out with what your
family's gone through."
She'd shelved the word family a year and a half ago, the day
she found out her father's middle name was Reprehensible.
Bertram Reprehensible Dennagee. Her mother didn't think she
could endure the pain one more day. Her father made sure she
didn't.
According to the charges against him, it wasn't the first
time. Thanks to Jayne's discovery, though, and her call to
the police, it was the first time he'd been caught.
Her eyes burned behind her eyelids. She could feel her
sinuses swelling.
"Jayne?"
She repositioned herself in the chair, dropping her
shoulders from where they'd crept near her ears,
straightening her spine, breathing two seconds in, two
seconds out. "I'll find a way. I need to finish the nursing
program. Get on with my life. What's left of it."
Behind her a voice leaned into the room. "Did you hear?
Guilty on all charges. They got him!"
Patricia's face blanched and pinched. Her eyes made arrows
toward where Jayne sat.
The voice faded as it backed into the hall. The expletive a
whisper, it still rattled the window, the bookcases, Jayne's
ribs.
Lips pressed together, Jayne waited for her advisor to say
something. And for her throat muscles to unclench.
"I'm sorry."
Jayne let the hollow words bounce around the room for a moment.
"About the verdict? Not unexpected."
"Have you thought about trying another school of nursing?
Someplace a little farther away from—"
From her father's reputation? How far was that?
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