Had He Been a Stranger
by
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Peggy, speaking to her father.
After a long silence, she said slowly, “It’s not just about education is it? Please tell me. Why did you refuse to talk with me about it? Why did it have to come to this for you to allow me to speak? Had you been a stranger, it still would make no sense, but you are my father who once loved me. In recent years, you showed me clearly that I am an enemy of some sort. I don’t know how you could change from loving me to hating me. Adam was not responsible for my refusal to leave Pecan Cove. I decided from the time I was fourteen, before Mother even died, that I would never leave home. I was not going any farther away than Marshall. That is from my heart, Father. I love Pecan Cove, but the truth is … oh, Father! It was you I loved.”
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About the Book
Powell O’Kelly’s strict, narrow upbringing in Ireland was always with the expectation of a religious life in the ministry, so when his parents became suddenly ill and died, his world seemed to collapse. Nevertheless, just as he had been successful in his academic studies, he was equally effective at incorporating self-control and acceptable behavior as the primary traits of his character. In 1897, after the deaths of his parents, he left the ministry and Ireland for America. To his profound dismay, his lifelong friend pressured him to bring his motherless daughter to live with her uncle and aunt in Dallas. But when Powell left Ireland, he also left any thought of serving God. That choice ruled every other decision in his life, causing pain and tragedy to him and the ones he most loved. Left alone and devastated, he finally faced his own duplicity in denying God’s place in his life. He knew the catastrophic pain he had suffered, as well as that inflicted on his only daughter and the woman he loved, was inexcusable. Why had he been able to love his precious daughter with all his heart, yet destroy her, her baby, and her marriage? Finding the answer to that question opened a whole world of love and happiness that heretofore had been a mystery to his closed mind.
About the Author
Sue lives near Dallas and has a large family in different parts of the country. She wrote the book twenty years ago, but due to illness and deaths of loved ones, her manuscript was passed around with thoughts of publishing remaining a dream. A few years ago, a newly found cousin asked to read it and encouraged her to work on it again. With his help and the help of a minister friend, the possibility of publishing became alive once more.