EPISODE 5 OF 5
Too weak to do the leg work himself, John Steely had hired private investigators to track down Jacob Ryan. He was determined to right at least one wrong before he died. With address in hand, he confirmed that he was at the right door. Prayer had become a regular habit for the past three weeks and he felt the need to send one off at this moment. “Lord I’m sorry for what happened to Jacob, help me now to show his daughter the same hope I have been shown. I pray she has a forgiving heart.” knock, knock, knock.
A few moments went by, and the door opened. An attractive young women blinked at him, not recognising him. He was bent over, and greyish in colour. Nothing like the man she remembered as John Steely. “Jessica” he said. Her eyes opened wider trying to discern how the stranger knew her name, “I am John Steely.” The silent pause was deafening. Jessica took a moment to comprehend the words and match the reality of the vision in front of her with the memory etched in her mind. Realising she was making the connections, John continued; “I am so sorry for what I did to you and your Father and am sorry for your loss.”
Jessica could feel the beginnings of rage stirring as she answered harshly, “great lot of good that does him now!” John continued, “I am dying of cancer and…” before he could finish Jessica interrupted with bitter venomous anger bringing the exchange to a sudden halt; “Well, I hope you have a long slow and extremely painful death!” She took a step back, slammed the door shut. Twisting she threw herself prostrate onto the floor. Screaming and kicking, she punched the air violently until too weary to continue.
After a fortnight it was still hard to put that unwelcome visitor out of her mind. Arriving home from work Jessica closed the door behind her. She walked to the kitchen table and dumped her load. Making a cup of tea, Jessica sat to open her mail. The letter was from a solicitor immediately raised her alarm. She proceeded with caution as her eyes scanned the document. Key words stood out to her.
‘Will’; ‘death’; ‘entire fortune’; ‘left’; ‘no family’; “Miss Jessica Ryan”; ‘John Steely estate’; “claim”. The words “John Steely”, glared and rang alarm bells at her. Tempted to screw the letter up and throw it across the room with disgust, a strange thought overcame, like a still quiet voice, “read it, read it carefully. Yes, he is dead, but read it carefully.” She did. Dumbfounded the realisation dawned that she was, this instant, one of the wealthiest women in the country.
On the second page was a note penned by the hand of Steely himself. It read:
Jessica, you came out of the heart of God.
You, like me and us all, have fallen under a curse.
Jesus broke the power of the curse.
You can be free from the power of the curse.
This is true and becomes real in you when you trust in Jesus.
Live your life free from bitterness and hatred and be generous.
I leave you everything. See if you can do better than I did.
John.
The end