CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Jude pulled on his leather jacket before proceeding into the garage. After climbing into his truck, he exited the garage, pressing the button to close the overhead door behind him. It was just a short drive to the main house, and within minutes, he pulled up to the back door and got out.
The February day was bright and sunny. Beautiful, he supposed. But now that they’d gotten past the coldest part of winter, he was ready for warmer days.
As he approached the back door, it swung open, and Angela appeared. She wore a long navy blue wool coat and a burgundy scarf. Her face lit up when she saw him.
Jude couldn’t help but bend to hug her when she approached him with her arms open. He held her tight for a moment before letting her go.
Looking down at her, he said, “Ready to go?”
“I am.”
He helped her into the passenger side of his truck, then slid behind the wheel. “Kiara didn’t want to come?”
“No. Not this time.”
Selfishly, Jude was glad.
When Angela had mentioned the previous day that she needed to go to the store again, Jude had asked if she would like to combine a trip to Coeur d’Alene for shopping with attending church. She’d quickly agreed.
“Can you tell me a little about your church?” Angela asked. “And how long you’ve been attending there?”
“It’s a large church, which is one of the reasons I like it. Fewer people know who I am that way.” He went on to describe what he knew of the pastoral staff and the church itself.
Their conversation turned to spiritual things, which surprised Jude a little.
He didn’t speak much about spiritual things with anyone except Cooper.
His dad had encouraged conversations like that, but once he’d passed, Jude had found it difficult to have spiritual talks with people he didn’t know well.
Angela, however, made it easy. She listened in that quietly attentive way of hers, asking questions that weren’t too prying. She encouraged him to elaborate on what it had been like to grow up with a dad who’d embraced faith later in his life.
"It was almost like having two different fathers," Jude told her as they merged onto the highway. “He changed a lot after he became a Christian. Not in the way he treated me, that was always consistently loving and caring. But he was… lighter. Like some weight had been lifted off him.”
Angela nodded, her lips pursed in thought. “Do you remember how old you were when it happened?”
Jude considered the question. “Ten or so? I just remember that all of a sudden I was being dragged to church each Sunday instead of getting to watch cartoons while I ate my favorite cereal.”
She smiled at the image. “Did you like it?”
“At first? Not even a little.” Jude let out a small laugh. “But Dad was stubborn, and he persisted. Over time, we made connections in the church, and regular attendance just became normal.”
Angela lapsed into silence for a moment, letting the information settle between them. Jude found himself wanting to fill the quiet, to keep her engaged. “He always said faith was the only thing that gave him hope when other things in his life went bad.”
He glanced at her to see how his comment landed. She was still watching the trees whip by, but he caught the tilt of her head, the way she tucked her hair behind her ear.
“I think that’s true,” she said softly. “It’s the only thing that makes sense out of all the horrible things that happen. Trusting that God has a purpose and is still in control, regardless of what’s happening.”
Jude wasn’t sure why her words sent a prickle along his shoulders. Maybe because they sounded so certain, when his own faith had begun to feel almost like a habit.
He found that he enjoyed the conversation, and he knew that his dad would have told him that a shared faith was key to building a stable and lasting relationship.
His dad hadn’t experienced that himself, since he hadn’t become a Christian until after Jude’s mom had divorced him. Still, once he’d become a Christian, he’d been committed to learning all he could about living a life that glorified God. And he’d been eager to share all he learned with Jude.
“Here we are,” Jude said as he pulled into the parking lot of the church.
It was a large building with a steeple that towered over the neighborhood. The church had two morning services, but he usually attended the second one, since that was the one that Cooper and Melanie attended.
As they walked from the car to the entrance of the church, Jude turned toward Angela and held out his hand. She transferred the Bible she carried to her opposite arm and took his hand with a beaming smile.
Seeing how much joy she got out of just holding hands warmed Jude’s heart. Her hand was small in his, but he could feel the strength in it. That strength was no doubt from the work she’d done on the homestead and in the bakery.
Her grip tightened as they walked into the foyer. As usual, the space was filled with people who had been there for the first service and also those who had arrived for the second one.
Keeping hold of Angela, he wove his way among the groups of people who stood together talking and tried to keep out of the way of others who were milling around or making their way to the exit.
Reaching the sanctuary, he guided her to where Cooper and Melanie usually sat. When they reached an empty row in the general area, Jude allowed Angela to go into the row first, then followed her in.
After Angela had settled onto the cushioned pew, placing her Bible in her lap, Jude glanced around, then sat down beside her at the end of the row.
The sanctuary gradually filled around them, the gentle murmur of conversation creating a pleasant background hum. Jude noticed her looking around at the stained glass windows that lined the walls and the wooden cross hanging above the stage.
"It's beautiful," she whispered, leaning closer to him.
He nodded, though in truth, he rarely paid attention to the aesthetics of the building anymore. Seeing it through her eyes made him appreciate it anew.
"Cooper and Melanie should be here soon," he murmured, leaning close enough that his shoulder brushed against hers.
She gave him a smile that made his chest tighten. "I'm a little nervous about meeting them," she admitted.
"Don't be. They're good people."
Before Angela could respond, Jude spotted Cooper's tall frame moving down the aisle. He raised his hand slightly in greeting, and Cooper's face broke into a wide grin when he spotted Jude.
"There they are," Jude said, standing as Cooper and Melanie approached them.
Cooper clapped Jude on the shoulder before turning his attention to Angela. "You must be Angela. We've heard a lot about you."
Melanie, a petite woman with a warm smile, nudged her husband. "Not that much, because Jude barely shares anything." She extended her hand to Angela. "I'm Melanie. It's wonderful to finally meet you."
Jude watched as Angela shook their hands, her initial nervousness giving way to a genuine smile. He was glad that she seemed to quickly relax.
There wasn’t time for conversation right then as the worship service began. Jude wondered how similar the service at his church was to the one Angela had attended.
She seemed at ease with everything, though, and when they stood to sing, she clearly knew the lyrics of the songs.
Would she want to come with him every week?
Jude hoped she would because he enjoyed having her there, worshipping with him. It felt like it added another layer to their budding relationship. A layer that would help build a firm foundation.
When the pastor got up to preach the sermon, Angela unzipped the cover of her Bible, revealing a small notebook and a couple of pens. He watched as she flipped through the notebook to an empty page and wrote something on it.
They were going through the book of Philippians, and when Angela opened her Bible, he could see that she’d already highlighted some passages.
When she struggled to hold the Bible and still make notes, Jude took the Bible from her and held it open between them.
She looked over and smiled at him, then mouthed, “Thank you.”
Jude was discovering so many little things he hadn’t considered he’d appreciate the way he did.
The most recent one was sitting next to her in a worship service, listening to the same sermon.
Given the conversation they’d had in the truck on the way there, Jude was confident that they’d discuss what they were hearing on the ride back to the estate.
That week, the sermon was on a passage of Philippians he was very familiar with.
His dad had talked to him many times about being content in his life, regardless of what was happening.
He’d explained that that didn’t mean he couldn’t seek to make changes in his life, but that if he was seeking God’s will, he should be content with where that led him.
It was how he tried to live. It seemed that the older he got, the easier it was for him to be content. Or maybe he was just getting better at ignoring any discontent.
Jude looked down at the Bible in his hands, noting that she’d highlighted the passage the pastor was speaking on. Philippians 4:11-13.
Given what Angela had gone through in her life, he’d be interested to know her thoughts on the passage.
When the pastor gave another scripture reference, Angela leaned toward him and reached out to flip the pages of her Bible to find the verse.
The warmth of Angela's shoulder against his arm as they leaned over the Bible together filled Jude with a quiet contentment. He could smell the faint vanilla of her perfume mixed with a light floral scent that he couldn’t quite identify.
He forced himself to focus on the words in front of them, though his awareness of her next to him made concentration a challenge. The pastor was referencing Romans 8:28, and Jude watched as Angela's finger traced along the familiar verse about God working all things together for good.