CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO #2
Life could be short. His dad should still have been alive. He might not still have the job as head of security. He might have been retired. But he still should have been alive.
His life may have been cut short, but Jude didn’t think his dad would have had regrets over anything. Jude didn’t want any either.
He wanted to build a life with Angela. To build a family with her.
“Sooner rather than later it is, then,” Jude said with a wink. “Because I love you too.”
Angela’s smile was beaming as she leaned toward him. She brushed her lips across his, but when she went to move back, Jude once again gently cupped the back of her neck.
Jude’s memory of their first kiss was fleeting, so he wanted a solid memory of their second one.
That kiss had been a promise of something more, if he should survive. This one… this one held the promise of life. A life spent together. A future of love.
When the kiss ended, Angela moved back slightly and rested her palm on his cheek. However, any further conversation was prevented by the arrival of the nurse.
Angela got off the edge of the bed, but she kept a grip on his hand, as if anchoring herself to him. Which was fine with Jude, because he wanted to be anchored to her.
~*~
“Where are we going?” Angela asked as Jude navigated the truck through the front gates of the estate.
“We’re going to reclaim a beautiful spot from a terrible memory.”
Angela stared at him. “We’re going back to watch a sunset?”
“Yes. After we pick up some food,” Jude said. “I don’t want to have negative memories anywhere around here. So let’s go back and make new memories at the spot where that chapter of your life ended.”
Angela thought about it for a moment, then said, “It was such a beautiful spot, and I was looking forward to seeing the sunset there with you.”
Jude looked over briefly with a smile. “So we’ll go pick up food and make our way back there.”
Angela wasn’t really sure how she felt about returning to the spot, even though a month had passed since that day. She understood what Jude wanted to do, but all she could see in her mind was Jude slumped behind the wheel, bleeding.
Would returning there help to remove those memories?
“If you’d rather not, I’m not going to force you,” Jude said, his voice gentle as he reached over to cover her hands with his, easily steering the truck with just one hand. “Just say the word, and we’ll go somewhere else.”
She knew that Jude would never do anything to hurt her. If he thought this would help them, she was going to trust him.
“No, let’s go back. You promised me a sunset.”
They picked up the food and drinks that Jude had ordered at the diner, then made the drive up to the lookout spot.
Once there, rather than eat right away, Jude got out and came around the truck to open her door. Angela stepped into the chilly early-spring air, heart fluttering as Jude's hand found hers.
The sky was already beginning to deepen with color, the sun sinking lower toward the snowcapped mountains. Despite the beauty stretching before them, her stomach tightened as memories flickered through her mind—shattered glass, blood, Jim's voice in her ear.
Jude squeezed her hand gently. “You okay?”
She nodded, drawing a deep breath of the crisp mountain air. "Just… processing."
He led her to a small clearing near the edge of the lookout, then gathered her close to his side, his arm around her shoulders.
With her back to the truck and the scene of the attack, Angela was able to fully appreciate the kaleidoscope of pastel shades across the darkening sky. Tucking herself inside the edge of Jude’s jacket, she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek against his chest.
She could hear the beat of his heart, strong and steady beneath her ear. It was a beautiful sound she’d never tire of, because it was one she’d nearly lost.
And before her was a beautiful sight. One that had become obscured in the trauma of the attack.
She wanted God to redeem that beauty for her. The beauty of His creation.
Every sunset was a reminder of what she’d nearly lost, and she’d struggled to be able to see one without remembering that awful day.
“Heavenly Father.” Jude’s voice rumbled in his chest beneath her ear.
“I come before you today, asking for help for Angela and me. Please free us from the chains of what happened here that day. Free us from the terrible memory of the actions of an evil man. I thank you for giving us the strength to fight against his actions and to persevere. I take no joy in having ended the life of a man, but I thank You for sparing ours.”
Angela let Jude’s words wash over her, sinking deep into her soul. She didn’t want the memory of that night to keep her in chains. She didn’t want the worry of what had happened to Jude to taint the future they now had a chance to have.
“Please give us the strength to break free of the fear and worry. As the Bible says, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. So we claim that strength through Christ to overcome what happened to us.”
Angela clung to Jude, her emotions simmering near the surface. She slowly regulated her breathing, bringing it into rhythm with Jude’s.
When he ended the prayer, Angela opened her eyes and stared out at the beautiful sky. The view blurred briefly, but she blinked away the tears.
She leaned on Jude’s strength as the silence of nature settled around them. In that silence, peace filled her heart.
She’d never forget what had happened that day, but the power of that memory diminished. The image of Jude bleeding in the front seat of the truck slowly faded in intensity. His skin wasn’t as pale. The blood wasn’t as bright.
It was like a faded photograph.
When Jude removed his arm from her shoulders, Angela felt bereft. However, he moved to stand in front of her, framed by the colorful sky.
Looking down at her, he smiled. It was a gentle smile filled with the love that he freely shared with her each day. He took both of her hands in his, then lowered himself to one knee.
Angela’s mouth dropped open as she stared at him. “Jude?”
“It’s showtime, baby,” he said with a wink. “Are you ready?”
Emotion rushed through her, robbing her of speech for a moment, so she just nodded. She was ready. She’d been ready for what felt like ages.
“Angela, will you marry me?”
The proposal wasn’t comprised of flowery speech or pretty words. It was right to the point, right on script, which Angela appreciated, because it made it simple for her.
So there in the snow, with the sun setting behind Jude, Angela gave him the answer he was expecting. The one she’d been waiting to give him. “Yes.”
Even though he knew what her response would be, Jude’s face softened with emotion. More emotion than he usually showed. Getting to his feet, he wrapped his arms around her and spun her in a circle.
“I love you, Angela,” he said as he set her down. “You’ve made me the happiest man in the world.”
She reached up to cup his face in her hands. “I love you too.”
When Jude kissed her this time, it tasted like promises and forever. Angela melted into him, her hands sliding up to tangle in his hair as the last rays of sunlight painted the world golden around them.
This was the kiss she'd been waiting for—not the desperate one in the truck when she'd feared losing him, but this one, full of joy and love and the promise of the future they would build together.
When they finally stepped apart, both breathless in the cold air, Jude rested his forehead against hers.
“I forgot to take the ring out,” he said with a soft laugh. Moving back a bit, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small ring box. “I hope you like it.”
“I’ll love it because it was something you chose for me,” she told him. “Just like I love the perfume and the necklace you brought back for me from Dubai.”
Jude opened the ring box, giving Angela a glimpse of a slender gold band and a setting of three diamonds.
“The larger diamond represents God, and the two smaller ones represent us,” Jude said as he slid the ring onto her finger. “It’s a reminder that we are not alone in our relationship.”
“It’s beautiful, Jude,” Angela said. “So perfect. Thank you.”
Jude wrapped his arms around her and held her close in the cold of the twilight evening that was settling around them.
“Now, let’s go back to my place and eat our food. I think we might need to heat it up.”
They stood in the waning daylight for a couple more minutes, and as Angela leaned against Jude, she thanked God for bringing them through the valley of death into the land of the living once again.
Whatever life might throw at them after the near-death experience, Angela had no doubts that God would give them the strength to handle it.