Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
W hat Beth Gibson had done, the way she had insulted and belittled Charity, could have ruined the rest of the meal. Wilson would have allowed it to ruin his. But he hadn’t counted on Charity.
It had upset her, of that he was sure, but after Beth left, she put another bite in her mouth, swallowed, and then looked at him. “She’s right. All that stuff is true.”
“It wasn’t nice,” he said. It didn’t matter whether it was true or not. Of course he didn’t want people going around telling lies, but just because something was true didn’t mean it had to come out of a person’s mouth.
“But it’s good that she did that. I… You should know what you’re getting into.”
“I know what I’m getting into. And I meant every word I said.”
“You said you were falling in love with me. That wasn’t true.”
“How do you know?” he asked, and there was a little smile on his mouth.
Because… He had felt something earlier, he didn’t even remember what they were talking about, but it was like the whole world went on without them.
It was just the two of them, and he never felt like that with anyone before.
He wanted to move his fingers over, touch her, feel connected to her amidst all the other things that were happening around them, and know that the two of them, in the universe, were together. It was an odd sensation.
“Because we only started talking today. And?—”
“You’re my fiancée. We’re getting married.”
“We just decided that today. You can’t possibly be falling in love with me?”
“People say there’s such a thing as love at first sight. Why couldn’t there be such a thing as love at first proposal or something?”
“The fact of the matter is not everything you said was true.”
“When and how I fall in love is up to me. And I choose to say that I’m falling in love with you. I’m going to love you for the rest of my life. And that’s just the way it’s going to be.”
It seemed simple to him. His feelings were under his control.
He was not under their control. So many times, people got it backward, even him.
Sometimes he allowed his feelings to control him, but not with this.
Not with something so important. Plus, there was that moment they shared.
If he were a contemplative sort, he would want to think about that for a while.
But it was enough that they had it, and he thought, was almost sure, that there would be more moments just like that.
“All right. I’ll give you that. Still, be warned. You can’t say you didn’t know. And if you need to back out, I understand. It’s fine.”
“Same for you. You can back out too, if you want to. As for me, I made up my mind before I even went to your house. It wouldn’t matter what anyone said.
I know what God wants me to do, and I’m going to do it, and I’m going to love you, and I’m going to stay married to you for the rest of my life.
Unless you choose otherwise.” He grinned a little. “Which I hope you don’t.”
She laughed and shook her head. “All right. If that’s how you feel about it, and you’re not going to allow a comment like that bother you, then I’m not going to let Beth bother me either.
She’s right, and I wish it weren’t true, but it’s behind me.
The rest of my life is ahead of me, and I’m going to change and walk a different way. ”
“Hopefully not too different. Because I like you the way you are.”
“No. Just different in the eyes of the town. I’m going to marry someone who’s going to stay with me, for one.”
“Oh. I like that. Okay, well, in that case, I’m all for it. Because I don’t want anyone to think that I’m the same as Clancy.”
“Oh, goodness, no. You two are as different as night and day, with you being all the good things and him being…everything I don’t want.”
He looked at her gently as she looked down at her food, like she was thinking.
“I was really stupid at one point in my life. I sure hope I don’t have that problem again.”
“I think we gain wisdom as we age; that’s one of the benefits of aging. There are a lot of downsides,” he said, and that caused her to laugh.
“Tell me about it. I’m not even that old, and I can see that it only goes downhill from here.”
“Some things, some things actually get better. Like wisdom. But only if we allow it deliberately. Some people absolutely refuse to allow themselves to get smarter.”
“Or admit that they need to get smarter. I think that’s probably the first problem that many of us have. We just don’t want to admit that there are things that we don’t know, things that we can learn, even from people we don’t like.”
“Now that’s a good point. And absolutely true.” He took a breath. “I think that is the pride the pastor was talking about. How we have a tendency to think we’re right and not want to hear anyone else’s side of the story. We do that in marriages, and friendships, and in our daily lives.”
“Exactly. And I think it’s something that we can guard against if we know we do it.”
“Can I get you two anything else? Dessert?” the waitress said as she stopped at their table, setting the bill down and picking up their empty plates.
“I’m so full I couldn’t eat another thing,” Charity said, smiling and looking pleased.
It made his heart happy to see how happy a simple meal made her.
It didn’t cost much, and it was just the diner in town, but she acted like he’d given her so much more.
It was nice to be with someone who was grateful.
He wasn’t sure that he’d ever been with anyone who really appreciated what he had done for them, and not that he had done a whole lot.
Hopefully he’d grown since those days when he expected to be appreciated, but he didn’t recall anyone ever appreciating him the way Charity did. It was a refreshing change.
He handed the waitress a card along with the bill, and she walked away with their empty plates, murmuring that she’d be right back.
“We don’t have to go straight home if you don’t want to. Mom hasn’t sent me any SOS’s unless she’s sent you one that I don’t know about.”
“I would have said something right away. But nobody wants me, and that’s always a good thing when you have small children,” she said, holding up her phone which showed a picture of her kids in the background and no messages on her screen.
“Well then, we’re free to continue if you’d like.”
“I think we better get back. We don’t want to wear your mom out on her very first day with the kids. It would be nice if she would agree to do it at least once more before she gets scared away.”
“I think you’ll be surprised. Mom will have the kids well in hand when we get home, and she might not even let us in, because she won’t want to give them up.”
“Well, that vision is completely opposite of what I’m afraid of, which is my kids will have the house completely trashed with your mom tied up in a closet somewhere.”
He laughed. “Give Mom some credit. She did raise six kids.”
“I know. I guess in most situations, I’m all about positive thinking and all that, but in this instance, I think that maybe it might be best to be prepared for the worst.”
“All right. You have your vision, I have mine. Mostly because I have faith in my mom. I kinda think that’s the kind of grandma you’re going to be.”
She laughed again. “I can’t even imagine being a grandma at this point. The idea of my little kids growing up and having children of their own is just so…foreign, but wonderful at the same time.”
He laughed. “Wonderful because they’re not yours to take care of anymore?”
“Maybe. Or maybe because they’ve grown up into people who love God and serve Him. That’s my only goal. Really. Other than teaching them to read and write and do a little bit of math.”
“That’s probably all we need. Although, I think the school district would like to see them do some more.”
“I have very low standards, I guess, because in that area, I feel like they can teach themselves everything they really want to, but they might not teach themselves about the Lord, that’s my job.”
“And mine,” he said as the waitress brought his receipt back, and he signed it before they stood together.
“Thank you very much. That was…the best time I’ve had in a long time.”
“Hopefully there will be a lot more times like that in your future. Although, you’re probably going to get tired of me.”
“I don’t think so. I guess I could be wrong, but I kinda feel like you’re the kind of person that I’ll always be interested in. You’re always going to have something interesting to say.”
“I’ll try. But we might end up being like other married couples who talk about bills and diapers and household repairs.”
“I guess I won’t mind that.” She sighed.
“Just because there’s someone to talk about those things with you?” he asked, and while he was only partially teasing, he was also serious, because that was almost certainly a problem. She didn’t have anyone to talk about those things with.
“Yeah. It won’t be all on my shoulders anymore. Speaking of, I’m totally fine with moving out of my house into yours and selling mine. How soon were you thinking to do that?”
“Well, if we get married on Christmas—?” He kind of let the sentence trail off as though he were asking her.
“That’s fine with me. I mean, if you’re willing to do it that quickly, I’m certainly not going to stand in your way.”
“I want to do it that quickly. Not that I’m willing. Which I am.”
She smiled at his insistence. Somehow, he felt like it was really important to let her know that this was what he wanted.
Sure, he was following what God wanted him to do, but the more he talked to Charity, the more he was sure that God knew exactly what He was doing, not that he ever doubted it.
But maybe it would be better for him to say the more he talked to her, the more he wanted to do what God wanted him to do, just because of Charity.
They walked out of the restaurant and moseyed down the street toward his truck.