Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
Would you have time to meet me at the healing garden? I have something I need to say to you.
T revor glanced at his phone where it sat on the workbench, a message from Grace lighting up the screen.
His entire chest lit up as well. He tried to calm himself down.
After all, she might be going to tell him that she never wanted to see him again, or that they were going to need to figure out how to navigate the waters of their parents having a relationship and her not wanting to see him, or she might be wanting to tell him that she wanted their parents to move into his house, so she would never have to see him.
Why did all the negative things have to go through his head? Why did he focus on those things?
He set the tool he’d been using down and picked up his phone.
Okay. When?
He sent the message back, trying not to think about it too much. He’d just focus on what he was doing and let things happen the way God wanted them to. God knew what he wanted, he prayed for it enough, but he needed to accept God’s will, if that’s what it was.
Would today work? Eleven o’clock?
Trevor glanced at his phone when it dinged and then glanced at the time. An hour from now.
He wished she would have said now, so he didn’t have to sit and think about it for sixty minutes.
He grabbed his phone and typed a quick message.
I’ll be there.
He sat back down and tried to focus on the stool he’d been making. Furniture seemed to be more his style, since the crafty things he could do, but he couldn’t decorate. His dad was right, he and Grace would make a great pair, since he could make the bones, and she could make them look beautiful.
Still, making furniture was nice as well.
And he loved working with wood, taking pieces that didn’t look like anything, and seeing the potential inside of them.
He liked thinking about how they used to be trees, growing in the woods, reaching out to the sky, maybe home for squirrels or rest for a bird or a place for deer to rub their antlers on.
Now, they had a second life in the home of a human family, bringing joy and beauty to wherever they ended up.
The whole life cycle fascinated him, and he was honored and happy to be a part of it.
The next forty-five minutes crawled by. He almost quit ten minutes early, but then what in the world was he going to do?
It would only take ten minutes to walk to the healing garden, and if he left too soon, he would be early.
But five minutes early was better than fifteen minutes early, since he would get there and start pacing, upsetting anyone who had been going there to find peace and quiet and comfort.
He didn’t want to do that. The healing garden meant too much to too many people for him to despoil the serenity folks found there.
It was an interesting choice for Grace to make, and maybe in a way that showed how much she wanted to get along and not fight when she said whatever it was she had to say.
Maybe she had something good to say. Something he wanted to hear.
He tried to tell himself that, although he had a hard time convincing himself that that was true.
But maybe he just needed to let go of his expectations and show up.
Just show up with no preconceived notions and no thoughts on what he expected from her.
Or on what he expected from himself. Other than to be kind and compassionate, no matter what.
He found himself walking faster than he normally did down the street toward the healing garden. Even if he got there early, he could enjoy the beauty and serenity, and it could help calm his soul and prepare him for whatever Grace wanted.
But to his surprise when he arrived, she was already there.
There were no cars in the parking lot, so when he walked around the turn and saw a woman standing with her hands behind her back, looking at the waterfall, his favorite spot, he knew it was Grace even before she moved, and the sunlight caught her hair, shining like a halo around her head.
His heart skipped a beat. It probably always would every time he laid eyes on her. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to get it to stop.
Maybe he should move somewhere far, far away. But he wouldn’t do that until after his father was gone. Because he wasn’t going to leave his dad. That was the reason he moved back. He wasn’t going to be a coward and run from a woman.
“Trevor,” Grace said as she turned, her hands going to her throat, her eyes opening wide. “You’re early.”
She almost looked like she wasn’t expecting him. He had said he was going to be there, hadn’t he?
“So are you,” he said, stating the obvious.
“I know. I was hoping to draw a little inspiration and maybe calmness and courage.”
Courage? What did she need courage for?
He walked over, stopping within five feet of her. Plenty of space between them, but not so much that they couldn’t hear each other over the sound of the water. It was soothing and beautiful and absolutely perfect. Vera and Dominic had done an excellent job in designing it .
“Maybe that’s what I was thinking,” he finally said as he turned toward the water, putting his hands behind his back. He didn’t know what else to do with them, because he was tempted to touch her. And that wouldn’t be appropriate.
“Thank you for coming. I appreciate it. Especially after what I said at the picnic.”
“You were just saying what you meant. How you felt. There’s nothing wrong with that. No one expects you to pretend something you don’t feel.”
“That’s just it. It was a lie. It was a lie just like the lie I told when I left town when I was a teenager in high school.
I went flying out, all arrogance and confidence, but in reality, I still loved you.
I wanted to stay. I just somehow thought that success in the world was more important than finding a man of integrity and character.
” She smiled and laughed a dry, humorous laugh.
“Obviously my life has taught me lessons that I wish I would have known then. Lessons like character and integrity are far more important than material success. That finding a man with those qualities is harder than you think. And when you find someone like that, when you’re in love with someone like that, and they’re in love with you, you should hold on as hard as you can. ”
Her eyes lifted, and they met his, and he felt that connection the whole way to his core.
“When I came back, I felt it again. I thought that maybe you were feeling the same way, and then… I decided that you weren’t.
I don’t know. I guess I’m confused and don’t trust myself and what I see and feel, because I’ve been so wrong in my life.
But one thing I know for sure, if you’re willing to take a chance on me, I love you, and I’d like to be with you. However you think that should look.”
She stood before him, meeting his eyes for one more second before she lowered her head, her own hands clasped behind her back, her posture slightly stooped as though she were standing in humility before him.
He didn’t like that posture any more than he liked the arrogant thumbing her nose posture, but he understood what she was saying with her words and posture.
That the next move was his, and she would be humble and submissive to whatever it was.
He supposed that left a lot of room for him to manipulate or be unkind, but it also showed that she trusted him, and it showed her humility and sorrow for what she had done.
He didn’t know what to say. Or where to start. This was basically his dream come true, but… It almost seemed too good to be true.
“You love me?” he finally said, supposing that was the most important thing.
After so long of wishing and wanting and waiting, she was finally saying that she loved him?
Or had he misheard her and not fully understood that what she was saying was not only did she love him, but she loved him when she left, and she regretted it?
That changed everything.
“Yes. I love you. I’m so sorry for the stupid way I’ve acted. Stupid when I was younger, stupid just the other day. Just stupid all around. I wish I could guarantee that I wasn’t going to be stupid ever again, but I’m afraid I probably can’t. My history speaks for itself.”
For the first time, there was a bit of humor in her eyes. One of the things he loved about her was that she wasn’t afraid to laugh. That she laughed easily at herself, with a self-deprecating humor that he found endearing.
“That’s one of the things I love about you.
Maybe I don’t want you to change it.” He wasn’t sure whether that was true.
He didn’t love that she had left for so long, but he did love that she was apologizing and admitted that she loved him when she left.
That soothed his heart and soul in a way that nothing else ever could.
“I suppose you can see that in me for the rest of my life.” Now there was no denying the twinkle in her eyes.
“I hope I can. I hope this means that you’re going to spend the rest of your life with me.” That was jumping the gun. They were just getting together, and here he was demanding that she devote her life to him.
But she didn’t seem put off by the idea.
“That’s what I love about you. One of the many things. You know what you want, and it’s not a flash in the pan and then it’s gone. You’re not jumping from woman to woman to woman. It’s just me.”
“It’s always been you.”
He thought about how when she had left it was like the sun had set in his life, had gone below the far horizon, and now, it was like it was still below the far horizon, but on the eastern side, and he was just waiting for the sun to come up and for them to start their life together.
The same idea, but totally different feelings.
“I know. You’ve never wavered. While I’ve waffled back and forth and up and down. All over.” She lifted her shoulder and looked down.
“I don’t care. I have enough steadfastness for both of us.”
“We don’t need it. Because I’m set on you, for the rest of my life. However long that is.”
“Hopefully a really long time,” he said, grinning a bit, because he had every intention of living for decades longer and expected her to as well.
He took a step forward, touching her arm.
She twisted her hand and moved so that their fingers linked together, tightening a bit until he took another step toward her.
“You’re bossy,” he said.
“Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet,” she said, and he had to laugh. She really wasn’t bossy or demanding or controlling. Maybe she had been a little success oriented and defined success in a way that he didn’t, but she wasn’t the kind of person who tried to make others do what she wanted.
“I just wanted to remind you that I’m divorced, with no job, no money, and a terrible credit rating.”
“Is there anything else you need to tell me before I kiss you?” he asked, not caring about any of that.
They could work through anything. Work through whatever they had to in order for them to be together.
The important things were already taken care of.
She loved Jesus, so did he. God would be the center of their life. Everything else they could figure out.
“No,” she said softly.
“Good,” he murmured, tugging her toward him before letting go of her hands and wrapping his arms around her, burying one hand in her hair as he lowered his head and kissed her.
It wasn’t a question kiss, and it definitely did not feel like a goodbye kiss.
It felt like a hello to the rest of his life kiss, although it made his hands shake and his knees tremble and he had to end it way sooner than he wanted to just so he could remain upright.
He leaned his forehead on hers and waited for a bit until he caught his breath again. “I don’t think we should kiss like that in public. It’s kind of dangerous.”
“I agree with you completely,” she said, and he was gratified to hear that she sounded like she was out of breath as well.
“Still, today is a bit of a special day, and maybe another kiss might be in order.”
She laughed. “He changed his mind already? I thought he was steadfast and had enough of that quality for both of us.”
He smiled. She was teasing him, and it warmed him to the very tips of his toes.
“Shut up and kiss me,” he whispered before he kissed her again.