Epilogue
“ H ey! So sorry I’m late. But that’s the way it is when you take kids to school,” Claire said as she and Josiah walked in the door to the Monday morning Bible study.
They were having it in the bakery for the first time. They’d just opened the Saturday before, and since school had just started, and the mornings were getting colder, they thought it was a good time to move the Bible study indoors.
Lauren had been more than happy to host it. Eventually, they might remodel and redecorate the upstairs of the apartment to accommodate the study upstairs. She thought that was a great idea, and she was pretty sure that it was on Cannon’s list of things he wanted to do.
First though, he was going to help Matteo put a security system in. Matteo, who was at a table, deep in conversation with her husband, had asked him a few weeks prior if he could price one out.
Of course, Cannon had been able to pull a few strings and still had contacts where he could get one at cost, and the labor of putting it in would be free. They wanted their neighbor and good friend to be successful in his business, and they were willing to do anything they could to help him .
She now sold energy drinks, as well as a variety of special waters, just to cater to his clientele.
They also looked into foster care, and they were meeting a family of four small children on Wednesday.
Lauren could hardly wait, and she hoped that the puppies, which were going to be eight weeks old, would not go to their new homes until after the kids got to meet them.
She and Cannon had tried as hard as they could to find an owner for Lacey, but no one had stepped forward. Now their only difficult decision was whether or not they were going to keep Lacey and one of the puppies or just Lacey.
Still, they had homes lined up for three of the five, and if they were going to keep one, they needed to make a decision soon.
Lauren took the tray of Nutella banana bread over to the tables that they had joined together so that everyone would have a seat at the Bible study.
Cannon had already provided water, and since it was the first day that Bible study was going to be held in her bakery, she had said that she would provide the refreshments.
They had agreed that it would not be her responsibility all the time, but…
she was going to have a hard time not doing it.
Especially since Cannon’s business had sold for millions more than they had expected, and as long as they were wise with their investments and prudent in their spending, they were set for life, as were their children and grandchildren.
She couldn’t imagine having that kind of wealth, and they’d spent a good bit of time studying investments over the last eight weeks.
Almost as much time as they’d spent studying the material that the foster care people had given them.
Life was looking up. It was unbelievable to her that just a few months ago, she thought she was at her lowest point ever.
Maybe it was true, that old adage, “It’s darkest just before dawn.” Maybe it’s never time to give up. Maybe making the decision to stay in her marriage, to work at it, to do what God wanted, rather than what she wanted, was the best decision ever.
She put a hand on her stomach as she walked back to the counter to grab the second tray of sticky buns.
It could end up being a false alarm or could end up in another miscarriage, but she also had reason to hope that perhaps this time, God was going to bless them, not just with a family of adopted children but also with a child of their own.
Whatever God gave them was good, and she would take it with thanksgiving. It was something she was working on but was still not perfect at, but it was her goal. Because God was good, all the time. Even when it seemed like He wasn’t.
Thanks so much for reading! If you’d like to head back to Raspberry Ridge and enjoy lakeside breezes, the nostalgic scents of summer and home and more sweet, second chance romance, you can get Through the Dark Night HERE .