Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Seth
It was late, past ten p.m., but I wasn’t tired. I was restless. Was Ella reuniting with the Lord? Or had she slammed the door back in His face? I felt God urging me to pray for her, so I did. I begged Jesus to wrap her in His arms and comfort her, to bring her peace.
My phone pinged with a message, and I lurched off the couch.
Ella: Are you up?
I wrote back instantly.
Seth: Yes
Ella: Can I come over for a second? Can you call Maggie over, too?
I bolted upright and texted her back quickly.
Seth: Yes
Was she okay?
I ran over to Maggie’s and lightly rapped on the door. Luckily, she was a night owl.
She answered with a look of concern. “Hey, hun, is everything okay?”
I told her quickly that Ella was coming over and wanted to speak with us both. She tightened the sash on her robe and came over to my house, pacing the living room.
“You think the baby is okay?” she asked, concern etched across her features.
“I hope so,” I told her.
It wasn’t like Ella to come over late. She hadn’t given any indication of what this was about. Maybe she needed a ride to the hospital or wasn’t feeling well suddenly, or—
There was a knock at the door, and I threw it open in a panic.
Ella stood there, her head bowed a little, her fingers nervously picking at her nails.
“What’s wrong, honey?” Maggie asked.
When Ella looked up at me, there were tears in her eyes. “Thank you,” she said as they spilled over onto her cheeks. “Thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you for not letting me stray too far from God.”
She rushed into my arms and hugged me, squeezing tightly as I wrapped my arms around her and tipped my head forward to rest my chin on the top of her head. Relief rushed through me, and a peace came over me.
Thank you, God. Thank you, I prayed silently.
She was so heavily pregnant she had to move her belly to the side as she hugged me, but Ella didn’t let go.
She held on to me like I was a life raft, and my heart beat wildly in my chest. I wanted to hold her like this forever.
I wanted her to be mine. I wanted to protect her and make her happy, and all of a sudden, she was pulling away from me, wiping her eyes, and then hugging Maggie.
“I’ve acted like such a fool,” Ella said against Maggie’s shoulder.
“Oh, dear, we love you so much, and so does God,” Maggie told her.
Ella nodded as Maggie rubbed her back, and then when they pulled away, Ella looked over at me. There was a change in her gaze. She was looking at me differently, as if with new eyes. I couldn’t interpret it.
“Well, Honey is waiting for me. She’s already tucked into bed. I just wanted to thank you both and let you know everything is okay now,” Ella said, and Maggie and I grinned.
“You sleep with that thing, too?” I teased.
Ella pointed a finger at me. “Thing?” she growled.
“I mean that beautiful, feathered, diaper-wearing avian princess,” I amended.
Ella grinned, and my stomach flipped over because her beauty always astounded me. She nodded as if that was better, and I looked over to see Maggie beaming at her and me.
Ella wished us good night and left. Then I stared at the closed door, feeling like my heart had just leaped out of my chest and left with her.
Maggie walked over to me and grasped the sides of my face. “You love her, don’t you?”
She knew.
I just nodded, feeling smitten and heartbroken at the same time because I knew that Ella wasn’t ready for anything close to a relationship, and I didn’t even know if, when she was ready, she would want one with me.
“Trust the Lord. He will bring you the perfect spouse—in His timing,” she told me, and I just nodded, trying to let her wise words seep into me.
What I should have been focusing on was the fact that Ella had clearly come back to her faith in God. That was the real triumph here and something I wanted to celebrate.