“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.
