"And you're taking your own food out of your own refrigerator to them?"
"Well, part of it is stuff that you made. So if you don't want me to, I won't."
"No. It has nothing to do with me. They just were very, very mean to you."
"And that's true. But the Bible says that we're to be kind to people who are unkind to us. That we're to turn the other cheek. That we are to allow vengeance to be the Lord's. I mean, the Bible is full of forgiving people for what they've done, allowing God to handle it, and loving them and being kind to them anyway. I wouldn't be a very good pastor if I didn't practice that, would I?"
She shook her head slowly.
"But I don't want you to think that it's easy. I spent a lot of nights lying awake, wondering if I'd even have a church because of all the rumors that were flying around and the lies that those people told about me. I can't say that it doesn't still hurt, that I don't still get a twinge whenever I think about them. But I don't have to feel perfectly happy in order to do the right thing, right?"
She nodded her head, and he knew she wouldn't argue with him. She knew he was right. There was no way she could present the other side using the Bible, because it just wasn't there.
"I'd love to have you go along, but I know you can't leave the boys." He lifted a shoulder. "I know Mrs. Tucker has said to me that she'll come give me a hand anytime."
"And she's offered to watch the boys multiple, multiple times, and has. I just hate to bother her."
"I don't think it's a bother. She's retired, and she feels like she's not as useful as she used to be. She looks for things to do to be a blessing. You're actually giving her a blessing by allowing her to help you."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you." She sighed. "I'll wait up for you."
"You don't have to." But he couldn't stop the surge of pleasure that went through him at the idea that there would be somebody waiting at home, keeping the lights on, waiting to welcome him, caring whether he made it or not. It had been so long since there was anything like that.
"No. I want to make sure you get back okay, for one. And... I just want to see you again."
He smiled, and swallowed, then he put his hand on her knee. Immediately she put her hand over top of his, and their fingers twined together.
He wanted to say something, tell her that he was falling in love with her, that he did love her, that he would always love her, but he felt like it was too soon. The world didn't think that a person could love someone so deeply and so fiercely after such ashort time. But biblical love didn't have anything to do with one's feelings. It had to do with decisions a person made, and a commitment a person had, and a person's character as well. He could've said that he loved her before he even met her, and then his actions could've confirmed that that was true. Still, he didn't think that they were ready for another deep discussion about love.
So he just squeezed her hand and then stood. "I'll be back as quickly as I can."
"Be careful."
Chapter 25
Olivia sat on the couch long after Mark had left. Taking food to those people who had been so mean to him. Meaner to him than anyone had ever been to her. Including her parents.
And yet years later, she was still angry at her parents and not including them in her life or in her children's lives because of them warning her, fairly, that Cam might not be the best decision she ever made. Why had she been so stubborn and stupid? Not necessarily for not listening to them—she had considered herself in love, and hadn't thought for one second that Cam was anything like her parents were afraid he was. But she hadn't needed to cut her parents out of her life. Especially after Cam passed.
She touched her phone, running her finger over the edge of it, thinking.
Her stomach twisted, and she almost drew her hand back, but instead, she gripped her phone where it lay on the coffee table, and picked it up.
The number was still in her contacts, although she honestly didn't even know if they were still alive. She'd blocked it long agoand had tried not to think about them since. Her boys didn't even know they had grandparents.
How could she have been so terrible?
Somehow talking to Mark had made her see what an awful person she had been. Not just a terrible daughter, but a terrible Christian, a terrible child of God. How could she claim that God was her father and Jesus was her savior when she couldn't even forgive her own parents? And show love to them, when Jesus said that they'll know that we're Christians by our love.
Mark lived that out. He was showing love to people who had been terribly unkind to him, and he hadn't even given it a thought. He agreed immediately to take food to them. He was risking his life—he could get stuck, he could get lost in the snow since the whole countryside looked pretty much the same.
She wasn't going to borrow trouble. Saying a prayer that he would be safe, and being convicted even more strongly that before she asked God for one more thing, she needed to get rid of this thing that was between her parents and her, she unlocked her phone and went to her keypad.
It wasn't hard to remember her old number. The one she’d had for her whole childhood, but her finger hovered over the buttons. It would ring in her parents' house, and either one of them could answer it. Unless they changed their number or moved or whatever people did.
She glanced at the clock. She didn't think they would be asleep yet. Her parents had always been late-night owls.
Before she could think herself out of it, she dialed their number.
