"Absolutely. We haven't talked about a date, because I didn't want to pressure you."
"You suggested a Christmas wedding. I thought that sounded great."
"All right. Let me see what I can do to make that happen."
She nodded, but before she could say anything else, Aiden andEthan ran up, laughing and telling them about the funny thing that had just happened.
Mark dropped one of her hands, keeping hold of the other one, while he grabbed Ethan and picked him up.
Ethan had really opened up with Mark and was chatting away, talking more than Olivia had ever heard him speak.
That was just one more way that Mark had been good for her family.
Mark opened the door, and they walked across the parking lot, holding hands, heading over to unpack all of the things that Mark had just delivered to her apartment while she kept the boys.
Just before they got to her place, a car pulled up along the street. At first, Olivia couldn't figure out why it looked familiar, and then she recognized it.
"My parents! They're early!"
"They're probably really eager to see their long-lost daughter, and the grandchildren they've never met." Mark's words weren't censure, but they made a lot of sense.
"You're right. I guess I should've expected this."
She stood on the sidewalk while her parents got out of the car. Both of them looked almost exactly the same—maybe a few more wrinkles, a couple more gray hairs—but they still looked young, relatively speaking, and the smiles on their faces couldn't be bigger. If she had been nervous about the reaction to seeing her, she shouldn't have needed to worry. Her parents were not the kind of people to hold grudges. And maybe five years was more than enough time for all of them to have not spoken.
"Olivia!" her mother said, hurrying, pausing for a moment, as though unsure of Olivia's reaction, but when Olivia smiled and made a small move toward her, a huge grin broke out on her face, and she hurried toward Olivia with her arms out. "I've missed you so much!"
"I missed you too, Mom. More than I could ever say."
They hugged tight, and it felt good to be in her mother's arms again. She hadn't realized how much she had missed having a momto depend on, someone to talk to, someone who loved her more than anything or anyone else in the world.
Her dad came over and hugged her too, and then she introduced them to the boys. She had been telling the boys that they were going to meet their grandparents, which didn't really mean a whole lot to them, but both of them seemed excited and interested as she introduced them. They weren't hard to tell apart, and her parents caught on right away.
"I haven't been in my apartment because the furnace quit working during the storm, and we were actually on our way over to unpack all the things that we've been using while we've been out." And that's when she realized she hadn't introduced Mark. "But I'm sorry. This is Mark—Pastor Mark." She paused for just a moment, not because she was embarrassed, but because it was unfamiliar. "My fiancé."
Her parents' eyes grew big, and they looked at her, then Mark, then each other.
"This is certainly different from the last time," her mom finally said. And then her mom shook her head and turned a beaming smile on Mark. "Pastor Mark. It's so nice to meet you. We're excited to welcome you into the family."
"We are. Whoever Olivia chooses will be treated like family by us."
Olivia's mouth wanted to drop open, but she kept it closed. It was obvious that her parents had done some soul-searching after the way they'd treated Cam.
They were right—she'd have to tell them that later. She shouldn't have married him. He wasn't a good Christian, and their marriage might not have lasted. But her parents hadn't been kind to him either. She supposed they'd both learned some lessons from that, and all of them were probably better people because of it.
"Thank you," Mark said. "I lost my parents a few years ago, and I'm excited to be getting new ones. God provides."
"He sure does," her mom agreed. Then her mom slipped her armthrough Olivia's and said, "I sure hope you're going to be busy for the next week, because I can't wait to spend all day every day babysitting my grandchildren."
Olivia thought about how Mark had just said, "God provides." Boy, did He ever.
"You can't even begin to believe how busy I am, how many candle orders I have to fulfill, and how much I will appreciate you watching the children."
"I always love the way God works," her mom said.
Boy, Olivia did too. Her eyes met Mark's, and she knew they were both thinking the same thing. That God had worked everything out perfectly, even when it looked like He wasn't going to. With the storm, and all the orders, and her having no idea how they were going to be completed, and then they couldn't even get in because of the furnace being broken, and her getting backed up, and then her parents came, and it was like God rolled the clouds away, and she could see clearly that He had a plan all along.
It was a beautiful sight.
