“You’re pregnant?” His eyes lingered on my swollen belly, and his voice sounded haunted.
Yes. He’d killed a father and left me a widow and a single mother, but what good would come from me saying that aloud? He knew.
“Say what you want to say, and then I’m leaving,” I told him flatly. I didn’t want to be here. On the phone, he’d saidhe had something to tell me about James’s last words. That’s the only reason I was here.
I glanced at the door where Seth stood, poised and ready to strike if this man tried to hurt me, and I felt safe.
The young man nodded and then finally met my eyes, and I was struck again by how young he looked. He was nineteen years old and was going to spend his life in prison for James’s death. Still, it was a small amount to pay for taking the love of my life.
“I was high on drugs when I robbed the pizza place,” the guy told me.
I nodded. I’d heard as much from Seth.
“I just wanted, like, a hundred bucks so I could score my next hit and ride the high,” he said, and I scoffed.
“You killed my husband over a hundred dollars?” I couldn’t help it. I was mad.
He looked down at his lap, stricken. “Yes, ma’am.”
Well, at least he wasn’t denying it.
“I had the gun pointed to the side of the cashier’s head. I was so out of my mind that, when your husband tried to calm me down and asked me to talk, to put the gun down. I…just… I thought he was going to tackle me or something, and I wouldn’t get the money I wanted, so I… I shot him.”
There it was. So simple. He’d wanted a hundred bucks, but James had been standing in his way, so he’d ended his life.
I stood abruptly, the chair scraping behind me as tears blurred my vision. I didn’t want to be here anymore. I’d thought this might bring closure, but it was such a senseless killing that it was throwing me back into grief.
“I would pay a billion dollars just for one last hug fromhim,” I managed to say through my tears and then turned to leave.
“Wait, please. I have to tell you how your husband saved my soul,” the man pleaded, and it was like I’d been drenched in cold water.
Saved his soul? I eyed the cross at his neck again and frowned. What was he talking about?
I peered at the door, where Seth was rocking on his heels, ready to swoop in. I gave him a reassuring wave and sat back down.
“You have one minute,” I told him, sitting back down. “I’m not here to makeyoufeel better.”
He nodded. “The second I saw your husband go down…and all the blood… I freaked out. I have never hurt anyone before in my life. I didn’t mean to kill him. I wasn’t thinking. I dropped the gun and ran to his side, shocked at how things were unfolding.” The young man’s voice broke as he fought for composure, and again, a sliver of compassion tamped my rage.
The young man looked up at me then, his eyes brimming with tears that spilled onto his cheeks when he blinked. “When I looked down at your husband, I’ll never forget the words that came out of his mouth.”
My heart beat wildly in my chest. What had my sweet James said to him with his last breath?
“He said, ‘I forgive you.’”
Upon hearing that James had said, “I forgive you,” immediately after being shot, I burst into tears, feeling so much pride. It was so James. He’d truly been the better half.
The young man nodded. “And I broke in that moment. I sobbed and told him I was so sorry. He reached up tocomfort me, grasping the side of my face and…” The young man’s eyes were wide now, and I leaned forward, not wanting to miss a word of his story. “The drugs fled from my system the second he touched me like a supernatural force smacked into my body andrippedthe addiction away. I haven’t craved them ever since. He…hehealed me,ma’am.”
My mouth opened in shock. “What? What do you mean?” Had I heard that right?
“I mean that I was so high on drugs that the walls were wavy around me, and when your husband touched me, clarity entered my mind more than ever before. I wasn’t high anymore. I didn’t crave that floating feeling. I was…empty but clear-headed.”
James had healed a man of addiction? I just couldn’t believe it. Miracle healings happened in the Bible plenty of times, but my sweet James? Chills broke out in my arms. Had God used my husband for something greater than I could even fathom?
“What happened next?” I croaked out, instinctively knowing that wasn’t the end of the story.
For the first time, the young man beamed at me, and the smile took five years off his face. He looked like a young boy. “He told me I felt empty inside because there was a God-shaped hole in my heart, and I needed Jesus to fill it.”
