Ella:Walking over with Honey.
Seth:Hope you brought her fall diaper collection
I smiled. That man was always good for a laugh.
When he stepped out onto the porch, my stomach didsomersaults. Seeing Seth felt a little different every time. I used to just recognize that he was a handsome man. Now, I was thinking of other things. Like wondering what it would be like to kiss him…
“You sure this isn’t imposing?” I asked him, trying not to love the way he looked in a white T-shirt and work jeans.
“Taking care of your house diaper chicken for a year? No way. Not imposing at all,” he said sarcastically.
I laughed, but then my face grew serious. “I can put her in the barn with the others, and my house sitters can feed her.”
Seth reached for her. “No way. She’s important to you, so she’s important to me.”
My breath caught at his statement. It was so incredibly sweet, and I felt God pressing on my heart a truth that I’d known for a while.
Seth was meant to be mine one day. The timing was just off.
I let him take Honey, and then we stood there awkwardly for a moment.
“I already said goodbye to Maggie and the girls,” I told him.
Seth nodded as Honey removed some lint from his shirt. “I’ll miss those babies,” he said. “And you,” he added.
Again, my breath caught. I leaned forward, pulling him into a hug. “I’ll miss you, too,” I whispered into his ear. “But I need this.”
When I pulled back, there were unshed tears in his eyes as well as my own. I pulled the note from my pocket and handed it to him, then walked away before it could get any harder to leave him.
I needed Paris right now. I needed time with my mom and my babies. I needed to fully grieve the loss of my husband. But I prayed that God really did mean for Seth to be in my life. That he’d wait until I was ready.
Chapter Forty
Seth
As Ella walked away, it felt like half my heart had left with her. She was really going. I’d seen her and the babies a couple times a week at church or Wednesday nights with Maggie or just when she’d drop by to visit with her mom. And it brought so much joy to my life. Now, it felt like that joy was sucked right out of it.
I stared at the note she’d slipped into my hand and then at Honey. “What do you think it says?”
Honey pecked at a freckle on my arm. I’d locked up Buster in the barn, and I’d have to train her not to bother Honey if she followed me outside the house.
“Ow.” I set her down and let her eat some grass while I unfolded the letter.
When I saw my own handwriting, it felt like a punch to the gut. I’d forgotten about this. The one where I’d askedElla if she would ever consider me more than a friend. I stared at the options I’d given her for answers.
Just friendsMaybe more.
She hadn’t circled either answer. Instead, she had written in her own.
Wait for me.
I gasped, feeling light bleed into my chest as the heaviness that her departure had brought lifted.Wait for me.Ella needed time, and I’d wait however long it took at the chance to have a shot with her. Especially since those very words matched what God had told me that day in the barn.
Wait for her.
Chapter Forty-One
Seth
