“This book is important to you.”
“Yes.”She’d missed it terribly, and although she’d replaced it immediately after he’d left, Lesley had had difficulty finding familiar verses.The pages were still so new they stuck together, and the leather binding remained stiff.
“As soon as I saw the treasures you had stored in its flap, I couldn’t understand why you’d given it to me, but I decided maybe I couldn’t throw it away.”
Lesley released an unconscious sigh of relief.
“But I wasn’t about to return it personally, I’d already made myself perfectly clear.I wasn’t coming back to Coeur d’Alene.I meant to mail it.Instead I found myself leafing through the pages.Soon I found myself reading the Gospels.You had several verses underlined in John.‘I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly’ was one that sticks out in my mind.”
“John 10:10,” she supplied.
“But Jesus wasn’t talking about riches, was He?”
“No, He was talking about the quality of our earthly life.”Her gaze slid to him again.A beautiful feeling of hope began to mount within her.
“Soon I found verses everywhere that spoke of forgiveness: Hebrews, Psalms, Acts.I read about the new life, the abundant life.For the first time in nearly a year I slept peacefully and uninterruptedly.I have peace within myself now.I can’t say that everything’s behind me yet.The hate and bitterness are lessening.I haven’t forgiven Jennings for what he did.But I’m willing to try, with God’s help.”
Lesley stood immobile for only a moment.
“I love you, Lesley.You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.I want to share this new abundant life with you.Can we start again?Can we place the past behind us?”
The garden fork fell unheeded to the damp earth as she walked to Cole and slipped her arms around his neck.Brilliant tears of happiness shimmered in her eyes as she smiled up at him.
Very gently, Cole wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her with a fierce kind of tenderness.He released a shuddering sigh as he held her close, his lips moving back and forth against the side of her head, his breath ruffling her hair.
A happiness unlike anything she’d ever experienced stole through her.“Did the landlord explain about the water pressure?”she asked teasingly.
“No,” Cole murmured and brushed the hair from her cheek.“But he had plenty to say about the occupant in the second half of the duplex.Apparently my new neighbor is a karate expert.”
Laughter tumbled from Lesley as she tilted her head back to gaze into the powerful face of the man she loved, the man God had sent to her.
Six months later, Lesley came in the back door of her Detroit home and placed the two grocery sacks on the kitchencountertop.Pausing, she unzipped her short jacket and tossed it across the back of the kitchen chair.
A package of cookies was on top of the first sack.She opened it and dumped them in a red apple-shaped cookie jar, nibbling on one as she put the frozen foods in the freezer section of the refrigerator.
The sounds of Cole working in the basement brought a sigh of contentment from slightly parted lips.Even after several months of marriage, her husband’s genius had the ability to amaze her.His work area was a collage of ideas.Most of his work centered on the automobile and parts she hadn’t known existed.But his inventions extended into the kitchen, and he had her testing a few of his crazy ideas.If she wasn’t so much in love, she would have complained.
“Cole.”She pushed the button of the intercom.“Would you like me to bring you down a cup of coffee?”
“Sure.”He sounded preoccupied, but then he usually did when he was in his workroom.
While she finished unpacking the groceries, Lesley plugged in the coffeepot.Ten minutes later she carried two steaming cups down the stairs.
“I hope you’re ready for a break.”
“In just a minute,” Cole answered without looking up, keenly concentrating on his latest contraption.
A smile touched the corners of her soft mouth.She’d sat an hour waiting for his “just a minute” on more than one occasion.
“Cole,” she said softly, “I’ve got something important to tell you.”
“Go ahead, I’m listening.”
Lesley rolled her eyes and sighed.“I was just thinking that maybe it would be a good idea for you to start working on a new type of car seat for the baby.I was looking at ones in theshopping center today, and they don’t look all that secure.Do you think you might have a couple of ideas?”
“Sure,” he mumbled, “no problem.”
Lesley sat on a tall stool and took a sip of her coffee.Glancing at her wristwatch, she mentally calculated how long it would take to get a reaction.Five minutes, she guessed.
