Reverend Levingston raised an eyebrow and pointed to Travis’s fidgeting leg.
Travis stopped twitching. His cheeks burned. “Oh. Sorry.”
“Whenever you’re ready to speak, I’m here.”
Travis folded his hands in his lap, leaning forward. “I can’t stop thinking about Sophie. It’s been ten months, you know?”
“The congregation isn’t the same without her. She was a special woman.”
“Yes, there is no one like her.” Travis tried to bring up the advertisement, the reply, and having a woman he didn’t know watching his children, but the words caught in his throat. The words were too hard to salvage, just like they were too difficult to admit.
“I’ve been worried for my children. They need a motherly figure . . . especially Gideon. Aunt Polly asked me . . . well . . . to consider putting an advertisement out for a wife . . .” Travis paused, looking up at Reverend Levingston, who was nodding along. He seemed not to be as disgusted as Travis thought he’d be. Travis cleared his throat, adjusting his collar. “I received a reply from a young woman . . . Miss Callahan from North Carolina. She arrived yesterday, and . . . I was wondering . . . if it’s not any trouble for you . . .”
“To officiate your wedding?” Reverend Levingston finished.
Travis nodded, relaxing his shoulders in relief. “Yes, if it is not a problem. But if it is . . . I’d like to ask for the church’s forgiveness.”
Reverend Levingston laid a hand on Travis’s shoulder. “Travis, there’s nothing wrong with wanting your children to have a mother, or you desiring a companion. The Bible clearly states a man shouldn’t be alone. That’s why God made Eve for Adam. There was something missing in His creation, so God made a woman.”
Travis’s throat tightened. “I’m just . . . I’m worried. W-What if I make the same mistake. You know what happened to Sophie . . . I can’t bear putting another woman and my children through that again.”
“Travis,” Reverend Levingston said calmly. “I know you are still grieving Sophie, but you must stop blaming yourself. What happened to her was terrible, but you must move on. Take Miss Callahan as a blessing. Love her. Care for her. Knowing Sophie, she’d want you to find love again.”
Travis looked up at the reverend. “Do you think Sophie would approve of this?”
Reverend Levingston nodded. “Very much. She wouldn’t want you and the children to remain unhappy.”
Travis sat quietly, his gaze fixed on the pulpit, the polished wood gleaming in the soft stream of sunlight. For the first time in his life, he was utterly confused. He would be a married man again in a day’s time, but he didn’t know what to think. Could he truly give Josephine Callahan a life of contentment when she’d never be more than his children’s mother?
He thought of Sophie and the love they had shared, a love he felt he was about to trade for a stranger. How was any of this fair? How could he vow to love and honor Miss Callahan if he could never promise her anything more than companionship he wasn’t sure he wanted? He closed his eyes.Lord, please help mefind a piece of my heart to be a kind and considerate husband. Help me learn to care for her. Help soften my hardened heart to welcome her into our home—for the sake of my children.
“When would you like the ceremony to be?” Reverend Levingston asked.
“How about tomorrow morning? I would like it to be as small as possible. Just your wife and sons, Aunt Polly, and the children. I’m just not ready for a big celebration.”
“You have my word,” Reverend Levingston promised with a smile.
Travis grabbed his hat from the pew and stood. “Thank you, Reverend.”
Reverend Levingston arose from his seat and shook Travis’s hand again. “Your family will be in our prayers.”
“I appreciate that,” Travis said. “It means a lot.”
Travis stepped inside his cabin, only to be met with a thick, foreign silence. Aunt Polly sat at the table, mending Jonas’s clothes—torn during a church picnic when he caught them on a fence.
“You’re home early.”
Travis hung his hat on the hook behind the door. “I went to see the reverend and decided to get supplies another day.”
“Oh? What did our dear reverend have to say?”
“He will officiate the wedding tomorrow, and he is praying for us.”
“How kind of him,” Aunt Polly said with a smile. “I can’t wait for Miss Callahan to meet his sweet wife.”
Travis crossed his arms. “I hope they will get along well. She needs some female companionship other than the girls and you ole’ grump.”
Aunt Polly chuckled and threw Jonas’s shirt at him. “You crazy fool.”
