“Kyle.”
He glanced across.
“Thank you for inviting us here.”
“My pleasure.”
Gen smiled.“It’s mine.Ours.I… I don’t know what to say, except thank you.”
“You know I love—”
Not yet.
He swallowed.“Bella, and care so much for you.So I’m really glad if this place has given you a sense of peace.”
She nodded.“It has.And you have too.Thank you for what you said earlier.Thank you for all of this.”
“It’s easy, isn’t it, to get so caught up with being busy that we forget to stop.I know my life has been pretty frantic at times, and I need to do more of this.Just being still.Looking at the heavens.”
She looked up, and so did he.He still wasn’t one hundred percent sure if she’d made that commitment, so it wouldn’t hurt to share another verse that reiterated what he’d tried to say before.“There’s this verse in the Bible that talks about how God has forgiven us and cast our sins away as far as the east is from the west.That’s so encouraging, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
Hmm.He’d take that as a maybe.Regardless, she was on the journey.God certainly was working in her heart, that couldn’t be denied.
She chuckled.
“What?”
“Oh, I was just thinking about before when Bella was demanding your parents pray that prayer too.I think she wants everyone to get saved.”
Was this his chance to find out if she’d prayed that prayer?“And you?”He held his breath.
Her head tilted.“Do you mean do I want everyone to get saved?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Did I pray that prayer too?”
He nodded, feeling the weightiness of this moment, where all his hopes rested in what she said next.Breath suspended for one beat.Two—
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
Heart thumping with joy, he leaped from his chair and drew her up from hers and hugged her.“I’m so glad.So glad,” he murmured fervently.
Then she stole her arms around him, and he realized that he’d just made things awkward.Now was supposed to be about her salvation, not anything else.
He gently released her, holding her hands in both of his.“Gen, I’ve been praying for this, for… I don’t know how long.God is so good.”So,sogood.
“It feels strange,” she admitted.“I’ve lived with this sense of stress and pressure for so long, and now it’s like my heart is lighter.I almost feel like I could fly away, like a runaway balloon.”
He chuckled, and gripped her hands tighter, even though he longed to hold her near.“I won’t let you.I need you here.So does Bella.”
“Bella.”Her eyes sparkled as she studied him.“The reason we finally connected.”
