“Hmm, I think that was actually something to do with my kidney, but we can blame her if you like.”
Her head tilted, her gaze flickered to his mouth, and she leaned in.
“Go on, Dad.Kiss her,” Bella shouted from the screened door.
He blinked and dropped Gen’s hands.And he leaned back.“Um, I thought you were in bed.”
“I was, but it was boring.And so I wanted to come out here.Then I saw you two kissing.Well, almost, anyway.”
“Um, Bella—”
“Does this mean you two love each other again?”she asked.
“Bella—”
“Because it’s okay if you do.Like, I think you should get married.Because then we could all be a family and all live together.Wouldn’t that be good?”
Oh dear.Maybe this was another reason why God had wanted Kyle to go slow.How was he supposed to explain that hug before?
“I think it’s way past time for a certain girl to go to bed,” he said, with as much sternness as he could muster.
“Aww.”Her voice slipped up into that little kid whine he’d never loved.
“Bella, bed.Now.”Gen’s tone of voice brooked no opposition.
He smiled and watched Bella go.“I’ll come and kiss you good night in a few minutes.”
“Really?”
He nodded.Glanced at Gen.“That okay?”
She dipped her chin.“She’s never had a man do that before.”
Well, good.The only man who really should be doing that was Bella’s father.That was his right and privilege.
He glanced at Gen, but her gaze didn’t hold the same starriness as before.Had his pulling away made her wary of him?Lord, help her trust me, please.This has taken so long that I really don’t want it spoiled because I did something dumb.
“Hey, what do you think about going for a drive tomorrow to find some Bibles?”
She nodded.“That’d be good.”
“Great.And, um, what do you think about us praying together for Bella?”
“For Bella?But she’s already a Christian now, isn’t she?”
“Well, yeah, but we could pray that she grows in her faith, that God would protect her and help her make godly decisions, so her paths are straight.”He smiled wryly.“Straighter than ours were, anyway.”
She nodded.“I want her to make better decisions than I did.So yes.And we should pray for your parents.And my mom.That would take more miracles than I think I have the faith to believe for.”
“But God can do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or imagine.”
“Is that in the Bible too?”
“Yeah.Somewhere in the New Testament.I forget where right now.But I’ll find it and tell you.”
“I like it.It’s like looking at the heavens above.We can sometimes just see the darkness but God is still there, His light shining through, like the stars above.We just need to stop and pay attention.”
He nodded.“And when you think about how vast space is, well, it is pretty amazing to think that God’s love is that big.And that God cares about little tiny us, so that He’s willing to do amazing things.”
