Page 60 of Be Courageous

Opal sent her a commiserating smile. “I can tell you feel bad about that. You’ve told him as much?”

“Yes?”

“And have you,” Opal kept her tone light, “asked God’s forgiveness?”

“Oh yes.” Ruby had shed copious tears in the process.

Opal’s copper hair, straight as a pin, shifted as she cocked her head. “But you’re still beating yourself up.”

Ruby tucked her chin to her chest, not answering.

Silence hung between the sisters before Opal broke it. “Honey, I know exactly what you’re going through. Don’t forget, I accidentally killed Admiral Jenkins’s hitman while trying to escape from him.”

“That’s different. You didn’t mean to do it, plus he’d have killed you.”

“But I still felt guilty. I felt like I had to do something good after that to exonerate myself. Only later did I realize, while volunteering for duty overseas, that I was already forgiven.”

Ruby averted her gaze. “You deserved to be forgiven.”

Her sister sighed. “Honey, what was the point of Christ’s suffering on the cross if you’re not going to honor His sacrifice?”

Ruby kept quiet.

“I mean, can you imagine the agony He must have felt, hanging with all His weight on the spikes driven into His hands and feet? Hours and hours of slow suffocation, not to mention a stab wound that probably punctured a lung. He could have walked away from all that. He had the power to walk away. Instead, He put Himself through unbelievable torture, so we don’t have to torture ourselves. What He did was a gift for all of mankind. Rejecting that gift is like saying it wasn’t good enough.”

Ruby envisioned the scene as Opal described it. She watched Mel Gibson’s movieThe Passion of the Christwith absolute horror. “I never thought of it that way.”

“I know. And I don’t mean to preach to you. I’m just saying you don’t have to beat yourself up anymore. If you asked God for forgiveness, then it’s over. It’s done. The slate has been wiped clean.”

The words were slow to sink in.

“For what it’s worth, I think you should text Tony or, better yet, call him and put him out of his misery. He’s been blowing up my phone with all his texts.”

“He’s been texting you?” This was news to Ruby. Her heavy heart buoyed with gratitude for his continued love and forgiveness.

“Every hour on the hour. That man is completely invested in you, Ruby.” Opal lowered her feet back into her shoes and stood. “I’m going to go change and take a walk with Ryan when he wakes up.”

It was clear Opal wasn’t expecting Ruby to join them.

She sat a moment, keeping the television off, thinking. Far be it from her to behave like Jesus’s sacrifice wasn’t good enough. What more of Himself could He have given? Maybe Opal was right. Honestly, when had her big sister ever been wrong? Both of them had snuffed out a life without intending to. Neither act was done intentionally. Ruby was certain God had forgiven Opal. Maybe it was time to accept that she’d been forgiven, too.

So why was she sitting here still beating herself up?

With a spark of relief, Ruby snatched up her cell phone and texted Tony, as she’d been longing to do for days now.Hey, what do you feel like for dinner tonight?

Less than five seconds later, he responded.Just your smile.

That pulled a smile right out of her. Tony always said the sweetest things.You got it.She sent him three taco emojis.I’ll stop at Pepe’s on my way home.

EPILOGUE

“Happy Valentine’s Day, darling!” Ruby greeted Tony at the door in a red silk kimono dotted with black hearts and tied at the waist with a silken sash. His stunned gaze fell to her bare feet, toes painted to match the scarlet wrap.

He shut the door hastily, not just to keep out the damp February air, but to prevent every man driving down Shore Drive from gawking at his beautiful wife.

“Well, hello to you.” Recalling, at last, what he held in his hands, he thrust the bouquet of long-stemmed roses at her. “Sorry I’m late. I had to run over an old man and steal these ’cause all the stores were sold out.”

She tsked her tongue. “Poor old man.” Accepting the bouquet, she took a long, dreamy sniff. “They’re lovely, thank you. How was work?”

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