Page 33 of Perilous Healing

Did they somehow get her while I was putting Eloise in bed? Was she sitting out here relaxing and—“Bianca?” I run my fingers over her cheek.

Her emerald eyes flutter open at the sound of my voice and she stares up at me, gaze still blurry from sleep.

Touching her feels right. Being near her feels right.

So I pull away and take a deep breath. “Sorry, you fell asleep on the porch.”

“What? I—” She sits up straighter, letting the Bible slide into her lap. “I’m sorry. What time is it?”

“Sleeping out here in the open isn’t smart.”

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I was reading Proverbs and must have drifted off.”

“It’s not smart,” I repeat, feeling a familiar panic clawing at my chest. What if they’re watching, just waiting for a chance to strike?

Her gaze narrows on me. “Like I said, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” She yawns, then sets the Bible on the small table beside a mug of what I imagine is now cold tea. “What time is it?” she asks again.

“Ten.”

“I haven’t been out here long then. I must have been really tired.” She makes no move to get up and go inside. “Eloise get to sleep okay?”

“Fine. She was wound up.”

Bianca smiles and looks out over the ocean. “Yeah, I imagine she was. Oh, to have that type of energy.”

“Are you really feeling better after reading a book?” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. They’re ruder than I meant, but as a man on the hunt for his own answers, I find the change she’s seemingly undergoing intriguing.

“The Bible? Yes.”

“Really? They’re just words on a paper.”

“They’re really not,” she replies. “I mean, I used to think so too, but now—” She shakes her head. “I see them differently.”

“How so?”

“Because for the last week I’ve been reading the Bible every day, actively praying, and I have found more peace than I’ve ever had. It’s this feeling, this soul-deep warmth that we’re not accidents, but created by a God who loves us. Who chose us.”

“Created to go through pain. Misery. Loss. Grief. Sickness. You call that loving?”

“I do,” she replies without hesitation. “Because even though we face trials here, even though horrible things are carried out by people who are driven by sin, we’re not walking through it alone. We don’t face any of it by ourselves. And the peace that knowledge brings me is beautiful. I still have questions,” she adds when I don’t immediately respond. “Things that I need to work though, but I know that I won’t be alone.”

“Then explain the jungle. Explain what we went through there. Why would God, as loving as you say He is, allow us to suffer like that?”

Bianca stands and closes the distance between us. I start to move, start to take a step back and leap over the barrier separating our two porches, but instead, I remain rooted.

“I don’t know the answer to that, but I believe there’s a bigger purpose. A reason we went through what we did. And maybe it was as simple as bringing the two of us together.”

“We both know Lance. That would have brought us together.”

She reaches up and rests her slender hand on my chest. I stiffen beneath her touch, feeling both rooted and absolutely terrified. She’s always had that effect on me though—the ability to shut down every single thought and fear with a simple touch. “But you didn’t know Lance until you were in the hospital after being rescued. If you hadn’t been in that jungle, or if you’d died with your team, you would never have met him, and our paths never would have crossed. Now, I imagine you would’ve been okay with that, but I’m glad we met.” She smiles and withdraws her hand.

I wish she was still touching me.

Wish that I had the words to tell her that I would not have been okay with that. Because meeting her in that jungle was the only thing that made me want to keep living after I’d lost my team.

Chapter10

Bianca

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