Page 139 of Wilder

The house had looked big from the outside, and the inside revealed that to be true. The wall of the foyer was covered with framed pictures. Many of them were of the family, capturing them throughout the years.

Lexi would have liked to look at them more closely, but before she could do that, Wilder’s mom came into the foyer.

“Welcome,” she said, a wide welcoming smile on her face. She hugged them both, then led them into the kitchen where several people were standing around. “Let me introduce you to Miriam and her parents.”

Wilder let his mom know that she’d already met Miriam, so Mrs. Halverson introduced the one couple in the room that Lexi didn’t know. The woman’s smile was friendly enough, but her gaze dropped to where Lexi and Wilder held hands and a small frown crossed her face.

Lexi couldn’t blame her for not being happy that Wilder was with someone other than her daughter. Wilder was a catch, and any woman would want him to be with their daughter.

Miriam’s mom moved off to speak with Mrs. Halverson while Miriam stood talking to Misha. Wilder led Lexi over to Gareth and Aria, who had Timmy in her arms.

“Peyton didn’t come?” Wilder asked Gareth after they greeted them.

“Jay said they left the kids with Denise, since it’s a school night.”

“How are you doing, Lexi?” Aria asked.

Aria and Misha were the two women in the family that Lexi hadn’t spent as much time with, but they’d always been friendly.

Letting Timothy go, when he reached for his father, Aria said, “How is the coaching going?”

“Very well. Layla and Amelia are doing great.”

“Charli said that you think Amelia will do well in competitions.”

Lexi nodded. “She’s got some natural skill, and as long as she works hard, I think she’d excel in competitions.”

“I hope some of them are close by,” Gareth said. “We’d like to be able to go support her. It’s been a while since we’ve had someone to cheer for, since Cole’s games are all too far for us to travel to.”

“Why don’t we all go to the table?” Mrs. Halverson said, interrupting their conversation.

The large table was beautifully set, and the food smelled delicious. Wilder held a chair for Lexi, then sat down beside her. Aria was seated on her other side.

After Mr. Halverson said a prayer for the meal, Mrs. Halverson said, “Just so I’m not being deceptive, I want to say that I had help preparing this meal. Misha’s mother, Denise, was gracious enough to lend me her skills because I’m nowhere near the cook that she is.”

“Mom would have stayed for the meal, but she offered to watch the kids for us instead,” Misha told them.

“It smells delicious,” Miriam’s mom said as they passed the bowls of food around.

The conversation as they ate centered mainly on the orphanage ministry, which, in spite of her feelings about Miriam, Lexi found interesting.

“Wilder, when you come to visit us next time, we’d like to have you do a video of the orphanage,” Miriam’s dad said. “I think it would be useful for presentations at churches here.”

“I’d be happy to do that,” Wilder said, excitement in his voice. “I’ve missed doing videos and have been trying to come up with ideas.”

Lexi felt a little sick at his words. Already, he was missing something that was tied to his traveling. Was it the start of him resenting her for taking him away from that life?

She pushed the food around on her plate, trying to look like she was paying attention to the conversation as she took small bites of food. In fact, her mind was spinning through options of what she should do.

Did she love Wilder enough to step back from him? To let him go back to the life he’d happily been living until he met her?

She felt him lean against her arm and looked over to find him watching her with concern.

“Everything okay?” He kept his voice low as the conversation continued around them.

She gave him a quick smile. “It’s all good.”

It was clear he wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t push further.

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