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When they’d finished eating, she got up and helped clear the table before they had dessert. When they sat down again to have pie and coffee, Wilder made sure his chair was close to hers, and he rested his arm on the back of her chair.

Lexi couldn’t help but lean into him a bit as they ate their pieces of pie. Denise had made two types—apple and chocolate—and Lexi had chosen the chocolate, which was amazing.

From the conversation, it sounded like several members of the Halverson family would be making their way to the orphanage in the coming months.

“Wilder, how much time do you think you’ll be able to spend with us?” Miriam’s mom asked. “We sure enjoy having you around.”

“I’m not sure yet. I’d like Lexi to come with me, so we’ll have to talk and see how our schedules work out.”

“Oh?” Her gaze went to Lexi. “Have you ever done any ministry work?”

Before she could say anything, Wilder said, “Lexi played a huge role in the fundraiser at Christmas. We couldn’t have done it without her.”

“It was such a fun afternoon,” Aria added. “The kids really enjoyed having the two of them as Mr. and Mrs. Claus. I hope that they can do it again this year.”

“I’d love to do it again,” Wilder told her. “It was a lot of fun, and doing it with Lexi made it that much more special.”

When he looked at her with affection, Lexi felt a bit of the uncertainty in her heart ease. She smiled back at him. “I enjoyed it too.”

“Well, we sure appreciate all the money you raised for our orphanage,” Miriam’s dad said.

“We were thinking of doing a fundraiser for school supplies,” Misha said. “Is that something that might be doable?”

After she finished her pie, Lexi leaned more fully against Wilder’s side as she listened to them talk about another fundraiser. Wilder dropped his arm from the back of the chair to her shoulders, cupping her upper arm with his hand.

The conversation wound down when Timmy began to fuss. That seemed to be the cue for several of them—including her and Wilder—to leave. Miriam and her parents were staying with the Halversons, so they didn’t follow the rest of them out to their cars.

As they drove back to her place, Wilder talked about the video they’d asked him to do. But when they got to her apartment, he didn’t get out of the car right away.

“Can we talk for a minute?”

Lexi’s heart sank. After spending time with Miriam and her parents, had he realized that a relationship with her was going to hold him back from what he really wanted?

Shifting to face her, he said, “How are you feeling about us?”

“What?”

“I got the feeling when I first asked you out that you had some hesitation about a relationship between us working,” he said. “Do you still feel that way?”

There were times she still wondered about how real her relationship with Mik had been, and she didn’t want that with Wilder. She had to be honest with him, and she hoped that he’d be honest with her.

“I’m still struggling to understand why you’re willing to give up your way of life for me.”

“I’m not just giving it up for you,” he told her. “I’m giving it up for us. I’m giving it up for me because you make me happy, and I want that happiness in my life. I’m at peace about this decision, which tells me that this is where God wants me now. Not just dating you, but spreading the word about the orphanages. I’m excited about the change. I’m excited about being with you.”

“Really?”

“You need to understand your value outside of skating. For most of your life, you’ve found your worth in your talent for skating. That’s what people have valued most about you. And while I do appreciate and admire that talent of yours, that’s not what I value most about you. I know that’s also not what God values most about you.”

It was hard to admit that there were times she didn’t know why God would care about her, particularly because her talent was so useless.

“Do you doubt that God wants us to be together?” Wilder asked.

And that was one more struggle she had. How did she know what God wanted? She’d never actively sought God’s will in her life before. Though that was obviously something she wanted now, how was she supposed to know how to do it?

Did she want God’s will to be for them to be together? For sure.

“You’re confident that He does?” She turned the question back on him.

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