Page 52 of Between the Shady Groves
Instead of trying to take the situation and change it, and if she couldn’t change it, to pray about it until she was content, and to look and see that her husband was fine.
“I believe that. You know, I know this is crazy, but this was one of the hardest things in my life. To think that my wife might leave me, to think that I wouldn’t have this.” He held up their joined hands. “Thatyou might not live in the same house as me and might decide that you wanted a different man.”
“I never even thought about that,” she said honestly.
“I know. But those thoughts went through my head. Fear, and an absolute determination that I needed to change, because you were more important to me than anything. But without going through that hard time, that agony of not knowing whether or not my wife was going to stay or leave, I wouldn’t have grown in ways that I can’t even imagine—that I couldn’t even imagine that I needed to.
“I guess what I’m trying to say, and I’m not doing a very good job of it, is I’m grateful for the trial. I’m grateful that it turned out well, even more so, but I’m grateful because I feel like I have a better relationship with you now than I did before. And that is worth it all.”
“You know, I was thinking about that when we were standing in the house. It’s because you covered my sin with love. That’s why it worked out well. And I will be grateful for that for eternity.” Because he’d saved their marriage. It was all him.
He shook his head though, unwilling to take the credit. “God was in it. God knew all along, and He works everything for our good and His glory.”
She had to nod. She couldn’t disagree.
“And He’s opened the door here. I love the house too. But I didn’t want to say how much until I heard from you, because I was afraid that you would be okay with getting it, just because I thought it was perfect.”
“No. I hope I’m always honest with you. I mean, I’ll do things that you want just because you want them, but I hope if you ask my opinion, I’ll tell you my honest one.”
“I don’t want anything else.”
They had stopped outside the gate and were standing, talking to each other face-to-face, their hands joined between them.
“Another really great thing about that house is the proximity to the bakery. Less than a block away. It will be so easy to go back and forth. I can picture kids running between the house and the bakery and back again.”
“Will we have children?” she asked, wondering if maybe that just wasn’t something that God had planned for her. It might not besomething He was going to give her, and she had to be okay with it. She thought she was, truly, okay with it.
“We talked about adoption. And going through the foster system. I’m good with that if you are.”
“I am too.” She didn’t know what to do about the miscarriages. She supposed that they could do something to prevent them. Or they could just let it go and see what God did. She supposed she would be open to that, although the miscarriages tore at her heart, and she wouldn’t mind if she never had another.
“Well, after we close on the house, I think that should be our next step. Seeing what we need to do to figure out how to adopt a whole bunch of kids. And give them the very best home we possibly can.”
“I agree. That sounds perfect.”
“But for right now, let’s go check on Lacey. She just didn’t seem quite right when we left.”
“I agree.” Lacey had been pacing around and going in and out of the shed, although she was ignoring the kiddie pool and the bed that she normally slept on. Lauren had been afraid that perhaps Lacey saw the bed as something that she slept on and not something that she would have her puppies on.
The dog had really tamed down in the last week, and she was pretty sure that wherever she had puppies, she would allow them to move the puppies into the kiddie pool. That was if she had them in their yard. Although for the last several days, she hadn’t left the yard.
“If she has those puppies in our yard, I’m going to fix that hole under the fence and make sure the gate works and latches, and we’re going to consider Lacey ours unless someone comes to claim her.”
“Yeah. I guess the first time we take her to the vet, we’ll need to see if they can check for a microchip, but beyond that, I’m in total agreement.” She didn’t really want to. She loved Lacey, and the idea of giving her up now made her stomach clench, but if Lacey were her dog and had somehow gotten separated from her family, she would appreciate someone doing everything possible they could to reunite the dog with the previous owner. So she couldn’t do any less herself.
They walked across the street, still holding hands, and she walked first between the two buildings. She had a feelingthat grew stronger as they got closer to the shed in the backyard by the shady groves of peach trees.
But she didn’t say anything. Not until they got to the backyard, and she looked around, and then she walked cautiously to the shed.
Somehow, it was no surprise at all that when they put their heads in, Lacey lay in the pool, with two wet and wiggly puppies beside her, and she seemed to be pushing on a third.
“My goodness. She chose us. She chose us!” Lauren looked with shining eyes at Cannon, whose own eyes were suspiciously wet.
“She did indeed. She did indeed.” But he wasn’t looking at the dog when he said that. He was looking at her. And she got the feeling that he was thinking about her and that she had chosen him. It was true. She had. Forever.
Epilogue
“Hey! So sorry I’m late. But that’s the way it is when you take kids to school,” Claire said as she and Josiah walked in the door to the Monday morning Bible study.
