Page 254 of Conveniently Wed
He wondered where she had gone and if it involved him. This learning to know and trust each other was like walking on unstable ground. He wasn’t sure what he’d find with his next step. It would simply take time to work things out. “I need directions. Walk me out?”
She nodded, and they crossed the yard together to where he’d tied Smokey.
“You go west to a fork in the road. Take the left one. You’ll find them on the left over the next rise.”
He stood by Smokey’s side. “Back in the house.” He wanted to ask her about that moment, but now couldn’t find the words. He tried again. “You seemed distracted. Distant. Were you thinking of how you and Frank had raised the cows?”
“What? No. Not at all. I’ll be glad to get them back and see how the calves are doing. See if the hens have survived. Maybe even discover there are some half-grown kittens. Wouldn’t the children be pleased if there was? The grass is lush for the milk cow. I’ll get the chicken coop cleaned and ready for the chickens … I’m rattling on, aren’t I?”
He smiled, gently, kindly. “A bit. I have to wonder why.”
She looked past him.
“You and I agreed we would share information as we needed to. I think this might be one of those times.” He waited, patient but determined. Secrets would not help them form a solid partnership. And if he hoped there could be more, that was his problem.
She slowly pulled her gaze to his. “It’s something your Aunt Mary keeps saying. Two weeks, remember?”
“I wondered what she meant by it.”
Stella pursed her lips. “I know what she means, and it’s bothering me, especially when she says it over and over.”
“Maybe you could explain.”
She looked at the ground between them. “I told her how Kade and Flora fell in love in two weeks.”
He strained to hear her words. “How can that be?”
She explained how they’d spent time together when Flora was stranded in a storm, how the preacher had insisted they must marry, but Kade asked for two weeks to win her heart.“Now Aunt Mary thinks we can do better than that.” Stella lifted her face, her eyes unnaturally wide as if she forced herself to meet his gaze.
“I take it you explained that wasn’t part of our agreement.”
“Oh, I did. But I don’t think it matters to her. She says she has prayer on her side.”
He laughed outright. “Aunt Mary’s secret weapon. Though not so secret, seeing as she tells people she is praying.” He sobered. “I’ve seen some startling answers to her prayers though.”
Her eyes lost their surprised look. “Like what?”
“There was the time she lost her purse. It had the money she’d saved to buy us both a new outfit for Easter. I was only about nine. I hadn’t been with her that long, and I was used to wearing less-than-new clothes, if you know what I mean. Not that I objected to something new from the store. I found the idea exciting even. But Aunt Mary was very upset. Then she said, ‘It’s silly for me to be so upset. God can see my purse. I’ll simply ask Him to show me where it is.’ She knelt by the sofa and signaled me to kneel beside her. She spoke to God like He was right in the room and her best friend.”
Bruce heard how awed he sounded but didn’t care.
“I got used to the way she prayed, but at the time I wished God was my friend too. I told her that when she finished, and she said He could be, and He wanted to be. What an amazing thought.”
He smiled at Stella, seeing his awe reflected in her eyes.
“That’s when I turned my life over to God, accepted the forgiveness offered through Jesus, and I’ve never looked back.”
“What happened to the purse? Did she find it?”
“Aunt Mary got up and went about her business. I stood in the middle of the room half expecting the purse to suddenly appear before my eyes. Aunt Mary laughed and said we had tolet God answer in His time and His way. She sang the rest of the day and at bedtime assured me it was all in God’s hands, so she wasn’t worried.” He leaned back on his heels, smiling at the memory.
“And?” Stella nudged him.
Teasing curved his lips. “And what?”
“The purse. Did she ever find it?”
Bruce enjoyed her eagerness to know. Knew joy that he could gain her interest this keenly. “A few days later she pulled potatoes out of the bin and there it was. She’d never say if she remembered dropping it there. She only said God had answered her prayer.”
