“Why haven’t I heard this story before now?” Ian looked from Maddie to Harlan and back again, while Grace twisted her fingers in her lap. Why did everything have to turn out so complicated?
Harlan shrugged his big shoulders. “I don’t know. It just never came up.”
“And this love potion,” Ian asked, “Did it work?”
Maddie smiled. “No, it was nothing more than nutmeg and vanilla.”
“It did make for some tasty cookies,” Harlan added, patting his trim waist in memory.
Grace squirmed in her seat as Ian turned and pinned her with a stare. “Do you really doubt me that much?”
She hadn’t looked at it that way. “It’s not that.” She shook her head, gathering her thoughts. “The pancakes this morning—”
“Were tasty,” Harlan interjected.
Maddie shushed him.
“You think they had a love potion in them and that’s why I proposed?”
“I’m completely innocent,” Maddie said.
This time Harlan shushed her.
“But the kiss. And the ring.” That was no sort of explanation, but she hadn’t the words. “It wasn’t doubt,” she finally added. She had jumped to conclusions and had forgotten to trust God.
Now, the man she loved most in the world, the man God had created just for her, was slipping right through her fingers and she was helpless to stop it.
She closed her eyes. Lord, if he’s the one for me, help me. Help me find the words. Help me explain. Help me show him that I believe him. Show him how much I love him in return.
“What’s all the ruckus in here?” Pa strode into the room, taking in each of their expressions in turn. Grace could only imagine what he thought.
Wait. There was no limp in her father’s steady gait. “You’re healed?” she asked. Anything was better than dwelling on the prayer she sent up and the lack of answer she had received. Sometimes God says no, her father often said. Was this one of those times?
Pa pulled himself up a little straighter. “I, uh—I mean. . .” he blustered.
“You’ve been faking this whole time?” Grace asked.
“Well, I, I. . .”
Grace could almost see him coming up with excuses and then tossing them aside. “I needed to find a way to get Ian to stay,” he finally said.
Now Grace was well and truly confused. “Can we go back and start at the beginning?”
“Like when I proposed?” Ian asked.
Grace pinched the bridge of her nose. “Ian, I’m—”
“Afraid to take a chance on me?”
She shook her head. “I had already decided that my place is right by your side wherever your side happens to be.”
“And if I decide to go back to New York and take over the church there?”
She took a steadying breath, but said without hesitation or heartbreak, “Then I’ll go with you. If you’ll have me.”
“Have you? I’m never going to let you go.” He fell to his knees then practically crawled across the floor to be in front of her. As if he was afraid that she would change her mind at any second, he slipped the ring onto her finger and pressed a sweet kiss to her fingertips. “I’ll do anything and everything to keep you by my side.”
Maddie squealed and clapped her hands as Grace basked in the glory of knowing that Ian loved her, and would always be there for her.
“What about the church?” Pa asked.
Ian released her hands, but didn’t take his gaze from her. Grace felt the heat of that look as surely as his touch when he had trailed his fingers down her cheek. “What about the church?
“This has been sort of a test, you see.”
All eyes swung to him. Pa shrugged. “I’ve been talking to the deacons. I’m retiring, and I want you to take over for me, Ian.”
“Me?” he asked. “You’re serious?”
“I am. The Lord has called me to do some work a little closer to my heart. Prissy and I are going to be traveling for a while. So, do you want my church or not?”
“More than anything.” He stood and pulled Grace to her feet. She swayed toward him.
“Well, almost anything,” he corrected, looking longingly into her eyes.
“Are you sure?” she whispered.
“That I want to marry you more than I want the church? Absolutely.”
Grace shook her head. “About taking over a country church when you could have the big fancy cathedral in Albany.”
“I prayed about it all night. God said this is where I need to be.”
Maddie jumped to her feet. “You could have a fall wedding.”
Autumn was beautiful in the Ozarks.
“Now, about this love potion,” Ian asked. “Does it really work? Because I have this cousin. . .”
Grace laughed. “There might not be anything to Old Lady Farley’s love herbs, but Maddie’s wildflower wedding bouquet? I’m keeping that forever.”
“As long as I’m there at your side,” Ian said. “Right where I belong.”
Amy Lillard is a 2013 Carol Award-winning author who loves reading romance novels from contemporary to Amish. She was born and raised in Mississippi, but now lives in Oklahoma with her husband and their teenage son. Amy can be reached at [email protected] and found on the web at www.amywritesromance.com.
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