by Liz Bradford
“That’s wonderful. I know your uncle a little. What a beautiful story of redemption.”
“Definitely.”
Gavin chimed in, “Jocelyn’s divorce has been finalized.”
Pastor Cole pressed his lips together as if to suppress a chuckle at Gavin’s eagerness to share that news. Then he looked at Jocelyn. “That was quick.”
She nodded.
A smirk lifted Pastor Cole’s lips. He leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. “Let me guess. You two are wondering if it’s too soon to get married.”
Jocelyn covered her mouth and then her whole face, warmth filling her cheeks.
Gavin laughed. “Whatever makes you think that?”
Cole chuckled. “I’ve been meeting with you for two months. I know what you’re thinking on this subject, Riley.”
“Well?”
Cole’s demeanor took a serious tone as he leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees. “Like I’ve told you, Gavin, if Jocelyn wasn’t pregnant, I’d say you need to cut ties for an extended period. If she was pregnant but you were both single, I’d have said get married. But neither of those were your situation. Now that the divorce is now final, and the baby is going to be here soon. Hmmm… I sense the Spirit is saying something, but I want to be sure. Give me a minute to pray. Can I get you two something to drink? A Coke or something? I know where the youth keep their stash.” He stood.
“Sure,” Gavin said as Jocelyn nodded.
Pastor Cole disappeared out the door.
Jocelyn turned to Gavin. “Any idea what he’s going to say?”
He stretched his arm across the back of the sofa. “Guessing the answer isn’t so black and white.”
“When is it ever? Maybe we should pray too.”
“Already am. I want to do right by you, Joc. No matter what that is.”
“I know.” She smiled at him and prayed in her heart. Father God, please give us wisdom about all of this. I know we love each other and could make a marriage work. But is it the right thing to do? And if so, when?
After a few more minutes, Pastor Cole came back in the room and handed each of them a can of soda. He went over to his desk and grabbed a day planner before sitting back in the chair across from them. “All right,” he turned a page in his planner. “I take it you two would like to elope. Would Sunday afternoon work?”
Jocelyn almost spit out the sip of soda she had taken. “What?”
Cole smiled. “I think you two getting married immediately is what needs to happen. You clearly both love each other. Your desire to please the Lord above all is apparent. And while I think you need counseling for a while through it, I don’t see a reason to wait. Temptation won’t disappear, so squash it. Get married sooner rather than later.”
Jocelyn bit her lip and looked at Gavin. His smile had overtaken his face. He said, “Sounds good to me.”
“I love it, but I think our friends would have our heads if we eloped. You know they’ll want to throw us some big shindig.”
“True,” Gavin agreed.
“So how about two weeks from today?” Cole said.
Gavin and Jocelyn looked at each other and nodded.
“Well, it’s settled then. Two weeks is plenty of time for your friends to throw something together. Now, what kind of boundaries are you two setting until then?”
Gavin spoke. “We decided not to even kiss again until we’re married.”
“That’s wise.”
Jocelyn pulled in a slow breath. It was going to be hard not to kiss the man she loved, but it was the right thing to do. And once they were married, they could kiss all they wanted. But it was going to be a long two weeks.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Gavin opened the small jewelry box again. The beautiful diamond sparkled up at him. They’d gone to the store right after leaving the church. Now they sat in Becca’s driveway.
“Would you put that away?”
“You know I’d really like to put this on your finger.”
She smiled. “Nope. Not yet. You need to propose, and if not for me, for our friends.”
“You really don’t want to tell them we’re getting married in two weeks until I’ve proposed? How are we going to keep it from Becca and Jared this evening?”
“I’m pretty good at keeping a secret.”
“Yes, you are, but you can’t avoid them.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. He laughed.
She opened the truck door and got out. Gavin slipped the ring into the little pocket of his jeans. He joined Jocelyn at the walkway up to the house, extended his hand toward her, and she took it. At her touch, his hand tingled. But so did his neck hairs. He looked around. Nothing. He was getting tired of always feeling like he was being watched.
“What’d you do with the ring?”
He ignored the uneasy feeling and gave her a cheesy grin. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“That’d be why I asked.”
“It’s safe. And I’m not telling where.” He tugged her down the sidewalk.
“Fine.” They walked up to the door. Jocelyn knocked, and a moment later Becca opened it.
“Hey, guys! Jocelyn, you don’t need to knock. This is your home now.”
“Thanks.” They all moved into the front hall, and Gavin closed the door.
“So, did you guys have success? You look happy.”
Jocelyn stood frozen beside him, so Gavin said, “The apartments were all duds. Nothing good to rent in this city, apparently.”
“Really? Nothing? Bummer. Then why do you two look so happy?”
“Can’t we just look happy? Good grief. We had a nice time together today.”
Jocelyn’s lips were scrunched in an effort to suppress a giggle at Gavin’s attempt to get Becca off the topic. If they spent too long talking about it, they were sure to spoil their secret. He felt a little bad about keeping it quiet for any length of time. After all, shouldn’t they be living in full disclosure? But he wanted to honor her wishes.
Dinner was going to be hard, though, because he just wanted to tell his partner the good news. And Jared would see right through Gavin’s attempt to keep it a secret.
“Right. Whatever.” Becca dismissed his evasiveness and turned toward the kitchen. “Dinner’s almost ready.”
They followed her and greeted Jared as he came in the backdoor with an empty plate.
“Hey, just put the chicken on the grill. Any luck with an apartment?”
Before either of them could reply, Becca said, “Would seem they don’t want to talk about it.” She narrowed her eyes in her normal, playful way. “Said they didn’t find anything, yet they came in the door with entirely too much glee.”
Jared tilted his head to the side and looked Gavin in the eye, then took a step closer. But he didn’t say a word.
“Anyway,” Gavin said and smiled at Jocelyn. The ring was threatening to set his pocket on fire, but he wasn’t quite ready. He wanted to make it special. “Can we help?”
Becca picked up a serving spoon from the counter and pointed it at Gavin. “Nothing other than explaining these cute little exchanges between the two of you.”
“You really don’t give up, do you?” he said to his partner.
“Nope.” Becca raised her eyebrows.
He pressed his lips together.
“You know I’ll get it out of you.”
“Yep, but not right now.”
“Ha. See, you just admitted you’re keeping something from me.”
He shook his head. Becca just laughed. Jocelyn was laughing too. Everything in him wanted to spill it, but he left that to Jocelyn.
Becca finally dropped it, and they all settled into simple chitchat until the chicken needed to be checked, and Jared asked Gavin to join him out at the grill.
The September evening air had a bit of fall briskness, quite the contrast to the eighty degrees it had been earlier in the day. The sun hung low just above the horizon, casting a beautiful d
isplay of pinks and purples across the sky.
Jared’s voice grabbed his attention. “So, what’s really going on, Riley?”
“What?”
“Don’t play coy with me. Were the two of you wise about how you spent the afternoon?”
“Yes, we were.” He smiled.
Jared opened the grill and flipped the chicken breasts. “She went with you to meet with Pastor Cole?”
“Yep.”
“I was wondering if that would happen. I take it the meeting went well.”
“For sure. We’re going to meet with him together for the foreseeable future.”
“Ah, premarital counseling?”
Gavin fingered the ring in his pocket. Jared saw right through him. “Sorta.”
“What do you mean ‘sorta?’”
“Well, it won’t be premarital for long…” Gavin’s face grew warm.
“Oh, really? How long?”
“I’m not supposed to talk about it, via Jocelyn’s request. She doesn’t want to tell anyone before I propose.”
“Well, you’ll have to tell me if you want any help with that proposal.”
Gavin laughed. “You drive a hard bargain. I could use some help. So… Cole offered to marry us two weeks from today.”
Jared’s eyes widened, as did his smile. “Wow! That’s soon, but awesome. That explains the apartment. You don’t care that you weren’t able to find one.”
“Pretty much.”
“Perfect. I think it’s a really great thing for you two to get married.”
“Yeah?”
“Definitely.”
Gavin smiled. “So, help me figure out a good proposal?”
“Hmmm… Let’s see…” Jared rubbed his hands together.
Gavin chuckled. He wanted to make his proposal special, but, at the same time, he didn’t want to wait.
Jocelyn shifted on the bar stool at Becca’s breakfast bar and glanced toward the door. What was taking the guys so long? Surely flipping chicken would only take a minute.
“All right, girl. Spill it.”
Jocelyn just looked at Becca.
“Oh, come on. You two are planning on getting married, aren’t you?”
“How could you even know that?”
“Duh. Pretty safe guess, but thanks for confirming. Set a date then?”
“We aren’t officially engaged. He has to propose.”
“That doesn’t mean you haven’t set a date.”
Jocelyn’s cheeks warmed, and she fiddled with her fingers. “Two weeks from today.”
Becca squealed. “Oh, yay!”
Jocelyn laughed.
“We’re going to have so much fun planning. That’s not a lot of time, but we can make it work.”
“And that’s the whole reason we aren’t getting married Sunday.”
“Sunday? That would be way too soon. Why would you have thought Sunday?”
“We wanted to elope, but we knew you and everyone else would flip out.”
“You’re right I would have! We can do something good in two weeks.”
The backdoor opened, and Gavin and Jared came in, chuckling. Becca dropped the spoon she was using to stir the veggies on the counter, ran to Gavin, and threw her arms around his neck.
He laughed and hugged her back. When he let go of Becca, he turned to Jocelyn. “I take it you couldn’t keep it a secret.”
She stared at the ground sheepishly and then smiled. “No.”
“Congratulations,” Jared said.
Jocelyn smacked Gavin on the arm. “Hey, apparently I wasn’t the only one.”
“I needed his help with something.” Gavin tried to feign innocence, unsuccessfully.
She gave him a quizzical look.
He winked at her.
“Oh!” Maybe she’d get a fancy proposal.
Jocelyn smiled as she received yet another goodbye hug from a woman she barely knew. She was overwhelmed with the outpouring of love for her and her baby boy from people in the church. They would be set. She had diapers and clothes of every size. She scanned the church’s café, with its colorful blue-dinosaur decorations, still echoing with laughter and good wishes. Becca, Amelia, Ella, Amy, and Pastor Cole’s wife,were still there—the five women who had put this thing together. Jocelyn’s heart felt like it was going to burst. The doors opened, and the husbands of those women came in with Gavin. His eyes met hers, and a huge smile overtook his face. He walked straight to her, and they embraced.
The baby kicked.
Gavin pulled away. “Was that what I think it was?”
“Yep. Here.” She grabbed his hand and placed it on top of her belly. The baby kicked again. She watched Gavin’s face light up. They both giggled and leaned close until their foreheads touched. They lingered for a moment before stepping apart.
Adam came closer to them. “Hey, Joc, where are we taking all of this? Your storage unit for now?”
She shook her head. “No.” Then she looked at Gavin.
“Well, since y’all are here.”
Jocelyn’s nerves danced. She knew exactly what was coming. She could see it in Gavin’s eyes, and what better time would there be? Everyone came closer and gathered around them.
“I’ve wanted one thing since I was in high school, but for too long I was afraid of messing up a perfectly good friendship. But I was a chicken. And I thought I lost the girl of my dreams forever. I did fall in love with someone else, but life wasn’t fair to Nikki and me. Now I believe God has given me a second chance. A second chance to love that girl I didn’t even realize I loved when I was younger, my best friend. However, I almost ruined it by taking things into my own hands. I tried to do it in my own way, in my own timing. But God’s good, and He redeems us from the pit. He’s given Jocelyn and me another shot at a life together. And with that,” he turned toward her and took her hands in his.
Her heart sped up.
He lowered himself to one knee. “Jocelyn, you are my best friend. I’m sorry we didn’t do this God’s way, but I’m so grateful for His forgiveness and restoration. I love you now and forever and want you to be my wife. Jocelyn, will you marry me?”
He pulled the ring out of his pocket and slid it on her finger. She nodded as she wiped tears from her eyes with her right hand. “Of course. Yes!” She tugged him up and wrapped her arms around his neck, and he hugged her in return.
Cheers and clapping filled the air around them. She wanted to kiss him so badly, but she would wait. It was only two weeks, after all.
Jocelyn slipped out of his embrace and turned to her friends, who were all coming forward for hugs. She said, “Now, I have a question, since you ladies are so amazing at throwing parties, would you like to help me put a wedding together?”
“Of course!” Ella said. “Have you talked about when?”
“Yep. Two weeks from yesterday.”
“Two weeks?” several of them said in unison, Adam’s voice being the loudest of them all.
Everyone who already knew laughed at everyone else’s response. More hugs were passed around before Amelia said, “Okay, this calls for further celebration. Our house for dinner!”
Not one person argued, and a bustle of activity flurried around Jocelyn as everyone started cleaning up the cafe. Gavin slid his arm across her shoulders. “I love you,” he whispered in her ear.
She leaned her head into his chest as she wrapped her arms around him. “I love you too. You know what we haven’t talked about yet, though? And everyone asked me today…”
“What’s that?”
“Name.”
“Oh, yeah. With everything that’s happened…”
“Yeah, do you have any thoughts?”
“I’m not sure.”
“We’ve got a little time.”
Patrick closed the paperback novel. What a stupid story! He tossed it against the wall, knocking the calendar hanging there to the floor. He reached over and picked it up. How was it only September? He needed to do something. His p
lans weren’t coming together as fast as he would like. He wasn’t due in court for at least another month or two, but collecting debts was complicated from inside prison walls.
“North.” Frank, the guard he’d been working, banged on his cell door. It had taken a bit of effort, but Patrick had gotten under his skin and now Patrick was able to push any button he wanted.
Patrick stepped over to the door. “Got something for me?”
“I do.” The guard looked up and down the cell block before pulling an envelope out of his pocket. “I spoke with your friend, Chet.” He slid the envelope between the bars. “Apparently, the two you have him keeping an eye on are getting married.”
Patrick slammed his hand against the bar and took the envelope. “Already?” Anger boiled his blood.
“Chet didn’t think you’d be surprised.”
“I’m not really. But they didn’t wait a hot second. Good grief.” Patrick’s mind spun. He couldn’t just let them get married. No way! “Come back in a bit, and I’ll have a response for Chet.”
“Sure.” Frank checked the corridor again before he disappeared.
Patrick turned around and kicked the corner of his bunk. That lousy, good-for-nothing friend. Patrick’s hands shook. He clenched them into fists and the envelope crumpled in his hand.
Get control, you imbecile! He filled his lungs and let the air out slowly. Sitting on the edge of his bunk, he opened the envelope.
Inside were a handful of four-by-six photographs. The first was of Gavin standing outside of the police station talking to a very pregnant Jocelyn. The next was them walking out of an apartment building. He laughed. She was looking for an apartment because he ensured she wouldn’t get the house. That apartment complex was disgusting. He had better accommodations in his little cell.
The next photograph showed Gavin and Jocelyn leaving their church hand-in-hand. Bile rose in his throat. Another was taken through the glass of a jewelry store. The bile rose to his mouth. In the final picture, they were outside the church loading gift bags with blue dinosaurs and boxes of baby items into the back of Gavin’s pickup. He forced the bile back down.
