Precious Blessings (Love Inspired) (19 page)

“I put it together,” he confessed. “From different things you said.”

Wait a minute. He couldn't have put
everything
together. He didn't know the whole story. Her heart stopped. Her brain screeched to a halt. She felt her dreams fall like rain to the ground at her feet. She squeezed her eyes shut, vowing to savor the wondrous
experience of being held in his arms even as she gently broke away from him. It was like turning down heaven.

“I've seen too much. I've been a lawman for sixteen years. I know what happens in this world. It wasn't such a stretch to put it together, Katherine. You were raped, weren't you?” He towered over her, his hand reaching for hers, to stop her from withdrawing, the precious love he had for her a certainty. It brightened the air around them and felt like hope on angel's wings. Far too precious a love to lose.

Katherine swiped the tears from her face and fought down the burn of defeat building in her chest. Whatever she did, she would not cry when she told him the rest of the truth. For there was another piece he could not have figured out on his own from anything she could have possibly said.

Lord, I hope I can find the words and the courage to do this.
She was going to trust that she would not fall. She put her faith in Jack, the good man that he was, that he wouldn't pull away. A big risk. The hardest she had ever faced.

She had to prepare herself for him to turn away. After this, he would never see her the same way. It felt like dying simply to clear the emotions jammed in her throat. To look him in the eye. To face what was to come. To lose forever this moment between them. But the only thing worse than having him reject her would be to turn away from him now and live the rest of her life knowing she'd lost the best thing that ever happened to her because she was afraid.

She took a deep breath and just said it. “I was date-
raped when I was a college freshman. I was seventeen years old. Two years older than Hayden. But there's more, Jack. Much more.”

He waited, patiently, unwavering. She loved him the more for it, that he had no problem understanding that this had happened to her. She could see it on his face, feel it in her heart, that she didn't need to say how hard she'd fought, but she hadn't been strong enough to protect herself from a man almost twice her size and weight.

“If only this were the whole story. What I would give for it to be.” She braced herself. He was going to withdraw now. This was where Kevin had lost it. She couldn't bring herself to say the words.

You've put this in God's hands, remember? Come what may, it is the right thing. She took a shaky breath, facing this man who waited so patiently, concern lining his granite features and his heart wide open.

“I, uh…” She paused, pressed her fingers to her forehead. There were no words to explain it. There was nothing left but the truth. “Nine months later I gave a baby girl up for adoption. Danielle came and stayed with me through the last trimester, so I didn't have to go through that alone. I—”

“You what?” Jack's eyebrows drew together as if he hadn't heard her right. As if he didn't understand. As if he couldn't quite believe what she'd said. “You went through with the pregnancy and gave a child away?”

That wasn't quite how Kevin had taken it. He'd have to get over the shock before he started ranting. So it was self-preservation that made her take a step back and turn away.

“How could you do that?” he asked.

Hold it together, Katherine. Whatever he says, you know the truth. How hard it was to go through. How it would always hurt. She carefully unlocked the deadbolt and pushed open the door. A silent invitation for him to leave.

When she turned around, there were tears pooled in his eyes. They did not fall, and after he blinked them back, she could almost fool herself into thinking she'd imagined it. He stood there, six feet three inches of pure gold, looking like a bear about to roar and attack.

“I can't believe you.” He finally said, fisting his hands tight and then relaxing them. “I thought you were perfect before, but I was wrong.”

See, he hadn't understood. But at least she'd done the right thing. This heartbreak had been worth the risk, she thought. Maybe it would be easier next time,
if
she ever dated to the point-of-no-return stage again.

Losing Jack this time meant that a part of her was never going to be the same. It was as if all the light in her faded into ultimate shadow.

He stalked forward, toward the door. No, toward her. He laid both big hands on either side of her face, cradling her tenderly. “You're even more perfect now.”

He kissed her, ardent and tender so there was no doubt. A perfect hope lifted within her that outshone every fear. In the protective light of his love, she felt so radiant there was no dark place for a single shadow. Only joy.

When Jack broke the kiss, he didn't move away, didn't let her go. He would never let her go. Did she
have any idea how amazing he thought she was? She was a woman who could love and live despite a terrible tragedy. “I didn't think it was possible to love anyone so much. And now you've gone and made me love you even more.”

“That's exactly how I love you.”

He could measure the truth of her words by the blazing brightness in his soul. By how she looked at him as if he were ten feet tall. Jack wiped the tears from her eyes with the pads of his thumbs. The love he had for this woman was endless. Infinite. She took everything and made it better. Tragedy. Mishaps. Happiness. She'd even won over Hayden. She made him believe again in true love and heaven on earth.

This, he knew, was the beginning of real happiness. He saw his future roll out in front of them. Hayden doing well, graduating from high school, going on to college. Maybe more children to come. A happy marriage that was stronger every day. And all because of this woman who loved him. “How do you feel about a proposal on the third date? It's not too early?”

“I think it would be perfect timing.” Her smile beamed joy.

“Then I can expect a yes to my upcoming proposal?”

“I predict a one-hundred-percent chance of it.” Katherine couldn't believe it. But she felt the truth as he cupped her face in both of his big, tender hands. Oh, how she loved this man. With all her being. He was the right man for her. Heaven had been sending signs all along. She'd finally learned to listen.

Her soul stirred as he slanted his mouth over hers.
His kiss was pure tenderness. Honest devotion. Respectful and sweet and full of promise. His love made her whole and hopeful, and that outshone every fear.

Thunder crashed overhead and wind gusted against the side of the house. The Chinook wind turning the snow and sleet into rain. The warm sound hammered on the roof above them and drummed on the frozen ground outside, a sign that spring had come late, but that it had arrived.

The slightest pad of footsteps rustled in the hallway. There was no mistaking Ava's low whisper. “Uh-oh. I guess this means she's in her happily-ever-after stage.”

“Finally,” Aubrey whispered back.

Katherine broke the kiss and looked into her future husband's eyes. He was silently laughing, beaming with the same pure joy that she felt.

“Happily ever after,” he whispered, folding her against his chest. “I like the sound of it.”

“Me, too.” She closed her eyes and listened to the steady, reliable beat of his heart.

Dear Reader,

Thank you so much for choosing
Precious Blessings.
I hope you enjoyed Katherine's story as much as I did writing it. Katherine has weathered a lot of difficulty in her life and hasn't let it embitter her or close her heart. I wrote this story because I wanted to remind others that no matter what storm you are weathering in your life, don't give up hope. Treasure all the precious blessings in your life and keep hope for all the wonderful blessings yet to come.

Wishing you peace, goodness and all of God's precious blessings,

1. What does Katherine first see in Jack that impresses her? What inaccurate first impression does she take away from meeting him? How does her second impression of Jack change her feelings toward him?
   
2. As Katherine gets to know Jack more, what aspects of his character does she come to admire?
   
3. A terrible wrong was committed against Katherine earlier in her life. How important was compassion from others in helping her through that hard time? Why?
   
4. Along the same lines, how does compassion from others help her in her life today? How is that demonstrated? How have you helped friends with painful past experiences?
   
5. How does Katherine take what she learns from a terrible hardship and make good from the bad? What impact does that have on the lives of the characters in the story? On Jack? On his daughter?
   
6. How does Jack's experience in life prepare him to be compassionate to Katherine's hardships? How does he show her that the real kind of love that the Bible teaches us is compassionate and selfless and larger than one person?
   
7. How is the importance of compassion and forgiveness demonstrated in this story?