Page 58 of A Cowboy's Convenient Marriage

He knew people who didn't appreciate pastors who preached on sin, and all of the things that made people uncomfortable. But, it was that very uncomfortableness that caused them to change their lives and point them more toward Jesus. If all they ever heard was about how they were doing just fine, and that everything was peachy keen, they would never be inspired to change.

Regardless, those were heavy thoughts for a barn dance, and he was here to romance his wife, not write a sermon. He felt like Ada and he had gotten to know each other; he felt like they had built a good friendship. He even felt like they were going to have an amazing partnership, where she had strengths that bolstered his weaknesses, and he had strengths that bolstered hers. He looked forward to the years to come as they grew and matured together.

But for now, he wanted to grow the romance part of their relationship. He wanted to deepen that part, which was just as important to him as everything else.

And, unless he missed his guess, Ada wanted children. Lots of them. They hadn't talked about it, but he thought he might tonight. It seemed like a good night for conversation like that.

"I love the atmosphere here. It's country, and welcoming, but it also is fun and..."

"Romantic?" he asked, with his brows raised.

"Yes. But not in the way of a candlelit dinner at a fancy restaurant, romantic in a, we're just common people and we don't need to put on airs in order to have fun kind of way." She grinned at him, and he knew exactly what she meant.

Maybe he had been wrong about his church in Virginia. It was a little more highbrow. After all, it was on the outskirts of DC, and while he probably didn't have any people driving that type of distance to get there, he did have retirees who had a lot of money, and expected things to be a certain way with a certain type of decorum.

He had every confidence that Ada could have integrated herself into that church and been an amazing pastor's wife. He knew she would have. But, she would be an even better pastor's wife here in Sweet Water. And, he thought he might be a better pastor too. This was a different type of people, and God was growing him and molding him to be a different type of pastor.

"Good evening," Ezra said, walking up to them. This time he held a different child in his arms, the baby that had been in the high chair when he had first visited their house.

"Hey Ezra," Ada said, walking to her brother and wrapping her arms around him.

He hugged her with the one free arm he had. And he looked over her head at Cash.

"How's the dealership?" he asked, an easy question that could be answered with as much or little detail as he preferred.

He liked that his wife came back to him and put her arm around his waist, showing that it was the two of them together.

"It's going very well. Very, very well," he said, smiling down at Ada. He didn’t know if she did it on purpose and knew what she was doing, or whether it was just a natural thing, but he appreciated the show of loyalty.

"Wow. Very very, that's pretty good."

"It is. I’d like to talk to you at some point. I've made a decision about the pastorate and if the offer’s still open, I'd like to talk."

"If you want to talk about your salary, I don't have any authority over that."

"No. That doesn't matter at all to me. I wanted to say that I want to take it if it ever opens up."

"Interesting timing. Pastor Stone was going to announce from the pulpit tomorrow that he is resigning. That's not common knowledge, so don't spread it around until tomorrow."

"Gotcha," he said. He knew how to keep a secret. Pastors needed to possess such a skill.

"Anyway, I might be able to talk to a few board members tonight and we might be able to put you out there as a candidate as early as tomorrow. The congregation will eventually have final say, because they’ll vote, and the board will want to talk to you."

"Understood. It’d be weird if they didn't," he said.

Ada grinned. "Doesn't look like you're afraid."

"I'm not. God will work it out if it's meant to be, and if it's not, that's just fine. He paused, and then he continued, "And if the pastorate for the Clybourn family is still open, I'm interested in that position as well. Just let me know where I can submit my application."

"You're hired," Ezra said, winking at him, and then grinning at Ada. "What are you feeding this fellow? He's awfully agreeable tonight."

"He's been thinking on it for quite a while, and he's pretty sure this is where God wants us. I'm excited about it."

"Me too. The family is going to love it. It hasn’t been the same without you around."

"You mean everyone else has been doing a lot more work now that Ada isn't around," Cash said with a wink at Ada.

She smacked his arm. "Ada does not mind doing any work. She loves doing whatever she can to help her family."

---