Page 80 of Wish You Faith

Free and clear?

Well, he still had a lot of explaining to do. Should he do it before or after she agreed to marry him? Perhaps he should make it all clear to her now and let her decide whether to walk away from him or stay.

The incessant ocean sounds of waves crashing onto the sandy beach calmed Evan down to the point that he was able to pray for wisdom and then open his mouth.

“I fell in love with you the first time I ever saw you,” Evan said.

“You mean when I fell in the greenhouse?” Rosie laughed.

“Were you bruised or anything?”

“Nothing serious.” Rosie tilted her head. “I’m curious. Why me?”

“As soon as I saw you, I couldn’t help smiling.”

“You love me because I made you smile?”

“I admit that it was a physical attraction at first. I was mesmerized with your eyes.”

“You walked by sight.”

“I’m not ashamed to admit that I loved the way you looked. However, over the next two weeks, I was also attracted to your personality. You’re sure about yourself, you don’t mince words, you lead your team well, and most of all, you love the Lord.”

Evan put his arm around Rosie’s waist, and she did the same around his.

“I believe you’re the one for me. The only one. When you’re ready, I’m going to marry you.”

Rosie didn’t appear to be shocked or stunned. That told Evan that she had correctly guessed his intentions today.

“If I could marry you tomorrow, I would,” Evan added to see how Rosie would react.

She shook her head. “We can’t. Riverside Chapel requires that we do premarital counseling for a number of weeks. I don’t know how many. Maybe three or six weeks.”

Now Evan knew that Rosie had thought about it.

“Do you have questions for me?” Evan asked. “Questions that you’ve been wondering whether you should ask me or not? Or questions you’ve asked but didn’t wait for me to answer?”

“How frank do you want me to be?”

“Speak your mind. I can take it.” Evan paused. “Provided we don’t break up.”

“Will you tell me the truth without sugarcoating anything?” Rosie asked.

“Without fear or favor. Ask me before I get cold feet.”

“I’m going to say words and I want you to respond to these words.”

“Okay.”

“Rusty Cavanaugh.” Rosie waited.

“My grandfather.”

“Just as I expected. Will the estate take back the condo for his family and then Mom would have to move again?”

“Not on my watch.” Evan wasn’t sure if this was the right time to tell Rosie that he had used his trust fund to buy the condo from Grandpa’s estate for this explicit reason. That way, his mom wouldn’t change her mind and take the condo back on a whim.

“You’re sure?”

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