Owen’s face tightened into a frown. “You’re seriously siding with Max? Over me?”
Grace seemed to hesitate for a second, and Max wanted to step in, to rescue her. No, Grace—
“Yeah, Owen. I choose Max. Because I love him. I love him more every day I’m with him. Max is amazing. He’s kind and patient and frankly a thousand times braver than you’ve been lately. He’s the kind of guy I was hoping to find someday. He gets me and makes me believe I can do more than I ever thought I could.”
Max was trying to make sense of her words, but as he looked at her, the truth began to blossom inside him.
“Most importantly, Max is God’s choice for me. Max is the gift, the more that God has for me, for as long as God will keep him on this earth. So you’re going to figure out a way to forgive him or make the choice to walk away from both of us.”
Owen’s jaw tightened. “Awesome. That’s just awesome.” He strode away, but Max didn’t care one more second about Owen and his anger, his issues.
Max is God’s choice for me. Those words he grabbed ahold of.
Really, God? Even with . . . even with . . .
Grace turned. Vanished from her eyes was any trace of the pity, the sadness. “If he’ll have me.”
If he’ll have . . .
That was it, wasn’t it? Right now, right here, he could choose to share his life—the good, the bad, the ugly—with her, letting himself choose her too. Or he could walk away.
Courage.
“Oh yeah, I’ll have you, Grace. For as long as I live. But are you sure? What about kids—?”
She put her hand to his mouth. “If God wants us to have kids, we’ll have kids. We can adopt, and they will still be our own.”
He touched his forehead to hers. “I’m God’s choice?”
“I believe you’ve always been God’s choice for me, even before I sat in 9B.”
Max grinned. “Yeah.” Then, with one quick movement, he swung her into his arms.
“Max!”
But he ignored her as he took the stairs all the way to the second floor, emerging onto a flat-roof deck that overlooked the Mississippi River. He set her down in an Adirondack chair.
The sunset spilled across the rooftop, gold and amber.
Max knelt in front of her.
“What are you doing?”
“Grace Christiansen, here’s the deal. I need a swim buddy. Forever. And I’m pretty sure that I’m never going to have this kind of courage again. I know I’m going to wake up tomorrow convinced that you’re making the biggest mistake of your life. But I promise to fight that fear, to stick around and not run away if you will agree to be my wife.”
She leaned forward, her eyes shining. “That’s the craziest proposal I’ve ever heard.”
“Listen, I have to work with what I’ve got.”
She took his face in her hands, capturing him with her beautiful blue eyes. “Then you have me. I’m only giving my heart away once, and it’s to you, Maxwell Sharpe. Finally, completely. And forever. Yes, I’ll marry you. It’s time to live dangerously. It’s time to live abundantly.”
He pulled her into his arms, kissing her under the golden haze of the sunset. And he knew her words would be gloriously, deliciously true for the rest of his life.
“GRACE, HURRY UP—IT’S ALMOST ON!” Eden’s voice rose over the chatter of the commercials.
Grace opened the oven, pulled out the taco dip. “Has anyone seen the serving spoons? Mom gave me a bunch.” She set the hot casserole dish on a cutting board, then began rooting through the boxes still lined up at the edge of the kitchen. She’d have the kitchen unpacked before Max returned from his road trip and conjure him up something tasty to help her and Raina christen their new apartment in Minneapolis.
“Try the box marked ‘kitchen stuff,’” Eden said, getting up and grabbing a bag of chips. “Or we can double dip, Grace. It’s just us.”
“And me,” Raina said, coming out of her room wearing an oversize Blue Ox fan shirt. Her belly protruded just enough to hint at the life inside her. “But I don’t mind sharing.”
She’d relaxed since the move to Minneapolis, even in the short time since they’d arrived, a sort of easiness, even hope descending over her. Of course, that probably came from the fact that she’d left town without telling her aunt anything about her condition—that would be an interesting conversation. But until Grace and Max’s wedding, Raina planned on hiding out with Grace.
Grace had no doubt Casper lingered not far from her mind. But she hadn’t spoken a word about either of Grace’s brothers since the night of Eden’s wedding. Not even to Eden, who’d discreetly noticed but hadn’t commented.