When I Fall in Love(78)

The woman nodded. “With the confession of your sins, you are forgiven and transformed.” She held out her hands.

Grace grasped them as the woman dunked her, quickly, into the ocean. She surfaced, blinking into the sunlight, water streaming down her cheeks. She took a breath of the warm, fragrant air, and it filled her lungs, overflowing.

“Do you love Him, sister?” the woman asked.

Grace nodded, her eyes hot despite the cool water. “I do.”

“Then feed His sheep.”

Grace closed her eyes, the salt sinking into her skin, ocean water dripping down her back.

My heart belongs to You, O God.

With the confession, she could almost taste the sweetness of His grace.

She stayed on the beach, singing with the congregation until her clothes dried. Then she changed, checked out, and caught the hotel shuttle to the airport.

She finished her book on the plane ride home, with not a hint of airsickness. Eden met her at baggage claim at a terribly early hour Monday morning and drove to her Minneapolis apartment.

When Eden mentioned Max, Grace told her simply that it hadn’t worked out.

Grace finally entered Eden’s apartment, the fuzzy fatigue of too much travel pressing into her bones. She curled up on her sister’s couch and prayed that the life she’d found in Hawaii had followed her home.





GRACE COULD NOT IMAGINE a more beautiful bride than Eden. Her sister stood on the bridal shop platform, holding up her arms as the gown attendant fitted her. The woman lifted the train. “We’ll gather it in a bustle for the dance, of course. But do you like how it flows?”

Eden skimmed her hands down the bodice and over the long layer of white, creamy satin. The dress accentuated all her curves, with an embroidered floral overlay that sculpted her body and dropped to just below her hips. Elegant and simple, with exquisitely lacy cap sleeves and a V-neck frame, the dress would take Jace’s breath away.

“What do you think, Grace? Do you like it?”

Grace could hardly speak. After all, her sister was a vision of beauty, and she wanted to smile. In fact, she did smile. She did put warmth in her eyes. She did answer, “Yes, I love it. You’re so beautiful.” But it seemed that her heart had turned to ash with the question.

Five days since she’d last seen Max, and the pain of it had the power to sour her reawakened relationship with God. She wanted to hold on to the abundant life, the joy that the pastor had talked about, but it all seemed to be slipping like sand from her grip.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes. Yes, I’m fine.” Grace got up, walked over to her sister, and turned her around to face the three oversize mirrors. “Look at you. You’re absolutely a vision. Jace is going to flip.”

“I don’t know. I still can’t believe this is happening. And so soon.”

Grace frowned, meeting her eyes in the mirror. “What do you mean so soon? You have five months before your wedding.” She made a face. “On second thought, yeah. Five months and a to-do list as long as one of those novels you’re writing—”

“Actually, no . . . I need to talk to you about that. I wanted to call you in Hawaii, but I thought it might be better to talk face-to-face.”

Eden handed the attendant the veil she’d tried on, shaking her head. “We moved up the wedding. The Blue Ox have offered Jace a coaching position, and he has to report early for practice. He wants to get married before the season starts.”

“That’s great . . . but oh, boy. When is practice?” Grace said, trying to buoy the sinking feeling in her chest.

“It starts in less than two months. So, leaving time for a honeymoon, we’ll have the wedding in . . . six weeks?”

“What?” Grace stepped back. “No. You can’t possibly pull a wedding together that fast.”

Eden looked at the attendant. “Well, actually, we’ve already talked about it. We have two more fittings, right?”

The woman nodded.

“And we’re doing just fine. Look, the dress is perfect, and we have the venue, even the band—the Blue Monkeys are playing. They can’t wait.”

“Yes . . . ,” Grace said, her voice low. She felt as if she were speaking through molasses.

“Well, this is what I need to talk to you about.” Eden came off the podium and tugged on Grace’s hand to make her follow her back to the dressing room. Eden disappeared behind the curtain with the attendant while Grace stayed on the other side. Probably a ploy to soften the blow because Grace knew what was coming next.

“I’m serious about you catering the wedding.”

“No—Eden, I know you said that, but you can’t expect me to be the maid of honor and cater your wedding—that’s crazy. It was a nice idea, and yeah, I’m glad I went to Hawaii, but if you remember, I missed Darek and Ivy’s wedding, and . . . this could very well be a disaster.”