“Who? When?” To Molly’s knowledge, Bailey hadn’t seriously courted anyone besides her.
“I’m not talking about another woman. I took liberties with you that I had no right to. Even if you’d never met that other man, I still treated you with disrespect. I didn’t protect you as I should have.” His hands skimmed across the water’s surface. “So here we are, both needing forgiveness, and both forgiven. If doubts ever return, we can look back at tonight and remember releasing our mistakes and letting them float away. Cleansing every touch that ever dishonored you, mine included.”
“As far as the east is from the west?”
“So far hath He removed our transgressions from us.”
Once again, Molly closed her eyes. The crickets’ song echoed above the roar of the water flowing over the wheel. The tension in her neck eased. Water couldn’t come back up a dam. It was gone forever. And God was so good to give her this second chance, to give her one who understood her and loved her anyway.
Bailey touched her cheek, and she almost slipped to the bottom of the river, so great was the shock. The stream had lulled her as she floated in an ethereal cloud, but she wasn’t alone. A real-life flesh-and-blood man was with her—waiting.
“Steady now,” he whispered. His eyes were so full of love she’d come closer to drowning in them than the river. “I’m ready to let go and begin anew. Are you?”
Molly nodded. Their paths had covered unwelcomed terrain that had left them both tarnished, but between the two of them there would never be another stain.
He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. Trailing his finger down her nose, Bailey outlined her lips and pressed his fingers flat against them, covering them completely. Molly tightened her mouth against the pressure, giving him a silent kiss.
The water sped as it coursed between them. He stepped closer. The current quickened as it rushed through the narrowing channel, and then it was no more. Warmth replaced the cooling stream as Bailey closed the gap. He lowered his mouth over hers as rivulets cascaded off of him and mingled with her tears. She wrapped her arms around his neck and anchored herself on his strength, no longer alone in the fight against the current that could carry her away.
Love and security. Molly had offered one to get the other and had almost lost both. But once the counterfeits were removed, she could appreciate the man who’d been there all along—the one who even now was trying to catch his breath, forehead pressed against hers, droplets sparkling in his lashes.
“I’ve tried to be a cowboy, a blacksmith, a minister, and a cobbler, but I finally found my calling.”
“And what would that be?”
“Partnering with you to take on the ills of the world, making our corner of Texas a better place, and keeping you somewhere between bliss and exasperation.”
“I’m dangerously close to one extreme.” Molly brushed the water from his face. “I couldn’t tell you which, but the rest of your plan sounds perfect.”
He smiled. “Then it’s time to take you home.”
Holding her hand, he led her to the riverbank, never giving her a chance to argue—and that was fine. As she climbed out, her wet clothing was heavy, but her heart was light. She would follow him through thick and thin, but there was no need to follow him home.
She was already there.
Regina Jennings is a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University with a degree in English and a minor in history. She has worked at the Mustang News and at First Baptist Church of Mustang, along with time at the Oklahoma National Stockyards and various livestock shows. She lives outside of Oklahoma City with her husband and four children.
Books by Regina Jennings
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Sixty Acres and a Bride
Love in the Balance
Resources: bethanyhouse.com/AnOpenBook
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Regina Jennings Page 31