“I was with your dad.”
“Where?”
“Back in the sanctuary. He wanted to pray with me. He feels like you grew up and left home a long time ago, but that he’s just now having to give your heart away to someone else. It was really a prayer of blessing for us that we would never try to take our hearts back from one another.”
“Wow!” she stated. “You men are full of surprises today, aren’t you?”
He laughed and kissed her fingers as they waited at a stoplight. “We’re pretty good at keeping our emotions in check until a beautiful woman gets us wrapped around her finger. Then we do crazy things like fly 600 miles to see her and pray with her new husband because we can’t protect her anymore.”
At that moment Lily realized something for the first time. She may have been feeling alone for many years since stepping into the adult world. But she never had been. She’d had her family and her friends. She may not have been living under the same roof with any of them, but they were there. Praying for her, loving her, and only a phone call away whenever she needed them.
By the time they reached the apartment, Lily had something she wanted to say to Peter. Something that she had let herself do far too often with others who had loved her but she hadn’t always believed it.
He opened the door with the key she had given to him last night, carried her over the threshold, and headed for the stairs to the bedroom. She heard Meow mewing at his feet and Tweet welcoming her home. She laughed, knowing neither of them were going to let them go upstairs in peace without being fed and greeted.
“I think my roommates don’t quite understand the concept of privacy.”
“Well, if I’ve waited this long,” he said. “I suppose I can wait five more minutes.”
He set her down and went to feed the cat while she let Tweet know she still loved her too. Peter returned from the kitchen and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind as she closed Tweet’s cage. “Can I have you all to myself now?”
“Yes,” she said, enjoying some tender kisses on her ear lobe and neck. “But before we go upstairs, will you promise me something?”
“Anything,” he whispered.
She turned in his arms and looked into his caring green eyes. Eyes that had captured her interest the night of the concert; eyes that had stolen her heart on a cool spring evening; eyes that had looked into her soul when they were reunited at the airport; and eyes that had looked at her today and promised to love her forever.
“Don’t ever let me talk myself into thinking you don’t love me or need me or want to be with me, Peter. I know our life won’t always be easy, but keep reminding me that no matter what bumps come along the way, you love me and you’ll always be here for me.”
He appeared to understand. “I’ll do my best,” he said, lifting her into his arms once again. “I think I’ll get started right now.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and felt her heart racing as he carried her upstairs, but she didn’t feel as scared or nervous as she thought she would. Peter had waited for her, and she felt like a precious treasure to him. She felt protected. She felt safe. And she felt very, very loved.
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Lily Fields (Garden of Love 1) Page 30