Page 27 of Wish You Faith (Christmas Sweethearts #1)

Mom pointed her index finger in the air. “All credit goes to our creator God.”

Rosie and Evan both nodded.

He came around the island. “Let me carry the coffee mugs for you.”

“Thank you. The red mug is Mom’s.” How sweet of him to help. “Do you want some water?”

“Water would be fine.”

Rosie poured some filtered water into a tall glass. She followed Evan to the living room. He put the red mug in front of Mom. “Where are you sitting, Rosie?”

“She’ll be on the sofa with you.” Mom took her coffee mug and returned to her armchair by the sliding glass door.

“So you flew all night?” Rosie sat at the end of the sofa, cross-legged and facing Mom and the sliding glass door. She put her Bible on her lap. Evan sat at the other end of the sofa and looked at her.

“Well, I had to work yesterday morning, so I couldn’t fly until the afternoon.

But I wasn’t able to find a flight that would take me from Seattle to Savannah in the time frame I wanted.

Some of the flights would begin yesterday and arrive later today.

That wouldn’t work either because I know you have coffee at seven o’clock and I wanted to be here.

” Evan sipped some water. “So I ended up flying from Seattle to Atlanta, and then I drove here.”

His dedication impressed Rosie. “You drove all night from Atlanta?”

Evan nodded. “I had to get a rental car, so I didn’t get out of the airport until way after midnight. It only took five hours to get here. I had breakfast at Waffle House before I came here.”

“Did you get any sleep?” Rosie felt sorry for him.

“I will when I get to my hotel.”

“Hotel?” Mom asked. “There are three bedrooms in this condo. You can take the empty guest room.”

“Well…” Evan looked like he wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “I’ve already booked my hotel room and there’s a cancellation fee.”

“Then nap here after we finish reading the Bible and opening the presents,” Mom said.

Evan nodded.

Rosie thought he looked a bit tired, but only because he had said he’d driven all night. Otherwise, she might think he was tired because he worked so hard the last couple of weeks. Or his tired eyes might be due to both.

“We’ve just started reading Luke 2, so we can start over so Evan doesn’t miss anything,” Mom said to no one in particular.

“The way it works is that we take turns reading, one person per verse,” Rosie explained to Evan.

“Sounds good. I’ll just use my Bible app,” Evan replied. “My study Bible is in my duffel bag in the car.”

“Or you can share my Bible if you want,” Rosie said. “We have plenty of Bibles in the old house, but when we moved here, we only brought our own study Bibles.”

Rosie had already told Evan a few days ago that they were going to slowly clean out the old house after the first of the year and put some stuff in storage. The rest, they’d send to the thrift shop. Then they’d repaint the house and update the kitchen, and rent it out. Rosie had no plan to sell it.

As Evan scooted over to her, Rosie uncrossed her legs. Evan put his arm over Rosie’s shoulder. He seemed to be comfortable showing affection to her in front of Mom.

“Who wants to read first?” Mom asked.

“How about you, Mom?” Rosie replied.

So Mom did.

Rosie loved hearing Mom’s voice. But more so, Evan’s voice, reading the Bible in person—not over the phone or on video. His voice was clear, and he didn’t rush. When they reached Rosie’s favorite verses, she asked Evan to read Luke 2:10-11 again.

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

“I’m so thankful that Jesus is my Savior,” Mom said.

“Me too,” Evan said.

“Same.” Rosie echoed their gratitude.

After they finished reading Luke 2:25-35 about Simeon, Mom looked up. “If you had a brother, your dad and I would have named him Simeon.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice to have a brother?” Rosie wondered aloud.

“Sometimes it’s good to have a brother.” Evan chuckled. “Sometimes we can’t get away fast enough from each other.”

“When you have kids, sweetie, try to have at least two or three,” Mom said to Rosie. “Then your children won’t be alone when you’re dead and gone.”

Evan’s eyes were on Rosie, as though he was waiting to see her reaction about what Mom had just said about having kids.

“Well, Psalm 127:3 says that children are a gift from God,” Rosie replied carefully. “Whether one child or more, we have to be thankful.”

Even as she said that, she knew that Mom was right about being alone. However, Rosie had friends at church and at work, and many of them were becoming lifelong friends.

And then there was Evan. She wasn’t sure how long their relationship would last, but she knew that if Evan wanted it to last a lifetime, she had no objection.

“I love Simeon’s prayer.” Evan reread Luke 2:30-32. “It reminded me that Jesus is the light that brings revelation. For me personally, I need Him to reveal to me His perfect will for my life with Rosie. It’s possible to know because we have seen God’s salvation, which is Jesus Christ.”

“We read that in Sunday school a couple of weeks ago, didn’t we?” Rosie asked Evan.

He nodded. “Good discussion among the third graders.”

When they read about Anna the prophetess in Luke 2:36-38, Mom had something to say about that too. “We almost named you Anna, sweetie. However, your dad and I decided to combine the names of our grandmothers, one on each side. Rosette and Mary became Rosemarie.”

“There you go,” Rosie said to Evan. “Trivia of the day.”

“I like your name.”

“Thank you,” Rosie and Mom both said in unison.

After they finished reading Luke 2, it was almost nine o’clock.

Rosie opened her spiral notebook. “Any praises and prayer requests?”

“This feels like a Bible study,” Evan said.

“It is. Speaking for myself, there’s nothing better on Christmas Day than to read the Bible. If it falls on Sunday, I want to be in church.” Rosie started writing. “I want to thank God that Evan got here safely. All that flying and then driving at Christmas in the middle of the night.”

“Firstly, I want to thank the Lord for this condo,” Mom said. “It means a lot to be able to rent it at the scholarship rate.”

“Thank God for providing,” Evan said.

Rosie was pleased with his answer. He pointed to God.

“Life is too short to hold back,” Evan added.

Rosie’s eyes stung, and she tried not to let Mom see it.

“Pray for good health in the new year,” Mom spoke quietly.

Rosie nodded, wiping her eyes. “Good prayer.”

“Pray that my negotiations will work out.” Evan held Rosie’s hand. “If all goes well, then I can move back to Savannah in January.”

“Wow. For real?” Rosie’s eyes widened.

She had been praying for God’s guidance and provision for their relationship.

She couldn’t leave Mom alone on the east coast, and Evan seemed to have a good job on the west coast. This bicoastal arrangement would dissolve once Mom passed away, but Rosie wanted her to live for a long time.

Mom wanted to spend her last days at SSLR, where she would receive the best care.

If Rosie and Evan wanted to stay together, they would have to suffer through their long-distance relationship for however long Mom was alive. Or they could end their romance now and find some other geographically-closer partners in life.

Or Evan could move to Savannah, which was the miracle that he’d walked in with this morning. It might just be how God would bring them together.

“I’ll tell you more about it soon.” Evan gently squeezed Rosie’s shoulder.

No one else had other prayer requests, so they decided it was time to pray. Perhaps as a way to test Evan, Mom asked him to pray for all their prayer requests this morning.

“Thank You, Jesus, for saving our souls,” Evan began. “Even though we don’t know precisely which date You were born on earth, I am happy that we have set aside Christmas as the time to commemorate Your first coming. At this Christmastime, let us not forget our salvation in You.”

He continued to pray for every item on Rosie’s prayer list, each time asking for God’s truth and wisdom to prevail.

When they finished, Mom wanted to go outside on the balcony to take photos in her pajamas. Evan took a few photos of Rosie and Mom. Then Mom took a few photos of Rosie and Evan. Evan’s arm was long enough for them to take a selfie together.

When they came indoors, Mom pointed to the few presents they had under the pop-up Christmas tree. Thing was, there were only two of them in the family, so there were not a lot of wrapped presents. Rosie and Mom basically gave each other multiple gifts.

Mom wasn’t close to her own family or to Dad’s family.

Also, many relatives in their generation had died.

Those who were still alive were too frail to make the trip to Savannah.

And Mom didn’t want to travel out of town because it made her exhausted physically—regardless of the form of transportation.

“We could open presents now or wait until after breakfast,” Mom said.

“You already sent me my gift card,” Evan said. “Thank you again.”

“And you sent us gift cards which we already used.” Rosie grinned. “How about we eat first? I’m famished.”

“Second breakfast for you?” Mom asked Evan.

“No, thanks. I’m full. I can help you cook though.”

“No need. Since you haven’t slept all night, you might want to take a nap.” Mom pointed down the hallway. “Rosie can show you where the guest room is.”

“Hmm. Maybe that’s a good idea. I’m feeling tired.” Evan got up from the couch. “I need to go get my duffel bag from the car. I want to shower and change into a new set of clothes.”

“While you do that, I’ll get you a towel and soap,” Rosie said.

After Evan had left and closed the front door behind him, Mom turned to Rosie.

“Sweetie, I asked him to pray because I want to hear how he talks to God.”

“I know, Mom. You’re so tricky.”