“I can’t not tell you that I love you,” he said. “I . . . I desperately love you.”
Holly inhaled a jagged gasp. His words were almost too marvelous to process. He’d handed her dearest dream to her without warning. He loved her? Joy began to unfurl inside her.
She walked to him, stopping so close that she was able to rest her palms on his chest. She hadn’t touched him in a girlfriend-like manner in ages. To do so now felt like pure, heady bliss. She smoothed his lapels, feeling the tremor in her hands.
He stared down at her as if he was afraid to believe that the news might be good.
The news was very good. For them both. She was still a little afraid, but God was faithful. He countered her fears by filling her with an undeniable sense of rightness. She looked directly into Josh’s eyes. “I love you too.”
He gave her the exact same crooked smile he’d given her the day he’d first told her that he loved her. “You love me?”
“I do. I love you.”
“I’ve loved you since high school,” he said. His arms came up to support her back. “I tried to stop but I couldn’t. Seeing you again has only made me positively sure that you’re the one for me.”
“I’ve loved you since high school too.” She interlaced her hands around his neck. Laughing breathlessly, she quoted his words back to him. “I tried to stop but I couldn’t. Seeing you again has only made me positively sure that you’re the one for me.”
He kissed her. And she kissed him back. And he kissed her more for good measure. There, with the altar’s cross watching over them and the day’s last sun rays pouring through the stained glass like a benediction.
Holly’s heart soared with amazement and gratitude and love. Josh! Josh loved her.
He pulled back a few inches. “I lied about needing your help to find a rehearsal dinner location. My assistant booked the olive oil farm months ago. I misled you because it was the only way I could think of to spend time with you.”
“Your assistant booked the olive oil farm?” she asked, like one of those parrots that repeats things. It was hard to think straight at this particular moment. He’d just incinerated her with his kisses and sent her whole world spinning with the declaration that he loved her.
“Yes.”
“Months ago? Your assistant had the very same idea that I had and booked the farm months ago?”
He nodded and swept a section of her hair away from her cheek. “I’m sorry for deceiving you.”
“You’re forgiven. And also, by the way, you have a very good assistant. Has she considered turning her attention to brokering peace in the Middle East?”
His expression warmed with amusement. “I love you.”
“I love you.”
“I’ll stay in Martinsburg,” he said. “I can work from anywhere.”
“So can I, Josh. I’m a writer.” Her hands were still intertwined behind his neck. Oh, the happiness of this! “Relocating to Paris for a while doesn’t actually sound too shabby to me.”
“It doesn’t?”
“If this is Paris, France, home of the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre and croissants that we’re talking about, then no. It doesn’t.”
“You’d move to France?”
“Yes,” she answered, growing more sure of it. “I would.” He’d given her an irresistible motivation to grab hold of her very own real-life adventure.
“I love you, Holly.”
“I love you, Josh. Now kiss me some more.” She was grinning and crying at the same time. “But be quick about it. You’re the best man and we have a wedding reception to attend.”
Miracle of miracles, God had brought Josh back to her. And this time, she wouldn’t let him go. This time, Josh wouldn’t leave her behind.
This time, the timing was perfect.
Holly,
Today is our wedding day. In just a few hours I’ll get to see you in your wedding dress, you’ll walk down the aisle to me, and before God we’ll promise ourselves to each other for the rest of our lives.
Thank you for agreeing to be my wife. For loving me. For showing me what matters in this life.
Neither the years we spent apart nor the distance between us had the power to change my love for you. My heart was, and is, and always will be yours.
Je t’aime, Holly. I love you. Till death do us part, my love.
—Josh
Becky Wade makes her home in Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three children. She’s the Carol Award and Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award-winning author of contemporary Christian romances My Stubborn Heart, Undeniably Yours, Meant to Be Mine, and A Love Like Ours.
for Love at Mistletoe Inn
1. Harmony Creek’s barn is used for weddings and receptions. Tell us about the last time you attended a wedding that wasn’t held in a church.
2. The book begins at a wedding fair. If you’ve attended one in the past, what part of the event did you enjoy the most?
3. Sylvie, the “Mad Batter,” specializes in nontraditional wedding cakes. What is the strangest wedding cake you’ve seen?