THANKFULLY, MADDIE DIDN’T say anything about Abby to Luke after the movie. She was more concerned about earthquakes, and Luke wondered if he’d been mistaken taking her to see the disaster tour de force.

“Would our house fall down in an earthquake?” she asked after they got home and were enjoying milk and cookies before bed.

“No, baby, it’s well built. Grandpa built it, remember?”

“Yeah, but if the earthquake is strong like the one in the movie . . .”

“Maddie, that was just a movie. Remember we talked about this before? Movies are make-believe.”

“But, Dad, big buildings fell!”

He slid his chair closer and looked into his worried daughter’s eyes. “Who made the world?”

“God did, but he made earthquakes, too.”

Luke blew out a breath and prayed for wisdom. “Yes, he did, but what did he promise to those who believe in him?” He held out his hand in the form of a hint.

“That he would hold us in the palm of his hand.” She put her small hand in his and Luke gripped it tight.

“Right. He is our protection no matter what happens —earthquakes, floods, whatever, God is there with us. You don’t need to be scared; you just need to pray and ask Jesus to be with you, okay?”

Maddie threw her free arm around Luke’s neck, and he released her other hand so he could hug her. Tight.

“I love you, Mads, but God loves you more. Never forget that.”

“I won’t,” she said into his ear. “I love you too, Daddy.”

It did Luke’s heart good to hear the tension gone from her voice and to hear her call him Daddy. Once she turned eleven, she’d announced that it was time for just Dad, but he still loved hearing Daddy when it accidentally slipped out. She was growing up too fast; he hoped that the next birthday didn’t bring on any more announcements.

“Think you can go to bed now?”

She wiggled out of his grasp. “Yeah, the movie was only make-believe. I live in reality.”

He stifled a laugh. “Then go get your pj’s on. I’ll be in, in a minute to pray with you.”

She skipped off to bed and Luke cleared away their snack plates. One crisis averted.

But one was still in a holding pattern. Abby Hart. Crisis wasn’t the right word concerning her, but Luke knew his feelings insisted he deal with whatever it was with Abby. Sitting next to her in the theater, he’d wished he could have thrown his arm around her and pulled her close. He wondered at the shock he’d seen in her face when they met in the ticket line. It was so easy to read her when it came to other things, but as to how she felt about him, he had no clue. Was she still hung up on Ethan? They’d been engaged for such a long time. Am I foolish to think she’d want to start a new relationship so soon after her breakup?

The situation was creating its own tremor in his heart and mind. Surely he could navigate this relationship without doing anything stupid. Easy, right?

Lord, he prayed, help me to figure this thing out.

“Dad, I’m ready to pray now,” Maddie called from her room.

“Be right there,” Luke said, glad he had Maddie and this nightly task he loved to do, to help keep his heart from shaking about the other, unresolved issues in his life.