62
“We need to get to church early,” Lulu said as she reached for a swoon pie from the mix of cookies on the tray sitting on the coffee table.
“Yes Ma’am.” Ben tightened his grip on Harper’s hand, sending a ripple of excitement through her body. The difference between their two hands was striking. Her pale, petite digits snuggled comfortably between his long, tan surgeon fingers. They were opposites and yet, they fit perfectly. How was it possible God had blessed her with so much after she had failed him so mightily?
“Bennett dear, would you mind going up to Darcy’s room to remind her we need to leave in thirty minutes? She apparently is trying to impress someone tonight. She’s taking enough time getting ready.”
Ben nodded and brushed a soft kiss to the back of Harper’s hand. “I’ll be right back.”
The thickness closing Harper’s throat allowed her little more than a nod as she watched him disappear up the staircase.
“Do you want to fill me in on the details my nearly mute great-nephew has left out?”
Heat burned Harper’s cheeks, flashing a pink tinge to her vision. “Umm…well…”
Lulu waved her hand. “You don’t need to tell me all the intimate details. Just the framework, dear. How did you get to snuggling on my davenport before Christmas Eve service?”
She sighed. “Would it be odd to say, I don’t know?”
Shaking her head, Lulu smiled. “My dear, which of us can truly explain love? You do love him, don’t you?”
Nodding, Harper patted the tears forming with her unused napkin, hoping to save her make up. “I do. I don’t know why he feels the same, but I am so thankful. And yet, what happens when he truly gets to know me? How could he possibly know he loves me when he has only seen the good parts?”
“My dear Harper. You don’t really have many bad parts, now do you?”
“But I do. And Ben is so good. So kind and generous. I just don’t understand why God is giving me this gift. I didn’t do anything to deserve it. I’ve done everything not to deserve it.”
“That’s how God works.” Lulu took a bite of her swoon pie followed by a long sip of her hot chocolate.
Biting the side of her mouth, Harper counted to ten, watching each movement of Lulu’s face anticipating the rest of the story, but her mentor simply savored her treats. “Umm, Mrs. Penhearst…”
“Lulu.”
Harper nodded. “Yep, umm, just curious, what do you mean that’s how God works?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Harper wanted to shout “No!” but simply shook her head.
“None of us deserve His gifts. Not the gift of you and Ben finding each other or your new job, and most assuredly not the gift of salvation we have been given through His Son. But He gives them anyway, because He loves us. And, in turn, we should accept His gifts gratefully and graciously, celebrating them in His honor and with Him. Just as we get to celebrate the gift of His Son tonight at church, if my niece ever decides she is finally put together enough.”
“Subtle, Aunt Lulu. And I’m ready,” Darcy said on a sigh from the doorway.
“Well, it’s about time. All the good seats will be taken.”
“Aren’t all the seats good at church? Isn’t that the point?”
“Saucy. Darcy darling, you must remember you are now the pastor’s love interest. The whole town will be watching you.”
“Don’t I know it.” Darcy shook her head and glanced down at her dark green A-line sweater dress. “Will I pass muster?”
“Finn will have a hard time focusing on the sermon.”
Harper listened to great-niece and aunt as Darcy pushed Lulu toward the door, but their words were muted against Lulu’s simple message echoing through her mind.
None of us deserve His gifts.
Lulu was right. Harper knew she was right. She had known her whole life she couldn’t do anything to earn God’s gifts, and if she couldn’t earn His gifts, she certainly couldn’t demand to know why He was blessing her. He was blessing her because He loved her.
“Hey?” Ben said in a low whisper in her ear. “Where’d you go?”
She lifted her hazy gaze to him. “Nowhere. Just realized something.”
He kissed her forehead. “And what’s that?”
“Jesus loves me.”
“The Bible told you so?”
“Lulu.”
“An original LAS member. So, basically the same.”
Harper chuckled. “Don’t let your sister’s boyfriend hear you talk like that.”
A thick vee formed between Ben’s eyebrows. “I’m not sure I will get used to my sister being the pastor’s old lady.”
“What about him being your brother-in-law?”
A visible shiver ran through his body. “Ugh. I cannot think about my sister as a wife.”
“OK, big guy. Let’s just get through your sister mooning at the pastor during Jesus’s big night.”
“And then I get to dance with you?”
“All night.” She stretched as tall as her toes would allow her and kissed his cheek.
“Merry Christmas to me.”