BRAD HAD THOUGHT GIVING HIS WIFE FLOWERS WAS A good idea. He’d thought the cake would please her. Now his confidence was shaken. He’d bungled things again. He’d failed again.
He rolled the wheelchair close to the window and gazed out at the back lawn. “What now, God? How do I fix things?”
Let go.
He stilled, waiting, listening.
Let go.
He released his breath, letting it out slowly, until he felt empty. No, not just felt it. He was empty.
Let her go.
That couldn’t be God’s voice he heard in his head and heart. God wouldn’t tell him to let Katherine go. That couldn’t be how his prayers would be answered. And yet he knew it was the Lord speaking to him.
“Brad?”
His heart thudded. It hurt to breathe, and it had nothing to do with cracked ribs.
“Brad?”
He turned the wheelchair around to face the entry to the family room. There she stood, looking pale and sad. She’d been crying again.
“I . . . I need to go away for a while. A few days. Maybe a week.”
Let go. Let her go. The pain in his chest intensified.
“Will you call Emma after I’m gone? I know she’ll come and stay with you until I get back.”
Are you coming back? The question lodged in his throat.
Her smile was brief and tentative. Then it was gone. “She’ll be mad at me, but ask her to please understand this is something I need to do.” She took a step closer to him. “I hope you’ll understand too.”
He didn’t understand, couldn’t understand. But when he looked into her eyes, he saw the storm in her soul, and like it or not, he knew he had to release her if she was ever to find her way back to him.
He cleared his throat, hoping his voice wouldn’t crack when he spoke. “Will you make sure someone knows where you are so we don’t have to worry?”
Again that tentative smile. “I called Annabeth. She’ll know how to reach me.”
Her words lessened his fear.
Katherine reached out, touching his cheek with her fingertips, little more than a whisper against his skin. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
He watched as she walked toward the door that led into the garage. There, she picked up a suitcase and her purse, then glanced over her shoulder at him. One last wistful smile, and she was gone.
After the rise and fall of the garage door, Brad closed his eyes. “Whatever else happens, Father, heal her hurts. Even if it means she never comes back to me, draw her closer to You and make her heart whole again.”
And so he let her go.