Meant To Be: A Christian Romance

22| His goodness

Warmth. 

Warmth was what I felt around me at first when Heather started to pray---an unexplainable warmth I never experienced. At first I was confused, completely and utterly confused, but then an overwhelming sense of peace filled me all over. It was then that I began to realize what was happening to me. 

Heather continued praying, mentioning everything from my dad to my mom then to my faith. I grasped her words into my mind and to my heart, feeling so compelled to just hug her right then and there in that moment as she spoke. I refrained from doing so, not wanting to stroll her away from her flow of words. She was giving it her all to this prayer. 

I never thought I would meet a person just as sweet and caring like her. It was making me like her all the more. It was undeniable how sickening cute she was too. Beautiful and sweet, how could I resist her? Earlier when she'd emphasized my nickname for her I almost lost track of thought, not knowing what to say, actually at loss for words to say. 

The truth was I was falling for her. 

Truly I felt like she was my love. She is my love. 

I just didn't know how to get myself to admit it to her. I was thinking it was about time I mentioned it but then I couldn't help the hesitance stirring in me when thinking of telling her, afraid she didn't feel the same towards me.  

The continual sense of comfort kept surrounding us. It was hard to describe how I felt in this moment. I remember my mom vividly trying to explain once how it felt for her when she first experienced the presence of God. I didn't understood how she couldn't but now I knew why it was so hard for her to explain with the right words. It was hard for me to even describe it. All I could think of is, peace, so much peace. It sounded so cliche but it was genuinely what I felt. I now realized why Heather was crying earlier. She had already felt the presence right before me. 

Heather stopped talking and I kept my head bowed, not wanting at all to get out of this moment. It was a moment I couldn't imagine myself ever forgetting. A moment I got to experience with the beautiful woman sitting across from me. It was all because of her that I was experiencing this. She was an angel in disguise sent for me. No doubt. 

I loved her. 

I was itching to admit it. 

After a couple of minutes of silence, I felt Heather's soft hand grip my hand and pull it right towards her chest. I could faintly feel the slow beats of her heart within her chest, right beneath my palm. It was a delightful rhythm. 

Finally, I opened my eyes, taking in what was previously filled with light now surrounding with darkness. Heather's head was bowed too, eyebrows furrowed as she continued to clench my fist against her chest. Instinctively, I raised my other hand to her cheek making her raise her head and open her eyes. Her cheeks were red, and in her cheeks laid dry with tears. I'd never seen her this way and it made something stir within me. I couldn't grasp fully what it was but all I could register were the chills in my arms and need for her. 

"You felt it, didn't you?" she whispered, shooting me the widest smile I've ever seen on her. Her eyes were gleaming with hope and happiness as she waited for my response. 

I nodded slowly, not once denying the power I'd felt earlier and pulled her into my chest when she laughed and cried all at once. "Don't cry, my love." I pulled her back, pushing the hair across her face away as I made her look at me. "Please..." I whispered tenderly against her forehead. 

"They are happy tears." She wiped the tears against her shirt, taking deep breaths after as she tried her very best to control her emotional state. It didn't matter to me if her tears were entirely due to happiness it still broke me seeing her cry. I'd rather watch someone else shed tears than see her cry her own eyes out. "Done." She tried to smile as she looked at me again but still I was able to see the red blemishes on her face and the swelling on her eyes. 

In attempt to not place my attention on the blemishes, I pulled her face closer to me and kissed her. "Thank you, Oakley." I croaked out, once again taking her hand on mine. 

She looked up at me. "For what?" she laughed. 

"For making me feel." Everything, I wanted to add. 

"Holden, that was all you." She grinned, pulling back slightly as she watched me with so much tenderness. She looked shocked that I would even thank her for this. "It had nothing to do with me. It was just you," she said as she gripped my hair back in tenderness. 

I remained, silently taking in her words. 

I'd felt his goodness and Heather was just the small push I needed to really get to feel it. To feel the greatness of the magnifying presence of the Most High. The beauty that my mom always felt and the magnificence that Heather experienced currently in her life. 

Now I had to figure how I would go at this. And my help was right in front of me.