Steph was walking home from school with a troubled mind. She had been dating Jer a little over three months now, and she was starting to feel guilty about their arrangement.
Steph had told Jer that she wasn't going to make a decision about marrying him until next August when Will would get home. She was scared if she decided before seeing Will again, she would doubt her choice when he got home.
The daughter of one of her mother's friends had been in a similar situation as Steph. When the missionary came home, she had already gotten married, but separated from her husband to date her missionary again. Eventually, she had returned to her husband, but Steph did not want to put Will nor Jer through that.
She had been thinking along these lines for about a month. She had been praying and praying, thinking and thinking, yet the only decision that she could make was that she could not date Jer for another year only to marry someone else. He was going to be graduating this year. Steph did not want him to put his career on hold to stick around for her if she wasn't even going to marry him.
As Steph walked through the empty parking lot, she said another prayer. This time, she prayed to know how she could make this decision. Almost immediately, a thought entered her mind.
What made you want to marry Will in the first place?
Steph's mind went back to high school and the first time Will had met her baby cousins. He had been so sweet, gentle, and caring with them. It was such a beautiful sight to see this giant of a man acting like a kid.
The memory gave Steph a soft smile. Will would make a wonderful father and Steph had wanted to be there to see it for the last three years.
Now Steph switched gears to think about Jer with children. The first time Steph had ever found Jer attractive was the previous year at Thanksgiving. Steph had brought Jer to her Aunt Alicia's house after she found out he had no where to go. While she was in the kitchen helping prepare the food, Jer had started playing with her baby cousin. Hearing her uncle chuckle, Steph looked over to see a confused Jer as her three month old cousin bit his nose.
Steph thought about what it would be like to see Jer with their own children. She thought about Jer cuddling their little baby. She thought about him playing dolls with their daughter. She thought of him surrounded by their children, reading them a story in his goofy voices.
Steph suddenly realized that she could not stop grinning. Her grin spread across her face and didn't disappear as she stopped thinking about a future with Jer. As she continued closer to her apartments, with the grin still plastered on her face, Steph realized that this was her answer.
Steph wasn't supposed to meet up with Jer for a couple hours yet, but she didn't care. She didn't even stop at her own apartment to drop off her bag. She crossed the parking lot and knocked at Jer's door. His roommate opened the door to let her in. Steph saw that Jer was still at his computer conducting an interview for his podcast.
Steph waited patiently for Jer to get done with her grin still firmly in place. Soon, Jer ended his interview and headed over to Steph, who was too excited to sit down.
"What's up?"
"I have decided."
"Decided what?" Jer gave her a confused look.
"I want to marry you."
Jer wrapped his arms around Steph and pulled her in for a kiss. Steph could feel his smile against her lips and she knew she had made the right decision.
Jer, who had only had surgery a few days earlier, was still high on pain killers, and wasn't sure if he was just imagining things. Steph didn't find out that part until two years later.
-END-