Healing Hearts (New Hope Falls #6) - Kimberly Rae Jordan Page 0,140
around her and pull her close. Turning his face away from his family, he pressed his cheek against hers. “I love you too, sweetheart. So very much.”
When she heard him take a shaky breath, Sophia realized she wasn’t the only emotional one right then. Why hadn’t she told him sooner? He deserved to know what was in her heart…had been in her heart for awhile now.
“Momma?” Bryson said.
Sophia opened her eyes to see Bryson watching her and Ryker with concern. Ryker didn’t move back to show Bryson that he was okay, so Sophia reached out to take Bryson’s hand.
She felt Ryker take another shuddering breath and understood that he was reluctant to let Bryson see his emotions. Or maybe it was his family he was reluctant to show them to.
“We have presents for you, Bryson,” Jonah said. “Do you want to open them?”
While Valerie moved the cake out of the way to cut it, Silas put a stack of presents in front of the chair where Valerie had been sitting. After a moment’s hesitation, Bryson allowed Jonah to help him off Ryker’s lap and up into Valerie’s chair.
As soon as his lap was empty, Ryker wrapped both arms around Sophia. With her head tucked into his shoulder, she told him again how much she loved him.
“I didn’t think I’d get this emotional,” he said, his voice low and rough. “But you mean everything to me, Sophia. I hope you will always know that.”
“You mean everything to me too. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. Forgive me.”
His arms tightened around briefly. “Nothing to forgive, sweetheart. I would have waited a lifetime for you to say those words.”
Their whispered conversation was interrupted by Bryson’s excited voice. “Momma! Ryker! I got books!”
Ryker chuckled, then took a deep breath. “Guess we’d better pay attention.”
As he moved back from her, Sophia looked up to see that his cheeks were still damp with his tears. She reached up and wiped them away, then leaned forward to brush her lips across his. It should have felt wrong to share their first kiss in front of his family. But instead, it felt perfect because it was clear that these people loved Ryker, and without even knowing her and Bryson, they had opened their hearts to them as well.
Ryker seemed stunned by the kiss at first, then a smile spread across his face, his eyes shining. Sophia couldn’t help but smile in return as joy and love welled up inside her and spilled out.
When Bryson called for their attention again, Sophia turned to face him, leaning back against Ryker as he wrapped his arms around her. She was glad for his embrace to anchor her because she honestly felt like she could float away on a cloud of happiness. It was as if releasing the fear that had kept her from sharing her love with Ryker had also released a weight that had tied her to the past.
At the thought, a verse came to mind. One that was an important reminder for her.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.
Fear no longer had a place in her heart. Ezekiel might have used love to manipulate her, but fear had replaced that when he’d begun to torment her. It was only through God working in her life as well as Ryker’s love that she was able to finally let go of that fear and find healing for her heart. That healing had then allowed her to love Ryker.
She knew that she could trust that she’d made the right decision this time. That she didn’t have to be scared about what her future with Ryker would hold because she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. There was still a lot of work for them to do in their lives, both alone and together, but knowing that she wasn’t on that journey alone meant everything to Sophia.
EPILOGUE
“We survived!” Bryson crowed as he grabbed onto Ryker’s hand.
Ryker knew he shouldn’t be grinning, letting alone laughing, at the boy’s words, but he couldn’t help it. As they hurried down the driveway to where his truck was parked, he glanced over at Sophia to see that she was trying not to smile too.
When they’d left Sophia’s parents’ home the first time, he’d made the mistake of commenting that they’d survived. Ever since then, Bryson had taken great delight in making the announcement each time they’d left a family dinner at his grandparents’ house.