She was in a total daze.
“You’re sure?” she managed to whisper.
“I’m sure. Honest.”
And then she was in his arms, weeping against the pocket that had held the small diary with its precious secret.
“I can’t believe—” she began, but her tears stopped the words.
“It’s true—it’s true. Our mothers’ prayers have—kept us—fer…fer some special reason. I…I feel thet. I’m not sure jest what—yet. But we’ll find it. We are free to serve Him—together—now. Honest.”
His arms tightened around her and he lowered his face to bury it in her hair.
“Mama’s book said it, too,” he whispered. “Thet special verse of yers—’Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.’ She said it, too.”
Ariana lifted a smiling but still tear-stained face to Laramie, and he drew her closer and bent his head to kiss her moistened cheek.
Two hearts lifted in deep thankfulness to God. They were not brother and sister. They would soon be husband and wife.