"It"s probably pretty obvious that I"m not going to want a baby at this point in my life."
All he could do was nod, and hope.
"I"ve told you before that I was engaged, but he died before we got married. And then my best friend died not long after that."
"I"m in good health. I can get a doctor"s note for you."
She rested one hand on his arm. "I don"t think that will be necessary. I want to ask you something, and I want you to be honest."
Now he felt really sick, even with the empty stomach. "Go ahead."
"Have you ever considered fostering an older child? You"re good at helping older pets find good homes. There are many older children and teens who know it"s not realistic that they"ll ever be adopted but really need a good foster home."
His mind spun. "I"ve never thought about that before."
"That could be because when we"re younger, everyone only thinks about babies. But we"re both older now, and even though I"m older than you, we"re at different places in our lives than ten years ago. I"m thinking, for example, about Kat. The only family she had was Luke, and he gladly took her in, but what about all the other kids like her who don"t have someone like Luke?"
Matt thought about Kat and Tyler and how his being involved with both of them helped everyone. He could do that. "I like that idea."
Farrah slid her hand from his forearm to his hand and gave it a squeeze. "I do, too."
His heart sped up. "So this means?"
She smiled. "This means that yes, this relationship-even though we"re off to a late start, just as you said last night-can go where you want it to go."
He gulped. "Just in case I wasn"t 100 percent clear, where I want this relationship to go is to the altar."
"Matt, are you proposing to me?"
"What a great idea! I"m glad you thought of it." He couldn"t stop his grin. Still holding on to Farrah"s hand, he dropped to one knee. "Farrah, I love you. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
"Yes, of course I will. And speaking of late, I hope you know that now you"re going to be late for your worship team practice time at church."
Matt jumped to his feet, grabbed Farrah by the waist, twirled her around, and then planted a fast but firm kiss on her lips. He wanted to do more, but she was right about the practice. Not only that, he was busting to tell his friends and family that G.o.d had given him the perfect woman he"d prayed for all his life.
He"d waited a long time, but with someone as special as Farrah, it was never too late for a happily-ever-after.
Gail Sattler was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and now lives in Vancouver, BC (where you don"t have to shovel rain), with her husband, three sons, two dogs, three lizards, and countless fish, many of whom have names. Gail and her husband were baptized together in 1983. Between acting as a referee for her three active boys and half the neighborhood, her day job as office manager for a web design company, her evening job as Mom"s Taxi Service, and being the ba.s.s guitarist for her church"s adult worship team, Gail loves to glorify G.o.d in her writing. Gail also writes for Barbour"s Heartsong Presents line, where she was voted as the Favorite Heartsong Author three times. Gail has also written a number of novellas for Barbour"s fiction anthologies.
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