They let me in to see Clara, and I rushed to her bedside. "Clara, hi! I'm so glad you're okay!" I said, all out of breath.
She chuckled. "Thank you for coming, dear."
I wrapped my arms around her in a warm embrace. "How are you?"
"I'm good, actually. Heart rate's back to normal. I don't know what happened. It was probably just my old age," Clara explained.
I breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good to know. I'm glad you're okay. I was worried sick."
"Well you don't have to worry anymore. I'm perfectly fine."
"Um, Clara? I need to tell you something."
"Yes, dear?" She sat up in her bed a little bit.
"I prayed today."
"Wow."
"Yeah. It was my first time doing that."
"And how did it feel?"
"It felt nice," I said. And it was true. Talking to God had been terrifying at first, but then it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
"I'm so proud of you, Mackenzie."
That brought tears to my eyes, and I wiped them away quickly.
"Don't cry, dear. It's alright." She opened her arms and I went into them, hugging her tightly. "Do you want to talk about your prayer?"
"Um, okay. Sure."
"Alright. Tell me, what did you pray about?"
"Well, I prayed for you. I asked God to heal you and make sure that you were okay. And I confessed my sins, like you said, and I repented for everything bad I've done in the past six months."
"Oh, Mackenzie. That's wonderful!"
I smiled. "And there's one more thing."
"What's that, dear?"
"I think I want to become a Christian."
- - -
After praying to accept Christ, Clara congratulated me and said, "Welcome to the family." Then we hugged and cried a little.
I felt different inside. Like, for once, everything was going to be okay. I could stop cutting, I could stop drinking, and I could stop having meaningless sex with random guys. I didn't have to be that person anymore. I had changed, and it felt amazing.
I was a believer in Christ, part of His family. And I had never felt better.
- - -
When Clara got out of the hospital, she said she might need to take a rain check on our Starbucks meetings for awhile. "My grandson is coming in for two weeks," she said.
"How old is he?" I asked.
"Fifteen, same age as you. His parents are vacationing in Florida for two weeks, and they asked if I'd watch him."
"Oh, that's nice. Where do they live?"
"Maine."
- - -
I hadn't known this at the time, but the boy she was talking about turned out to be the man I'm going to marry.
- - -
A/N: Ha, what about that ending? I'll give you some time to fangirl. Did you see it coming, Nathan being Clara's grandson? Or was it a surprise?
And wasn't it cool to see Mackenzie finally accept Christ?
Hope you liked the chapter!😊