A Second Chance at Forever

Chapter 1444

He smirked defiantly, “Easy, second cousin!”

Robin’s face turned a shade of iron, “Get the hell out of my car!”

Elbert gripped the seatbelt, rebellion etched on his face, “Make me!”

Just as Robin was about to kick him, Bernard, sitting in the backseat with eyes that captured the soul, glanced toward the front. “Dear cousins, your cousin-in-law is pregnant. Please focus on driving and cut out the bickering.” Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

It was a simple, serene statement that silenced the impending squabble between the two childish fools. Elbert quieted because of Bernard, and Robin, because of Eleanor’s words, each nursing their own woes.

Ultimately, acknowledging that Eleanor was with child, Robin slowed down the car, suppressing the urge to throttle Elbert, and drove in silence to the chapel.

At this moment, Katharine knelt before the altar, her head bowed in prayer. Every afternoon, she would attend the pastor’s sermon, finding solace in the scriptures as she thought of Caleb, the incense of the chapel calming her grief.

But each night, she was awakened by dreams of Caleb. The pain of losing a loved one was a heart- wrenching agony not easily forgotten. Often, Katharine would sit by the window, gazing at the moon, lost in thought all through the night.

She stared at the stars, starting to believe that the souls of the departed become celestial bodies, shining down on those they wished to watch over. She felt certain that the stars she could see were Caleb’s essence; otherwise, why would they always catch her eye?

It was with this self-deception that she managed to keep living, convincing herself that Caleb would return. And indeed, before long, he appeared.

Katharine remembered praying for Caleb, eyes closed, when a clear and untainted voice reached her ears.

The man questioned the pastor, “The Good Book says, ‘To be in the world, but not of it, which should spare me worldly troubles. Why then, since I’ve come to faith, am I still restless?”

The pastor replied, “It must be an earthly bond that’s unsettled, causing you to seek escape but finding none.”

“And is there a way to resolve this?”

“Only through personal revelation.”

“Revelation?”

“What kind of revelation?”

As he spoke, the man’s gaze fell upon Katharine, her face wet with tears, looking back at him. Her eyes, brimming with hurt and tears, struck him like lightning, piercing his heart.

In an instant, the pastor’s voice faded away, and silence enveloped him, his vision clearing to see only the woman kneeling, silently weeping.

It wasn’t until she rose from the pew, her frail body trembling as she approached him, that he came back to reality. She reached out, her fingers trembling as they touched his face.

He stepped back, reminding her that he was a lay disciple, bound for a spiritual path, and she shouldn’t touch him. But Katharine, convinced that Caleb had returned, threw herself into his arms in front of the

altar.

Crying out for Caleb, she begged him never to leave her again. So profound was her longing that she mistook the lay disciple Zephyr for Caleb.

Zephyr, with downcast eyes, felt a vague familiarity with Katharine but pushed her away, insisting she was mistaken.

Katharine refused to believe she was wrong, reached for Zephyr’s arm, reminding him of his promise that if she prayed for a year and still remembered him, he would return to her in some form. She hadn’t forgotten, and here he was-how could it be a mistake?

Desperate for proof, Katharine ran to fetch her phone, to show him the evidence he’d left behind. But by the time she returned, breathless, Zephyr had already left the chapel.

Standing alone in the vast chapel, Katharine looked around, but Caleb was nowhere to be found. Tears sprang to her eyes, and, feeling utterly bereft, she collapsed, hugging her knees.

Through her sobs, she spoke to Caleb, wondering if he’d left her again because she hadn’t protected their baby. She paused, not Justifying her mistake, but softly repeating, “Caleb, come back. Let’s have another child, please…

As the rain seldom comes to Chiang Rai, when it did, it fell swiftly, without warning. Katharine sat on the gilded steps, unprotected from the rain soaking her to the skin.

Then, overhead, a white umbrella appeared as if by magic. Katharine’s Caleb, standing tall before her, was like a lifeline, shielding her from the downpour and renewing her hope for life.