Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 31414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
I'm so sorry, God.
Ever since that huge misunderstanding over Jack’s role in her life, the enemy had managed to flood Jilly's mind with so, so many fears—
What if Jack causes trouble again, but to Guy’s career?
Is it worth disrupting the orderly life I have with Jack and the babies?
Isn’t it easier to just forget Guy and move on?
I just don’t want to be hurt again.
I was happy before he came into my life.
I can be happy again.
—that she had ended up convincing herself she was doing the right thing by letting go.
Trials, Charles Spurgeon had once said, were a medicinal pill that God designed for people to swallow. But they often didn't work the way they should because people insisted on chewing on them...just like Jilly had.
She had chewed on her pain until it deceived her into wanting to stay in her comfort zone. Chewed and chewed to the point that she had forgotten all the beautiful things about her marriage with Guy. Just kept on chewing until she had become blind to how she was hurting the man she had once been so proud to fall in love with.
I’m so, so sorry, Guy.
A quick call to Poppy ensured that Darwin knew where to go after dropping off Jack, and Jilly could only fight off another bout of tears when she realized where she was being dropped off.
Second Wind was the retirement home she did pro bono work as its accountant, and since everyone here struggled with dementia or required long-term memory care, and Poppy’s earlier words suddenly made so much more sense.
Guy told us it’s his way of learning humility. He realized how he could have avoided hurting you if he had just asked you about Jack, but he didn’t because of pride.
While this was the perfect place for someone Guy to remain anonymous, it also meant having to perform work that often required patience and long suffering, knowing that the people they served might not be capable of appreciating their help.
The institutional hallways stretched before Jilly as she signed in at the front desk, and it took thirty-four minutes and three floors of searching before she finally found her husband in Room 312.
Oh Guy.
He was on his knees in his navy maintenance uniform, wearing the same outfit as the other staff members, his face half-hidden behind a surgical mask as he methodically mopped vomit from around eighty-five-year-old Tessie’s wheelchair.
The nameplate on her door identified her as a former librarian who loved mystery novels and had three cats before moving here, but right now she was just another resident whose body had betrayed her in the most human of ways.
Tessie’s daughter and granddaughter stood nearby, and they were alternately ranting at Hollywood’s richest and once most ruthless billionaire for being too slow to answer their service call.
“Just look at my dress!”
Jilly privately decided to think of the granddaughter as Tessie III, watching as the young woman gestured dramatically at a silk outfit.
“If you had come sooner, Grandma wouldn’t have ruined it!”
“Be quicker next time,” Tessie II ordered, her voice carrying the tone of someone who’d never had to clean up anyone else’s mess, “or I’ll have you reported to management.”
Guy then rose to his feet, and Jilly swallowed back a laugh as Tessie II and Tessie III took a step back simultaneously as they were belatedly reminded by his towering height and build.
Even in his humble uniform, and with cleaning supplies in his hands, Guy de la Rocq still cut an intimidating figure.
Guy’s gaze narrowed at them then, and the two women took another step back. He very much looked like the Grim Reaper weighing their sins, and when she thought about all the things Poppy had shared about how Guy had changed, Jilly could easily imagine her husband seriously asking God: Am I allowed to unleash my inner Hollywood villain? Can I say it's for Your glory?
Jilly was just the slightest bit worried that was exactly what would happen, but when her husband finally answered—
“Apologies, ma’am. It won’t happen again.”
He was obviously choosing humility, and one moment, she was this close to laughing, and another moment, she was fighting back tears as she stepped back to avoid being seen.
How could I have been so blind?
In the sixteen years she had been his fan, Jilly had seen Guy practically putting everyone in shame with just how handsome he was. How sophisticated and elegant. Everyone in Hollywood feared and adored him. And even in the business world, people always sat up and took notice of every move he made.
But this Guy, oh God...
This Guy in his vomit-splattered overalls with his hair mussed and sweat on his forehead from humble work, this Guy who was choosing grace over pride and service over status, beat all of them because this time he was shining from the inside out.