It had been twenty-four years since I’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Yes, the Hope for Young daycare had not changed a bit. The same dull smell of baby spit-up, the soft cries of infants who were missing their mothers, and the ever so messy playroom. I hadn't been to this place since I was four years old. It was my day off today, so I took my nephew, a three-year-old boy named Arnold Wilcher, to the daycare where Rebecca, the girl who I was dating, worked. As Arnold played, my thoughts wandered to what happened yesterday. Rebecca was strangely upset when we got the news that we had won a dating couples contest called Lovebirds. I called her to ask what it was all about, and she said that we would go out tonight and she would tell me all about it then. I don't know what I thought going to the daycare would do for me, ease my curiosity, maybe, but whatever I thought it would do, it wasn't working. I had been sitting there for ten minutes, and besides a few dirty looks, Rebecca had paid no attention to me whatsoever. I eventually worked up the nerve to go and talk to her.

"Hey, Beccy, how's it going?" I asked when I reached her. She just rolled her eyes and answered,

"Don't call me Beccy."

"Are you doing okay, I feel like you've lost your optimistic touch."

"Can we just talk tonight?"

"Sure, if you want to," Rebecca replied.

"One last thing, you seem, well, happy. Not grumpy like you usually are," Rebecca questioned.

"Well, I only have two options about what it might be. It may be because you seem grumpy today, and we can't have two grumps, or maybe someone very special brought it out of me." 

"Who do you think that special someone might be?" Rebecca asked, her frown slowly becoming a smile. 

"Mike Trout, I watched baseball this morning, and he made three home runs!" Rebecca's smile fell. "I'm just kidding, of course, it's you." Rebecca threw her arms around me but stopped hugging when she remembered that we were in a playgroup, and employees were not allowed to show affection on duty. The rest of the day went great. I took Arnold home at noon and, for the rest of the day, I planned what I was going to say at our date. Rebecca even stopped by for lunch. The hour came when it was time to leave for the date, so I drove to The Mill (Rebecca's favourite restaurant and a diner I've come to love). When I got in, Rebecca wasn't there yet, so I chose a table and ordered. Five minutes later, Rebecca arrived. She ordered, and we started talking.

"So, you said we could talk tonight, and it's tonight, so what happened last night?"

Rebecca took a deep breath. "It's all simple, really. Did you meet Jasper Clark, Katherine Hampton's fiancé?"

"Yes, he was nice," I answered.

"Did he tell you anything about his financial situation?"

"He said he wanted to win to get more marriage funding or something like that."

"Well not only did they need good marriage funding, but he was also in debt."

"Really?"

"Well, not in big debt, only a couple thousand dollars, but still."

"Oh," I answered, "she trusted you a lot with her personal life."

"I think I was the only person left she could talk to."

"What about Jasper?"

"He's good to her, but he doesn't like to discuss issues much."

"Oh, so how is this your fault?"

"I decided that I would get the answers wrong to give her a winning chance, but when I got in there, I just couldn't, I wanted to win so badly that I tried as hard as I could to win."

"Well, at least you didn't tell anybody, so everyone expected you to try your hardest."

"But that's the problem, I told Kathrine that I would, in those few minutes that we talked, Kathrine and I became good friends, I even suggested that we swap email addresses so that we could email each other. Now I've been avoiding my emails because I'm dreading seeing the one from Kathrine asking why I won!"

"Hmmm, that is a big dilemma."

"I know.

"Wait! I have an idea! You said that you swapped email addresses. what if we explain the situation to Kathrine and Etranfer her the money!"

"Oh, ya! Why didn't I think of that?" Rebecca and I had a nice rest of the dinner.

At the end of our supper, I took a small box out of my pocket, knelt down on one knee, opened the box, and presented it to Rebecca.

"Rebecca Farmer, will you marry me?" I asked.

"I hope so." She replied. This response startled me because I was expecting a straight yes or no (preferably a yes).

"What do you mean 'you hope so'?"

"Well, don't you think that we should date a little bit more before we decide to go off and get married. I mean, we've only been dating for a month, what if we come across a deal-breaker? "

"Then we can work it out, and keep going with our marriage."

"But I have a huge dealbreaker, and I won't marry you unless it's true, but if it's not, you can't do it for me, you do it for him."

"Rebecca, what are you talking about?" I asked, concern bubbling in my voice.

"I'm a Christian, and I can't marry someone who's not."

"Well, what do you want me to do? I can pray, go to church, any of that religious stuff. I'd do anything for my girl." 

"No, that's exactly what I was talking about. I believe in Jesus, so if you don't that would be a sin for me to marry you. The Bible says 'Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?' So that means if I'm with someone who isn't a Christian, they could pull me away from my faith, and Jesus is more important to me than any human man."

"So are you calling me lawless, and dark?" I asked, anger burning inside me.

"No, but you need to get the point-"

"Oh, I get the point alright," I yelled as I stormed out of the restaurant.

***

"Dear God, it's me, Rebecca. You saw what happened today at the restaurant, and, even though it's hard to believe, you love Phillip more than I do. Please help him come to you. Change his heat, help him to know you, not just for me, no, not for me at all, for you. Amen."

Rebecca laid down in her bed that night knowing that God had heard her prayer and that he would do his will in the situation, and that was all that mattered.  

 To Be Continued...