Grace Alive (A Christian Romance)

Part 18

Chapter 18

The rest of the week was weird. My parents kind of avoided me. Dad came to my room one night and tried to reason with me, but I just pushed his condemnation to the side. He was trying to guilt me into leaving Branson, and that wasn’t going to happen. I just heard the Holy Spirit encourage me more about it each time my dad said the opposite. Wednesday was a little awkward with Jacob when he tried to approach me, but I avoided him the whole night. The weekend was coming fast, and I felt nervous about skipping our church for Grace Alive. I’d told my dad, and he just rebuked the crap out of me.

Sunday morning rolled around, and Branson was waiting outside my house for me. I hurried outside wearing a solid black shirt that had glitter along one shoulder, a dark purple skirt that ruffled, and my tall black boots. My hair was swept to the side in ringlets. I got into Branson’s car, and he grinned at me.

“You look great!” We’d talked on the phone a lot the last couple days, and he’d been helping me deal with my parents’ disapproval.

“Thanks, Branson,” I said and turned around to blow kisses at the three little munchkins in the backseat.

“Hi, guys!” I said.

“Zoe! Zoe!” the twins said together and giggled. Bree chuckled and cooed, her sisters tickling her tummy.

“Let’s go to church!” Branson said, and we rolled out of my driveway. My parents had already left for the morning for which I was grateful. I really didn’t want them to see the kids just yet; they would flip a lid. The ride to Grace Alive was filled with silly singing, giggles, and Bree throwing up on herself. That part wasn’t the best, but luckily Branson was used to this kind of thing and had brought three sets of clothes with him. He shouldered a backpack and unbuckled Bree, while I helped the twins out of their seats.

When we were all finally out of the car, we started walking toward Grace Alive. It was a barn. What! It was the most unusual building I had ever seen. There was a field, a fence, and a big old barn sitting in the middle of it all. There were cars scattered all over the place, and little kids running around near a small jungle gym that had been set up. The twins wanted to run and play with the other kids, so Branson let them run off.

“There’s some ushers that keep an eye on them. I’ll just go change Bree really quick.” We stepped inside the barn, and I looked up in surprise. It was the most untraditional looking church I had ever seen; the ceiling was high, and there was lights strung on the beams like a barn dance, the floor was cement and older chairs were lined up in several rows. People were mingling and drinking coffee, and I heard the worship team warming up. We were around forty-five minutes early.

“Hi, guys!” he said to a few people who were standing in a group. “This is Zoe! I’ll be right back. Gotta clean puke off Bree Bree.” He tickled the little girl’s neck and she giggled.

“Oh, I’ll change her, Branson!” a girl with an extremely short haircut said with a smile. She was dressed in a solid black dress and had a hot pink shoulder bag, looking kind of Goth to me.

“Thanks, Alison, that’d be awesome.” He handed the little girl over to the woman who instantly started cooing to the baby.

“Who’s all stinky, aw, Bree Bree, did you spit up?” She took the baby away, toting the backpack on her shoulder. I watched her go in wonder.

“Your girlfriend is amazing, Jack,” Branson said to a tall, skinny guy with a slightly crooked nose. The tall guy nodded and smiled.

“She’s great,” Jack said. The others in the group started all talking, and I wasn’t sure what to say.