Halfway to forever by Karen Kingsbury

head. "But this one's more important than anything I've done in a long time."
"Because of Tanner?"
"Yes." Matt's expression was pensive. "Tanner has such passion, Hannah. Such heart for what we do at
the firm. This case mattered a lot to him; its precedent-setting stuff."
Hannah bit her lip, her heart heavy. "And he gave it up for
Jade."
"That's just a glimpse of how much Tanner loves that woman." Matt looked at the ceiling as though he was
searching for the right words, words that might come close to describing the relationship between jade
and Tanner. "He's loved her since he was a boy"
Hannah nodded and tears welled in her eyes. "I know."
Matt narrowed his eyes, his jaw clenched, and stared at her a long moment. "What'll he do if something
happens to her?"
"No." Hannah shook her head. "We can't think that way."
"I know." He hesitated. "I'll be home before Monday I promised Tanner."
Hannah stared at her slippers. "Next Sunday night, before the surgery, let's pray around her hospital bed."
"Definitely" He studied Hannah's face. "God's in control. Nothing will happen to jade that isn't somehow
part of His plan." Tears threatened to spill onto her face and Hannah bit her lip
to keep from crying. "I feel so helpless." She let her head fall against his chest. "Pray that God gives me a
way to help her this week, okay?"
283 Matt nodded. "I will." He glanced at his watch. "I've gotta run. Keep me posted on how she's doing."
"I will." Hannah opened his suit coat and slipped her arms
around him, hugging him long and close, relishing the feel of his
strong, warm body against hers. Since the day they met, Matt had
made her feel safe and protected. And lately-as they shared the
role of parenting Kody-she was falling more in love with him
every day. "I love you."
Matt drew back, his hands still locked near the small of her
back. "I may not have known you since I was a boy, Hannah, but
I've waited a lifetime for you. And now...I can't help but know
that God had me wait because He knew He knew one day a beautiful
woman with a broken heart would come into my life."
He brought his lips to hers and kissed her in a way she would remember all week long. His voice was
thick with emotion when he continued.
"And He knew that only together would either of us find the
strength to love like this."
282
'7W G, q ~ -l#f From the moment he stepped foot in the courtroom, everything that could go wrong for
Matt did.
More than half the jurors were single women in their late thirties and forties. Two jurors were high school
teachers, one a college professor, and two were entertainers-young men who had, respectively, a pierced
eyebrow and tongue, and a full-neck tattoo.
Usually, in the cases he and Tanner handled, it was best to stay away from anyone too liberal or artsy,
anyone in entertainment or academia. Those types of people often, though not always, made jurors who
already had their minds set against anything remotely involving God. Some of them would have bought
completely into the current-day separation of church and state mind-set. There was a chance these people
walked through life believing even the mention of God was illegal.
Matt remembered attending a book conference once in which he and Tanner were promoting a title, Stand