A Friendly Wager

I’m happy to be posting the final excerpt from Come My Beloved: Inspiring Stories of Catholic Courtship. This story is entitled, “A Friendly Wager,” and is the courtship story of Mark and Yvette Bourque.

Mark: I was attracted to Yvette’s curly dark hair as it was long and big and attractive. The more I got to know her, the more I realized that she was a smart, fun and happy person, the kind of person that I wanted to be with all the time. She has a beautiful smile and is a beautiful woman. We started off as friends. I had a friend who really liked her and I didn’t want to intrude on his infatuation, but at the same time, once I knew she wasn’t interested in him, I wanted to continue our relationship.

Yvette: Mark told me that his friend was interested in me, but I wasn’t interested in his friend at all. One night Mark and the two guys he lived with were having a dinner party, so he invited me and several other people to come over. While we were talking, I got the idea that I’d like to invite him to my nursing graduation.

Mark: When she invited me to her graduation, I thought, This is great! I got to meet her dad and her family. It was just like everything fell into place.

Yvette: Mark was more of a gentleman than I had been used to dating, so we had a very good time.

Right after my nursing graduation, I went away to Bermuda for seven days. I didn’t see him for a week, but many times while I was in Bermuda, I was thinking that I would like to be back home, to be with Mark.

When we got back, I teased and challenged him by saying, “There’s no way you’re going to make it to church tomorrow because it’s really late and I doubt you’re going to be able to get up.”

He said, “Oh, yes I will. I’ll be at church tomorrow.” So we had this little bet, this friendly wager, going.

I said, “How will I know you made it to church?”

He said, “Well, do you want to come?”

I said, “Are you inviting me?”

He said, “Yeah, but you probably won’t make it either. You’re never going to get up that early. I go to church at nine.”

I said, “Okay. We’ll see. I’ll be there.”

I am a bit stubborn. If I make a bet with somebody, I don’t like to lose. So I set my alarm clock. I got up and I met him at the door of his house. He was just walking out to his car. Of course, he was shocked that I was there, and I was surprised that he was awake too. So I followed him to church.

I hadn’t been to church in years so I didn’t know when to stand, sit or kneel. I didn’t know any of the responses, except the Our Father. Several of the pews were taken up by his family members (he’s from a large family of 11 kids). After church, we went back to his parents’ house because every Sunday involves brunch at his mom and dad’s. So I met his family. I was attracted to the fact that he was very committed to his faith and to his church. I had never met a guy that went to church, let alone, of his own free will, without being forced to go by his parents.

Mark: The invitation to church was one of our first dates. At the time, I was praying for a spouse, for a lifelong partner. I had dated other women, but it just didn’t seem like there were any sparks there or anything that jumped out at me like – this is the one – until I met Yvette. When that happened, I knew my prayers had been answered.

Mark and Yvette Bourque live in Petawawa, Ontario. Their courtship story can be found in its entirety in Come My Beloved: Inspiring Stories of Catholic Courtship, which will be released on June 15th.