Finally Finding Faith (The Reed Brothers 3.5)

“We’re in a church,” I whisper to him playfully.

“I know,” he whispers back. He looks into my face again. “Don’t waste a minute, Faithy,” he says. “You understand?”

“I think I do.”

“Even on a day like today, grab love when it comes to you.” He looks over my shoulder and smiles. I turn around and I freeze. Standing in the doorway is Daniel. He’s dressed in his Class A’s, and he’s so amazingly handsome that he takes my breath.

I look at Granddad because I almost feel like I need permission to be happy today. It almost feels wrong. But it feels so right, too. “Grab it, Faith,” he whispers vehemently. “Never let it go.”

He walks by me and out the door. “Daniel,” I breathe.

Daniel hasn’t moved. He’s holding a rose in his hand and he’s smiling. I wipe the tears from my face and then I give it up. I run toward him and hit him square in the chest. He wraps his arms around me and holds me tightly. I almost knock him over, but he just laughs and holds me close. I sob into his dress uniform, but he doesn’t seem to mind.

“Hey, Faith?” he finally says, when my sobs have quieted.

I look up at him. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

He brushes the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs and looks at my lips like he wants to kiss me. “I have one question for you,” he says.

“What?” I ask.

I look into his brown eyes and want to fall into them and stay there.

“Do you have panties on?” he asks playfully. He tugs a lock of my hair.

I laugh. I can’t help it. It was exactly what I needed. He is what I need. “I do,” I say. “But you can fix that later.”

He freezes in my arms, his body tensing. “Promise?” he whispers.

“I swear it,” I say. I step onto my tiptoes and press my lips to his. Our first kiss. He tests me, his mouth tentative and soft. It’s sweet and respectful. But that’s not what I want. I nip his lower lip with my teeth.

He groans. “We’re in a church,” he pulls his head back to say.

“I know, but Granddad just dropped the f-bomb on me, so I think a kiss is okay.” I giggle. It’s a watery sound, but I’m so happy he’s here. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

“You couldn’t have thought I would miss this day,” he says, tipping my face up. “I know how much she meant to you.”

“How long can you stay?” I ask.

“As long as you’ll have me,” he says.

My heart leaps. There’s a knock on the door so I push it open and find Granddad on the other side. “They’re seating the family,” he says.

Daniel takes his hand from mine to go sit with the visitors and I feel the loss of him immediately. I start to protest, but before I can, Granddad shoos us forward and tells the ushers, “He’s family. Let him through.”

Daniel smiles and comes with us, sliding into the bench seat. He leans across my body to shake hands with my dad, and I am so happy he’s here that I can’t sit even an inch away from him. I don’t just hold his hand. I wrap my arm through his and hold him tightly. Mom smiles at me and winks.

I lay my head on his shoulder through the service and feel him clutch my hand tighter when I start to sob. He is my strength today. I’ll be his another day. That’s how it works, right?

Daniel

We sat through the service and the gathering afterward, and I’m a little surprised when Faith’s grandfather pulls me to the side, because his apartment is still full of people. Nan was well loved, apparently. He leads me to his office where he pours two snifters of some kind of amber liquid. He hands one to me and clinks glasses with me.

I lift it to my lips because I don’t want to be rude. It burns the whole way down. “It’ll put hair on your chest,” he says.

I laugh and take another sip. I don’t typically drink. And really don’t want this, but he’s drinking his. I can’t imagine how hard today is for him.

“I have something for you,” he says. He opens his desk drawer and hands me a small jewelry box.

“It was Nan’s,” he says. He swallows so hard that I can hear it. “She would want her to have it.”

I pop the box open and see a matching wedding set. My eyes open wide and I look up at him. “Umm,” I say.

“Grab love when you find it, son,” he says. He raises a brow at me. “You were planning to ask her, weren’t you?” he asks. “Her father said you called him last week.”

“Yes, sir,” I croak out. I didn’t expect this, though. This kind of support is something I haven’t had in a long time, except from my team and Faith.

He lifts his glass to me. “Don’t waste a minute,” he says over the rim. “Not a single minute.” His eyes fill with tears and he motions toward the door. “Now get out of here and leave me with my grief for a second.”

“Thank you, sir,” I say. “I promise I’ll take care of her.”

He snorts. “I know. Because I’ll have to kill you if you don’t. I hate to get blood on my hands.” He looks so serious. I can’t tell if he’s joking or not. But then he snorts again. He motions toward the door. “Out,” he says.

I step into the hallway and run into Pete Reed, the man who walked me to the clock shop that first night. His hands are full of boxes of cake. “Pete,” I say.