Page 59 of Intimately Faithful

“But?”

He sipped his own hot drink and ran a hand through his messy hair and let his legs stretch out in front of him. He’d always loved this church. From the moment he’d unlocked the doors on his first day, he’d felt welcome… at home. The feeling was no less true now, even when his head and his heart were in a slight turmoil of uncertainty.

“She has a child with her.”

Robert didn’t miss a beat. “Not yours, I take it. You don’t think you can accept someone else’s child?”

“No, it’s not that. I’ve taken to her, so I have. Misha is a darling princess, and I suspect she’d wrap me around her little finger as easy as her mammy can. No, it’s not that at all. I’d love any baby of Aoife’s.” he amended with the truth. “I want all her babies to be mine, or I did. But I would accept them.”

“What’s the problem, Daniel?”

“Some trouble with the father. Aoife just turned up looking for refuge. And I’m worried once it’s dealt with, hopefully it is soon. I wonder if…”

“If you’ll lose her as quickly as she’s returned?”

Enslaved in the sight, smell and knowledge that Aoife was back again, he damn well was fearful of how long she’d stay.

It sounded ridiculous because he was still thinking of ways to get her out of the country and yet he couldn’t think of her leaving either.

“I’m afraid of what I’ll do…become… to keep her.”

“You realize you’re talking about love?” Robert said with a smile to his eyes. He sipped on his tea and helped himself to another of the ginger snap biscuits Cora stocked in the tin. “You’re compartmentalizing yourself, Daniel, into who you were and who you are now. You think somehow you’d act differently with Aoife because of who you’ve grown into. But it’s all love. You are not two different men. You’re just in a different place in your life. You love her and a man in love will do anything he must to keep it. If he’s smart. Ask my Mariah.” He grinned again.

Danny adored Robert’s wife. She’d welcomed him—drug addict and lowlife, into her home with no questions asked when he was at his lowest point and she’d made him part of her family.

“She’s staying with me, her and her baby.” Danny confessed, as if he expected Robert to look at him with judgment when he knew the man was far from it. “She’s in my bed.” There it was. The slight guilt of it.

He loved her with his everything but on some level, because he didn’t know whether she was staying or going once she was no longer in danger, he felt unsettled.

Would Danny even matter? Right now he was a safety for her, but what’s to say how Aoife would feel once there was no danger keeping her here.

He felt guilty for sleeping with her, for giving in to his desires as easily as he had.

He wanted permanently. He didn’t do hook-ups. He could have slept with half of the town’s female population; they didn’t hide the fact they were attracted to the new pastor over the years. Too many of them brought him food and offered themselves at the same time.

None of them had been hard to turn down.

Beside him on the wooden bench, Robert didn’t chuckle, but he looked pleased when Danny cast a side glance. “It’s about time, you’re not made to be alone, son. You’ve talked of her often, a lot in those early days, and I knew she was the one, regardless of her not being around. You know as well as I do the signs we’re given to what is meant to be.” Then added. “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your path.”

“Proverbs. 16.3,” half-smiled Danny, the tightness loosening in his chest. “I keep hearing;Whatever exists has already been named, and what humanity is has been known; no one can contend with someone who is stronger.But I don’t know if I’m trying to justify what I’m doing.”

Robert looked on in earnest as he finished off his tea. “If you’re connecting with Ecclesiastes 6:10 you know it’s for a reason, Daniel. No one is judging you. Not me. Not Him. Only yourself. Mariah would tell you to stop being a stupid man and talk to your girl.”

Danny laughed lightly. She would too. Mariah was about as outspoken as they came. “I always said she was the smart one in your marriage.”

“I can’t deny it. You and Aoife were too young to deal with the kind of feelings you had in your younger years. You’re both in a different mindset now. You’re certainly more mature if this isn’t the life she wants. Talk to her about what you’re thinking.”

“Your answer to anything is to talk,” Danny scoffed good naturedly.

“I don’t think it would sound right one pastor telling another to go and climb back into bed with his lady. But if that’s what you need, son.” Danny, more relaxed now, was in the middle of a barrel laugh when the door from the side opened suddenly and brought the cooler temperature inside along with a ginger haired girl holding a baby.

It was so resonate of several nights ago his heart seized seeing Aoife fresh from sleep with pillow marks on her cheek, dressed in oversized PJ’s and his T-shirt, and her wild mane cascading down over her shoulders.

He was up off his seat in seconds, striding towards her with his heart in his mouth, love pounding his temples.

The answer was simple really.

Looking at her.

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