Knowing my Dad thinks Noah’s the rogue bandit who’s kidnapped me, while he’s smiling and laughing, telling me to start looking for a place for both of us.
I can’t figure it out, I have to tell him the truth or my brain will burst.
Noah confronts me about freaking out every time I see the police, but it’s only him I’m worried about.
“Can’t you see?” I try and tell him between sobs. “Don’t you get it? Every time I see a police car I think it’s gonna be them taking you away!” I tell him through my tears, almost shouting.
Noah looks totally confused and seeing another rest stop ahead, he pulls over, holding me close as he kisses my head, rubbing my back with his hands as he calms me down.
“Hey! What’s all this about? What’s brought all this on?” he asks in a soothing voice.
I cling to him like a child, feeling like a big baby all of a sudden, but I have to tell him. I can’t hold it in a moment longer.
“My Dad… he thinks you’re the holdup bandit, that you’ve kidnapped me. I just know all those cops are looking for us, for you!” I blurt out, feeling Noah’s huge body rocking under mine as I’m pressed against him.
He’s laughing to himself.
“The holdup bandit? Now, what on earth are you talking about, Faith? Is it because I spied on you, climbed your tree? Why would the cops be after me? And why would I rob anyone?” he asks me, suddenly serious, sounding like the complete voice of reason in his deep and authoritative tone.
“Daddy said there were strangers in the area, the day you showed up. Then I saw the news report and figured he must’ve seen the same ones. He must’ve thought you were one of the bandits after speaking to you… I didn’t tell him you’d left but I never told him you stayed either-”
But Noah cuts me off. “Do you really think I’d do anything like that, Faith? And do you really feel like you’re in any danger with me?” he asks, and I can see the hurt in his eyes, feel it in his touch.
“No!” I tell him. “I know you wouldn’t do anything like that, it’s just after we left I saw the Sheriff’s car heading back to our house and knowing him… Then I saw the news again, with two of the bandits caught and one still at large. Then you talked to my Dad on the phone, making it sound like you had taken me away… making it sound like you’d call him with your demands.”
Noah looks at me sidelong for quite a while, his mouth twisting as he thinks everything through. He runs his hands through his hair and then motions for me to give him my phone.
“I’ll call your father, clear this up right now,” he says, a matter of fact. But I know it won’t be that easy.
All those police, everything, I just know my Dad and that stupid Sheriff Brodie have jumped to conclusions.
“What’s in that case, Noah?” I ask him finally, knowing it breaks our bond of trust if he tells me. But now I just have to know.
I need to know for sure he’s not mixed up in anything else. Even though I trust him with my life, I’m only worried if we’re caught, that he’ll be taken away from me.
That we’ll never get to be an ‘us’ like he’s been planning.
I’ll never see him again, and the past two days will have been a dream that turned into a nightmare.
Noah looks thoughtful for a long time, weighing everything up in his mind that I’ve told him.
“I don’t know exactly what’s in the case, Faith. But I have a fair idea. And, like I said a promise is a promise. A promise I made to a dying woman who helped make me who I am today if you must know.”
He registers my look. My apprehension and my worry for him before he pats my arm gently.
“We’re almost there, Faith. Once we get to the convent, you’ll see. Maybe your Dad and those cops might even see I’m not a bad guy, Faith. I’m just keeping a promise as much as I’m gonna keep the one to you. The one where I tell you everything’s gonna work out fine, and soon, real soon we’ll be together without any worry. How about that?” he asks, squeezing my hand and pecking me on the forehead.
I feel my heart go and my head nod.
“Oh, I want to believe it, Noah I do. But what about-”
His finger’s on my lips and he gives me a knowing look.
“Soon, Faith. Just a few hours more and we’ll have all this behind us, I promise,” he says like he somehow has control over everything.
I believe him though. Noah’s shown me enough of his magic so far, especially between the sheets so I don’t doubt anything else he’s truly capable of.
“But all those police!” I exclaim, sounding more worried than ever before.
“Yeah, well. I haven’t broken the law yet, Faith. Remember that,” he says calmly, slipping the truck back into gear and slowly pulling back out onto the highway.
“Do you wanna call your Dad again?” he asks me, a knowing look that hints I’d better. To explain things properly.
I shake my head firmly.
“We can call him once you do whatever it is you have to do,” I say with renewed determination. “If they’ve got the wrong end of the stick how is that my fault? I’m tired of having to explain myself to everyone anyway. Let’s just go, Noah. Let’s get this done and then it’ll be just like you said – the two of us.”
He smiles and heaves a breath of satisfied relief.
I clutch his arm again as he keeps a steady and very legal pace along the highway.
“Wait a minute,” I announce suddenly. “We’re going to the convent, the one you were raised in?” I ask, totally surprised.
“I wasn’t raised there honey, already mentioned that,” Noah adds patiently, but I can see his hands gripping the wheel tighter, not appreciating the association.
I half-laugh, half-gasp. “Why do we have to go there then?” I ask, feeling lost.
Noah’s eyes meet mine for a moment in the rearview again, giving me that ‘please’ look.
Not a request or a question. Just an order to trust him yet again.
I fold my arms and push myself back in my seat, eyeing him sidelong, just knowing he’s probably up to something fantastic and great.
Something totally not connected with any robbery.
Probably going to save the day somehow.
God how I love him.
“I don’t know about any robbery, Faith. Like I said, I made a promise and I’m keeping it is all,” he reminds me, signaling me to snuggle into him again instead of worrying about other stuff.
“I’m thinking the cooler states,” I tell him, almost whispering.
“Cooler?” he asks, nodding his head with renewed interest at the change of topic. “I like that idea, maybe somewhere with mountains too.”
“Maybe,” I purr, flicking my phone back to life, suddenly interested all over again to find us the perfect house to match the feeling I know we can work on. The life we’ll share together.
Perfect.
My ‘A’ searches turn from Alabama to Alaska, even Australia. I notice they have places there that rarely get over seventy-five degrees, most of the year.
Auckland, New Zealand catches my eye though.
Fifty-five degrees in July.
“Anywhere in the world, huh?” I venture aloud, feeling Noah’s grip tighten on my arm in silent reply.
“As long as you’re with me, I don’t mind where we land, baby. It’s a big world and I’m just glad I plucked you out of it. Wherever you want is just fine.”
All my fear and doubts start to clear.
I feel like an adventure ten times bigger than college is waiting for me. For the rest of my life, and why should I shackle myself to just one place with Noah as my man?
“New Zealand,” he murmurs to himself, curling his lip with satisfaction at the thought.
“Lot of hills and coastline there, the perfect place for an aviation company…” he says, trailing off.
Suppressing a squeal of my own, I open up a few more tabs and start looking at local real estate, as well as learning everything I can
about the place.
“Maybe the perfect place to raise a family, too,” I tease him quietly, pretending not to hear him when he exclaims loudly, demanding to know what I said.
“Oh, nothing,” I murmur, wondering just how good mountain air might be and just how long it might take me to learn how to ski the slopes.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Noah
The next few hours, the last leg of the drive to the city makes my heart sing.
Faith’s mood has lifted too, and now that she has her biggest worries off her chest, it’s time to start looking forward instead of what might be behind us.
She’s so excited at the prospect of not just sharing a place now, but learning to ski and all sorts of other things once she starts to learn more about all the places in the world starting with A.
She’s listing off details of houses, apartments, and chalets. A number of bathrooms, parking spaces, and proximity to schools and shopping centers.
At my insistence, she doesn’t mention prices.
That side of things doesn’t interest me, only her happiness does.
Only her choices.
Like I told her already, whatever she wants, she can have. The first few places she mentions, I’ll admit, sound a little unrealistic.
I mean, do we really just want a three room place with one bathroom and a tiny yard?
No. It’s got to be big enough for us both and to house our future family. I don’t want to get into that too much with her right now, but I sense she’s feeling the same way I do once the places she mentions with more enthusiasm have two stories, three bathrooms, and undercover garages.
Finding the time passes a lot quicker, easier when we’re both in a good mood, the sight of the turnoff and signs we’re getting closer than I thought makes me smile.
Sighing with some relief when I see the old Texas Street Bridge and the familiar skyline of Shreveport in the late afternoon light.
I also feel a little twinge of nostalgia. The city’s grown up and looks bigger, brighter.
My own memories of the place are a little different, and the closer we get to the convent, the more I feel a sense of foreboding I haven’t felt for a very long time.
“You know? I’ve never been to Louisiana,” Faith chimes, looking out the windows and then back to me as if I can tell her a thousand things about the place, but I can’t.
“Not great memories?” she asks, and I nod silently as she squeezes my arm again.
“I know how that can be. I thought coming home after four years would be something special… and it was, I mean. You were there. But what I mean is, the house… Even my Dad. Everything was so…”
“Different,” I murmur bitterly, gripping the wheel tighter and half wishing I could have done this without Faith. So she didn’t have to see the effect this place has on me.
“Oh, Noah. Do we have to? Can’t we keep going, or even turn back? I hate to see you so down on a place,” she says, pleading with me to turn back or drive on if it’s going to be so hard.
A helicopter flying low overhead silences us both as I take the last main turn off to the convent.
“I think we’ve gone just about as far as we can, for now, Faith,” I tell her.
“No matter what happens, we’ll be okay. I haven’t broken any laws and it’s only on a promise that I’m doing this, got it?” I remind her again, grateful when she gives a nod and holds my gaze in the mirror while clutching my hand.
There’s a lot of new buildings, and the streets seem narrower for some reason, but there’s enough of the old neighborhood to bring back decades in a split second.
All the fear, unknown, and anger of a kid who just wanted to be accepted, not even understood.
Just accepted for who he was.
My heart seems to stop for a second and I freeze up, the convent’s not where it should be until I realize I’m two blocks over. Nearest where the old school used to be.
“Almost there,” I tell Faith again, grinding my jaw and looking at the gas gauge, wondering how all this is really gonna pan out.
Turning up, unannounced, and not leaving on the best of terms so long ago.
I hadn’t thought this through with myself in mind, and now I have Faith along with me.
My responsibility too.
That helicopter zooms over us, lower than a bird as I notice Faith following its path with her gaze.
I see the old street, then the old building, a space right out front of the gates.
Here goes nothing.
“Well, here we are,” I announce, trying to sound cheerful but noting Faith’s knowing look as she leans over to peck my cheek.
“Whatever happened, we’re moving past it after today, right?” she asks, reminding me again.
I nod my head gravely and slide out of the truck, almost forgetting the damned case again.
The gate’s unlocked but still as heavy as ever, a huge double wrought iron number from the last century, weighs a ton and even my best right arm has a time making enough room for Faith and I to squeeze through it.
The grounds are still pleasant, with short grass, white roses, and lots of benches and wide-open spaces.
Faith takes my free hand as we wind our way up a half-acre of path to the front doors.
Huge, inlaid wooden things made to look like arches. A heavy cross on each of them. A tiny electric bell next to the one on my side.
Faded plastic, brittle under my finger and not one I hear making a sound once I press it.
“Nobody home?” Faith ventures after almost a full two minutes of waiting.
I feel her shiver next to me, I sniff. Knowing we’re not unnoticed by being here.
“They’ll answer,” I tell her.
And they do.
The huge oak door creaks back before I see a tiny old woman in her nun’s habit, her eyes downcast, her bony finger pointing the way in.
Not the welcome party I was expecting, and a rush of nervous energy ripples across my belly as I hear the door close loudly behind us.
“We’ve been waiting for you, Mr. Templeton,” the old woman says, her voice creaking louder than the door.
She beckons us both to follow her.
A large, wide set of black and white marble stairs lead up to an even wider corridor.
Nothing’s changed in here, the smell, mixed with church incense stings my nostrils and my memory as we obey her command to follow; leading us both to the Mother Superior’s office.
She ushers us in with a jut of her sharp chin, the newest superior swinging around in her chair, smiling a greeting as she eyes me up and down.
“Well! Mr. Templeton, how you have grown into a fine, young man,” she gushes, levering herself up from her chair with her desk and coming over to us both.
She’s tiny, but nobody’s fool. I remember her from thirty years ago as if it was yesterday.
“Sister Montieth,” I murmur, feeling her smooth, gnarled hand in mine as it tightens.
“Mother Superior Montieth,” she barks, dropping my hand and giving Faith a dismissive glance as she eyes my briefcase.
“You’ve finally come!” she says loudly, falling back into her soft chair as if getting up was too much for her, both her hands raised with her eyes to the heavens.
“I have,” I murmur, making my own noise as I slap the case down loudly on her desk, fishing for the key in my pocket.
“Gramma… Uh… She made me promise to bring this to her old home when she passed. In person,” I add, hoping the gravity of my tone adds to the effect that means I want to see what’s in this damned case after so much trouble.
“You haven’t changed a bit,” the old woman says, softening her look to a smile, noting Faith.
“And this is your daughter?” she asks both of us, smiling wider until I tell her no.
“She’s my… well. She’s with me,” I announce gruffly, only making the old nun laugh softly once she raises her eyes, threatening a hearty cough for her efforts.
&
nbsp; “Same old, Templeton,” she sighs again, her chest crackling down to a simmer.
“I suppose I should warn you,” she adds, her smile turning to a smirk.
“We have company. Your little visit has been… anticipated.”
I hear Faith groan softly, and a door to the left opens quickly.
I don’t mind at all, kind of expected something like this really.
All those police, those helicopters so low to the ground in little old Shreveport.
“Daddy!” Faith shrieks, clutching at me first, then crossing the room to rush into his open arms.
A state trooper and a couple of guys in dark, cheap suits that reek of FBI standing close by. Their eyes daring me to do something.
Anything.
But I know I’ve got nothing to hide.
“The police were kind enough to call ahead, let us know you were coming, Noah,” The old nun croaks, eyeing the case again.
“We were told someone kidnapped a young girl, robbed an armored car with some friends,” she says, sounding eternally disappointed.
“Didn’t think it would be you though,” she adds, her eyes twinkling a little with amusement.
Faith pipes up. Loudly.
“Dad! It’s not true, I went with Noah of my own free will. Why he hasn’t stolen anything. He came all the way across six states to return something, not take anything!”
I hear my teeth snap shut, sucking some air in and cocking my own brow. Eyeballing the old nun, then the police, and finally the preacher.
He’s bigger than I imagined, and I nod slowly to myself, watching his hands grip his only daughter as he holds her so close.
So sure that he’s saved her from something more terrible than her own love.
My eyes move to Faith’s, calming her. Communicating to her I’ll sort all this out in a moment.
Her look has gone from worry to panic in a second, and it tears me up inside.
My first reflex is to start swinging punches, but something inside me knows that once that case is open, all will be revealed.
I don’t know how, or even why. But old Gramma’s voice is in my mind, urging me to be still. To be quiet. Like she always did when I felt my temper get the better of me.
“You think I’d leave you in the lurch? Leave you alone in your finest hour? Have faith boy. You got to have Faith.”
Preacher's Daughter: An Instalove Possessive Age Gap Romance Page 10
