Page 126 of My Vows Are Sealed

“You’re family. You both are,” she said, giving me a sad smile. Then she looked at Gloria. “You’re Darla’s mom, right? Gloria?”

Gloria nodded, wiping a few tears off of her cheeks with her fingers.

“It’s really nice to finally meet you. I’m Kate.”

“I’m Ash,” Ashton supplied.

“Dar’s been staying with Kate. Ash is her…” I trailed off, not really sure how exactly to identify their relationship. Ashton wasn’t male or female, so what title did I give them to describe what they were to Kate?

“I’m her Ash. Why do we need to have labels?” Ashton said, pulling Kate back into their arms.

Kate turned bright pink and turned her face into their chest. They pressed their lips to her hair, chuckling, and I couldn’t help but join in. As sad as I was going to be to see them leave in a few weeks, I was glad they’d been able to get into the same school so they could go to college together. Maybe a lot of high school romances didn’t last, but I had a feeling that they’d end up beating the odds just like Darla and I would. They loved each other too much not to stay together.

Gloria smiled as a few more tears built up in her eyes. “It’s so nice to meet you both. I wish I could say I’ve heard a lot about you, but…I think she didn’t tell me much because of my husband.”

“It’s okay. We know that,” Kate assured her, peeking her face out again. “Butwe’veheard so much aboutyou, it kind of feels like we know you already.”

“Kate, Ash, this is our youth pastor, Peter, and his wife, Marie,” I said.

Ashton gave Peter and Marie a hesitant smile, like they weren’t sure how two people from our church would react. And, of course, Peter just grinned and extended a hand toward them. Ashton shook his hand first, and then Kate.

“It’s nice to meet you both,” Peter said.

“I think I’ve heard a little more about you two than Gloria has. At least what I’ve overheard Brendan, Darla, and Naomi saying about you at church over the past few years,” Marie chuckled as she shook their hands. “It’s nice to finally put faces with names.”

“Same,” Ashton said, looking like the weight of the world had been lifted off of their shoulders.

I hated that so many people who called themselves Christians had been so horrible to Ashton that they didn’t feel like they could trustanyonewho went to church anymore. Jesus taught love and acceptance, and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how that had been twisted into hatred and judgment.

Before anyone could say anything else, the door to Darla’s room opened, and a young woman with a police badge around her neck came out.

“Wow. There’s more of you now,” she chuckled.

“How is she?” Gloria asked.

“She’s hurt, and she’s still waiting on radiology and the doctor, but she’s a strong young lady. I think she’ll be just fine,” the detective informed us.

“Can we go in and see her now?” I asked.

She nodded, and before she could say another word, I was walking past her and into the room.

“Brendan,” Darla gasped. “Oh, my God.”

I cleared the distance to her bedside in two strides and kissed her until I had no oxygen left in my lungs, not even bothering to try stopping the tears that pooled in my eyes. I didn’t give a shit that her mother, our youth pastor, and eighty percent of our friends were right here watching. I needed this. Tofeelthat she was alive. To know that she was here and her father hadn’t won.

“Please say you’re okay, Dar,” I rasped, resting my forehead against hers. “Please.”

“Everything hurts,” she sniffled. “I know my arm and at least one rib are broken, but they haven’t come to get me for x-rays yet. But they said it seems like the baby’s okay. My dad kept trying to tell them to…to…”

Darla broke down in tears, and I held her as tightly as I dared to. I didn’t need her to finish that sentence to know where she was going with it. I’d walked in on her father trying to kick her in the stomach. I knew he would have tried any way he could to kill our child. Thank God the doctors hadn’t listened.

“It’s okay, baby,” I whispered, kissing her head. “It’s okay. You’re safe now. I’m never going to let him hurt either one of you again.”

“The…the baby?” Gloria asked hesitantly.

Damn it. Of all the ways Darla’s mother – and our youth pastor – could have found out about this pregnancy, this was probably the worst one. I’d hoped we would have been able to sit down with them and tell them privately, not have it blurted out in the middle of a hospital room while Darla was battered and bruised and broken.

Darla’s eyes went wide, full of a mixture of shock and fear.

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