Page 45 of Deliver Me

Gabriel was used to Mia’s visits. He still counted the seconds between them, but she had come as often as possible, and he had stopped getting nervous a long time ago. He knew she would be there; knew she would smile at him and link her fingers with his and they would have a few hours where love mattered more than the obstacles they faced.

It was different when her father came.

He followed her to a table and tried to turn his focus to the man who sat beside her. Pastor Anderson looked exactly the wayGabriel had expected him to—neatly dressed, hair combed just the right way, glasses settled sensibly at the bridge of his nose. He didn’t have the same hidden edge of cruelty in his eyes that Richard had always had, and the laugh lines at his eyes seemed genuine, but he still frowned at Mia’s eagerness for Gabriel’s touch, the easy and casual way that she wrapped her hand around his, her fingers slotting comfortably between his own.

She smiled, ignoring the palpable tension in the air as her father stared him down. It was not the way he would have preferred to meet the parent of the woman he loved, but she was insistent that she wanted them to meet before the trial.

“Gabriel, this is my dad,” she said, cutting into the silence and looking from one of them to the other. “Dad, this is Gabriel.”

He reached out a hand and Pastor Anderson took it, giving it a brief, perfunctory shake. “Nice to meet you finally,” Gabriel said, his gaze shifting from the man to the daughter. He knew this was important to her, and his personal feelings about God and religion aside, he wanted to make her happy.

“Mia’s quite fond of you,” her father said in return—an explanation for his presence more than a return of the greeting. “She’s argued very persuasively on your behalf, but I hope you understand that her happiness, her future, is my top priority.”

Gabriel pulled his eyes away from Mia, met the blunt gaze of the man who clearly didn’t approve of him. “She’s everything,” he said flatly. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t give, nothing I wouldn’t do for her.”

“And if you have to spend the rest of your life in here?”

“Dad,” Mia said quickly, shaking her head.

“Then I’ll be here for her until she doesn’t want me anymore, but I won’t try to stop her if she decides she wants to move on. What’s between us … it’s for Mia, it’s always been for Mia.”

Pastor Anderson didn’t speak much after that and Gabriel knew he was being judged, his every action evaluated, buthe wasn’t worried. He knew every expression that Mia made, every shift in her body language. The subtle flow of unspoken communication in the flick of a glance or the caress of a thumb came as naturally to him as breathing now.

“You really do love her, don’t you?” Pastor Anderson asked. Mia’s seat at the table was empty as she made her customary trip to the vending machine.

“Yes, I really do.”

“You wouldn’t have been my first choice for her, but maybe I would’ve been wrong.” Her dad sighed, casting his eyes heavenward. “She’s never looked at anyone the way she looks at you and it’s obvious her happiness matters to you.”

“She’s my only priority.” Gabriel looked at him, his gaze unflinching. “I mean that.”

“Well, I guess you had better call me Ryan.”

When Mia returned, laughing at the absurdly high mountain of snacks in her arms, there was no tension between them, and when they left, her dad’s handshake was warm and friendly.

“I know you’re soured on God and faith” he said, “and truth be told after what you’ve been through it’s hard to blame you, but I’ll be praying for you, for what it’s worth.”

Gabriel swallowed hard and accepted the gesture for the kindness it was intended to be. “Thanks, I guess it can’t hurt. I heard about what you did for Mia’s friend and you’re a better man than my uncle ever was.”

Mia’s arms around his waist were extra tight when she hugged him goodbye, and he saw the tears she tried to hide as she walked away.

He’d never done anything more important than making sure that the two most important men in her life were united in their understanding of how much she meant to both of them.

Mia shouldn’t have been there, and she knew it. Amy had made it clear that Brittany didn’t want to be contacted, that she had put legal barriers in place to prevent them from asking her for help and Mia had been obedient. She’d closed off the possibility that they could reach Gabriel’s ex-girlfriend for nearly a year, but the date of the trial loomed, large and final and desperate in her mind, until she broke. If there was a chance she could reach Brittany, as she had reached Lilah, it would be worth the consequence she could face for breaking the order.

Brittany’s family was old money, and Mia was surprised when she pulled up to the address in a town several hours away and found the home she lived in was not a mansion, but a quaint two-story house not that different from Mia’s own childhood home. The street was neat and tidy, leaves and flowers barely blossoming in the well-tended yards.

A dog barked inside when she knocked, and then the door opened, and she was standing in the warming spring air and staring with wide eyes at the woman she had come to see. Brittany was a slim brunette with soft features, her looks similar to Mia’s, but her eyes were brown, dark guarded pools that belied her youth.

That look reminded Mia of Gabriel, and the heaviness he carried.

“You’re Brittany,” she blurted, and the other woman smiled slightly in surprise. Mia rushed on before she could speak. “I’m Mia Anderson. You don’t know me, but I was hoping I could have a moment of your time. I’m friends with Gabriel.”

Brittany frowned and crossed her arms over her chest protectively. “I told that private investigator that I don’t wantanything to do with this. I have a life now, a husband and a child. I don’t need my past getting pulled out and examined.”

Mia nodded, holding one hand out beseechingly before Brittany could close the door. “I understand that what I am asking is a lot, but all Gabriel wants is a chance at a life.”

Brittany’s eyes narrowed on her face. “A friend, huh?”

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