Faith and Devlin stood side by side, waiting. While Devlin stood perfectly still, unmoved and unmoving, Faith was a ball of nerves.She was fidgeting, counting and recounting things off her fingers, pulling at her clothes, fixing his over and over and over again."Stop fidgeting," Devlin said, softly prying her hands off his shirt which she was fixing for the seventh time."I can't help it!" "Everything is going to be fine. Just relax.""What if I forgot something important?""Then we'll sort it out later. The way you're acting one would think it was the Queen of England coming to visit and not your mom." He laughed."My mom is the Queen of our family," she retorted with a laugh.Ever since her call with her mother that night when she announced that she would be coming to visit for the weekend, Faith's nerves had been in a knot.She was so excited to see her mom. She wanted everything to go perfectly on the visit. Apparently, her mom had gotten some time off to rest and decided to vi
Faith laughed. "No, mama. Devlin and I got these for you to wear while you're here."She blinked. "I'll be here for three days. There are enough clothes here to last me two weeks.""The rest of them will be shipped home for you.""Where in the world would I wear these to? Cleaning Mrs Sheffield's house?""How about to church?"Her mum scanned through the clothes again and shook her. "Did you pick these out?""Devlin and I did, ma." She unconsciously reverted to what she called her mum as a child as she anxiously waited for her mum's approval of the clothes. I guess no matter how old you grew, you always still want your mother's approval. Finally, her mum smiled. "They are very nice. Thank you." Faith's face broke into a smile too."You must be hungry, ma'am," Devlin spoke up. He'd been standing silently, waiting for them to finish."Hunger is something I'm used to," she said dismissively."Well then if you don't mind, I'm a little hungry and I'll like for us to head out to lunch.""O
Faith came out of the bathroom, blotting the last drops of water from her face with a towel. Her mum was already washed and dressed in one of the nightwear they put in the wardrobe.Despite himself, Devlin had graciously offered to drive them back to Greenfield so that Faith could pack up everything she would need for the next two days.But he did it begrudgingly, muttering under his breath all the way, which was completely oblivious to her mum. Faith would have laughed if she wasn't frustrated herself. They'd been taking things slow... extremely slow...but the things they did do were super exciting and she wanted him, needed him.But at the same time, she really did miss her mum and would love to spend some more time with her.Plus her mum was not one to waste words and if she said they had lots to talk about, then it must be important."Come here." Mum patted the space on the bed in front of her.Faith crawled in, sitting cross-legged in front of her mother.She took Faith's head i
Faith held on to her mum for a few more minutes. "I wish you didn't have to go."Mum chuckled. "I think your dad and siblings would have something to say about that."She released her. "I'm so glad you came to visit, ma. I missed you a lot."She took Faith's face in her hand and kissed her cheek. "I'm glad I came to see you too. And I had a lot of fun, thank you." She directed the last part to Devlin.He smiled and nodded. "I'm happy you're happy.""I have to get on now or the train will leave me behind."Faith nodded, letting her go. Devlin rolled her new bag into the train. It was much bigger than the one she came in because it now held all the clothes they bought her and other things they got the day before.They had a wonderful day which included watching a movie, shopping for gifts for her dad and siblings, and eating at some nice restaurants.Faith rubbed a tear from her face as she waved one final time to her mum. Devlin put his hands around her shoulder."Are you okay?" "I'm
Faith was having a busy day. Not only did she have multiple classes but she also had an assignment to complete before tomorrow.Somehow, it had completely skipped her mind that the deadline was so close with all the excitement of the weekend.So there she was slaving away in the library all evening after a full day of lectures. She knew she probably looked harried and drawn but what was a girl gonna do?Even though she had no plans to see Devlin today, she'd still sent him a text saying she'd be busy at the library all evening.With Devlin, you could never be sure what his next move would be. He could easily show up to whisk her off to some place or the other.She recalled what happened at his house a couple of days ago. She'd known that he did something on his phone but never in her wildest dream could she have predicted what it was until she saw it on her phone.She'd picked up her phone and seen a message from her bank notifying that a hundred thousand dollars had been transferred
"Now why, oh why, would she do that?" Devlin sauntered over to them and stood with his arms folded, staring down the kid.Ernie had a shocked and scared look on his face. He looked from Devlin to Faith and then back. Faith felt bad for the poor kid.She stood and smacked Devlin's arm. "Shush!" She began to apologize in whispers to everyone who'd looked up at the sound of his voice.But now most of them had recognized him and they stared at him instead of acknowledging her apologies.She quickly realized that they'd clocked his identity because she promptly grabbed her stuff and stuffed them into her bag."I'm so sorry about this, Ernie," she whispered urgently. "I'll talk to you later." She all but dragged Devlin out of there before any phones could fly out and start clicking away.Once they cleared the library, she rounded on him. "What the hell did you do that for!?""Do what? I only asked a question.""Do you or do you not understand what a library is? Why did you just shout like t
"Hi," Devlin said quietly."Hi, I was just about to call you," Faith answered.There was silence on the line for a few seconds then he spoke. "I'm sorry about--"At the same time, Faith started, "I wanted to apologize--"They both stopped and laughed. "You go first," Faith said."Okay. I was saying that I'm sorry about what happened. I shouldn't have reacted that way. I could have just trusted you, waited and then asked you about it later instead of flipping out.""And I wanted to apologize for reacting rashly as well. I know you only reacted that way because you care about me.""We could have both handled that a whole lot better.""Yes, we could have." Faith curled up on her bed. "Thank you for the food as well. I didn't realize I was starving until I opened the bag.""I knew you wouldn't remember to eat."She giggled. "Now that I have you, I don't ever have to remember again.""I suppose that is right," he said gravely.They both laughed. "You know, there is nothing going on between
"Just spit it out already, what is the surprise?""Not what...who, and he is behind you right now."They both whipped around so fast, Faith thought they would fall off their chairs. Devlin stood beaming at them."Hello," he said casually, coming to sit beside her.They both stared at him, dumbfounded with surprise.He'd dressed up for the occasion in a crisp black shirt and trousers. Faith thought he looked really good but then again, she was probably biased.They were on side of the table while Sheila and Adele were on the other side, facing them.Sheila recovered first. "Devlin Banks is our surprise? What are we supposed to do? Eat him? I probably wouldn't mind that though." She gave him a cursory look over in a playful manner."Sheila!" Adele gasped. "I'm so sorry about her. She's like that."Devlin laughed. "I've heard so much about her, I knew exactly what to expect.""See? I can be myself," she said to Adele.The girl shook her head at her friend. "I've always wanted to meet you