He wasted a glance Chad’s way to see him pouting but that was all he took in before he smelled Blake’s perfume and felt her hand slide through his elbow.
He looked down at her.
“Let’s go,” she whispered.
Taking her in, Dair completely forgot Chad Head, and for Blake’s part, she didn’t even look at him. It was like the man wasn’t even there.
She’d been doing well these past few days. Not entirely herself, but the day she woke up at Treverton, and once Alex showed, she was no longer the walking dead.
Now, she seemed hazy, unsettled.
He pulled her closer to his side and moved to where Ned, Rix and Alex were standing, waiting for them to walk into the sanctuary.
Their other friends had entered the cathedral proper.
After they arrived at her family, they stood there as Nora approached.
“The choir will begin singing ‘Jerusalem’ once I sit down,” she told them. “Just walk down slowly and take your seats. And the service will begin.”
She squeezed Alex’s hand, Blake’s arm and hurried down the aisle of the very full church to where Jamie sat with Judge and Chloe, Hale and Elsa, and JT and Laird.
“Ye all right, lass?” Dair whispered.
She was gazing at her father, but at his words, she looked up at him.
Then she got on her toes and said in his ear, “Marlo should be here for him.”
The week Blake was in New York, Marlo had been traveling for work, and because of that, a meeting couldn’t be arranged.
Now, Dair studied Ned, and he saw for the first time how Helena’s death had impacted him. His bearing was straight, his jaw strong, but there was a haunted feel to him.
“Take your sister and go to him,” Dair urged as the opening notes to the hymn began.
“But you?—”
“Get Alex and go. Rix and I will follow.”
“You’ll meet me in the front pew?”
This was the decision. Even if he didn’t think they were there yet in their relationship for him to have that place of honor during these proceedings, Blake had insisted on it.
And if she needed him there, he was there.
“Aye, lass, I’ll meet ye. Ned’s about to enter the sanctuary. Go.”
She released his arm and scurried to Ned, tagging Alex’s hand and dragging her sister along with her.
Alex read the situation instantly and they both took one of Ned’s arms, to the man’s open surprise. Ned glanced back at Rix and Dair as they formed together behind the trio.
Dair nodded to Blake’s father.
The choir started singing and Ned led his girls into the cathedral.
Dair and Rix followed.
He felt a muscle jump up his cheek when he came abreast of the row his mum and sister were in, both stiff-backed and staring straight ahead.
This was because his father was sitting in the row with them.
