“I do,” she said. “I want to. I want to give him the house. I mean, for money, but I want him to have it.”
“Well, he’s the asshole who has to live in the house designed by his ex, I guess,” Joshua said.
She sighed heavily. “I know what you’re thinking—you’re thinking that you were right, and you warned me. But youweren’tright. Whatever you think happened between Levi and I, you’re wrong.”
“So he didn’t defile you?” Joshua asked.
“No,” Faith said, not backing down from the challenge in her brother’s eyes. “He definitely did. But I love him. And I don’t regret what happened. I can’t. It was a mistake. But it was my mistake. And I needed to make it.”
“Faith,” Joshua said, “I know it seems like it sometimes, but I promise, you don’t have to justify yourself to me. Tell us. I know what I said about optics, but that was before I realized... Hell,” he said, “it was before I realized what was going on. I’m sorry that you got hurt.”
“I’ll survive,” she said, feeling sadly like she might not.
“Faith,” Isaiah said, her older brother looking uncharacteristically sympathetic. “Whatever happens,” he said, “sometimes a person is too foolish to see what’s right in front of them. Sometimes a man needs to be left on his own to fully understand what it was he had. Sometimes men who don’t deserve love need it the most.”
“Do you mean you?” she asked.
He looked at her, his eyes clear and focused. And full of more emotion than she was used to seeing on him. “Yes. And it would be hypocritical of me to accept the love I get from Poppy and think Levi doesn’t deserve the chance to have it with you. Or maybedeserveis the wrong word. It’s not about deserving. I don’t deserve what I have. But I love her. With everything. And it took me a while to sort through that. The past gets in the way.”
“That’s our problem,” she said. “There’s just too much of the past.”
“There’s nothing you can do about that,” Isaiah said. “The choice is his. The only question is...are you going to wait for him to figure it out?”
“I vote you don’t,” Joshua said. “Because you’re too good for him.”
“I vote you decide,” Isaiah added, shooting a pointed look at Joshua. “Because you probably are too good for him. But sometimes when a woman is too good for a man, that means he’ll love her a hell of a lot more than anyone else will.” He cleared his throat. “From experience, I can tell you that if you’re hard to love, when someone finally does love you, it’s worth everything. Absolutely everything.”
“You’re not hard to love,” she said.
“That’s awfully nice of you to say, but I definitely have my moments. I bet he does, too. And when he realizes what it is you’re giving him? He’ll know what a damn fool he was to have thrown it away.”
“I still disagree,” Joshua said.
“And who are you going to listen to about interpersonal relationships? Him or me?”
Faith looked over at Isaiah, her serious brother, her brother who had difficulty understanding people, connecting with people, but no difficulty at all loving his wife. She smiled, but didn’t say anything. She felt broken. But Isaiah had given her hope. And she would hold on to that with everything she had.
Because without it... All that stretched before her was a future without Levi. And that made all her previous perfection seem like nothing much at all.
Sixteen
It had been two weeks since Levi had last seen Faith.
And in that time, ground had been broken on the new house, he’d had several intensive conversations with Jonathan Bear and he’d done one well-placed interview he knew would filter into his ex-wife’s circles. He’d had the reporter come out to the house he was currently staying in, and the man had followed him on a trail ride while Levi had given his version of the story.
It had all gone well, the headline making national news easily, and possibly international news thanks to the internet, with several pictures of Levi and his horses. The animals somehow made him seem softer and more approachable.
And, of course, his alliance with Faith had only helped matters. Because she was a young woman and because the assumption was that she would have vetted him before working with him. What surprised him the most was the quote that had been included in the story from GrayBear Construction. Which, considering what Levi knew about the company, meant Faith’s brother Joshua. It surprised him, because Joshua had spoken of Levi’s character and their excitement about working on the project with him. On this chance for a new start.
For redemption.
Levi wasn’t sure what the hell Faith had told her brother, but he was sure he didn’t deserve the quote. Still, he was grateful for it.
Gratefulwas perhaps the wrong word.
He looked at the article, running his thumb over the part about his redemption.
And in his mind, he heard Faith’s voice.
