He was shaking.
And that’s when Loretta Evers rose from her seat.
She didn’t raise her voice. She didn’t have to.
“Son,” she said, “you’re the only one here who looks afraid.”
Abel blinked.
No one moved to help him.
And then Abel Trent turned around and walked out of that church.
The doors swung shut behind him with a final, echoingclunk.
For a second, no one moved.
Then Francine sniffed and said, “Well. Who wants pie?”
Laughter burst out, sharp and grateful. Delilah exhaled like she’d just come down from DEFCON 1 and made her way back to the dessert table. Birdie elbowed past her, muttering something about reclaiming the cobbler before it turned cold.
People started moving again.
Voices picked up. Chairs scraped. An record clicked on in the background—Whit, probably, trying to ease the tension.
And just like that…we were back to normal.
Or something better than normal.
For a while, I let it happen around me. Listened to the soft drone of gossip, the clatter of silverware on mismatched plates. Let the hum of life fill in the space Abel had tried to poison. The light through the windows was golden again—reallygolden, not just the artificial glow of bulbs. Like the church had exhaled too.
I didn’t see her anymore.
But I still felt her.
And it felt like grace…holy, a revelation—until my eyes found Silas.
He was staring at the doorway to the sanctuary, face pale. I took his hand and followed his gaze toward where the angel had stood, frowning.
“Silas,” I whispered, “is everything okay?”
He looked from the doorway to me as if he was worried he was losing his mind. His throat worked, his fingers squeezing mine eventhough they trembled.
Then he said something that nearly made my heart stop.
“Did you see her too?”
CHAPTER 20
Silas
I didn’t seeher until Abel was on his way out the door...but when I did, I knew I hadn’t imagined her that night at the clinic.
Amelia was here.Watching.
And I had no idea what she wanted.
I kept my eyes trained on the doorway to the sanctuary as everyone else seemed to go back to normal…eager to chat, to mingle, to forget about the extremist who’d tried to ruin our little party. Me, though? I was entirely focused on my dead fiancée’s apparent interest in us.
