I shook my head. "There isn't one. I looked. Cessily talked to me about it, but the only option we have is to send her to another district, take her there ourselves, and hope she doesn't get caught and kicked out. There's a boarding school she qualifies for, but Luke's not ok with that. There's a Catholic school about an hour away, but that's a total of four hours of driving each day - and Faith isn't Catholic."
"I'd take her," Cy insisted.
"I know you would, babe," I swore. "But let's start here. Give her the chance to thrive, Cy. She's not Violet. She also has a lot more help than Violet ever did, if for no other reason than because she's willing to talk about it. Now come here." I shifted for him to lie on my shoulder, but Cy grunted, clearly not impressed.
"You're hurt. You come here." And he shoved his arm under my neck. "Figure you might even learn to avoid fights if you have to do without afterwards."
"Don't count on it," I said as I curled against his side. "So, you coming to church with me?"
"Gonna let me hold your hand?" he asked.
"Oh, you know it," I agreed. "I'm pretty damned proud of my boyfriend."
"Me too," Cy whispered.
Chapter Five
The next morning, all five of us squeezed into my truck to head to church. Darnell and Cessily had no interest, but I didn't want my daughter to think she could get into the habit of skipping out. I also wanted her to feel like she didn't need to hide away from the rumors that I was sure were running around town.
Faith was too old to hold my hand, but when we got there and everyone looked, I had the feeling she wanted to. Instead, I draped my arm over her shoulders, making her groan at me in annoyance - but she didn't pull away. Like always, we claimed a line of seats near the back. Ash ended up on the aisle. Cy was next to him, and the men were holding hands. Violet sat beside Cy with Faith between her and me. My little girl kept looking over at Cy and giggling.
But when David came inside and headed to the front, he paused to clasp Ash's shoulder. "How you feeling?" he asked.
"Better," Ash told him. "Still healing, though."
The pastor nodded. "Good. Let me know if I can do anything, and I'm glad you're here. I have a sermon I think you might like."
The man reached over to shake Cy's hand, smiled at Faith, and then continued on his way without pausing for anyone else. Just as he reached the front, the doors opened behind me again, and some latecomer slipped in. When the man dropped down into the seat beside me - almost crushing my hat in the process - I was ready to glare.
But it was Dan Suthers, the police officer who'd arrested Ash and me. He leaned in and passed me a business card. "Hey, give this to your attorney, would ya?" he whispered.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because I can be subpoenaed. She's gonna want to." He glanced down to see Ash, then leaned back to look at me again. "You two ok? Got thetarkicked out of you Wednesday night."
"Him more than me," I admitted. "Yeah, we're hanging in there."
"Good." He paused again, and I thought he was done, then, "Dunno what you did, but the feds went right around us. Whole department got our butts chewed. Videos were right there on the hard drive."
I just smiled. "Maybe now you'll learn to listen to Violet."
"I'll keep that in mind," Dan said just as the pastor began to speak.
And what a sermon it was. Right there with the whole congregation ready to make a fuss, David preached about God's love. He made it very clear that it was not our place to judge others, and that no one in the room was without sin. He carried on for a bit about how many times the Bible specifically called out divorce, and then he drove the nail home.
"There is no sin in the Bible that can't be forgiven. God gave his only son to us to make that possible. So that bad marriages can end. So that mistakes made before marriage don't mean lovestruck kids deserve to be stoned to death. So that tossing around a little pigskin - I mean football - is just fine. And so that when two people truly love each other, they can still worship. You see, I heard something the other day. God doesn't make mistakes. So if we have homosexuals, bisexuals, pansexuals, asexuals, or anything else in this room, they are not a mistake. God has a plan, and maybe it's just to teach the rest of us to be a little more tolerant. Or maybe it's something more, but not one of us is capable of knowing God's mind."
Ash leaned back and looked at Cy. "That," he whispered. "That's why I could never come before."
Cy just grabbed his hand again and held it, but I saw quite a few people turn around to look. The affection on the faces of those two, though, was impossible to miss. That was love. Real, honest, and pure love. It didn't matter if the congregation didn't understand it. I knew they had to be able to see it, and with the pastor saying it was ok? The air rushed from my lungs. I didn't want to admit it, but that was exactly what I'd needed to hear.
"Dad?" Faith asked, hearing my sigh. "You ok?"
"Just being worried for my friends, cupcake," I assured her.
"Mom didn't come," she whispered.
I nodded. "She's probably busy. I'll see her tomorrow and let her know you were worried, ok?"
