Faith pulled closer to Grant’s body. The heat from his broad chest was enough to keep her warm in the cool night air.
“I love you,” she said, as he kissed down her neck, his warm breath sending tingles down her body to her toes. The stars shone overhead, and an owl hooted off in the trees. Grant unclasped her bra. She wiggled it off.
“Cold?” he asked.
“I’m alright. You’ll keep me warm.”
Faith tried to focus on the present moment. The mountain air. Grant’s soft fingertips. His soft lips. The way her skin longed for his touch. She had plenty of time to be excited about a ring from Grant. All that mattered tonight was that they were on the cusp of the rest of their lives together.
* * *
Faith wokeup the next morning with rays of sunlight streaming through her bedroom window. She pushed back her quilt to the smell of bacon frying in a pan downstairs. Her mother, a nurse at the county hospital, didn’t often have the time to cook a fresh breakfast, but Faith knew she’d gotten up early to make a graduation day special for her. Faith sat up and stretched. Grant had dropped her off after curfew last night, but her father hadn’t said anything when she came in, even though Faith had seen the lamp light still glowing out of her parents’ bedroom window. Faith figured her mother had talked him down from getting mad about her late homecoming because it was graduation weekend. Every senior in Lark had been out late on their last night of real youth. Jobs and college beckoned most. Some already had kids on the way. She’d seen a few new, sparkly rings grace fingers in the high school’s hallways in the past few weeks. She slid out of bed and pulled on a robe before going downstairs to the kitchen. A homemade banner hung over the kitchen’s bay window exclaiming “Congratulations Faith!” A stack of pancakes towered in the middle of the table.
“Mom,” Faith said, blushing. “You didn’t have to do all this.”
Linda slipped a cinnamon roll from a tray onto a plate and set it on the table. “Hush. It’s a big day today.”
“Have you picked up your gown?” James asked, sipping coffee.
“Yesterday. And my cap.”
“Ceremony starts at eleven,” Linda said. “But you’re supposed to be there by ten. Need a ride?”
Faith shook her head. “Grant’s picking me up.”
A thump from the porch prompted her father to stand. “Paper,” he said. “I’ll get it.” He rounded the corner to the foyer, letting the storm door slam behind him as he went outside.
“I know they have parties after graduation,” Linda said, “but I already covered for you last night, so don’t break curfew again tonight. Your father can only take so much. He worries.”
“Too much,” Faith said. “There’s nowhere to get in trouble in a town this size.”
“I’m sure Grant’s mother said the same thing.” Linda poured orange juice into a glass for Faith. “And then she had Eric, rest his soul.”
“You can’t think less of Grant for what his mother did.” That won’t happen to us. I’m not getting pregnant.”
“You better not. I expect you to be front and center at your first college class in the fall. No distractions, okay?”
Faith rolled her eyes, suddenly annoyed at her mother. “Grant isn’t a distraction. And don’t forget you and dad got married at nineteen.”
“Times have changed. You have more options now. What’s taking your father so long?” Her mother stood, setting her hand on her hip and peering toward the front of the house.
The door closed again, and James shuffled back inside. “Faith?” He came back into the kitchen, his head hung low over the folded newspaper in his hand. He pinched a piece of lined notebook paper in his fingers on top of the Lark Herald. “This is for you. Maybe you should read it upstairs.”
“Why? What is it?”
James held the note paper up higher, seemingly eager to be rid of it. Faith took the note and her father turned away down the hall.
“What’s that all about?” Linda said, loading forks into the dishwasher.
Faith shrugged as she unfolded the note. Grant’s handwriting stared back at her. He’d written her love letters before, and her heart skipped as she dug into the words, eager to see what he had written this time.
Dear Faith,
By the time you read this, I’ll be on the bus to Denver. I’m enlisting in the army. I don’t expect you to understand, but I have to follow in my father’s and brother’s footsteps. I was afraid to tell you last night, but I gave it a lot of thought. This is what’s best for you and for me. You’ll be an amazing doctor. Please forgive me.
Grant
