Page 41 of Become Her Protector
Epilogue
Faith heldher hands up to the night sky, making the shape of a heart with her thumbs and index fingers. “Remember when you said this was my constellation?”
“I do,” Grant said. He rested his head on his arms. “I read it in a book. That’s the Faith.”
“Still full of it,” Faith said. She lay back on his chest. They’d been the talk of Lark since they arrived together in Grant’s new truck.
“Think your dad will ever like me again?” Grant asked.
“Slim chance,” Faith said. “But momma will. She’s the one whose good side you want to be on, anyway.” Faith pulled the wool camping blanket up over her chest. She’d forgotten how crisp the night air in the mountains could be. She rolled her head over Grant’s arm to kiss his neck.
“Ouch,” he said. “Easy there. My arm still aches.”
“You big baby,” Faith said. “It’s just a shot.”
“I hate needles.”
“This coming from a guy who’s been hit with bullets before.”
“It’s not the same.” Grant repositioned himself so the tender site on his upper arm where he’d received the Chorivirus vaccine had no pressure applied to it. “You don’t know a bullet’s coming. You know a needle’s coming.”
“And here I thought I had nothing else to learn about you, and you go and tell me you’re afraid of needles.”
“It’s the reason why I never got tattoos,” Grant said. “Everyone else had one in my unit. I was the odd man out.”
“It’s not too late.”
“I’m good,” Grant said. He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her hand, admiring the ring on her left hand.
“Looks like a star,” she said, wiggling her finger to make it shine in the moonlight.
“Should have bought it for you much sooner,” Grant said.
“Better late than never.”
“You know, the army taught if you’re on time-”
“You’re late,” Faith said. “Luckily, I’m a civilian. And more forgiving.”
“Lucky for me.” He turned her chin and kissed her.
Faith nestled deeper against him in the back of the truck. “I feel like a teenager again. Looks like we’ve come full circle.”
“You’re right. I never thought I’d get a second chance with you, but here we are. I promise you Faith, wherever you go I go. I’ll never leave again.”
“You can if you want to. I prepared your vaccine myself and put a tiny tracking device in your arm.”
Grant eye’s widened. “You’re kidding me.”
Faith laughed. “Of course I am, silly.”
“You’re never gonna let me live it down, are you?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“I’ll gladly spend the rest of my life making it up to you, Mrs. Rogers.” He kissed her under the moonlit sky.
