Free Sweet Peas in April by Clare Revell Page B

garden, and every time I look at you.”
    Sam looked at him.
    “I will always love her. Just like LaVera will always love Stan. Just because we are moving on, finding someone new, doesn’t mean we will ever forget our first loves.” He paused. “I could never forget your mother. After all, she gave me you.” He handed over a printed envelope. “We’d like for you to come to the wedding.”
    “I’ll come.” Sam hugged her father tightly.
    “I love you. I always have and always will.”
    “Love you, too, Dad.” Finally, she pulled back.
    Dad looked over at Adam. “Turner Street Baptist, a week Saturday at midday. We’d like for you to come as well.”
    “I’d like to come. Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome.” He tilted his head. “It isn’t the wedding that makes a marriage. It is all that goes after it—the good and the bad and the love between the two that shows how strong the union is. You two make a good couple; the love is still there, I think.”
    “Dad—”
    “Sam, your old man knows a thing or two about people.”
    “There’s nothing going on,” Sam insisted.
    “Which is why Adam introduces himself as your husband, still wears his wedding ring, and carries your photo in his wallet. And that must be why you’re not divorced.”
    Sam looked at Adam. He returned the look, and for the first time in a long time, she could see in his eyes the man she’d fallen for.
    “Let an old man give you a piece of advice,” Dad said as they stood to leave after the meal. “Don’t let Imogen’s death still come between you. I was wrong about you, Adam. You’re a good man. Don’t let Sam slip through your fingers again.”
    “Hey, I’m still here,” Sam objected.
    Dad chuckled. “Why, so you are.”
    They walked out to the cars and she hugged him goodbye. “See you next weekend.”
    LaVera caught her hand. “I’d be honored if you’d be a bridesmaid. My son is giving me away and the girls are bridesmaids, but I was hoping…”
    “I’d love to,” Sam said, hugging her.
    “The color scheme is pastel colors—any shade is fine as the girls are coming as a rainbow. Let me know how much the dress is and I’ll send you the money.”
    “No, you won’t,” Adam said. “We’ll get it.”
    Sam looked at him as they were left alone. “Are you sure?”
    He nodded. “We’ll go and look next week.”
    “Thank you.” She paused. “And he’s wrong you know. About us. I bet I could kiss you now and it’d be like kissing my brother.”
    “Really? What about the other day?”
    “You thought I was drunk. I’m not now.”
    “And how would you know what kissing your brother is like? You don’t have a brother.”
    “You know what I mean,” she said.
    “I’m not sure I do, as I wouldn’t want to kiss my brother.” He paused, holding her gaze.
    “Only one way to find out.”
    Adam moved closer, his hand caressing the back of her neck. His lips touched hers. His touch melted her, and she was only dimly aware of her Dad laughing as he drove away, before all conscious thought left her and all that mattered was Adam.
    And he was so not her brother…

8
    Sam sat in her office, papers everywhere. She had to know what Adam knew, and the answer was somewhere in the files. And if it took her all day, and all weekend, she’d find it.
    She twisted the wedding ring on her finger. She’d put it back on after Adam dropped her off the previous evening. She wanted him back. She knew from kissing him that the spark was still there, and that he loved her the same way she loved him. Perhaps they could work through things and fix their marriage.
    She wasn’t complete without Adam. Just like she wasn’t complete without God in her life. She needed them both to form a triangle. The circle was good, but a triangle would make her whole again.
    She’d hoped he’d have been in the office by now, but perhaps something had come up with another of his cases and he was stuck in court somewhere.
    The door opened.