Unexpected by Jenn Faulk

Author:Jenn Faulk [Faulk, Jenn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rivulet Publishing
Published: 2020-01-27T05:00:00+00:00

~Joey~

Get them in, get them out, then get back to Morgan.

That was Joey’s mantra as he went to his front door, his mind still back on the bedroom and Morgan, on how she was waiting there for him, wearing nothing –

Get them out before they even get in, then get back to Morgan.

He amended the thought even as his hand was on the doorknob, one last longing glance towards the bedroom as he did so, ready to put on his pastoral smile and get whatever this parishioner catastrophe was settled and done.

He took in a breath as he opened the door, then felt it rush right back out through his lips in a near gasp.

“Lucy?”

He’d barely taken in the sight of her before she was in his arms, hugging him fiercely to herself, her laughter rumbling through his chest as she squeezed him.

“Dad!”

Even with the shock that her unexpected appearance had brought to him, he still found himself reacting like he always did to her voice, pulling her closer and kissing the top of her head, just like he’d done when she’d been a little girl. His little girl, he thought, as he closed his eyes, breathing her in, picturing her as she’d been over all the years. As the newborn they’d handed over to him as they’d tended to Beth in the delivery room, letting him be the first person on earth to hold Lucy Jane Anderson. What a gift. Then, as a toddler, with dark curls and a sweet little voice that seemed to daily pick up new words like handfuls of sand, astounding everyone with how precocious she was. Lucy, as a grade schooler who liked singing so loudly in her off key voice, the hymns of the faith as familiar to her as lullabies were to most children. A preteen Lucy, shying away from hugs but needing them even more than she had before, through the tears and the drama of that age. Teenage Lucy, taking his breath away as she stared up at him, a beautiful feminine picture of his own face. And Lucy, when they lost Beth, sobbing in his arms, saying it again and again, “I’m so sorry, Dad…”

Sorry for his loss, for his pain, for her own, for all that they’d been through as a family, for all that they’d go through from that day on.

It all came rushing back to Joey as he held onto Lucy and breathed her in, each and every moment of their shared history dancing through his mind and heart.

“Lucy,” he murmured. “Lucy…”

It wasn’t until she leaned back, her arms still around him as she smiled up at him, that he thought to ask the obvious question, even as he looked behind her, even as he saw Jude and Bethany there as well.

All three Bothas, here in Namibia. Already.

“What… why are you all here?!” he couldn’t keep from gasping.

They were early. Months early. The move wasn’t supposed to be for another few months. Sure, they’d talked at

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