Blind Faith

by Kimberley Reeves

  “You’re something else, Serena, you know that?”

  “Why is that?” She placed the oven mitts in their proper spot then reached for the basket she’d set on the counter and began plucking the bread sticks off the hot sheet.

  “You smelled the bread sticks and knew they were done. And you move around this kitchen with more confidence than I do. I’ve even burned my fingers, cut myself more than once with knives that are entirely too sharp, and overcooked my fair share of meals. But you…you’re amazing.”

  “I wish you wouldn’t say things like that,” Serena shook her head. “I’m sure I’m not the only blind person to master cooking or…” her breath caught in her throat when Will took the basket of bread from her and set it on the counter.

  “Turn around,” he ordered.

  She did so, albeit on shaky legs. “Don’t go all mushy on me, Duncan,” she attempted a light hearted tone. “You know I have never taken a compliment well.”

  “No, you haven’t,” he agreed, “but it’s something you will just have to get used to.” Will cupped her face in his hands. “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever known, both inside and out. You have spirit and determination. You’ve overcome things that would have broken most people, so when I tell you that you are amazing, I want you to believe it. Because it’s true.”

  “Stop, you’re embarrassing me.”

  Serena could feel her cheeks burning beneath his palms, but it wasn’t really embarrassment she felt. She did have determination, that part was true, but it had taken her years to develop any type of consistency where that determination was concerned. There had been times when she wanted to give up, to simply stop trying and let her mother take care of her, but somehow she always found the strength to pick herself back up and carry on. No, there was nothing amazing or special about her, but as long as Will believed there was, Serena was happy.

  “Enough talk,” she told him. “Your lunch is getting cold.”

  “It will keep for a few more minutes.”

  Serena started to protest, but any objections she had were silenced when Will slanted his mouth across hers, effectively annihilating any logical thought patterns. She barely noticed when his hands moved from her face to her shoulders, but she was acutely aware of the warm path they made as they glided down her arms and encircled her waist. She loved being held like this, loved the way her body molded so perfectly to his as if they were made for each other.

  If the food wasn’t quite as hot as it should have been, Serena didn’t mind and doubted Will did either. While they ate, they talked and laughed and she was so at ease with him, it seemed inconceivable that she could ever have had any misgivings about him being here. She loved Will with all her heart. And he loved her. Nothing else mattered.

  ***

  Serena’s brows drew together. Something had jarred her out of the wonderful dream she’d been having, but the warmth of Will’s body quickly dispelled her initial irritation at being woken up. Nestled in the curve of his arm with the sound of his steady heart beat beneath her cheek coaxed a sleepy smile out of her.

  After eating lunch they’d been far too lethargic to do anything but cuddle up on the sofa and watch an old movie. Well…he watched the movie while she listened, although sitting so close to him was incredibly distracting. It had been a perfectly lazy day, but they had mustered enough energy to take Rufus for a walk before eating a light dinner.

  Afterwards, Will suggested going out on the deck to relax on the lounge chairs while they talked. Serena’s smile broadened. The talking had lasted for all of two minutes after he insisted she curl up on his lap instead of sitting in separate loungers. His kisses were tender, his caresses intimate and loving, and she would have been perfectly content to remain locked in his arms forever. At least that’s what she thought until Will commented on the lack of sleep they’d gotten the night before.

  “Maybe we should turn in early tonight,” he said with a husk in his voice.

  “That’s a good idea. I could use a good night’s sleep,” she replied with a straight face, though she hadn’t been able to maintain it when Will growled his displeasure. “All right, all right,” she surrendered breathlessly after he speared his fingers through her hair and plundered her mouth for several heavenly minutes.

  Her stomach curled when she recalled how he’d carried her to the bedroom and slowly undressed her before allowing her to do the same for him. His possession had been no less devastating than the night before, the joining of their bodies infinitely more rapturous, and she had fallen even deeper in love with him. If that was possible.

  Serena yawned, still not fully awake but alert enough to finally comprehend the noise that had woken her was the door bell. She reached across Will to the nightstand, her fingertips skimming the face of the clock that sat a few inches from the edge. It was a little after eleven; earlier than her normal bedtime for a Saturday night, but definitely too late for anyone in her family to drop by. The door bell sounded again, followed by a loud, insistent rapping that jolted Will awake.

  “What the…” he started to sit up but fell back again when he realized Serena was sprawled across his chest. Completely misconstruing why she was practically on top of him, Will hugged her in a fierce embrace. “It’s all right, honey. Someone is at the door, that’s all. There’s nothing to be scared of.”

  She wasn’t scared, but she didn’t try to correct him. “Who could be hammering on the door this time of night?”

  “That’s what I’m about to find out.”

  Serena sat up so he could get out of bed. She tucked the sheet under arms, a little alarmed when the rapping on the door grew louder. She heard a soft woof from the doorway just as Will crossed the room to flick on the light, which meant Rufus had gone to investigate the racket and had come back to wake her.

  “Keep Rufus in here with you,” Will said, as he pulled on his jeans and zipped them.

  “Will…”

  “Don’t worry,” he leaned down and kissed her. “The only person I can think of that would be pounding on your door this late at night is McKinley. She’s probably worked herself into a tizzy again, but I promise she won’t be sticking around long enough to upset you.”

  Serena waited until Will shut the door then threw back the covers and climbed out of bed. She made her way to the closet and pulled her robe off the hook, hastily slipping her arms into the sleeves and tying the belt. It was obvious by the way Rufus was pacing that he was agitated, which only served to unsettle her own nerves. She was concerned that McKinley would try to push her way into the house, leaving Will no alternative but to bodily remove her. In her heart, she knew he would never do anything to intentionally hurt McKinley, or any woman for that matter, but she also knew he would physically cart her sister outside in order to keep her from causing any more trouble.

  Eking the bedroom door open, Serena silently slipped into the hallway and paused for a moment, fully expecting to hear McKinley in one of her rants. The bottom dropped out of her stomach when she recognized the voice of their late night visitor. It wasn’t McKinley. As much as Serena dreaded the thought of another go around with her sister, the presence of her formidable father was eminently worse, and posed a much bigger threat.

  She inched her way towards the foyer, her legs like leaded weights that seemed to grow heavier with each step. She had visions of two fearless grizzlies facing off with each other and grimaced when she drew nearer because it did sound suspiciously like growling. Both of them were being careful to keep their voices low, but there was no mistaking the anger in her father’s tone.

  “I want you out of here, now,” Tony Cross ground out.

  “With all due respect, Mr. Cross,” Will replied stiffly, “that should be Serena’s decision, not yours.”

  “Either you move out or I’ll take Serena home with me. I’ll be damned if you think I’m going to allow you to take advantage of my daughter because she’s handicapped.”

  Serena’s footsteps fa
ltered at her father’s jarring remark, but her heart soared when she heard Will’s heated reply.

  “Handicapped? Is that how you perceive Serena? You don’t know your daughter at all if that’s what you really believe. She is an incredible woman, and it has nothing to do with overcoming the obstacles of being blind. The only handicap Serena has is you and her mother because you both refuse to see McKinley for what she really is; a cruel and vindictive woman who is using you to do her dirty work. You are the one who is blind,” Will’s voice shook with anger.

  “McKinley is a bit…high spirited and, yes, she can be self-centered, but she wasn’t thinking of herself when she came to us. She was worried about Serena. I appreciate what you did all those years ago, but Serena doesn’t need you here to stir up memories that are best forgotten.”

  “You’re wrong, Mr. Cross. Serena needs to face the memories so she can forget them. Burying them, hiding from them, will only hurt her more when they do finally surface. As for McKinley,” Will’s voice hardened, “do you honestly believe her motives are selfless? Has there ever been a time in McKinley’s life when her concern for someone else has outweighed concern for herself?”

  Serena’s breath hitched as dead silence followed. Had Will lost his mind speaking to her father like that? Tony Cross didn’t lose his temper often but when he did, he could be downright scary. Not that he had ever lifted a hand to his children; there had never been any need to. He demanded respect and he got it, but not because he used his physical strength to enforce it. She’d always thought of him as a lion whose fierce roar had the ability to make your insides shake and commanded immediate and unquestioning obedience. Anyone with a modicum of intelligence didn’t need to feel those sharp teeth tear into their skin to know how lethal they would be.

  When her father finally spoke, it was a few octaves lower than normal; a clear sign he was barely holding his temper in check. “I think you need to explain yourself, but I suggest you choose your words very carefully. McKinley may not be perfect, but she is my daughter and you would be wise to remember that.”

  “You’re right. I’ll do my best to keep that in mind.”

  To her immense relief, Will seemed to have calmed down. Maybe he realized he was treading on dangerous ground, or maybe he figured out that taking an aggressive stance served no purpose except to escalate her father’s hostile disposition. She crept a little further down the hall, debating on whether she should reveal her presence or not when Rufus made the decision for her. He brushed up against her leg, indicating she needed to stop. Usually that meant there was an obstacle in her path, but when Rufus angled himself in front of her so that she couldn’t move without tripping over him,

  Serena realized he’d picked up on her tension and was attempting to keep her from the source.

  “What I’m telling you,” Will said evenly, “is that McKinley tends to…place her own needs above anyone else’s, which makes me wonder why she is so anxious to get me out of here. At first, she tried to convince me it was concern for Serena, and when that didn’t work, she tried to manipulate me into having se…an intimate relationship with her. When I made it clear I wasn’t interested, McKinley targeted Serena, taking every opportunity to convince her I couldn’t be trusted.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Tony’s voice was venomous. “McKinley was in tears tonight. She said it was you who tried to seduce her.”

  “That’s a lie! It was the other way around.”

  “I know my daughter, and she would never lie about something like that. She was crying and shaking like a leaf because she was afraid you would try the same thing on Serena.”

  “This is insane. How can you claim to know McKinley and still be so oblivious to her devious nature? She would say anything to get her own way and not suffer a moment’s guilt for doing it. I didn’t want anything to do with her in high school and want even less to do with her now. She’s a cold-hearted…”

  “That’s enough,” Tony growled.

  Several minutes went by without a word being spoken. Serena imagined them standing there, glaring at each other, neither of them willing to back down. It tore her heart out to think of the two men she loved most in the world arguing like this, the dissension between them growing more intense with each passing second. She knew she should do something, but what? How could she side with Will and hurt her father? By the same token, how could she turn on Will without losing him?

  “Listen,” she heard her father say, “we’re not going to solve anything by going at each other like a couple of jackals. I think it would be best if you left. Please…hear me out,” he said when Will replied with an emphatic no. “I don’t want to upset Serena, but I can’t just ignore the things McKinley told me tonight either. Tomorrow we can all get together at my house and discuss it like civilized people.”

  “You can’t honestly believe I would do anything to harm Serena?”

  “No…no, I don’t. My gut feeling is that you sincerely care about her. But I won’t take the chance that I’m wrong. You can understand that, can’t you?”

  “Yes, I suppose I can.”

  “Good, then it’s settled,” Tony sounded much more amicable. “I’ll wait here while you pack what you need for a few nights. And there’s no reason to wake Serena. I’ll call her in the morning and explain everything.”

  “That’s very generous of you,” Will said without a hint of insincerity.

  Serena clamped her hand over her mouth to muffle the harsh sob that was wrenched from her throat. Will was leaving? She shook her head in denial, tears splashing over her cheeks. Why was he giving up so easily? If he loved her, really loved her the way she loved him, nothing her father said could ever have persuaded him to just pack up and go. Pain speared through her chest as the jagged edge of a memory reached out to taunt her. Something Randy Porter said as he coaxed her into the darkened cave…the same words Will had whispered to her before they’d made love earlier.

  “You can trust me, Serena. You know I would never do anything to hurt you…”

  Chapter 13

  Will didn’t move. He refused to budge one single inch. Sizing up the opposition, he quickly concluded that being thirty years younger than Tony Cross gave him no advantage; the man was built like a brick outhouse and had a good twenty pounds on him. He had no intention of inviting a physical brawl with Serena’s father, but he wasn’t going to be chased off by Tony’s intimidating tactics either. Their eyes locked; mutiny clashed with murderous, but Will held his ground. If he so much as batted an eyelash, it would be taken as a sign of weakness. Tony might not like Will’s defiance, but he would grudgingly respect it.

  “I’m waiting,” Tony broke the tense silence.

  “And you’ll keep on waiting,” Will replied, his steely gaze unwavering. “When and if

  Serena asks me to leave, I’ll go, but not before then.”

  Thunder brewed behind Tony’s dark eyes. “You said you understood why I wanted you out of here.”

  “And I do. But you need to understand why I feel just as strongly about staying,” Will continued before Tony could lay down any more objections. “You never asked why I went after the boys who hurt Serena, or why I damn near killed Randy Porter instead of letting the authorities handle it. I guess I always assumed it was enough for you to know that I did exactly what you would have done if I hadn’t gotten to them first.”

  “I wanted to kill them all,” Tony’s eyes blazed with hatred.

  “Because you love Serena,” Will replied pointedly. “Maybe it wasn’t clear to me back then, but I loved her too. That’s why seeing her so…broken triggered such a violent reaction. It felt as if my own heart had been ripped out, and I…” his voice cracked and it took a few minutes to wrestle his emotions back. “I don’t know why McKinley is dead set against me being here, but I swear on my life Serena is safe with me. I’m in love with her, Mr. Cross, and she’s in love with me. It took forever to get here, and there is nothing you or anyone else can say or do t
hat will convince me I don’t belong with Serena.”

  It was little more than a whisper, but both men heard it and turned towards the hallway. Will didn’t think, he simply reacted to the sound of distress and bolted for the hallway. Light from the foyer didn’t quite dispel the darkness, but it was sufficient enough to see Serena’s slender form sagging against the wall. He nearly tripped over Rufus, whose black and brown fur blended in with the shadows. It didn’t occur to him until after the dog skirted off that Rufus had been blocking Serena’s path. Yet another male determined to protect the woman he loved.