Her Valentine Family

“Tank oo.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, scooping her up and nuzzling the blond fuzzy curls away so he could kiss her cheek and neck.

Lainey ducked her chin to her neck trying to fend off her Daddy’s kisses and giggled. “Wuv you.”

“I love you, too,” Chad said. And he did love everything about her—her blond curls, her baby blue eyes, her adorable mouth. He realized, as he often did, that everything about her resembled Kate. There wasn’t a trace of Chad’s features in this little angel. But resembling Kate physically was as far as it went. Because Lainey’s brilliant blue eyes were sweet and innocent, not manipulative and cold. Lainey’s smile was real, not fake.

And when Lainey told him she loved him, she meant it.

Chapter Three

Jessica wondered if everyone experienced the same mesmerized sensation when they returned to the church of their youth. She’d grown up sitting in the pews within the steepled white building at least three times each week, and then after seventeen years of knowing nothing but this church, she left. Returning, she was welcomed by an abundance of wide smiles and welcoming arms, with everyone admiring her little boy and telling her how nice it was that she’d come back home. And that was before she stepped one foot in the door.

Walking across the parking lot, she was bombarded by old friends. She imagined that this was something similar to what the prodigal son felt when he saw his father running toward him down the road, except it was Brother Henry, her preacher, who ran toward her now. Well, okay, he wasn’t running, but he moved faster than she’d ever seen Brother Henry move before.

The preacher’s hair had grayed completely in the years since she’d left Claremont, and his face appeared more weathered, with the smile lines bordering his mouth more pronounced than she remembered and additional crinkle marks at the corners of his eyes. His brows were stark white, drawing attention to the pale blue of those kind eyes.

“Jessica! It’s so good to have you back. And this must be Nathan,” he said, leaning down to ruffle Nathan’s sandy waves.

“Yes, sir,” Nathan said, giving him a crooked, squinting-in-the-sunlight smile.

“Your grandparents have told me all about you,” Brother Henry said. “They’re very proud of you.”

“Yep, they are,” Nathan agreed, which caused a laugh from both Brother Henry and Jessica’s parents, following them up the steps.

“So, Nathan,” Brother Henry continued, “has anyone ever told you what your name means in Hebrew? From the Bible? Because there was a Nathan in the Bible, too.”

“Mom told me Nathan was in the Bible,” he said, and Jessica felt a surge of pride that she’d made an impression. “He told King David what was going to happen.” Nathan tilted his head toward his grandfather and said, “That must’ve been after David cut off that giant’s head, huh?”

“Definitely,” her father said, beaming and apparently quite proud that his grandson was so quickly putting his Bible facts together.

“Very good,” Brother Henry said. “Nathan was a prophet, and he did tell King David the things that would happen in the future. Your mommy taught you well. And did she tell you what the name means?”

“No, she didn’t,” Jessica said with a grin, “because she didn’t know.” She’d merely selected the name because it was the only one in the books of baby names that seemed to be right for her son. Now she wondered exactly why it seemed so right.

“Well, it means ‘God has given,’” Brother Henry said.

Jessica’s throat tightened. God had given Nathan to her, and even his name was proof of the fact.

“Neat!” Nathan said, then repeated, “God has given. That’s my name.”

“That’s right,” Brother Henry agreed, still smiling at him. He pulled a peppermint out of his suit pocket and handed it to Nathan. “This is to keep your tummy from growling in church,” he said, then winked. “I’d have one, too, but it’s hard for me to preach with candy in my mouth.”

Nathan laughed at that. “Can I have another one for class?”

“Nathan.” Jessica gave Brother Henry an embarrassed shrug.

But Brother Henry tousled his hair again and said, “Tell you what. After church, I’m going to ask you what I talked about. If you can tell me, I’ll give you another one.” He nodded toward Jessica’s parents. “Maybe I’ll have at least one person listening to the sermon that way.”

“Give me a peppermint, and I’ll listen, too,” Jessica’s father said, which made them all laugh.

They entered the foyer, and Jessica felt the first inkling of curiosity from the other side of the lobby. A couple of the older women were huddled, hands over their mouths and whispering as they glanced at Jessica—and more pointedly at Nathan.

Jessica protectively put her arm around his little shoulders and steered him toward the classroom hall. She’d known she wouldn’t get prodigal son treatment from everyone, but that was okay; even the prodigal son’s brother had a hard time with his return.

Class was pretty much status quo for what she remembered, but Brother Henry’s church service was much different than the type she recalled from growing up. A lot less fire and brimstone, a lot more grace. Jessica commented on the change to her parents as they walked out of the auditorium.

Her father agreed. “I was wondering if you’d notice. Brother Henry did a summer series on grace a couple of years back, said the more he studied on the subject, the more he thought we’d gone way too long leaving it out of the equation.”

Jess turned to see what her mother thought of the change, but she was completely ignoring their conversation and scanning the congregation, pleasantly visiting in small huddles as they slowly moved toward the back of the building. “Mom, you looking for someone?”

“Yes,” she said, then shook her head. “No, not really. I’d noticed last week that we had some other folks visiting again who’d been away for a while, and I’d hoped they’d be back today.”

“Who?” Jessica asked. Like most people in Claremont, she knew almost everyone in town—or at least knew who their family was.

“Oh, look,” her father said. “Nathan’s going for the peppermint.”

They all turned and walked toward Brother Henry, standing at the doorway shaking hands with everyone and preparing to shake Nathan’s outstretched hand. But Nathan’s palm was turned up, waiting for another piece of candy.

“Please?” he said, his s lisping a little due to his missing tooth.

“Hey, we had a deal, remember?” Brother Henry lifted a white brow.

“I remember,” Nathan said. “And I listened to you preaching.”

“Okay, what did I talk about?” He crouched down to Nathan’s level.

Jessica was curious as to whether Nathan had actually heard. He’d spent the majority of the service admiring his Superman shoes, which he’d told Jessica were “nice enough to wear with church clothes because they’re brand-new.” She’d let him win that one, deciding to choose her battles, even though the colorful tennis shoes didn’t exactly go with his khaki pants and striped navy sweater.

“You talked about daddies,” Nathan said matter-of-factly.

Jessica’s world seemed to stall for a moment. “Daddies?” she asked, her voice a little raspy at hearing Nathan say the word so sweetly.

Nathan’s head bobbed. “Yep, how much daddies love their children and how God loves us the same way. That’s what you said.”

Jessica wasn’t certain, but she thought Brother Henry’s chin wobbled a bit before he worked his mouth back into a smile. “That’s exactly right,” he said, then visibly swallowed and handed Nathan the striped candy.

Brother Henry stood from where he’d knelt down to speak to Nathan, and this time she was sure that she saw a bit of moisture in his eyes, which matched the dampness in her own.

“It’s good to have both of you here, Jessica,” he said, the warmness in his tone touching her heart.

“It’s good to be back.”

She, Nathan and her parents walked quietly toward her father’s car, then all piled inside and buckled up for the ride back home for her mother’s traditional Sunday pot roast. But food wasn’t on Jessica’s mind, and she suspected it wasn’t on her parents’ minds either.

On the contrary, Nathan’s words to Brother Henry were resonating through her thoughts, and her son wasn’t done discussing the lesson.

“Mommy?”