Chapter 25 #2
Falk put the thought aside as they stood together in a patch of sunlight, listening to Father Connor’s last-minute instructions and watching the Racos’ friends and family wander in to take their seats.
Falk tried to focus on what the priest was saying but instead found his own gaze drifting away, moving over the familiar and unfamiliar faces filing into the church until—at last, there she was.
Gemma’s hair was down around her shoulders, and she was wearing a yellow dress that suited her in a way Falk couldn’t quite articulate.
He watched her, hoping she’d look up and see him.
“—if that sounds all right to you, Aaron?”
“Yes. Absolutely.” Falk heard his name and abruptly tuned back in to the conversation. “No worries.” He nodded firmly to hide the fact he wasn’t sure what he was agreeing to and, next to him, he sensed Naomi stifle a laugh.
Gemma was moving up the aisle toward a spare seat, and when Falk glanced over this time, he felt a little leap as he realized she was looking back at him.
She held his eye and smiled encouragingly, opening her palm in a little personal wave.
And right then, as the tiny subtle connection zipped between them, Falk could almost imagine a different day.
A day a bit like this, with the suit and the sunlight and a dress at the other end of that aisle.
The air thick with love and celebration.
He could see it—feel it, maybe?—and for a second it all seemed so vivid and real that he was a little startled when Rita suddenly handed him a struggling Henry.
Falk mentally lurched back into the room, the reality faintly colored now by a strange, disoriented longing.
He blinked, and breathed slowly in and out.
“All right.” Father Connor checked his watch, then gave Falk and Naomi each a final reassuring smile. “Showtime.”
There was a short service before the christening itself, and Falk sat between Raco and Naomi in the warm space, letting the words wash over him.
When his moment arrived, Falk looked down at Henry and thought about the trust the Racos were placing in him.
He’d always suspected on some level he was doing this purely for them—a gesture of their mutual friendship, offered and returned.
But as he spoke his words, here and now, he discovered to his mild surprise that it felt like something more.
A tangible bond being woven between Falk and his godson.
Okay, Henry, he thought. Starting now. But for real, this time.
Naomi played her own part with her usual competence and grace and then, faster than Falk had expected, it was all over.
He craned his neck, trying to spot Gemma as the guests trooped back out into the sunshine but had to give up as he was swiftly led aside for family photos.
Lots of them, it seemed, in all possible combinations until various members were released one by one.
Finally, it was just Henry, his parents, and his brand-new godparents left alone to stroll home to the vineyard in peace.
“Well. That was absolutely lovely,” Naomi said. She had insisted on pushing Henry’s stroller while Rita and Raco walked along arm in arm. “Keep me in mind for the next one, won’t you?”
“We’re done,” Raco said with a grin, at the same time as Rita said firmly, “God, no. No more.”
“Fair enough.” Naomi smiled and accepted a cracker from the box Rita had conjured from Henry’s baby bag. Hungry after all the excitement, the four of them crunched on handfuls as they ambled along.
“And how about you, Aaron?” Naomi said lightly, offering the box to Falk. “Any thoughts on—?”
“Naomi,” Rita warned, but she was laughing. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?” Naomi’s blue eyes were wide.
“You know what. Leave the poor man alone.”
“I was just going to make a very general observation that some kids—male teenage stepchildren, for example—might sound like hard work on the surface but—”
“Yep, we can all guess what you were going to say.” Rita smiled. “Aaron included. So how about you don’t and just hand me the crackers instead, would you?”
“Fine.” Naomi nudged Falk gently as they walked. She nodded back toward Rita and Raco. “You do know they’re as nosy and invested as me, don’t you? They’re just playing it cool.”
Falk smiled at her. “I do know, yeah.”
“Good.”
They came around a bend in the road, and up ahead, Falk could make out Joel and Zara walking together, their heads close. They must have fallen well behind the rest of the group.
“Is that something of Kim’s that Zara’s got on?” Naomi squinted into the light.
Over her dress, Zara was wearing a flowing blue fine-knit cardigan, despite the warmth of the day. She had it wrapped tightly around her, the hem flaring a little as she walked.
“Yeah.” Rita nodded. “Rohan brought up some of Kim’s clothes and books and things for her.”
“I thought I recognized it.” Naomi’s smile faded. “Is Zara finding today hard with Kim not here? I couldn’t see her face in the church.”
“A bit, I think.” Raco nodded. “Kind of a reminder, isn’t it? Knowing Kim would’ve been here along with everyone else.”
“I suppose so, but do you think—?” Rita started, then stopped.
Raco looked over at his wife. “Think what?”
“Do you think Kim would’ve actually come, though?”
“Yeah, of course.” Raco frowned. They had reached the start of the vineyard driveway, and Falk could see guests’ cars parked at the other end. “Why wouldn’t she?”
Rita shrugged. “I mean, I know Rohan’s here, but he’s only in town because of the appeal.
And I hadn’t seen Kim socially for a long time.
A couple of years, at least. I just feel like she’d moved on from all this.
Which is understandable; she’d have had new friends in Adelaide, and work was probably keeping her busy. ”
“No, she’d stopped working,” Naomi said suddenly.
Rita looked over in surprise. “When she had Zoe?”
“Earlier. A few months before she was even pregnant, I think.”
“She never told me. Did you know?” Rita asked Raco, who shook his head.
“She didn’t tell me, either,” Naomi said. “I only found out by accident when I was in the city one day, and realized I had a meeting in the same building as that design firm she’d gone to. I stopped by during lunch, but they said she hadn’t worked there for a while.”
Raco frowned. “Seriously? Why wouldn’t she mention it? Had she been fired or something?”
“No, I don’t think so. The others in the office seemed friendly, but it was obviously a bit awkward because I’d shown up and didn’t even know Kim wasn’t there anymore. They said they hadn’t seen her since she left. Asked me to pass on their best when I spoke to her.”
“And did you speak to her?” Raco said. They were weaving their way through the cars parked outside the cottage, and Falk could hear music and laughter floating through the air.
“I tried,” Naomi said. “I know I called her, probably would’ve sent a follow-up text, too. Saying hello, asking if she’d moved on.”
“And what was the response?” Raco was still frowning, and Rita gently touched his arm as they headed around the side of the cottage to the barn where their guests were waiting.
“The usual for Kim,” Naomi said as three different people spotted Rita and Raco and simultaneously set off toward them at a trot. “She didn’t reply.”