“I’d be happy to help him out.”

“Good.” Ed finally looked up at her. “We’re free for a few hours, aren’t we?”

“You have a conference call at three.”

“Let’s go get some lunch.”

Ed noticed that Darcy was extremely quiet as they drove to lunch. That was okay. He wasn’t going to let her know why he was headed to Miami.

She’d made his airline reservation and booked him a hotel. From what he knew of the area, that would put him within twenty minutes of her father and aunt.

All he could hope for now was that her father wouldn’t tell her that he was coming to visit. He was sure her father knew what the visit was about. He sounded very bright when he’d talked to him on the phone. But some things you just didn’t do on the phone. If you were going to ask a man for his daughter’s hand in marriage, you went to him—even if you had to fly to Miami to do it.

Ed reached for Darcy’s hand and laced their fingers together. “You’re quiet.”

“Sorry. I have been thinking of my dad since you said you were headed to Miami.”

“Oh, that’s right. He lives near there, right?”

She nodded.

It put an ache in his chest to see her obvious pain of missing him, but he had to keep his plans.

“How about we go out there after your birthday?”

Darcy’s head snapped up. “How do you know my birthday is coming up?”

“Christian mentioned it.”

She nodded again. “He has an appointment that day.”

“Right. Well, how about that weekend we fly out? Interested?”

“Really? You’d go out and meet my dad?”

“I think it would only be right, don’t you?”

She smiled. “It would mean a great deal to me.”

“Me too.” He gave her hand a squeeze. Now his heart could ease up. But by the time they went out to visit, they’d be engaged with his blessing.

Ed left the next morning, and the office was quiet. Darcy had plenty of work to do, but it was always nicer when Ed was in the office behind her.

Zach and Mary Ellen had included her in their lunch plans, but she wasn’t sure that she was comfortable, considering the thoughts she’d had about the couple. They had no idea what she’d led herself to believe, but she didn’t want to chance looking like an idiot in front of them either.

Instead, she spent lunch in the Starbucks where she’d met Ed.

As she watched the people come and go, she wondered if anyone else would walk through the door and have their lives changed as she had, just weeks earlier. She came to Nashville in search of her birth parents, and instead, she became part of a family and fell in love with a man that she hoped she’d spend the rest of her life with.

When the door opened again, she couldn’t have been more pleased than to see Clara’s face.

Clara waved, ordered her drink, and then quickly hurried toward her with her arms out.

Darcy stood and hugged Ed’s sister.

“Does he know you hide out in the coffee shop while he’s out of town?” Clara laughed.

“Not a lot gets past him.”

“That’s for sure.”

Clara’s name was called, and she walked to the counter to fetch her drink.

“Can I join you?”

“Of course.” Darcy sat back down, and Clara joined her.

She loosened the scarf around her neck, which must have been hot considering the heat they’d been having.

Clara was a free spirit, and anyone would know that just by looking at her. Her dark hair grazed just at her shoulders, and today, it was full of curls. She wore a pair of cut-off shorts, a sleeveless white shirt, and worn out cowboy boots. Darcy admired her unique fashion. She was a breath of fresh air with a wrist full of bangles.

Darcy noticed a tattoo on her wrist. “What’s on your wrist?”

Clara turned her arm over and moved the bracelets so that it could be seen.

“It’s the infinity symbol with the word family.”

The very sentiment nearly brought tears to Darcy’s eyes.

Clara ran her fingers over it. “We all have one.”

“You all have one? As in who?”

“My family. Mom, Dad, Christian, and Ed.”

Darcy tried to think. Had she seen his tattoo? No, she hadn’t.

Clara let her bracelets fall back in place and took a sip of her drink. “We all decided when Mom got her bill of clean health that we wanted to commemorate that journey. We are a tight family, and we always will be. Even when Mom and Dad weren’t married, we were tighter than most families.”

“I’ve never seen Ed’s.”

Clara smiled. “I thought you guys were close—if you know what I mean.”

Darcy could feel the heat rise in her cheeks. “Oh no, we’ve…I mean, we don’t…”

Clara sat back in her seat and crossed her legs. “You mean to tell me you sleep in the same bed and don’t do anything—but sleep?”

“Yes.”

Clara bit down on her lip. “You really are the perfect girl, aren’t you?”

Darcy wasn’t sure if she should be put out by the accusation or pleased. “Between us, we’ve decided to wait.”

“I think that’s awesome.”

“You do?”

Clara nodded as she sipped her coffee. “It means it’s not the most important thing to you. Too many relationships start off with it and then…”

Darcy nodded. She understood that. She assumed her own beginnings might have started like that, too.

She took a sip of her coffee and looked back up at Clara. “Where are everyone else’s tattoos?” She had to ask. She thought she’d seen almost all of Ed, and the number of times she’d seen Christian in nothing but a towel, she thought she would have noticed it.

“Dad has his on his shoulder. Mom has hers over her heart.” She indicated the very place with her hand. “Christian’s is intermixed with the barbed wire around his right arm.”

Darcy gave some thought to the tattoo. She knew it well enough, but she’d never seen the symbol. Clara lifted her arm and pointed to the underside. Darcy nodded. That made sense.

“What about Ed?”

Clara laughed. “Well, it’s just proof that you haven’t been naked with the man.” She leaned in closer to Darcy. “It’s on his lower stomach over his appendix scar.”