text: Five years had passed since Blaine had last stepped foot in her family's church. She'd stopped coming here around the same time she'd stopped looking for the Zima violin. Moving on and up had been her driving mantra then. Blaine couldn't say what would guide her now, but she knew who'd be walking her path alongside her.
  
  Blaine glanced at Jack. He stared, transfixed, at the altar. She couldn't blame him. Her familial church was breathtaking. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
  
  Jack cast a sideways glance at her. "It's exactly what I expected an old church to look like. Ours back home is nice but cold. I feel like I'm walking in an institution when I step inside."
  
  The white marble and simple modern sculptures of the church Kyle and Ronnie married in did carry a colder vibe than hers. The designers of Jack's church had definitely gone with a pure theme. "But with the flowers scattered throughout, it's lovely, as if life has sprung from the hardest of places."
  
  "I know you mentioned a simple marriage in your mother's garden, but why not here?" Jack waved his hand to encompass the altar. "In this church. It'd make for some beautiful pictures."
  
  Blaine prodded the side of her mouth with her tongue, a habit she'd gotten into after the attack. Although the scar wasn't horrible, it wasn't a reminder she wanted to carry or be reminded of fifty years from now. After the babies were born, a plastic surgeon would be able to minimize it. "I was thinking. Maybe we should wait until after the babies are born. I'd love to have an official wedding in Sander's Valley during the fall. The backdrop of trees will be better. Now, we can just sign the paperwork. No dress. No pictures."
  
  Jack skimmed his finger alongside her scar. "This doesn't distract from your beauty, angel. It's a sign of how strong you are. You haven't let this keep you down. You've gathered the pieces of your life and are reshaping them into something beautiful."
  
  "When you put it that way, my reasoning sounds shallow. Truthfully, I don't want to think about the attack anymore. I'm tired of looking over my shoulder or wondering what I might find in my fan mail." She motioned to the door. "And I'm tired of being followed by a bodyguard. I don't want Alex here."
  
  "He's not here with us exactly. He's given us privacy."
  
  "No, he already discovered what I wanted to see for myself." After checking out the church and cemetery, Alex had retreated to the woods near where they'd parked their car. "There was no need for us to even come here."
  
  "I don't get it, Blaine. You wanted to see if your dad's grave was disturbed. Alex made a trip out here to do that for you." He turned Blaine's face toward him. "Aren't you happy you didn't have to find his disturbed grave first?"
  
  "I am. It's just that…" She made a frustrated sound. "I'm tired of everyone protecting me. Doing everything for me. I want to be the one to handle my own problems for once. Paying people to do that isn't as satisfying."
  
  "What about having someone in your life whose sole goal is your happiness and health?" Jack brushed his finger over her lower lip. "Do I fall into that category of people you're tired of meddling in your life?"
  
  "No." Annoyance gave the word a harsh bite. She didn't like the sound of her anger, but this whole situation wasn't turning out the way she'd planned. "I want you with me. Walking by my side in all things. That's why I wanted you to come here with me. To support me. To stand by me during those times when all I want to do is curl into a ball and cry."
  
  "This visit has nothing to do with checking on your dad's gravesite, does it?"
  
  Blaine shook her head and turned away from Jack. "One of the last times I spoke to my dad, we fought. I was cranky with him for days afterward. We never made up. I let my stupid anger follow Dad into the grave. We never hugged again. I never got to say I was sorry for what I said."
  
  Jack settled a hand on her shoulder, a simple reminder she wasn't alone in this. She took a slow, calming breath. "I told him he was a stupid, ridiculous old man stuck in the past. That he needed to realize he wasn't raising a daughter who wanted to waste her life on girl things."
  
  "You were what? Fifteen?" Jack stepped closer to her. His strength radiated along her back. "Sounds like an argument all teenagers have with their parents at some point."
  
  "Maybe." She'd told herself the same thing over the years. "But this fight was over a whole lot of money. I was angry. Really, really angry. Avery didn't have the same conditions affixed to his trust fund. He got his hands on it a couple years ago. But me? Nope. I had to wait until I was entering middle-age or meet old-fashioned traditions that have no place in our world anymore. My worth is not defined by my babies or husband."
  
  Jack wrapped his arms around her. "You're right. You have the ability to change the world through your music."
  
  Blaine smiled. Jack's words empowered her. "Exactly. Father never realized this."
  
  "But if I had to guess, he did." Jack turned her in his arms.
  
  "What does that have to do with forcing me to have a baby and marry in order to get the same amount of money Avery did without having to wait until he was forty-five?"
  
  "You told me Avery refused to learn the violin, but you did, which is why the Zima violin is now yours."
  
  Blaine nodded but didn't say anything else. Curiosity kept her riveted to Jack. Where was he going with this?
  
  "Your son or daughter will be the one who inherits the Zima violin next, not Avery's kids, if he ever has any. Right?"
  
  With one statement, everything her dad ever said and did made sense. His insistence her husband take her name. The pressure he put on her to fit children into her life. Everything. It wasn't about him being old-fashioned.
  
  "Why didn't he ever say it like that?" Blaine gripped Jack's forearms. "I thought he was being a ridiculous old man."
  
  "I don't know, angel, but it's not too late to say you're sorry."
  
  "That's really why I wanted to come here. To have some kind of closure so I could move on." On a bitter laugh, she shook her head. "Maybe tell him he should be happy he got his way."
  
  "That you're going to continue playing the violin?" Jack raised a brow. "Prove to him that your music can still change the world, just in a different way."
  
  She planted a hand on her hip. "You don't give up, do you?"
  
  "Nope." Jack smirked. "Not when I know what I'm fighting for is important."
  
  "I don't know if the tour—"
  
  Jack stopped her with a finger against her lips. "We're not talking about the tour. We're talking about your music. Whether that ends up being your violin or your singing. Embrace it. The world needs the emotion your music provides. And I need to know the end of your symphony. Finish it, Blaine. Even if you only ever play it for me."
  
  Blaine licked her lips, then nodded. "I need to finish it too, but first, I need to say I'm sorry to my dad."
  
  "Then let's do this."
  
  With Jack's hand in hers, she was ready to face this moment and her life ahead.