It took almost an hour to get there, Connie cursing the traffic, but Jacob sat in silence staring out the window, and Connie felt she should leave him to his thoughts.
Jacob was trying to focus on his brother and what he would say to his family, but the only thing he seemed able to keep in his mind was the image of Connie's face earlier, when she realised she'd lost the girl in resus. She was hurting, and here he was making her go to a funeral that would probably remind her of all the girls she'd lost over the years. Especially when she saw his brother's daughter, the same age as Grace and, he'd heard, still wheelchair bound from being in the car accident with her father.
"Connie?"
Jacob's voice suddenly broke the silence, and when she glanced at him she found he was watching her. "Mm?"
"I know this is...I don't know...wrong, maybe...and I don't want you to feel like you should do it because of where we're going, but…" Jacob attempted, the words falling out of his mouth before he'd had chance to think them through.
"But?" Connie questioned when nothing more was forthcoming.
"I want to kiss you." Jacob offered gently.
She turned to look at him, her breath shaking as she inhaled, her mouth slightly parted.
"I'm sorry, I'm..." He shook his head as he spoke and turned back to the window, looking out at the trees that framed the car park she had chosen. Her hand touched his arm lightly but he didn't respond, and she closed her eyes momentarily.
"Jacob... It's not, it's not because I don't want to. I..." She took another breath, took her hand to his face and turned his head gently to look at her. "I can't lose her, Jacob."
He took her hand, and placed it back down on her knee. He looked back out of the window and she took the keys from the ignition, aware that the time in which they had spent in traffic had cost them.
"He would have been glad that you were here."
"You told your brother about me?"
"No, but..." He paused, before looking at her, noticing how the green of her eyes never disconnected from the brown of his. "I just know he would have liked you."
"If he was anything like you, I think I would have liked him, too. Come on. We can do this." Connie offered a smile before she stepped from the car.
Climbing out, Jacob took a deep breath and straightened his tie. If he could stand up to Connie Beauchamp and make her smile, he could do this. He could do this. "I can't do this."
His head turned to Connie, panicked, but rather than replying, she simply slid her hand into his and began walking towards the sea of people, leaving him no choice but to follow along behind her. She kept her grip tight until Jacob was spotted and drawn into a throng of family members outside the church. Then, she'd slid her hand from his, and when he turned to glance at her, she just gave an encouraging smile.
"You managed to get him here, then." A voice spoke from behind Connie, and when she turned she found Elle offering what could be a welcoming smile. "You do know how to make him do what you want, I'll give you that."
Connie gave a tight smile in return, but her face paled and her stomach dropped when a passer-by pushed the memory book into her hand. Joseph Masters was Jacob's twin.