“You’re here,” Robin gasped and held onto him. “How?” She cried big fat tears that rolled down her cheeks as shouts sounded outside the door. They both jumped when several shots rang out and the glass in the front door exploded. More shots and then it grew silent.
“I think it’s over,” Blake said, looking down at Robin, who looked up at him with confusion. “Shall we go and see?”
“All clear!” someone called out.
“There you two are.” Javan’s face appeared, hovering over the sofa. “Are you going to come out or do you need a room?” The man chuckled.
“What the… what?” Robin touched her head. “I’m concussed. I must be…”
Blake smiled at her. “No, just…” He frowned. “Plans changed after I left.” He sat up and helped her up as well. “I wanted to call, but… there wasn’t time.” He sighed and instantly felt bad as Robin walked over and sat on the sofa. Ann came rushing down the stairs, holding Liam in her arms while Camilla and Cora hugged Ann’s legs.
“What the hell!” Ann said, her eyes showing anger. “You stupid fools. You could have warned us.” She turned and searched the room. “Where’s my idiot husband?”
“Here,” Ethan said, stepping inside. His brother-in-law was wearing all black over his Kevlar vest. Much like the one Blake wore under his suit now.
Ann walked over to her husband and hugged him, squeezing Liam in the middle. The girls rushed forward and held onto Ethan’s legs.
He turned back to Robin, who was frowning at him even more. “This… was a plan?”
“Not mine.” He held up his hands, then pointed to Ethan.
“Tattletale,” Ethan said, earning him a slug on the shoulder from Ann.
“Was it Leslie?” Robin asked, looking into her hands. “That shot at you, that blew up the château and your office?”
He wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “Yes. She shot at me the first time in Paris and set both explosives. Ethan discovered it last night after he left. Things just weren’t adding up about Jeffery. He had zero experience with guns or explosives. But Leslie…” He sighed. “Which didn’t make sense if she’d perished in the explosion last night. That’s why Ethan had the body that was discovered looked at more closely. It took most of the night, but finally, first thing this morning, right after I left, they discovered it wasn’t Leslie. They still haven’t identified who…”
“Her name is Carena,” Robin broke in. “Or so Leslie said.”
Blake looked over at Ethan, who nodded and let his family go to step outside.
“Once we knew for sure it wasn’t Leslie, we set the trap. Thanks to our connections at the local news.” He smiled over at his sister who frowned back at him. We filmed the scene an hour ago and they played it as if it was a live feed instead.”
“But someone shot at you today,” Robin said as Ann and the kids moved over to sit on the sofa.
“Nope, we faked it.” Blake smiled. “By the way, we owe Marcus. A lot.” He chuckled. “He’s the one that suggested we smoke out whoever was after me.”
“Why?” Ann asked.
“We didn’t know when Leslie would make a move. We hoped the false attack would force her to move up her timeline. The theory was that the Holt brothers pissed her off when they came after Robin,” Blake explained, his eyes moving back over to Robin, who was looking at him. “And if someone else came after me…”
“So, you decided to scare the…” Ann glanced over at her children, who were watching them very closely. “Scare the birds out of us,” she finished with a sigh.
“Do I have birds in me too, Mommy?” Liam asked quickly.
“We all do, honey,” Ann said, hugging her son.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen. We were supposed to be able to sneak in here before the bit aired, but it was too late when they spotted Leslie making her move,” Blake answered, feeling guilty. “Since we figured Leslie had been listening to Ethan and Javan’s radio chatter, we had to keep quiet. We suspected she had a mirror of my phone since she had plenty of access. We couldn’t chance to contact anyone.” He took Robin’s hands, willing her to understand. “When we found out for sure that it was Leslie, we had to move quickly.”
The door opened and Ethan and Agent Bruns walked in. “It’s all clear,” Agent Bruns said. “Is everyone all right in here?” he asked us a couple more agents stepped inside.
“Yes, thanks,” Blake answered. “Looks like I need to invest in some more glass,” he joked as they stepped over the shards on the ground.
“Maybe some bulletproof stuff. I know a guy,” Javan said, earning everyone’s attention.
“I saw you get shot,” Robin said, looking at the man.
Javan smiled and opened his jacket. “Kevlar, never leave home without it.” He smiled as he rubbed his chest. “Hurts like a bitch but does the job.” He closed his jacket. “Sorry to scare you. At such a close range, it knocked the wind out of me. I guess I’m not as young as I used to be.”
“I’ve been telling you that for years,” Ethan joked as he slapped Javan on the shoulder. “I’m beat.” He turned to Ann. “How about we stop off and grab some pizza…” All three of his kids exploded with cheers as Ethan smiled and lifted Liam from Ann’s arms. “Later,” he said as the family left out the garage door.
“What happed to Leslie?” Robin asked the agent.
Part of Blake already knew, but he was surprised when agent Burns answered. “We’ve taken her into custody. She may have been a Marine, but she couldn’t shoot the side of a barn standing a foot away. Explosives were her thing.” The agent chuckled. “Luckily, my guys are better. She’ll walk with a limp for a while. For now, we have her full confession on record. She’ll be charged with domestic and international terrorism.”
“Thanks,” Blake responded. “What do you need from us?”
“Nothing. We’ll be out of your hair soon enough,” Agent Bruns said. “We’re removing our equipment now.” He turned to go. “Oh, nice performance this morning,” he said with a smile. “You might want to plan on going on camera and letting everyone know you’re alive.”
Blake smiled. “I pre-recorded a message before coming here.” For Robin’s benefit, he added, “I plan on lying low for a while.”
As they waited, they watched his message on the news that he was okay and that he’d be making another announcement tomorrow. It took less than an hour before the house was empty again. Once they were alone, Blake took Robin’s hand and pulled her into his arms.
“How about a walk?” he suggested. “You haven’t gotten to see a lot of the land.”
She smiled up at him. “I’d like that.”
He helped her pull on her raincoat and zipped his own, then took her hand and started out the back door. When he stepped outside, the rain had lightened to only a drizzle.
“Spring in Georgia.” He smiled. “Tomorrow it will be in the high eighties,” he said as they made their way towards the pond.
“It’s beautiful here,” Robin said, matching his pace.
“You should see it in the fall.” He motioned to all the large trees surrounding the lake. “Everything turns bright red and orange.”
“I’d like to. See it in the fall,” she added with a smile.
They stopped at the end of the small dock he’d built two summers ago, and he turned to her.
“I’m sorry about… everything. Dragging you into my crazy,” he started, but she stopped him by placing a hand over his lips.
“We both dragged one another into our own version of crazy,” she said with a smile. “I’m just thankful you didn’t take off running.”
“Not a lot of people would stick through something like what we went through in the past month,” he agreed. She smiled.
“There might be crazier ahead,” she suggested.
“We’ll deal with it, together.” He brushed his lips across hers. “If you’d like.”
“I would.” She smiled, then leaned back. “I discovered a lot about myself in the past few weeks.”
“Oh?”
She nodded. “In the face of danger, I don’t run and hide,” she said. He smiled down at her. “I like homemade waffles more than I should,” she added as he laughed. “And I want at least three kids.”
This one stopped his heart. “Marry me,” he said, his voice going low. “No doubt any of your Hollywood writers could pen a better proposal than that, but right now, all I can think of is starting our lives together.”
Her smile slipped as tears rolled down her cheeks. “I doubt anyone could have written it better.” She smiled. “Yes, I’ll marry you.” She kissed him as the sunlight broke through the clouds above them.