Turner suddenly found his arms full of woman. He wasn’t complaining. He dropped his hands to her waist and lifted her closer. When he pulled back to breathe, all he could say was her name.
He looked down at her. Her cheeks flushed. “You ok?”
“Of course. This is probably the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. Thank you.”
“I…this…is separate from me and you,” he started slowly. “I had to fix this, as the mayor. As it was the right thing to do. But what I feel for you—”
“It’s entirely separate. I understand that.” Annie shot him a look filled with hope and hesitancy. “I…am not very good at relationships. The last serious one I had was right around the time the boys were brought to me.”
“What happened?” Turner wanted to know. He wanted to know everything that had shaped her into the person she was now.
“He couldn’t deal with the sudden possibility of being responsible for three babies. And he wanted me to just tell my mother to deal with things herself.”
“Why couldn’t you? I mean, how did you end up with the boys as young as you were?”
“My mother threatened to have the case worker move my sister to make room for the boys. Unless I moved in and helped her care for and support them.” Annie wove her fingers through his as they headed toward two large boulders that bordered the creek. “I couldn’t let Josie disappear into the system. Or worse, be sent to a group home. My mother never officially adopted her. The per diem checks from the state were too much of an incentive for my mother not to. She threatened to basically ruin Josie’s life when she had just turned sixteen—so that she could have the check for the boys. Three small boys with some of the issues they had, have, had a greater per diem. I couldn’t let that happen, and they wouldn’t give Josie to me. Even as a fictive kin placement.”
Turner wanted to curse. He could imagine a younger Annie, a younger Josie, and three small boys, all at the mercy of a cackling older woman. “So what happened?”
“I had a great caseworker. She saw what was happening. I took the foster care classes as soon as possible. I was just legally old enough under state law. I was financially stable—barely, but enough. Over time, she just started listing me first on the paperwork. Then eventually my mother’s name got dropped. The caseworker recommended the boys for adoption after the process was completed. They have biological relatives in the state, but they are unable or unwilling to take the boys. And now they’ve been with me long enough that the judge should find in my favor. It’s just a matter of the final hearing now.”
“I’m glad you have them. Glad they have you. They are wonderful kids.”
“I was terrified. I had just basically left Izzie in the lurch on rent to move back to the woman who was verbally abusive and neglectful. My mother’s not a nice person. I don’t want her to ever see the boys again. She knows that. I moved in, and that first night the caseworker put Syrus in my arms. He was only two weeks old when his first mother was killed in a car crash. He was so small, and he was mine. Seeley was only two and wasn’t even talking, and Solomon was three and barely. I’d met them once before, but that was it.”
“Then you were responsible for them.”
“Yes. I’ve loved them ever since.” She stopped walking and turned toward him. Turner paused, wanting to scoop her into his arms. “Any man I get involved with will need to accept that my first priority will always have to be them.”
“Any man who loves you won’t have to be told. You are one hell of a mother, Annie-Belle Gaines, and I love watching you with your children. If you let me into your life, their lives, I will never do anything to hurt any of you. I just want to be with you. And if that means being with the boys too, then I will consider myself blessed beyond measure. Lucky to get to be a part of their world, too.”
He leaned down to kiss her as a car drove by. Turner brushed her lips with his own, just wanting to taste her. The sound of the idling engine had him looking up.
The big, black SUV had paused, right behind Turner’s Lincoln.
The window rolled down, just like it would in a bad action movie. The barrel of a gun popped out.
Turner was already moving. As the sound of gunshots echoed. Fire burned along his arm, and the force of the hit sent him reeling back.
He turned and dove toward Annie. His tackle sent her to the ground behind the two boulders. It was all the protection they had.