One week later
“Do you think she’ll ever forgive me?”
Stuart leaned forward in the chair beside Brad’s hospital bed. “Honestly, yeah. She probably will.”
Now that he had Kaylee back, things were seriously looking up. They weren’t perfect yet, and maybe “perfect” wasn’t a realistic expectation. But he had a shot at a happy future. A family of his own.
“And you?” Brad said.
“I’m gonna have to work on that.” Stuart figured it would take time, but he might get there. When he knew for sure there had been no repercussions in Kaylee’s life due to her brother’s actions.
“That’s all I ask.”
Stuart nodded, then leaned back in the chair and blew out a long breath.
“Witness statements?”
He nodded. “We’ve been at it for a week now, all day conferences at the police department with the FBI and US Attorney. The chief is there, too, looking very pale and not at all like he should even be thinking about being back to work yet. It’s been pretty hush-hush, and I still can’t talk about it.”
“They bring him down, we’re all free.”
And yet, Brad had worked to gain freedom only for himself and at the expense of his sister. Stuart wasn’t anywhere near being ready to offer forgiveness. Brad had done a bad thing. Unthinkable, even. Who hung a family member out to dry like that?
But the lives they’d lived led to blurred lines. Considering the duress Brad had been under, and all they’d gone through that had left even Stuart barely sane, he’d taken the only out he thought was available to him. It was a failure of character or moral fiber. Not something the cops in town could prosecute, even if they weren’t working with the feds to bring down the CIA director right now.
Last Chance could wind up making a name for itself. Getting on the map, and not for good reason. Most in town preferred the more anonymous life they all lived. No one wanted national attention.
Least of all Stuart, when Kaylee was technically still in danger—and would be until the CIA director was in federal custody. His network was broken down. The organization disbanded.
The last thing he wanted was for someone with a grudge to crawl out of the woodwork with Kaylee in their sights. But the FBI had promised them protection by way, specifically, of Special Agent Eric Cullings, who had turned out to be Tate’s brother-in-law. He’d given their word she would be guarded until she was out of danger.
Stuart was exhausted, wrung out from talking his way through his entire life since the company had first made their approach. Everything he’d seen. All that he’d done, and the name of the person who’d had given him those orders in the first place. Not one thing had been left out, which meant the federal authorities knew the truth of every single thing he’d perpetrated. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Even so, Eric didn’t look at him with disdain. Not even once. Instead, he looked at Stuart as though he was a valuable asset. A man whose hand he shook firmly in a greeting.
Someone worthy of respect.
To a man who hadn’t thought of himself in those terms…not just in a long time, but ever in his life before, Stuart would have trouble putting into words how it made him feel.
But he was working on it.
Thank You. God had shown up—in a big way. His many blessings were making themselves evident. The truth was out now. With it had come freedom, peace, and joy. A woman he loved. One he desperately needed some quiet time with, not surrounded by recording equipment and people with notepads talking about depositions and hearings.
Brad had drifted to sleep, so Stuart stepped into the hall where Dean was on protective detail to make sure the director didn’t retaliate and come after any of them.
“What did he have to say for himself?”
Stuart lifted a brow. “He’s sorry.”
“So you’re just going to forgive him?”
“Would Ellie?” Stuart needed his friend to realize the good people they loved were choosing to forgive.
Dean blew out a breath. “Is that the point?”
Stuart grinned. “I’ll be sure and let your girlfriend know she still has some work to do.”
“She loves me just the way I am. Kind of like how Kaylee feels about your sorry self.” Dean wiped his brow in mock relief. “Good for us.”
“Yeah.” Stuart took a step back. “Good for us.”
He took a side door out of the hospital. One most people didn’t know about, let alone use. It led to the rear of the building. He double-timed it into the trees. Instinct was like a second skin. But those highly-trained senses didn’t alert him to anyone watching him through a scope. He didn’t feel the itch between his shoulder blades that would indicate crosshairs aimed over his heart.
Stuart jogged anyway, using the exercise to dispel all the nervous energy pent up in him. Living in one place this long was unfamiliar. As was having people in his life he cared about—and who cared about him in return.
Two miles of running got him to the isolated cabin where they’d stashed Kaylee until they got word the CIA director was no longer a threat. It was supposedly owned by a former resident of the town, Victoria Bramlyn. Talking about her was the only time he’d ever seen Zander look nervous. Not even in the heat of a gunfight or buildings exploding around him had Stuart seen that look on his friend’s face.
He whistled.
Zander, who’d turned from his post just off the front step, was watching Stuart approach out of the trees.
“All quiet?”
The big man nodded. “I’ll make another round. We got ribs in, and we’re gonna fire up the barbeque if you can persuade that woman of yours to make cornbread.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Stuart had requested all the fixings for a salad and knew they had baking supplies as well. Kaylee was welcome to help, but he felt like cooking tonight.
Walking in the front door felt more like coming home than any other time in his life. Stuart stopped just inside the door and pressed his palm to the wall.
“Hey. You’re here.” Curled up in the corner of the couch, Kaylee set her book on the coffee table. She started to stand.
He shook his head, moving toward her. “You don’t need to get up.”
She held out her hand, a smile teasing her lips. He saw none of the disassociation he’d seen when he had brought her out of that cell in the compound. She’d suffered. He had rescued her. Was she good now? Or would the trauma resurface in the future?
She hadn’t had a nightmare since then. Neither had he.
Stuart pressed his lips to that smile and sank onto the cushions next to her, gathering her against him with an arm around her shoulders.
“Did you tell him?”
Stuart reached over and touched the ring on her left hand. “He was more interested in whether or not you were going to forgive him than hearing about your dress and what kind of flowers we had.”
Kaylee sighed but didn’t comment. She leaned her head on his shoulder. “You don’t think it was too soon?”
He turned his hand and looked at her ring, then his. The one she’d slid on his finger six days ago in a ceremony held at six in the morning with four armed men and a pastor present. “Do you think it was?”
“No.”
“Probably we’re both just delusional, and it was way too soon. Likely this will turn into a nightmare, and we’ll end up screaming at each other and throwing stuff around this cabin because we’re sick of being in such close proximity for weeks and weeks until the trial is done.” He shook his head for emphasis, “But there was no way I was going to go home at the end of the day while someone else protected you. It’s easier to keep two people safe when they’re living in the same house.”
“Is that the reason?”
“Dean reamed me good when I told him I wasn’t leaving. He told me how staying was supposed to be for good folks who are in love. Those who are sick of being apart for the sake of being noble.” He shrugged. “So, I said, ‘okay. I’m in!’”
She shifted, lifting her head from his shoulder to look at him. “Okay?”
“Am I gonna go anywhere else?”
Her eyes narrowed. “When we get all worked up about stuff and start throwing things…are you going to throw my book?”
“Of course not.”
“None of my things?” She motioned to the vases perched on the bookcase, “What about any of this Victoria person’s things?”
“No.”
“So when you get upset, you’ll just throw your stuff.” She lifted one eyebrow. “And then clean up after.”
“This is a very bizarre conversation. I’m not sure what’s happening.” But considering he got to hold her close whenever he wanted, including in the dark when the memories threatened, he was going to just go with it.
“I’m just laying down some ground rules.”
“Great,” Stuart said. “I’ve got one. You don’t ever leave, and neither do I.”
“Because it’s more convenient than picking up and going somewhere else?”
“It isn’t. But that’s not why.” He touched her face. “Stay. Always.”
Her gaze softened. “Okay.”
Stuart laughed. “I feel like maybe we skipped the whole dating thing.”
“And the whole engagement thing. Pastor Daniels didn’t seem worried; not if we take the class and ‘do the work.’”
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
She snuggled against him again. “So long as you don’t touch my book, we’ll be good.”
Stuart chuckled. Then he stopped when he realized his laughter was shaking her.
She sighed and whispered, “Love you.”
He held her close while she drifted off to sleep, and he wondered how his life had come to this. “Love you too, Kaylee.”
Whatever it took, Stuart was going to make sure this lasted. He was going to do the work. Because, for the first time in his life, he knew where he was supposed to be and what he was supposed to be doing.
This would be the most important mission of his life.