He might never see her again. As Griffin stood watching the marshal’s sedan drive away, he rubbed his chest, trying to get rid of the hollowness there. The hopelessness in Laura’s blue eyes had hit him hard.
It didn’t sit well that there was nothing he could do to keep her here. As a SEAL, he’d learned how to improvise in any situation, how to persevere until he got the result he needed. To be proactive.
Besides chasing down the latest lead on Arrico, was there anything else Griffin could do? There was no way to change the final outcome unless Laura’s ex was out of the picture permanently. Griffin had lost that chance when he’d let the felon walk out of the hospital stairwell.
More than frustration gnawed at him. There was anger and doubt. Had he made the wrong choice again, just as he had in Afghanistan? He prayed that he hadn’t.
Joy walked up beside him, her gaze following the automobile for a moment before shifting to Griffin. “You have feelings for her.”
“A lot of good it does.” He did have feelings for her, deep permanent feelings.
Her aunt glowed with pleasure. “She has feelings for you, too.”
“And we can’t follow up on them. It might not ever matter.”
“You’re giving up?” Joy arched a brow.
Griffin frowned. “No, I’m going to do whatever I can. I just don’t know if it will be enough.”
Joy touched his arm. “Maybe if you ask, God will show you a way.”
Griffin didn’t see how, but it couldn’t hurt. Feeling restless and out of sorts, he started for Enigma’s office. He wasn’t ready to face the emptiness of his house. As he drove, Joy’s advice came back to him.
Maybe he would pray. He felt strange asking for help when it had been years since he’d even thought about God. It hadn’t been years. Since Laura had come into his life, they’d discussed God more than once.
Her words in the barn came back to him. She’d said God had sent His Son to die for everyone, even Griffin.
He wasn’t sure how to start praying, so he started with Laura, just laid everything out there—her safety, his feelings about her, the ambush in Afghanistan. When he finished, an unexpected peace came over him for a few seconds. Then a very clear feeling that he had just lost the best thing to ever happen to him in this life.
Letting her go hurt every bit as deeply as losing Davy, Ace and J.J. had.
He knew something else, too. God had sent Laura Prentiss to him. She was a gift he wanted to keep.
Even though he had what he needed to connect Arrico to the attempts to murder him and Laura, all it did was keep the jerk in prison. It might be enough to get him moved to solitary, but it might not. Either way, the guy was still a threat to Laura. So she’d had to disappear again.
But this time, Griffin could go with her.
The thought stopped him cold.
What would it mean to go into the program with her? Because of Laura, he knew what leaving his current life would cost. Not only would it be difficult to cut off contact with his friends and colleagues, it would hurt to leave his house and land. Those things belonged to him. Nothing else ever had. The place was his first real home. Could he give all of that up for Laura?
It would be a trade-off, no doubt. But he was afraid if he let her go now, it would be for always.
And he couldn’t imagine his life without her in it.
* * *
Griffin called the director of the US Marshals Service to get things going. By nightfall he had a new driver’s license with a new name and authorized documents to present to Marshal Yates. Now he could go wherever Laura went. He wanted to go there now.
Street lights glowed along the highway as he drove north from downtown Oklahoma City. Connecting to his phone via his Bluetooth in the SUV, he called Floyd Yates.
“Devaney,” the marshal boomed, “I was just fixin’ to call you.”
“Great minds, I guess.”
“What did you need?”
“Laura. I mean, I’ve decided to go into WitSec with her. If she’ll have me. Have you already relocated her? Can you tell me where she is?”
“She’s not with me.”
His heart kicked hard. “I’m serious. I need to know.”
“I’m serious, too. She isn’t here.”
“What? Where is she?”
It sounded as if the marshal chuckled, but there was nothing amusing here. “I take it you haven’t listened to the news in the last hour,” the older man said.
“No. Is she all right?”
“She’s better than all right. Arrico and the other two prisoners tried to escape en route to McAlester. They wounded one marshal, but the other one killed them.”
Griffin was silent for a moment. “All of them?”
“Yes.”
“That means—”
“Yes.”
Laura was free! “I’m going after her! Do you know where she is?” Before Yates could answer, Griffin realized. “Never mind. I do.”
* * *
That night, hours after saying goodbye to Griffin, Laura was at the hospital. She was both happy and sad. Her father’s transplant had taken place earlier and gone well. The first sign that the stem cells would be growing and developing would show up in a rising white blood cell count. According to Dr. Farmer, it could take anywhere from ten to twenty-one days for that to appear.
And now she could monitor her father’s progress in person. The news that Vin had been killed during another escape attempt hadn’t quite sunk in, but she had wasted no time getting to the hospital.
It was hard to believe that late this afternoon, she’d been with Floyd on her way to a new life in Kansas.
Tears of joy filled her eyes and she dashed them away. Boone and Sydney were here, as was Aunt Joy. The only person missing was Griffin, and she planned to duck into a room somewhere to call him.
Even though she hadn’t been allowed to see her father yet, the mood she shared with her friends outside his hospital room was celebratory.
Joy looked around their little circle. “Who’s up for some dinner?”
“I am,” Boone said.
Laura was hungry. She had only now realized that she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. “That sounds good to me.”
“Me, too.”
Down the hall, the elevator dinged. As she looked over her shoulder, her heartbeat skipped. Griffin. She spun to face him. He looked great. Healthy and strong and wonderful. Yes, it had been only hours since she’d seen him, but everything in her world was more vivid now. More appreciated.
Everyone turned, welcoming him with a smile. Laura smiled, too, her heart swelling in her chest.
He addressed all of them, but his gaze settled on her. “Does this good mood mean Nolan’s transplant went okay?”
“Yes. It went very well.” Joy explained how long they would have to wait before they received the first sign that the new stem cells were growing.
“That’s great news.” He still hadn’t taken his attention off of Laura.
She had to know. “Did you hear about Vin?”
“I did.” He moved closer until she could see the stubble of his late-day beard and the warmth in his blue-green eyes.
The now-familiar flutter in her stomach had Laura smiling broadly. “That’s something, huh?”
“Yep, something.” His gaze traced her face. “I need to talk to you.”
“If it’s about earlier—”
“It is. I forgot to tell you something.”
She frowned.
“When I agreed with you that nothing in your life had changed, I was wrong. I’ve changed. My feelings for you have changed.”
“They have?”
“Ooh,” Joy said.
Laura could feel Boone and Sydney smiling, but she kept her attention on Griffin. Gentle hands cupped her elbows. “You might think it’s too soon or that we don’t know each other well enough, but I love you.”
She blinked up at him, her pulse scrambling. “I love you, too.”
“Thank goodness.” He brushed a kiss on her lips.
She rested her hands on his arms. “When did you know?”
“When I told you what had happened to my friends, but I didn’t see a future then. You were only supposed to be here for a week.”
She nodded.
“After you left with Floyd this morning, I realized that God sent you to me and I didn’t want to give you up.”
He wiped away a tear on her cheek.
She watched him closely. “What would you have done about us if Vin were still alive?”
“I’m glad you asked.” Griffin pulled out his new driver’s license and gave it to her.
She looked down at the photo. It was Griffin, with a different name. “Who’s Griffin Dodd?”
“Me.”
“What—?” Understanding spread across her face. “You were coming into WitSec with me?”
“That was the plan.”
“You would do that for me? Leave your home and your job?”
“You’re my family. I couldn’t let you go without me.”
He kissed her again. “God put you in my life and you put God in mine.”
“You really believe that.”
“I do.”
Her heart felt too small to contain all the joy. “Oh, Griffin. This is wonderful.”
“The best part is no more undercover. You’ve got your life back.”
“No.” She smiled up at him. “The best part is having you in it.”