by Lexi Blake
“Caleb, maybe we should go inside.” Holly had a hand on her husband’s white jacket.
She stood there completely frozen in place because she had an appointment and it was about the health of her baby. Henry’s baby. But she wanted to go home and lock it all out and pretend it wasn’t happening.
She was always assertive, always knew what she wanted and how to advocate for herself to get it.
She was so lost now.
“Henry, I think Nell is going to take this appointment without you.” Laura took Nell’s hand firmly in hers. “She shouldn’t miss appointments, and I’ll be with her the whole time. I’ll take her for some lunch afterward and I’ll drop her back off at the cabin this afternoon.”
The look on his face told Nell he wanted to argue, but he stepped back. “Is this what you want…what you need?”
She had no idea, but she wasn’t sure she could talk about the baby with Henry, so she nodded. “Do you need the keys?”
He backed away, his face going blank. “I have mine. I’ll see you at home.”
He turned and walked toward their Jeep.
“Come on, honey.” Laura gently tugged on her hand. “Let’s get this over with and we’ll go back to my place for lunch. The guys are out, and I can make you something nice.”
She wasn’t hungry, but she followed Laura inside the clinic.
She didn’t look back.
* * * *
Henry sat in front of his computer, thankful for once to have a problem to work on because if he thought about Nell, he might go fucking crazy.
Think about Nell? He couldn’t not think about her, and it had been that way since the moment they’d met.
Are we legally married?
The question had stopped him in his tracks. They’d been legally married, and all the proper paperwork had been filed. He had everything he needed to prove he was Henry Flanders, damn it. He’d made sure of it.
But it was a house of cards, and all it would take was one stiff wind to blow it all apart.
He glanced over at her desk. She hadn’t sat there at all this week. She’d studiously avoided her laptop. Apparently she wasn’t in the mood to write romantic stories.
Because her own romance had imploded so spectacularly.
He sat back and sighed. What the hell was he going to do? She’d lost her cool earlier today, and that just wasn’t Nell. She was serene, even in the face of turmoil.
He heard the sound of a vehicle coming up the drive and stood to greet her. It was still a little early, and maybe that was a good thing. Maybe she’d thought about it and wanted to talk.
He frowned when he realized it wasn’t his sweet Nell coming up to the door. It was Stef Talbot.
The door was open, and he could see the big artist plainly through the screen. Stef Talbot was also known as the King of Bliss. This was his town, and he ruled over it more than any mayor ever would, though Henry thought Stef might find Rafe harder to deal with than Hiram had been.
He should have known this meeting was coming. He’d sat across from Stef a few days before when he’d debriefed Rafe after he’d officially taken the mayor’s job. He’d made the decision to bring in Stef and inform him of the situation. Stef hadn’t said much at the time, merely asked to be kept up to date.
He should have known Stef would want this conversation to be private. “Come on in, Stef. Nell isn’t here, but then I think you probably know that.”
“She’s at Laura’s.” Stef stepped inside. “At least that’s what I’ve heard. I also heard about the scene at the clinic earlier today. I thought it might be a good time for us to talk.”
“All right.” His every nerve was on edge, and he needed to chill because showing Stef Talbot how dangerous he could be wouldn’t help his case. “I thought I explained everything during the briefing, but I can certainly answer any question you have.”
Stef was a tall man. He had a couple of inches on Henry, and his body was corded with lean muscle. Unlike most men, he didn’t find the artist physically intimidating. It was the influence Stef had over the town Henry loved that made him truly dangerous. “I’m afraid I spent most of that meeting in shock. I needed some time to think. You threw me for a loop, Henry.”
“You know who I am. You just didn’t know who I used to be.”
Stef stared at him for a moment. “Did you come to my town to hide?”
There was the arrogant king. He didn’t blame Stef. He knew pretty much everything there was to know about his neighbors, and Stef’s need to protect the town, to claim it as his, came from his childhood. Stef had been given all the comforts of wealth, but his mother had been completely out of his life and his father had been distant as well. This town had raised Stef, had given him a harbor in the storm.
The way it had for Henry.
“I originally came because Bill was the only person I thought I could talk to.” His first instinct had been to tell Stef it wasn’t his business and to get out. But that was the Bishop in him. Henry talked his problems through with friends. God, he hoped Stef was still his friend. “I was at a crossroads. I hated what I’d become, but I didn’t know what I wanted. The Agency was all I’d known at that point. I went from foster care to the Army to the Agency. When I left, I was responsible for many operatives, many missions. I had power at the Agency, but I met Nell and I realized it was hollow. My power was nothing in the face of her belief. I didn’t come here to hide. I came here to find myself.”
Stef seemed to take that in. “You love Nell.”
It wasn’t a question, but Henry found he had a need to answer. “I love her more than I’ve loved anything or anyone in my life. She’s the best part of me, the only part of me I’m proud of.”
“All right. I’m sorry to question you. My wife laughed when I asked her what she thought.”
“What did Jen say?”
“She said you ate too much tofu to not be in love,” Stef said, a smile finally creasing his face. He sobered quickly. “How much danger are we in?”
“If they come, they’ll come looking for me. If I can’t handle them, then I’ll let them take me.” He’d gone over and over it in his head. “If I thought they would leave my wife alone, I would go. I can’t know what intel they’ve gathered. If they know about Nell, they’ll use her against me.”
It was what kept him up at night. The idea of his wife and their unborn child in the hands of the cartel wrecked him.
“Are you working with Nate on a plan to keep her safe?” Stef asked. “Should you two be out here on your own?”
“To be honest, I’m afraid to tell my wife she’s going to need security. She’s already upset with me.” He nodded toward the sofa where his blankets and pillows were sitting neatly folded. “As everyone in town could tell when she screamed about her cervix in the parking lot of the clinic.”
That got Stef’s brows to rise. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound like Nell. I mean, who hasn’t heard her yell about female parts, but she’s typically upset the patriarchy is trying to control her uterus.”
“She didn’t want me at her appointment.” He couldn’t stand the fact that she hadn’t taken comfort in him. It had become a point of pride that he was the one she turned to. He hoped Laura had held her hand during the exam. He’d wanted so badly to be in there with her, to ask questions and listen for the heartbeat. He hoped Caleb had been able to find it quickly because she would be worried if he had to search for it for long.
Had he had any right to get her pregnant? To put her through all of this for the simple fact that he longed for a child with the woman he loved.
“I need to know what your plans are,” Stef said quietly. “Are you going to take care of this?”
“I’m not sure how. If I turn myself in to the Agency, it leaves Nell vulnerable. If I go after the cartel myself, I leave Nell vulnerable and I probably end my marriage.” He might not have a choice. “Part of the problem is how things have moved in the years since I left. I’ve spent the last week wo
rking on putting some pieces together. The cartel I was investigating ended up working with one in Mexico. They’re still around, but they’ve lost some of their power. Something’s going on. There are pieces being moved around that I don’t like. I’m seeing a pattern.”
“What does it mean?”
“It means that my past is coming back to haunt me in more ways than one,” Henry admitted. “Some of the last operations I put in place before I came here are unravelling in a way I never intended. I’m not sure what to do about it. I might have to leave for a while. The problem is I don’t know if I’ll be allowed to come back.”
“No one will stop you,” Stef replied. “Nell is going to have a baby, and you’re the baby’s father. I doubt she’ll keep your child from you. She might be angry, but she’s not vindictive.”
“Tell that to my spinal cord,” he replied with a sigh. “That couch might have been sustainably built, but it was not meant for sleeping.”
“And yet you’re still sleeping here when Seth’s monster is within walking distance,” Stef pointed out.
“I can’t leave Nell. She might need me.” It was why the thought of taking care of the situation was so distasteful. That and the fact that he didn’t want to do that work anymore. He was tired of having blood on his hands.
However, if Kayla Summers was in trouble, he didn’t have a choice. He owed her. He’d ruthlessly placed her in danger, and now he might be the only one who could save her.
“I came here to talk to you about that. If you need to leave for a while, Nell can come to the house. I’ll pay for round-the-clock protection. I’ll call some friends and find a good company to use,” Stef offered.
He knew who he trusted. “Use McKay-Taggart.”
“I thought you were against that company.”
“Only because Ian Taggart was one of my protégés,” Henry admitted. “Call him. He’s absolutely the best, and he’ll have trained the best. He’s going to find out I’m alive at some point, though you might not mention you know me. I don’t know that Taggart won’t be angry. I left everyone when I came to Bliss. I dropped it all.”
“Don’t do the same thing again,” Stef advised. “Don’t drop us. It would be a huge mistake. I know Nell.”
“Then you should know there’s a possibility that she never forgives me. Hell, today she basically said she thinks we’re not really married.”
“Because you lied about your name.” Stef nodded. “I would be worried about that, too. Do you want me to have a lawyer look into it?”
“It wouldn’t matter at this point.”
“But it will in the future,” Stef said. “Your name is on her LLC. You’re on all the joint accounts.”
Was that why he was here? To look out for Nell. “Yes. I do want a lawyer. Have one draw up a postnuptial agreement. Whether or not our marriage is legal, it’s real to me, and any documents like that will give her some sense of peace. If I leave the marriage, I’ll leave with what I brought in. Nothing.”
When he’d walked away from his old life, he’d walked away from everything. He’d left behind his condo, his car, all of his money. Everything he’d saved and invested. He hadn’t touched it because it was more important to maintain the illusion of his death.
“Henry, you’ve made a lot of money.”
“Nell’s talent has made a lot of money,” Henry corrected. “And she started publishing before I came back. She keeps everything, including the cabin and the land. I won’t take anything away from her.”
Henry hadn’t realized how tense Stef had been until his shoulders relaxed.
“All right. I’ll have the documents drawn up. I actually think it could have an impact on Nell,” Stef allowed. “No matter what happens, I don’t think you should leave Bliss. I know Seth will let you stay in that monstrosity of a house, but there are also some cabins around that you can lease, and there’s lots available to build on. You might like building a place for you and your kid.”
“I’ve been wondering if I deserve a kid. Maybe it would be better if I wasn’t in his life.” He’d never wondered, but was that why his father had walked? Had he known what a shit he was and that any kid would be better off alone than with him? “It’s not like I know how to be a parent. My dad walked away and my mom died young.”
Stef shook his head. “So did mine. Well, my mom walked away and my dad was absent. And I love my son with every fiber of my being. It’s not about what we know or what we’ve been through. That’s the amazing thing about kids. They don’t care. All that matters is if you love them enough to be with them. They’ll handle a lot of heartache if you share it with them, teach them how to be good humans. I think that’s what Nell would call it. You know how to be a good human, Henry.”
Nell had taught him. This town had taught him. “I know how to be a bad one, too.”
“And that’s why you’ll be good at this if you choose to honor your vows. Nell doesn’t think you’re legally married? Show her that her husband doesn’t need a piece of paper to do the work of being her husband.” Stef stepped back, moving toward the door. “I think that’s Laura bringing Nell home. Give me a call and we’ll set some things in motion.”
“I’ll do what’s best for Nell. I promise. That’s why you came, right? You wanted to make sure I’ll do right by a woman you view as a sister.” Henry knew Stef tended to view some of the citizens he’d been around for a long time as his family.
Stef turned back. “I did. But I also came because at some point in the last few years, you became my brother, and I don’t want to lose you.” He turned. “Hey, Nell. I came by to say hello.”
“Hi, Stef.” Nell walked in, waving behind her. She stopped when she saw him and her purse dropped to the floor. “Henry? Henry, are you all right? Did Stef say something?”
“I’m fine. Why.”
“Because I don’t think I’ve ever seen you cry.” She rushed to him and threw her arms around him.
There was no way he wouldn’t take that. It was too good to be close to her. He was always close to her, and the week since they’d last been together had been one long walk in the desert. He held her tight and didn’t even care that tears had blurred his eyes when Stef had made it plain he belonged in Bliss.
He wasn’t sure he’d ever truly belonged anywhere.
“Is the baby all right?” Henry managed to ask.
Nell pulled back and then gasped as she seemed to come to a revelation. “Oh, Henry. I didn’t think about the fact that you would be worried. The baby is fine. I should have thought about how you would feel.”
“It’s okay. You needed time. I’m going to respect that, but I would like it if you would text me when you get out next time.”
“You can come.” Nell straightened her skirt and walked back to grab her bag. “I’m sorry I was so emotional today. You’re the baby’s father. Unless you’re planning to leave, and then I would prefer you weren’t in our lives at all.”
She’d gone cold fast, and that made him ache because Nell wasn’t cold. Not ever. Even her anger was a warm thing that proved her rage came from a place of caring. But there was a harmful indifference moving her now.
“I told you I don’t want to leave.”
“I wasn’t sure since the reason for you to be here is gone now,” she replied.
“What does that mean?”
“Do you honestly think the Agency doesn’t know?” Nell asked. “If the cartel knows, I would suspect the Agency knows. They might already have someone here watching you.”
It wasn’t anything he hadn’t thought about. The trouble was he couldn’t be sure how long the Agency had known, so he didn’t know how far back to look. “That is a possibility. If I was running an op on a wayward agent, I would send in someone long term. An operative who could get close to the agent. But Nell, I don’t want to leave. If they come for me, they come for me. If they do, you have to let them take me.”
That seemed to stop her for a moment. “What will they do to y
ou?”
He wasn’t going into this with her. “It doesn’t matter. If I tell you to run, go to Stef’s. He’ll protect you. You let them take me. No arguments. If they come in the front, you walk out the back, go to Seth’s, and call Stef. He knows what to do.”
“Maybe you should run.”
“If they know about me, they know about you. Running would only leave you unprotected. And honestly, I don’t want to run. I ran from them and found this place. I don’t want to leave Bliss. If you can’t forgive me, I’ll rent a cabin of my own and I’ll find work, but I have no intentions of leaving Bliss. I’ll admit I thought about the fact that I might not be a good father, that maybe I should let you find someone who knows how to be a dad.”
She turned and walked into the kitchen, but not before he caught a sheen of tears in her eyes. “I think you’ll be a good father.” She picked up the kettle and started to fill it. “So you came here to get away from the Agency and the cartel, but you decided you liked it?”
“I came here because I fell in love with you.” He was tired. A weariness threatened to overtake him, but he couldn’t exactly go to bed. He didn’t have one anymore. “I’ve got some research to do. I’ll be at my computer if you need me.”
Nell looked back at him. “Research?”
“Seth and I have been trying to piece together what happened after I left.”
“What happened with the cartel you were watching?”
He nodded. “After I left there was a bunch of fallout. Apparently some money and a shipment went missing and that started a mini war inside the organization.” He probably shouldn’t talk about this, but she looked interested. It was the most eye contact they’d had in days. “After the fallout cleared, the cartel in Colombia started working with one in Mexico.”
“I thought they were always at war.”
“No, it’s actually often very businesslike. Don’t get me wrong. There was bloodshed, but the man who runs the Jalisco cartel obviously wanted the infrastructure associated with the weakened Colombian cartel. The trouble is the same man who took over now has a connection to someone I used to work with.”