“Inside.” She glanced up at the two patrol cops she’d met when she’d set off the alarm at Keating. “I put handcuffs on her.”
Ty’s laugh disintegrated into coughing.
She leaned over him. For the first time, she noticed his coat was soaked with blood. “You’re not okay. You’ve been shot.” It had been Ty she’d seen on the ground. She glanced at the dark form of Evan Blankenship. “And you shot Evan.”
“It was the least I could do after he shot me.”
She glanced over the area. It was just Ty and Evan. No sign of her son. “And Connor?”
“In the tunnel.” He exchanged a look with Trevor. “You’ll find him in there. I know you will.”
Megan was almost afraid to ask. “Find him?”
More lights flashed into the alley. Detective Baker and another uniformed patrolman rushed up to them.
Ed motioned to the new officer. “Inside. With me.” Guns drawn, they entered the shop.
Ty glanced from Megan to Baker. “The bootlegger tunnels. One of them opens right here, by the fence. It’s how Blankenship got the drop on me.”
Detective Baker nodded to Trevor. They started in the direction Ty had indicated.
Megan scrambled to her feet. She looked back at Ty. He was bleeding. He might die.
“Go,” he said.
Tears filled her eyes.
“There are plenty of cops here now. I’ll be fine. Your son needs you.”
She nodded. After all he’d given her, he was still watching out for her. She didn’t know how she’d let fear rule over her all these years. After tonight, it wouldn’t rule over her again.
She ran after Trevor and Detective Baker.
Normally she probably wouldn’t have been able to find the gate. Especially not at night. It blended in with the rest of the fence. But it was unlocked and partly open, as if Blankenship had been in a hurry and hadn’t bothered to secure it. Or maybe he’d intended to go right back.
Trevor pulled out his flashlight, shining it over the grounds. A garden shed stood near the fence.
“Stand back, Ms. Garvey,” the detective said in a low voice. “Keep behind us.”
The cops pulled out their guns. Trevor opened the door, shining the light inside.
Even from a distance, Megan could see the shed was empty except for a staircase reaching down deep into the ground.
“Stay here,” the detective ordered. “I mean it.” Guns at the ready, the two police officers descended the stairs.
Megan inched toward the shed. Was her baby down there? Was he alive? She couldn’t breathe. Dry sobs wracked her chest, and still the air wouldn’t come.
Please let him be alive. Let him be okay.
She didn’t know how much time had passed when she heard footsteps coming up the concrete stairs. She saw detective Baker first. He cradled a little body in his arms.
Her knees wobbled and failed. She sagged to the ground.
Baker stepped out of the shed and knelt down beside her. “Here you go, buddy. Here she is.”
Connor nearly flew into her arms. Megan held him close, tears rushing down her face. She held him and kissed him and swore she would never again let him go.
WHEN MEGAN FINALLY RETURNED to the alley with Connor in her arms, Ty had already been taken to the hospital. Sergeant Taylor drove her and Connor there. And while Megan waited for Ty to get out of surgery, she went over everything that had happened with Sergeant Taylor and Detective Baker. By the time they left her in peace, she’d told the story so many times, it felt distant, as if it might have happened to someone else.
Finally Ty awakened and was given a room, and a nurse told Megan that she could see him. She led Connor into the room by one hand. He clutched two action figures in the other, a gift from Sergeant Taylor’s older boys who no longer played with them.
Her first glimpse of Ty made her want to cry. He was leaning back against his pillow. His face was so pale, it made her chest ache.
He opened his eyes, and a smile curved the corners of his lips. “Good to see you, Connor, my man.”
“Hi, Ty.” He held up his toys. “I got a Spiderman and an Indiana Jones.”
“Cool.” Ty gave Megan a wink.
Connor scampered to the window sill on the other side of Ty’s bed and made his action figures climb over a potted plant bearing a card from the police department.
Megan stepped close to Ty’s bed. She reached out and took his fingers in hers, careful not to tangle the IV tube snaking into the back of his hand. “How are you doing?”
“I’ve been better.” He gave her a weak smile. “I promised I’d help you, and here I’m the one who needed the help.”
“Connor is safe because of you. I’m safe.” She squeezed his hand. Ty had to be okay. He had to be. “We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.”
He let out a sigh. “It didn’t go as smoothly as I’d hoped.”
“Really? You weren’t planning to get shot?”
He reached up and touched the bruise and scuff on her cheek. “I wasn’t the only one who got hurt.”
“This is nothing.”
“You were incredible the way you handled Vickery. Leo says she’s been talking all night.”
“That’s good.”
“She used to work for Julianne, whose maiden name happens to be Valducci. And as it turns out, they did provide in-home massage and a lot of other things—or at least Vickery did. There’s video to prove it. And the home where she took her clients was owned by Marco Valducci’s brother. It was the mansion across from Harris House.”
“Where we found Doug’s body,” she whispered, as she looked over her shoulder at Connor, still playing at the windowsill.
Ty’s head moved in a slight nod.
She wasn’t sure what she felt about Doug’s death. It hadn’t yet sunk in, probably. She could guess that he saw the scam as an easy way to help out his old pal Evan and get the money he needed to pay off the Valduccis, although how he could have involved their son in all that, she couldn’t fathom. Somehow she would have to explain it all to Connor.
“So were they fur lined?”
She shook her head, not following.
“The handcuffs you put on her. Were they fur lined? I’ve been wondering ever since the alley.”
She couldn’t help but smile. “Fake fur. Leopard print.”
“You’ve got style, Ms. Garvey.”
“Thanks.” A laugh bubbled in her chest. He always had that power. The ability to bring her out of herself, keep her from obsessing too much over her own thoughts. The only other person who could make her forget herself like that was Connor.
And now she had them both. Safe.
But as much as she loved bantering with Ty, that wasn’t why she’d needed to see him. She needed to tell him what she thought, how she was feeling. She’d wasted so much time being afraid, she didn’t want another moment to pass before she moved on. Before she took the leap. “We need to talk.”
He raised his brows. “Isn’t that what we’ve been doing?”
“You know what I mean. Really talk.”
He nodded. “Okay. I love—”
She pressed her fingertips to his lips. “No. Me first.”
“Okay,” he said, the word muffled against her fingers.
Now that he was looking at her, waiting for her to speak, she couldn’t find a word in her head. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I was so afraid.”
He waited for her to follow up, but the words stuck in her throat. Finally he nodded, encouraging. “Afraid?”
Tears filled her eyes, making the hospital room, Ty and his bed a wavy mosaic of color. It had been so easy in the waiting room when she’d been rehearsing her speech in her head. Now all she could think about was how much she felt for him, how relieved she was that things were over, how eager she was to move on.
She scooped in a deep breath and plunged. “I was afraid of being hurt. Of not seeing something I should unti
l it was too late. Not making the right choices. I convinced myself if I could make it alone, I wouldn’t have to worry about any of those things.” The words rushed out in a jumbled torrent. They didn’t make a lot of sense, but she hoped that after their recent discussions, he’d be able to follow.
“You can make it alone.”
She shook her head. She wasn’t saying this right. It wasn’t coming out right at all. “That’s not the point, Ty. I don’t want to make it alone. I want you with me.”
“I’m not going to die, Megan.”
A laugh bubbled in her chest. “You’d better not, Ty, because I love you.”
He pulled her hand, bringing her toward him.
She lowered her mouth to his and gave him a gentle kiss. Tears broke free and rolled down her cheeks. “I always have loved you, you know. Since we were kids. I just never let myself risk…” She shook her head.
“You’ve been through hell, Megan. With your parents. With me leaving you back then. With Doug. And now? Now you need time to heal.”
Heal. Yes, she did. “We both need time to heal. I just want to know, if it’s okay with you, could we do our healing together?”
“Yeah. Of course. I’d like that.” He cupped a hand around her neck and brought her lips back to his.
This time the kiss wasn’t gentle but needy, passionate. Warmth filled her to overflowing and her knees felt weak. She leaned a hip on the bed to keep her balance. And when the kiss ended and she looked into his eyes, she felt stronger already. As if the healing had indeed begun.
Epilogue
The sky was clear on Christmas morning, and the sunlight bounced off blinding-white snow and streamed in through Megan’s apartment windows, bright enough to make Ty want to keep his sunglasses on, even inside. Not that he would. He didn’t want to miss one moment of the little boy Christmas action, after all. He pulled off his coat and shades and squinted against the glare. “Hey there, little man! Merry Christmas.”
“Santa came. Look, Ty!” Connor bounced up and down on his toes and pointed to the mound of wrapped packages wedged under the tree.
Ty exchanged a big grin with Megan. “You bet Santa came, buddy. I wonder what he brought.”
Connor turned his big eyes on Megan. “Can I see, mommy?”
“As soon as I get Ty some coffee, honey.” She beamed at him. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas,” he answered. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her.
Her lips tasted like donuts and coffee, and suddenly he was very hungry. But not for food. He couldn’t believe three weeks had passed since they’d gotten Connor back safe and sound. The time had streamed by in a blur. His release from the hospital. Doug’s funeral. Samantha Vickery talking to anyone who would listen. His suspension from the police department had been lifted, and once he had recovered from the gunshot wound, he would return to the job he loved. Megan had been charged with a misdemeanor for breaking into Keating Security, but even that charge would probably be dropped.
He’d spent every day with Megan and Connor, every hour he possibly could, and they were healing, both of them. But even though everything had gone better than he’d ever dreamed, he worried he might be rushing things now.
Megan beamed at him. “I’ll be right back.” She walked into the kitchen, him enjoying the view. When she rounded the corner, he glanced back in the direction of the construction paper fireplace he and Connor had made and taped to the wall. Two stockings hung from the pretend mantle, one for Connor and one for Megan.
God, he was nervous.
Out of all the things he’d tried to give Megan, this was the one he was most worried about. He had to be crazy, risking what they’d shared in the past weeks. But he had to know. Megan had never allowed herself to need him, never allowed him to give her anything. She’d moved on in the past weeks, but he had to wonder if she’d moved on enough to accept this.
Still, he had to know. He’d been in love with Megan Garvey for most of his life. He had to know, really know, if she was in love with him enough to put the past behind.
Megan handed him a mug of coffee and set a plate of crullers on the table in front of the couch. “For a special treat.” She smiled, and for a moment, he found it hard to breathe.
She turned a smile on her son. “Connor? Do you want to start or should—”
“I want to!” The little dude plopped to his knees amid the boxes and grabbed a big one with a blue bow and green and red paper. “This is for you, Mommy.”
“Thank you, sweetie. But I meant, would you like to start opening your presents?”
“You open this.” He shoved the box at Megan.
Ty tried to hide his smile. He couldn’t wait to see how this went.
Megan carefully plucked off the bow and stuck it on her son’s head.
“I’m a present,” he said.
“You sure are.” She exchanged smiles with Ty and tore the paper. The next glance she gave him was a little on the confused side. She opened a cardboard flap and pulled out a pair of fuzzy dog-paw slippers. “Wow.”
“They’re for you, Mommy.”
“Oh, I see. Thank you.” She kissed the top of his head.
“Ty helped me pick those. He said they would make you look pretty.”
“He did, did he?”
Ty struggled to hold in his chuckle. He’d started to heal, all right, but his chest still hurt like hell. “Try them on.”
She gave him an exaggerated frown.
“Yeah, Mommy. Try them on.”
She slipped her feet into the paws.
“Fashion show.” Ty tilted his index finger downward and made a twirling motion.
She stepped out among the gifts and started strutting like a fashion model. By the time she was finished, Ty’s sides ached to high heaven, and Connor was bouncing off the wall with excited energy. “Me next,” he said.
Megan smiled. “Yes, you next. I need some time to absorb these.”
Connor made short work of his gifts. Soon he was sitting on the floor amid crumpled paper, his hair festooned with bows. He fitted together his new Legos, his little tongue poking between his lips, oblivious to everything around him.
“I guess it’s our turn,” Megan said.
A jitter seized Ty’s stomach. Now that the time had come, he wasn’t sure he could go through with it. If she didn’t accept it, what then? The past weeks had been all he could possibly dream of, all he could want. If this didn’t go well, would it all be over, like last time? Was he pushing too hard?
“Here’s one.” Megan handed him a shirt box.
He let out a breath, grateful for the delay, yet growing more anxious at the same time. He stuck the bow on Connor’s back and ripped the paper. He opened the box, revealing a Milwaukee Brewer’s jersey with his name on the back. “I’ve always wanted one of these. Thanks.”
Gifts for Megan revealed a series of novels she wanted, a new yoga mat, a jewelry box and a green blouse to make up for that teddy Ty still saw her wearing in his dreams. Someday. Ty hauled in a Packer jersey for football season wear and a watch.
“One last thing,” Ty said, managing to force the words past the knot in his throat. “You two didn’t check your stockings.”
Connor perked up from his toys. “We don’t have a real fireplace and real stockings.”
“The stockings sure look real to me.” Ty stepped to the paper fireplace they’d stuck to the wall and motioned the two of them to follow. “Check it out. Santa can make all kinds of wishes real. Don’t you know that?”
“It is real,” Connor said on an awed breath. He grabbed the small stocking with his name on it and unstuck it from the paper fireplace. He peered inside and pulled out a Hot Wheels car and a bag of Teddy Grahams. He plopped back on the floor among his toys. “You too, Mommy. Look.”
Megan gave Ty a guarded smile. She stepped to the paper fireplace and detached the stocking. Ty held his breath as she shoved her hand inside.
She pull
ed out an oblong box. Giving him a little smile, she opened it. “Oh my God. Is this the same one?” She reached in the box, pulled out the diamond bracelet and held it aloft.
“I was wondering if the timing was better this time.”
She smiled, her green eyes twinkling. “Help me put it on.”
He took the bracelet and strung it around her wrist. His big fingers were so clumsy, it took him four tries to secure the clasp.
She stretched out her arm. The diamonds sparkled against her skin. “It’s beautiful.”
He realized he was still holding his breath. He let it out and inhaled into hungry lungs. “I wanted it to be a diamond ring, but I thought that might be pushing things a bit.”
He thought she might agree with him on that one, but she just smiled as if she knew a secret he would soon find out.
“Maybe you’ll find one of those in your stocking next Christmas.”
“I’ll put it on my list for Santa.”
He kissed her again. “I doubt I’ll last until Christmas.”
“Well, maybe Santa will fill my stocking other days of the year.” She gave him a teasing smile and raised her eyebrows.
Realizing how quiet it was in the apartment, he glanced around. Connor lay in the jumble of wrapping and ribbon and toys, face down and fast asleep. “He’s had a big morning.”
Megan followed his gaze and smiled. “It’s time for his nap, anyway. I should carry him to bed.” She moved to get up.
Ty took her hand. “Why not leave him with his toys? What will it hurt? Besides, I was thinking I’d give you my other present.”
“There’s more?”
“Yep. One present for you and one for me.”
“Is that so?”
He kissed her again. He was so relieved Megan had accepted the bracelet. For him it washed away the past, but it was more than just that. It cleared the way for the future. It said she wouldn’t fight needing him. And that was good, since he liked feeling needed…and he couldn’t help needing her.
And she would get that ring. Sooner rather than later. Spending his life with Megan would be the best present he could imagine. Living each day with her and Connor would give him the ultimate joy.
A Cop in Her Stocking Page 16