Suddenly, her mind clicked. She’d forgotten to tell Desmond about Joni.
“Excuse me, I’ll be right back,” she informed Chris and stood, but before she could leave the tiny room the agency had lent them for privacy, Desmond entered and the expression on his face immediately told her that something was wrong.
“We have to go,” he announced. “There’s been an incident. It’s involving Wren.”
Larke felt as though a fire had been ignited in her chest. “W-what happened? Is she okay? What kind of incident?”
He tugged her from the room and ignored the cries of dissent that trailed behind them. Moving quickly through the long hallway, they arrived at an open garage door where Lawrence was waiting in the back of a black SUV.
“She’s not dead,” Desmond reassured as they climbed in. The truck sped out of the garage and down the street. “Apparently, your family started their own investigation into your death with Wisconsin PD. They were lucky enough to get in contact with Phillip Thompson, an old friend of mine and Doug’s. We served together, but he’s a few years younger. Hearing my name as a suspect made him a little suspicious about the case, so he sat a couple of units at your folk’s house as a precaution and called Doug to see if he could get more information about my whereabouts. Doug told him about what was going on and he sent an officer out to Wren’s to escort her to your parents’ house. Somehow, there was a mix-up between the man that he’d assigned to take her, and the one who actually showed up. The one who showed up attacked her, but Phillip got there in time. He killed him, but Wren’s still got some bumps and bruises. She actually remembered those self-defense maneuvers I taught you guys way back when.”
Larke felt as though her throat would close.
“The FBI confirmed that the man who showed up had no ties to Wisconsin PD. He actually did most of his work as a bouncer and worked for a small security company in Texas. His financial records revealed a recent twenty-five thousand dollar transaction which they believe was half of a payment related to kidnapping your sister. They haven’t been able to tie it to Jarvis yet, although…”
He didn’t have to finish. All signs pointed to Jarvis whether or not they could prove it.
“They moved your family to a safe house in Milwaukee. They’ll have agents protecting them around the clock there. Wren also has agents at her bedside, but she’ll be moved to the home by late afternoon. She’ll receive her care from a private physician from there on out.”
Larke didn’t even realize that her hands were trembling. Jarvis had gone after her blood. Her baby sister. She’d already known that he was ruthless, but this was crossing several lines. And Wren had been such an easy target, living alone in the middle of the city, following the same schedule day in and out as she darted between classes and her part-time job at the courthouse.
“Is that where we’re headed?” She asked Lawrence but with her eyes on Desmond.
“Yes,” Lawrence confirmed.
“Okay. Okay,” she chanted. “But Des, I did remember something.”
Both their ears perked up.
“My assistant, Joni Westinghouse. I told her about how stressed I was and about some of the things that had been happening. I think she might have been the one to call you.”
Desmond shook his head. “You called me, Larke.”
She froze. “I called you?”
“Yeah. You called me to tell me that there were men outside of your house.”
Larke pressed her lids together. “No. That doesn’t make sense. You’re my husband. Why would I have to call you about men outside my house?”
Desmond sighed and looked over at Lawrence. “I wasn’t home at the time.”
The answer seemed to appease her some.
“Okay,” she said again. “But I’m telling you, Joni is connected to this somehow. I remember talking to her right when it happened. She was—”
The memory snapped into her head like a rubber band.
“She was there.”
“At the house?” Desmond asked.
“Yes. She was with me when the men came in.”
Desmond studied her face. “Larke, I don’t think I’m the only thing you forgot. I think there might be a whole host of other random memories that have been edged out, which makes me think that this wasn’t from the bump on the head. Something else is going on here.”
Their eyes locked and she desperately wanted to reach out and touch his face as though the contact would make her remember. “What are you saying, Des?”
“Those men,” he began, “I think they were trying to rub out your memory.”
The car pulled directly onto the tarmac and Desmond trailed Larke onto a waiting plane. Once they were seated, she remained plastered into his side, their fingers entangled and his chin atop her head. After landing, they hopped into another SUV and drove until they came upon an unassuming two-story Victorian with daintily pruned hedges, and a charming wraparound front porch. With the sunset drawing nearer, the glow from the windows created an inviting atmosphere against the biting cold and snowfall that had welcomed them the minute they stepped off the plane.
Larke hurried up the walkway and it was the first time Desmond felt comfortable letting her go, mainly because he knew what was waiting for her on the inside. She tugged open the door, rushed inside, and there, sitting in front of the fireplace, was her heaven. Her father had his arms wrapped around her mother and they both looked exhausted and slightly haggard. Jay was in the loveseat across from them, his headphones on his ears and his eyes closed as his head rested against the arm of the chair.
She moved into the space of the living area and when Heather looked up and spotted her, she screamed. Her scream alerted Thomas who looked up to only become suspended in disbelief, but Jay had already tugged off the headphones and bounded over the back of the loveseat. He crashed into her like a stone wall before lifting her into his arms.
Heather and Thomas moved much more calculatedly towards her as though getting too close would cause her to disappear. When Jay let her back down to her feet, Heather touched her palm to Larke’s cheek. Tears streamed down Larke’s face as she remembered what it had been like—felt like—when she thought that she would never see them again. Yet, here they were. In front of her. Never again would she take moments like this for granted.
Heather and Thomas, riddled with emotion, pulled their daughter into their arms while Jay wrapped his arms around the trio. Thankful could not begin to explain how they felt. Not even blessed could surmise the feeling. This was something transcendent.
“I can’t believe it’s really you,” Heather forced between tears. “My baby, my baby.”
Thomas still couldn’t speak, but he didn’t need to. All he needed to do was continue to hold her like he was doing and never let her go again.
They continued to embrace, oblivious to the two men standing near the doorway. Lawrence smiled warmly at the scene before meeting up with the rest of his team, and Desmond made his way through the house to double-check the rooms. After ensuring that they were all safe, he joined Lawrence.
Larke released her family and swiped at her eyes. “Where’s Wren?” She asked. “Is she here yet?”
They were all alerted by movement in the hallway. When Larke glanced over, there was her little Wrennie, eyes and cheeks saturated with moisture. The bruise on her face had taken on a purple hue, and there was also some bruising around her throat which caused a swell of anger to sizzle throughout Larke’s core. There was a special place in hell for Jarvis and now, more than ever, she wanted to be the one to send him there.
Yet, even though she’d been through a nightmare, Wren was smiling. She opened her arms and Larke rushed over and tenderly wrapped her arms around her, the entire moment still surreal for her. Her mind just could not register that she was standing there with her family after being in a position where she thought she would never see them again. At that moment, she couldn’t fathom moving back to the east coast. She couldn’t
imagine not seeing them every day. It was impossible to determine what her life would be like after all of this.
“I can’t believe it’s really you,” Wren squeezed out between tears.
“Me either, sweetie,” Larke answered. Then she held her sister at arm’s length and her eyes landed on each family member as she spoke. “I’m sorry that you guys had to go through the pain of thinking that I was dead. I don’t want you guys to ever have to go through something like that again.”
Finding his voice, Thomas half-sighed, half chuckled. “Oh, my sweet girl, you have nothing to apologize for. Absolutely nothing. The only way we feel right now is blessed.”
“It’s like a second chance,” Heather chimed. “We get another chance to look at the things that we didn’t do right. Look at the areas where we failed, or felt that we might have failed.”
Thomas squeezed his wife’s hand. “We got content with seeing you only on the holidays and that’s not acceptable. Even if we couldn’t fly out to DC, we could have at least called more. We could have done the video chat thing. We could have made more of an effort to be involved in your life.”
Jay joined Wren and Larke at the entrance to the hallway and wrapped Larke up in another hug.
“I’m just happy,” he told her. “Real happy.”
His big sister had helped him say his first words, take his first steps, and even ask out his first girlfriend. Even in the times that he’d done things, stupid things, in an attempt to follow the crowd, she was always there to remind him that he would never find himself in other people. It made him love and respect her even more, and he’d vowed to become the man that she’d always expected for him to be. It was a promise that he intended never to break.
“Is anyone hungry?” A deep timbre interrupted from the hallway. Larke looked up into soothing eyes and a handsome brown face. The man eagerly extended his hand when he spotted her.
“Phillip Thompson,” he greeted.
Larke bypassed his hand to wrap him up in a tight hug. “I know,” she told him. “Des told me what you did for my family and what you did for my sister. Thank you.”
Phillip blushed. “You’re welcome, Larke, and I’m glad to be able to meet you.”
Larke swiped at more tears. “My family and I are forever indebted to you.”
He blushed again.
“And yes, we could eat,” she added. He nodded and left the room. Wren watched him until he was no longer visible, and Larke caught her eye and sent her a wink. This time it was Wren who blushed and they all burst out laughing at the exchange.
Larke helped Wren over to the chairs and they all sat while Larke filled them in on what had happened while she was overseas. Soon after, Phillip appeared with dinner and Larke moved next to Jay to open up the space next to Wren, a spot she could tell Phillip secretly wanted to fill. Wren playfully rolled her eyes at her and she returned the gesture with a teasing grin. It was time for life to start happening.
They chatted and dug into a homemade dinner of grilled lamb and vegetables.
“So, you don’t remember Des?” Wren asked, wincing as she chewed.
“Not as my husband, no,” Larke reluctantly answered. “But, I really wish I did. He’s amazing. He’s caring, sweet, and strong. It makes sense that I’d fall for a man like that.”
The family members’ eyes darted between each other. If Larke didn’t remember that she was married, then she didn’t remember that she was separated, and with how happy she currently looked, none of them wanted to be the one to tell her.
“You will,” Jay reassured. “You love him. A lot. More than life itself. If your head doesn’t remember,” he pointed to her chest, “then your heart will.”
Larke glanced in the direction of the room where the agents had set up their nerve center. She certainly hoped so. As much as she liked Desmond right now, a part of her was ready to press fast-forward and remember the way she loved him.
Desmond tried to focus on what he was reading, but every few seconds, his mind would wander to Larke. They’d been virtually attached at the hip for the last several days, so it felt unusual for him not to feel an immediate need to check on her. He was still within earshot, however, and smiled whenever he heard the joy in her voice from being reunited with her family. Seeing her light up the way that she did when she spotted them sitting at the fireplace had been enough for him. He’d completed his goal of safely reuniting her with her family and now that she was safe, he could focus on Jarvis.
“I’m going to take this down to the basement,” he told the room, holding up the folder. He wasn’t sure that isolating himself would help him get anything done, but the voices, computer noises, and noisy keyboards didn’t help.
He retreated to the basement and was surprised to find that it was completely finished, fully decked out with stylish furniture, a pool table, entertainment system, and dry bar. Pouring ginger ale over a glass of ice, he leaned against the bar and stared at the empty pool table. It only took a few seconds before his mind went to Larke again.
“Des?” He heard her call from the stairs.
“Hey,” he greeted. “I see that you and your family are falling back into place nicely.”
She finished her descent and made her way over to the bar. “Yeah, it’s been amazing.”
Silence drifted between them for a few moments and Desmond took lazy sips of his ginger ale, which had lost all taste.
“I was talking to some of the guys upstairs,” she continued, “and they were telling me that since your primary duty was to make sure that I was safely returned home, your job is officially over. Does this mean that you’ll be leaving for DC?”
Desmond’s eyebrow shot up. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Larke tried not to react to the goose bumps that trailed up her arm. “Good, because I don’t want you to leave.”
She cleared her throat and diverted her gaze, setting it on the overturned glasses along the wall behind the bar. “I know I have the agents, but I feel safest when I’m with you. Isn’t that strange? I have the federal government on my side and I feel safest with one man.”
Desmond shrugged. “I think it would be strange if I wasn’t that man.”
She smiled.
“But I do appreciate knowing that you feel safe with me,” he added.
“No problem,” she replied.
As she avoided his eyes and gently scratched her right elbow with her left hand, he realized that he found her reticence endearing. Shy Larke was not someone that he'd ever had a chance to meet, so the fact that she was suddenly hesitant intrigued him.
“But I wanted to also thank you, Larke,” he spoke up. “You’ve helped me face more than I’ve been willing to face in over fifteen years. No matter what I told you and no matter how I saw myself, you were always able to find good in me. I’m sorry that I didn’t have the good sense to try telling you those things before.”
Her eyes widened. “I was the woman that you were talking about at the villa. The long story.”
“You are.”
“So, was I different before? Before this whole memory loss thing. Would I have turned you away if you told me about your past?”
Unable to stand the distance between them any longer, he pulled her closer to him. “No, you weren’t different. I was different. I did one of the worst things that I could do as a husband, and that’s to not have faith in my wife. Not take our vows seriously.”
He ran a finger across her cheek and she closed her eyes in response.
“My family was telling me how much I loved you,” she revealed.
“Did they tell you anything else?”
“Is there anything else?”
He shook his head. “Nothing that matters.”
She stepped into his body and wrapped her arms around his middle. “Did you love me?”
“Do I love you,” he corrected. “And yes, I do love you.”
“So, all this time we were together—”
“I’ve been
in love with you,” he finished.
More goose bumps scattered across her skin. No wonder she’d felt so comfortable with him. Even now, with her arms wrapped around his body, she still felt like where she stood was the safest place on Earth.
“Des, in the beginning, I just knew I was going to die,” she began, her eyes misting over. “There was nothing that could convince me that we were going to make it off the island. But, when you revealed a little part of who you were at Ivor and Eva’s, that made me trust you. From there on out, I knew that if I just followed you, everything would be alright. And now, we’re here. You made all of that possible. What words are there for that? ‘Thank you’ is not enough for the person who saved your life. The person who gave your life so much purpose that it makes you wonder what you’d been living for before. There are no words for that.”
She reached up to wipe her eyes, but he grabbed her hands. “I told you to never be ashamed to cry,” he reminded. “And those words, those were enough.”
Larke shook her head. “No, they’re not. I just—Des, you don’t understand. You gave me my family back. You gave me my world back.”
He released her hands and pulled her arms back around his body. “I got my world back too, Larke.”
She touched a hand to the side of his face and reflexively, his eyes closed and he slightly leaned into her palm. All of a sudden, she wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Laugh because she couldn’t help the incredible feeling that flowed through her at his reaction, and cry at the fact that someone who’d lived such a stolid life had just gifted her a moment of absolute tenderness.
“Even if I never remember the past, Des, can we go from here? Is that something you might be okay with? Us, in a sense, starting over?”
He opened his eyes and his gaze drifted to her lips before settling back on her eyes. She received her response when he bent and pressed their lips together, and Larke knew that this was one of those moments she wished she could crystallize and suspend in time. With everything that they’d been through, every danger that they’d faced, he’d jumped in without question to save her life. Never once did he complain, even when she felt as though she couldn’t go any further. All he’d done was send her words of encouragement. Believed in her. Believed in them.
In Love and Rescue: When love is the perfect rescue... Page 18