He felt the moment like nothing he’d ever felt before.
Felt Merry’s tension ease, Tyler’s muscles relax, felt them meld into each other, knew he was melding with them, becoming part of their circle of affection, connection, love.
“Thanks for running to my rescue. Again,” Merry said, shifting so she could look into his face.
“Again? We’re not keeping tabs, are we?” He brushed curls from her cheek, and she smiled.
“I am.”
“Don’t, because I’d do it a million times to keep you and Tyler safe.”
“Let’s hope you don’t have to.” She rested her head against his shoulder, and his heart leaped in acknowledgment.
This was how it should be. Merry in his arms. Tyler in his arms. Safer together than apart. Happier together than apart.
Better together than apart.
He didn’t release his hold as EMTs filled the room, crouched over Merry and Tyler and him.
“Ma’am, you’re going to have to let us take your son.” An EMT tried to ease Tyler from Merry’s arms, but she opened her eyes, shook her head.
“No. We’re going to the hospital together, or I’m not going.”
“You have some serious injuries, and holding on to your son is only going to make them worse.”
“A broken wrist isn’t serious.”
“Your head—”
“I’ll take Tyler,” Douglas assured her. “We’ll meet you at the hospital.” He eased around, put his hand on Tyler’s back.
“You’re going to drive him to the hospital in the middle of a snowstorm?” Merry frowned.
“Why not?”
“The roads are terrible. You could get into an accident.”
“I’ll drive slowly.”
“But—”
“Don’t worry, Merry. I have no intention of letting anything happen to any of us.” He lifted Tyler from her arms, patting the little boy’s back, that feeling he’d had coming back. The melding and meshing and claiming.
This was how it should be.
For sure.
Forever.
“I already know that something is going to happen,” Merry said as the EMT helped her onto the gurney.
“Yeah?”
“The way I see it, we’re going to do exactly what you said we would.”
Her eyes drifted closed, and he touched her cheek to assure himself that she was still warm and vibrant and alive.
“What’s that?” he asked, and she smiled, her eyes still closed.
“Don’t you remember, Douglas?” she responded as the EMT started wheeling her away. “We’ll live happily ever after.”
TWENTY
“Ouch!” Merry muttered as Dr. Charles Fitzgerald put another stitch in her shoulder.
“You’re feeling pain?” He looked up from his work, his blue eyes so much like Douglas’s that Merry blinked.
“No, but it looks like I should be.”
“So don’t look.” He offered a half smile, his brown hair falling over his forehead.
“I have to. It’s like watching a train wreck. I’m horrified, but I can’t look away.” And she wished she could, because her stomach wasn’t feeling all that hot.
“Then I guess it’s a good thing I’m almost done. Last stitch.” He finished quickly, bandaged the wound and stood to wash his hands. “That should do it. You’ll stay here for observation tonight. Tomorrow, you can go home, but you’ll have to be careful. That son of yours is a live wire. I don’t want him tearing out all my hard work.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“Listen.” He turned, the harsh overhead light casting dark shadows beneath his eyes. He looked exhausted, his skin paler than she’d ever seen it. “I heard about the situation with Tyler. I want you to know that you have my full support. You’re a great mother, and I’d be happy to testify to that in court.”
“Thank you, Charles. That means a lot to me.”
“Yeah, well, it means a lot to me that you didn’t run screaming from the room when I walked in.” He smiled, but there was no humor in his eyes.
“Why would I?”
“Some people think I had something to do with Olivia’s death.”
“How could anyone think that? You’re one of the kindest men I know,” she responded truthfully. She’d always liked Charles’s calm bedside manner and the easy way he interacted with Tyler. “Tyler loves you. Fitzgerald Bay loves you. Really, what other doctor would come out on a night like this to work triage at the local hospital?”
“A major accident means lots of patients, and the hospital needs all the help it can get. It’s not really a statement of my character that I’m here.”
“I think it is.”
“That’s because you have a good heart, Merry, and you’re a good person. Like I said, I’ll be happy to testify on your behalf when the time comes.”
“And I’ll be happy to tell anyone who cares to listen that you did not murder Olivia.”
“Words won’t help me, I’m afraid. I need proof, and that seems to be hard to come by. I have to check on a couple patients. Try to rest. The stitches will need to come out in ten days. I want you to have a follow-up X-ray on the broken arm in forty-eight hours. If things are healing nicely, you won’t need surgery. If they’re not, I’ll give you a referral to an orthopedic surgeon.” He walked out of the room before she could reply.
It was for the best.
She didn’t know what to say.
Had no words that would ease the sting he must feel knowing that people who he cared about and had cared for were turning their backs on him.
“You’re frowning.” Douglas stepped into the room, Tyler asleep on his shoulder, and Merry’s heart leaped.
Happily ever after.
When she looked at Douglas and Tyler together, she really could believe in it.
“I was just thinking about how unfair it is that your brother has served as the community physician, helping people when they need him but when he needs them, they turn their backs on him.”
“Not many of them.”
“Would it matter if it were only one? It still must hurt.”
“It does, but my brother is tough. He’ll get through this.”
“Have you been able to find any evidence that will clear him?”
“Charles isn’t a suspect to anyone but a few overly imaginative people. There’s no reason to try to find evidence to clear him of something he didn’t do.”
“But you’re trying, anyway, aren’t you? Trying to find something that will keep the rumors from spreading and keep your brother from being hurt more than he already has been. Have you found anything?”
“I’ll admit, we’re looking, but it’s an open investigation, and I’m not at liberty to say what we’ve found or haven’t found.”
“Meaning that you haven’t found anything yet, right?”
“I guess you don’t understand what ‘I’m not at liberty to say’ means.” He smiled, pulling over a chair near the bed and sitting in it.
“I understand. I was just hoping you didn’t.”
“I’d share with you if I could, but there are rules, and I have to follow them. Now, if you want to talk about your case…that we can discuss.”
“I guess that might be interesting, too. Are Tyrone and Kent talking?”
“They’ve both lawyered up, but it doesn’t matter. We have Kent on breaking-and-entering charges, and we have Tyrone on attempted murder.”
Attempted and almost successful murder.
If Douglas and Keira had been even a minute later…
Merry shuddered, pushing away the thought.
“Maybe my case isn’t that interesting after all.” She didn’t want to dwell on what could have been. Didn’t want to think about Tyrone or Kent. She’d rather rejoice in what was.
“Then how about we change the subject to something I find much more fascinating.” Douglas’s gaze dropped to her lips, and she blushed.
“What’s that?”
“Happily-ever-afters.” He ran his hand down her arm until they were palm to palm, warm flesh to warm flesh.
“What about them?” she breathed, her voice wispy and light, her breath gone as he smiled into her eyes.
“Every good love story has one.”
“Is that what we are?”
“What do you think, Merry?” He shifted Tyler, leaning down to capture her lips. Tenderness, warmth, love, they flooded out of him, flooded into her, and she wanted to drown in them. In him.
He broke away, his breath uneven, his eyes dark as he smoothed hair from her face. “Are we a good love story?”
“You know what? I think we are.”
“Think?”
“If the judge agrees to grant me legal custody of Tyler, I’m going to be a package deal. Not every man would be happy about that.”
“There’s no maybe about it. You’ll be granted legal custody. Which means it’s a really good thing that I’m not every man and that I’ve always been partial to package deals.” He lifted her hand, gently kissed her knuckles, and she felt love building, felt forever building.
“Have you?”
“Of course. There’s nothing better than finding one thing you love and figuring out something else you love comes with it.”
“Do you always know the right thing to say?”
“If you ask me, yes. If you ask anyone in my family, the answer might be different.”
She laughed, her eyes closing of their own volition, her thoughts drifting.
“You know I’m a package deal, too, right?” Douglas’s lips brushed her ear, his words so soft they almost seemed part of the dream world she was falling into.
“You have children?” She frowned, forcing herself to pay attention, to wake up enough to figure out what he was saying.
“No.”
“A dog or cat?
“I’m afraid not.”
“Then what comes in the package?”
“A very big, very exuberant family.”
A family?
The Fitzgerald family?
She pictured them all. Stately Ian. Steady, hardworking Aiden. Ryan, Owen and Keira, dressed in their uniforms. Charles with his stethoscope and tired eyes. Fiona with her auburn hair and quirky bookstore ideas.
A package deal?
She figured it was a good one.
After all, the Fitzgeralds were pillars of the community. Hardworking and honorable. Loyal and tight-knit. More than that, they loved without reservation, they served without thought to their own needs. They valued faith and family, and that was clear in everything they did, everything they said.
They were a wonderful group of people.
And Douglas, he was the most wonderful of all.
She looked into his face, looked into his eyes, felt all those things she thought she never would. Felt all her dreams springing to life again.
“You know what, Douglas? I think that’s going to end up being the package deal of a lifetime,” she said, and then she hooked her uninjured arm around his neck and pulled him down for another kiss.
EPILOGUE
Fitzgerald Bay Courthouse
Silent as a tomb, the courtroom seemed to hold its breath as it waited for the judge to arrive.
Or, maybe, it was just Merry who held her breath.
Her throat clogged, and she forced back tears. She’d cried so much during the past three weeks beginning with Olivia’s death, she didn’t know how she could have any tears left.
“Breathe, Merry, or you’ll end up on the floor, and Jethro Shaffer will take a picture and post it on the front page of the Fitzgerald Bay Gazette,” Keira hissed, patting Merry’s back with a little too much force.
“I can’t believe you’re worried about such a thing on a day like today,” Vanessa Connolly said, and Keira shrugged.
“I can’t, either. But it really burns my boat that we’ve had to allow this trial to be made public just to prove that we’re not manipulating evidence or people.” She scowled, shooting daggers at Burke and Christina Hennessy.
“It’s okay that it’s public,” Merry said.
“It is not okay. It isn’t okay by a long shot.”
“Shhhhh. Do you want to get us kicked out?” Fiona whispered, and Keira fell silent.
Merry glanced at her watch for what felt like the fiftieth time, wondering why the minute hand didn’t seem to be moving. Two minutes and the judge would arrive. Two minutes and she’d know what the future would be.
“Can I take your seat, Keira?” A familiar voice washed over her, and Merry stood, threw herself into Douglas’s arms.
“I thought you were stuck in Boston.” He’d traveled there to view the evidence the Boston police had found when they decoded the message on Nicole’s journal. It had revealed the address of a bank where Nicole had opened an account in Tyler’s name. A safety deposit box there contained a piece of paper that listed Tyrone’s drug contacts in Mexico and the dates of his drug transactions. With that in hand, the police were putting together enough evidence to try him for Nicole’s murder.
“There was no way I was going to miss this.” Douglas had dark circles under his eyes and stubble on his jaw, but nothing could distract from his gorgeous smile.
“I’m glad you’re here. Your sisters are about done with my nerves.”
“I’m sure you haven’t been that bad—”
“All rise!” the bailiff called, and Merry squeezed Douglas’s hand, her eyes on Tyler. He sat just a few feet away, his feet swinging under his seat as he sucked on a lollipop Aiden had given him.
“It’s going be okay.” Douglas held her hand as the judge walked into the room, and she wanted to believe he was right.
“I see we have a full courthouse again today. I can’t say I’m pleased,” the judge said as she took a seat. “Bailiff, if you could take the minor into my chambers, I have a special treat for him there.”
The bailiff took Tyler’s hand and led him from the courtroom, and Merry’s heart constricted, her body numb with fear.
“I won’t beat around the bush with this, since I know everyone is anxious. Counsel, approach the bench. Ms. O’Leary, you may approach the bench, as well.”
She wanted to.
She really did, but her legs were like Jell-O, and she wasn’t sure they would hold her.
Douglas squeezed her hand, and she looked into his eyes, saw his confidence, his certainty.
“Go,” he mouthed, and she went, approaching the bench, looking into the judge’s eyes.
“Breathe.”
Merry wasn’t sure if she was hearing Keira or her oxygen-starved brain’s desperate plea, but she inhaled, exhaled. Heard the judge speaking through the whooshing of blood in her ears.
“I’ve heard from the counselors. I’ve heard from witnesses. In the end, though, what matters most to me is not the testimony of character witnesses or psychologists or doctors. What matters most is the child himself. There is obviously a very strong bond between the minor and Ms. O’Leary, but that is not enough.”
Merry’s heart dropped, the tears she’d been holding back began sliding down her cheeks.
“Children must be fed an abundant diet of love and attention. They must understand their value and worth. More than that, children must always know they have a loving and safe place to go home to. Tyler has foun
d that in you, Ms. O’Leary. That, combined with the evidence submitted by your counsel and the testimony of the witnesses, has led me to grant your request. You are hereby awarded legal custody of Tyler Rodriguez. Congratulations. Court is adjourned.”
The courtroom erupted in applause and cheers, but Merry barely heard.
She was too busy running toward Tyler as he was led out of the judge’s chambers, an oversize teddy bear in his hands.
“Mommy!” He giggled as she lifted him, hugged him tight.
“We did it!” Douglas pulled them into his arms, wrapping them in an embrace as warm and welcome as a summer day.
She burrowed in, Tyler wiggling and giggling as he was sandwiched between them.
“I know.” She sniffed, but the tears just kept pouring down her face.
“Then why are you crying?” He brushed moisture from her cheeks, his touch tender and light and filled with love.
“Because, happily-ever-after wouldn’t have been so happy without all of us in it.”
“There was never any worry that would happen.” He smiled, but something in his eyes made her heart catch.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, letting go of Tyler, letting him run to Aiden’s side.
“Nothing that you need to worry about.”
“We’re not going back to that again, are we?” she asked, and he raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
“That thing where you treat me like I’m going to break.”
“You did break. As a matter of fact,” he said, lifting her casted arm, “you’re still broken.”
“And healing nicely, according to your brother. So, tell me what’s wrong.”
“We’ve got a new guy joining the police force.”
“When did that happen?”
“I just heard the news. He’ll be starting this week. It’s good. We need the extra manpower. I’m just worried that Burke will start planting thoughts in the new guy’s head. Get him digging around and looking for trouble.”
“He’s not a local?”
“No.” Douglas sighed, ran a hand through his hair.
The Lawman's Legacy (Love Inspired Suspense) Page 18