Standing at the barn’s side door, a few feet from the body, was Wyatt.
His brother had pulled the trigger. He’d saved Rainier’s life.
Wyatt was still aiming his gun at the body as if he was worried that the dead man would rise again. But William Poe wouldn’t be coming back. He’d never again terrorize their family.
Chapter Nineteen
The next morning, the ranch was quiet and still after a night of frenetic activity. There had been news trucks and cars of inquisitive friends and neighbors filling the parking lot until the wee hours of the morning. Every time Rainier thought about last night, all he could envision was William’s body lying in a pool of blood as reporters’ cameras flashed wildly, casting eerie shadows throughout the barn.
Rainier held Laura in his arms as they stood at the living room window, looking outside, as he thought about everything that had happened. Even though they hadn’t stepped out-of-doors since last night, Laura still felt cold to his touch.
She had been through so much that he wasn’t sure what he could do to help her get through this in as healthy a way as possible. When they had gone to bed, it was more symbolic than anything else, as neither had slept. Instead, they had lain there holding one another. It was cathartic and comforting to have her in his arms, and to listen to the calming sound of her breathing.
There was no longer any question in his mind or in his heart—they were meant to be together. When he was with her, it was as if he inherently knew everything would be okay. No matter what life threw at them, they would make it, as long as they were together.
“Heck of a way to spend Christmas Day, isn’t it?” Rainier said.
She smiled at him, but didn’t say anything and stepped out of his arms. She walked over to the windows and pulled the cord that released the drapes, shutting out the world.
“I have thought about it a lot, and every time, I come back to one thing—William Poe got what he deserved,” Laura said. “He was crooked. And he had a hand in each of the deaths that happened over the last month. He thought he was above the law, and that if he just threw enough money and power behind issues and pulled enough political strings, he would get away with whatever he wanted. His only goal in life was to hurt other people.”
“You’re right, Laura. But don’t forget about yourself. What William did to you was inexcusable. And as long as I live, I’ll never let anyone lay their hands on you like he did.”
She smiled, and some of the stress and exhaustion that had blanketed her seemed to lift. “As long as you live? That sounds like some kind of promise.” There was an edge of playfulness to her voice.
“It would be, if you allowed me the honor.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but a sudden patter of footsteps sounded in the hall. Winnie, Waylon’s two-year-old daughter, ran into the living room. Her brunette hair was plastered against the side of her face and there were sleep marks on her cheeks. She must’ve slept hard after she, Waylon and Christina arrived on a midnight flight.
“Did Santa come?” she asked, her words the rushed and garbled ones of a toddler.
Laura walked over and squatted down at her eye level. “Did you look over there?” Smiling, she pointed at the hearth, where the mantel was covered in Christmas stockings. “But I think before you open any of the presents you should go get your dad and Christina. And I bet Nana and Gramps wouldn’t want to miss all the fun, either.”
Winnie looked over Laura’s shoulder and stared longingly at the large stack of presents under the stockings, decorated with Disney princesses and shiny bows. “Can I just open one?” the little girl asked, and gave Laura a pleading look.
“No, little miss.” She stood up and put her hand on the little girl’s back. “You run along and wake everyone up, and I’ll go get some hot chocolate ready. How many marshmallows would you like? Wait, I bet you don’t even like marshmallows, do you?”
Winnie looked up at her as if she had lost her mind. “I love mushmellows.”
“Well, I better give you a couple extra,” Laura said.
The toddler turned and ran down the hall, banging on doors and calling out the names of family members as she rushed to wake them.
Laura laughed. “I guess I’m going to need your help finding the ingredients for hot chocolate in your parents’ kitchen. Would you mind?”
“Whatever you need. Like I said, I’ll always be there.” Rainier took her hand and they walked together into the kitchen.
Seeing her with Winnie made him love her that much more. Laura was incredible. And it was incredible how well she fit into his family. It was almost as if there had always been a place for her. As soon as she’d walked into their lives, she had taken on the role she had always been meant to have.
“Do you think Wyatt is going to be okay?” she asked as she walked over and took mug after mug from the cupboard.
“As far as I know. He’s on paid leave, just as long as it takes to investigate everything that happened and clear him of any wrongdoing. It shouldn’t take long, as he did what any officer would have done.”
Laura nodded and walked over to the refrigerator and took out the milk. “I’m glad to hear it. I know you and Wyatt had your problems, but just like you and the rest of your brothers, he’s a good man. In fact, you have a wonderful family.”
One he hoped she would join someday. If he was going to ask her to marry him, he wanted to do it once and he wanted to do it the right way. She deserved the very best. She always would.
“I’m lucky.” He took the milk from her hand and set it beside the stove as he stood in front of her. He wrapped his arms around her.
“Are you now?” she said, smiling up at him. “How so?”
“Are you fishing for compliments?” he teased, rubbing his thumb on the small of her back.
“Would that be so bad?” she asked.
“Not at all.” He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. She smelled of his fresh sheets and faintly of cinnamon and cloves. “I’ve never been luckier than when I walked out those gates at the prison and saw you. You took my breath away. It was like some kind of dream—me finding my freedom and you, all in the same seconds. And ever since that moment, all I’ve wanted is to be close to you. You were my Christmas miracle, and I want to be with you for the rest of my life.”
Her arms tightened around him as she giggled. “You say that now, but are you going to be able to put up with all my quirks? I mean, you haven’t seen me in craft mode. You know, felt flying everywhere, hot glue guns and sequins, the whole shebang.”
He laughed as he imagined her with glue in her hair and a sequin stuck to her forehead. “I think that would only make you that much more lovable.”
“Lovable?” she asked with a quirk of her brow.
“Well, I was going to say beautiful, but you are already the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. With or without sequins, you will always be stunning.”
She smiled, and her whole face brightened. “Wow, you are quite the charmer this morning.”
“Are you going to answer my question?” he asked, his hands becoming sweaty as he grew more nervous.
“What question?” she teased.
“You know darn well what question.”
“If we do this I’m going to have to quit my job,” she said, but she didn’t look unhappy about the prospect. “Someone else would have to take on your case.”
“If you want to quit, you could. I don’t care about who has my case—I’m not going to cause any more trouble,” Rainier said. “Think about it. You could focus on your business. I have always thought the best investment people can make is in themselves. You could follow your dreams. And I could go to work here at the ranch. They are starting to book up for next summer. I could be a handyman or something around here. So we have that figured out. Now,
what do you say?”
She stepped back from him, her hands on his waist. “I don’t see a man on his knees. I thought that was, like, a requirement. You know, if a guy was to make some kind of request that included something like marriage, or whatever.”
From the way she spoke, he could tell she was just as nervous as he was.
“Gosh, you are so demanding. Are you always going to be like that?” He gave her a playful, inquisitive glance.
“Hey, take it or leave it, Mr. Charm. I’m always going to be the imperfect and wonderful me.”
“And it is all of you that I love. I’d never want you to change.” He slipped his hands into hers as he got down on one knee in front of her.
“You love me?” She smiled.
“More than anything in the entire world.”
“Good, because I love you, too.” She leaned down and kissed the back of his hand. “And if we’re going to do this...if we’re going to have a life together... I don’t want to start it out on uneven footing. I want us to always be best friends, for us to walk side by side. I never want you to feel like you need to kneel to me.”
“But you just told me—”
She laughed. “Welcome to my world. I guess I want what I want, but there’s a part of me—the little girl who’s always had a dream of this moment—who wants the tradition.” She squeezed his hands. “How about this?” She got down on her knee, so they were face-to-face. “From this moment on, I want us to be equal partners.”
Just when he thought he couldn’t love her more, she did something like this.
“We can have any life you dream of, just as long as you promise to be my wife. I don’t have a ring, but if I did it would have a green emerald at its center and I’d have it in a red velvet box—all Christmas for you. More, it would be a symbol of how rare our love is.” He kissed her knuckles and pressed their entwined hands against his chest, where he was sure she could feel his heart thrashing wildly. “Laura Blade, will you marry me?”
The door to the kitchen flew open and Winnie came rushing in, not stopping until she stood so close to him they nearly touched. “They ready,” she said, breathless and unaware of her intrusion. “Dad wants two mushmellows.”
Laura laughed at the girl and her cute mispronunciation. “Coming right up, sweetheart.”
She moved to stand up, but he stopped her. “Please, answer me.” He didn’t care if he sounded like he was begging. He couldn’t go another moment without knowing her answer.
Laura looked him in the eyes. “Rainier Fitzgerald, I would be honored to spend the rest of my days with you. You have brought me a happiness that I didn’t know I could feel. I love you and I know that I will only grow to love you more and more each day that we spend together.”
“You guys gettin’ married?” Winnie said, but it was as much a proclamation as it was a question.
“Is that okay with you?” Rainier asked.
“Hmm...” She popped her thumb in her mouth and answered with a simple nod. Just as quickly as she had appeared, she turned around and ran to the door of the kitchen. “They gettin’ married!”
There was the sound of cheers and clapping from the living room.
“I hope you didn’t want to keep it a secret,” Rainier said with an apologetic tilt of his head. “With this crew, it seems like most secrets tend to come out. It’s only a matter of time.”
“Even those about dead bodies,” Laura murmured.
He laughed. “You make a good point, but I’m hoping that kind of a secret was a onetime thing.”
“I certainly hope so, but you’re not allowed to go digging around anymore spigots. Deal?”
He stood up and held out his hand to help her stand. “You got it, my love. No spigots.”
They finished making the hot cocoa and carried trays of drinks out to the living room. All three of his brothers and their fiancées were sitting on the couches, and his mother and father were in their chairs. Everyone looked up at them as they came into the room. His mother jumped to her feet and, as soon as he set the tray on the living room table, threw her arms around him and then Laura.
“Congratulations, you two! I couldn’t be happier,” she said, tears running in wild rivers down her face. But she didn’t seem to notice or care. “With Wyatt and Gwen’s wedding, and now this...all our boys are getting married!”
His father gave them each a hug. “Anything you need, you two. Anything at all. We’re here for you.” He turned to face the others. “And that goes for all of you. You are always welcome in our home and in our lives. You are the reasons we do what we do. You are the reason we fight. And no matter what the future brings, we will always fight for this family.”
As Merle spoke, Rainier thought of the threat that still loomed over them. There was still the matter of the taxes. Just because William Poe was dead didn’t change the fact that they still needed to pay what they could and get legal proceedings together to fight the state in court. The battle was won, but the war was far from over.
He couldn’t let what he couldn’t control destroy or tarnish Christmas. They had tomorrow and the next day and the next to fight, but for now all they needed was each other, and all he needed was Laura. The rest of the world could wait.
Winnie took a long slurp of hot chocolate from her Minnie Mouse mug. The sound made everyone smile.
“Hey, Win, why don’t you help me hand out the presents and stockings?” Waylon asked.
She thumped down her cup, sloshing chocolate on the table.
As they handed out gifts, no one opened theirs except Winnie, who tore through the wrapping and bows and squealed as she uncovered trucks, Legos and a collection of plastic horses. Eventually, Waylon went to the front door, motioning for Rainier to stay quiet as he slipped outside.
A few minutes later a knock sounded.
Rainier walked over and, expecting Waylon, opened the door. “Need help?” he asked. But he stopped when he saw Mr. Blade standing there, an envelope in his hand.
“I hope you don’t mind. I knew my daughter was here for Christmas, so I knew you all were home. I didn’t want to intrude, but I have a gift for your mother and father.”
“Come on in,” he said, motioning for him to step inside.
“Mr. Blade, we’re so glad you stopped by,” his mom exclaimed, as if she had been expecting the man on Christmas Day.
“Thank you, Eloise.” He walked over to her and handed her the envelope.
The front door opened again, and Waylon walked in.
“Winnie, girl, we know how much you love the ranch dogs, Milo and Lassie, and how much you were wishing for one of your own,” he said, sending a smile to Christina.
In his arms was a tiny black ball of fur.
Winnie gasped and the little dog’s head perked up. He gave a little yip of excitement as he spotted the girl. Waylon put the puppy on the floor and he ran straight to Winnie as though he knew how much the little girl already loved him. He wriggled into her arms and licked the dribbles of chocolate off Winnie’s chin as she laughed.
“I love him, Daddy!” The puppy barked, as if he knew what she was saying. “Can we call him Mush? Like mushmellow?”
Waylon laughed. “We can name him whatever you like, sweetheart.”
“Are you going to take him back to the base with you, Waylon?” his mother asked, curling the envelope Mr. Blade had given her in her hands. There were little smudges of moisture on the manila.
“Well, I was going to wait to tell you all, but I’ve decided not to reenlist. I have six more months, but then I’ll be moving home. I was hoping to get a job—maybe with the sheriff’s office, Wyatt?” He looked over at his brother.
Wyatt laughed. “Are you sure you want to come to work with me? You’d have to do real investigative work...and what did you call us? Girl S
couts?”
“What can I say?” Waylon said with a laugh. “I guess I’ll start working on my merit badges.”
Rainier glanced at their mother. The tears had returned and she sobbed into a tissue Merle had handed her. “Mom, are you going to be okay?”
She nodded.
Mr. Blade stepped back and gave Laura an awkward look, as though he wasn’t sure if he should stay or go.
“Dad, here.” Laura took him by the arm and had him sit on the couch next to her.
“I’m sorry...” Eloise said, trying to speak between sobs. “I’m just...so happy. I never thought this day would come.”
“Then you may not want to open that envelope,” Mr. Blade said.
All the laughter and voices in the room stopped. The only sound was of Mush as he hopped and crunched through the discarded wrapping paper around Winnie.
“No, it’s not like that,” Laura’s dad said with a wave. “Inside, you will find a great deal of paperwork.”
“About what?” Merle asked.
“Basically, my team I have been talking. We met with the DA about your role in covering up Paul Poe’s death. As it stands, and because of the amount of time that has gone by since the man’s death, the DA doesn’t wish to pursue any charges.”
Eloise clapped her hands over her mouth. “Oh my... Thank you... Thank you so much.”
“That’s not all,” Mr. Blade continued. “We also went through a great deal of records to do with your property as well as county tax records. We found that William Poe had pulled something similar to what he was trying to do with your family’s ranch once before—after filing a lien against a family, he bought their property. That was the house where he and his late wife resided. With your records, and those from that sale, we were able to prove that he had the intention of doing the same with this property. Having that, along with the police report and what he said to you all, I talked to a judge and we made a filing against the Department of Revenue. Simply put, and providing there are no extenuating circumstances, your case is already won. You owe no additional taxes, and as soon as we have everything worked out and in order, I believe we have enough evidence for you to file a strong a lawsuit against the DR, should you wish to. In fact, I have it from a reliable source that they would be likely to settle in order to make things right with your family.”
Ms. Demeanor Page 17