“Did she tell anyone else about her husband’s request?”
Dean shook his head. “Not that I know of.”
“Someone heard something at the prison, spread the news to my father,” Carter said.
“Could have been one of the guards listening in, reading between the lines.” Dean glanced at the two of them. “Sanchez spoke exclusively with his wife. But you can bet I’ll find every person Sanchez has spoken to in the past six months. James is on his way north now. We’ll know soon if the threats are behind you.”
Maybe it was the drugs, or maybe this was what hope felt like. But could it be that hiding and looking over her shoulder was over?
“It’s over?”
“Let’s wait and see how all the pieces land, but it looks that way to me, Lisa.”
Dean’s use of her first name made her skin tingle.
Please let it be over.
Two hours later, Carter drove her home at a pace slower than a snail.
It was nearly dawn when he carried her to their room. Once there, he helped her into a pair of clean pajamas and tucked her into bed. “Do you have everything you need?”
“Yes, Nurse Carter,” she teased.
He grinned and then bit his lower lip. Moisture gathered behind his eyes in an unexpected wave of emotion.
“Hey.” Seeing him tear up made her heart flip in her chest and her eyes well.
“I thought I was going to lose you. I came around the corner, saw the police…” He dropped his head in her lap and she heard him sniffle. She’d never seen him cry.
She smoothed the back of his head with her hand, calming him. “I’m not dead…nowhere close.”
“I love you. I thought you were dead, and I hadn’t told you how much I love you.”
Tears did start to fall down her cheeks.
When he lifted his head to look at her, she cradled his face in her palm. “I love you, too.”
He kissed her palm, and she swiped away a tear ready to drip off his jaw.
“Don’t ever leave me,” he pleaded.
Her heart swelled in her chest as everything she ever wanted to hear spilled from his lips. “Husband and wife forever?”
“Forever might not be long enough.” His blue eyes danced with hope.
“Forever is all I have, Hollywood.”
Careful with her arm, he kissed her then. She sighed into his touch and knew everything would work out for the two of them. “Forever it is.”
****
Samantha sat beside her father’s bed and dozed off. The cold, stale coffee didn’t work and the steady beep of the machines lulled her to sleep. Blake had left the room to call home, and a police escort sat outside the room keeping watch.
She hadn’t seen her father in years, not since his incarceration. Her emotions were all over the place. Equal parts hate and love entered her heart when she thought of him…of all he’d done to their family. But seeing him near death did one thing life never could. It brought forgiveness.
If he could wake long enough to hear her forgive him, maybe he could find some peace. According the guards on duty at the jail, her father and Sanchez had fought. Her father wasn’t a violent man, and she couldn’t imagine what provoked it.
Sanchez had a knife…a homemade one inmates often assembled inside prison walls.
Her father suffered a dozen stab wounds to his torso, one had nicked a major vessel below his heart. He died twice in surgery as the surgeons attempted to repair the damage. Harris survived. And according to the doctors, he might just make it if he could manage through the next twenty-four hours. Well, eighteen at last count.
Something squeezed her hand and Sam bolted awake. “Dad?”
He squeezed it again, and she bit her lip as new tears welled.
“Dad?”
Harris blinked a few times, and the monitors above him started to speed up.
“Samantha?” he managed to ask.
“Shhh, you had surgery. You’re in the hospital.” Never mind he hadn’t seen her in years. Never mind he wasn’t in a jail cell at the moment.
His gaze met hers and his mouth gaped open. “Sammy.”
Samantha brushed tears away with the back of her hand and smiled. “I’m here, Dad.”
“I’m sorry. S-so sorry.”
“I know.”
His eyes drifted close again. “I love you,” he whispered.
She sobbed then and truly prayed he’d make it through. “I love you, too, Daddy.”
****
Dean cradled the phone to his ear and cemented his assumptions.
“I can’t prove it and I wouldn’t work too hard at this point,” Cash told him.
“Family loyalty?” Dean asked.
“I’m not loyal to my brother-in-law. If he was behind the rumors there won’t be anything traceable. He’s not sloppy. Besides, the last time I checked the books, telling a bully someone is after them isn’t against the law.”
Dean had uncovered the truth behind the “hit” on Eliza. Harris had been given a note that Sanchez was after his daughter’s friend and that Samantha’s life was in danger. Apparently, the father gene hadn’t skipped Samantha’s father altogether, and he opted to engage Sanchez in a fight. Of course, Harry ended up in the I.C.U. and Sanchez ended up in solitary…but that had been the goal. Funny how when pushed to a wall a parent would die to protect, or avenge, their child.
“Who else can reach inside a prison and never be detected?” Dean was sure Max was behind the rumors. His only concern now was what Max would want from Carter and Eliza in return.
“Sanchez is isolated, won’t see daylight for years. And Eliza is safe. It’s over, detective.”
Perhaps Max wanted to protect his family. Some people did change. Harris Elliot had.
Dean thought of his own daughter. Maybe it was time to fix his own home…long past time to fix his relationships.
Epilogue
Six Months Later
“What shall we toast?”
Eliza stood beside Carter in their living room surrounded by family and friends. Everyone gathered in support of Carter’s efforts. “The new governor?”
“I haven’t won yet.” He kissed her nose.
The election results would be announced within twenty-four hours. The polls had Carter winning by fifteen percent. “Formalities, formalities.”
“How about to six months of wedded bliss?”
“Ahhh, that’s sweet, Carter,” Gwen cooed from the other side of the room.
Eliza winked at Dean who stood beside his daughter. They’d been estranged for some time, but Eliza pushed the man until he called her…and promised to work on his relationship. Life was too short and regrets cut it shorter.
“How about to family.”
Cash and Abigail lifted their glasses together.
Max stood beside his wife. There was no way the man wasn’t going to be a part of Carter’s success.
Samantha’s father survived his wounds and had been transferred to a penitentiary closer to L.A. She and Jordan visited him a few times and were working through their problems.
Sanchez was deep in solitary for the attempted murder of Harris and the hit he called out on Eliza. Because of the special circumstances regarding Eliza’s case, his connections to the outside were limited to the guards handing him food through the steel door of his cell. Mrs. Sanchez had been relocated deep in Mexico…her testimony a final nail in his coffin.
Michelle Sedgwick’s assault with a deadly weapon charge would be considered by a jury. No one believed she was capable of murder, but she would still do some jail time. Needless to say, Stanly cut her out of his will, and at last check, Aunt Edie scared half the family away. Some even took jobs.
The only unanswered questions were how Cash knew about the hit and how Harris learned about Sanchez’s conversation with his wife.
Eliza had her suspicions about Max. He hadn’t been surprised by anything that unfolded after the shooting and never offered a word
of concern. It was as if he knew about Sanchez’s actions before he took them.
“To family.” Eliza lifted her glass and clicked it to Carter’s. “To family.”
She sipped her sparkling wine and kissed her husband. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Words didn’t do the feeling justice. There were days Eliza wanted to pinch herself. Carter’s support and love was a gift.
“Oh, by the way,” Samantha announced after everyone had toasted. “Blake and I decided that this year we wanted to get married outside of the country. We’re going to Aruba.”
Eliza nearly groaned out loud. Her gaze shot to Gwen who happened to be staring at Neil. “I get to pick the bridesmaid dresses.”
Carter burst out laughing, nearly spilling his wine.
Neil shook a finger in Gwen’s direction. “No honky-tonk bars.”
Gwen scowled. “Do not be absurd. Aruba doesn’t have honky-tonks.”
Blake scowled watching the interaction between his sister and Neil.
Eliza shook her head. Gwen and Neil fought nearly as much as she and Carter had before they married. “Hmmm?”
“What?” Carter asked close to her ear.
“I hear wedding bells.”
“Sam and Blake are always getting married.” He sat his glass down and put an arm over her shoulders.
Eliza peered at Neil over her glass. “I wasn’t talking about Sam and Blake.”
Carter honed his eyes in the direction of her gaze.
“Seriously?”
Oh, yeah…she knew what love was when she saw it. Eliza saw it every day in the eyes of her husband.
A word about the author...
New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author Catherine Bybee has been addicted to romance since her teens. After spending a decade of her life working as an RN in urban emergency rooms, Catherine is now dedicated to writing happily-ever-afters for the world to love. Catherine is married and raising two sons in Southern California.
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