by Lori Ryan
“Bad-guy-tackling experience, huh?” Jennie asked.
“What the hell were you thinking, Jen?” Chad’s voice cracked as he spoke and she knew he was fighting to stay calm.
“That I love you,” she said.
“If you loved me you wouldn’t keep taking years off my life. I swear, Jennie, if you ever jump in front of a gun for me again, I’ll strangle you myself.”
He softened the effect of his words a bit when he took her hand in his and kissed the palm of it more gently than anyone his size should be able to.
He brought the straw to her lips again to let her take another sip of water. A nurse came in and began to buzz around them, checking the machines and bags of fluids that surrounded Jennie.
“Does this mean you’re going to marry me, Chad?” Jennie asked.
“No. I’m still not marrying you.”
Jennie almost laughed when she saw the nurse’s frown as the woman left the room.
“What! Chad you can’t do that. This is crazy. I’m having your baby. I took a bullet for you. I saved your life. You have to marry me now.”
He just laughed at her as he laced his fingers through hers, then brought her hand to his lips once again. Jennie’s mother poked her head through the door of the room, letting Chad off the hook.
“The nurse said you were awake, sweetheart,” she said and Jennie could tell she was trying to stay calm but the tears were evident in her eyes and her voice.
“Hi, Mom,” Jennie said and the tears began to flow as her mother came and held her other hand.
Her father stepped into the room next. “Chad, Mike’s out here to see you.”
Chad and Mr. Davies switched places as Chad went to see Mike. Jennie let her parents wrap their arms around her and hold her despite the wires and tubes that still pumped liquids into her and monitored her baby.
She needed to be held right now. She needed to know everything was okay. That they had survived this and come out on the other side. That everything was okay now.
Chapter 40
“Hey, Mike. You look like shit,” Chad said as he met his friend down the hall from Jennie’s room. “Get anything out of Waters?”
The two men shook hands, but Mike pulled Chad in to hug him and Chad didn’t try to fight it. It felt good to be surrounded by his friends and family right now.
“How’s Jennie?”
“Good. She and the baby are doing okay. Jennie has to stay here for a few more days but the bullet didn’t hit the bone.”
Mike nodded. They’d both seen enough injuries to know this could have been a lot worse.
“We found Rick Bandon trying to board a flight for France,” Mike said. “As soon as we brought him in, he and Caroline Waters began spouting information faster than we could record it all, each trying to make the best deal. I think Bandon might win because he has records of at least ten other Florida officials that were taking bribes and having him clean money for them.
“He wasn’t just running things through Florifish. He had four other businesses set up with the other officials so he could distribute the clean money to them without it showing up in someone’s account as not legitimate. Waters is willing to testify that Bandon killed the Masters brothers, though, so she’s got that going for her,” Mike said as the two men walked down the hall toward a row of vending machines.
Chad grimaced at the choice of ‘meals’ in the machine. A candy bar or a bag of chips.
“Not that I’m complaining because I think this could have been a lot worse than it was, but why didn’t Bandon come after Jennie himself?” Chad asked.
“Caroline Waters claimed she talked him into letting her go in first to see if Jennie knew anything that could implicate either of them. After what he did to the Masters brothers, she said she stepped in to try to protect Jennie, then panicked when you and I came in the door. I don’t know if she’s telling the truth, but it makes sense. If Bandon was nearby and saw the ambulance and marked cars outside your building, it would have sent him running to the airport. France won’t extradite to the US if the death penalty is on the table, so he must have thought he’d be pretty safe there.”
“Chad!” Jack’s voice rang out down the hall and Chad looked up to see his cousin coming toward him, followed by Andrew and Jill.
“Hey, guys,” Chad said, turning to his friends. “Jennie’s awake. Her parents are in with her now.”
“I’m gonna get going, Chad. I’ll keep you posted. I’m glad to hear Jennie and the baby are okay,” Mike said as he slapped Chad on the back and walked down the hall.
Chad wasn’t sure how he’d repay Mike for all he’d done to help them through this, but some day he’d find a way.
“We brought you food,” Jill said, holding out a takeout bag. He grabbed her in a bear hug when he smelled Mexican food coming from the bag. He hadn’t eaten in hours but he wasn’t about to leave the hospital any time soon. The nurses had all tried to get him to go home and rest but he’d looked at them like they’d suggested he cut off his own head. He didn’t know why anyone would think he’d leave Jennie. As long as she was in the hospital, that’s where he’d be.
“You’re the best, Jill,” Chad said as he released Andrew’s wife.
“Hey, we helped get that food. Don’t we get any credit?” Andrew asked gesturing to him and Jack.
“You guys are still in the dog house for starting this whole mess. I’ll set Jennie on you when she gets out of here and you can beg her forgiveness for getting her into all this with your scheming and lies.”
Andrew and Jack shifted on their feet, looking sufficiently chagrined. Chad figured he’d draw this out a bit longer before letting them off the hook, but Jennie’s parents came out, interrupting Chad’s fun.
“Where are Kelly and Maddy?” Chad asked.
“They went back to the house with Mrs. Poole. Maddy needed to nap and Mrs. Poole wants to start cooking. I think her plan is to fill your freezer with enough food to last you and Jennie the next year or so,” Jack said with a grin.
Mrs. Poole was officially Jack and Kelly’s housekeeper, but she acted as mother hen to all of them. Chad knew Jack wasn’t exaggerating about the amount of food headed for his freezer.
They all talked for a few more minutes and then hugged Chad good-bye so he could go back to sit with Jennie.
She’d fallen asleep so he ate the take-out food quietly and then turned out the light. He knew the nurses would be in to check her and the fetal monitor the doctor wanted Jennie hooked up to for a while longer. They both needed to sleep while they could.
Chad lay his head down on the edge of Jennie’s bed and put one arm over her legs. He’d slept in a lot worse places than this and he wasn’t leaving Jennie’s side until it was time to take her home.
Chapter 41
Jennie was released from the hospital four days later. They didn’t go back to Chad’s condo. He had a cleaning company come in and clean up the crime scene and he told Jennie he planned to put it on the market.
They’d stay in her house for now, where she was comfortable and Zeke had a backyard. She insisted Chad could only stay until his condo had been cleaned unless he planned on marrying her.
Of course, this news was delivered with her good fist on her hip and as much fire as she could muster with a bullet wound keeping her mildy subdued.
Jennie had seen all of her friends in the hospital but only in groups of two for short visits at a time and she was anxious to see them all again.
A week after leaving the hospital, they headed into the offices of Sutton Capital, but it wasn’t for work.
Jennie’s arm was in a sling and she was still taking pain medicine on a round-the-clock schedule. Not to mention moving a little stiffly.
Chad, of course, wouldn’t leave her side. And there had been more than a few never-take-a-bullet-for-me-again speeches in the last week.
Jennie couldn’t regret anything she’d done, though. She loved Chad with everything she was. It wasn’
t more or less than she’d loved Kyle. It was different. Different but no less whole and deep and profound. And she was grateful for having found the love of two men in her lifetime.
The elevator doors slid open on the twenty-sixth floor revealing a large banner hanging in the Sutton lobby that read “Kill it, Sam!”
The right side of the banner boasted the logo for Sam’s game, Tangled Legacy, with the dragon wings and a fairy dagger that one of Sam’s friends had drawn for her. The man was a talented graphic designer and the logo looked slick.
Jennie grinned. “Congratulations would have been too boring.”
Chad kept a hand on her back as they wove through the crowd, saying hello and hugging coworkers and friends. When they got to the main floor of the office, they found many of their coworkers planted in front of computers, all waiting for the release of Samantha’s game.
Others were out on the rooftop patio where a fire crackled in the firepit and Sam stood with Jill and Andrew.
They were watching a tablet Andrew held, but Samantha had covered her face with her hands.
“I can’t watch. What if there are glitches?”
Andrew laughed. “I doubt that.”
Jill put an arm around Sam. “You’ve checked everything several thousand times. There won’t be any glitches.”
Jill looked up and saw Chad and Jennie, waving with her hand. “Come on, it’s almost time.”
Samantha leaned in to hug Jennie, careful of her arm.
“I’m so proud of you, Sam,” Chad said, taking his turn for a hug.
Samantha bit her lip and tugged at her long black hair, nerves getting the better of her. It was a good thing Jack had been able to convince Samantha to hire a company to handle the release of the game. That way, Sam could be as nervous and anxious as she wanted and not let those nerves affect hitting the go button when the time was right.
Jennie looked up to see Jack leading Kelly through the crowd toward them, but since everyone they passed stopped them to look down into the car seat he was carrying, Jennie knew it would take a while for them to make it to them.
Still, they waited and when the couple made it to them, there was another round of hugs all around.
Jennie looked down into the car seat at Maddy, who somehow slept through all the noise around her. Tiny bubbles of spit formed one her little pink lips as she breathed and Jennie put her hand down to her stomach, still not able to really believe she would have her own baby in a matter of months.
She looked up at Chad, who was hugging Jack and smiled. He was going to be such a good dad. Neither one of them had a clue what they were doing in the parenting department, but she knew he would be a steady rock to her in the coming years of turmoil and chaos.
Inside, the people in front of computers started a countdown chant, letting them all know the time for the game to go live was coming near.
“Ten…nine…eight…”
“Oh God,” Sam said.
Jennie wrapped her good arm around Samantha while Chad wrapped his arm around her from the other side.
They all joined the count. “Seven…six…five…four…”
Samantha closed her eyes.
“Three…two…one!”
There was silence as the group waited.
Inside, a cheer went up from the people waiting for the game to go live.
And then there were shouts as the game started and they called out about the sick graphics and the avatars they were all choosing. There was something called the Vessel they all needed to find in the first quest, but Jennie knew from playing the game herself during the beta stage that they’d have to bond with a dragon first before they could hunt down the vessel.
Bonding with a dragon meant killing whatever threatened the dragon first, and that often meant battling the twisted fairies and noir gnomes.
Jennie watched Samantha’s face as they continued to listen to their coworkers playing the game in the other room.
“Sam, this is epic!”
“Did you see that?”
“My dragon is so beautiful!”
She saw the moment Sam started to realize what was happening.
Kelly grinned and pushed the tablet toward Sam. “Look at those numbers, Samantha.”
They were watching the people signing onto the game in real time and the number was climbing fast. Ten thousand, twelve, fifteen, twenty-five thousand.
Chad hugged Samantha. “You did it, Sam. They love it.”
It was a good feeling seeing their friend succeed at something she’d been working so hard at for such a long time. Sam and computers was a natural thing but Jennie knew Samantha had been worried about the more creative aspects of building the world for her game.
Coming up with the magical rules and quests the players would go on wasn’t easy. So far, there were seventeen levels to the game and Sam was working on adding more.
Jennie hugged Samantha tight and let herself revel in the feel of all the good things she’d found in this world. She had Chad and his love, but she also had good friends she loved. She had a job she was looking forward to getting back to soon. She had her family.
She blinked back tears as she thought about all the blessings in her world. Yes, she’d lived through tragedy and heartache, but she was on the other side of it now, and she couldn’t be more grateful.
Chad squeezed her hand and leaned down to whisper in her ear.
“You alright, Jen?”
She looked up and squeezed his hand back. “Better than alright.”
He dropped a kiss to her lips, one she wished he’d take deeper. He pulled back and smiled and his look told her he knew exactly what she was thinking.
He leaned in and brushed his lips over hers again, this time only giving her a hint of contact before pulling back.
She growled at him and he laughed. He knew exactly what he was doing to her and he was having entirely too much fun with that knowledge.
She narrowed her eyes. Payback was going to be fun.
Chapter 42
Thanks to Mrs. Poole, Kelly and Jack were back to hosting get-togethers at their house a month later. Jennie and Chad were heading down to Jack and Kelly’s house for an official welcome-home-Jennie party. She had laughed when Kelly suggested it since she’d been home over a month.
Kelly would use any excuse to host a party. Mrs. Poole alternated between shooing Roark away from her and putting him to work spreading pies and cookies out on a table.
Kelly had invited Jennie’s family and Kyle’s parents had driven down for the event. It amazed Jennie to see them embrace Chad and to see the way Chad responded to them.
He seemed to treat Kyle’s parents as if they were simply an extra set of parents to Jennie. It made her feel secure for some reason, knowing she could keep that part of her life intact instead of losing them as she moved on to find new love with Chad.
She sat, surrounded by friends and family, smiling and laughing, her heart free and light for the first time in a very long time. She felt like she’d come through a long hard winter and was seeing the sun for the first time.
Everyone wanted a play-by-play of the whole story, from the trip to Florida to the shooting, even though by now, everyone had heard it before. She sat back and let Chad and her parents tell the tale.
It was surreal listening to them tell her story. Chad skimmed quickly over her heartache over Kyle’s death. She assumed that was to spare her from reliving it, but she felt oddly at ease. She would always love Kyle, but the pain didn’t cut as deeply anymore.
Most likely, her pain at losing Kyle had lingered for so long and had been so great because she had felt she had a hand in his death. When her parents and Kyle’s parents convinced her she didn’t, it was as if they set her free. Set her heart free too.
“I’ve asked him to marry me six times in the last month, but he said no,” Jennie piped up as Chad finished the story.
Chad’s mother smacked him on the back of his shoulder from her position at his s
ide. Jennie guessed she would have liked to target the back of his head, but Mabry couldn’t reach that high on Chad when he was standing up.
“Oh, you’ll marry her, all right, mister,” Mabry said.
Chad only laughed and before Jennie could process what was going on, he was down on one knee in front of her. He pulled a ring from his pocket.
“When did you get a ring? We’ve been running from killers and I’ve been lying in the hospital with a bullet meant for you in my arm and you’ve been driving me to physical therapy for a month…and y-you went ring shopping somewhere in all of that?” she sputtered.
He laughed. “They took the bullet out Jennie. You didn’t lie around with a bullet in your arm. And, I’ve had this ring for months. Before we went on the run.” He smiled and then he took her left hand in his.
As he spoke, he slipped the ring on Jennie’s finger. “Will you marry me, Jennie Evans?”
She grinned at him. “No.”
She shook her head but she didn’t stop him from putting the ring on her finger and the wide smile on her face told him a different story. Apparently, everyone around her saw the same thing Chad did. He stood and lifted her in his arms, spinning her around as their friends cheered.
Jennie laughed. “I thought I told you, no.”
“I heard, yes. Didn’t you guys hear, yes?” Chad asked over his shoulder.
Her traitorous friends all took his side, but she only laughed. She felt lighter and happier than she’d felt in a long time.
She wrapped her arms around Chad and pulled him close. “We can negotiate this later, sweetheart,” she whispered.
By now the group around them was chatting and laughing so no one heard Chad whisper back. “We can negotiate your surrender later.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “I won’t ever surrender.”
“Oh, you’ll surrender,” said Chad as he captured her mouth in a heated kiss that had Jennie wondering if maybe, just maybe, she would surrender.