Justice, Mercy and Other Myths (The New Pioneers Book 7)
Page 19
He kissed her fingers. “I don’t want you to remember your brother as the person who made it impossible to find the people you already can’t sleep for thinking about.”
She loved him for that. “Sometimes you’re smarter than you look.” He kissed her again, and she wished that she could stay for the rest of her life. But she couldn’t. “I have to get Mari from school.”
“I’ll get her.” He kissed her neck. “You shower and meet me at your place.”
She held his gaze. “Are you sure?”
He didn’t pretend not to understand. “Yes. You, Mariana, school pickups. They’re all part of the same package.” He smiled. “Are you sure about everything that comes with me?”
“You mean Baptiste? Or doing a dangerous job?”
He sighed. “And that most people can’t stand me.”
“Let me think.”
He laughed. “Excuse me?”
She kissed him again. “I guess it’s okay on one condition.”
Robert traced her lip and she licked his fingertips. “And what’s that?”
Hannah pulled him down to her. They’d have to be quick if he was going to get to Mariana on time. “Let’s go to Spectacle Island this weekend.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I always knew that Alex Sheldon was going to die. I just wasn’t sure how.
Even when I envisioned him as a romantic hero, Alex was always a deeply flawed romantic hero. Every time I came back to ask him who he really was and what he wanted, the answer always included “power”. It’s not unheard of for a romantic hero to be powerful and flawed—as of this writing, Billionaire Romances are a popular category that thrives on them—but for a man to be one and have done all of the things Alex had, he needed one more element: regret. That was the defining characteristic of the character as I originally envisioned him, but that trait receded further and further as he developed.As you know from The Ghosts of Alex Sheldon, he made the decision, however slowly, that regret was too painful to live with, and when he did that, the trait that took over was ruthlessness.
Once I recognized what Alex had become, I knew he wasn’t going to die of a broken heart.
Alex’s actions are going to reverberate for all of the characters, but taking him off the canvas permanently means they’re no longer fighting him but the instincts they developed because of him. In one sense, Robert and Hannah are the opposite of Michael and Miranda: whereas the Abbots were so deeply scarred by Alex’s choices that they sometimes can’t separate who they are from what he did, Robert and Hannah own how damaged they were before they’d ever encountered Alex Sheldon. That’s just one reason why I felt they were the best choice to walk us through Alex’s demise.
This is the end of this part of The New Pioneers. I don’t expect to bring out an eleventh installment in the foreseeable future. But all of these characters continue to have stories to tell, most significantly Hannah, Mari, and Hellie, plus a few surprises. But while their stories are going to take some cues from what has already been told, they’re going to have new stories of their own, some of which I already know, and some of which they’ve started to tease me with. I can’t wait to hear what they have to say.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Mia Darien is the most patient and thorough editor an indie writer could ask for, and I’m grateful to have found her. Erin Cawood has worked her magic to capture the different but moods of each book in the series while making it all fit together into a visual whole. She and Caroline Fardig also gave me invaluable advice that made this final story exactly what I was trying to get across. Finally, thanks to my husband, Michael Nam-Krane, whose legal expertise helped sharpen Robert’s scenes.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Deborah Nam-Krane is a writer in Boston-proper. The Smartest Girl in the Room and The Family You Choose were published in 2013, An Engagement (A New Pioneers Short Story), The China Doll and Let’s Move On in 2014, The Art of the Next Best (A New Pioneers Short Story), The Golden Boy Returns and Needs Wants and Weaknesses in 2016, and The Ghosts of Alex Sheldon (A New Pioneers Short Story) in 2017. She lives in Boston with her husband and their children.
In 2012 she wrote the History section of her sister Suzanne Nam’s Moon Thailand (Moon Handbooks).
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A book reviewer for Amazon for the last decade, she is grateful for all of the reader reviews she has received so far. If you enjoyed the book, please consider leaving a review on the retail site you purchased from, Goodreads, your blog or wherever you share your opinions.