Grace left the thought unfinished. Focused instead on the boy standing on the porch. The boy pointing the shotgun at his father.
“Move away from them,” Josh said, his voice cracking. Despite the tear stains on his face and the tremble of the weapon in his hands, his gaze was calm and determined. Too much so.
Grace drew a sharp breath.
A dozen feet away, Barry laughed at his son. “Are you kidding me? You don’t know how to shoot, you idiot. And even if you did, you don’t have the balls—”
The shotgun roared. The sound rolled out over the lake and bounced back in echo after fainter echo until it faded to nothing, leaving a stunned silence in its wake. Josh lowered the weapon from its aim at the sky. He pumped out the spent cartridge and leveled the gun again in Barry’s direction.
“I mean it, Dad. Move away.”
A single fresh tear tracked down his cheek. His finger tightened on the trigger. Grace’s heart contracted. Oh God, Josh…no.
She looked at Barry. At his slack-jawed, disbelieving focus on his son.
………………
Now.
………………
Hugging her broken arm close, she gritted her teeth and buried the pain. Then she stepped past Sean and propelled herself off the ground into a spin, delivering the most vicious roundhouse kick she could summon to the back of Barry’s head. He pitched forward onto his hands and knees on the grass, the baseball bat flying from his grip. Before he could recover, Grace landed, rebalanced, and caught him under the chin with a snap kick. He rolled onto his back, gave a single weak flop, and then lay still. Breathing hard, Grace stood over him, watching for him to move, wishing for the slightest twitch of a finger so she could deliver yet another blow.
He remained motionless.
She began to shake. Slowly she sank to the ground beside the man who had killed her sister. From a distance, she heard Sean’s voice coaxing Josh to let go of the shotgun. She turned her head to find him on the porch beside her nephew, prying the weapon from the boy’s fingers, laying it aside, pulling the boy down into a hug, rocking him gently. His gaze met hers over Josh’s head.
“Are you okay?” he mouthed.
She made herself nod. His mouth curved into a faint, tight smile. Banked heat reached out from the green eyes to wrap her in its warmth, easing the shaking. The door behind him opened, and Sage and Lilly ventured onto the porch with Annabelle, each of them clutching one of the toddler’s hands. Sean waved them over, settled Annabelle on his lap, and wrapped his free arm around both the other girls. His smile widened. He cleared his throat.
“Hey, Grace Daniels. You know I love you, right?”
Grace went still. Even her shivers stopped. “What?”
“I was going to tell you later,” he said. “Then I decided now was better. I love you.”
“Man owie,” Annabelle patted his cast. She pointed to her unconscious father. “More owie.”
The other three gazed between Grace and Sean with wide eyes, their mouths forming perfect o’s.
“I—I—” Grace stammered.
“You love me, too,” he coaxed.
“But you don’t want kids.”
Sage’s bottom lip quivered, and Sean snugged her closer to his side.
“Turns out I do,” he said comfortably. “But not just any kids. These ones. I want these ones.”
For a long moment, Grace couldn’t say anything past the lump in her throat. Josh, Lilliane, and Sage all watched her with wide, expectant eyes. Faint in the distance came the wail of a siren. She cleared her throat.
“Hey, Sean McKittrick,” she said. “You know I love you, too, right?”
He grinned. “I suspected as much. But it’s nice to know.”
CHAPTER 35
………………
GRACE WATCHED THE ER DOCTOR smooth the final coat of plaster on the cast encasing her arm. A tap came at the door, and it opened to admit a nurse followed closely by Sage, Lilly, Josh, and Sean. The nurse smiled.
“We were getting a little concerned,” she said. “We thought we’d check on your progress.”
Lilly came to stand beside Grace, Sage pressed close to her side.
“Another cast?” Lilly shook her head and sent an exasperated glance between Grace and Sean. “What are we going to do with you two?”
Sean chuckled. “Help us heal, I hope,” he said. “We’re all going to have to pitch in and give Aunt Grace a hand. No pun intended.”
Josh joined his sisters. “Does it hurt?”
“A little, but they’ve given me something to help with the pain. I’ll be fine.” Grace lifted her good hand to her nephew’s shoulder and tugged him close enough to kiss the top of his head. “As good as new. I promise.”
“It’s a clean break,” the doctor said to Sean. “She’ll be in the cast for about six weeks, give or take, but she can have her own doctor check it after five.”
He peeled off his plaster-coated latex gloves, rolled away on his stool, and dropped them into the garbage bin by the counter.
“Keep it dry, and remember it won’t be fully hardened for at least twenty-four to forty-eight hours, so no handstands or back flips.” He gave the kids a wink, but none of them laughed. He raised an eyebrow. “I usually get at least a chuckle out of that one.”
He did then, but from Sean rather than the kids.
“Grace holds a black belt in jujitsu and tae kwon do,” Sean told him. “I don’t think we realized you were joking.”
Appearing somewhat nonplussed, the doctor muttered a farewell and left the room. Sean looked to the kids.
“You three want to go and help Uncle Gareth with Annabelle?” he asked. “Make sure she doesn’t tear the place apart?”
“Sure.” Josh gathered up his sisters, lingered long enough to give Grace a careful hug, and then the three of them followed the nurse from the room.
“Uncle Gareth?” Grace asked as the door closed behind them.
Sean gave her a lopsided grin. “I hope you don’t mind. It seemed more appropriate that Mr. Connor under the circumstances.”
Far from minding, Grace felt a curl of warmth at the idea. And at the reason behind it. But the uncle part wasn’t what she’d been asking about.
“Of course I don’t mind. I just wondered how your cousin managed to end up on Annabelle duty.”
“I called him when you left in the ambulance. He arrived about twenty minutes ago. He and Gwyn are going to take the kids for us tonight. He’ll leave us his car and take the van back to their place, and we can follow tomorrow when I’ve sobered up again from the drugs. He’s booked us into a hotel for tonight. We’ll cab it over when they release you.”
Grace glanced at his leg. Today’s fall had been the third for him. “How bad is it?”
“Sore, but surprisingly intact. They’ll send the x-ray to my orthopedist to be sure, but it looks like nothing’s moved.”
Thank God.
Sean swung over to the exam table. He set his crutches aside and, with both hands, smoothed back the hair from her face. Then he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You scared the hell out of me today, you know.”
Her brain flashed back to the impact of the baseball bat against the forearm she’d thrown up in defense. The crack of the bone giving way. The knowledge that if Barry had connected with her skull as intended…
She gave Sean a wan smile. “I don’t mind admitting I scared the hell out of me, too.”
Sean rested his forehead against hers. “I’m not surprised. I have to tell you, though, the way you took him down? Those kicks? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more magnificent in my life. You saved their lives, Grace.”
“Do you think he really would have done it?” Tears squeezed between her eyelids. Even now, her brain couldn’t quite wrap itself around the idea. “His own kids?”
“I know he would have,” Sean said gruffly. “I’ve seen it happen before.”
“What happens to him now?”
“He’ll be charged with your sister’s murder, and I’m guessing the Crown will add four counts of attempted kidnapping with intent. I’ll find out more after his arraignment.”
“And until then?”
“He’ll be held in custody until his trial.” Sean’s arms tightened around her. “And then, with luck, for the rest of his life. At the very least, he won’t be eligible for parole for at least twenty-five years, so you and the kids are safe, sweetheart. You can breathe again.”
Silence settled between them. Out in the corridor, something rolled by, and shoes squeaked against tile. Grace nestled into Sean’s shoulder. Barry might be out of the way—figuratively as well as literally—but one more pressing matter still stood between her and breathing.
“Can I ask you something?”
“The answer is yes.”
“Yes, I can ask?”
“Yes to your question.”
“But you don’t know what it is.”
“You want to know if I meant what I said at the cottage,” he replied comfortably. “About loving you. The answer is yes. The other answers are no, yes, and no. No, I don’t think it’s because of the circumstances or any inflated sense of honor or responsibility. Yes, I meant what I said about wanting the kids. And no, I don’t need time to think it over. I already have.”
Grace pulled back. She wanted to believe him—with all her heart and soul, she wanted to believe him—but so much had happened. So many emotions had ridden so high for so long…
She took a deep breath and braced herself.
“When?” she asked. “When have you had time to think about it, Sean? About any of it? We’ve known each other for a week. We haven’t had time for—”
He put a single finger across her lips. His bottle-green eyes glowed with intensity. Absolute certainty. Bottomless love. Grace inhaled a soft breath.
“From the time Luc called me today until the time you took that bastard down,” he said, his voice quiet, “I lived a hundred thousand lifetimes, Grace Daniels. I saw what my world would be like without you, without those kids, and I died a little inside. I died a lot. I love you. I love them. And I want nothing more than to spend every waking moment of my life showing you just how much. So yes, I meant it. Every single word. Understand?”
A hundred different emotions swamped her. Relief. Gratitude. Contentment. Overwhelming love. Sheer, unadulterated joy. She slid her good arm around Sean’s back, clinging to him. Lifted her face. His head descended, his lips touched hers…
Another tap came at the door.
Sean drew back with a muttered curse as the nurse poked her head through the opening, her expression apologetic. “I’m sorry, but I gave you as long as I could. We need the plaster room for another patient.”
Grace felt impatience thrum through Sean. Then he gave her a wry smile and nodded to the nurse. “Of course. We’re coming now.”
He shifted back onto his crutches. “Are you okay to walk?” he asked.
Grace snorted as she slid off the exam table. “Asked the man on crutches.”
Sean looked from his own cast to hers, then followed her through the door the nurse held open for them. “We do make a fine pair, don’t we? Talk about the halt and the lame.”
Grace skidded to a stop and turned horrified eyes on him, the reality of their situation sinking in. Him on crutches, her in an arm cast, and four kids…
“How in heaven’s name will we manage?” she asked.
Sean grinned and planted a kiss on her lips. She blinked at him.
“What was that for?”
He kissed her again. “You said we. As in you and me. How will we manage.”
“Oh. I guess I did, didn’t I?”
“Does that mean yes?”
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, you’ll marry me?”
“I—” Grace paused. “Wait. Is that a proposal?”
“I suppose it is—unless you want me to wait until I can go down on one knee and ask properly.”
She hesitated. Thought about it. Smiled. “The answers are yes, no, and no,” she said. “Yes, I would be honored to marry you. No, I don’t want you to go down on one knee.”
“And the other no?”
“I don’t need time to think over, either.” She stood on tiptoe, balanced carefully against his chest, and placed her lips beside his ear. “I love you, Sean McKittrick. Now, let’s go say goodbye to our kids and then check out that hotel, shall we?”
“Why, Grace Daniels, you can’t possibly be suggesting…” Sean looked down in such shock that Grace laughed.
“Am I suggesting we figure out how the heck we’ll get it on with both of us half-encased in plaster? Absolutely. You have a lot of dreams to answer for, you know.” She started down the corridor toward the waiting room, and their waiting kids.
Sean caught up to her just before the double doors. “Dreams?”
“Mmm-hmm.” She slanted a sideways glance at him. “Shockingly creative ones, I might add.”
He grinned, a wicked gleam entering his eyes. “Do tell.”
“Oh, I will,” she promised, pushing through the doors. “In great detail.”
Then the kids were there, and Annabelle was delivering kisses-better, and Sean’s cousin was hugging her, and the comfortable chaos of family—their family, hers and Sean’s—closed around them.
And as her good arm pulled in as many people as it would hold, Grace felt the brush of her sister’s presence, saw her smile, heard her words.
“Together always,” Julianne said.
“Together always,” Grace whispered to her family. “I promise.”
Sean’s hand settled onto her shoulder and squeezed.
OTHER BOOKS BY LINDA POITEVIN
………………
THE EVER AFTER SERIES
Gwynneth Ever After
Forever After (novella, e-book only)
THE GRIGORI LEGACY
Sins of the Angels (Grigori Legacy #1)
Sins of the Son (Grigori Legacy #2)
Sins of the Lost (Grigori Legacy #3)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
………………
LINDA POITEVIN IS THE AUTHOR of both contemporary romance and dark urban fantasy (respectively referred to by her spouse as her light and dark sides). In her other-than-writing life, she walks a giant dog and is minion to the world’s cutest kitten. She’s also a wife, mom, friend, coffee snob, gardener, and avid food preserver (you know, just in case that whole Zombie Apocalypse thing really happens).
She loves to hear from readers and can be contacted through her website at www.lindapoitevin.com.
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