by Jeanne Adams
"Okay, okay," Xavier was shaking, frantically moving between the two adults and Shadow, alternately hugging Caine, hugging Dana, and petting the dog. Outside, the sound of voices rose, the wail of sirens grew closer as more police, Sheriff, emergency vehicles, and federal agents arrived.
Xavier finally sat with the dog. Caine knelt in front of the boy, drawing his attention. "Xavy, I need you to do something for me, okay?"
Her son focused on Caine, nodded.
"What's outside is... pretty ugly. Some of the people are ... dead."
"My... Walker?" the boy asked, his voice shaking.
"He didn't make it."
She saw Xavier's lip quiver, and her heart broke. His next words allayed her pain. "I'm not glad, exactly," he spoke in an unsteady, tear-filled voice. "But... but... since he ... if he ... it means we won't have to run anymore," he finally blurted. "We can go home. Right?" He turned to her for confirmation. His tears made a dreadful effect on a face streaked with blood and dirt, but she was so proud of him.
"That's right, honey," Dana hugged him tightly. She never wanted to let him go. She wanted to hang onto the solid warmth, smell the unmistakable boy-child smell of him, know he was alive.
Oh, God.
"Right," Caine confirmed. "I'll carry you out. Put your head on my shoulder. I'll put a blanket over you, to block your view. Okay?"
Dana knew he would do it whether Xavy agreed or not, but the boy nodded and flung himself into Caine's arms, eyes squeezed shut.
Struggling to stand with his own wounds and the boy's weight, Caine staggered, then steadied. An officer appeared, a brawny Sheriff's deputy, who said he would manage the dog. They walked out together, and her stomach clenched at the awful tableau. Five dead men sprawled out around the Humvee, including Donovan.
Her ex-husband lay, mangled arm outstretched, gun pointing her way. She shuddered at the view of his still-handsome face and his fixed, sightless gaze. His features were set in a rictus of hate, his true nature frozen in place by death's hand. The bullet hole in his forehead was no more than a black dot at this distance. It looked as if you could take a cloth and wipe it away .. .
"Dana," Caine called from the helicopter.
She walked to him, took his hand, and climbed into the helicopter. As it rose into the air, leaving the past behind, Dana cuddled her boy in her arms and thanked God for second chances.
And freedom.
She didn't look back.
Epilogue
"You do understand that the censure has to go in before the commendation, Agent Bradley?" Agent Parlier said, a twinkle in his usually somber gaze.
"Of course," Caine replied, inwardly amused by the bureaucratic process. "Will it clear by the time my leave is over?"
"Of course. Can't have the Agency's newest senior instructor starting work under a cloud, can I?"
Caine laughed, and the two men shook hands. Parlier was pulling his wheelchair in to the table as Caine left. He never dreamed he'd actually look forward to teaching, to doing something other than serving his country in covert work. Once an agent chose that route, if they lived at all, they seldom returned to anything resembling normal life. It was a consequence Caine had lived with—even courted—for the last five years.
Not anymore. Something about loving Dana and finding a way to avenge Carly, his partner who had died in Tijuana, had lifted that burden from his heart.
Driving south, Caine wondered if Parlier would ever walk again. He pondered that, and all the events of the previous few weeks, until he turned into the long driveway at Dana's house.
The gate stood open, a welcome drawing him in. He'd believed the promise of love was lost to him. Was it really possible that all his deepest desires—a partner and lover who accepted him, the freedom to have a family of his own—were about to be fulfilled? If Dana agreed . . .
Fifty feet from the house, on the paved parking pad by the garage, sat a huge RV, its streaming black and gold metallic stripes glinting in the sun. An awning sheltered a set of chairs, a table, and a large, round, fleece dog bed.
He heard the barking before he got out of the car and grinned. Shadow, restrained by Dana, was greeting him. Fixated on her, Came felt his body stir, his blood race. Hearing her voice on the phone as he worked out his future, even discussing it with her and coming to love her even more, wasn't the same as seeing her.
"Hey! Hey," Xavier shouted, running to the car. He was practically vibrating with excitement as he waited for Caine to get out. "You came, you really came."
"Of course I did, I don't go back on my promises."
"You gotta see," Xavy grabbed Caine's hand, dragged him toward the camper, chattering all the way. "We got this cool motor home to hang out in, while the house gets fixed. You gotta see the shower. And the game stations," he enthused.
"That's awesome, we'll have a match. Hang on a sec, though. Before we go over, I want to ask you something," Caine pulled the boy to one side and crouched down until he and Xavier were eye to eye.
Standing at the RV, shading her eyes to block the glare, Dana watched Caine drive in. Her heart started to pound as he got out of the car. Everything within her leapt up, and she drank in every detail, from the flashing smile to his broad chest and long legs.
She smiled at the sight of her son, bouncing alongside as Caine walked her way.
Shadow stopped barking on her order. He also desisted in his efforts to go greet their visitor. His shaved leg was beginning to re-fuzz with dark fur, and the last of the stitches would come out within the week. Blessedly, the bullet hadn't done much damage where it had creased the dog's flank. Aside from a slice from Donovan's gun butt and a concussion, the dog had escaped with little other harm. The majority of the blood soaking him had been Donovan's.
The biggest surprise in the aftermath was that the bullet that killed Donovan, the head shot, had come from Booth's gun. She had redeemed herself with that final act.
Dana was about to run to meet Caine when he knelt down by Xavier. "What on earth are those two up to?" she wondered out loud.
The sound of hammering rang from the house as the contractors repaired the fire, water, and bullet damage. A landscaping crew bustled around the foundation, clearing out trampled trees and bushes. It had taken her two days to disable and dispose of the rest of her booby traps before she let them come in.
Xavier was nodding and grinning as he and Caine continued toward her. It lifted her heart. She wanted to fling herself at Caine, but seeing him again had her tied in knots.
"Hey," Caine said, coming over to her. His eyes were hot, full of promises, but instead of taking her in his arms, he bent and brushed a brotherly kiss over her cheek in greeting. Was his hand, resting on her back, shaking? Or was she? Her knees felt weak as her insecurities reared ugly questions within her.
Doubt flooded through her. Had he changed his mind? Was he too addicted to the adrenaline rush of his double life?
"Hey, Xav," Caine turned to the boy. His voice sounded strange, tight and strained. "Why don't you take Shadow for a slow walk, let him stretch that leg."
"Okay," Xavier said with an exaggerated expression of innocence. "That's a great idea, Mr. Caine."
Confused by the interplay, Dana searched both their faces, trying to ferret out what she was dealing with. The boy snapped on Shadow's leash and released him from the wire exercise pen.
"We'll be over there," he said, pointing across the yard at a stand of fading dogwoods and flowering cherries.
"Okay," Dana said, watching them go with a sense of foreboding.
"He's helping me out."
"Oh, really?" she said, whipping her gaze to Caine's face. "Why would he need to do that?"
"Because I'm going to ask his mom a really important question."
"What? Why? What question?"
"Why don't we sit down," Caine went on, ignoring her distress as he pulled a chair out from the table. He nearly tipped it over in his haste to urge her into it. "I, uh, want to set the stag
e here."
Nervous, she sat, hands in her lap.
"So?" she said, when it seemed as if he wasn't going to say anything. What was this?
"I'm working on it," he muttered. Clearing his throat, he started to speak. "Dana, I..."
"Yes?"
"Jeez, this is hard."
Her heart fell, was he about to say that this was the last time they would see him? They'd talked over the phone virtually every night during the last three weeks, long, endlessly fascinating conversations. Intimate explorations of their feelings, their dreams.
They'd talked about a future. It had been tentative, provisional, hemmed in with all sorts of "if we like it" and "if it works out", but.. . Was he going to thank her now and leave? But no, he'd said something about asking her... was he going to ...
"What I want to say is I really care about you, and Xavy... I lo—"
"Are you saying goodbye? Leaving?" She blurted the questions.
"What? No," he said, looking annoyed. "Let me talk, woman. I'm trying to be gallant here."
"Skip gallant," she cut in. "You're killing me."
"Oh, for heaven's sake," he said, sounding like a testy grandmother. "I want you to be engaged to me. Go steady. Something. Time together. Think about making it permanent. The relationship thing. Dammit, I screwed it up." Visibly disgusted with himself, he ran a hand through his hair in agitation. "I wanted that to come out better."
"I think it's a grand idea," Dana said, beaming at him, joy flooding through her. "The relationship thing. Being engaged." Thank God. He wanted her, he wanted them. "But we'll have to ask Xavier."
"I already did. He's all for it."
"Oh. Well." Tears sprang to her eyes. Their earlier powwow made sense. That he had thought to go to Xavier first, man to man, was just one more reason to love him.
"What about you?" he said, looking at her so intently she wanted to explode.
"I think it's a wonderful, wonderful idea." Unable to contain herself any longer, she grabbed him and kissed him, nearly toppling them both to the ground.
"Will you wear this, then?" he said, a smile blooming on his face, turning her knees to jelly. He plopped a leather jeweler's box into her hand. "See if it fits."
She opened the box and gasped. The square, princess cut diamond glittered in the sunlight, the emeralds flanking it glowed as if lit from within.
"Oh, my God," she breathed.
"I have a new job," he blurted. "Teaching. I'll have to travel some."
"You didn't quit then?"
"No, but I still want us to live here," he paused, "that is, if you still want—"
"The RV's huge," she said, still focused on the diamond. "This is gorgeous, Caine."
"It suits you," he said, relief in his voice. "Did you hear what I said, about the job?"
"Yes," she looked at him as she slipped the ring on her finger. "The guy I'm engaged to has a job as an instructor for the FBI, and he may have to travel some. His fiancée and her son will have to travel too, and we're hoping you'll come with us, when you can."
"Why? I mean, why do you have to travel?"
"You know all the stuff that came out, after . . . after Donovan . . . when they raided his house, office, and warehouse?"
"You mean that virtually all his holdings were held within corporations in either your name or Xavier's?"
"And everything went to Xavier on Donovan's death. Whatever else he did, he was thorough with his will." When the document had been presented by the team of lawyers, the shit had really hit the fan. Washington was still untangling the legalities.
"So, you know how much Xavy owns now. Even if half of it goes to the government, the estate is still humon-gous, the amounts are mind boggling. Lord, the property alone is worth millions ..." she trailed off, shaking her head in bafflement.
"Anyway, we don't know anything about these houses and businesses. And there are about thirty cars garaged in Miami. Xavy wants to see everything before we sell it. He says he wants to keep one car for when he can drive. He wanted to give one to you, and one to his Uncle Jimmy. Said he wanted to give one of the houses to Jimmy, too."
Caine reached for her, pulling her into his embrace. "Have I told you what a great kid you've raised, Dana Markham?"
"Never hurts to hear it again," she said, raising her face to his.
Kissing her and wrapping his arms around her, Caine closed his eyes and let the reality of her love, the surety of her welcome bathe him in relief. Throughout the drive from DC he'd worried that she'd changed her mind.
He'd never believed he could have this. Never thought he could atone for the darkness he'd lived in the name of justice. Dana accepted him, a trusted partner in every sense of the word.
And then there was Xavier. A son.
Although Donovan's motives had been twisted, Caine understood the powerful bond that drove the dead mobster to risk everything for Xavier.
"Did'ja ask her yet?" Xavy bounded over, swiveling from Dana to Caine. '"Cause Shadow and I are hungry."
Caine laughed, and hooked an arm around the boy, pulling him into a three-way hug. Shadow barked happily and sat as close to them as he could.
"So did he ask ya', Mom? Did he? What did you say?"
With Dana tucked near his heart, and her boy hugged close, he was about to answer when Dana beat him to it.
"He asked me, Xavier," she beamed at the grinning boy. "I said yes, we'll be engaged and we'll see about becoming a real family. That suit you?"
"Suits me. Now you can, like, bill and coo for real. You know?" came the surprising reply. Then, a more typical, "Can we eat now?"
"You bet."
"We'll hunt up some grub, big guy. There's one thing I have to do first."
"What?"
"This," he said, pulling Dana into his chest, kissing her, long and hard. He put everything he was, all his love, into that kiss.
"I love you, Dana Markham," he said, kissing her cheeks before returning to her lips. "I'm going to do everything in my power to make you happy, to prove to you that I'm worthy of you and your wonderful son."
The smile she gave him washed away every doubt, every fear.
"You already have. You've been my black knight in shining armor," she said, returning the kiss with interest. "Let's go, get yon starving boy and his dragon some food."
They went in, pulling the door shut behind them.
A family.
* * * THE END * * *
Jeanne Adams lives near Washington, D.C., with her handsome husband, two charming sons, and her Dalmatians. Formerly in the dark and dangerous world of business marketing, she's also worked in bookstores, for a cemetery, and several funeral homes. A member and frequent speaker for Romance Writers of America and its various chapters, Jeanne loves to connect with readers and other writers. Please visit her at www.JeanneAdams.com.
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ISBN-13: 978-1-4201-0429-5
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