“He seems to be doing well in spite of all the trauma,” her sister remarked as she settled onto the sofa next to Josslyn.
Harriett and Conrad arrived back at the White House just as Josslyn was being escorted from the zoo. To her sister’s credit, she hadn’t flinched at seeing her covered in someone else’s blood. Or at the fact that the stray Josslyn had brought home this time was an eleven-year-old boy from Zimbabwe.
“I appreciate you examining him,” Josslyn said. “He’s a good kid with an uncertain future. I’d be scared, too.”
“He’s a typical boy. All it took to get him to open up was a bowl of macaroni and cheese.”
Josslyn laughed. “You’re the only pediatrician I know who prescribes mac and cheese for every ailment.”
“Not every ailment, but it works for most. As for the rest, we’ll figure it all out.” Harriett squeezed her hand. “What’s the fun of having the president as a husband if you can’t do some good for people?”
Josslyn grinned at her sister, squeezing back.
“I haven’t seen you this happy in years. You’re practically glowing.” Harriett lowered her voice. “It wouldn’t happen to do with the man you left sleeping in your bed, would it?”
“Oh, my gosh.” She could feel her cheeks burning. “There are cameras in the bedrooms!”
It was Harriett’s turn to laugh. “I should hope not! Although now you’ve given me cause to wonder. I see an awkward conversation with Director Worcester in my future.” She glanced around the room, but Ngoni was busy with the dog and Daddy was tinkering at the piano. “I was checking on Father last night when I saw Agent Lockett sneaking in there.” She smiled slyly. “And here I thought you two hated one another.”
For the first time in her life, Josslyn couldn’t meet her sister’s eyes. Adam was indeed still in the Queens’ Bedroom. Just thinking of the things they’d done to one another last night made her blush more deeply. He’d been sleeping so peacefully this morning that she’d left him in bed to get the rest he desperately needed.
“You know what they say; there’s a fine line between love and hate,” Josslyn quipped.
Harriett’s eyebrows were in danger of shooting off her forehead. “The L-word, too. Well, color me surprised but delighted. He’s a decent man. But I’ve often sensed he’s lonely. Just like you. It’s nice when two kindred souls find one another.”
Josslyn scoffed. “I’m not so sure about the kindred-souls mumbo jumbo. Remember that fine line I mentioned earlier? But I do think we will have an interesting relationship.”
Her sister leaned in to hug her. “You can’t have passion without a little bit of fire.”
“Hey, guess who I found?” Trevor entered the Center Hall followed by another man.
Fergus greeted them with a series of barks, each one shriller than the last.
“Mr. Shaw!” Ngoni cried as he dashed into the open arms of the man accompanying Trevor.
Josslyn and Harriett got to their feet.
“It’s good to see you, Ngoni,” Mr. Shaw said. “How’s my star pupil?”
“I’m good,” Ngoni glanced shyly at Josslyn. “Miss Josslyn, this is my teacher, Mr. Shaw.”
“What wonderful manners you have, Ngoni,” Harriett complimented him. She marched across the hall with her hand extended. “I’m Harriett Manning, Mr. Shaw.”
“Uh, it’s just James,” he stammered, obviously flustered to be shaking hands with the First Lady.
“James,” Josslyn said extending her hand as well. “We are delighted you’re here. Although I’m so sorry for the circumstances that brought you back to the US.” She swallowed roughly. “I’m very sorry about the loss of your father.”
James blinked a few times before meeting her gaze. “Thank you,” he said. “My dad lived to serve his country. He would consider dying while breaking up an international poaching ring to be an honor.”
“Are you staying in America, too?” Ngoni asked.
“I am.” James rubbed the boy’s head. “Which means I need to find a place to live. I understand you need a place to live, too.”
Ngoni nodded. Josslyn’s heart thundered in her chest.
“Mandla gave me papers stating if anything happens to him, I would take care of you,” James said gently. “Would you like that? You could go to school in the United States. Maybe we can find a place near a basketball court.”
“One like the court here,” Ngoni exclaimed. “It’s awesome. Come on.” He tugged James toward the stairs.
Trevor laughed at the boy’s enthusiasm as he followed them out. James hesitated at the top of the steps. He looked back over his shoulder at Josslyn. She smiled warmly and nodded.
“I’m hoping you’ll be staying in the DC area,” she said.
James smiled. “That depends. Does this court he’s about to show me have public access?”
“No,” Harriett answered. “But you’re in luck. We know the guy who lives here. We can work something out.”
Laughing he waved goodbye as he chased after Ngoni.
Josslyn wrapped an arm around her sister’s shoulder. “Thanks.”
“Anything for you, little sis. Besides, we miss having young people around.”
One of the butlers came from the kitchen carrying a mug of coffee. “You asked for this, Miss Josslyn?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Her sister shot her an impish smile before wandering over to the piano. Josslyn headed toward the Queen’s Bedroom only to stop at the other end of the Center Hall when Adam emerged. His hair was still wet from his shower.
“Good morning, sleepyhead.” She handed him the coffee. “How are you feeling?”
He took a long pull from the mug. “Much better now.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist. “You look much better without dark circles.”
“I think this is the first time in weeks I’ve woken up without a headache.”
“Well, that settles it then.” She nuzzled his jaw. “You’ll just have to sleep with me every night.”
“I can get behind that.” Adam’s eyes spoke of a lot more than sleep.
“Ahem.”
Adam went to pull away but Josslyn held him tight. She glanced over her shoulder at her brother-in-law.
“Sir.” Adam wanted to struggle out of her embrace, but if he did so, he’d spill the coffee on one of them. She’d pay for her antics later. At least she hoped so.
Conrad wore a strained expression. “I just spoke with Christian Sumner. By all accounts, his surgery went well. He’ll make a full recovery.”
“That’s wonderful,” Josslyn said.
“Sumner seems to think I should award you with the Medal of Honor or something like it, Agent Lockett.” Conrad pinned Adam with the same look he used on members of congress when they didn’t see eye to eye. “But I see you’ve chosen a prize that is much more precious.” His face softened when he looked at Josslyn. “Assuming that’s what she wants?”
Josslyn nodded.
Conrad sighed. “That’s settled then.” He turned back toward his bedroom.
Adam blew out a breath. “Well, that was all kinds of awkward.”
“You’re telling me,” Josslyn quipped. “I was the one who held the compress on Christian’s wound. If anyone gets a medal, it should be me.”
He laughed before leaning down to kiss her thoroughly. It wasn’t lost on her that he hadn’t told her he loved her. But he didn’t have to. She felt his love with every fiber of her being. Even before Agent Groesch told her what he had done to rescue her.
*
Adam ambled into the opulent hotel lobby of The Chevalier’s Georgetown location. The exclusive chain of boutique hotels catered to the world’s wealthy elite. After nearly two decades spent in a twelve-by-twelve cinder block cell, his old man was likely enjoying the luxury of the five-star hotel’s owner’s suite. No wonder he was taking his sweet time cashing the check. But Adam was done with his father taking advantage of Marin’s family’s h
ospitality. This game ended today.
As he rode the elevator up to the top floor, he tried to tamp down on his restless emotions. Adam didn’t like that his father was forcing his hand. He couldn’t have cared less if he ever saw the man again. But watching Josslyn with her father yesterday at the Children’s Garden, seeing the sorrow and regret in her eyes every time Dr. Benoit looked through her, had cut Adam to the quick. He was doing this for her. Because for some reason it was important to Josslyn that Adam get the closure she couldn’t.
If anyone had asked him days ago whether he’d ever subject himself to the whims of a woman, he would have laughed out loud. But love made him do strange things, apparently. And right now, knowing Josslyn loved him for who and what he was made Adam believe he could handle confronting his father once and for all.
And, after that, he’d let the woman he loved know it. Speaking the words tonight and every day of their lives.
The elevator doors opened on the penthouse floor. Adam shook his head when he pressed the doorbell. He could hear it echoing throughout the suite. A moment later, a freaking butler answered the door.
“May I help you?” the man asked.
“I have to be in the wrong place,” Adam said more to himself than the other man.
“You came,” a gravelly voice bellowed from within.
The relief he heard in his old man’s words made Adam’s throat tight. Clenching and unclenching his fists, he reminded himself that, after today, he’d never have to see this man again. This is for Joss. He repeated the mantra as he strolled into the spacious living room with its panoramic views of Georgetown and the Potomac River beyond.
Suddenly, the shock of a butler was nothing compared to the appearance of the man who greeted Adam. He had assumed that nineteen years of prison would not be kind to the sixty-year-old. But the man leaning a hip on the baby grand piano wasn’t nearly as diminished as Adam expected. The thought fueled his already festering anger.
Chet Lockett’s green eyes homed in on Adam, seeming to drink him in. As if sensing his son’s raising annoyance, he called out to the butler.
“Stephen, can you bring some whisky for my son.”
“I didn’t come here to drink with you,” Adam choked out around the tightness in his throat.
“I’ve been sober since the day they put the handcuffs on me.”
“Not hard to do when you’re behind bars.”
His father chuckled. “You’d be surprised the things you can get in prison. I just never acquired a taste for rubbing alcohol. And now that I’m out, I don’t have much of a taste for the good stuff anymore. I prefer a clear head instead.”
The butler came into the room carrying a tray loaded with a single cut-crystal glass and a bottle of Glenlivet. A tall tumbler of something resembling a vegetable smoothie was also on the tray. Adam’s father chugged the remainder of a bottle of water before taking the smoothie from the butler.
“If you don’t mind,” his father said as he took a seat at one of the two sofas dominating the room. “I’d prefer to have this conversation sitting down.”
Adam didn’t honor his request. “I’d ‘prefer’ we didn’t have this conversation at all. In fact, I’d ‘prefer’ you stop taking advantage of the generosity of my friends. Take the money I gave you and head out of Dodge.”
His father’s nose wrinkled as he sucked the smoothie through a straw. “You have nice friends,” he said once he’d consumed half the glass.
Swearing under his breath, Adam clenched and unclenched his fists a few times more. “One word from me and my ‘nice’ friends won’t hesitate to put you out on the street.”
“I’m glad,” his father surprised him by saying. “It means you are a good and honorable man to be surrounded by such loyal people.”
“No thanks to you,” Adam snapped.
Setting the smoothie down on a side table, his father scrubbed a hand down his face. “No, of course not. I know I can’t take credit for the man you’ve become. But in spite of that, I can still be proud of you. Maybe even more proud than if I hadn’t screwed up your life. Because you succeeded in spite of me.”
Something unsettling fluttered in Adam’s gut.
“Not only that,” his father continued, “but you’re an officer.” He stood resolutely, saluting Adam with a beaming smile.
“Stop it,” Adam ordered. “I don’t want any of your parental accolades. Not now. Not ever.”
His father’s smile dimmed as he retook his seat. “You always did want to be a soldier. Do you remember when you were little and you used to stomp around in my boots? Your mom would chew me out whenever I let you help me polish them. You’d get more of the polish on you than on the boots.” He laughed to himself softly.
Adam’s head began to pound. That same recollection had come to him unbidden the other day. He didn’t like it any more now than he did then.
“I didn’t come here for some stroll down memory lane,” he bit out.
His father lifted his eyes to meet Adam’s “You’re so tall. You get that from your mother’s side. Your pappy is still a tall man, even in his eighties.”
“You’ve been in touch with them?” Adam rocked back on his heels slightly. There didn’t seem to be an end to the surprises.
“Of course,” his father admitted. “They’ve kept me updated on you. Your mother’s people are good people.”
As he rubbed his temples, Adam suddenly felt a little betrayed by his grandparents. This man had killed their granddaughter, not to mention their great-grandchild. They should be solidly in Adam’s camp, not sharing information with a man who didn’t deserve a son after what he’d done.
“Don’t take it personally.”
Adam hated the way his father could so easily interpret his emotions.
“I don’t care what Meemaw and Pappy told you,” Adam lied. “I don’t care if they sent you my damn report cards. All I care about is you taking the damn check and getting the hell out of my life.”
“Why is it so important to you that I take the money?”
Nothing about this encounter was going as Adam planned. “Isn’t that what you’re here for?”
A sad smile settled on his father’s mouth. “No.”
Damn it. Ben was correct. This was one of those twelve-step things. His old man wanted some sort of absolution. Adam would rather drain his entire bank account than give him that.
“You had three life sentences. Why didn’t they just let you rot in there?”
His father sighed. “That’s easy. Try not to be too disappointed, but I’m dying.”
Adam suddenly felt a little woozy. He reached down and grabbed the bottle of Scotch off the tray. Not bothering with the glass, he took a hefty swallow. It burned as it went down. Too bad it didn’t burn out the tightening in his chest.
“I was a model prisoner. I earned a college degree and a master’s degree.” His father winked at him. “I told everyone inside that I got my smarts from my boy. Based on that and my diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, I was offered a compassionate release.”
“What is this about then?” Adam croaked. “You want my forgiveness before you die or something?”
He felt like an ass just saying the words. Josslyn would be so disappointed in him. But it would take the entire bottle of scotch and then some before Adam could likely get any words of absolution out.
“No,” his father shot back at him. “I’m not fool enough to think you’ll ever give me that. But I can’t leave this earth without telling you my side of things.”
Adam suspected this was his father’s end-around way of obtaining forgiveness, but he let him have his say.
“I wasn’t in my right mind after my third deployment, but I ignored it. Your mother begged me to get help. It got worse when she died. I foolishly assumed she was the one good thing to ever happen to me and that I had nothing to live for. She left me two precious gifts to remember her by and I thoughtlessly threw them away. I have no excuse for what I did th
at day. None. Every day I have to live with how I destroyed our lives all those years ago.”
Sliding onto one of the sofas, Adam glared at the man before him. “You didn’t destroy my life. So please don’t try to take credit for that. Go in peace.”
Adam let himself think it was the whisky talking, except the bottle in his hands was still full.
His father’s rich laugh filled the room. “You always were a stubborn one. Don’t worry, with death will come peace, especially now that I’ve seen for myself how well you have survived.”
“So that’s it?” Adam refused to acknowledge the feeling of disappointment that flared in his gut. He replaced the bottle of Scotch. “You’ll take the money and go?”
“I don’t need your money, Son.”
Adam flinched at the word “son.” His father pulled the check from a tattered billfold Adam recognized as one his mother had given him for Father’s Day all those years ago. He placed it on the tray without reluctance.
“How will you live?” he asked, angry at himself for even caring.
“The VA has a network of care facilities. I’m headed to one in Florida. It was all arranged with my release. After so many winters in Kansas, I want my last days to be spent in the sunshine.”
There was that kick in his gut again. “How long?”
“A couple of months.” His father dragged his palms across his jeans. “Let’s not dwell on that because there is another reason I came to see you.”
Adam knew there had to be a catch.
“I know I have no right to say this, but I want you to know that I love you. You don’t have to love me back and I certainly understand if you don’t. But I wanted to tell you not to let our relationship color the other ones in your life. Life is too short to hold back on love. You should always let the people you love know it.”
“Did you develop clairvoyance while you were in prison?”
His father’s eyes were damp but smiling. “No. But I hope that means I’m preaching to the choir and you have someone special in your life.”
Adam swallowed roughly before nodding. “I do.”
“Good. She’s a lucky girl.”
Now Adam was even angrier at himself for not saying those three little words to Josslyn when he had the chance. But she knew how he felt. Her eyes told him so every time he looked at her. Still, he was going to tell her the first chance he got. Of course, now every time he told her he loved her, Adam would hear his old man’s voice.
Shot in the Dark Page 25