by Laura Scott
“Tess? Are you sure you’re okay?” Declan asked, coming back over to help her stand.
She swayed and Declan hauled her close. Gratefully, she leaned against him, absorbing his strength. “I’m just so glad you made it here in time,” she murmured.
“Me, too,” Declan admitted, resting his cheek on her hair. “I was worried sick that I’d be too late.”
“Steve was going to kill all of us,” she confided. “He blamed you and me for everything that went wrong in his life.”
“He won’t hurt anyone ever again,” Declan promised.
There was a commotion from outside and Tess glanced up to see Bobby heading over to the doorway. “Hey, it looks like the rest of your team is here,” Bobby said.
Tess caught Declan’s gaze. “I guess you should go out and fill them in,” she said, stepping back to move out of his embrace.
“Tess...” Declan’s voice trailed off as he cupped her cheek in his palm. “There’s so much I want to tell you.”
She smiled gently. “I have some things I’d like to tell you, too, but let’s finish this up first, okay? We can talk more later.”
He surprised her by giving her a quick, tender kiss, before releasing her. Her heart raced and she had to take a deep breath to calm herself before she crossed over to stand next to Bobby. She glanced at Steve Gains’s body lying in front of the table covered in blood, and then quickly averted her gaze.
“Good job, Deck,” Isaac said as he crossed over to kneel beside Steve.
“Not really, I didn’t want to kill him. Now we’ll never know exactly what was going on in his head.”
“You may still get that chance to talk to him, because I’m pretty sure he still has a pulse.” Isaac glanced up. “Get the ambulance crew in here, now!”
“What? I checked for a pulse,” Declan protested.
“Maybe it stopped momentarily from shock,” Isaac said.
Tess and Bobby stepped back out of the way so the ambulance crew could get to Steve. The two paramedics quickly went to work, one starting an IV and hanging fluids while the other one applied pressure to the gunshot wound.
“I hope he makes it,” Declan muttered. “I’d really like to know his true motive.”
“I can tell you what he told us about why he was doing this,” she offered. “He ranted a lot before he finished working on the bomb.”
“We’ll take over the interviews from here,” a woman said, stepping forward. She was dressed in a navy blue suit, her long dark hair pulled back severely from her face, and it took Tess a moment to realize she was one of the FBI agents Declan had mentioned.
Declan and Isaac glanced at each other, and Tess could tell they weren’t happy about the feds interfering with the case.
“Please come with me,” the FBI agent said.
She shot Declan a helpless glance, before reluctantly following the female agent outside to the clearing around the cabin.
“I’m coming, too,” Bobby said loyally.
The agent stopped several feet away from the front door of the cabin and began to rattle off a series of questions. Together Tess and Bobby relayed their account about how Steve had accosted them at Declan’s house and brought them here. Agent Piermont kept interrupting them, so it took far longer than it should have to get through all the details.
“Apparently Steve’s father had a criminal record for sexual assault, too,” Agent Piermont informed them.
“Did I hear you right?” Declan asked as he came over. “Steve’s father also served time for sexual assault?”
“Yes, although it was a long time ago,” Agent Piermont admitted. “His mother left when Steve was five years old, leaving his father to raise the boy alone. I have to wonder if the son learned a little too much from his father.”
Declan paled and nodded, turning abruptly away. Tess frowned and started to follow him, but just then the ambulance crew came outside rolling Gains on the gurney.
Within moments, the ambulance whisked the perp away to meet up with the Flight For Life helicopter that was landing somewhere close by. The roar of the chopper blades made it difficult to hear anything that was going on. When Tess turned back to find Declan, she noticed he was talking to his boss, the two men wearing matching solemn expressions on their faces.
Tess sucked in a quick breath as Declan handed over his handgun and a rifle to his boss, before turning away and crossing over to meet them.
“What happened?” she asked. “Are you in trouble?”
“Normal operating procedure in a police shooting,” he said, waving off her concern. “I’ve been cleared to head home since I’m officially on administrative duty.”
Tess didn’t like the sound of that. “What is wrong with your boss? Doesn’t he realize you saved our lives? If you hadn’t shot Steve, who knows what would have happened? This lunatic was getting ready to plant the bomb between me and Bobby.”
“Hey, it’s okay, Tess. They have to investigate no matter what,” he said softly. “You already gave your statement to the feds so Griff and the rest of the brass will eventually find out that the shooting was justified. It’ll just take some time to get through all the forensics that will support my case.”
“I still don’t like it,” she muttered. “They should know you well enough to realize you wouldn’t shoot unless you had no choice.”
“Come on, let’s go home.” Declan held out his hand and she gladly took it, ignoring Bobby’s smirk.
The ride back to Declan’s house was relatively quiet, and Tess gratefully leaned back and closed her eyes, willing her splitting headache to go away. She hadn’t mentioned it to Declan, because she knew he’d make her go back to the hospital to be checked out, and she already knew from her first visit that there wasn’t much they could do about her concussion anyway.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Declan asked.
“Just tired and sore, that’s all.”
“She needs to rest,” Bobby spoke up from the backseat. “She’s been through a lot.”
Tess must have dozed, because it seemed like barely five minutes later that Declan was pulling into his driveway. She knew she should insist on going home, but she didn’t have the energy to argue with him. Before she could move, Declan had come around to open the passenger door.
“Come on, let’s get you upstairs to get some sleep,” he said.
“I can walk,” she muttered.
Declan ignored her protest and wrapped his arm around her waist to assist her as Bobby went ahead and opened the doors. Declan helped her upstairs to the second-floor bedroom that she’d been sharing with Bobby.
Once she reached the bedroom she gratefully sank into the bed, barely noticing that Declan left her alone, softly closing the door behind him.
When Tess woke up again, the room was dim and through the window she could see the sun was low on the horizon. Gingerly sitting up at the side of the bed, she was grateful to note that the throbbing in her head had faded to nothing more than a very minor ache. After freshening up in the bathroom, she made her way downstairs. She could hear voices outside and had to smile when she realized Declan and Bobby were outside grilling dinner.
She opened the door and then froze, when she heard their conversation.
“Tess doesn’t know about my meeting with the army recruiter,” her brother was saying.
“You need to talk to her, Bobby. You know she cares about you.”
“But she doesn’t want to hear my side of it,” her brother argued.
“You still need to discuss this with her.”
“Yes, you do need to talk to me,” Tess said as she opened the door and stepped outside. She shot Declan a narrow glare. “I thought I asked you to stop encouraging him to join the service.”
Declan lifted his eyebrows. “I didn�
��t encourage him, Tess. Go ahead and ask your brother when he went to visit the recruiter. He’ll tell you that it was well before any of this happened.”
Tess didn’t want to believe it, but she knew Declan was probably right. Bobby and Declan had only been together for the past two days, and there had been no time to visit a recruiter considering all the events that had taken place in the past forty-eight hours. Still, this was the second time she’d overheard Declan and Bobby talking about the armed forces, and as far as she was concerned, that was two times too many.
“Well?” she asked, looking at her brother.
Bobby ducked his head and shuffled his feet. “Mitch and I visited with the recruiter the first time in April. But then Mitch started using drugs, so I went to see the recruiter again by myself right before school started.”
Tess’s heart sank at her brother’s words. “I thought we had this conversation, Bobby. I thought you agreed that you’d give college a try.”
Bobby shrugged. “I know that’s what you want me to do, Tess, but I’m not sure college is the right choice for me. And look at Declan. He went from the marines to being a cop! Joining the service worked out fine for him.”
Tess was so angry she could barely think straight. “Declan’s situation is different.”
“No, it’s not...you just don’t understand.”
Tess didn’t want to have this conversation here. Clearly she and her brother needed to have a heart-to-heart conversation, alone. “I’d like to go home, Declan. Now.”
“Come on, sis, you’re overreacting.”
Tess folded her hands over her chest. “Either you agree to take us home, or I’ll call Caleb or Isaac for a ride. Your choice.”
“I’ll take you,” Declan agreed in a subdued tone. “Just let me take the burgers and brats off the fire so they don’t burn.”
“I was looking forward to eating them, too,” her brother muttered loud enough so she could hear. “It’s been hours since breakfast.”
Tess turned away, feeling helpless. She couldn’t bring herself to ignore her brother’s need to eat dinner. He’d been through a lot today, too. “Fine, we can eat first and then go home.” Without waiting for a response, she went back inside and shut the door behind her. Fighting tears, she sat down at the kitchen table and held her head in her hands.
She didn’t want to lose her brother to the army. And if Declan cared about her at all, he wouldn’t encourage her brother to join the service.
Which only made her realize that Declan might not feel the same way she did.
The moment he’d burst through Steve’s cabin door to save them, she realized how much she loved him. She always had a soft spot for him back when she was in high school, but they’d gone their separate ways. Being with him these past few days made her realize she loved the man he’d become. And up until now, she’d also loved the way he’d been such an awesome role model for her brother.
But that was before all this. If her brother joined the army, she’d never forgive him.
Apparently she’d have to find a way to move on with her life, without Declan.
* * *
Declan flipped the brats and burgers, wondering if he’d blown his chance with Tess after the way she demanded to be taken home.
“Don’t worry about my sister,” Bobby told him. “She’ll get over being mad at you. One thing about Tess, she can’t hold a grudge for very long.”
Declan wasn’t too sure about that. He stared blindly down at the grill. Had Bobby taken his willingness to talk about the service as encouragement? That hadn’t been his intention. Joining the marines had worked for him, but then again, his home life had been very different.
“I’ll go talk to her,” Bobby offered, obviously anxious to make amends. “I’ll make sure she knows this is my decision and not yours.”
Declan watched as Bobby disappeared back inside the house. When the brats and burgers were cooked to his satisfaction, he removed them from the grill and piled them on a platter. He carried it inside. Tess and Bobby were seated next to each other and he winced when he saw that Tess had been crying.
He set the platter down on the counter and turned to face them. “Look, Bobby, there’s something you need to know before you make this decision. I did join the marines, but at the time I was mainly trying to escape my father.” A muscle twitched in his cheek. “You see, my old man was a mean drunk. My mother left him and took my sister with her, and my dad used to smack me around until I was old enough to defend myself.”
“Wow...that must have been rough,” Bobby said sympathetically.
“It was. Maybe if my mom had stuck around, things would have been different. So I’m going to be honest with you here—if I’d had the same support system you have with Tess, I’m not so sure I would have enlisted.”
“But you said that it was an honor to serve our country,” Bobby protested.
He couldn’t bear Tess’s accusing gaze. “Yes, it is an honor to serve our country. But you also need to understand just how many men and women have died for their country. My best friend, Tony, was standing right next to me when he was shot and killed.”
He heard Tess gasp in horror, and as much as he wanted to stop, he knew it would be best if they knew the truth about everything.
“When my tour was up, I lost control of my life,” Declan continued. “Tony’s death had been difficult to deal with. He had a wife and a son. Why was he the one to die that day? I kept thinking it should have been me.”
“Oh, Declan,” Tess cried. “That must have been awful, but you know that it’s not up to us to question God’s plan.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t have faith back then. I spent months trying to drown my grief in the bottom of a whiskey bottle. And when my sister came to find me, I lashed out at her in anger. Thankfully I didn’t hurt her, but it was then that I realized that I’d become my father.” Baring his soul like this wasn’t easy, but he owed it to Tess to convince her brother that he had other options. “Bobby, you have your sister’s faith, love and support. Just make sure you’re joining the army for the right reasons, and not as a way to escape.”
“Man, I’m sorry to hear about your friend,” Bobby murmured in shock.
“Tony was a good man, and there are still days I think that it should have been me who died instead of him.”
Tess surprised him by jumping out of her seat and coming over to wrap her arms around his waist. “Declan, I’m sorry for everything you’ve had to go through. I’m sure your sister understood that you were in pain, hurting over the death of your friend.”
He couldn’t stop himself from hugging her back. “Thanks, but that’s no excuse. I sobered up and decided then and there that I wouldn’t drink again. I attended the police academy and graduated at the top of my class. But it wasn’t easy to move on.” He swallowed hard. “When I heard that Steve’s father had a history of sexual assaults, it reminded me that my father’s blood runs in my veins, too. Don’t you see how similar we are? Steve’s mother abandoned him, too.”
“Declan, don’t you dare compare yourself to Steve. And you’re not your father, either. I could see the goodness in you the night you rescued me from Steve’s assault. I’m sorry that your father hurt you, but can’t you see how different you are from him?” Drawing a breath, she continued softly. “You’ve made the decision to make something of yourself, to serve our country and to give back to your community. You’ve learned about faith and have accepted God’s calling. I’m proud of the man you’ve become.”
His throat closed with emotion and he pulled her close, hoping and praying that Tess would be willing to take a chance on him. “Thanks,” he managed. “Does this mean you’ll give me the opportunity to prove how much I care about you?”
Tess tipped her head back to smile up at him. “Of course, Declan. Because I care a
bout you, too.”
The timing wasn’t perfect, but Declan decided that if he was going to bare his soul, he might as well go all the way. “Good to know, because I love you, Tess. For years I told myself that I didn’t want a family, but that was just an excuse to avoid relationships. When I realized Steve had you, I knew how much I loved you. And I hope and pray that someday you’ll learn to love me, too.”
Tess smiled, her eyes filling with tears. “You don’t have to wait, Declan. I love you. I love you very much.”
“I’m glad,” he whispered before capturing her mouth in a deep, heart-stirring kiss.
Bobby cleared his throat loudly, forcing Declan to lift his head, ending the kiss. Tess blushed and pulled out of his embrace as if she’d completely forgotten her brother was still in the room.
“I’m glad you guys have made up,” Bobby said drily. “And you’ve convinced me not to jump into anything, especially since my priority should be to make sure I graduate before I weigh my options.”
“That’s a good approach,” Tess agreed.
“Absolutely. And I want you to know that Tess and I will be there to help you in any way we can,” Declan added.
“Okay, great. Now can we please eat dinner?” Bobby asked with a pleading gaze. “I’m starving!”
Declan grinned and Tess broke into giggles. Even though he wanted nothing more than to discuss his future with Tess, including putting her through medical school if that was what she really wanted, he knew there was no rush.
For now, he was grateful for the precious gift he’d been given. Tess showed him the way to his faith and had offered her love.
And that was good enough for him.
EPILOGUE
“I now pronounce you man and wife!” Pastor Tom said jovially. “Declan, you may kiss your bride.”
Tess blushed as Declan bent down to kiss her, keenly aware of the fact that the entire congregation was watching them. She was thrilled that this was the first day of their new life together.