by Jillian Neal
Dan was certain that Governor Haydenshire would offer the position of Chief to Portwood. Garrett was next in line, but had no interest in being Chief of Iodex. It didn’t surprise him that he’d wanted Fitz to help out for a week or so, but he was certain there was something Fitz was leaving out.
“We all want you to go on your trip and not have to worry about what’s going on here. The problem is that the Governing board wants to get through Pendergrath’s trial and all of the Interfeci members that were arrested Saturday relatively quickly. Governor Haydenshire pretty much wants it put to rest.”
“That all sounds like a good thing to me,” Fionna agreed.
Dan nodded and continued inhaling the blueberry and lemon crepes, which he had to admit were outstanding. He was starving.
“I agree. It’s just the logistics of everything,” Fitz explained.
Dan’s brow knitted as he set his fork down to listen. He assumed this was what Fitz had been avoiding.
“Logan Haydenshire has been given two weeks mandatory vacation per his father’s order,” Fitz allowed hesitantly.
“That’s probably a good idea.” Dan agreed with the Governor’s reasoning.
Fitz served Fionna another crepe before she’d even asked.
“He would still be allowed to testify at the trials, so that’s not the big problem. The problem is that you two are leaving on Thursday morning and will be gone until late next week. Obviously, Dan, you have to be at the trials, and I somehow get the distinct impression that hell would freeze over before Governor Haydenshire agreed to work the days before his baby girl’s wedding. Then we have the Lawson slash Haydenshire two week love fest after that.”
Dan and Fionna chuckled.
“And there is one other slight problem,” Fitz finally confessed.
Dan had known there was more. He could read Fitz like the back of his own hand.
“What?” He felt Fionna’s uneasiness as she laid her hand on top of his. Taking in Fitz’s sorrowful expression, she drew from Dan suddenly. He turned his hand over, grasped hers, and pushed his soothing energy into her. The feeling was absolutely exquisite.
Fitz politely ignored the two of them gazing at each other with pleading eyes, both hungry for so much more.
“Eric Kent’s trial was set weeks ago for bright and early Wednesday morning,” Fitz sighed.
Fionna broke the energy stream. Dan, who’d almost begun drooling in his plate from feeling her heady energy combine with his own, shook as his rhythm stream sizzled.
“I forgot,” she admitted fretfully.
“Me, too.” Dan drew a long sip of water, trying to calm his fraying energy streams. “With everything going on, it just slipped my mind.”
“It’s okay. I mean we don’t have a choice, do we?” Fionna asked Dan and Fitz.
“The trial could be postponed and reset if you don’t feel up to testifying,” Fitz assured her. “But, his father is being an asshole, pardon my French, so to speak,” he chuckled.
Dan bit his tongue, keeping himself from ordering Fitz to watch his mouth. Fionna was still giggling, so he allowed it.
“He thinks his lawyers can get him off, so he wants the trial yesterday,” Fitz continued. “The good part though…” He turned to Dan, “Is that-- you did it man! You ended Wretchkinsides, and that means that she’s safe.”
He began saying the very things that he knew Dan so desperately needed to hear.
“You can get up on the stands and tell them why you were at her house. Tell the entire story, fact to fact, without putting her in any danger at all. That has to mean something, Dan.”
Fionna beamed. Neither of them had really considered any of that until that moment.
“He’s right.” She gazed deeply into Dan’s eyes, “You ended him. You ended all of them, and now I am safe. We’re safe, and everyone can know. I can hold your hand in public. And you can lean me up next to the Ferrari and kiss me, just like we always wanted.”
Fitz laughed, clearly thinking Fionna was adorable.
“Yes, baby doll, I can,” Dan allowed the words to exit his lips. He felt his lungs draw fresh breath and his heart beat anew. “And believe me, I plan to every chance I get.”
He turned back to Fitz with a wry grin. “I might not get up on the stands and tell them all the reasons I was at her house, but I really appreciate the sentiment.”
Fitz and Fionna laughed heartily, and this time Dan kept Fionna’s hand in his own.
Confirmation
Bright and early Wednesday morning, Dan pulled the Ferrari into the Iodex parking deck. He and Fionna had been given permission to enter the courtrooms through Iodex instead of her trying to climb the dozens of stairs on the front of the building.
The press had spotted his car, and they were beginning to swarm in the parking deck.
“You sure you’re ready for this, baby doll?” Dan quizzed for the fourth time in a ten minute period.
Fionna giggled. She gazed at him like she couldn’t possibly love anything more. His heart skipped several beats.
“Well, I have been peeing on my own for a couple of days now, and this morning I even scrambled my own egg, so this seems like the next logical step.”
Dan cracked up sitting in his car, knowing that he’d never deserve the woman sitting beside him wearing his ring, but swearing to himself that he would never give up trying to earn her.
“Yes, but you weren’t supposed to make your breakfast. You snuck and did it while I was in the shower. I’m supposed to take care of you.”
She rolled her eyes. “You have been waiting on me hand and foot for days. Plus, I’m really excited about our plan.”
Garrett and Fitzroy appeared along with Rainer and Portwood. They tried to back the press off, but after they’d been robbed of shots of Fionna leaving the hospital, they were more determined than ever.
Although Dan knew Fionna was still swollen, and he still saw remnants of the sadness that seemed to have permanently affixed to her eyes, she looked stunning.
She’d spent a great deal of time fixing her hair and make-up, donning a conservative silk top and a grey pencil skirt, and a pair of her favorite black heels. The skirt was a size too large and gave her rapidly healing muscles the room they needed.
“All right then, let’s do this. I can’t wait to show the Realm that I’m somehow lucky enough to belong to Miss Fionna Styler.”
“Not Styler for too much longer.”
With a broad grin, Dan threw open his door to dozens of flashbulbs. He stalked around the car, ignoring the annoying chants of his name.
Opening the passenger side door, he offered Fionna his hand and helped her out of the car. She turned and smiled for all the cameras.
“How are you feeling Miss Styler?” chanted a female reporter near the front of the crowd.
“Much better, thank you. Dan’s taken good care of me.”
“Will you continue your summation career?” shouted sports reporters from all around them. Fionna smiled but refused them an answer.
“So you were never dating Garrett Haydenshire?” called another.
Fionna shook her head. “No, Dan and I have been together for quite a while.”
“How did you hide the relationship?” called several others.
“Very carefully,” Dan quipped, making Fionna and Garrett laugh.
“Is that an engagement ring?” sang from everyone on the front row.
“It is an engagement ring,” she informed them with a broad beaming grin.
“We need to get in there,” Garrett urged.
Dan nodded and then winked at Fionna. She nodded excitedly.
He turned and gazed into her eyes, willing away the clicking sounds of the cameras and the flashing of flashbulbs in his face. He backed her slowly to the door of the Ferrari. Still being very gentle with her, Dan put one hand behind her back and cradled his face with his other. He leaned, and they kissed heatedly for several long seconds. The press went wild.
&n
bsp; Garrett, Rainer, and Fitz all whistled and applauded. They offered a wave to the crowds and hurried inside the building.
“Ms. Styler, tell the Senteon, in your own words, what happened on the night that Eric Kent was found in the kitchen of your home,” Jack Stariff guided Fionna.
Dan noted that he gazed at her tenderly, wanting to take care of her. He’d called several times over the past two days, making certain that she was up to this trial.
Pendergrath’s trial was being held at one that afternoon. Dan was taking Fionna home and returning to testify. Her parents were coming over to stay with her and to help her get ready for them to leave the next morning.
“Well…” Fionna’s brow pulled into deep concentration. “Dan and I were asleep upstairs.” Heat flooded her cheeks, but upon seeing that no one was going to rebuke her, she moved on.
“We woke up when we heard glass shatter.” She shuddered from the memory. She went through the story from her memory down to Dan telling her to move the trunk in front of the door and to call Garrett.
“And did you ever tell Eric Kane that he could come by your home uninvited, or show any interest in seeing him again?” Jack urged.
“No! I told him never to come over again, repeatedly. I signed a restraining order when he kept showing up. He was stalking me. He even showed up at the arena where I work and refused to leave.”
Dan was put on the stands next. He recounted the same scenario, only he informed the Senteon that Eric was intoxicated, belligerent, abusive, and had lunged at him with a knife.
Narrowing his eyes in on Eric, who sat in his seat scowling for most of the trial, he spoke the words, “I cannot even allow myself to think of what might have happened if Fionna had encountered him alone.”
His lawyers objected, but Governor Haydenshire allowed the statement to stand.
Garrett took the stand, retelling the story yet again, starting from what he’d found when he arrived at Fionna’s.
Dan held Fionna’s hand tightly, letting her draw from him as Eric took the stands and glared at her hatefully. She was exhausted. This had been too much. Dan could feel it as soon as he touched her.
He tried to think of someway to get her out and back home before the trial ended. He seriously debated getting Jack’s attention and demanding a recess. Fionna had given her testimony; she should be able to leave.
Fionna shook her head as she realized what he was considering.
“Mr. Kent, could you define your relationship with Fionna Styler?” Eric’s lawyer drawled.
Dan’s eyes narrowed.
“She was my girlfriend,” Eric supplied confidently.
Fionna’s eyes burned with fury. Dan shook his head and pushed soothing energy into her.
He went on to inform the Senteon that Fionna had invited him into her home whenever he desired to be there, and that they’d discussed marriage.
Fionna was on the verge of using her newly resuscitated body to lunge at Eric and choke the life out of him.
Jack stood, and Dan wrapped his arm over Fionna’s shoulder. “Just watch, baby doll.”
Jack was vibrating in his desperation to attack Eric on the stands. “Mr. Kent, I think it is fairly obvious to the entire courtroom that Ms. Styler seems to be rather attached to Dan Vindico. He is currently seated beside her with his arm around her. I also believe that most everyone in the room has taken in the large diamond engagement ring on her finger.”
Eric rolled his eyes.
“I was informed that several months ago you were waiting at Fionna Styler’s home when she arrived with Mr. Vindico. Is that true Mr. Kent?” Jack demanded.
“Yes,” Eric huffed indignantly.
“Could you tell the Senteon how many dates you and Ms. Styler went on together?”
“Let’s define date, Jack,” Governor Haydenshire ordered.
“Okay,” Jack nodded his agreement. “Let’s go with you picked her up from her home, and she went out with you for an evening of entertainment.”
“We attended Crown Governor Haydenshire’s Inaugural ball together,” Eric announced proudly.
Dan’s stomach turned uncomfortably. That damned ball. He tried to let the panic work through him. He’d stupidly allowed Bridgette to insist that she be his date. He couldn’t even stand to be around her. He used her to get to Wretchkinsides, and she’d ranked him right beside his mortal enemy, perfectly happy to play them against each other. Dan would never forgive himself for his own stupidity.
“Okay,” Jack looked pleased. “The Inaugural ball was held on October 31st. Mr. Vindico and Ms. Styler found you in her driveway awaiting her return on December 7th. She’d actually been on vacation with Dan Vindico for a week before. I have her plane tickets and boarding passes, Governors.” Jack held up a file. The Governing board nodded their understanding.
“So between October thirty-first and December third when they left for Sydney, you and Mrs. Styler were in a committed relationship, but she didn’t tell you that she was going to Sydney with her current fiancée?” Jack’s tone said that was highly unlikely.
Fionna grinned over Dan being called her fiancée. Dan squeezed her tighter into his embrace.
Eric fumed, “Well, I was busy with my campaign, so we hadn’t been able to go out as often as I would have liked.”
Fionna rolled her eyes dramatically.
“But you took her out once, to the Inaugural ball, and you discussed marriage?” Jack demanded. “That’s all it took. One date and you two were sold?”
Dan and Fionna tried not to smirk as Governor Haydenshire raised his eyebrows to the two of them. Sometimes one date was all it took. Dan felt Fionna’s warmth and peaceful serenity flow through his hand. Forgiving himself for what had happened to Bridgette, what had happened to her, would be a long time coming, but she was the only way through.
Jack hammered home the fact that Fionna had only gone on one date with Eric, but that he’d then begun stalking her, culminating with his showing up drunk at her house.
“Both of them threatened me when I was arrested for being at Angels’ Arena,” Eric announced stupidly as he threw his finger out to Dan and then to Garrett.
Governor Haydenshire stepped in. “Call me old fashioned, son, but if someone showed up demanding that Lillian go with him somewhere and refusing to leave if she didn’t, I can pretty much guarantee you that I would have done a lot more than threaten.” He stared Eric down in his most harrowing infuriated expression. “I would also like to add that I was witness to the scene at Angels’ Arena that day.”
“And yet none of this really matters,” Jack leapt back in. “The point of this entire trial is that Eric Kent, after showing rapidly escalating anger issues, showed up intoxicated at Ms. Styler’s home. He broke in and then attacked Mr. Vindico when he was confronted.”
An hour later, Eric Kent was sentence to ten years in Felsink with option for early release after seven years if he joined a prison work force out in Montana.
A Child of the Land
“I’m so excited! I can’t believe we’re going to land in twenty minutes and you’ll be there with me.” Fionna was vibrating in her seat as a Senate Flight attendant handed her another bottle of water.
Thrilled that she was so happy, Dan kissed her cheek. “So do I get laid when we get off the plane?” he teased.
She rolled her eyes, though she was beaming broadly.
“You know, the flower thing?” He gestured to his neck, effectively cracking her up.
“That is not called being laid, Mr. Vindico.”
“It sounds pretty damn good to me?”
“You sound like Garrett.”
Dan laughed. “Guilty as charged,” he had to agree.
“And, according to Adeline’s rules, we could have done that last night but you turned me down. So I might just lay you when we get to my grandparent’s house.”
Dan growled in her ear and planted a kiss her cheek.
“We’ll see, and that might not give your
grandparents the best impression of me.”
“Well, then, maybe after I get you to the guest cottage.”
“Maybe. But only if you’re up to it, and only if we take things nice and slow.”
She sighed audibly. She was weary of Dan’s relentless worrying. He’d fought the need, the desire that had turned to desperation, and tapped into the fear of making her hurt.
But he could think of little else. He wanted to hold her with nothing between them. He wanted to touch her. He needed to feel her energy flow into his mouth, around his fingers, and then around him. He wanted desperately to hear the sweet sounds that she made for him. He wanted to feel the heavenly way her body tightened around his like she was made for him alone. He realized he wanted her as much as he wanted to draw his next breath as he watched the plane touched down on Kauai Island.
Dan carried the suitcases into Lihue International airport, the smallest airport he’d ever seen. He drew a deep breath of cleansing, floral-infused air.
He had to get it together. She still wasn’t okay. Her voracity to be with him again might’ve been nothing more than another hormonal swing. He couldn’t hurt her.
He was weary and his muscles still ached with the haunting memories of everything he had all but lost.
“Maylea,” shrieked from their left.
Fionna squealed as a woman Dan assumed was Malani raced towards her. They embraced nearly jumping up and down.
“How are you? Oh, are you okay? I shouldn’t have squeezed you,” Malani fussed as soon as they broke apart. She looked terrified.
“I’m all right. Just still a little sore.” Fionna gestured to her abdomen, the approximate location of the bullet wound. “But I have to introduce you. Malani, this is Dan, my fiancée.”
“Good job, Maylea. He’s cute,” Malani giggled as she threw her arms around Dan as well, both shocking and embarrassing him.
“Come on. I parked close, so you don’t have to walk far.” Malani linked her arm through Fionna’s, pulling her away from Dan. Fionna glanced back at Dan, worried she was hurting his feelings.