Her Protector: A Firefighter Secret Baby Romance

by Ashlee Price

  “Um,” Jenna stuttered, “I think it looks fine, but I’m no florist. I don’t have an eye for those kinds of things.”

  “So what are ya doing here, then? Yer lookin’ for Sean, aren’t ya?” she asked, still eyeing the bouquet.

  “Yes!” she stated, reaffirming her purpose to herself as well. “No. I don’t know.”

  “Who owes him money?” she laughed.

  “My father.”

  “That’s a tough one.” She nodded. “I remember what it was like being daddy’s little girl. I’d do anything for him. Which is undoubtedly why you’re standing here now. But I’m going to tell ya that Sean isn’t a reasonable man. I suggest that if ya don’t have his money, leave and don’t come back until you do.”

  “It’s not that.” Jenna wasn’t sure what she wanted this complete stranger to do, but she sounded like someone who could give her a bit of advice. “My father has been making his payments, on time, to the best of my knowledge. But Mr. Hannity has too many different things going on in our business. It’s disruptive, and I think, maybe, illegal.”

  “Ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha!” the woman laughed hysterically. “Oh, honey, you’re in the wrong shop, talking to the wrong woman. I can’t help ya. And with that attitude you won’t be able to help yer dad, neither. What do you think my son does, exactly?”

  “Well, he’s a loan shark, right? I just wanted to talk to him and see if there’s a simple, flat number me or my dad can pay so he can just get out of our hair. It’s becoming too much, and when I go away to school I don’t want my dad overwhelmed with the responsibility of paying him back on his own.”

  “I understand, believe me I do. But you’re trying to negotiate a deal that’s got nothing to do with you. It’s best you leave things as is. When Sean makes a deal, he’s a man of his word, and he holds everyone he does business with to the same standard. But if you leave me your name, I can let him know you came by. Maybe he’ll take a meeting with ya,” she shrugged.

  The bell over the door chimed, but the woman didn’t move. She didn’t flinch. She didn’t even glance in the direction of the door Jenna had walked through, but that’s where all of Jenna’s attention was focused.

  Sean’s voice carried through the shop like a hot knife through butter. “Ma! Ma! I’m going to need ya to take care of this suit. Johnnie got blood all over it!”

  “Boys will be boys,” the woman smiled to Jenna, getting up from her stool. When Sean surfaced in the back room he was surprised to see that his mother wasn’t alone.

  “Well, Miss Ferris. To what do I owe the pleasure? One of those lovely envelopes your father loves to give me?”

  His mother started laughing. “She’s here to negotiate a deal for her father. Take it easy on her. She honestly has no idea who you are.”

  “Yeah, Paul keeps telling me that, and the fact that she’s here makes it a fact. So what do you want from me exactly?” Sean asked her bluntly as he removed his jacket. There were splatters of red all over his shirt, and Jenna suddenly realized that her vague suspicions of illegal activity had fallen far short of the reality. Sean was an out-and-out gangster.

  “Maybe this was a mistake. I just wanted to ask how my dad can finish up his business with you so he can run the bar how he likes. I want him to be happy. I want him not to worry so much. I want him to be able to make money without having to hand it all over to you.”

  “Oh, Miss Ferris, he doesn’t hand over as much as you think. He has good sense about how to do business with men like me, and I don’t think you give him enough credit. And you surely don’t give him enough respect, coming down here and trying to strike a deal for him behind his back.”

  “How do you know he doesn’t know I’m here?” she questioned combatively.

  “Because you are here. Paul doesn’t want us anywhere near each other, and for good reason. You’re lucky you came when Ma was here and that all you’ve seen is this shirt I got a… nosebleed on. You really ought to listen to yer father, but if you want to be partially responsible for his debt, then fine. I’m never opposed to getting paid sooner, and knowing yer dad, he’ll need another loan from me soon enough anyway. So his total balance is…” He took out a small book from his pocket and thumbed through the pages. “Ah, here we go. His total balance is 12,743 dollars. You can pay that in cash or by money order. When can I expect your first payment?”

  “I don’t know yet. Soon,” Jenna said nervously.

  “Oh, I know that tone. Did you think it was going to be something a little more possible for an unemployed twenty-something-year-old to pay in one shot? You’re in over your head. Leave now, before I get angry that you came here. This isn’t how I do business. You’re lucky I did the first deal in the bar with you like that. I was doing your old man a favor. Now get out,” he ordered her.

  “Wait, but—” Jenna’s face flushed a pale white.

  “Sweetie, do what he says and go,” Sean’s mother insisted.

  “Yes, you got the information you came here for. Now leave,” Sean told her again. “If you don’t have my money, then there’s nothing else for us to discuss. You can go out the same way you came in.”

  “Okay, Mr. Hannity. Thank you for your time, and I’m sorry for barging in in like this. You’re right, I’m just sorry…” She choked up and ran out of the shop. Once she was in her car, she didn’t dare hang around, but soon after getting that neighborhood out of her rearview mirror she pulled over. Her hands were shaking as she gripped the steering wheel. Staring at herself in the mirror, she couldn’t believe what she’d just done.

  She was so shaken she couldn’t even release the tears that were fighting so hard to come. Her chest heaved up and down. Panic and fear ran through her as she tried desperately to catch her breath. Making her way back toward her side of town was the only thing she knew she could handle without messing it up.

  With her emotions all over the place, Jenna took her time driving toward home. She was approaching one of Doveport’s parks when she saw a familiar car. Her heart began to race again just after she had managed to calm herself down. It was Tanner’s car. Normally, she wouldn’t have cared, but the glimpse of long blonde hair made her pause.

  Jenna pulled into the parking lot, leaving her car in a space as far away from Tanner’s as possible. She stared at her reflection in the rearview mirror. “Well, you’re already on the train to Crazy Town; why stop now?”

  Throwing caution to the wind, she got out of the car and began to walk the trail. Insane didn’t begin to describe what she felt as she pulled out her phone and dialed Hannah.

  Hannah answered right away. “Hey, how are you feeling? I know you left my office a little out of whack.”

  “Oh, I did, and I did something completely stupid because of it, but what I’m doing right now takes the cake.”

  “Jenna, what is going on?” Hannah sounded exhausted.

  “I was driving home when I thought I saw Tanner’s car. Well, it is his car, but then I thought I saw Brandy inside. So I parked my car and I’m now walking through Grove Street Park to see what they’re doing here.”

  “You’re losing it. Jenna, get back in your car and go home. Go focus on planning your party and picking a grad school. Tanner is supposed to be fun for the summer and that’s it. You’re acting like his crazy girlfriend, when you don’t even want to be his girlfriend!”

  “Shh! Wait, I see them!”

  “Don’t shush me! They can’t hear me!”

  Jenna hung up the phone before Hannah could talk any sense into her. She found herself crouching behind trees, skulking around bushes and ducking under branches. That perfect messy bun of Brandy’s golden blonde strands was undeniable. Even worse, they weren’t arguing. They were laughing.

  Jenna would have had to be sitting in their laps if she wanted to hear what they were saying, but the expression on their faces as they gazed into each other’s eyes was enough. She was right and Tanner was wrong. They looked way too
happy to be fighting, which meant they were probably back together. She slid down into the dirt, her eyes drifting from the grass at her feet to the leaves above, wondering why she couldn’t simply listen. Brandy’s high-pitched cackle told her everything. Tanner had lied to her.

  There wasn’t anything she could do to change that, so she went home. Her heart was breaking for a relationship that never was. Instead of sulking about losing Tanner, she moved her grief to someone worthy of her emotional heartache.

  The garage was full of boxes, not just the stuff from school she’d yet to unpack, but also the remnants of her mother’s belongings. Her father had made it his business to downsize everything except the big items, like her desk and bedroom furniture. Those memories would be around forever if Paul had his way.

  So after pushing her own boxes out of the way, Jenna found the trunk she was looking for. It was about two feet high and three feet wide. There were gold grommets around the edges and a gold latch in the center. The clicking of its opening echoed around the garage. The first thing Jenna pulled out was a wool coat. It was dark brown, with a huge collar that folded down into buttons. Jenna remembered it being one of the prettiest things she’d ever seen her mother wear. It was her business coat. She couldn’t help but pull it out and put it on.

  Wrapping herself in her mother’s coat, she realized that it still held the faintest wisp of her scent. Jenna took several deep breaths, trying to contain the tears she’d been holding back all day. Her world was still spiraling, and she was almost certain she’d made it worse.

  As Jenna attempted to shake the feeling away, she found her hands rummaging through the coat’s pockets. There was a soft rattling in one of them. She figured it was just a receipt, but after pulling it out she had to sit down on the trunk. Pain ripped through her chest, her eyes welled and the tears fell again.

  The lettering on her high school graduation ticket had faded, but the memory hadn’t. Marie Ferris had barely been able to walk in her condition, but she swore to everyone, doctors and family alike, that she’d be at her only child’s graduation ceremony. They had to get there an hour early so she could take her time getting to her seat without being in anyone’s way, but when Jenna walked across the stage, she stood up and gave a resounding cheer for her baby girl. It was the last time she saw her mother’s smile that wide, her eyes that bright, her face so proud.

  Uncontrollable sobbing seemed to come far more easily when Jenna was home than when she was away at school. At least there there were midterms and papers to block her emotions so she didn’t have to deal with them. At home, it was as if the floodgates opened and she couldn’t hold them back. But with her emotions at the helm, she was running amuck. It was time to get her life together. So with a heavy heart, Jenna slid out of her mother’s coat. She folded it meticulously, the way her father would want, and placed it back inside the trunk.

  Jenna left the garage to sit down at the kitchen table. Envelope after envelope, she went through her options to map out her road trip and make plans to get out of Doveport. It was possible that her father was right. Staying there for the summer was proving to be more troublesome than relaxing. After the day she’d had, she was done trying to solve her life’s problems. She only wanted to run from them.

  Chapter 16

  “What the hell is wrong with you?!?” Paul shouted, slamming the door behind him. “Jenna! Jenna! get your ass in here now!”

  Jenna cringed as the sound of her father’s angry voice bounced off every wall in the house. She had been hoping that Hannity would leave their conversation between them, but she supposed that was asking for a lot from a man like that. So she put the pen down and ditched her grad school paperwork in hopes of getting the lecture over with.

  “Are.. you… crazy?!?” Paul was a shade of red Jenna had never seen. It was worse than the night she’d fallen asleep in Tanner’s pickup truck during her junior year in high school. He’d driven around all night until he found them and then busted the windows out thinking that Tanner had kidnapped her—only to find them sleeping peacefully in each other’s arms.

  Jenna hated seeing her dad this upset. It was rare. They argued, bickered, and even shouted, but now he was fuming; irate.

  “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, Daddy.” She forced a smile, hoping to bluff her way out of his warpath.

  “Don’t do that. Don’t you dare do that. What in the hell did you think you were doing going to the other side of town to speak to Sean Hannity, alone?!?”

  He was red as a tomato, and a pulsing vein stood out from just above his eyebrow until disappearing under his hairline. He ran his fingers through his hair just before he yanked convulsively on the short strands.

  “I was just trying to help, Daddy!” Jenna protested.

  “Help what?!? Help… what?! How could you possibly help with this situation?!? What did you think was going to happen?!? Please explain to me what you hoped to accomplish by speaking to Sean Hannity!”

  “Well, I only spoke to Mr. Hannity for a minute or two. I mostly talked with a woman he called Ma.”

  “This isn’t just something you wing! You spoke to Ma Hannity?”

  “Yeah, she was pruning… I think that’s what you call it, yeah, trimming, cutting, pruning, whatever,” Jenna shrugged, “She was making a bouquet that was going to lean against a casket. Had these really long scissors.”

  “Are you doing this on purpose? Are you trying to give me a heart attack? What were you trying to accomplish here? Other than pissing off Mr. Hannity, because you did that just fine!”

  Jenna plopped onto the couch with her face buried in her hands. “I don’t know! I thought that since he listened to me on paying more for the back room, maybe he’d cut me some sort of deal on the money you owe. I thought maybe we could figure out a deal to get him out of The Wheel!”

  “He’s not a bank!” Paul chuckled and shouted simultaneously. “He’s a gangster who breaks legs when people don’t pay their debts! His mother is even worse than he is; he learned everything he knows from her! When I told you that I had this under control, what did you think I meant by that? I really need to know, because if I tell you again, I have to make sure I’m using the right vocabulary so you don’t interpret it as ‘go visit the gangster on the other side of town!’“

  “Dad!” she cried.

  “Jenna! I need you to understand how dangerous he is and stay… away… from him! What kind of man do you think this is that I would intentionally keep you away from him?!?”

  “You try to keep me away from Tanner all the time!”

  “That’s ridiculous! And you know it! Don’t be naive, and don’t pretend to be stupid! You got into too many schools for that to be true! You know good and well that me keeping Tanner away is to keep you focused. Me keeping you away from Hannity is for your safety and my sanity!”

  Taking a deep breath, Paul tried to calm himself down. He sat next to Jenna on the couch, patted her on the knee and asked her, “Why are you trying so hard to save me from someone I’ve been dealing with for the last three years?”

  “I worry that when I go away to school, it’s going to get worse.”

  “I’m sorry that you’re so worried about me, but you really don’t need to be. I told you, and I’m going to keep telling you, I already have a plan in motion to get Hannity out of my hair for good. Please trust me. For heaven’s sake, why won’t you listen to me when I tell you I’m okay?” He stared at her.

  Jenna’s floodgates opened once again. “Because you’re not! You’re not okay, Daddy! Mom died two years ago, and the bills still haven’t been paid! You won’t touch her desk. You won’t change the room. You have her stuff in the garage, and everything is just wrong! I need to help you move on so I can! I need to help you because I couldn’t help her!”

  Paul’s tears began streaming just like his daughter’s. “My goodness, you’re just like her. You have already helped me by going back to school and
graduating when most people would have crumbled. Look at me, I did. I lost my wife and I let the world around us fall to pieces. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, and I swear to you on your mother’s grave that Sean Hannity will be out of our lives soon, before the new year. Please, for the love of everything that is still good in my life, believe me. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you. Leave him alone. No more deals. No more negotiations. Promise me that.”

  “Okay, Dad, I promise.” They hugged long and tight, never quite ready to let each other go.

  After they both managed to calm down, Paul and Jenna sat uneasily in the silence of a home that still felt incomplete. To fill the emptiness, Jenna took a deep breath and talked about grad school. She grabbed the sheet of paper she’d been working on and brought it to her father to show him.

  Paul sat there looking at it for a while, simply nodding his head. “So when are you leaving?”

  “A week or two after my birthday. I figured I can spend that last week of July on the road and then I’d have all of August to visit Gram and some of my college friends before we officially start the rest of our lives.”

  Paul mumbled something under his breath. Jenna assumed it was because she’d mentioned her grandmother, but she’d never understood why they were always at odds. So she asked him, “How come you and Gram don’t get along?”

  “Who said that?” He was obviously trying to hide his disdain for the woman.

  Jenna cocked her head to the side. “Daddy, come on. You two have never really gotten along, and I was just wondering why. It doesn’t make sense. Going through what we did tends to bring families closer together.”

  “Not Gram,” he said, rubbing her knee and pushing himself off the couch. “Don’t start. I’m still really upset with you about going to see Mr. Hannity. I don’t want to talk about it. Let it go.”

  “But, Dad—”

  “Jenna! Let it go!”

  She didn’t want to, but there wasn’t much wiggle room for her. She was lucky that all he’d done was yell. She was certain that if he’d been in a different mood, he would have taken his rifle out the gun case. So instead of staying in a house still full of sadness and subsiding anger, Jenna left to go for a walk.