Elizabeth wiped her eyes. This was the sweetest thing the man could do. They just spoke about the ring issue and Callen was intuitive enough to just know.
My, my, had their wounded bird grown.
“I know that our kids are our kids, but they have different last names. At some point, they’ll understand that and I want them to have a lineage. Please don’t think I’m saying I don’t appreciate what you gave me. I do. It made me stronger. Now, I want it to do the same for you.”
Pulling the two rings out of the box, he handed them to Elizabeth. “Will you wear my ring, as the mother of our children and the other half of my heart?” he asked.
How could she say no to any of this?
“I will, Callen. I’ll be more than proud to wear it too.” When she slipped it onto her finger, it looked exactly like the one she was wearing. “I love it.”
Ethan stared down at the ring in his hand. Suddenly, the memories of his wedding ring being taken by Patrick Parrish were slipping away. Callen’s offer was cleansing the bad taste it left in his mouth.
There was peace.
“Let me,” Elizabeth said, taking both rings from both men. When they held out their ring fingers, she slid them on at the same time. “This is forever, my loves. I promise to love you both until the end of our days. I will stand by you, and commit my heart and soul to making you both the happiest men in the world.”
Callen continued, “I will protect you both and spend every day cherishing the time we have together. I won’t ever take for granted a single second of being part of our partnership. Because of you both, I found love, and I will protect it for as long as I live.”
Ethan was touched by their words and vows.
“I will open my heart and let it lead the way. I won’t forget that I’ve found the most amazing people to spend the rest of my life with. I will love you both until my dying day, and I’ll keep alive the belief that we were always meant to be together. The day you beckoned me here, Lyzee, it began. The day we found Callen, it continued, and the day we all fell in love, it cemented us on the path.”
“Nothing will shake us,” she promised.
And nothing would.
Both men were filled with so much emotion at the words that they each shared. It wasn’t a wedding, but to them it was enough to act as a reminder.
“You may now kiss your already knocked up bride,” she teased, trying to add some levity to the situation. Whenever she was overwhelmed, that was her standby.
The laughter ensued, as they hugged and pressed her between them.
“Suddenly, I don’t mind the tight squeeze,” she said to them both.
Callen grinned lecherously. “I don’t mind it either.”
As the men leaned back, taking her with them, their hands began wandering. It looked like they were going to be starting the day off right. Elizabeth had just begun to breathlessly moan when the doorbell began ringing.
No, that wasn’t an accurate word. Someone was pressing it repeatedly like they wanted to be murdered.
“Oh my God,” she muttered. “Doesn’t he know we’re on vacation?”
“Huh?” Callen stated, sitting up. “Who even knows that we’re here?”
Ethan looked at Elizabeth and they both spoke at the same time, “Tony!”
Climbing out of bed, the men took their time dressing. As they did, Ethan gave his brother a low down of everything that he needed to know about the man at the door. Callen never had the privilege of meeting the man personally, and it looked like that was all going to change.
To kick it off, he started with the details of Tony dating Elizabeth in high school, how he dumped her, and then tried to talk Lyzee out of being with him. He especially hated that part of the story.
What man wouldn’t?
By the end of the conversation, Callen pretty much liked the man about as much as he would a cold sore. He was going to have a big surprise if he thought he was going to be making high school google-y eyes at their woman.
A painful one.
As they marched down the stairs, Elizabeth was more than entertained by the men in her life. Much like always, they were going over the edge.
Then again, with the last four months that they had been having, maybe this one time it was okay. For now, she was pretty sure that she could concede to the men and let them be a little barbarian like.
Maybe.
Callen peeked out the tiny hole only to see a man in a sheriff’s garb standing there. He glanced back at Ethan. “Did she look hot in that brown uniform?” he asked, referring to their woman, before he opened the door.
Ethan shrugged. “She never wore it for me. I can’t even begin to tell you. I think that’s only something she can answer.”
“What did you wear for work?”
Elizabeth grinned. “I wore my cowboy boots and jeans, darlin’.”
“Good to know.” It wasn’t like Callen should be surprised. Elizabeth liked to bend the rules, and wasn’t a uniform kind of girl.
The pounding became louder, and was followed by the man calling her name. When Callen and Ethan had just about enough, the man pulled the door open.
“Lyzee! I need your help!” he practically shouted, pushing past the big Native man into the house. He was lucky both men knew who he was, or they would have taken him down for rushing at Elizabeth like that.
“Tony, what’s wrong? It’s barely eight in the morning!” she asked, as she leaned lazily against Ethan’s side.
He nodded at both men in greeting.
“I went over to Doc’s house, and he’s missing!”
Elizabeth stared at him. “What?” she stated in horror, her hand over her mouth.
“Are you sure?” Ethan asked, suddenly worried about his wife. The man in question was a surrogate father to her.
“I’m dead sure. Something bad has happened. I just know it!”
~ Chapter Five ~
It took her a few minutes to completely comprehend exactly what Tony was saying to her. Was he serious or kidding? A part of her wanted to believe that Tony was yanking her chain or busting her. That any minute, he was going to start laughing and tell her it had all been some mean joke to get access to her coffee stash.
While she waited, it became more evident.
This wasn’t a joke.
“Okay, you need to come in, have a seat, and tell us calmly what is going on,” Ethan said, taking control of the situation. It was something the ‘old’ him would do. Right now, he was worried about his wife, and the baby that she was carrying.
Isn’t stress and shock bad for pregnant women? He would have to do the research on that later, but he was pretty sure that it wasn’t good. There was no way he was risking this new beginning for the entire family. With the conception of this baby, he was moving forward and putting what had happened behind him. In his mind, this was his life being born anew.
This child was his new lease at life.
Tony followed him into their sanctuary and dropped down onto the couch. He noticed that Elizabeth took a seat between the two brothers, and they both dropped a hand onto one of her thighs. He guessed that she wasn’t kidding, after all. Apparently, she was shacked up with both men.
He would need to let that percolate and dwell on it later. For now, he had other issues.
“Start at the beginning,” Elizabeth said. In her gut, she was getting that sick feeling. After all, the missing man was the same one who helped raise her when she and Charlie arrived in Salem. He was the one who told her about the birds and the bees, and helped her dad keep a reign on her when she was running a tad bit too wild.
That had been a two man job twenty four hours a day, and seven days a week.
Tony took a deep breath and began. “On Tuesday, Doc called and left a message that he needed to see me about something. I didn't get to head right over because I’m neck deep in the Spring Fling preparations.” He stared at Elizabeth, as if looking for someone to justify his blow off. “You remember how h
ellish it is. All the planning and strategy to get things organized.”
“I do,” she replied. If Tony only knew that it was nothing compared to the work she did now, he wouldn’t be using it as an excuse.
“Well, Wednesday came, and I remembered on my way to work that he needed to see me. So, I swung into his office after eight to see what he wanted to talk about. When I arrived, he wasn’t there.”
The two men flanking Elizabeth just stared at him. Finally, Ethan stated, “Maybe he was running late. We have that issue all the time.”
Elizabeth stared up into his eyes. “Doc is like a watch. You can set your day around him. He shows up to work before eight, he has lunch at one, and he walks out the door at six. If anything, he’s consistent to a fault.”
Tony agreed. “His lab assistant, Harry, told me he wasn’t in yet, so I left a message and headed into the station. That’s when I stopped for coffee at the café, and ran into you.”
“Continue,” Ethan prodded.
“Last night, I was worried, so I headed over to his house and scoped the place out. The house didn't look disturbed and the car was in the driveway.”
Once that detail was out, he began to get visibly more excited, and not in a good way.
“This morning, I knew that I had to go back. I didn't sleep all night, worrying about Doc. So when I arrived, I found that his back windshield was busted with a giant rock, and his keys were in the dirt beside the car.”
That alarmed Elizabeth. That was definitely sign of something happening to the older man.
Callen had to know. “Was the window damaged last night?”
Tony had the dignity to look embarrassed. “I never noticed. It was dark out, and I was so focused on the house, not the car. I was so worried about Doc lying inside and hurt that I never noticed the car.”
The three Feds already knew something was up.
“Can you come, Lyzee? He was like your father.”
Both men tensed in anger, as Tony tried to use guilt to motivate Elizabeth. They were all well aware that she wouldn’t turn her back on a man who raised her. The extra pressure wasn’t needed, and incredibly manipulative, especially from a friend.
Elizabeth glanced over at Ethan. “I know we’re supposed to be taking a vacation. Would you mind if I ran over there? You and Callen can hang out here. It shouldn’t take long. I’m sure that there is some reasonable explanation for all of this.”
The rage came first. Not at Elizabeth for wanting to do this, but that death had once more found them. Somehow, he managed to deal with it and keep a neutral face. “I’m going with you. It’s boring here with just Callen. He cheats when we play cards.” Yeah, and he wasn’t letting Tony near his pregnant wife. It would happen over his cold, dead body.
Callen knew that Ethan was fighting for control. He had gotten really good at reading his brother the last four months. “I’m coming too.”
She looked worried, and more of it was focused on upsetting the men she loved. This was their Valentine’s Day retreat. “Tony, can you give us ten minutes?” she asked.
The man nodded, grabbed his hat, and headed out the door. When he was gone, Elizabeth took Ethan’s hand in hers. “I can feel you getting angry.” When he tensed, she shook her head. “You set the rules about being honest, so now’s the time to talk about this.”
He let out a breath. “I just had flashbacks to the last time you were sleuthing around in Salem. Now, you’re pregnant and that makes me sick to my stomach.”
She appreciated his honesty. “This whole thing makes me edgy,” she added. “I don’t want to upset you over this. We came here to heal, and if me going over there is going to make us lose what we are working so hard to rebuild, I’ll stay here with you both.”
Ethan kissed her on the lips. “I appreciate that you would let me make the decision and sacrifice your feeling over mine. It means a lot to me, but we’re going over together, and we’ll figure this out.”
Callen stood and held out his hands to his partners. “Then let’s go figure this out so we can get back here and get nekid.”
Pulling them up, both men immediately wrapped their bodies around hers. As her face was buried in Ethan’s chest, the men shared a look.
It said one thing.
Protect Elizabeth at all costs.
* * *
As the Navigator pulled up behind Tony’s official vehicle, at the older man’s home, all three Feds were scanning the area. Other than the busted out window, everything looked to be exactly as it should be.
The grass wasn’t disturbed, there wasn’t any overturned plant urns, and even the palm tree, not far from the car, wasn’t disturbed.
This was definitely looking like a mystery.
Hopping out, they crossed the yard to the car first. That looked to be the epicenter of something. Peering inside, Ethan could see there was indeed a large rock in the back seat.
“It looks like it came from the landscaping,” he stated.
Elizabeth walked the perimeter of the car. When she couldn’t find the keys, she glanced over at Tony. “You said there were keys here. Where?”
The man pulled them out of his pocket.
Both Callen and Ethan began laughing. They knew what was coming.
“Tony, you suspect something happened to Doc, and you pick up his keys with your bare hands?” she asked, trying to remain calm.
“I didn't want anyone to steal his car.”
The absurdity of that statement alone rendered her speechless. In fact, she was so dumbfounded that she let it go. She had to, or she might just have a stroke. Continuing her walk through the grass, she found it.
“I have blood, Ethan.”
The men crossed to her.
With the toe of her boot, she indicated the red dried trace. “Something happened here.”
Tony stared at it in shock. “I never thought to look for blood.”
Elizabeth, Callen and Ethan headed towards the house. “That’s why we’re Feds and you’re not, Tony.” It was the nicest thing that she could say at that point. The man actually forgot everything that she had taught him, and picked keys up with his bare hands.
With his damn bare hands!
Now that made her look bad, since he had worked beneath her.
Ethan took over, as he tried to act as a buffer between Elizabeth and Tony. It was more to keep her calm and nothing else. “Did Doc have a woman who he was seeing?”
Tony laughed at that. “He was seventy. I don’t think so.”
Ethan stared at his wife. He would still be chasing her around when he was in his seventies, eighties and even until the day he died.
She must have known what he was thinking, because she glanced over and winked.
“We need to get into his house.”
Tony pulled the keys out of his pocket and offered them to her. “See, I told you they would be important.”
She shook her head. “You open it. I’m not putting my DNA on a possible piece of evidence. I know better.” What she wasn’t saying was that her hands were in her pockets because they were shaking. When she found the blood, everything in her went cold. Here was the man who she loved growing up, a surrogate father, and now they were heading to a path where nefarious things had possibly happened to him.
“Did he have a cell?” asked Callen.
“No,” Tony and Elizabeth replied at the same time.
Once he opened the doors, they all crossed the threshold. “No touching anything,” she stated.
Callen and Ethan lifted a brow and grinned.
“That wasn’t directed at you two, it was meant for Tony. I know you two wouldn’t ever bare hand a set of keys that you found beside blood and a vandalized car.”
Tony tried to rationalize it once more, and again, it fell on deaf ears.
Elizabeth found Doc’s briefcase and grabbed a tissue from the desk. Carefully, she popped it open and pulled out the files inside. There were two that had post it notes on the top of them.
>
When she flipped them open, she began scanning the pages and observing the notations. Elizabeth was accustomed to the files that Doc would prepare for her. She had read a few as sheriff of Salem. When she found the main information, she glanced over at Tony.
“You found human bones in the river?”
“A fisherman was over there baiting some traps. He pulled up his catch and found a tibia. We dredged the river and found more.”
She didn't know what to say.
“Were you investigating it as homicide?” asked Ethan.
Tony shrugged. “I told Doc it was probably some old Indian bones that washed into the river. The water runs right through the old land that the tribe lives on.”
She sighed. “Tony, I don’t know why I’m going to even bother, since you probably won’t remember this anyway, but Indians are from India.” She pointed at Ethan and Callen. “They are Native American, as in they originated here before the settlers.”
He stared at her blankly.
“My children are Native American. Don’t make me knock you on your ass for offending me. It’ll only be embarrassing.”
Callen grinned and Ethan ran a hand down her back. Ahhh, it was good to have his wife back. Apparently, he was a sicko. He actually missed her threatening to inflict bodily harm.
Tony tried to brush it off. “Doc was working on the investigation. He was trying to find their identity.”
She stared at him incredulously. “What do you mean a seventy year old man was investigating? You’re the damn sheriff, Tony. This is your job! He gives you the findings and you run with it!”
He opened his mouth and more insanity fell out. “I was busy working on the Spring Fling. Doc was bored and wanted to handle it. Something about it was bugging the shit out of him.”
“Yeah, a disarticulated body in a river should bother the shit out of someone,” she said, closing her eyes. Already, she knew what was coming.
Consumed by Wrath: An FBI/Romance Thriller (An FBI/Romance Thriller ~ Book 8) Page 12