“Come on now, Hannah.” Michael squeezed her shoulders. “Don’t start crying again. You’ll make poor Harper uncomfortable.”
Too late. Harper turned wide eyes up at Rusty, afraid to pull her hand away from his mom, completely confused about what was going on. From the confused look on Rusty’s face, he was just as clueless as her.
“Mom, what are you talking about?”
When Hannah only sniffled and swiped at her nose with a tissue in her free hand, Rusty glanced at his father. “What is she talking about?”
Alec chuckled at the end of the bed. Ethan smirked. Kelsey elbowed both of them and whispered, “Knock it off. This is sweet.”
“I’m hungry,” Thomas muttered at the back of the group. “Is anybody else hungry? There has to be a cafeteria in here somewhere.”
“I hugry, Unca Thomas.”
“Cool. Let’s go, squirt.” Thomas reached for Emma from Alec’s arms while Michael comforted Hannah, and Rusty and Harper tried to figure out what was going on.
“Keep an eye on her, Thomas,” Alec said. “Don’t let her run off.”
“I will.” He turned for the door with Emma on his hip. “Sheesh. It’s like he’s afraid you’re gonna disappear or something.”
Emma threw her little head back and laughed as they slipped through the curtain and headed down the hall.
“Would someone please tell us what’s going on?” Rusty asked.
Hannah sniffled one more time and dabbed at her eyes, looking across Harper’s bed at her son. “Johnathon Blake is what’s going on.”
Harper glanced up at her. “That was my dad.”
“I know, honey.” Hannah squeezed her hand and smiled down at her. “He also saved Rusty’s life.”
“He did what?” Rusty asked.
Hannah looked back at her son. “Detective Johnathon Blake is the one who pulled you out of that fire. He was one of the first people on the scene when you were trapped in the fire. He told me later that he was on patrol in the neighborhood when the call came in. A neighbor had called nine-one-one, told the dispatcher there were children in the house. He rushed over, heard you coughing from the entryway where you’d managed to crawl before collapsing. Then he ran into the fire and pulled you out. He’s the one who got you to the hospital, who brought you to me. And he didn’t leave your side the entire time you were there. He wouldn’t let anyone but me and a nurse in your room either.”
“Oh my God,” Harper muttered, looking up at Rusty, understanding dawning. Her father hadn’t just been in the neighborhood. He’d been driving away from the scene, from shooting Jordan. He hadn’t known Rusty was there. When he’d heard the nine-one-one call, he’d rushed back. “He knew if the Plague realized you were still alive, they’d come after you.”
“Yes,” Michael said. “He knew he had to hide you somewhere, and after your mother told him we’d recently adopted Ethan and Alec, he arranged it so you could come live with us.”
“The report he filed said you’d died in that fire,” Hannah continued. “He hid you with us, and he checked in on you every year to make sure you were okay.”
“Of course he did.” Tears filled Harper’s eyes all over again as a rush of emotions swept through her. She squeezed Rusty’s hand and glanced up at him. He looked shell-shocked, but not in a bad way.
“He was so proud of you, Rusty,” Hannah said, sniffling again. “Of your vineyard and your plans for the winery.”
“He knew about that?” Rusty asked, stunned.
“Yes.” Hannah swiped at her eyes. “He knew everything.” She looked down at Harper. “And he was very, very proud of you. He talked about you all the time.”
Tears pushed past Harper’s lashes, but she didn’t care. This was the best day. The best end to a day she could ever imagine. She squeezed Hannah’s hand, and Rusty’s again.
“Why didn’t he ever talk to me?” Rusty asked. “Why didn’t he ever tell me—”
“Because he couldn’t.” Harper smiled up at him. “Because he was still keeping you safe, even at the end.” Rusty’s shocked gaze met hers. She smiled wider and turned toward Hannah. “Thank you. Thank you for telling me. For telling us.”
Hannah grinned. “This was meant to be.” She glanced up at her son. “You two were meant to find each other.”
They were. Harper believed it. She’d never believed anything more strongly.
“Come on.” Michael squeezed his wife’s arms one more time. “Let’s leave these two alone now that you’ve thoroughly shocked them both.”
Hannah released Harper’s hand and leaned down and hugged her while Michael shooed everyone else out of the room. “Welcome to our family,” she whispered into Harper’s ear. “And thank you for saving my boy.”
Harper’s throat grew thick as she hugged Rusty’s mother back. “I-I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did.” Hannah eased back and grinned. “You gave him a reason to save himself.”
She turned out of the room with a wave, and when the door drifted closed, Harper turned to look up at Rusty.
“Wow,” he muttered, sinking to the edge of her bed.
She scooted over to make room for him, glad when he stretched out beside her on the narrow mattress. “Yeah, wow.”
He wrapped an arm around her, and she snuggled into him. Silence filled the room as he ran his hand up and down her arm in a lazy motion, and then he said, “I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do with that.”
She chuckled and pushed up to look down at him. “How does living happily ever after sound?”
A wide smile broke across his face as he lifted one hand and brushed the hair back from her eyes. “I think that sounds pretty damn perfect.”
He slid his hand through her hair and gently tugged her face to his, and as he kissed her, she sighed.
It sounded pretty damn perfect to her too.
EPILOGUE
Summer was Rusty’s favorite season. And this summer was the very best one of his life.
Rusty pushed back from the table in the brand-new tasting room of the Black Sheep Winery in late August and lifted his glass as he looked over the small group of people who’d gathered for this preopening opening—his family, his assistant Abby, Callahan, and Brooklyn, who’d finally agreed to work for him. Currently, Brooklyn was standing behind the counter, drying wineglasses as she rolled her eyes at Thomas, who was perched on a stool trying to hit on the older girl. “Okay, settle down. Especially you over there, mister hormones.”
Thomas grinned.
Rusty smirked. “I don’t do this often, but I’m about to make a toast.”
“Make a fool out of yourself is more like it,” Alec muttered across the round table.
Rusty shot him a look, but it was half-assed, because even Alec’s taunting couldn’t ruin his good mood.
“This winery has been a vision of mine for a long time,” he started, reminding himself not to get choked up. No one liked a pussy who cried. Especially tough chicks. They liked manly guys. He glanced down at Harper seated next to him in a sexy yellow sundress he couldn’t wait to tear off her when they were alone.
A smile curled his lips as he went on. “A lot of years that were filled with struggles—some good, some bad; a lot of them I don’t want to remember.” Soft laughter echoed through the space. “But the one thing I could always count on, whether times were good or bad or just plain crazy, was the people in this room. Every single one of you has supported me . . .”
His throat grew thick, and he paused, working like hell not to cry. At his side, Harper grasped his hand and squeezed, and it was exactly what he needed to keep going.
He looked at her and smiled, drawing on her strength just as he did every single day. “And that support means more to me than any of you will ever know.” He looked back over the small group. “Which is why I’m giving you each a small percentage of the winery.”
Gasps filled the room. From the tasting counter on the far side, Thomas said, “Did he just say h
e’s giving us money?”
Rusty laughed. “Don’t get excited. It’s not worth anything yet.”
“But it will be,” Alec cut in. “I always knew Rusty was my favorite sibling.”
Kelsey smacked him on the arm.
“That’s very generous of you, son,” Michael said. “And unnecessary.”
“I know it’s not necessary, but it’s something that I want to do. You’ve all pitched in around here when I needed it. I know you’ll do it again whenever I ask. I want to share this with you. My vision was always that this would be a family winery, and there’s no family more special to me than the one in this room.”
“Hear! Hear!” Ethan said, lifting his glass.
Someone yelled, “Cheers!” and they all clinked glasses. And before they could get too rowdy, Rusty said, “One more thing. When we harvest this year’s crop and bottle our first chardonnay”—he looked down at Harper—“it’s going to be called the Golden Harp, after this incredible woman who worked her ass off to make sure I wasn’t arrested. More valuable to me than any piece of gold.”
Harper tipped her head and smiled that for-him-only smile, then reached for him when he leaned down and kissed her. Ahs rose up in the room, intermixed with Thomas making puking sounds from the tasting counter, but Rusty ignored him.
Grinning, he lifted his lips from Harper’s and stood upright, thinking back to their romantic evening on a blanket between the rows of vines in the vineyard last night and the private celebration they’d had under all those stars. “Oh yeah, and she said yes. Finally.”
Kelsey was the first to screech and jump out of her chair, run around, and grab Harper in a hug. And then the entire family was swarming, hugging, and congratulating both of them.
“Another wedding,” his mom said with a beaming smile as she kissed his cheek. “I can’t wait.”
“We want to do it here on the vineyard,” Harper said, standing next to him. “Sometime this fall.”
“Oh, you have to let me design your gown,” Kelsey exclaimed. “I can do anything you want.”
While the girls circled around Harper, ogling the two-carat ring she’d kept hidden from them earlier and launching into wedding discussions, his brothers each hugged him and made jokes about being part of the old ball-and-chain club, and his dad patted him on the back with a broad grin. “Not too bad, son. Not too bad at all.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
Hunt stepped in front of him with a smirk, with Kelsey at his side.
“What are you grinning at?” Rusty asked. “You’re gonna be joining that club in a matter of days.”
“I know.” He handed Rusty a manila envelope. “Consider this an engagement present.”
Not sure what he was talking about, Rusty turned the envelope over. The outside was blank. Beside him, he sensed Harper stepping close, curious about what was in his hands.
“Open it,” she said.
He pried the metal tabs open and shook the contents into his hands, watching Hunt’s peculiar smile the whole time. “He looks goofy right now,” Rusty said to his sister.
“I know.” Kelsey only grinned and kissed Hunt’s cheek.
Shaking his head, Rusty pulled the papers out of the envelope and flipped them over. Only they weren’t papers. They were photographs. Glossy eight-by-ten photographs of a woman in her midthirties with warm brown hair and shimmering brown eyes.
“Oh my God.” His eyes grew wide.
“What?” Harper asked, looking down at the photo of the woman standing in the front yard of a small house with a child who looked about two on her hip. “Who is that?”
Rusty flipped to the next photo. In it, the woman was standing on the sidelines of a football field, her hair in a ponytail, holding the hand of a small girl who looked about five on one side, and the hand of a two-year-old on the other side. And she was grinning up at a man in a baseball hat and a blue nylon jacket that said COACH on the right breast, while a third child, a boy who was probably ten, leaned against the man’s side.
“It’s Lily,” he muttered. His gaze shot to Hunt. “She’s alive?”
“Alive, very well, and very happily married in Michigan with her football-coach husband and her three little kids.”
Rusty stared down at the picture again, barely believing what he was seeing. “H-how . . . When? How did you . . .”
“After we learned that Harper’s dad was working undercover and had infiltrated the Plague, I started digging.” Rusty looked back up at Hunt, who’d shifted his gaze to Harper. “Turns out Johnathon Blake was the one who bought her. Cashed in his pension to do it. Then he got her out of Portland, set her up with a new family on the East Coast where Jordan would never find her, and made sure she was safe. Flip to the last photo.”
Rusty did and was shocked to see a picture of Lily—as an adult—with her arms wrapped around the waist of an older man—Harper’s father.
“That was right before he died.” Harper stared at the photo with wonder.
“Yeah,” Hunt said. “He went out to visit her about once a year, just to check on her. Like a surrogate father.”
Harper’s shimmering eyes lifted to Rusty. “Like he did with you.”
Holy shit. Exactly as he’d done with him.
“My guy who found her saw that in her house and took a snapshot of it.” Hunt nodded at the photo. “Thought you’d like to have that, Harper.”
Harper ran her fingertips over her father’s smiling face. “I would. Thank you.”
“My guy didn’t tell her who he was or who he worked for or why he was looking for her, just in case you were wondering,” Hunt said. “But her address is in there. Just in case you want it.”
Rusty was still too stunned to speak. He swallowed hard and nodded.
“Thank you, Hunter.” Harper reached out and hugged him. “This was the best engagement present anyone could have given us.”
“You’re welcome,” Hunter said, hugging her back. “You’re coming to the office on Monday, right?”
“Yep. Bright and early.”
“Good. We’re excited about having you on the team.”
“So am I.”
Rusty cleared his throat, knowing they were talking about Harper’s new job with Hunter’s company but still trying to process everything he’d learned about Lily. “Th-thanks, Hunt.”
“No problem.” Hunt wrapped an arm around Kelsey’s waist and headed toward the counter where most of the rest of the family had already moved to drink more wine and talk.
But Harper stayed close, knowing Rusty needed her. Always knowing what he needed, even when he didn’t.
Quietly, she said, “Do you want to go see her?”
A wave of emotion slammed into him, and he closed his arms around her, pulling her into him, letting the pictures dangle from his fingers at her back. He shook his head into her hair.
“Are you sure?” She ran her fingers up and down his spine. “Because I want you to see her if you need to see her.”
“No.” His throat was thick, but he didn’t care. He didn’t even care that tears were spilling over his lashes. He only held her tighter. “I don’t need that. I’d only be a bad memory for her, and I don’t want that. I want her to be happy.”
“She is, Rusty.”
She was. He couldn’t believe it.
Easing back, he looked down at Harper through watery vision, knowing he could never love anyone more than he loved her. “My mom was right—you and me—we were meant to be. He saved her life. Your dad saved her life, just like you saved mine.”
She smiled. “I didn’t save your life.”
“Yeah, you did.” Tears filled his eyes all over again as he lowered his forehead to hers. “In the best way you ever could. You gave me a reason to let go of the past. You gave me a reason to truly want to live. And I’m going to spend the rest of my life showing you just how much that means to me.”
“Oh well.” She lifted her lips to his, smiling wider. “In that case, I will hap
pily take all the credit. Especially if it means a repeat of what you did to me last night on that blanket in the vineyard.”
He laughed as he kissed her. “Oh, baby doll. It means a whole lot more than that.”
She sighed and sank into him. And as he kissed her deeper and the pictures fluttered from his fingertips to land softly on the floor, he knew everything he’d been through, even all the struggle and pain and heartache, had been preparing him for this moment. For this life, with her and the future they were meant to build together.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © Curtis Almquist, Almquist Studios
Before topping multiple bestseller lists—including those of the New York Times, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal—Elisabeth Naughton taught middle-school science. A voracious reader, she soon discovered she had a knack for creating stories with a chemistry of their own. The spark turned into a flame, and Naughton now writes full-time. Her books have been nominated for some of the industry’s most prestigious awards, such as the RITA and Golden Heart Awards from Romance Writers of America, the Australian Romance Readers Award, and the Golden Leaf Award. When not dreaming up new stories, Naughton can be found spending time with her husband and three children in their western Oregon home. Unspeakable is the fourth book in her Deadly Secrets series, following Protected, Gone, and Repressed, which was a 2017 RITA winner in romantic suspense.
Learn more about Elisabeth at www.ElisabethNaughton.com
Unspeakable Page 29