She pulled a T-shirt from his top drawer and pulled it over her head. She slid into bed beside him and Cooper curled his body around hers. The nearness of him, the sound of his breathing, brought her joy that could not be verbalized. It just made her feel like all was well in the world. Back in Cooper’s arms, Kiely felt like she’d found her way back home. The lights were on, a fire was burning in the fireplace and the smell of baking cookies filled the air.
“I love you,” Kiely whispered. “I love you so much.”
Cooper squeezed her gently. He threw his leg over hers and tightened the hold he had on her. He pressed a damp kiss against the back of her neck.
“Twenty questions,” Kiely said. “What one place would you live if you didn’t live in Grand Rapids?”
“Hawaii!”
“I like Hawaii! I could live there.”
Cooper smiled. “Favorite flower?”
“Hydrangea. Favorite president?”
“Good question! I’d say... Jimmy Carter.”
“Good answer!”
Cooper kept it going. “Last book you read.”
“It was a mystery. City of Saviors by Rachel Howzell Hall.”
“Not an author I know. Was it good?”
“I really liked it. Morning person or night person.”
“Morning person.”
“I’m more of a night person but I make it work when I have to.”
Cooper hesitated, looking like he wasn’t sure what to ask next.
“It’s your turn,” Kiely said to coax him along.
“Are you really okay, Kiely?”
She suddenly choked back a sob. “No,” she said softly. “No, I’m not. But I will be. I’m home and I’m going to be just fine.”
Cooper held her close for the rest of the night. He kneaded her shoulders and stroked her back. When she jumped in her sleep he whispered in her ear to soothe her. He would have done anything to ensure she was well.
* * *
Kiely woke the next morning to Alfie tapping her face with the palm of his hand. Her mouth lifted in a warm smile but she didn’t open her eyes. He tapped her a second time. She opened one eye and closed it again. His giggles were music to her ears and Alfie was giggling merrily.
He leaned to kiss her cheek. “Hi, Ki-Ki! You sleep?”
Kiely reached out to give him a tickle and Alfie erupted in laughter. “Do again! Do again!” he exclaimed, not wanting her to stop.
When Cooper came to check on the two of them they were cuddled together watching cartoons.
“Hey, buddy,” Cooper said, “are you ready to go to school today?”
“No, Alfie stay home wit’ Ki-Ki. No go school!”
“I propose we have family day,” Kiely said.
“Family day? What’s that?” Cooper asked.
“Daddy and Alfie and Kiely stay home together all day in bed watching cartoons.”
“Yeah! Family day!” Alfie said excitedly.
Cooper laughed. “Does that mean we get to stay in our pajamas all day?”
“Pajamas all day, and we pop popcorn, and play games!” Kiely said excitedly. “Maybe we’ll even have a dance party!”
“And cartoons!” Alfie added.
Kiely gave the boy a little squeeze and another tickle.
“Well,” Cooper said, “what would you two like to eat for breakfast?”
“I propose cereal with the marshmallows in it and we eat it right out of the box.”
Alfie threw up his hands in agreement. “Cereal!”
“I’ll have coffee with mine. Can I tempt you with a cup?”
“Alfie want milk,” the little boy said firmly. “Just milk.”
Kiely said, “One milk and one coffee would be appreciated. Thank you.”
Breakfast was a big hit with Alfie, even with the spilled milk and cereal in the bed. They played games, watched cartoons, and spent the entire morning and afternoon together. Only once did Cooper try to answer his cell phone. After the dirty looks his son and Kiely gave him, he turned the device off and focused solely on the two of them.
Kiely made grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup and popped popcorn for lunch. Before putting Alfie down for a nap, the couple sat him down to talk about their plans.
“Alfie, how would you like Kiely to be your mommy?” Cooper questioned.
“Alfie mommy in hea-ben.”
“Yes, she is. Your mommy Sara is in heaven,” Cooper said. “But Kiely would like to be your bonus mommy, and Daddy wants Kiely to do that. How do you feel about that?”
“Alfie lub Ki-Ki!”
“So, you want to keep her?”
“Ki-Ki mine!”
“Yes, I am!” Kiely said.
Alfie jumped from his chair and took off running. They could hear him laughing in the other room.
“Why did I think having a serious conversation with a two-year-old was going to be easy?” Cooper said.
“It was.”
“Are you sure? Because I’m not sure he got it.”
Kiely smiled. “Trust me, he got it.”
Minutes later Alfie came tearing back into the room with his stuffed rabbit. He shoved the toy in Kiely’s direction. “Dis babbitt!”
“Hello, rabbit!”
He looked into the rabbit’s face, poking it in the eyes. He climbed into Kiely’s lap. “You Alfie mommy!”
“Yes, I am!”
“Alfie lub you Ki-Ki!” He wrapped his little arms around Kiely’s neck and hugged her.
Kiely met the look Cooper was giving her. She grinned. “Told you!”
* * *
Family day lasted three whole days. By day four Alfie was excited to go back to school to play with his friends. Cooper headed to the office so Claire could yell at him about being there, and Kiely began to deal with the insurance company over the demise of her home and the loss of her property.
Someone from Cooper’s office had retrieved her new car, depositing it in the empty parking space. She had driven by her house to assess the damage, but once she turned on the street she hadn’t been able to stop. Passing by had been all she could manage and Cooper had agreed that had been more than enough. There was nothing inside that couldn’t be replaced.
After making the turn at the corner Kiely headed to her brother’s. Riley had called a meeting of Colton Investigations, insisting they all needed to be there. She knew he wanted to assess where they were with Brody’s case, but it was also about the Colton siblings laying eyes on each other with everything that had been happening.
Traffic was light which made the ride easy and it took no time at all for Kiely to get to Grand Avenue, near the center of the historic Heritage Hill neighborhood. Riley lived in the family home where they’d grown up. The siblings had inherited the house after their parents’ tragic deaths and operated Colton Investigations out of the rooms on the first floor. Deciding to make the locale CI headquarters had just made sense.
She pulled into the driveway and eased her car behind the house. Parking the vehicle behind Pippa’s luxury sedan, she realized she wasn’t the last to arrive. Their sister Vikki wasn’t there yet either. That would take some of the heat off her when she walked in. Riley hated when they weren’t on time.
She didn’t bother to knock, throwing the door open and heading inside. Riley and Griffin were sitting at the kitchen table noshing on containers of Chinese food. Riley’s German Shepherd, Pal, sat between them, her large head bobbing back and forth as she hoped one or the other would drop something to the hardwood floor.
“Hey,” she said, greeting her brothers.
She rubbed Pal’s head and the dog licked her hand in greeting.
Riley dropped the egg roll between his fingers onto his plate. He reached for a napkin. “I didn’t know if you were coming. You never answered my text
message. I was starting to worry.”
Kiely shrugged. “Sorry about that. I had a lot going on.”
“Cooper told us what happened and we saw the house.”
She nodded. “It’s totaled. I’ve lost everything, but I’ve gained far more than I lost.” She leaned to give Griffin a hug. “How are you?”
“Better than you apparently.”
Kiely smiled. “If we can talk later, I need a favor. Cooper and I need an adoption attorney. I want to legally adopt his son Alfie.”
Griffin was about to take a bite of his food, his fork stalling in midair. “I’ve clearly missed out on a lot!” he said, a hint of attitude in his tone.
“Not really,” she said. “And if you have, I’m excited to catch you up.”
He nodded. “You know I’ll do whatever I can. Just let me know when you two want to schedule an appointment to meet.”
Kiely leaned to kiss his cheek. “Where’s everyone?”
“The girls are in the dining room. Are you hungry?” Riley said. “There’s plenty of food. Just grab a paper plate and help yourself.”
“I will,” she said. “Let me go say hi to everyone first.”
“Make it quick! Meeting starts in ten.” Riley pulled his egg roll back to his mouth.
Kiely maneuvered her way through the home. As she entered the main area, Ashanti Silver, her favorite tech guru, jumped from her seat to greet her. Ashanti was one of her brother’s first hires. Gorgeous, super smart and a wiz with a computer, she could back door her way past anyone’s firewall and never be detected. She had helped Kiely get out of many situations, some business and some personal.
The woman threw her arms around Kiely in a bear hug. “Oh, my God! You’re alive!”
Kiely laughed. “No one’s killed me off yet! How are you?”
“I’ve got my heels and my health so I have no complaints,” she said as she showed off the six-inch stilettos she was wearing. She tossed her long braids over her shoulder. “More importantly, I want to see that ring,” she said as she waved her fingers at Kiely.
Kiely held out her hand. The two-carat diamond in the antique setting flattered her fingers.
“It’s beautiful!” Ashanti hugged her a second time. “I’m so excited for you. Now, do you need me to run a background check on him?” she asked.
Kiely laughed. “I’m good. I appreciate you offering though.”
“If you need me, just ask.”
Kiely continued into the dining conference room. Pippa and Sadie sat at the oversized table thumbing through wedding gown magazines. Both women stood up to hug her.
“Why haven’t you called anyone?” Pippa admonished. “I’ve left a dozen messages for you.”
Kiely shrugged. “I needed some time.”
“You’re lucky Cooper’s so good about keeping us all updated,” Sadie quipped.
“You talked to Cooper?”
“We didn’t talk to you!”
Kiely smiled. She would have to thank him later for looking out for her, she thought.
“Are you hungry?” Pippa asked. “I’ll make you a plate if you want me to?”
Kiely shook her head. “I might get something after the meeting. I’m good for now.”
Her sister tapped the empty seat beside her. “Sit down.”
“We’ve taken up a donation for you,” Sadie said.
“What kind of donation?”
“We all cleaned out our closets to collect some clothes for you. There are three large bags in the trunk of my car,” Pippa interjected. “It should tide you over until you can start rebuilding your wardrobe.”
Kiely laughed. “I hadn’t even thought about it. I’ve spent the last three days in my pajamas.”
“I bet that was cute,” Sadie giggled.
“Cooper liked it,” Kiely said with a smirk.
The conversation was interrupted when the brothers moved into the room. Riley took the seat at the head of the table. “Has anyone heard from Vikki?”
Gazes shifted back and forth and heads shook from side to side.
“I guess we’ll start without her.” Riley cleared his throat. “I think it’s safe to say we are no farther along with this case than we were before. Still nothing solid on a location for Wes Matthews or Landon Street.”
Kiely shared what she and Cooper had learned from Neil Otis. “Cooper has cut off much of Wes’s bank access. Unless he has accounts that haven’t been found yet, he’ll be hurting for money sooner than later. That might be to our advantage. Cooper’s office is still running down the leads Neil gave them.”
“I feel like we’re looking for a needle in a haystack,” Pippa said. “Those two are cagey as hell!”
Kiely shot Sadie a quick look. “Cooper’s also trying to find a connection between Matthews and Tate Greer. It looks like most of the victims who financed their investments in RevitaYou were referred to Capital X with guarantees of approved financing.”
Riley nodded. “We’ll see what we can find out on our end.”
“Has anyone spoke to Brody recently?” Griffin asked. He looked directly at Pippa.
She shook her head. “Not a word. I don’t know if we should be worried or not.”
Everyone at the table went quiet, thinking about their surrogate brother and his predicament. The moment was suddenly interrupted when Vikki rushed into the room.
“Hello! Hello! Hello!” She moved around the table pressing her cheek to everyone else’s.
“You’re late,” Riley admonished.
“And I can’t stay. I just came for a quick lunch,” she said. “We’ve had another RevitaYou death. A woman named Teri Emerson.”
Riley cussed.
“Is she military?” Kiely questioned.
Vikki was a JAG paralegal for the U.S. Armed Forces assigned to Fort Rapids.
“Military wife,” she answered. “Her husband is an army captain and he’s on a rampage. He’s looking for Landon Street and has vowed to kill him on sight. I’ve been assigned to investigate his threats. He’s highly decorated and about to retire. I’m trying to keep this from blowing up even more.”
“Understood,” Riley said. “Do what you have to do.”
“Is there anything I need to know, before I run out of here?” Vikki asked.
Riley threw up his hands in frustration. “No, there really isn’t much we have to share.”
Vikki nodded. She turned her attention toward Kiely. “Call me, please, and let me know what’s going on with you. In fact, call and update me, if there is anything that comes out here that I need to know, too, please.”
She gave her sister a hug, also grabbing her hand to look at her engagement ring. “Clearly, he has good taste!”
Laughter rang around the table as Victoria made her exit. She called out over her shoulder, “I’m taking an egg roll and the rest of the beef and peppers! I hope nobody wanted it.”
Griffin laughed. “I guess if they did, it’s too late.”
Chapter 18
Cooper stood in front of the burned-out shell that was once her home, waiting for her. While she had met with her siblings, he had taken the meeting with the insurance agent. She couldn’t begin to tell him how much she appreciated his efforts. As she moved to his side, she felt herself begin to shake. She realized that even if the home had not burned, that returning to it would not have been easy.
Cooper immediately wrapped her in his arms and kissed her forehead. Kiely took a deep breath and held it for a brief moment before blowing it out slowly.
“How did your meeting go?” Cooper asked.
“It went really well,” Kiely responded. And it had. After Vikki had made her exit, Kiely and her siblings had a conversation about her taking a step back from the business. She wanted to continue working on Brody’s case until it was resolved, but didn’
t want to take on anything new. Her family had been super supportive. Riley, in particular, had let her know he would be there for her however she needed him to be. He promised not to call on her until she was ready.
“What did the insurance agent have to say?”
“Well, you won’t be renting it anytime soon.”
Kiely laughed. “So the agent has jokes like you have jokes.”
“You had full coverage, so you have nothing to worry about. They’ll be paying you fair market value for the house and for the land. When you’re ready you can decide whether or not you want to rebuild or sell.”
“I’m glad I don’t have to make a decision anytime soon.”
“Not until you’re ready.” He kissed her again.
“We have an hour before we have to pick up Alfie. Is there anything special you’d like to do?” He arched his eyebrows and gave her a look.
Kiely laughed. “Aren’t you fresh!”
“We’ve never done an afternoon quickie.”
“We might have to do that.”
Cooper reached for her hand and entwined her fingers between his own.
“Twenty questions?”
“Ask away.”
“Chicken or beef?”
“Beef, preferably grass fed. Birth control?”
Cooper looked confused. “Birth control?”
“Stop or keep taking it,” she said teasingly.
He grinned. “Interesting! Stop or keep taking it? Hmm? I’d be happy either way. As long as you’re happy with whatever decision you make for your body.”
Kiely smiled and lifted her chin to reach his lips. She kissed him slowly, allowing her mouth to glide sweetly over his.
“Favorite girl names?”
“Good question! Emily, Allison and Grace are at the top of my list.”
“I love Grace.”
“Shaved or unshaved?”
“Are we talking a specific body part or body parts in general?” Cooper questioned.
Kiely shrugged her shoulders, a sly look on her face.
“Some parts shaved and some parts not shaved,” he answered.
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