Fatal Intent - Jamie Jeffries Page 0,38
brought some rope to tie Davi into his chair. He would turn seven in just a few days, but he was as energetic and mischievous as ever. Dylan preferred his naughtiness to Juan’s serious demeanor, though. He worried about Juan, and the effect everything they’d been through was having on him. Thank goodness for excellent government employee insurance. He would keep both boys in counseling as long as they appeared to need it.
It had been just about a year since Dylan and Alex reconnected, after four years apart while Dylan got his law enforcement certificate and began his career in the Park Service and Alex grew into a beautiful young woman. He still couldn’t believe his luck, that after all that had come between them, she was still as much his as he was hers. And now they’d started their new life together, everything perfect except for the lack of his ring on her finger. That would come, though, he was sure.
She just needed to know he had accepted her career aspirations and wouldn’t try to hold her back. He’d have to be careful of that. It still bothered him that she didn’t seem to understand danger, and would put herself right in front of it for a story.
As the first parade entries appeared at the far end of the street, he pointed them out to the boys while watching the sides of the road for Alex. He knew she’d be trotting alongside the parade, gradually working her way toward the end of it, taking pictures of the band, the 4-H kids with their sheep, the floats and every other outlandish display someone could think of.
It would be just like her to dash across in front of a bevy of high-stepping horses to get the best angle for a photo, heedless of the flashing hooves inches from her head. He’d just have to learn to keep his heart inside his chest, where it belonged, instead of having it leap out every time Alex did something reckless. He couldn’t change her—he’d tried and almost lost her—but he could school his reactions.
He’d promised Paul he would bring Alex and the boys over in the afternoon for an old-fashioned Independence Day fried-chicken dinner, and they’d stay to watch the fireworks that night.
Alex told him when she showed up at his door last night with her car full of clothes and her arms full of books that her dad had given her the choice, stay with him or with Dylan, but no running back and forth. Dylan hadn’t told her that he and Paul had already discussed it, and he knew she’d be given the ultimatum. Paul had wanted to know if she was welcome before he laid down the law.
The two men understood each other now, and he’d solemnly sworn to Paul that if he, Dylan, ever hurt Alex, Paul could beat him to a pulp and he’d never raise a finger in self-defense. Paul had said, “Count on it, boy.” Then he’d smiled.
It was a pleasant surprise to find Tia Wanda at Paul’s house. The rest of the crowd that had celebrated Alex’s birthday had other plans, but Dylan was glad to see Wanda any chance he got, and it had been a couple of weeks. He’d stayed at home since Alex’s party, and Wanda had been busy meeting with supporters and deciding whether to run for mayor again. Since her husband, Hector, had been killed in November, she was considering stepping down and not running again. Dylan and others wished she would stay another term, at least. Even Kevin Thurston had thrown his support her way.
Alex was in reporter mode the minute she saw Wanda. “How about a quote, Wanda? Are you running again?”
Wanda laughed. “Off the record? I haven’t decided.”
The banter continued through the afternoon and into the early evening, as they cut into a chilled watermelon and savored the delicious, sweet juices. The boys, of course, were engaged in a war to see who could spit the seeds the furthest.
As the fireworks started, Dylan noticed Alex and Wanda sitting with their heads together and talking in low voices about something he couldn’t hear. Girl stuff, he figured. Ironic as it was, Tia Wanda had stood in as a grandmother figure for him, while at the same time being a mother figure, or something like it, to Alex whenever her Nana wasn’t around. He watched them fondly, two of his very favorite women on the earth.
“Who wants to light some