Scott Stone said, kneeling to feel the pulse in her neck. “But I also know she’s not the kind of woman to be forced into anything. She fell in love with you.” He sighed. “Get me my job back and I’ll get help. You’ve said it enough. We can’t exist without each other.”
“Done,” I said, but I wasn’t sure if the word actually left my mouth.
“I’m not sure about you, Kelly.” He sighed again. “But I need something to live for besides myself.”
“The fucking truth,” I said, holding on to her tighter. If she didn’t survive this, neither would I.
A second later, it seemed, people were running through the rain with lights, coming toward us. Too soon for him to have just called someone.
I heard Scott Stone say something about how he had been following me after I clipped the car. He’d lost me at some point, but then figured out where I’d been going. I heard Mac. I heard Rocco. I heard him say they left the Hummer for me in case I wanted to go after Raff when I was healed. The Hummer had been tracked.
I heard Tito Sala cursing in Italian at all of them.
Pulling my wife even closer to my chest, I said two words that I never remembered coming out of my mouth before. “Thank you.” Then I closed my eyes.
35
Keely
7 months later
The evening sun poured in through the windows of the library, highlighting all of the stories on the many shelves.
I tugged at the pendant around my neck, studying all of the crevices with a narrowed eye. Some were still stained with blood.
His and mine.
Two bodies that shared one heart.
Love is never easy, because true love, the kind I made vows to, meant that the days would be long, the years short, and not all of them good. One thing I knew for certain, though. It would be worth it.
It already was.
No matter how hard our road became, I would always make the choice to walk beside Cash Kelly and our family in love.
It took me time to get to that point. It wasn’t easy to heal after what Raff had done to me. He had beaten me senseless. Beat me until I’d passed out from the pain. He had broken bones and torn muscles.
The one he almost killed—my heart—still beat. He left me bruised and tattered, and he left my husband the same way, but he was still here. And so was I.
Any sacrifice to have him would be worth it.
He was enough for me. And so was our family.
Ryan giggled and ran into the library, my arms open as he crashed into me. My arms were full, and so was my heart, even if I still had no clue what filled the metal one against my chest.
CeeCee ran in right behind Ryan, pretending like she was the dragon on her wall, going to eat him up. Her speech was getting better and better with each day. She picked books from the children’s section of the library each night, and it was Cash who read them to her.
“Grand,” she would say as he tucked her in. “Just gra-nd.”
It wasn’t easy for her to lose Maureen—it wasn’t easy on any of us—but she flourished with us, and I was thankful every day that Maureen had the foresight to see that ahead of time. She’d made the transition easy for CeeCee, and in a lot of ways, she had prepared me for the family we had.
Father Flanagan had told us that Maureen wasn’t sick, like everyone assumed, but she wanted to be certain that no matter what, her grandchildren would be loved beyond measure and taken care of.
When I’d told CeeCee to run, she did, straight to find Father Flanagan. He caught her in the street as he was heading to the fire, and she’d told him what had happened.
Even in death, Maureen was directing CeeCee, and I was positive she always would.
Ryan settled into my lap, the sun highlighting his dark hair. CeeCee grabbed a book before she took a seat next to me.
“No one invited me,” Cash said, striding into the room. “I’m offended.”
My tiger was riddled with stripes, but it only made him more beautiful. I took great pleasure in licking each one every night, tasting the sacrifice he made for these children, for me, on my tongue. Letting it settle in my bloodstream and go straight to my heart. Reminding me of how bittersweet a time it was.