Prologue
Angel
Four months after my heart shattered as I watched the boy I’d loved for two years ride away on his bike, two pink lines on the test in front of me began to piece it back together. Only to break again months later.
I was pregnant. How? I wasn’t sure, as we’d always used protection. But somehow it had happened. I wasn’t sure what to do, or even how I was going to find Garret.
I somehow had to get word to Mike at the diner, but since we were watched like hawks, I wasn’t sure how that was going to be possible.
I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that we were in witness protection.
I’d been a baby when my parents had entered the programme, and they’d never said anything to me.
For years we’d lived in our small town, just another family like any other, except for my dad wanting to be in control of everything.
He’d eventually been voted in as mayor when I turned sixteen, and that was our downfall. Seems he didn’t understand what flying under the radar meant. He’d been photographed, and we’d been found.
The guys after him were pretty bad guys; you didn’t fuck with the Irish mob.
The first I’d known about it was when our door had been kicked in at two in the morning by the marshals, and we’d been hustled out of our house and into two vehicles.
They’d taken my dad one way, and me and my mom the other.
I’d been so confused and terrified as I’d watched the town I’d grown up in disappear behind us.
My mom was no help; all she did was cry and rock in the car next to me.
I’d demanded explanations, but I’d been told to sit back and shut up.
They’d have my parents explain everything to me once I was safe.
Turns out the only way I’d ever be safe was when my dad died by the hands of the mob.
I had to say something to the marshals guarding us about the baby. It was still just me and my mom in a remote cabin in the Rockies. I had no idea where my father was.
The look on the agent’s face would stay with me forever when I told him I needed to get to a doctor, and why.
I’d been gutted when he’d sat me down and explained everything. There was no way for me to get in touch with Garret without putting not only my mom and me in danger, but also the life of my baby.
It seemed there weren’t a lot of options for me to choose from.
As much as I wanted to keep this baby, the last link I had to Garret, I knew that was selfish.
I could be on the run for years, or we could be killed at any moment if the mob caught up with us and decided to use us as leverage against my dad.
I was under no illusions that my dad wouldn’t sacrifice us in a heartbeat to save his own skin.
So with the help of the marshals, we found a lovely couple in their late forties.
I gave birth to a little girl, and my heart broke again in a way I never thought I’d recover from when I handed her over.
Her adoptive mother was a lovely woman, and she’d held me tight when I’d broken down, wrapping her arms around me and holding me close.
“We’ll take good care of her, I promise.
She’ll be loved. One day you’ll meet again. We’ll tell her about you.”
That had made me cry even harder, and I’d clung to Hannah Gilbert, who’d held me until I stopped.
“We have to go, Angel,” Marshal Jake reminds me. I could hear the sympathy in his tone.
“I know,” I reply, stepping back and looking into Hannah’s kind brown eyes. “Can I ask you a favour?”
“Of course,” she says, holding onto my hands. I try not to look at the pink-wrapped bundle her husband is holding, but my eyes are drawn to her. Finally, I tear my gaze away and look back at Hannah.
“Will you name her Honor? Her father and I always said if we’d had a little girl, we’d name her Honor. Honor Hannah is a beautiful name, don’t you think?”
Hannah cups my cheeks, and her eyes fill with tears. “It is and thank you for the beautiful gift you’ve given us.”
I press my lips together tightly and nod once. With tears streaming down my face, I turn away and walk towards the marshals waiting for me. Jake wraps his arm around my shoulder, holding me to his side as I sob. Finally, he picks me up and walks with me to the vehicle.
I’m not sure how I got through those first few months.
They pass by in a haze until eventually Jake has enough.
He’s been with us from the start and has a family of his own.
He often mentions how much he misses them while he’s watching us.
One morning he wakes me up at six and tells me to get dressed. We’re going for a run.
‘A run?’ I think to myself. ‘Why the hell not, I’ve got nothing better to do.’
That’s the start. Every morning we run, then he moves me on to defence moves, and finally how to shoot a handgun.
“You never know when you’ll need to protect yourself, Angel. Especially with your dad’s problems. I’m going to make sure you have the best chance that I can give you of you surviving.”
And he did. For the years we’re in protective custody, I trained with him and the other agents. They became my surrogate family. I still thought about Honor every day, but I know in my gut that Hannah and Fred will look after her and make sure she’s loved and cared for.
We’re moved a few times over the years, and it gets easier each time. Five years after we were picked up, we get told that my dad had been found and killed.
The marshals are still worried about my mom and me. My mom hasn’t been well, and I’m not sure if she’s going to make the year. We stay in custody while the Marshals clean up loose ends pertaining to my dad’s case.
My mom doesn’t last a year after my dad is killed. It hits me then that I’m all alone.
***
I don’t know what to do with myself. I’ve been running and training for so long that it’s all I’m used to.
It’s not the life I imagined. Honor is five and when Jake last checked on her, she was happy.
Garret seems to have disappeared, and I’m not sure if I should attempt to look for him or not with the threat of death hanging over my head.
Once again, Jake comes through. “You’ll come home with me for now.
We’ll get you an ID showing you’re my niece, Fiona Monde.
You’ll find your way, Angel. I promise you.
You’re one of the strongest girls I’ve come across in a long time.
Come on, my wife is waiting for me to bring my work home. ” He grins at me.
I throw my arms around the burly man who's been more of a father to me in the last years than mine was the entire time I lived with him. “Thank you, Jake. I’ll do it, but only if it’s safe for you and your family.”
He presses a kiss to the top of my head, “It is, Angel … shit, Fi. That’s going to take some getting used to.
They don’t seem to be looking for you, but I’d rather be safe than sorry, and you’ve become like another daughter.
So, what do you say? Are you ready to come home?
My wife has cleaned the room over the garage, so you’ll have some privacy. ”
“I’ll come home with you, Jake.” I smile up at him.
“Good girl,” he replies, picking up one of my bags and slinging it over his shoulder. I pick up the other, following him out the door to a new life. I hope that it will be the last one for a while.
Turns out it’s the best thing that I ever did.
Jake’s wife is not what I’m expecting. Fern is a hippie through and through.
She’s tall and willowy with long dark hair shot through with silver, kind blue eyes, and is covered in freckles from all the time she spends in her gardens.
Crystals, stars, herbs, and recycling are all things she is passionate about.
She welcomed me into their home with a smile and a hug.
She and Jake are total opposites, but somehow they work.
They have a small holding near a town called Shadow Haven in South Dakota, and Fern works it.
Her income comes from selling produce and homemade skin and beauty products at farmers’ markets in surrounding towns.
I was concerned about how Jake's children would take to me, but his daughter Siera, who was two years younger than my twenty-three years, and Stone, who was a year older than me, gelled like we’d been part of each other’s lives since the beginning of time.
They loved me, and I loved them. I kept no secrets from my new family; between Jake and me, we told them everything. Fern held me while I cried for what could have been.
I never did find anyone else to fill the hole Garret left. Oh, don’t get me wrong. As I healed, I went on dates and even had a few short-term relationships, but nothing ever seemed to fit.
Then I held my sister as her life fell apart when her husband died in an accident the year after her twin girls, Tru and Janis, were born.
Jake and Fern got older; he retired, and they spent their time travelling during the winter months.
Siera and I opened a garden centre after she became a widow. It offered lawn and garden care. We also added a coffee and crystal shop, and Bridget, Stone’s wife, was talking about adding books.
It was a family business, and it ran smoothly with Bridget managing it for us.
We all pitched in, but I was getting bored.
The only problem with having been on the run was that I found it hard to stay in one place.
Usually when the travel bug hits, I pack up my van, take a month and travel around the different states.
But for some reason, this time it didn’t work.
I was restless, and I had no idea why.
“Angel,” Siera shouts out across the garden centre. I shake my head in amusement. My sister is not quiet, and her voice is like a foghorn. I’d also never really gone by my new name, Fiona. My family said Angel fit in just fine with their hippie ways. So, Angel, I’d stayed.
“In the nursery,” I shout back, pressing the earth around a seedling as I wait for Siera to come and find me. I hear her before I see her as she runs into the nursery, huffing and puffing as if she’s run a mile. She’s waving a paper and smiling widely.
“Look what I’ve just seen. I think we should do it.”
My eyes widen with surprise. “Do what? I told you I’m not bungee jumping. I’m too old for that shit.”
“Not bungee jumping, and stop saying you're old. You’re only two years older than me, and I refuse to think that forty-four is old. No, this. Look.” She points at a building on the paper. I see it’s from a real estate agent.
“Um,” I look into my sister’s excited eyes. “I think you need to explain the conversation you’ve had with yourself and bring me up to speed.”
“Ugh,” she huffs, blowing a piece of her dark fringe up. “You’re bored, and travel isn’t helping. I’m bored, the girls are bored. Bridget runs the place with her eyes closed. I think we need another project, and this is it.”
“I get it, we're all bored,” I grin at her as I pick up the paper. I squint as I try to read it. “What is it?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, put your glasses on,” she mutters, handing my reading glasses to me. “It’s a garden centre. It’s been up for sale for three years with no offers. I think we should go and look at it, see what’s what. It comes with a house, but it all needs tons of work. What do you think?”
Excitement bubbles through me as I read the information; this may be just what I need.
“It’s in North Dakota,” I frown at her. I don’t want to be too far from Jake and Fern.
“I know, I can read,” she rolls her eyes at me. “A town called Stonepoint. It’s only four hours from mom and dad so you can relax, we won’t be far from them. Please, Angel. Let's at least go and look at it.”
I look into my sister's pleading eyes and know she’s right. This project would suit us down to the ground. My nieces were bored out of their minds, and a bored Tru and Janis was not a good thing.
“Okay,” I agree. “Set it up, and let the girls know. We’ll go and have a look.”
“Yes,” she squeals like a teenager instead of the adult she is. Throwing her arms around me, she hugs me. “I’m so excited, Ang; I think this could be a good thing for all of us.”
I hug her back. Siera, like me, has never found another man. We’ve brought up her girls together along with help from Fern, Jake, and Stone. Her girls filled the emptiness I’d carried ever since I gave Honor up.
Jake offered to keep an eye on Honor, but I told him she needed to live her life and I had to heal.
She was happy with her adoptive parents, and that’s all I needed to know.
I didn’t want to disrupt her life, and I asked him not to tell me where she was because I knew I’d never be able to stay away.
When Stone met Bridget, she slipped into our family as if she’d been made for it. Another free spirit that Fern met at a farmers’ market and brought home with her when Bridget’s car broke down. Stone had fallen hard and fast for the vivacious redhead.
Maybe Siera was right; this could be a good thing. We wouldn’t know until we saw the property though and crunched a few numbers.
For the first time in years anticipation filled me, and I was eager about starting a new venture.