Chapter 21
Twenty-One
Jonah held the bundle in his arms as if it were a bomb that might go off at the slightest jostling. The bundle stared back at him, unblinking, and he had no idea who was gonna win this apparent game of chicken.
Samantha smirked. “She won’t break, Uncle Jonah.”
He didn’t believe his sister. “She’s barely bigger than a football.”
“With lungs to rival Coach Bates when she’s fussy,” Griff declared.
Jonah winced. Their old high school football coach had probably been a drill sergeant in a former life. “Good thing she’s cute.”
“That’s part of the genius of biology. They’re beyond adorable, so it gives you a Swiss cheese memory for the hard parts.” But Sam’s smile was soft.
“I can’t believe how much she’s grown already.” Rachel leaned in to press a kiss to Rory’s head, lingering with a blissful expression.
Jonah arched a brow. “Did you just sniff the baby?”
“Just getting my fix of that new baby smell. There’s nothing like it.”
“This is a thing?”
“Totally a thing,” Cayla confirmed.
“Since you’re looking like you think she’s gonna bite you, why don’t you hand this little cutie over to me and go check on the grill?”
When Rachel reached for his niece, he gladly relinquished her. She widened her eyes in an exaggerated happy face as she easily scooped the baby into her arms, settling her in the crook as if she’d been doing it for years. She bounced and swayed. “Who’s a cute little muffin? You’re a cute little muffin.”
Jonah felt a mule kick somewhere in the vicinity of his chest.
Turning blindly toward the back door, he nearly plowed into Holt, who offered him a beer and a smirk.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
It wasn’t nothing, and they both knew it, but Holt wisely kept his mouth shut.
His house was full. In the two weeks since Howard and Harley’s arrests—without bail this time, thank God—he and Rachel had moved back in from the cabin. Griff and Sam had come up with the baby, and everybody was hanging out, ostensibly for Labor Day, but really to celebrate the fact that their long ordeal was finally over. He found he liked it that way. Things felt settled in a way they hadn’t in years. Maybe not since he’d been a kid. Dr. Graham would no doubt say he’d had a breakthrough. He mostly just felt as if he’d completed his final mission. Maybe that was something he’d needed after his precipitous exit from the Navy.
As the ribs were ready, Jonah pulled them off the grill and carried the tray back inside. “Ribs are done! Let’s get the fixins sorted.”
Everyone fell into motion, uncovering side dishes, adding in serving spoons. Someone set the table. Somebody else took drink orders. Jonah loved every minute of the cheerful chaos of getting plates filled and butts in seats. When they were all settled, he raised his bottle. “I’d like to propose a toast.”
Always game, his friends and family lifted their own beverages.
“To the justice system. May it continue to operate smoothly and effectively.”
“Cheers to that,” Rebecca muttered.
“So, is everything really over?” Sam wanted to know.
“Yeah. It’s over. Howard Danforth’s got a boatload of additional charges pending. Harley, too, though not as extensive, since he gave Xander enough information to track down the Fullers’ current meth operation. Turns out, Xander was part of a DEA task force that took that whole thing down earlier this week. He called me about it this morning.”
Rebecca shook her head. “I can’t believe they were holed up on Howard’s land this whole time.”
“It was a smart play. Howard looked like a pillar of the community. Nobody was expecting him to allow something like that on his property. Evidently, it was part of how he made up for the debts he took on when he bought the land in the first place. He’d been getting a cut of the Fullers’ profits for years.”
“So all that stuff that happened back at the beginning of the year—” Mia began.
“Didn’t have a damned thing to do with you. We’ve got confirmation. Howard’s been singing like a canary, hoping to make some kind of deal that will land him in a different prison from where the Fullers are going. It was always about finding the information Lonnie had collected on him.”
Her shoulders slumped in relief, finally shedding the burden she’d been carrying for months. “I’ll drink to that.”
Everyone lifted their glasses in another toast.
“So we’re safe to go on back to normal life?” Brax prompted.
“Looks like we all can,” Jonah confirmed.
“Well, that’s a damned good thing.” His grin spread wide. “Because we just got our approval to be foster parents yesterday.”
“That’s fantastic!” Cayla immediately popped out of her seat to run around the table and hug Mia.
More congratulations, handshakes, and backslaps were passed.
“You two are going to make great parents,” Rachel declared.
Mia sucked in a bracing breath. “We sure hope so. We know what it is to grow up in the foster system, so we’ve got a better idea what we’re getting into than most.”
Rebecca beamed. “Those kids are gonna be lucky to have you.”
Brax wrapped an arm around his wife. “We were hoping you’d be honorary grandma.”
“Oh!” Her eyes began to glisten. “I’d love that.”
Discussion turned to plans for the fall, now that the threat hanging over their heads had been resolved. Jonah let the conversations flow around him, content with the fact that all his people were here, safe, and happy. As they moved on to dessert, he brought up one lingering issue.
“There’s still the matter of the money Lonnie saved over the years.”
Sam wrinkled her nose. “I don’t want it. I know he apparently wasn’t as bad a guy as we thought. I just… don’t really want to touch anything that came from that whole mess that led to him leaving.”
“Fair enough. But I was thinking maybe we should earmark it for Rory’s college fund. And that of any other kids you might have. I mean, it’s not like school’s getting any cheaper.”
“You make a valid point. And it would be one less stress to know that was squared away.” She looked at Griff. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s probably a nice gesture to know that at least something good will have come out of his sacrifice.”
“Then I’m happy with that plan. But what about your half, Jonah? By rights, half that inheritance is yours.”
It was beyond tempting to say he’d earmark it for his own kids’ college someday. But he wasn’t yet sure he’d be having any. He still needed to work on taking care of that. Rachel had come out of everything physically no worse for wear. But the past six weeks had been a hell of a lot. He needed to know she still wanted him. Still wanted the future she’d talked about.
“I’ll figure it out. There’s time.”
At the end of the meal, they broke apart. Sam went to feed the baby. Those who hadn’t cooked turned their attention to cleanup. Spotting Rachel on the back deck, searching for any stray dishes, Jonah stepped out to join her.
“Will you take a drive with me?”
She glanced back at the house. “And leave our guests?”
He liked that she thought of them as theirs.
“They aren’t guests, they’re family. And they’re all gonna be in a coma from that Italian cream cake you made for dessert, so it’s not like they’re gonna miss us.” He held out a hand, reaching for the woman he wanted more than anything in the world.
Rachel smiled, her blue eyes sparkling as she placed her hand in his. “Let’s go.”
Rachel had no idea where Jonah was taking her. He stayed quiet, eyes focused ahead, his hand linked with hers across the console. Maybe he really just needed some space from all the people in the house. She did, too. The aftermath of her ordeal hadn’t been bad, but she still got easily overwhelmed. She hadn’t had nightmares, and a big part of that was because she went to sleep every night wrapped up in Jonah. They hadn’t talked about the future, but she no longer felt the pressure now. The ticking time clock was gone, and the thing that had been sucking up a big portion of his attention was over. They were in a good place. There were still endless logistics of figuring out how to dismantle her life in Syracuse and fully settling here, but there was time. And that was, perhaps, the greatest gift of all.
She’d woken this morning to confirmation that she wasn’t pregnant. In all the chaos of her kidnapping, she’d straight up forgotten about the possibility. There’d been a twin sense of relief and grief. But Jonah was still here. They still had plenty of time to figure them out, and certainly it was better to do that together and on purpose.
Was he even interested in kids? Thinking about the almost panic in his eyes as he’d held Rory earlier, she wasn’t sure. Before him, she’d made peace with the idea of giving up on the dream of family. If she’d started thinking about it again, it was only natural. Her biological clock was ticking. But if it wasn’t something he wanted, well, in finding another good man to love her, she was already getting more than she’d expected to find after John died. She wouldn’t be greedy.
Eventually, she realized he’d worked his way around to where his Nanna’s house had been. The truck rolled down the rutted drive, coming to a stop in front of the charred rubble that was all that remained. Rachel’s gut clenched, remembering the fear of knowing he was inside. Her hand tightened on his, reminding herself that he was here. He was whole. She soaked in the gratitude of that until he squeezed her fingers and slid out of the driver’s seat.
She followed, circling around the front to join him as he looked over the blackened mess. There wasn’t much left. The concrete footings. Some pieces of what might once have been appliances. A lot of the stink had faded, courtesy of thunderstorms that had rolled through in the past few weeks. But the sight was still a punch.
Because Jonah hadn’t moved, she stepped in close, slipping her hand back into his. “It wasn’t your fault. None of it was your fault.”
He glanced her way, his eyes serious. “Yeah, I know. There were things I could’ve done differently. But no, at the end of the day, it wasn’t my fault. My dad was weak and selfish.”
No matter what they’d uncovered, that would probably always be his perception of Lonnie. But Rachel saw a different picture. “Not entirely weak. It took an enormous amount of strength to walk away from all of you in the name of protecting you. Maybe it was the right thing. Maybe it wasn’t. But it wasn’t an easy thing.”
He tipped his head in concession to the point. “True enough.”
“And if he hadn’t been who he was, you wouldn’t have become who you are. And who you are is a pretty amazing man.”
His lips curved, and he bent to brush a kiss to her brow. But his attention remained focused on the empty space.
She couldn’t peg where his head was. “Does it feel over to you?” Maybe it wouldn’t until Howard was actually behind bars.
Jonah twitched his shoulders. “It’ll probably be awhile before that sinks in. We’ve been on high alert since the beginning of the year. That kind of hyper-vigilance doesn’t just turn off like a switch. But yeah, I’ll get there.” He shifted to face her, those sharp green eyes searching her face. “A lot has happened in the last six weeks.”
“Yeah.” She barely even recognized her life.
“You were hurt. Kidnapped.”
He hadn’t talked about it. Not really. Maybe that’s what this was about. Bracing herself to battle with his demons yet again, she stepped closer. “And I survived in both cases because you rescued me. Don’t start blaming yourself.”
“I’m not. I’m just acknowledging that it’s a lot for somebody to handle.”
Narrowing her gaze, she studied him. “Are you talking about me or you?”
“Both.”
What the hell did that mean? When anxiety threatened to take root, she reminded herself that he hadn’t let her go. Hadn’t attempted to push her away. He was working his way around to something in his careful, deliberate way. So she waited to see where he was going with this.
Turning away again, he surveyed the land beyond the perimeter of the fire. “You know, we’ve had this property in our family my whole life. We’ve never done anything with it because the house wasn’t in good enough shape to salvage, and it costs money to demo things. I mean, in this particular sense, Harley kind of did us a favor. Now the lot is more or less cleared to do something with.”
“What kind of something?”
“It’s a good spot for a house. Quiet. Big yard. It needs work, but it could be a hell of a property. A good place to raise kids.”
Her heart stuttered as he turned back to her.
“You had plans for your life that didn’t come to fruition. Married a good man who died too soon, and had to give all those plans up. But maybe you could consider building new ones with me. Is that something you might be interested in? Sticking around here and starting that life with me? Starting a family with me?”
Her throat closed up, and tears gathered in her eyes. She’d resigned herself to giving those dreams up, and here he was offering her everything. How had she gotten so very lucky? Swallowing past the knot, she nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’d love that.”
The corner of his mouth tipped up, and he dropped to one knee.
“Oh my God.”
The other corner lifted, but his eyes remained serious as he looked up at her. “I don’t know how many good years I’m gonna get. But I love you, and I swear I’ll give you my all for every single one of them. Marry me, Rachel.”
The tears spilled over as she framed his face in her hands. “Yes.”
He surged up, wrapping her in his arms and pressing his mouth to hers. And as she kissed the man she was going to marry on the site of the house and the life they were going to build, she knew nothing would ever top this second chance at a new beginning.