Chapter Twenty-Eight
It felt good to get the handcuffs off.
Rubbing at the sensitive skin around his wrists, Rome met the desk sergeant to collect his personal items. His rifle would stay a few more days in processing while the investigation wrapped up, but the initial murder charges had been dropped thanks to the officer who’d helped him locate any other properties belonging to Shawn.
The fact the man seemed to suffer from kleptomania would stay a secret between them.
“Foster, Rome.” The desk sergeant tipped a manila envelope upside down, scattering Rome’s personal items. “Keys, wallet and a gold wedding ring. Sign at the bottom.”
Scribbling his signature at the bottom of the envelope, he pocketed his wallet and the keys.
He had no idea where the truck had been taken.
Most likely to impound once the law enforcement rangers and police were finished with the scene at the cabin.
Springdale PD had made quick work of putting the pieces together as they’d searched and catalogued the cabin.
Shawn Bowman—thirty-five years old, single, wanted for questioning in the disappearance of three women in three separate states—had covered his tracks well enough to avoid raising any red flags with the NPS, but it would take a few more weeks to wrap up this investigation tight.
Not to mention the others still open in those jurisdictions.
As for the wedding ring, Rome couldn’t bear to slip it back onto his ring finger where it’d been all these months.
Hell, he didn’t even know if Lettie wanted to see him.
She’d flinched. Back in the cabin, after he’d shot a hole through Shawn’s chest before he could get to her with that knife, she’d flinched away from him.
Rome pressed his thumb into the scratched and dented metal, following the curve of the ring.
Despite the beating it’d taken over the years, the inscription inside was still clear as the day Lettie had slipped it onto his hand. Always.
Didn’t seem like that would be the case.
He was a killer, through and through. No matter how many times he tried to deny it, circumstances had made him squeeze that trigger.
First, for himself. Then for Lettie. And he would do it again and again.
However many times it would take to protect her.
But maybe this time, he’d finally managed to put the final nail in the coffin that’d become his marriage.
Rome tapped the surface of the desk with his knuckles. “Thank you.”
“Heard what you did, putting a hole through a man who killed those four victims.” The elderly desk sergeant went about writing whatever notes were required on the envelope that’d held Rome’s entire life. “You did the right thing.”
Had he? Didn’t feel like it, but it hadn’t felt like the right thing to rid the world of his uncle’s dominance either.
After a while, he’d learned to live with it.
Then again, he’d done the right thing by Sam, making sure he stayed alive long enough for the vet to reach them.
Lettie would’ve wanted that. The black bear would recover and be set back into the wild just in time to hibernate for the long, cold months ahead.
Rome didn’t have an answer, hugging his injured arm closer to his chest as he headed for the glass double doors of Springdale PD’s station.
Sunlight blinded him as he shoved through the doors.
Only to pull up short at the familiar face waiting across the parking lot.
She’d changed out of the bloody clothes from the cabin and into a pair of jeans with the hockey jersey she fell asleep in every night.
Looked as though the officer who’d taken it from the scene of Shawn’s apartment had kept his word.
Leaning against the side of her van, Lettie smiled, her arms crossed over her middle.
The bruises and scrapes had faded in the past couple of days as Springdale PD took their time processing him and gathering all kinds of statements and evidence, but the sight of them still made him nauseous.
So close. He’d come so close to losing her for good.
Rome forced himself to cross the parking lot, the sun still staring at him in the face. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”
“I wasn’t sure if you had a ride.” She slipped both hands into her pockets, accentuating her frame beneath the too-big jersey. “With Randy and all his rangers cleaning up this mess, I didn’t want to leave you stranded.”
Right. A reminder he didn’t really have anyone else. He’d left his gear in the truck, his rifle had been submitted for evidence and he was pretty sure NPS had stopped paying his hotel room due to the arrest. “Is that the only reason you’re here?”
Lettie cut her attention toward the sun, closing one eye against the onslaught.
The effect washed her in golden light and softened the blond of her hair as well as the stamp of darkness under her eyes.
“I also wanted to thank you. For what you did. Coming for me. If you hadn’t…
I’m not sure I would’ve stayed alive much longer. ”
“You would have.” He had no doubt in his mind as Rome maneuvered to her side, leaning up against the van. “You’re a fighter.”
“Only because you made me one.” A blush worked up her throat and into her face.
Turning into him slightly, she put the setting sun at her back.
“I got an interesting call from Zion’s vet, too.
She told me what you did for Sam. I appreciate it.
It’ll be a couple more weeks before he can be released, but you saved him, and I’ll never be able to repay you for that. ”
He nodded once. “Don’t mention it.”
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to see you again.” Lettie’s shoulders deflated.
Rome had to swallow the knot lodged in his throat. That same terror coating her admission had dug deep inside him. “I wasn’t sure I was going to see you again either. I hated every second not knowing if you were safe or hurt or if I’d get to you in time.”
She dipped her gaze to the space between their feet. “The things I said that day at the hotel—”
“You don’t have to explain.” She didn’t. He understood. It wasn’t every day you learned the man you’d been married to, who’d put his hands on you and promised “always” in so many forms, had used those same hands to end someone’s life.
“Yes. I do.” She stepped into him, eating up the distance that’d felt like a physical weight between them.
“I’m sorry, Rome. The second I asked you if you had anything to do with these deaths…
” Closing her eyes, she shook her head before turning those blue eyes back on him.
And the regret there shook him as though he was stuck in the middle of a damn earthquake.
“The moment I said those words, it felt wrong. I know you, and I know you’re not a killer. ”
She was wrong though. Rome nodded to the station less than fifty yards away. “My recent arrest might contend with that theory.”
“No.” Sliding her hands along his jaw, she met his gaze head-,on.
“You’re not a killer. Everything you’ve done has been in defense of yourself and others, and I’m so grateful you were there to stop Shawn from finishing what he started.
I’m so grateful that your uncle didn’t turn you into a monster like him.
I was wrong, and I’m sorry. Because I’m not done with you. ”
He straightened, the van supporting his tired body and aching shoulder. Rome didn’t have it in him to get his hopes up only to lose her again. “What do you mean?”
“I mean I love you, Rome. I’m in love with you.
” She smoothed her thumb over the rough hair around his jaw.
“I have been since the moment I met you in the university library and despite every warning my parents gave me. Even after we got married.” Her laugh almost punched through his chest, so comforting and unexpected, a gift he’d spend the rest of his life trying to deserve.
“I love the way you stand up for the people you care about. I love the way you take care of me and make sure I’m taking care of myself.
I love how you pull me closer in the middle of the night without realizing it.
I love the way you smell and that you can cook better than I do. ”
Rome couldn’t help but laugh at that. They both learned what kind of cook she was the hard way.
“I love all the lessons you taught me to make sure I could protect myself but that you like to protect me, too.” Her voice softened as she smoothed her palm over his heart.
Right before dropping to one knee in front of him.
“But most of all, I love who you are despite the world trying to tear you apart. You’re a good man, Rome Foster, and I would be honored if you stayed married to me. ”
His mouth hiked into a smile. “Are you proposing to me?”
“That depends on your answer.” She curled her lips into her mouth, her teeth already looking for any loose skin to tear free from nerves. “I know we each have our own careers and contracts and living arrangements. We don’t have any place to live and we’d still have to deal with my parents, but—”
Rome tugged his wife to her feet and into his chest. Right where she belonged. “I already quit my job.”
“What?” Lettie blinked up at him.
“Well, technically, Randy did it for me. You know, since I was arrested for murder and all.” He cocked his head to one side at the pure confusion in her expression and slipped his good hand above her jeans waistline.
Pure warmth radiated from her skin. “He gave me a choice. I could get out clean now, or I could suffer through months of inquisitions and supervision. And I didn’t want to do any of that. So I resigned.”
“You didn’t have to do that.” Her voice notched higher. “We could’ve fought—”
“The only thing I want to fight for is our future, Lettie. I’ve gone too long without you at my side and in my bed.
” He shrugged. “Your contract here in Zion doesn’t end for another six months.
You want to stay here, I’ll be right here with you.
You want to travel, we can pack up the van and you can be my passenger princess and feed me snacks along the way.
You want a house, we’ll find one and settle down.
Wherever you go, I’m there. As long as we’re together, I will follow you anywhere, sweet one. ”
Lettie pressed against his chest as though she intended to add that distance back between them, but he only held her tighter. “I don’t want to make the same mistakes we did before. I don’t want to lose you again.”
“You won’t. I know what I have in my arms right now, and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her there.” He pressed a light kiss to the corner of her lips then reached into his pocket and extracted his wedding ring. Then slipped it onto his finger. “Always, Dr. Larson.”
“Foster. It’s Dr. Foster now.” Lettie brought her hands to her face as tears glinted in her eyes.
She looked up at him, sliding one hand into her pocket and pulling her own wedding and engagement rings free.
She set them back in place on her ring finger.
Curling her hands into his shirt collar, his wife dragged his mouth to hers. “Always.”