Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - ONE WEEK LATER
Savanna stored the last of the bins on a shelf in the garage and paused at the sight of the lone car that sat inside. The red Mustang wasn’t in as bad of shape as the guys had led her to believe after Oliver had ripped things apart during his search. But it’d need work, that was for sure.
“Hey, you okay?”
Savanna turned her attention to where Ella stood in the doorway of the garage. “Yeah, that’s the last of it, right?”
Ella dusted her hands together a few times as if to say, All done .
She’d helped Savanna clear out all of the Halloween decorations from her café earlier that evening since Halloween was now behind them. Savanna had also needed something to do to keep herself busy.
Still no calls from Griffin. No word from Nick, either. And she was going stir crazy.
Ella’s brother, A.J., and his teammates were Stateside now and safe after whatever clandestine op they’d been on, which was a relief, but A.J. had to wrap up some things in D.C. before he could come to visit. He was still in shock at everything that’d gone down after he left Jesse’s. Hell, so was she, for that matter, and she’d lived it.
“You thinking about Griffin or Nick?” Ella motioned for her to join her in the house, and Savanna finally got herself to move. “Or Marcus?”
It was the anniversary month of his death, and though it’d been years since she’d lost him, right now, it felt like yesterday when the guys had shown up wearing their dress blues to give her the bad news in 2015.
After his death, she’d heard their team leader, Luke Scott, apparently had a breakdown of sorts from the guilt and had demanded no one on the team allow themselves to fall in love, and had declared from that day forward, there would be no more widow-making.
“They’re all married now. Most with kids,” Savanna said, forgetting Ella wasn’t inside her head to know what she’d been thinking. “They all fell in love, anyway. Including your stubborn brother, A.J.”
Ella hit the button to shut the garage door once they were both inside the house, and Savanna paused in the hallway to peer toward the foyer where Jesse had killed a man.
I should move.
Marcus’s spirit seemed to be done following her around, and frankly, he was the only one she’d ever want haunting her, so she didn’t need some stranger who tried to kidnap her doing it.
“Yeah, I guess they’re all married,” Ella said, maybe catching on, as they went into the kitchen, and Ella uncorked the bottle of wine she’d brought with her tonight.
“Chianti,” Savanna said, reaching for the bottle, remembering her time in Greece with Griffin and the first night they’d made love.
“You okay, sweetie?”
“What if what we had wasn’t real?” Savanna blinked away her tears and handed the Chianti back to Ella so she could pour the wine. “I never believed insta-love was possible. Maybe what we had was only insta-lust, and we were both just caught up in the moment. The adrenaline rush. And Marcus didn’t really send him to me because Marcus,” she said, choking on an unexpected sob, “is dead. Dead people don’t really . . .” She let go of her words and collapsed to the floor, not sure what had suddenly come over her, but Ella dropped right along with her.
“It was real,” Ella said in a confident tone. “You know it was, and you’re both taking time to prove that. Because time won’t extinguish whatever flame that man lit inside you, and I can for damn sure see it shines brighter every day, even while you’re apart.”
Savanna swallowed down the lump in her throat.
“You’ve always said you believed Marcus’s spirit was with you, but now you don’t feel him anymore. I think he’s finally moved on, or whatever you want to call it, because he knows you’re taken care of,” Ella added, and now she was getting choked up. “He may have been angry and disappointed in Nick, but I’m sure he’d want his brother to be okay, and you helped him with that.”
“That’s all my crazy talk,” Savanna sputtered, swiping the tears from her face, but they just kept coming.
She missed Griffin.
So much.
She’d spent so many years mourning Marcus that it was strange to find herself missing another man. But this man now had a grip on her heart and her mind.
“You know better than to lie to me,” Ella challenged. “It’s not crazy. It’s real. You love Griffin, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t care if it took one day or two years for you to fall for him.” She tipped her chin so Savanna would look into her eyes and see the truth there as she added, “The heart has no concept of time. Believe me, I know.”
“Oh, Ella, I’m sorry. I know you’re still . . .”
“No, this isn’t about me or Rory’s dipshit brother,” Ella quickly said, her Southern twang growing stronger along with her anger toward Jesse. “You are a strong-ass woman, Savanna. And—” Ella stopped talking at the sound of a knock at the back kitchen door.
“Am I Interrupting?”
“Jesse?” Ella rolled her eyes at the sight of her nemesis.
“I found someone outside I thought you might want to talk to,” Jesse added while opening the door, not waiting for an invite.
Savanna pushed up to her feet and wiped the tears from her face at the sight of her brother-in-law. “Nick.”
Nick’s bruises had faded quite a lot, and overall, he looked much better—healthy and even happy. And now that he was healing, his resemblance to Marcus was even more striking. “Hi.” He shot her a small, nervous smile.
“I’ll just take Jesse to help me with something outside.” Ella grabbed hold of Jesse’s bicep, needing both hands for the task, and dragged him out the door.
“Hi,” Savanna finally returned in an equally quiet voice. “Are you free now? From your obligation to MI6? I mean,” she said, feeling her cheeks heat with embarrassment. “Is it okay for you to be here?”
Nick rested his back to the counter, his eyes going to the wine she’d yet to drink. “They cut me loose. After I handed over the USB drive, MI6 wiped my records clean. They said I deserve a fresh start.”
“A fresh start? That’s nice.” For some reason, Savanna was nervous. She sidestepped Nick and offered him one of the glasses of Chianti Ella had just poured, needing a sip of hers to take the edge off. “What will you do?”
“You know, I was thinking about following Dad’s footsteps and maybe making sure assholes like me can’t break into shit.” Nick smirked before taking a sip of his wine.
“You’re not an asshole.”
“I was. There was a reason Marcus never forgave me.”
“But he did,” Savanna said. Letting go of a shaky breath, she set her wine on the counter. “Come with me.” She led the way to her living room, where she’d stored the box of Marcus’s things she’d made sure to grab from Carter’s jet before returning home last week.
“What’s that?” Nick asked as she knelt and opened the box.
This wasn’t going to be easy, but she promised herself she could get through this moment when or if Nick showed up. She grabbed the pile of unsent letters, then stood and faced Nick, once again struck by how similar he was to her late husband. “Here.”
Nick accepted them with brows drawn tight. “He wrote to me?” A rattle of emotion came out with his question.
“Well, he obviously didn’t send them, but yes. Such a stubborn man. But Marcus told me that in each letter he wrote, he forgave you. I thought you might want them.” She sniffled and brushed away fresh tears.
When Nick looked up at her, his eyes were watery too. “Thank you,” was all he seemed capable of managing to get out.
She went back to the box and pulled out the photo Griffin’s team had used to track down that safe-deposit box in Greece. “You might want this as well.”
“This is how you found the safe-deposit box, huh?” He smiled as if impressed while peering at the picture from his teenage years. “How’d you know to search the Mustang?”
“I remembered the one and only time we met.” She smiled. “Another time Marcus was stubborn.”
He returned her smile this time. “Yeah, well, that man was protective of you, and for good reason. His stubbornness came from a good place.”
“I also want you to have the Mustang. The guys tore through it searching for that key, but I know Marcus would want you to have it. It needs work now, but please take it.”
He was quiet for a moment. “I will if you promise not to be stubborn about that money I sent you. I want you to use it.”
“No, you should take it,” she said while vehemently shaking her head. “For your fresh start. It’ll help.”
“I have plenty saved for a rainy day. Don’t you worry about me.” He looked up at the water stain on the kitchen ceiling. “Maybe buy a house? Pay off your café? It’d make me feel better to know you’re okay.”
She blinked in surprise, trying to grasp the reality of what he was saying. He was offering to erase her money problems. She could breathe again.
He held up his free hand. “I promise the money isn’t dirty.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
He held up the letters. “I’m the one who owes you a million thank yous. You don’t owe me anything.”
“Will you come back from time to time and visit? Call, at least?” she asked when he turned, looking as though he was about to jet.
But he didn’t leave, and he pivoted to face her. “If you think that’s okay, I’d like that.”
“I would too.” She smiled, feeling a little piece of her heart sliding back in place at the feeling Marcus and Nick had truly made amends somehow.
“Oh, and, Savanna?”
“Yeah?” she whispered, smoothing her hands up and down her arms as chills crisscrossed up her spine.
“It’s okay to be happy again. You know that’s what Marcus would want, right?”
Savanna’s stomach knotted at his words, and she lightly nodded. “I know.” She swallowed. “I think I want that too.”