Epilogue
Cutter warned Rafe long before he himself heard the car coming down the quiet street.
He glanced at his watch. They were a few minutes early, but that didn’t surprise him.
And Rafe didn’t mind, because they were heading home as soon as this was wound up.
Heading home, Cutter to his beloved Hayley and him to his beloved Charlie.
He didn’t get all choked up even thinking those last words anymore, but he didn’t think he’d ever get past the throat-tightening stage.
What had seemed impossible had happened.
And not just for him, but for Blaine, too.
And having some small part in that made him understand why everyone—including himself now—took such glee at Cutter’s matchmaking skills.
Walker came out of his office with the tall, straight-backed man with a touch of gray in his dark hair at the temples who had arrived about twenty minutes ago.
“I’ll leave you to it, Mr. Rockwell.”
The older man smiled. “Someday I’ll get you to call me Marcus.”
Walker grinned back. “You’re my wife’s boss. It’ll be tough.” He looked at Rafe. “You’re heading out when you’re done here today?”
Rafe nodded. Walker came over and shook his hand. “It’s been great working with you.”
“Ditto. You’re doing great work here, Walker. You’ve built a good thing in the last eighteen months.” He paused to give his fellow operative a crooked smile. “And I don’t mean just Foxworth.”
Walker grinned back at him, a far cry from the worn, wary man who had knocked on his sister’s door after years away, only to get decked by the brother-in-law he’d never even met.
“Don’t be a stranger,” Walker said. “And keep working on that word.”
Rafe rolled his eyes before saying, “Tell Amy that Hayley expects you for a visit soon.”
“I will,” Walker said as he waved and left the office, Cutter dashing over to sneak out with him. Rafe saw him pause to talk to the Everetts as they were getting out of Erin’s car, while Cutter greeted Ethan with a furiously wagging tail.
“What word is it you’re supposed to be working on?” Rockwell asked.
Rafe smiled crookedly. “He thinks there should be an official word for the connection between us.”
“Connection?”
“He’s married to his sister’s best friend, so he thinks that ought to have a word. But he thinks we should have a word, too, since he’s also married to my future wife’s brother’s wife’s best friend.”
Rockwell stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing. “English is an amazing language, but I don’t think that one’s going to get much use if you do come up with it.”
Rafe guessed that the fact the attorney was laughing made the Everetts relax a little when they came in.
It had been several days since he’d last seen them.
He hadn’t been in the least surprised when Blaine told him they were going to try again, and if he judged by the look on all three faces—and the ring with the stone that looked like amber on Erin’s left ring finger—it was going well.
The change was obvious, and as a man who had recently rebuilt his own life from what he’d thought was unsalvageable rubble, he recognized it immediately.
Yes, he really was starting to like this matchmaking stuff Cutter always seemed to pull off. Especially with people like Blaine and Erin, who were almost as messed up as he and Charlie had been.
When they were all seated near the fire, Rafe formally introduced the man who joined them.
“Marcus has been dealing with the legal aspects of your case,” he said.
Ethan looked suddenly glum. “How much is that gonna cost? Lawyers cost a lot, right?”
“Usually,” Rockwell agreed, unruffled. “But working with and for Foxworth is a privilege I don’t charge for.”
Rafe noticed Blaine relax a little, and guessed he’d been wondering about that himself.
“How’s it going?” Rafe asked, although from the way Blaine and Erin were holding hands he figured he already know.
“Good,” Blaine confirmed.
“Ethan?” Rafe asked.
The boy looked up from petting Cutter. “Great. All I ever wanted was my family back.”
“You got that,” Blaine said, but there was a not stern, but firm note in his voice. “But don’t go thinking you won something by putting us through this hell. You got what you wanted, but like we talked about, it comes with rules.”
“I know,” Ethan said, sounding chastened. “I’m still…learning.”
“If I can, you can,” Erin said quietly. And when the boy looked at her and nodded, totally without the antipathy Rafe had seen before, he knew they were going to be all right. In fact, he’d known it when he’d seen Ethan taping the photo he’d cut in half back together again.
“Good. Then I’ll turn this over to Marcus,” Rafe said, and leaned back to let the attorney take over.
“I’m going to lay this out, then you tell me if you agree with what we’ve arranged. Ethan, in the video from the convenience store you’re simply in a fight with another boy, correct?”
“Yeah,” Ethan said, but with a glance at his father he sat up straight and said, “but it was a distraction so Isaac could rip them off.”
“I appreciate the honesty. But no proof of you being involved in the actual attempted theft is in the video, thankfully, so the owners have agreed to press charges only against Isaac. But you are on video stealing from the pet store near the mission. And you were the only one committing a crime in that instance.”
Ethan lowered his gaze and said, “I know. Stupid.”
“Rafe and I, and Cutter,” Marcus added with a nod at the dog now parked at Ethan’s side again, “had a talk with the owner of that pet store. And he has agreed he will not press charges if, and only if, you come and work for him every weekend for the next ten weeks.”
Ethan’s head shot up. “Work? In the pet store?”
“Is that a problem?” the attorney asked.
“No!” The boy actually looked excited at the idea.
“So you’ll do it,” Blaine said, “even knowing you’ll still have to get your schoolwork done and any chores at home?”
He glanced at both his parents. “I’ll even walk if I have to. It’s not that far.”
“And you’re looking at summer school next session, too, to make up the time you lost,” Erin said.
Ethan grimaced, but it was a normal kid look, not angry, not hostile or hateful. “I know. I’ll do it. All of it.”
Once it was all worked out and agreed to, Ethan went outside with Cutter for a last round of tennis ball catch.
Marcus gave them his card, but said this should do it and he’d let them know if there was any problem.
Rafe walked him to the door, thanked him, then turned back to look at the two who were once more a couple.
If he had to guess, he’d say unbreakable this time.
They walked to the door themselves, and watched Ethan and Cutter playing. When the boy saw them he came over, Cutter at his heels.
“Mom says once Dad’s all settled in and everything, we can get a dog,” he told Rafe.
Cutter barked, happily, as if in agreement with the idea.
“Yeah, I know, mutt,” Rafe said. “Everybody’s happier with a dog.”
“And Dad says when he’s out of the Marines he’s going to work here.”
“That he is,” Rafe agreed.
“I’d say that big debt you thought you owed Blaine is more than paid up now,” Erin said to him with a wide smile.
“Nope,” Rafe said. “It’s just changed. Now it goes both ways.”
Blaine smiled. “You got it, bro.”
Cutter’s bark this time sounded exactly like the sharp rap of a gavel, and Rafe grinned. “That’s his ‘case closed’ bark.”
Erin grinned back. “We’ll never find a dog that smart, but that may be for the best.”
“For sure,” Blaine agreed. “Keeping up with this one must be a full-time job in itself.”
“That it is,” Rafe said as Cutter came to stand by his side and look at the others. He reached down to stroke that dark head. “But it’s worth it.”
And later, at the private side of the airport awaiting Wilbur’s touchdown with Quinn at the controls, Rafe sat on the small couch with Cutter beside him, the dog’s head resting on the injured leg that likely would have ended up a death warrant if not for Blaine Everett.
“Thanks, buddy,” he whispered to the dog.
Cutter lifted his head and swiped his tongue over Rafe’s cheek.
And if anyone had pointed out that his eyes got a little wet, Rafe would have denied it.
Maybe.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from Christmas Security by Lisa Childs.