Chapter 32
“Sprinkles, come on, you need to wake up.” Why was Sebastian trying to get her out of bed? It was so warm and it felt like she had just managed to fall asleep in his arms. His lips pressed into her hair. “Emma, you’ve got to wake up.”
“Seb? What’s going on?” Her eyes felt like sandpaper as she struggled to open them.
“Baby, we found them.”
Her heart froze in her chest. She looked around the dark room until she found the calmest pair of gray eyes staring at her. “What?”
“We found Natalie and Addie. They both are being brought to the Sheriff’s department, but if we hurry, we can make it there before they get in.”
“They’re bringing them here?” she asked as she sat up in bed, flinging her legs over the edge as she tried to get her bearings.
“Natalie and Addie were in Dallas. Not sure why she kept Addie so close to Bell Ridge, but I’m so fucking grateful that she did.” The tears straining in his voice sent her into emotional overdrive.
“Oh my god, Seb. She’s really coming home?”
“Yeah, baby. She’s coming home.” He caught her just as she launched herself into his chest. “There’s more, Em.”
“What? Is Addie okay? She wasn’t hurt, was she?”
“Gage said she’s fine. A little shaken up and she doesn’t understand what’s happening, but she’s physically okay.”
“So what is it then?”
“We thought Natalie and Addie were traveling alone. No one expected him to be with them.”
“Marco?”
He nodded. “The FBI took him into custody.”
Her legs gave out and she fell towards the ground, but Sebastian was there to catch her like he had a million times recently.
“It’s over?” she cried.
“It’s over.” He pulled her into his chest. “Let’s go get our girl.”
* * *
“Where is she?” Emma rushed to the front desk of the sheriff’s department, Sebastian holding on tightly to her hand.
“Emma?” Her head whipped at the voice calling to her.
“John, is she here?”
“They aren’t back yet. I know Hank spoke with Stone a few minutes after they left. They should be back any minute. Why don’t you come back to Hank’s office and we can let you know what’s going on.”
She looked at Sebastian, who gave her an encouraging smile. “Let’s see what they have to say. I’m sure the guys are just driving extra cautiously because they have Addie with them.”
“Okay.”
She hadn’t ever been in Hank’s office, but could immediately see little touches of Daisy everywhere. She smiled at the ultrasound picture Hank had framed on his desk. Was she about to get her baby back, too?
“Emma.” Hank stood, walking around the desk before he pulled her into a big hug. “She’s okay.”
“I want to see her, Hank. When she gets here. I want to see Natalie, too.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Em. At least, not initially. Legally, we need to establish that Addie is your daughter. That will take a few days to run the DNA through the lab and in the meantime, she’ll be assigned a social worker who can help place her into a temporary foster home.”
“She can’t go home with us tonight?” She felt Sebastian’s grip tighten on her hand.
“I’m sorry. That’s just not how things like this usually work.”
“Will I at least be able to see her?”
“The department has a psychologist that we work with for kids who are involved in any sort of case, I’ve called her to come in and speak with Addie. I think we should defer to whatever Dr. Sloane feels might be best in the situation.”
“She has to be scared, Hank. Wouldn’t it be better for her to go home with someone she knows? She’s been around Emma a ton, and she knows me a little, too. We don’t have to explain anything to her tonight. We just want her safe with us. I can afford to get her the best counselor, the best tutors if she needs to stay home from school for a while.” Emma loved that Sebastian wasn’t going to back down from this either.
“Look, I agree with you both. So, let’s see what the social worker, and the therapist think, and we can go from there.”
“And getting to see Natalie?”
“I’m sorry, Em. That really is out of the question. When we get back the evidence that Addie is your daughter, she’ll be formally charged in her kidnapping. We don’t want anything to happen that would cause the case to be thrown out. No tampering.”
A shrill voice cut through the air, and Emma immediately knew who it was.
“Natalie.” Emma stood, grimacing at the pain in her belly, and Sebastian followed, pulling her tightly against his chest. “They’re here, Seb.”
“I know it’s hard, Em, but we need to wait here. Addie needs calm, and I’m sure the theatrics Natalie is putting on right now isn’t helping.”
“I better go out and see what’s going on,” Hank said before stepping out of his office.
Ten minutes later, the door opened. Emma said a silent prayer that it would be Addie, but she couldn’t be mad when Stone, Gage, Hawk, and Nash walked in. Emma threw herself into Gage’s open arms.
“We did it, beautiful. Your girl is back safe and sound,” he whispered as she tried to hold back her tears.
“I’m so sorry, Gage.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for. I’m so happy for you. This is nothing short of the blessing you deserve.”
“I know it must be hard?—”
“Stop right there, Em.” Gage placed his hands on her arms and held her away from his body. “Melody and Mikey wouldn’t have wanted this to turn out any other way. I’m happy for you. That’s the end of that.” He pulled her back into his chest before kissing the top of her head.
After another moment soaking in what Gage had said, she gave Nash, Hawk, and Stone hugs. “I can never repay you guys. For everything, but especially for this.”
“We’re so happy for you, Emma.” Nash ran his hand up and down her back.
“She’s doing great, just so you know. We took a few minutes at the house where they were so I could look her over. Aside from the emotional toll the night took on her, she’s healthy,” Stone smiled.
“Thank you.”
“Are they going to let you take her home tonight? Or, I guess at this hour it’s really more like this morning?” Gage asked.
“Hank’s trying to sort it all out,” Sebastian said, clearing his throat before Emma felt his hands on her waist, gently pulling her away from the guys and back into his arms.
“We need to give our statements, and there’s a bunch of follow up shit the FBI needs from us, so we have a few more hours here, at least. You let us know what happens, okay? And if you need anything, Em, we’re still here for you,” Nash said.
Emma went through another round of hugs and gave each man a quick kiss on the cheek, despite Seb’s grumbling, before they left Hank’s office.
“Hey guys.” Hank walked back in to his office a few minutes later. “Listen, it’s going to be a bit to see how everything shakes out with Addie and where the best place for her to be is. If you want, you can sit with me and listen to the detective questioning Natalie.”
Emma’s stomach flipped. “Yes.”
“I don’t know,” Sebastian said at the same time. “Are you going to be okay listening to her spin a tale. You know that’s what she’ll be doing.”
“Even if I just get one piece of truth that I didn’t know before, it will be worth it. Please come with me. I need you there.”
“Let’s go.”
They walked across the station, towards a hallway with two doors. One must lead to the room where Natalie was being held, because the one Hank opened led to a dark room with a few chairs, and a clear view of Natalie being questioned through a one-way mirror.
“This feels so surreal. Like we’re watching a movie.”
“I know. If it gets to be too much, Em, just let me know and we can leave. At any point, okay?” Hank gestured for them to sit. Natalie’s voice filtered into the room.
“Gio and I were high school sweethearts. We never thought that I wouldn’t be able to have kids. I just wanted a baby, and when he told me what he’d done, he placed this beautiful baby girl into my arms and I didn’t care. She was mine. I’ve raised her since the day she was born.”
Emma shuttered and Sebastian wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side. “You don’t have to be in here for this,” he said as he swept away a tear from Emma’s face.
“No, I do. That bitch lied to my face, pretended to be my friend, all while helping Marco stalk and torture me over the past few weeks. She didn’t care he’d stolen my baby from me? She didn’t care because she wanted a baby of her own? I don’t understand how someone could be so self-centered. How could someone do something so cruel?”
“Did you know Adeline was Emma Sullivan’s biological daughter?” The investigator asked.
“Not until a few months ago.”
“And how did you find out?”
“Gio came home from work one day and told me Addie’s biological mom was causing trouble for him. That we had to come to Bell Ridge so that we could stop her from trying to get Addie back. I just wanted to keep my daughter safe. I wanted to make sure she could never be taken from me. I’m her mother. I did nothing wrong. I’ve loved my daughter since the day she was born!”
“She’s not her daughter, she’s mine!” Emma jumped up from her chair, wanting to throw it through the glass and give Natalie exactly what she had coming to her, but before she could, Sebastian pulled her into his chest.
“I want her to pay, too, Emma, but we have to think about Addie,” he whispered into her ear. “Hank, Natalie just admitted to knowing Adeline is Emma’s daughter. That has to hold some weight with the social worker and their decision, doesn’t it?”
“It’s certainly something I’ll discuss with them. I know this is really difficult. Why don’t we head back to my office?”
“No. I want to finish hearing what she has to say and then I want to take Addie home.”
* * *
“I can’t believe she’s asleep in the other room. She’s home, Seb. I don’t know how I’m ever going to repay you.”
Both the psychologist and the social worker had agreed that Addie would be less traumatized staying with Sebastian and Emma after everything that had happened. They were told not to discuss anything with her until the test results came back, and both Emma and Sebastian wholeheartedly agreed. Three days was nothing when they already knew what the results were going to say.
After they’d gotten Addie to sleep, which was heartbreaking as her little cries filled the whole apartment until she’d finally tired herself out, Emma discussed with him her plans to set up therapy for both herself and Addie. It would be a long haul until things felt normal, and maybe they never fully would, but he already knew she’d do her best to make the most of the second chance she was given. And he would do the same.
“There is nothing to repay, Sprinkles. I have everything I’ve ever wanted right here under my roof. A wife and daughter. My family.”
“A wife and daughter?”
“I know it’s her first night home, and we are only at the very beginning of her journey towards us being her family, but I hope that one day, Addie will see me as a father-figure. Just like how one day soon, I hope you’ll be my wife.” Her eyes grew wide as he slid off the bed, reaching into the pocket of his pants.
The morning he’d left Dec in the gym, he’d made two stops. The first, a tattoo parlor where he’d gotten his first, and probably only, tattoo of two stars over his heart. The second, a high-end jeweler who he custom designed an engagement ring with. The velvet box felt heavy in his hands, the weight of that moment and the question he was about to ask not lost on him.
“I was saving this for a special moment, and I cannot think of moment more special than this. Emma Sullivan, I never want to spend another day apart from you. You are the most incredible woman I’ve ever met. Strong in every single way imaginable. I am so completely and madly in love with you. Will you marry me?”
A tear trailed down her face as she spoke. “It’s so fast, Seb.”
His heart sank. “You don’t feel the same way?”
“Of course I do. I just don’t want you to be deciding too quickly because of what happened to me. I want you to be sure.”
“Sprinkles. You are it for me. I was certain the moment I saw you in that red dress the night of the auction. I’ve just been trying to woo you ever since.”
“You know I don’t care about any of that. Your money is what it is, but that’s not important to me. I think you might just be the only man in the world who can challenge me. And I love that.”
“It sure is fun to make up when we disagree.”
“Mmmm.”
They sat looking into each other’s eyes.
“Should I say no just so we can kiss and make up?” she joked.
“How about you say yes, and we spend the night celebrating?”
“The doctor hasn’t cleared me yet for…certain activities.”
“I just want to hold you while we sleep, Em. I want to go to sleep tonight knowing my fiance is safely cuddled in my arms.”
“Now that, I think I can manage.” She held her left hand up. “My official answer is yes. Of course I will marry you, Sebastian.”
“I love you so much, Sprinkles,” he said, slipping the ring onto her finger.
“I love you too, Suits. Thank you for making every dream of mine come true.”