Chapter 18
MORGAN
They’d kept her in the hospital for a day to make sure that all of her tests came back clear. Her memory, Doctor Lewis said, would either come back or not.
It was disconcerting to say the least. She had a gap in her head where several hours should be. She didn’t recall hitting her head and there weren’t any medical signs that she’d sustained an injury to her head that might have caused memory loss.
She’d talked it through with Palmer and while she knew there were a number of causes of memory loss that had nothing to do with injuries, none of the information made her feel any better.
Palmer had taken a leave of absence from work to be with her as she was in the hospital and then after she was released, he’d done everything to make her comfortable at home until her doctor cleared her to return to work.
And he’d just fallen asleep when she opened her eyes to stare up at the ceiling.
She knew how much strain Palmer was putting on himself to make sure that she was okay. It hadn’t helped that Jacob had been called back to Center City to work on a developing case and he’d pulled Palmer aside for a ‘talk,’ before he’d gone.
Jacob had put a lot of strain on Palmer, likely just by being a big brother, but also because he was a law enforcement officer.
No matter how much she’d told Jacob that she didn’t want him to push Palmer more than he was pushing himself, she had a feeling that Jacob was doing whatever he wanted to do.
Just like he always did.
She sighed and Palmer turned over to face her. His eyes opened and he was completely awake.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
She gave him a hesitant smile. “No. I thought you fell asleep.”
He smiled back, the action softening his features. “I thought if I looked like I was asleep, that you’d have an easier time.” Palmer reached out his hand and gently touched her arm. “You’ve had so many people watching over you at the hospital and now here at the apartment, I thought you’d like the privacy.”
Morgan grinned. “It was a little awkward with my brother in the other room.”
A corner of Palmer’s mouth quirked up. “I think he thought he was being funny when he commented on the dust layer on your bed.”
“He knows he wasn’t,” she settled down in the bed, careful not to jostle her arm in its cast, “he was just being an asshole.”
“He was being a big brother.”
“Same difference.”
They went silent, just looking at each other.
“When my arm gets better,” she whispered, “you can have your side of the bed back.”
He shrugged, and the gesture was more on one side of his body than the other. “I don’t care. I just want you to be comfortable.”
Morgan blinked back some tears. “You’re too good for me.”
Palmer lifted his hand from her arm and gently wiped at a tear that slid down her cheek. “I think you’re too good for me, so I guess that makes us a pair.”
She smiled again. “You say the sweetest things, I-”
A flash of light hit the ceiling and the top of the wall over the window and Morgan jumped a little.
“Morgan?”
Her breath hitched in her chest and the world around her went dark.
The light.
The only light she could see was across the grass.
The science building.
“Oh god.”
Morgan swallowed hard as her mind brought back all of the memories that she’d lost. She relived them as a silent observer in her own head.
Walking over.
Listening in.
Her heart pounding double time as she realized what was going on.
The spike of fear when someone grabbed her wrist.
“Let… let go.”
“Oh god.”
“Don’t…”
“Please… let me go.”
Twisting free.
Running through the dark.
Sliding across the asphalt, her skin scratched, her breath sticking in her lungs.
“Please… don’t see me.”
“Morgan.”
“Please, leave… walk away…”
“Morgan?”
“Don’t… please-”
“Morgana! Look at me.”
Her eyes cleared. The darkness receding to the outer edges of her vision and there, before her, filling her world… was Palmer.
“Morgan? What’s going on?”
She swallowed once.
Twice.
And then she filled her lungs with air just to push it out again. “I remember.”
MUNDER
He wasn’t as familiar with the woods surrounding San Antonio as he had been years before, but he was a firm believer in getting back on the bicycle.
At least that’s what he thought until he woke up with a snake curled up against his side.
Either it wasn’t venomous, or it just didn’t want to bother with him and slithered away. By the time his heart started to beat with a normal tempo, he realized it had been a milk snake instead of a coral snake.
That was a relief.
Still, he didn’t want to be stuck out in the woods much longer.
His camp site was off in the brush, hidden away from most of the public areas of the woods.
He’d heard hikers in the vicinity, but so far, he hadn’t seen any faces.
He just needed some time to figure things out.
Wayne, the chemistry teacher had bailed out of his own truck, telling him to take the vehicle and run. Stupid ass.
But with the truck in his possession, Munder knew that he didn’t have a lot of options.
He didn’t have a place to hide the truck and didn’t know anyone who could fix it without putting it in a wide-open shop.
If they were looking for the truck, and they probably were with his luck, then he had to think about his next steps.
“You had a good run, John.” He nodded and lay low in the brush. “You had everything going your way. For a while.”
He thought back to the night when that other social studies teacher had shown back up at school.
Normally the teachers at the school would stay a little late, but they wouldn’t stick around very long.
And as a resource officer, he had the ability to stick around and patrol at all hours.
So, he’d felt like everything was under control until the light in the social studies class turned on.
Benji had noticed it first, calling attention to the classroom lights shining across the grass.
Munder was sure that he’d handled the issue.
He’d gone over to see what the teacher had noticed and when she’d turned tail to run, he’d reached for his throw away piece and shot.
Benji said he hadn’t seen the shooting, but after that night the kid had been more than a little skittish around him. He’d been quieter than normal. Kind of grumpy and acting like he didn’t want to be there.
Offering the kid more money hadn’t made things better.
Instead, the damn idiot burned himself to stop cooking meth. After that, they only thing he could scare the boy with was a bullet in the head to keep him from tattling on their little enterprise.
And then that new teacher showed up. She didn’t have the good sense to keep her nose out of other people’s business.
And now… he was hiding out in the brush at an out of the way hiking area knowing that people were probably looking for him.
Or maybe luck had changed for him.
Maybe the police didn’t ask for security footage from businesses along the road.
Maybe that nosy little bitch had died in that shitty little car.
Maybe the sun would shine out of his ass!
A twig snapped nearby, and he reached for his weapon.
“This is Weston Cooper, Munder. You’re surrounded by my SWAT team.”
“Well, just my fucking luck.”
A laugh reached his ears from somewhere over his head. “If this is your idea of luck, Munder, you’ve been living a sucky life.”
Munder glared at the bright blue sky high over his head. “No shit, Sherlock.”
A SWAT officer stepped through the brush, his weapon leveled at Munder’s head. “Move your hand away from the gun, Munder. Turn on your stomach and put your hands behind your back.”
The school resource officer swore under his breath. “Just tell me one thing.”
“What?”
Munder tasted bile on his tongue. “Is that bitch dead?”
“Morgan Rafferty,” Weston Cooper quipped, “is alive and I bet she’s going to love testifying at your trial.”
Munder rolled over on his stomach and sighed into the loose soil under his face. “Fuck me.”
Two SWAT officers appeared out of the brush on either side of him and Munder heard one of them chuckle. “You’ll be getting plenty of that in prison, man.”
RHETT
He kept a hand on her at all times as they were led through the station building. Rhett wasn’t doing it just to make her feel comfortable. He needed to touch her to reassure himself that she was still there.
He’d heard her recount what happened during those missing hours and it had scared him, terrified him.
The feelings that she’d gone through.
The anxiety. The worry.
The abject fear.
Yes. He wanted to hurt Officer Munder.
He wanted to tear him apart piece by piece, but more important to him was seeing that Morgan had the support she needed to go through what would be another retelling. In a long line of retellings.
Before this was over, she’d likely have to retell her story over and over and that would drag her through those feelings again and again.
He’d be damned if he wasn’t there to support her through all of it.
They were escorted into a room with two men already waiting for them. The men stood and Rhett saw the Texas Rangers badge on one. The other didn’t show a badge of any sort, but given his suit, he was likely part of a federal agency.
“Miss Rafferty.” The suit held out his hand. “I’m FBI Special Agent Vicente Bravo.”
Ah. Rhett recognized the name from the news.
Morgan shook his hand and then the Ranger’s.
“Jake McGowan, Miss Rafferty. Thank you for coming in.”
“Morgan, please.” She managed a smile. “And this is Palmer Butler. Can he stay with me?”
Agent Bravo nodded his head. “Yes, absolutely. As long as he doesn’t add in any facts or comments on things he didn’t personally witness.”
Rhett nodded. He didn’t see the man’s words as anything other than what they were. A well-meant warning. He was protecting the case and Rhett was all for that. “Just here as support.”
The Ranger started first. “We wanted to let you know that SWAT has located and arrested Officer John Munder.”
Rhett noticed the hardened tone of voice when he called the asshole ‘officer.’
“And Mister Stoddard? The chemistry teacher?”
Agent Bravo nodded. “Yes, Miss… Morgan. Evidence techs had just started to process the footage from security cameras along the route from the school to the site of the accident, but before we could identify him through the footage, he turned himself in a few hours ago.”
Beside him, Morgan sat down in a chair as a soft sigh passed her lips.
A moment later she looked at the two law enforcement officers. “And the students?”
The two men shared a look.
"The students are talking," Vicente explained. "We owe that to Benjamin.”
Rhett felt Morgan squeeze his hand. He’d explained to her about Benjamin’s visit to the fire station the night she was hurt.
“They were afraid to say a word after your predecessor was injured and near death. Now, they want to speak out.”
Jake nodded. "It just took that first one standing up for another to speak up and now we have half a dozen with credible testimony and more that we need to talk to."
"I'm ready to testify, too."
Rhett kissed her hand and gave her a smile when she turned to look at him. "I'll be there every step of the way."
She moved her thumb over his hand and he felt his heart swell in his chest.
“I’m so lucky I have you.”
“And the whole station house is backing you,” he added in.
“You’ve got a whole community of first responders ready to stand up with you, too.”
He heard her throat work and knew how much that support meant to her. “Thanks…” She spoke softly, but Rhett heard the strength in her voice.
Morgan
A few mornings later, she had breakfast with Benjamin and his aunt.
To say it was a surprise was an understatement.
Especially when the older woman welcomed Morgan into the house with a big hug and eyes shining with tears.
Benjamin explained the situation to her.
“My mom and dad… they didn’t want to deal with all of the news and stuff. It turns out,” he’d looked down at his hands in his lap, “my mom was getting money from Off… from Munder. She was arrested yesterday and my dad… he drove off and didn’t tell me where he was going. His cell phone number doesn’t work anymore.”
His aunt put her hand on his shoulder. “DFPS called me and I came over to the house. They placed him with me on an emergency basis and I’m confident that they’ll let me have custody soon.”
Benjamin nodded, almost smiling. “I have a hearing coming up tomorrow as part of the drug case. Ranger McGowan says he’s going to go and speak up for me. Agent Bravo as well. I feel like such an ass-”
Benjamin’s aunt’s indrawn gasp made him blush.
“I feel like a total idiot for being a part of it at all, but Officer Munder…” He shook his head. “He threatened us, but I could have spoken up about it earlier.”
“We just have to hope.” His aunt put her arm around him, but she was much shorter than he was, so it was closer to his waist than his shoulders. “They’ll see what kind of influence he had over you.”
“And his threats,” Morgan added, “when they are corroborated by the other students, they’ll see what was happening. I’m just sorry that anyone at the school put you through all of that. We’re supposed to help our students, not get them in trouble.”
“You helped, Miss.” Benjamin looked at her and gave her a watery smile. “You were always trying to help. It’s why I knew I could talk to you.”
Morgan felt her heart swell in her chest. “It’s what I love about teaching,” she told him. “I had teachers who helped me when I was going through some things. I wanted to be just like them. I care about you and the others, not just at school, but your lives.” She looked at his aunt to ask her question, but a little afraid of the answer. “When he’s placed with you and your family, will he be at the same school?”
Benjamin’s aunt gave his arm a gentle squeeze. “I’ve already applied for a district exemption to keep him at Shilling. He has a cousin about to finish middle school. I’m going to try to get her into Shilling as well.”
Morgan felt her shoulders sag with relief. “Please let me know her name and I’ll talk to the office. I know the staff there want to keep Benjamin at Shilling. They might be able to help with your daughter…”
“Olivia.” She smiled sweetly as she said her daughter’s name and Morgan was even more determined to have both cousins at Shilling High School.
Morgan shifted on the couch and tried to ignore the pain in her arm. “I’m sorry, I should get going.”
Benjamin and his aunt saw her to the door with hugs and thanks, which she returned in equal measure.
Later that night, she joined the other women at Station Seven to cook for the whole crew as they’d been out all day with call after call and even though Morgan protested that she wasn’t going to be much help with one arm, Thora picked her up and Gia held her hand as they drove to the station. The little girl’s bright smile and gentle touch eased much of Morgan’s worry about the visit.
When they arrived, the whole station house was lit up like daylight and the whole family of firefighters and their loved ones came out to the apparatus floor to greet her.
Thora stepped to the side as her husband Rush picked his baby boy out of her arms and reached down a hand to hold Gia at his side.
Palmer walked out of the assembled group with a smile on his face.
Those heart-quickening smiles were becoming the norm around her, and she was glad to see it.
He was handsome, devastatingly so with his normal stern expression, but smiling, he moved the earth under her feet. “Hey, gorgeous.”
“Uh… hey.”
She stole a quick glance at the group that included Chief Ethan Blaise and even a few firefighters from other shifts.
“What’s going on, Palmer?”
He reached into the pocket of his work slacks and took out a small square box.
Morgan would have stumbled back if he hadn’t reached out a hand to steady her.
“Careful, Morgana.”
Her breath caught in her lungs. He’d said the words under his breath, and he knew what hearing her full name did to her when he said it. “Palmer?”
He got down on one knee in front of her and opened the ring box for her to see a deep red stone on a band, surrounded by shining diamonds. “From the moment I saw you, you had my heart. I wanted you to have a piece of it to carry with you.”
Palmer took the ring out of the box and held it out to her.
“Morgana Rafferty, will you marry me?”
Morgan started to cry, and a moment later she felt Palmer’s arms wrap around her in a warm hug. “Baby? You okay?”
She nodded and wrapped her one good arm around him. “Yes…”
The word was muffled by his shoulder.
“I didn’t mean to upset you.”
She leaned back, her watery gaze meeting his. “You didn’t. I don’t know why I’m crying.”
“Uh… okay. I… I don’t know what I did-”
“Yes,” she blurted out and almost laughed at the shock on his face. “I know this is all crazy,” she told him, “but you didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just so happy!”
His brows raised as if he wasn’t quite sure she meant her words. “So…”
“Yes, Palmer,” she wiggled her good arm free and held her hand steady between them. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He looked so relieved that she felt her cheeks heat with color. “Thank god.”
He didn’t waste any time putting the ring on her finger because the klaxon alarm was sounding.
“Station Seven. House fire at-”
Palmer leaned in for a quick but breathtaking kiss. “Sorry, love. I have to-”
“Go,” she nodded, agreeing. “Just be safe because I love you.”
He grinned at her. “I love you, too.”
And then they were gone, but the warmth and joy in her heart… that was forever.