Chapter 44
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (THREE MONTHS LATER)
“What do you think?” Liam snapped a photo of Elaina cradling her baby cousin in her arms.
“He’s so cute.” Elaina held David’s little hand, and the baby’s mouth stretched open with a yawn. “I like having a cousin.” She looked at Emily off to Liam’s left. “I think he smiled at me.”
David was only four weeks old, so probably not, but he wasn’t about to tell her. The baby looked more like Melissa than Brandon with his dark hair and eyes.
“Liam.” Brandon motioned for Liam to follow him out of the living room of their parents’ home, and Liam stowed his phone in his pocket. “Thanks for coming.” He leaned against the wall in the hall with crossed arms.
He nodded. “How’s Melissa?”
“She’s still recovering from the C-section, but she’s doing great.” He wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and squeezed. They were more alike than Liam had remembered. “She wanted to come over, but she didn’t think you’d want to see her.”
Liam looked him straight in the eyes, needing for him to believe him when he spoke. “I’m over what happened,” he said without a doubt in his mind. “She can come.”
“Your wife and Melissa at dinner tonight with mum and dad won’t be weird?”
“Maybe a little, but Emily gave the green light, so as long as she’s okay, I’m solid.”
“I’d like that then.” He lowered his arm to the side. “I’m so sorry again that I—”
“You don’t need to apologize. I finally understand how you feel.” He looked in the direction of the living room, catching sight of Emily holding baby David in her arms. “I have everything I want, bro. Absolutely everything, and I wouldn’t change a damn thing.”
“You mean that?”
He kept his eyes on his beautiful family.
God, he had a family.
He’d never grow tired of saying the word. Thinking it.
He’d been given a chance to have it all, and he finally realized he deserved it, too.
“We should consider getting a place here,” Emily said as they walked along the harbor, which overlooked the famous Opera House off to their left.
“Oh, yeah?” He wouldn’t mind visiting his family more often, but he’d be going back to work soon so his schedule would get nuts.
He’d taken more time off than planned, but he hadn’t anticipated he’d become a father during his recovery, and he hadn’t wanted to jet off so soon.
Emily stopped walking and tied her hair into a messy bun since the wind kept kicking it in her face. It was springtime in Sydney, one of his favorite times of the year there.
“Ice cream?” Liam pointed to a vendor and Elaina eagerly nodded.
“Good arvo,” Emily said to the vendor.
Liam leaned in and whispered in her ear, “Look at you channeling your inner Aussie.” He pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “So sexy.”
“Oh, you’ll see my inner Aussie when we’re alone later,” she whispered as he ordered three cones.
He slipped his shades up so she could see the look in his eyes—the I-want-to-pin-you-to-the-wall look.
Emily grinned and thanked the vendor for her ice cream. She stroked her tongue with purposeful licks over the vanilla, and damn if he knew exactly what he was going to be doing to her that night. Blindfold for sure to tease the living hell out of her when his tongue . . .
He blew out a breath and shook off his desire to the best of his ability and secured his sunglasses back in place. “So, um, up for the Taronga Zoo tomorrow?”
Elaina eagerly bobbed her head up and down. “Yes, please!”
“You’ll love the—” His words were plundered by a boy walking past, the kid’s eyes pinned to Elaina. “Did you see him check her out?” His lax stance converted to a tense one, his spine snapping upright. “He was probably twelve.”
Emily pressed a hand to his shoulder and licked the ice cream attempting to escape down the side of the cone. “You have a daughter now. A smart and gorgeous daughter. This is going to happen.”
“Well, I thought I had more time.” He reached for his phone when Emily and Elaina began walking again, hand in hand, in front of him. He snapped their photo so he could have the moment accessible at all times, especially when he was gone on an op.
Two more weeks until he was back on Bravo.
He was looking forward to returning, but it’d be hard to leave them.
But now he had a family and home to come back to.
He had absolutely everything.
He started to put his phone away when it began vibrating in his palm. “It’s Jessica,” he called out, and Emily glimpsed him over her shoulder. “One second.” He tossed his half-eaten cone and moved out of the way of pedestrian traffic. “What’s up?”
“Enjoying your time Down Under?”
“Yeah, it was an awkward homecoming at first, but it’s been great.” They’d survived dinner with Melissa and Brandon, and it’d gone better than he’d expected. Emily was a champ, though, so there was that.
“Well, I should probably wait until you return home to tell you this, but . . .”
“Jessica,” he said with a laugh. “You should’ve gone into acting, I swear. Or maybe writing. You just love to build up the sus—”
“We got Jared!”
He lowered the phone to his side for a few seconds and swiveled around to look at Emily and Elaina a couple of meters away. They had their backs to him, and Emily was pointing at the bridge off in the distance.
“Dead or alive?” he asked once he brought the phone back to his ear.
“A bullet in the leg since he resisted arrest, but he’s alive. The president wanted him that way in case he has other valuable intel. He’s in a CIA black site getting a taste of his own medicine now.”
“Where was he?” Not that it mattered, but damn, he wished he could’ve been part of the mission to take the prick down.
The bastard had orchestrated everything for money. Sacrificing lives. Elaina’s life.
The son of a bitch had also been the reason why he now had a daughter, though.
“We tracked him to Amsterdam three days ago.”
“Who led the op?”
“Harper and Echo took point. She wanted the chance to go after him,” she explained. “Harper felt guilty for vouching for him, which is crazy, but I figured this was a good time for her to get a feel for handling things without me.”
“Glad it went well.” He followed his words with a sigh.
It was finally over. Justice had been delivered.
She was quiet for a moment, as if letting the news sink in. “We’ve missed you, but are you sure you’re ready to come back?”
“Emily and Elaina support my job. I wouldn’t do it if they didn’t.” They’d never ask him to make that choice, though. “Don’t worry, I’ve made sure to hit the range while I’ve been away. My trigger finger is doing just fine.”
“I’d expect nothing less. See you soon.”
He ended the call and returned to his girls. His. Damn.
Emily slid her shades to her head. “Everything okay?”
He lifted his chin in the direction of the sun for a beat. “Jared’s in custody.” He smiled. “They got him.”
Emily pressed a hand to her mouth, and her sunglasses dropped back in place, concealing the liquid he knew would be forming in her eyes.
“It’s over.” He pressed a hand to her shoulder and nodded.
Elaina tugged at the side of his shirt, and he crouched to find her eyes. “You okay?”
“Yes, but I was wondering . . .”
“Anything,” he rushed out.
“You know how you asked me a few weeks ago if I’d want to visit Chile, and I said no?” She planted her lip between her teeth. “Well, seeing where you grew up, it makes me want to show you where I grew up, too. I thought it’d make me sad, but you’re right—I shouldn’t forget who I am.”
“And I never want you to forget,” he said, and Emily knelt next to him.
“But I’d also like to be Southern and Australian, too. Is that okay?”
He bowed his head, his chest squeezing with emotion. “More than okay,” he announced when lifting his eyes to meet hers. “You’ll always be your mom and dad’s daughter, but now you’re our daughter, too.”
“We can head to Chile after here,” Emily suggested once they’d all hugged. “Just no side trips to—eh hem—vendors while we’re there.”
Vendors? He closed one eye for a moment. Ah, the arms dealer. He’d still like to take that shithead off the face of the earth, but he’d promise to be good on this trip since it was about Elaina. “Right.” He gave an obedient nod, which produced a smile from Emily.
“Sounds perfect. I can show you my mom’s favorite places.” Elaina stood between Emily and Liam and reached for their hands, and his mind skipped back to West Virginia.
Elaina had drawn a picture of this very moment, even the sail-like design of the Opera House had been on the whiteboard.
“Elaina?”
“Yeah?”
“Did you somehow know all of this was going to happen?” he asked.
She looked up at him and lifted her shoulders and winked. “Maybe.”