Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Ada tried to even out her breathing as she watched Sharpe lead Jonny and Will toward the river. Once Jonny had gone inside the warehouse, she had moved around to watch from the back door, while others covered the front.
She hoped Finch was on time tonight — unlike last time, when she’d had no choice but to take matters into her own hands.
She had seen Rhys and Colin appear across the way, but they had all promised to allow Finch to take the lead.
Despite his promises, they made sure there was a backup plan. She hadn’t seen any sign of Finch or his men yet, but she trusted Rhys and Colin to watch the other door. She looked over her shoulder to find Tommy trailing behind her. He gave her a slight nod, telling her that he was with her.
Tommy caught up to Ada as she crouched near the shoreline while Sharpe told the men to stop moving.
“Where’s Finch?” she asked him desperately.
“Haven’t seen him,” Tommy said. “He promised Jonny he’d be here, but....” He shrugged his shoulders.
“It was all timed perfectly,” she said, hating the desperation growing within her. “Do you think Sharpe would actually…”
Sharpe lifted the gun again.
“Who wants to go first?” he asked with a smirk.
“Leave Jonny be,” Will demanded. “He didn’t do anything.”
“You’ve done your time, Will,” Jonny said. “Let him go, Sharpe. He’ll be no threat to you any longer.”
“As touching as your sentiments might be, the two of you must think I’m an idiot,” Sharpe said with a snort. “You’re both going in the river. If you’re not going to choose who goes first, then I will. Oldest first, I think, how does that sound, Jonny?”
He lifted the pistol, and Ada knew, with everything in her heart, that he was about to pull the trigger.
In one swift motion, she stood, raised her pistol, drew back the hammer, and fired.
Jonny flinched as the crack rent the air, but it wasn’t him crying out in pain — it was Sharpe, blood spurting from his pistol hand.
“What the—”
Ada froze as Sharpe looked across the crates, finding her standing there, pistol smoking.
“You!” he shouted, his face darkening with rage. Before he could command his thugs to come toward her, however, the dock was suddenly swarming with men.
“Gideon Sharpe! Stop right there. Drop all your weapons!”
Finch. Finally.
He had been only a minute late, but that minute could have changed everything.
Ada sank to the ground next to Tommy, who had reached up to pull her down shortly after Sharpe had seen her.
“Are you all right?” he asked, and she realized then that she was shaking.
“I think so,” she said. “Jonny’s not hurt, is he?”
“Appears to be fine,” Tommy said. “There’s Rhys and Colin. You want to watch the action?”
She nodded, and he pulled her up to sit on a crate, one arm around her back, supporting her, which she was grateful for as she thought it was likely she might fall off if he let her go.
The moment the Tate brothers were cut free, however, Jonny was storming across the docks. He didn’t even look at Tommy as he reached down and picked Ada up off the crate, holding her against him so tightly that she nearly couldn’t breathe.
She didn’t care — for she was hugging him back just as tightly.
“I thought he was going to kill you,” she said, her face cradled into his neck.
“So did I,” he admitted grimly. “If it hadn’t been for you—”
“Don’t say it.”
“I have to. Just this once. You saved my life, Ada. I’ll never be able to properly thank you.”
“I think you’ve saved mine a time or two, in more ways than you can imagine.”
“I could say the same.”
He released her just enough so that he could look her in the face. “I love you, Ada. I’ve wanted to tell you for so long now, but I couldn’t, not until I knew we were safe, and far away from this.”
“You didn’t have to wait.”
“I did. If I had told you and then something had happened to me—”
“It wouldn’t have mattered what you had told me, for I love you, Jonny, and have loved you for long enough that it would have felt like an entire piece of my body was stolen from me. I don’t know how I could have continued without you.”
“You’re a strong woman. You would have found your way forward.”
“But am I ever glad that I don’t have to,” she said, cupping his scruffy cheeks in her hands as she leaned in and kissed him, hard, pouring into him all the love she felt, all of the desperation that this could have ended unthinkably.
“Will you stay with me? Forever?” he asked, looking deeply into her eyes.
“Of course,” she said. “I would never want to be anywhere else.”
He leaned down, closing his eyes and placing his forehead against hers.
She held their hands together until, finally, she realized that while it felt like they were in their own little world, the docks were bustling with people around them, with shouts, with anger, with the underworld of Manchester being exposed.
Finch had brought seven men with him. Some of them were busy tying suspects, others were beginning to carry loads of cargo, papers, ledgers, and other aspects of Sharpe’s business with them.
“Will Tate, is it?” Finch said to Will, who was standing and rubbing his wrists where the ropes had bound him. “Inspector Finch.”
“Jonny’s told me about you,” Will said, reaching out to shake his hand.
“If you think you can help us get through all of this,” Finch said, waving a hand at all the evidence, “I’ll see what I can do about making sure your name is kept clear of it all. Oh, and Tate?”
“Yes?”
“Lady Harcourt’s necklace better be returned, understood?”
Will gave him a short nod, and Finch turned away, leaving Jonny to take his brother’s hand with one of his, while he slapped him on the back in a half-embrace with the other.
“I’m sorry, Will,” he said as Ada stood back, her heart nearly breaking at the pain in Jonny’s voice.
“Nothing to be sorry about,” Will said, slapping his back in response. “We’ve gotten through this, and we move on now, yeah?”
Jonny nodded as he stepped back and Will came forward, surprising Ada by leaning in and kissing her on the cheek.
“Thank you for everything. For saving us. For taking care of my brother.” Lowering his voice, in her ear he said, “He needs someone to see the good in him when he can’t see it himself.”
Ada nodded in understanding as Rhys, Colin, and Tommy joined them.
Rhys crossed his arms over his beefy chest. “You’re choosing the right side, now?” he said to Will with one brow crooked, and Jonny practically pushed him away.
“Enough, Rhys. You have nothing to worry about. We should all get out of here before Finch decides he wants our help moving all these boxes. Sure you’re fine, Will?”
“Never better,” Will said.
“You should go home and tell Mother you’re free of all this. She’ll be so relieved.”
“I’ll check in on her tomorrow. You should, too.”
“We will,” Ada said with a warm smile, recognizing the invitation as Will wanting to see the family together again. She would see to it that it happened, especially as it seemed she had lost her own. Not that it was much of a loss.
They were about to walk away when Finch called over. “Tate!”
The brothers turned as one, and he pointed to Jonny. “This Tate. Can I speak to you and Miss Jones for a moment?”
Jonny nodded, exchanging a glance with Ada.
When they were alone, Finch perched on one side of a crate. “There is still a murder to account for. Barker Blackwood’s.”
Ada swallowed hard. Her murder. The thought that she had actually killed someone still made her blood run cold. But it had been him or Tommy. She’d had seconds to decide, and the only shot she’d had was at his chest.
“I’ve gathered all the information I can, and I’ve come to two conclusions. The first is that you, Tate, had nothing to do with the murder, despite your confession, although you were there.”
“But—”
Finch raised a hand before Jonny could protest.
“I know Miss Jones pulled the trigger. However, the second point I was going to make is that I also know Blackwood was about to kill Tommy Ward. You did what you had to do.”
Eyes wide, Ada nodded. It was the truth, of course. But she had been so worried that no one else would see it that way.
“I consider the case closed,” Finch said. “The details might get out. I can’t help that. But I’ll be sure to note everything that happened. All that might suffer is your reputation.”
“Thank you,” Ada said as Jonny’s arm wrapped around her, holding her close against his side. “I appreciate it. And I’m not so worried about my reputation anymore.”
“Can we leave now?” Jonny asked, a bit gruffly considering what Finch was doing for them, but Ada understood. She was just as eager to return home.
With Jonny.
“Go ahead,” Finch said. “I may have questions about Sharpe and all of this, but that can wait until later.”
“This time, it all needs to come down,” Jonny said, his voice nearly threatening, but Finch merely nodded.
“Agreed.”
“Use Will. He knows everything there is to know about the operations, and he’ll be happy to share.”
“That I’ll do. Take care, Tate. Miss Jones.”
They nodded, seeing that Rhys, Colin, and Tommy had left.
“They likely went home to avoid being caught up in all this,” Jonny said.
“I don’t blame them,” Ada said. “Besides, don’t you have a game in a couple of days?”
“That we do,” Jonny said. “The FA Cup, actually.”
“Already?” Ada said with a gasp. “I was so distracted by everything, I hadn’t even realized it was so soon.”
“It is,” Jonny said. “And if I let this distract me…”
“Rhys will have your hide.”
“Basically,” Jonny said with a laugh that warmed her to deep within her core, and she promised herself that she would do absolutely everything within her power to continue hearing that laugh as much as possible.
“Time to go home?” Jonny asked, and Ada nodded.
“Absolutely.”
They hadn’t made it far down the docks when Jonny stopped, turning toward her, his expression more uncertain than she had ever seen it before.
“Ada. I know this isn’t really the time, but… when I say it’s time to go home, I mean home for the two of us, do you understand?”
She bit her lip as her cheeks warmed. “I do.”
“I want it to be our home, together. We don’t have to stay there in that same building forever, but wherever I live, I want it to be with you.”
She blinked as she stared up at him, wanting to believe what she hoped to be the truth, but too scared that she might be misunderstanding.
“Wh-what are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I love you, and that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. That you are home.” He leaned down, taking her face in his hands. “Ada, will you marry me? Be my wife? Spend forever with me?”
It took her a moment to find words as her heart was nearly bursting.
“I thought you didn’t want to commit to anyone.”
“I didn’t think I did. But then I met you, and everything changed.
When I’m not with you, I cannot wait until the time when we’re together again.
When you are beside me, I never want to be anywhere else.
You make my life better. I know I don’t deserve you, but I will spend every day for the rest of my life proving my worth to you. ”
“Oh, Jonny,” Ada said, wiping away the tear that began to form.
“You are worth more than any other man I could ever imagine myself being with. I think I loved you even when I was still wary of you, and now that I trust you with my whole heart, I love you all the more. I want nothing more than to marry you, than to spend my life with you.”
“Even if I’ll only ever be a footballer who works as a shipping clerk?”
“All I care is that you are the man who loves me. If you always promise to be that man, then I’m in.”
“I promise. Always.”
Ada stood on her toes and pressed her lips to his, sealing their promise forever.