15 #4
under him. He landed hard on the soggy ground. Kam stood there, heaving, his hands balled into impressive fists, his feet
braced apart while the storm blew around him.
Belatedly, he knelt down, ripped away the rain slicker, and searched Mike for weapons. He found a short length of rope and
immediately was enraged again. He looked deadly, but all he did was bind Mike’s hands behind him.
God, Glory loved him so much. Barely able to get out a sound, she whispered, “Kam.”
Amazingly enough, he heard her. His gaze cut to her, and his nostrils flared. In an instant, he was on his feet and striding toward her. “You’re hurt?”
So badly hurt, but she whispered, “No.”
The intrusion of sirens drowned out the storm, and suddenly, several cops were there. Liz left Glory to shout explanations
to the officers from beneath the terrace. She made it very clear that Kam was a beloved member of their family, and “this other man” was a vile intruder who’d hurt Glory.
Liz summarized things as only she could, with a lot of adjectives to describe Kam’s heroism and numerous insults toward Mike’s
intrusion.
Now in his drenched shirtsleeves and regular khakis, Mike screamed as two officers tried to lead him away. “You’re mine, Glory!”
His face was bloodied, bruised, and grotesquely swollen in places.
But then, hers had been too after the wreck, all because he’d obsessed over her. She didn’t blame Kirby and never would.
Mike had instigated all of it.
She stared at him with as much disdain as she could muster.
Struggling against the officers, he shouted again, “She’s mine!” He twisted back to say, “We belong together. You know that,
Glory. Tell them.”
Instead, she turned away.
“No, damn it! You’re not like Jenn. Tell them.”
That was the second time he’d mentioned Jenn, making Glory wonder if the woman was his last obsession—and whether she’d survived
it.
Dripping from head to toe, his shirt stuck to his body and his knuckles bloody, Kam brought her gaze up to meet his. “Tell
me you’re okay.” Reddened eyes looked her over.
Glory summoned a small smile. “I am now.” As Mike’s voice faded away, the release of mind-numbing fear stole the support of
her legs, and she slumped against him.
“Glory?” Gently, he held her, kissing her hair, her ear. “Honey, I’m soaked.”
“I don’t care.” His wet hair dripped onto her shoulders, and yes, her ribs continued to thump, and her shoulder radiated pain
into her neck and collarbone, but she needed Kam’s strength now.
She needed him. Always.
He drew back, then bent his knees to look into her eyes. “The baby?”
A wobbly smile joined her tear-stained face. “The baby is fine.”
“Baby?” Liz rounded on them. “Did you say baby?”
Glory nodded.
Face going white, and then suddenly flooding with wild joy, Liz shrieked.
She startled the cops as much as she did Glory and Kam.
Arms spread wide, she reached for Glory, but Kam intercepted her—and got swept into her jumping joy dance.
Laughing pained her, but Glory couldn’t hold it back. Never had she seen her aunt like this. Her wild performance wasn’t dignified,
and in fact, it was goofy. She kicked up her feet, bouncing wildly around the confines of the terrace, making the most ridiculously
happy faces.
When she finally released Kam, it was only to throw both fists in the air and shout her happiness.
Kam started laughing, too, but he said in an aside to Glory, “Addie looks a little overwhelmed by the excitement.”
“Addie is here?” She turned slightly to see Addie and Callie, with Tanner between them.
“I think they just arrived.”
One hand to the wall, the other over her heart, Addie both cried and smiled. “A baby is exciting,” she said. “The best kind of excitement. The kind that makes you happy from the inside out.”
“Glory?” Callie approached her slowly, her gaze roving all over her, again and again. “Oh, my God, Glory. We’re having a baby?”
Glory barely tempered another chuckle. “Yes, we are.”
With extreme gentleness, Callie embraced her. “A baby,” she breathed.
“I know.”
A second later, she stepped back and demanded, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Figures that would be her cousin’s first question. “I had to tell Kam first.”
“And that just happened last night.” Putting a hand to Glory’s cheek, his thumb brushing over her lips, Kam said, “Our girl
was keeping that all to herself.”
“Well, not anymore,” Tanner said, joining them with a towel, which he held out to Kam. “And definitely not in this family.”
Family. Glory hurriedly looked around. Cruisers with flashing blue-and-red lights were at the curb. Two police officers headed toward
them while others stood by the car where they’d put Mike in the back seat.
Nowhere did she see her dog. “Kam, PB ran off! At first, I was glad, because then Mike couldn’t hurt her, but in this storm—”
“Shh. She’s fine,” he told her as he stripped off his saturated shirt, dropping it with a sodden plop to the terrace floor.
“Just as I pulled up, I saw Glenda taking her in. She said she’ll hold on to her until we get this all wrapped up.”