Chapter Fourteen
“You’re quiet.”
“A lot has happened in the past few days.”
That was her putting it mildly. Maggie’s head spun from the events that had unfolded that week. From the moment she’d stepped away from William, called Lukas, and he’d confirmed that she should come to DC, her life had been in a whirlwind.
How Lukas had arranged for her to go before the board so quickly, Maggie would never know. Knowing his past, the type of high-stakes jobs iSecure pulled, off the record whenever need arose, Maggie could imagine. Probably another reason he gave off that British spy vibe.
She was still untangling the web of how one thing had led to another and still wasn’t sure she’d connected all the dots.
Lukas’s guy working on her case was none other than Isabelle’s boyfriend, Zach.
Apparently, he was a computer genius and headed iSecure’s cyber security team, amongst other things.
Maggie hadn’t asked how he’d gotten access to the classified documents that had caused the DRM to agree to relook at her case.
It was probably better that she didn’t know.
“When you told me that you’d uncovered information that you believed would help me and had applied for a review, I assumed that it would be months before my case came before the review board. I still can’t believe how quickly it happened.”
“Why wouldn’t it have?” Lukas’s gaze didn’t waver from the road. “They review the cases in order received. Yours was next in line.”
Maggie found it difficult to believe that had happened without a little help, but doubted Lukas would tell her anything more even if she asked.
“How long do you think they’ll take to review the information that was presented today?” Nervous giddiness hit yet again that she’d gone before the board to possibly have their previous decision revoked.
She was scared to get her hopes up, but they were. Lord, please don’t let me be disappointed again.
“Not long. Your innocence is cut and dry. However, for national security reasons, I suspect they’ll want you to sign a confidentiality waiver regarding the truth as a condition of the reversal.”
“My name will be cleared, but no one will know why I was innocent of what happened?” Even though she still only recalled bits and pieces of those fateful moments, she hadn’t messed up. It felt so good to know the truth. Would she have to keep that to herself?
“You don’t have to sign whatever they offer if it’s not what you want to do.”
“But you think I should if that’s the deal they want to make?”
“Reversing your discharge, reinstating your wings and the benefits you lost, including back pay and a hefty compensation for emotional distress in exchange for your cooperation”—he shrugged as he maneuvered them onto a highway that would take them back to downtown DC—“then, yes, I think you should sign a confidentiality contract. The world doesn’t have to know the details of what happened. Oftentimes, it’s better if they don’t.”
“Spoken like someone used to moving in the shadows.”
“I’ll support you regardless of whatever you decide.”
“Why?” It was a question she’d asked herself many times since Lukas had come into her life.
“You were a scapegoat, Maggie. When I got the anonymous letter saying I should investigate your case, it intrigued me. I had a few big jobs going that required my focus, but the letter nagged me to where I had one of my guys track you down. You were in rehab, so I waited until you’d finished, watching to make sure you were worthy of my time. ”
That he must have thought she was had Maggie sitting up a little taller in the fancy car seat.
“Sending you to Pine Hill kept you out of DC while you continued to recover, and I continued to search for the truth. Not knowing what I’d find, who might be involved if there had been a coverup, I needed you safely tucked away in case anyone got wind of your case being dug in to.”
She’d been the one he’d been worried about possibly being in danger.
Without someone as powerful as him, she very well could have been.
Even just a few months ago, no one would have questioned if she’d gone missing.
Bodie, and probably Zach to some degree, had been keeping an eye on her while she’d thought she was the one on security detail.
The enormity of it all had Maggie looking at Lukas in awe.
“I’ll never be able to repay you. If they offer me compensation, you can keep it. ”
Chuckling, Lukas cut his eyes her way. “I don’t need your money.”
No, she supposed he didn’t. The man headed a business that dealt in multimillion-dollar deals.
“But there is something I do need. A new pilot.”
Flying for the CEO of iSecure? “I don’t have my wings.” Taking a deep breath, she added, “Yet.”
“You will.”
*
“Not having a third judge for the final of the Grandma Games may prove to be a problem if we don’t vote the same.”
Glancing over at his co-judge, Walker agreed with Joshua.
He’d mentioned the same to Sarah earlier, only for her to tell him to have faith, that they’d be fine.
But as they waited for the last contest to get underway at the Pine Hill church, Walker couldn’t help wondering yet again how Maggie could just walk away from Pine Hill and her obligations there.
She’d committed to judging, to working at Harvey Farms, how could she have let them all down? How could she have let him down? Which was the crux of the issue.
Maggie had let him down, just as Linda had let him down. He’d believed Maggie was different, and she’d walked away as easily as Linda, reminding him of a valuable life lesson.
Being a good father to Zoie was all that mattered. He didn’t need anything more than that to be content. He’d count his blessings because they were many. He didn’t need Maggie or any woman. They were nothing but trouble.
A commotion sounded at the back of the church auditorium.
“I thought she wasn’t going to be here tonight,” Joshua said, having turned to see who’d entered the church that caused such a stir.
With her hair hanging loosely about her shoulders, Maggie made her way to the front.
Nothing but trouble. Trouble had him barely breathing.
Sarah motioned for Maggie to join them, and with a quick glance toward Walker, she took the seat next to him that Sarah conveniently vacated.
Joshua leaned forward, looking across Walker to say, “Glad you’re here.”
“Glad to be here,” Maggie replied.
Trouble. Trouble. Trouble, Walker repeated over and over, not acknowledging that she’d sat down. She’d left. With her ex. What more was there to say?
“Where’s William?” Okay, so maybe he wasn’t going to keep quiet.
Maggie’s gaze cut to him. “In DC.”
“Which is where you’ve been?”
“Yes. I flew from Louisville to DC with William when I left here Monday,” Maggie answered while Joshua looked back and forth between them. “Today, I flew into Louisville and came straight here.”
Which didn’t tell him a thing about the in between when she’d been in DC. With her ex.
“Okay, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to get the final Grandma Game started,” Sarah interrupted.
“Each team has ten minutes to entertain us with the talent of their choice. Keep in mind that each act has to be Christmas themed and to have worked grandma getting run over by a reindeer into their act in some way.”
Walker felt as if he’d been run over by a reindeer, one that had stuck around and trampled about on his chest. He just wanted the contest over so he could get Zoie and go home.
Amy and Ben had wanted to watch the competition together, so Walker had hired Claudia’s granddaughter, Annabelle, who was in from college on Christmas break to watch Zoie for the evening.
She was with Zoie in the church’s nursery.
The Hallelujah HoneyBs were first with a skit that had Janie B dressed as Santa and accidentally running over a grandma with her sleigh pulled by two HoneyBs wearing antler headbands. That the grandma HoneyB was wearing an old lady blue haired wig wasn’t lost on Walker.
The other teams ran through their talent acts, leaving the Butterflies and the Christmas Cruisers as the final two.
Rosie got bonus points for coming out dressed fully as a reindeer, one that dashed about, avoiding getting run over by Claudia, Ruby, and Maybelle who were all dressed in stereotypical granny gowns.
They sang a little comedic number, then the three grannies ran over Rosie who clasped her hand over her mouth and rolled her eyes back and forth theatrically.
Had Walker not been so acutely aware of the woman sitting in the chair next to him, he’d have probably laughed at their antics with the rest of the crowd.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t in the mood for humor.
Not even when the Christmas Cruisers came out dressed as grannies.
The rest of the room didn’t suffer from his malady, though, and everyone burst out laughing at the guys in their grandma wigs and clothes.
Rather than their motorcycles, they’d decked out bicycles in Christmas gear and stood beside them while singing a version of “Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer.” When they finished, Rosie popped back on stage, in her reindeer suit, and play-pushed Dave, Otis, Alan, and lastly, TC.
Each grandma toppled in a slow, dramatic fashion, with a smiling Rosie stepping over them to topple the next.
At the end, she paused, examined her right hoof, then smiled prettily at the crowd, then dashed back off stage.
“Can she do that? Participate in both entries?” Joshua looked back and forth between Maggie and Walker.
If Rosie joining in with the Christmas Cruisers disqualified the two teams, then the HoneyBs would be the winners. Otherwise, the guys had just won the Grandma Games.
Clapping loudly, the crowd stood and cheered as all the teams came back out on stage and took a bow.