CHAPTER 33 #3
It was then she noticed the expression on his face.
“I’ve been called back to D.C.,” he said. “It seems Pearce and the others at the OD have a few more questions before they can put the investigation against me to rest. I need to clear my name once and for all, Natalie.”
She nodded. “Of course.”
They said good-bye in the conference room, sealing their farewell with a long kiss.
“Please call as often as you can. I’m going to miss you, Zach Black.”
He ran his thumb over the curve of her cheek. “I’ll miss you, too, angel.”
NATALIE’S SERIES, SET off by Joaquin’s stunning photos, caused an uproar from the first installment through the third. But it wasn’t over when the series was completed. She worked late every day, staying with the story, as one development led to another.
Three other members of the school’s Board of Trustees were arrested for knowing about the bogus donations and failing to report them.
The sheriff and district attorney resigned after the school’s financials proved they’d gotten payoffs in exchange for dropping the investigation.
Congress called for an investigation of AMINTAC, while the Department of Defense remained stoically silent.
While she interviewed congressmen, Pentagon brass, and Mexican government officials, other reporters wanted to interview her.
She gave a couple of interviews to local papers, but balked when the TV talk shows showed up.
Then an agent called, offering to help her get rich if she decided one day to write a book about her experience.
Though she felt great satisfaction at exposing Wulfe and Cárdenas—and everyone who had worked with them—the excitement of big headlines, interviews, and book offers meant little to her. She lived for the moments late in the evening when Zach called and the two of them shared their day.
In the middle of it all, Natalie started her period, the knowledge that she wasn’t pregnant leaving her deeply disappointed.
One week became two. Two weeks became three, and still her spirits didn’t lift.
It was then she realized she needed some real time off—no SPJ seminar this time, but a bona fide vacation.
She called Zach, told him her plans, then bought a plane ticket to New Orleans.
There was something she needed to do.
ZACH OPENED THE cemetery’s elegant iron gate and walked through the rows of marble tombs, feeling a hitch in his chest when he spotted her. He stopped in his tracks and just watched her. It had been three weeks since he’d last seen her, and damned if she hadn’t become even more beautiful.
You are so lost, McBride.
Yeah, he was completely and utterly lost—in her. And he loved it.
He hadn’t been exaggerating when he told her in the hospital that she’d set him free.
She’d seen him at his best and his worst, and she’d accepted all of him without question or condemnation.
And when he’d broken, the guilt he’d carried with him for so long spilling out, she’d been there to put the pieces of him back together again.
She was his absolution, his redemption, his salvation.
She had changed him. The man who’d told her not long ago that he didn’t want to be a father had been surprised by how disappointed he’d felt when she’d told him that she wasn’t pregnant.
It had taken a few days for him to decide that it was probably for the best. It would give them some time just to be with each other.
Natalie was only twenty-seven. They had plenty of time left to start a family.
He walked toward her, savoring the sight of her.
She didn’t know he was here in New Orleans.
When she’d told him her plans, he’d known he wanted to see the city with her, to hear her stories, to get a glimpse of what her life had been.
So he’d told Pearce he was done, and he’d hopped on the next plane.
When he hadn’t found her at her hotel, he’d known he’d find her here.
Hadn’t he just visited Arlington two days ago to check in on Mike, Chris, Brian, and Jimmy?
Wearing a sleeveless dress of dark blue, she sat on the retaining wall in front of the tomb where her parents and Beau rested together. Three fresh bouquets of red roses lay propped against the marble. And she was saying something . . .
Go wait on a bench, and leave her in peace, McBride.
He was about to walk away and find somewhere to park his ass, when he realized she was crying. He moved closer.
“I know you’d both love him. He saved my life. Did I mention he’s a Medal of Honor recipient? And, Mama, he’s so handsome. I wish with all my heart the two of you could’ve met him.”
Zach realized she was talking to her parents about him. Something warm stirred in his chest. And no matter how wrong it was for him to stand there listening to her private conversation, nothing could drag him away now.
She reached out and ran her fingers over the name “Beauregard Latour,” her voice quavering as she spoke.
“I love you, Beau. You were everything to me, and I will always treasure my memories of our days together. But I can’t live on grief.
I know that’s not what you’d want for me anyway.
I never thought I’d fall in love again, but I love him so much.
Wherever you are now, I hope you can be happy for me. ”
Zach felt an ache behind his breastbone—for her, for Beau, for lives needlessly lost. But the past was gone. “Natalie?”
At the sound of her name, Natalie looked—and saw Zach standing not ten feet away. Her pulse tripped, joy surging through her. “Zach!”
“When you told me you were coming here, I decided to surprise you.”
“Well, you certainly did that.” She laughed, wiping the tears off her face with a tissue. “You must think I’m crazy to be out here talking to a tomb.”
He shook his head and started toward her, looking sexier in his gray sports jacket, T-shirt, and jeans than any man had a right to. “No, I don’t. I find it touching.”
He drew her into his strong arms, holding her tight, his scent surrounding her. Still, she couldn’t help feeling embarrassed. “You overheard what I was saying?”
He brushed his lips over hers. “Don’t let me interrupt you. I came here to be with you and see the city through your eyes—and that means paying my respects to your parents and to Beau, doesn’t it?”
Too touched for words, Natalie nodded, threading her fingers through his and drawing him over to the tomb.
Zach ran his fingers over her parents’ names and Beau’s. “I wish I could have met them.”
Her throat was so tight that she could only whisper, “Me, too.”
For a time they sat on the retaining wall in front of the tomb, holding hands in silence.
It was Zach who spoke first, telling her how he’d visited his friends’ graves in Arlington and had then taken time to track down Debbie, Brian’s widow, to see if he could help her in any way.
When he’d finally found her, he learned that she’d been married to Mike’s younger brother for almost three years.
“She apologized for what she said to me at Brian’s funeral, said it had haunted her for years.”
“I knew it must have.” Natalie made a mental note to forgive the woman. “I’m so glad you can put that to rest.”
“Also, I’ve been cleared of any wrongdoing by the brass at the OD. In fact, I think Pearce would have literally kissed my ass if I’d asked him to. He offered me a desk and a big salary, but I turned it down. It just so happens I’ve got a better offer.”
“Oh?” Something about his tone of voice made her nervous.
“Rowan has asked me to serve as her chief deputy, and I’ve accepted. The money’s decent. It will be a lot less dangerous than working the line, and I won’t be away from home nearly as often.” He looked into her eyes. “There will be time in my life for a wife and a family.”
Natalie’s heart skipped. “Are you . . . are you asking me to marry you?”
Zach got down on one knee. “I know I’m not the easiest man to be around, but I’m not the person I was when you met me.
You told me we could take life one kiss at a time.
But that’s not enough for me now. I don’t want one kiss—I want a thousand.
I want to live, Natalie, and I want to love you.
I want to be the father of your children.
I want to make the most out of every sunrise and sunset.
Life is short and fragile. I don’t want to waste another moment on fear and regret. ”
Without breaking eye contact, he took her hand. “I love you, Natalie. I love you with everything I am. Will you marry me?”
Natalie glanced over at the tombstone that bore Beau’s name, then met Zach’s gaze, the love he felt for her warm in his gray eyes. She had to swallow the lump in her throat before she could answer, tears of happiness blurring her vision. “Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you, Zach.”
He let out a shaky breath, and she realized he’d been nervous.
Then he reached into his pocket and drew out the most beautiful diamond ring she’d ever seen.
In the center was a princess-cut blue diamond with white solitaires on either side.
He slipped it on her finger. “The diamond reminded me of the color of your eyes. I hope you like it.”
“Oh!” She stared at it, astonished. “It’s beautiful.”
He drew her to her feet, took her into his arms, and kissed her—a long, slow kiss that told her how much he loved her in a way words could not, one big hand working its way up her spine till his fingers tangled in her hair.
Heart thudding, she smiled up at him. “Another nine-hundred ninety-nine to go.”
“Then we’d better get back to the hotel.” He grinned.
“Besides we’ve got a lot of practicing to do if we want to get good at making babies.”
“Let’s hurry.” It had been three weeks, after all.
Then, hand in hand, they walked out of the cemetery—and into a new beginning.