Epilogue #2
“It’s after midnight,” Cash jerked to a seat. “Who on earth is here in the middle of the night? We don’t know anyone in this city.”
“I have no clue who that could be,” Sable said, and he stood up, depositing her on her bare feet.
“Go get cleaned up.” He fixed her dress before shoving his legs into his pants. “I’ll check who it is.”
Sable disappeared into the bathroom, and Cash strode into the foyer.
He peeked out the window into the darkness and found four figures hovering before the entrance, but he couldn’t make out their identities.
His stomach clenched at the sight. Sable had sworn this job wouldn’t incite violence, but had she been mistaken? Was the statue worth killing over?
Cash cracked the door, angry that he hadn’t been able to travel with his gun, but when he saw the faces staring back at him, his jaw dropped.
“Mom?” He couldn’t believe it. “Dad? What are you doing here?”
“Surprise!” Sable joined him with a mischievous giggle as not only his parents crossed the threshold but hers as well. “Someone has to watch Clover while we do this job. Plus, it’s Father’s Day, so I figured our dads would like to visit Italy.”
“Here, here,” her father Holland said. “Now where’s my grandson?”
“Yes!” Angora and Lily called in unison. “Where is our sweet boy?”
“In bed,” Cash said as he hugged his mother, Lily.
“I wouldn’t be so sure.” His father, Rex, nodded toward the staircase, and the group turned to see Clover racing down the steps.
“Grandma and Grandpa!” He flung himself into Angora and Holland’s embrace before jumping onto Lily and Rex. “Why are you here?”
“Your mom wanted to surprise you for Father’s Day and have all of us together,” Lily said, and it warmed Cash’s heart to hear his mother refer to Sable as his son’s mom.
“I’m so excited.” Clover danced around the foyer.
“I’m glad.” Sable ran a hand over his unruly bedhead as she turned to Cash. “Are you excited?”
“You kidding me? This is great.” Cash shook his unofficial father-in-law’s hand and then kissed Angora on the cheek. “I was wondering what we should do with Clover while we worked.”
“Well, we got it all under control,” Holland said. “At first, I was worried when my daughter didn’t follow the same career path as the rest of us Easter Bunnies, but I’m coming around to her profession. I’m all for free trips to Italy.”
“Dad.” Sable playfully swatted her father.
“I’m all for seeing my baby girl and her baby too,” Holland added. “As well as Cash. Sorry, buddy, but I can’t add baby to your name.”
“Please don’t,” the entire group blurted in unison.
“All joking aside, this grandpa is tired and jetlagged. And it’s past this one’s bedtime.” Holland scooped Clover up as if he weighed nothing. “What do you say, Angora?” he asked his wife. “Shall we put this cute bunny to bed and then retire?”
“I’m not a bunny,” Clover teased as both sets of grandparents escorted him up the stairs. “I’m Fae.”
“You’re an honorary bunny,” Holland said, as they disappeared upstairs. “You’re my grandson, after all.”
“Thanks for this.” Cash slipped an arm around Sable’s waist. “Having them here for the last few days of our trip will be great, but I can’t believe you let me fuck you on the carpet knowing our parents were on their way.”
“In my defense, all reason and rationality flee my brain when you take off your shirt,” she teased. “Plus, their flight got in early. They weren’t supposed to be here so soon.”
“Oh well,” Cash shrugged. “Knowing us, I would’ve still made love to you even if I knew they were coming.”
“Of that, I have no doubt.” Sable patted his bare abs. “Come on, let’s get to bed. We have a big day tomorrow.”
“This jump looked smaller from the ground,” Cash said as his toes hung over the roof’s edge.
“They always do.” Sable slipped her hand into his, and for a moment, they enjoyed the view. The grandparents had taken Clover swimming that afternoon while Cash and Sable prepared for the job, and they’d taken him out for dinner, promising to have him in bed at a somewhat reasonable hour.
“You can’t be nervous, though?” Sable squeezed his hand before backing up. “Big, tough special forces soldier like yourself afraid of a jump?”
“Please,” he teased. “It’s a piece of cake, even if I don’t have your skills.”
“Well then, I guess you don’t need me to wait for you.” And with that, she took off running. With graceful agility, she launched herself into the air and landed with barely a sound on the opposite roof.
“That was beautiful,” he called, knowing her rabbit’s ears would pick up his voice even from this distance. Sable smiled and curtsied before beckoning him to follow her.
Cash backed up, fully aware that he would be nowhere near as elegant, and then he raced for the edge. He leaped across the divide with all his might, landing beside his beautiful thief with a thump and a stumble.
“Not bad for your first try.” Sable rubbed his back. “You’ll be an expert in no time.”
“Have a lot of roof jumping planned for our future?” he asked.
“I suspect that after the rush of this job, you’ll want to accompany me on others. I’ll make a thief of you yet.” She kissed his cheek before moving to the side of the building. “There’s a window about six feet below us that leads to an empty guest room. I’ll climb down first and pick the lock.”
“Be careful,” Cash said as she lowered herself over the edge.
“I never am.” She winked before she vanished into the darkness, and he stepped to the ledge to watch her.
She climbed down, and balancing on the sill, she picked the lock in record time.
Throwing a self-important smile up at him, she jumped into the dark guest room, and the minute the windowsill was free, Cash followed her.
“So far, so good,” he said. “Where to now?”
“Our client said their relative has a room in the middle of the second floor where he keeps his art. We’re on the third, so we need to go down a level,” she said. “The bedrooms are on this floor, though, so we’ll need to be quiet.”
“I’m pretty good at sneaking around the house without waking Clover.”
“Except our son sleeps like a log, which is fortunate for us.” Sable smirked. “He hears nothing, so that doesn’t prove your confidence. You tend to be loud in the middle of the night.”
“Says the queen of screams, over here.” Cash swatted her ass lovingly. “Come on, little thief. I think I can manage a flight of stairs.”
Sable squeezed his hand, and together they crept out of the bedroom.
The main hallways were dark and silent, the vintage floorboard squeaking below their boots, but thankfully the house’s residents were oblivious.
They took their time with the staircase so as to not trip and alert anyone to their presence, and they finally arrived at the art gallery room without incident.
“Locked,” Cash mouthed as he tested the door. “That’s not a problem for you, but do you think there’s an alarm?”
“I would be disappointed if there wasn’t.
” Sable reached for her belt and withdrew a small device.
“Mini Electromagnetic Pulse,” she explained.
“Their range is tiny, usually the size of a single room. Peter knows a guy who knows a guy who sells these to anyone who has the connections to find him. It’ll knock out the alarm system in this room, but leave the rest of the house untouched. No one will realize we’re here.”
“Hmmm,” Cash grunted as she stuck it to the door and picked the lock. “Are these something I need to worry about at the museum?”
“No,” Sable said. “These are meant for small jobs and residential houses. They wouldn’t work against the Fae tech you employ… doesn’t mean you don’t have to worry, though. I’m good at breaking into places I shouldn’t.” She winked as the lock popped free.
“Don’t I know it. But after your help to secure the Merveille De L’art, if you can still break in and steal something, you probably deserve it.”
“If you weren’t the head of security there, I just might try. Shall we?” She pressed her palms against the double doors, and together, they pushed them open.
“Decent collection,” Sable said as the walls of paintings came into view.
“I wouldn’t know,” Cash said.
“You work at the most famous museum in the world. How do you not know?”
“I’m security. I’m more interested in weapons and tech than sculptures and paintings. Not to say that I don’t love their beauty. I do. They just aren’t what make me tick.”
“We all have our things.”
“You are definitely one of my things.” Cash leaned over to kiss her, but froze halfway to her cheek. “Baby, speaking of paintings and sculptures, where’s the sculpture we’re here to recover?”
Sable followed his line of sight, and both of them stilled in the darkness. The center pedestal, the one that was supposed to bear the statue they’d been paid to steal, was empty.
“It’s gone.” Panic flooded Cash’s chest. “Did the family move it, or did other thieves beat us here?”
“I don’t know.” Sable scanned the room with wild eyes, but it was no use. It was bare save for the paintings hanging on the walls. There wasn’t even a hiding spot large enough for the sculpture in question.
“Shit,” Cash swore. “What do we do?”
“I’m not sure,” Sable said. “If we don’t return the stolen statue to my client, we don’t get paid, but he mentioned nothing about another team being involved.”
“So maybe your client’s relative moved it? Maybe they anticipated a break-in, so they hid it?”
“It’s possible,” Sable said. “They might be keeping it in their master suite while they sleep or could’ve transferred it to a storage unit.
There’s a whole host of things that’ll keep us from finding it, and it’s impossible to know which theory to follow.
” She ran her fingers over her silky ears.
“Let’s examine the pedestal. Whoever took it might have left a clue. ”
“It’s worth a shot,” Cash said, unconvinced. If the home's owner had moved it, what evidence could he have possibly left behind? But for Sable’s sake, he would check. He didn’t want this simple job to turn into a failure and cause her to lose her paycheck.
“Wait…” he stared at the pedestal in confusion. In the darkness, he hadn’t seen it when they first entered the room, but now he noticed something sat atop it. “What’s that?”
“What’s what?” Sable asked.
“This?” Cash picked up the thin sheet resting on the stone, wondering if it was a note. Had another thief stolen the statue and left behind a taunting letter? But then he spotted the slim object below the sheet. His heart stopped beating at the sight. It couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible.
“An ultrasound.” He whirled on Sable, the photo in one fist and the positive pregnancy test in the other. “Baby, why is there an ultrasound in this room?”
She smiled at him in the darkness and then walked to the wall, where she flipped the light switch. Her beautiful face turned back to gaze at him as tears streamed down her cheeks, but they weren’t tears of pain or sorrow. They were pure happiness.
“It’s midnight,” she said as she approached him. “Do you know what that means?”
Cash couldn’t speak. He just stared at her with wide eyes and a pounding heart.
“Happy Father’s Day, Daddy-times-two,” she continued.
“No.” It was all he could manage.
“Yes.” Her smile brightened.
“Tell me this isn’t a joke.” Cash started crying, but there was no mistaking what the photo depicted. It was a baby. His baby. “Sable, tell me you aren’t kidding.”
“I’m not.” She rubbed his arms soothingly. “I took the test, and it came out positive, so I went to the doctor to confirm. I’m having your baby.”
“Oh my god,” Cash whooped before cringing.
“It’s okay. No one's home,” Sable said. “I wanted to surprise you with the news, so Peter helped me set this up. It’s also why our families are here. No one knows about the baby, though, because I wanted you to be the first—”
She squeaked as he cut her off with a kiss as he hoisted her off the ground and spun her around until they were both breathless and dizzy.
“I’m going to be a dad.” Cash set her down and clasped her face in his loving hands. “Holy shit, we’re having a baby.”
“Are you happy?” she asked.
“Happy?” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her again until she was laughing and sobbing and gasping for breath.
“Feel my heart.” He grabbed her wrist and pressed her palm to his chest. “Do you feel that? I’m going to explode.
I need to sit.” He collapsed to the ground, taking her with him.
“Sable, I love you so fucking much. This is the best Father’s Day gift you could’ve given me. ”
“It’s been torture not telling you,” she said. “I want to have kids with you so badly that planning this has been incredibly fun and achingly painful. I had to stop myself from shouting the news every time I saw your face because I wanted this to be special.”
“I can’t believe it.” Cash buried his nose in her neck, enjoying how her arms captured him in a powerful embrace. “I love our family so much. I can’t wait to welcome baby number two to our lives. Sable, you’ve made me the happiest father on the planet.”
“I love you.” She cupped his jaw and lifted his lips to hers, kissing him deeply. “I’m so happy I decided to rob your museum last year.”
“And rob it you did.” He kissed her one last time before gathering her into his arms and standing up, careful to tuck the ultrasound and the pregnancy test into his pocket. “You stole my heart when I wasn’t looking, and it seems you have no intentions of ever returning it.”
“None whatsoever,” she smiled as he made his way out of the art room. “I assume we can use the front door now.”
“We may.”
“Good. I want to rush back to our villa. I can’t wait to tell Clover he’s going to be a big brother.”
Thank you for reading Happy Hunting.