31. Chapter 31
Chapter thirty-one
Two Years Later
Mitch sat with his team around the conference table.
Curt’s security company had been assigned a new case and they were going over the details.
Since his return from Montana, his life had been filled with rehab and memories.
One thing was for certain: he was done with putting his life on the line.
Curt and he had discussed his role in the agency, and he was now a supervisor.
He was at his best planning strategies. So from then on, he had been the one giving orders, instead of working in the field.
That was fine with him. He was tired of pushing his luck. Luck tended to run out, so why run?
His secretary opened the door and stuck her head in. “Mitch, call on line two. It’s the FBI, a Dirk Wentworth. I tried calling you, but you weren’t picking up. He says it’s important.”
“Thanks, Kelsey,” said Mitch. To his team, “Give me a minute, guys. Dirk’s an old friend of mine. It must be important if he’s calling me at work.”
He walked into his office for privacy. “Hey Dirk, haven’t heard from you in forever. What can I do for you?”
“Mitch, I just thought you’d want to know, Marcus Hernandez was found dead in his cell yesterday. Someone cut his jugular, bled out right there on the floor. It’s over, man. Hernandez’s reign of terror is over.”
Mitch felt his heart stop for a moment. “You’re sure it’s him, Dirk?”
“No mistaking the rat bastard,” spat Dirk. “It’s him all right. I guess someone wanted control of the prison and took him out. You know how that goes. I just thought you’d want to know. I know how close you and Isla had gotten. She’s safe now. It’s over.”
“Thanks, Dirk,” Mitch said, his head swimming. For someone who planned strategies for a living, he had no idea what this meant for his next move. “I don’t know if you know how much this means to me. Stay in touch. I owe you big time.”
“You don’t owe me anything,” said Dirk. “I just want a happy ending. The US Marshals’ office will probably be notifying Isla within the next few days. She can have her life back. I always liked her, sweet girl.”
Mitch smiled into the phone. “Thanks again, Dirk. Say hi to the gang for me.”
“Will do, Mitch. Good luck.”
Mitch hung up the phone, his mind in a fog. What should he do? What could he do? Hernandez’s death opened up so many doors he’d considered shut forever.
Curt opened the door and walked in. “Everything okay?”
“Curt, it’s over,” Mitch said, laughing out loud. He spun around, knocking a chair over. He felt like he could dance right now or hug anyone who walked in that door. “Marcus Hernandez is dead. Isla’s safe and so is my son. I need to go to them.”
A smile broke out over Curt’s face. “I’ll call the hangar and have the jet fueled and waiting. I wish I could be there when she opens the door and sees your ugly mug. I’m happy for you, man.” He clapped Mitch on the shoulder.
Then an uncomfortable thought hit Mitch. “What if she doesn’t want to see me? It’s been almost two years. She’s probably found someone by now.”
“Isla loved you then and she loves you now,” said Curt. “Besides, Kech keeps you updated, doesn’t he?”
Mitch nodded. He felt a little bad, getting his information from Isla’s best friend and boss without her knowing.
“He does. He’s become a good friend and my lifeline to my family.
And they are my family, Curt. I don’t think of them any other way.
I want to be in their lives and now I can be if she lets me. ”
“Get your ass out of here and get on that plane,” Curt ordered. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and placed the call.
Mitch was landing in Billings within hours. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest he thought it would explode. But for the first time in almost three years, his heart didn’t ache anymore, the pain that he was constantly rubbing was gone.
Curt had a truck waiting for him when they landed, and he was headed to Hardin. Isla still lived in the little cottage she had rented when she had relocated.
Kech had sent him pictures and updates regularly. Isla didn’t know, of course. It had been between Kech and him. Kech had contacted him when he got back to Virginia, said that Isla had told him the whole story. To keep her and Jesse safe, they had decided to not tell her of their connection.
So Mitch had watched his son grow up through pictures and videos. He was two now and Kech said he was on the move all the time. Mitch couldn’t wait to hold him in his arms.
Mitch pulled up in front of the cottage. Isla’s Camry was parked in the driveway. He parked the truck in front and walked up to the front door. He rang the bell and waited. The thirty seconds between the bell and the doorknob turning were the longest thirty seconds of his life.
Finally, the door opened and Kech stood in the doorway. Mitch nodded to him, with a smile. “Hey Kech, Isla home?”
Kech looked both excited to see him and concerned. “She just ran to the store. Abigail and I are watching the baby. She took my car. Come on in and you can tell me what’s going on.”
Mitch walked into the cottage, and it was like coming home. It smelled like her, like his Isla. Cinnamon and vanilla. “Marcus Hernandez is dead,” Mitch announced. “It’s over, Kech. Do you think she’ll be happy to see me?”
Kech clapped his hands together and laughed. “Happy to see you? We’ll probably have to scrape her off the floor. Of course she’ll be happy to see you!”
“Where’s Jesse?” Mitch asked. He longed to hold his son.
“I just put him down for his nap. He’ll probably be out for the next two hours.”
Mitch looked over at a baby monitor on the living room coffee table. He could see his son curled up in his bed. “Kech, I’ll never be able to repay you for all that you’ve done for all of us. If it weren’t for you, I’d never have seen my boy or Isla.”
“No need for thanks,” said Kech, waving Mitch away. “Now come into the kitchen. I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Abigail. She was just finishing dinner.”
Mitch followed Kech into the kitchen and was introduced to Abigail as an old friend of Siobhan’s. “It’s nice to meet you, Mitch. Can you stay for dinner?”
Mitch felt butterflies in his stomach at the suggestion—plus he was starving. But he didn’t want to get ahead of himself. “We’ll have to wait and see what Siobhan has to say about that first,” he said. He didn’t want to assume anything till Isla and he talked.
Kech handed him a beer and they waited for Isla. He told them about his flight. But then he heard the door open and shut. Isla called from the living room.
My Isla.
“I couldn’t get the cheese you wanted, so I got asiago. I hope that’s all right,” she said as she walked into the kitchen.
Their eyes met. The bag she was holding fell to the floor. “Mitch,” she said, as if his name weighed a thousand pounds. As if saying it aloud dropped the weight from her shoulders. Her eyes became misty. “Is it really you? What are you doing here? Is it okay?”
Mitch said slowly, “It’s over, Isla. Marcus Hernandez is dead. He’s not a threat to you anymore. He got what he had coming to him. It’s over.”
She looked at him dumbfounded.
“It’s over,” he said. He walked toward her and she threw her arms around his neck.
Their lips met. He’d been living off the memory of their last kiss for years.
But this—this was the first of many more kisses and many more memories, good memories.
“I love you, Isla. I never want to let you go, never again.”
“Oh Mitch,” she breathed. “This isn’t a dream? You’re real, you’re really here—I have so much to tell you.”
She looked over Mitch’s shoulder into the smiling face of her best friend and at the confused face of Abigail as she stood with her mouth open wondering what the heck was going on.
“Abigail, it’s a long story and I’ll tell you all of it soon. But first, can I talk to Mitch in private?”
Kech smiled. “Why don’t the two of you take a ride? We’ll be here when you get back.”
Mitch took Isla’s hand and walked her out the door to his truck.
Before he opened the door, he took her in his arms and kissed her like they had been separated for a lifetime.
That’s exactly how it felt. It had been a lifetime since he had held her in his arms. His heart pounded, and he could feel hers pounding against his chest. He felt at home in her arms.
Isla took his face between her hands, “Mitch, it’s really you. I’ve dreamed of this moment for three years but never thought it would happen. I’ve got so much to tell you.”
He kissed her lips gently and settled her in the car. “Let’s take a ride and you can tell me everything.”
Isla directed him to a pretty spot that overlooked the big sky Montana landscape. He turned the car off and pulled her against him. “Now, what do you have to tell me?”
“Mitch, after I left…I found out I was pregnant. You have a son,” she said, her voice shaky.
“Mitch, he’s beautiful. He looks just like you.
If it weren’t for him, I would have never been able to survive these last three years.
When you were shot, I was there with you.
I was in the operating room and I was there holding your hand in ICU.
It was the hardest thing I had ever had to do leaving you there.
I sat by your side willing you to open your eyes.
I was never so happy as when I knew you were going to be okay. ”
“I have a son,” he beamed. “Jesse Mitchell O’Grady, huh? Well that’s going to have to change and soon.”
“How did you know his name was Jesse Mitchell?” she asked as she looked into his eyes.
Mitch knew this was the moment to come clean. He’d never keep anything from Isla ever again. “Kech,” Mitch said.
“Kech?!”
Mitch nodded. “He kept me in the loop. He sent me pictures and videos almost daily. He let me know how the two of you were doing. If it weren’t for him, I would have gone insane.
I knew you were there, Isla, in my hospital room.
I felt you there. I tried so hard to open my eyes and they just wouldn’t open.
When Curt came to visit, I told him you were there.
He did some investigating and…when Curt told me about Jesse, you don’t know how badly I wanted to say to hell with it all and come to you.
But I knew I had to keep you and Jesse safe.
Kech got in touch with me. I remembered him from the hospital.
He agreed to keep me updated on you and Jesse.
I have so much to thank him for. Because of him, I have my family back. ”
Isla was quiet for a moment, putting together a puzzle in her mind. Mitch worried for a moment that she’d be angry with him for going behind her back. That she’d be angry at Kech. But then she said, “Your family…I like the sound of that. Mitch, what are we going to do now?”
At last, Mitch had an answer for the next step of his life. He had a strategy. “Well, we’re going to get your identity back and get married as soon as possible. That is…if you’ll have me.”
Isla’s mouth dropped open. “You really don’t think I’m letting you go, do you? You’re stuck with us forever. Yes, of course I’ll marry you!”
He pulled her close, and she spoke into his chest. “You’re never leaving my sight again.
You have a son to meet. So much time lost…
but Mitch, I never stopped telling Jesse about his dad.
I told him every day how much you loved us.
I’ve missed you so much. My heart ached for you every second.
When I saw you standing in my kitchen, that ache went away for the first time in three years. ”
Mitch knew the ache. He knew it too well. “Isla, we have all the time in the world now. I want us to spend the rest of our lives together, raising our family and loving each other.”
Isla kissed him, and whispered onto his lips, “I’ll always love you, Mitch. My life can begin again now that you’re in it.”
Mitch pulled her onto his lap. They would face life together and it would be a happy one. Oh, he knew they would have to face their hurdles, but the biggest one had already been faced. They were together now—that’s all that mattered.
Isla said, “Now let’s go home so I can introduce you to your son.”
Isla’s heart was singing as she and Mitch pulled into her driveway. Home at last, together. Kech stood on the porch with Jesse in his arms, wiggling and curious. All the two-year-old energy and wonder in his eyes.
Isla led Mitch up the path. She took Jesse in her arms, set him on her hip, and said, “Jesse, this is Daddy.”
Jesse tucked his head under Isla’s chin and looked up at Mitch shyly.
“Hey, buddy, it’s me,” said Mitch, with that lazy grin. “It’s Daddy.” When Mitch put out his arms, Jesse leaned forward into them. He nestled into Mitch’s arms with complete trust. Isla knew all those years as she’d talked about Mitch, he’d become Jesse’s hero.
“Come on, you two,” said Abigail. “I want to hear this story of yours. I have your dinner warming in the oven and I’ve opened a bottle of wine. This calls for a celebration!”