Chapter Twelve
The Castle
Midnight
The Master’s Suite
Yeah, unfortunately for her, Elizabeth couldn’t sleep. Maybe it was all the wine, or the whole situation going on at the castle, but her brain just wouldn’t shut down to give her any peace.
In fact, it was going a mile a minute, and while it was doing that, there was no freaking way she was going to get any rest whatsoever.
And apparently, Ethan was aware of it too.
While she thought he was out cold, he wasn’t.
“I can hear your hamster wheel spinning, and I can smell the smoke, Lyzee my love. What is going on in that head of yours?” he asked, opening his eyes.
Oh, boy.
“I’m sorry that I’m keeping you awake,” she offered.
Honestly, she wasn’t. He’d been lying there thinking about the whole Shaman-FBI situation. At some point, he had to come to a decision. Was he working for the FBI, or for the people who spawned him?
That was his big issue now that he’d reached Elizabeth, and they’d fixed that void between them.
“You’re not. I’m pretty much wide awake trying to make sure my wife doesn’t sleepwalk her ass out of here.”
She laughed.
“Point made.”
Elizabeth was just grateful she hadn’t had to watch that happen. She would have lost her mind.
“Talk it out, Baby,” he said, picking up her hand to place it over his heart on his chest to connect them.
Scooching closer, she did.
“I’m thinking about Ceit. I’m thinking about what she told me in my dream last night. It’s running over and over again in my head. I can’t shut it down.”
To connect them even more, he kissed her scabbed knuckles. Someone had hurt them in the gym a few days ago, and they were just healing now.
“Okay, share and talk it out. Maybe that will help. If not, we can figure out something to keep you occupied,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.
That made her laugh again.
“Oh, well…”
He stopped her.
“Seriously. Talk it out. I want to help you.”
While she wanted to, Elizabeth knew that he might not like this.
“I want to go look at the painting. Is it wrong if I go wandering around at this time of the night since technically, we own half of it?” she asked.
He laughed.
“Yes, it’s absolutely wrong, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do it. Like you just said, this castle belongs to us, partially, and as long as we don’t wake anyone, what’s the harm?”
That caught her off guard.
Who?
Was?
This?
Man?
She stared at him, and it made him laugh.
He could see her in the moonlight, and he knew what she was thinking.
“Bet you didn’t expect that answer.”
Honestly, no.
She hadn’t.
Ethan was normally a ‘leave it alone’ kind of a guy, but he’d jumped in both feet on this one, and while she appreciated it, she was worried he’d not enjoy it.
“I can skip it.”
He stopped her.
“No, let’s go snoop. I could use a snack. I’m peckish,” he stated, “And by peckish, I mean those cookies I saw under the cake dome earlier. You know how much I love a cookie.”
She giggled.
“So, we’re going to explore and eat snackies? Oh, man. I think I just got wet.”
While that wasn’t his intent, it was a pleasant byproduct. No husband was going to be upset about that happening.
So, he kissed his wife. Pulling her into his body, he held her close as his mouth moved over hers, diving deep to share exactly what he was now thinking.
She may be wet, and now, he was hard.
When he broke the mating of mouths, he hoped she felt that to her toes because he certainly did.
Ethan was absolutely taking every precious minute alone with his wife to enjoy it.
Trust and believe.
“Bookmark this for after a snack. Then, I’m having some Elizabeth as my bedtime treat. I like cookies, but there’s something I always love more.”
As he said it, she simply blinked.
Jesus.
The man’s mouth was lethal.
Because life had gotten crazy, she had forgotten that, but now, she had Ethan on the brain, too.
“Yes, please?” she asked.
That made him laugh.
There was the old Lyzee who used to charm the hell out of him with her wittiness.
Yeah, he’d missed moments like this.
“Come on, Daphne. Fred wants to sneak around in a haunted castle until Old Man Winters tells him he’s a meddling kid,” he said.
She snorted.
“I see you’ve watched cartoons.”
He was honest.
“I never did while I was growing up, but Charlie happens to love those particular cartoons. Don’t be shocked when her request for her first car is a Mystery Machine. Granted, she’ll be driving, and Fred will be navigating.”
Oh, she wouldn’t be because their daughter was just like them. She liked an adventure, and her mind leaned toward solving puzzles.
Mostly, which meddling brother stole her brownies or snacks?
“To be fair, I think that was mine too,” she admitted. “I do love a Great Dane. Maybe we can get one of those.”
Ethan didn’t even flinch.
“Sure.”
Now, she was staring at him.
“Are you possessed?” Elizabeth asked. “Because that wasn’t an Ethan answer.
That was a Callen answer. When I say ‘can I have…’, he immediately makes it happen, no matter how crazy the request,” she admitted.
“Remember when I asked for an autographed Bible as a joke, and he legitimately tried to find one until he realized that was not possible?”
Yeah, well, Ethan tended to be less willing to bend while Callen was a willow in the breeze. His brother was also so much happier in his life because he didn’t let things bother him.
Ethan aspired to be like that.
“I was going to ask for some goats,” Ethan stated. “I figured you couldn’t say no if I offered up another dog,” he added.
She stared at him.
“Jesus. You’re possessed. Farm animals?” she asked.
He shrugged.
“I think I like making the goats fall over. I’m not sure if it’s just because it’s so ridiculous, or if it’s because when our kids see that…we win the parent awards.”
She laughed.
He wasn’t wrong on that one.
“Did you find out their names? That makes it funnier,” she admitted.
He shook his head.
“No. What are their names?”
She laughed.
“Michael named them after the Marines. All of them,” she said.
He found that amusing.
“I mean, they are prone to do dumbass things. Look at Demeter.”
It wasn’t like he was wrong.
“We’ll discuss goats later,” she stated. “Snoop, cookie, nookie, sleep, goats—in that order,” she said.
He was amused.
“I’m good with that.”
Getting out of bed, she pulled on a robe, and so did he. Then, they got on their slippers, and hand-in-hand, they crept down the stairs, and to the kitchen.
Once there, Ethan grabbed a cookie for each of them and smiled when his wife told him there were more in the cow cookie jar.
Ethan realized one thing.
This was kind of nice.
Blackhawk couldn’t recall the last time they did something in the middle of the night that didn’t involve taking a call regarding a case or profile.
He could get used to this.
Together, they ate their cookies and headed toward the foyer. Once there, she turned on a light and stared at the painting above the fireplace.
It was crazy to her, still, but the face in the painting was so damn close to hers that it felt creepy and bizarre.
“It’s uncanny,” he admitted. “You and Ceit could be twins. I really didn’t think it was anyone else but you. I’ve seen pictures of you and Chris when you were in your late twenties. That’s what you looked like.”
Yeah, she was aware.
“Did you just call me old?” she joked. “And wrinkly?”
He stopped her.
“No, I called you absolutely beautiful and stunning. I don’t regret not having that, Elizabeth.
First, I was in my healing era. Had I run into you then, we wouldn’t have survived.
I needed Gene to teach me how to be a decent person.
Secondly, Chris needed those moments with you so he could figure out what he needed in life.
Without our path as it was, we wouldn’t be these people.
One slight alteration, and we would have deviated from this timeline. ”
He wasn’t wrong.
That was for sure.
As she stood there, staring at the painting, done in the sixteen hundreds, she was curious.
“I need a closer look,” she stated.
Ehtan pointed toward the high-backed chair not far away flanking the fireplace.
“There’s a chair.”
Only, there was a problem with that.
It wasn’t high enough.
“I was on it yesterday, and it doesn’t make me get closer. Since it’s on rails, I can’t lift it either to bring it down. What are the chances there’s a ladder around here?” she asked, looking around.
Slim.
To.
None.
That was for damn sure.
Construction was all in the ballroom, and this part was fully renovated. He doubted putting ladders on the marble black and white checked floor was a good idea. It looked expensive.
“Sorry, Baby. No ladders.”
She sighed.
“I wish Callen was here.”
Ethan looked over.
“Why?” he asked. “What’s he going to do? Buy you a ladder and have it delivered by drone?”
She snorted.
Well, maybe.
That did sound like Callen.
“No, he could lift my ass up there and let me sit on his shoulders so I could get a closer look at that painting. I should have told Michael not to put it back up on the rail until after I checked it out.”
Beside her, Ethan said nothing.
Why?
Well, because it made him sad, but he opted not to hold it in. At first, he was going to swallow it.
But that felt detrimental.
If they were going to fix what cracks there were in their relationship, it had to be all of the cracks—not just the big ones. The small ones tended to grow over time.
They needed repair too.
“I know I’m not Callen, but I could hold you on my shoulders,” he said. “I’d love to, in fact. You just assume I can’t, and don’t ask me to do things like that anymore. Once, though, you did trust me not to drop you. I wish we never moved away from that trust.”
Oh, holy shit.
At his words, she blinked.
Oh, she heard it in his voice and his words. Clearly, what she’d said about Callen being there stung.
And he was right.
She didn’t ask him because she assumed his back would be hurt, or it might hurt him. She wasn’t exactly a feather.
“I just hurt you, didn’t I?” she asked, turning to focus on him. “By not thinking you could, I just emasculated you.”
He was honest.