Chapter 30 Sabine
SABINE
The gates of Naval Station Great Lakes feel different walking through them as a free woman instead of a prisoner under guard.
The air bites through my dress uniform and I pull my jacket tighter while scanning the parking lot, looking for Jace.
My discharge papers in the bag on my shoulder say I'm officially released from medical hold and cleared to complete my remaining service obligations at SOCOM before my honorable discharge becomes final.
The past week blurred together in a series of interviews and medical evaluations and meetings with attorneys who reviewed every aspect of my case before determining I'd face no prosecution.
The relief still feels unreal, and part of me keeps waiting for someone to change their mind and drag me back into custody.
But today's Christmas Eve and I'm walking out of here on my own two feet with no handcuffs and no guards trailing behind me.
Captain Bryan sits in a military prison awaiting trial on charges that will keep him locked up for the rest of his life, and the investigation continues to uncover more victims and more evidence of his systematic abuse.
My mother has called three times already today to confirm I am actually being released, though she knows I still can't make it to her house for Christmas dinner.
Even if I'd had a non-eventful winter, my leave request would've had to have been submitted weeks ago.
I'll go into work the day after tomorrow and everything will be the same, just without my top-secret clearance.
I spot Jace's truck at the far end of the parking lot and my heart stops for a full second before resuming at double speed.
Jace leans against the driver's side door with his arms crossed over his chest and a small package wrapped in red paper clutched in one hand.
When our eyes meet across the distance, he straightens and a smile transforms his face into longing that makes my chest ache.
The bag on my shoulder bounces painfully and my boots are not designed for sprinting, but I don't care.
I cover the distance in seconds and throw myself into his arms with enough force to make him stagger backward against the truck.
His arms wrap around me immediately and I bury my face in his neck, breathing in the scent of him and letting myself believe this is real.
"You're here." My voice is muffled against his chest. "You're actually here."
"Where else would I be?" His voice rumbles through his chest into mine, and I feel his hand cradle the back of my head. "I told you I'd never leave your side again."
I pull back just far enough to look at his face and feel tears of joy pricking at my eyes.
"I really thought for a while that I was never going to see you again.
When they arrested me and took me into custody, I kept thinking that Bryan would find a way to kill me before I could tell my story.
And even after I told them everything, I was afraid that you might not have survived your confrontation with your boss. "
"Well, I survived." He wipes the tears from my face with his thumbs and kisses my forehead. "And so did you."
I kiss him instead of trying to find words adequate to express what I feel, and he pours himself into the kiss with heat. It's long overdue, this celebratory embrace, and I don't want it to end even though I'm shivering hard and fighting to keep my teeth from chattering.
When I pull back, Jace keeps one arm around my waist as though afraid I might disappear if he lets go. "I have something for you." He holds up the package wrapped in red paper with a slightly crooked bow on top. "I know it's not much, but I wanted to give you something to mark this day."
"You didn't have to get me anything." I take the package and turn it over in my hands, noticing the wrapping is a little crooked and the bow is off center. It's sweet that Jace wrapped this himself. "Being here is gift enough."
"Just open it." He sounds nervous now, and I realize this matters to him more than I understand right now.
I tear through the paper and find a small box inside.
When I open it, a single key rests on tissue paper.
The metal is new and shiny, obviously recently cut, and I stare at it with confusion then chuckle as I look up at him.
"I don't get it." Smiling, I say, "What's this for?" It's not a car key, so he didn't buy me a car. And if this is some sort of invitation to move into his house, I'll have to pass. His neighborhood is a little rough and too far from SOCOM for me to commute.
"I'm leaving Chicago." When he says it, I feel more confused and a bit hurt.
The connection between his moving and this key doesn't line up in my brain until he continues.
"I'm moving to Savannah, Georgia. I bought a house there, nothing fancy but enough space for two people.
That key is for the front door, and I'm hoping you'll want to use it. "
"What?" I mutter, still not following his train of thought. Jace is moving to Savannah. That's an hour from my mother's place in Tybee and very far from here. I shake my head and his smile widens.
"Yes, I'm moving, Sabine…"
"You want me to come with you?" When it finally starts to click, my trickle of tears becomes a torrent. I've never been so emotional in my entire life. It's like this entire situation broke me open and changed who I am at my core.
"Yes…"
"To Savannah?"
"I want a future with you." Jace takes the box from my hand and closes it, then pockets the key and takes both my hands in his.
"All this time not knowing whether you were alive or dead made me realize that nothing matters if I don't have you in my life.
And I'm out… I'm not going back to Barone. I want you with me, Sabine."
I can't stop sobbing. "He just let you go?" My hands are trembling from emotion now but the cold seems distant. Jace's smile warms me so I don't have to shiver anymore.
"He knows I'm more dangerous dead than alive." Jace squeezes my hands gently. "He's not going to bother us again, baby."
"What about your past?" The words come out hesitant. "The people you killed working for Barone. That doesn't just disappear because you walk away."
"No, it doesn't." His expression turns serious.
"I'll carry that guilt for the rest of my life, and I may face legal consequences if evidence ever surfaces connecting me to specific crimes.
But being an assassin is in my past now.
I'm done taking orders and ending lives for money.
What I want is a future, and I want it to include you. "
I'm so full of love for this man that I can barely breathe. "I want that too. I want to move to Savannah with you and start over." I throw my arms around him and breathe him in, feeling him embrace me back.
Jace nods in understanding. "You'll need to testify against Bryan when the case goes to court."
"And I have to finish my last few months on active duty before my discharge becomes official." I gesture toward the naval station behind me. "They're sending me back to SOCOM without my clearance, but it'll still be three or four months before I'm free to leave."
"Then I'll wait. We have time now, Sabine. We don't have to rush into anything or make decisions under pressure. We can take our time and do this right." His lips press against mine, sealing those words like a promise.
The patience in his voice makes me fall in love with him all over again. "You really bought a house in Savannah? Without knowing if I would even want to move there with you?"
"I bought it because it's close to your family.
" He pulls me closer until there is no space between us.
"And because I knew that if you survived this and we got our chance at a future together, you'd want to be near your mom.
I want you to be happy, Sabine. That matters more to me than where we live or what we do.
As long as we are together, the rest is just details. "
I kiss him again because words are insufficient to express what his thoughtfulness means to me. He planned for a future with me even when the outcome was still up in the air and he didn't know if I'd end up in prison or at the business end of Bryan's gun.
"I love you and I can't wait to start a life with you in Savannah. After the trial and after I finish my service here, we're gonna have a great life, Jace."
"I believe it," he says. "Now get in my truck. I'm cold."
He opens the door that’s scratched all to hell from one too many a car chase, and I smile at how this truck was our home away from home for all that time.
It's seen better days, just like Jace, but it's still got worth and value.
And no matter what's in his past, all I see is his future with me.
That's not something I ever want to change.
I'm in love with him, and more than ever, I'm ready to put the past behind me and walk forward.