Chapter Twenty-Five
They spent a beautiful first summer together. Grace had decided to return to Ontonagon, but when she’d heard about their future plans, she’d promised to come back before Christmas to be with Johnny while they were on the road.
“You’ve both been wonderful parents to Johnny. Let’s hope that soon he’ll be able to meet your extended families. I’m hoping that the next time I see you two, you’ll be married,” Grace said firmly.
“About that…” Shanna said, looking nervously at Rick. “How would you like to be a witness at our wedding before you go home?”
“Praise be,” Grace answered emphatically.
Rick and Shanna both began laughing.
“I think she finally saw the logic in it too, since my health insurance will cover the pregnancy,” Rick said gruffly.
Shanna punched him in the arm.
“I love her like crazy too,” he admitted, grinning as he winked.
Shanna grinned back at him. “The feeling is mutual.”
They were married at the county courthouse another week later, with Jake and Grace as their witnesses, and Johnny excitedly holding both their hands.
“We’ll do this properly next summer,” Rick muttered. “I want my family here as well as Shanna’s.”
“I’d like that,” Shanna answered, feeling slightly nervous. What would they say about her past? She tried not to let it dampen her enthusiasm.
Shanna had been surprised at the classes that Jake had chosen for her to take online, which included Basic Forensics. She realized that Wes had always known she was collecting the bone matter along with the hair and debris from the trafficking stations and had apparently told Jake, who had gone along with her to the smaller cabin to fetch what remained. Since they had no idea how to find those particular paintings that had already been sold, Jake said he’d further investigate Wes’ records. The problem was, he’d been more interested in keeping track of how much each has sold for rather than who’d purchased them.
She felt good during her pregnancy, and when it was time to go to the hospital, Jake sent a car to pick them up and he and his wife went along with them to help keep an eye on Johnny.
Shanna was surprised at how well her pregnancy had gone. Of course, the last time she’d been assisted by some kind of midwife that Wes had hired, who hadn’t even offered her painkillers.
Shanna gladly accepted them this time around.
They named their little girl Anya Gretchen O’Neill. Now, her sister Anya would have little doubt about the fact that she was loved by Shanna.
“She’s perfect, isn’t she?” Rick asked softly, when they were finally able to bring Anya home. “It’s going to be awfully hard to leave her.”
“I know. I’m going to be thinking about her constantly, but what we’re doing is going to be important to the investigation. I never want anyone to go through what I did. The thing is, I didn’t even have it hard like so many other victims did. I was taken care of,” Shanna said gently, glancing down at her daughter, who was nursing from her breast.
Johnny had just fallen asleep, and Rick and Shanna were in the master bedroom, where there was a small crib set up. They wanted to spend as much time as possible with their daughter and Johnny. They had until Christmas, and then they would be leaving on a journey, following the map that Wes had handed over to Jake. There were at least a dozen locations that Wes had highlighted on the map, and Jake was cross-referencing the locations with the names that were listed in the notebooks.
“Thank you for helping me with my classes,” Shanna said.
Rick nodded. “You’ll have your GED in no time, if you keep on studying as hard as you have. I’m so proud of you, Shanna. I wish I could shout out to the world that you’re my wife. Jake is proud of you too. He claims that we’re his accidental heroes.”
She laughed. “I love you, Rick.”
“I love you too, Shanna,” he said softly, bending over and kissing the baby first before his lips covered hers.