Lasting Shadows: Shadows Landing #3

by Kathleen Brooks

  “Olivia is here?”

  “Nope,” Granger said with a slow grin. “Olivia is with Savannah. Ryker sent Olivia’s boss. I’ve never seen a man with a stick so far up his—”

  “Sheriff, I see you’re talking to my client without me.”

  Ridge smiled because the man did look like he had a literal stick up his ass. His back was ramrod straight and there was not a single hint of amusement anywhere on his face. In fact, he was rather wrinkle-free. Ridge guessed it was due to his lack of smiling even though he was probably in his sixties if his white hair was any indicator.

  The next two hours were the longest of Ridge’s life. He was pretty sure he fell asleep through some of the interrogation. He told his attorney, Mr. Hendrix, what had happened and Hendrix had taken it from there. Ridge gave his statement, answered some questions, napped a little, and then signed his statement. Finally everyone cleared the room and he was left with just Granger.

  “Any word on how Savannah is?” Ridge asked. He couldn’t wait to hold her, but the FBI agent had told him they weren’t allowed to be together until they’d both given their statements.

  Granger chuckled to himself as he shook his head. “Kord called on his way here to pick up my nurse for a date. He said they were delayed because Olivia made an agent cry, but that they’re on their way here now.”

  “Already here,” Savannah said, rushing into the room. His heart pounded as he opened his arms and Savannah crawled into the tiny bed with him. “Oh, Ridge. I thought I lost you! I love you so much.”

  She eased down gently beside him and rested her hand on his heart. She looked so tired that all Ridge wanted to do was to shut out the world and hold her while she slept. “You’re safe now,” Ridge whispered as he ran a hand over her hair and then down her back.

  “Shouldn’t you be in bed, Sheriff?”

  Ridge turned to look at where Olivia stood in her pencil skirt, heels, and blazer, looking like a stern mother hen at Granger.

  “It’s still my case,” Granger said stubbornly as he crossed his arms over his chest and transformed himself into a pouting child.

  “I know it is and then the big, bad FBI came in and tried to take it from you. Well, we’ll make sure you get all the credit.” Ridge could feel Savannah’s body shaking with silent laughter as Olivia grabbed Granger’s wheelchair and began to turn him toward the door. She spoke to him as if he were a child. “But the little sheriff won’t be able to fight for his case if he’s not rested up.”

  Savannah snorted in laughter and tried to hide it by burying her face against Ridge’s chest.

  “But, I’m not ready to leave,” Granger complained. “And Kord stole my nurse.”

  “And yet we are leaving anyway. Say your goodbyes, and I’ll help you into bed.”

  Ridge was biting his lip so hard there were tears in his eyes. Granger was normally tough as nails. Ridge hadn’t ever seen this side of him before, but he had a feeling the pain killers were playing a rather large role.

  “Goodbye. I’ll check in on you tomorrow,” Granger called out as Olivia wheeled him from the room.

  Ridge looked down at the woman in his arms. “I love you, Savannah.”

  “I love you too.”

  And when she tilted her face up to his, Ridge leaned down and placed his lips on hers. It was more than a kiss. It was a promise of their future.

  32

  Two months—Savannah had done it all in two months. She’d shaken hands with the buyers of her house and handed over the keys. The house Ridge had helped her renovate was finished a month before, and for the past month she’d used the house as her showpiece. She’d had Olivia sell the house in Switzerland and used the money to finish work on this house even while putting most of it in savings. Savannah had worked on designing every detail. Getting every color just right. And then with a little help from both Ridge and Trent, she got her house featured in two magazines. Not for interior design, but it was still shown with her name attached to it. One was for country renovations and the other was for custom furniture Trent had made for her, including her own porch bed swing.

  “Enjoy your house,” she told the new owners before leaving the bank and heading down Main Street.

  Her phone rang and she looked to see it was the sheriff’s station.

  “Hello?”

  “It’s Granger.” Granger was fully healed now and had served as a protector of sorts for her. There had been no more pushy FBI questions. She’d been cleared of Penn’s death, and while the five hundred thousand had been taken into evidence against an Atlanta loan shark, she wasn’t prosecuted for any of Penn’s crimes. On the other hand, Ginger had been. Her attorney advised her trial would not go well when he saw the video of Abby’s interrogation. Apparently there were whispered words that weren’t caught on tape, Ginger screaming and crying before spilling her guts. Ginger had taken a plea deal the second Abby left the room and her attorney had arrived. She’d get out in twenty-five years if she behaved.

  “I’m about to walk by the courthouse,” Savannah told him.

  “Good. I need to see you.”

  Savannah pulled the phone away to check. Yup, Granger had hung up on her. He was a man of few words but she’d never had a better friend.

  As she approached the courthouse, the front door opened and Granger stepped outside holding a large envelope.

  “Savannah Ambrose?” Granger asked.

  “What? Am I in trouble? I got all the permits you told me I had to get for the house remodel.”

  Granger signed a piece of paper and handed her the envelope. “You’ve been served.”

  “Served with what?” Savannah asked, and she felt like throwing the envelope back to Granger.

  “Don’t know. Let’s find out.”

  “I don’t want to find out,” she shoved it back at him. “You open it.”

  Granger took it with a shrug and tore it open. Thick folded papers came out and he opened it. His head nodded slightly as he read the top letter, but he didn’t say anything as he skimmed the rest.

  “Well?” Savannah was practically shaking. Nothing ever good came from a sheriff serving you papers.

  Granger held up a finger to tell her to wait as he finished reading. “It’s from an attorney in Switzerland.”

  Savannah’s stomach plummeted. Her legs began to shake and she swayed slightly as she tried to regain her breath. “What does he want?”

  “It appears after Ginger married Penn in Switzerland as you, he got that insurance policy on Savannah Benson.” Granger paused and looked up at her.

  Savannah nodded. “Ginger pretended to be me so they could get the life insurance money after they killed me. I know.”

  “What you don’t know is that it appears that, at the same time and to avoid suspicion, Penn also took out a life insurance policy with one Savannah Benson as the beneficiary. After you were to die, he could easily change the beneficiary to Ginger and no one would think twice about it.”

  “But I didn’t die.”

  Granger smiled and flipped to the last page but didn’t give it to her yet. “No, you didn’t. And the policy was paid up for the entire year. The insurance company’s lawyers were able to identify you as Penn’s wife via the marriage record in the United States. They also found the divorce decree making Savannah Benson, Savannah Ambrose of Shadows Landing.”

  “Right. I know. But he told me he’d change his will and his life insurance beneficiary.” Savannah looked at the papers he was holding and then nodded. “I get it. These are the cover-their-butts paperwork so they don’t have to pay out the insurance.”

  Granger’s lips turned up into a smile. “They read the transcript of the trial and know the marriage in Switzerland was null and void. Therefore, they determined Ginger wasn’t the beneficiary. His actual wife was one Savannah Benson, now Savannah Ambrose. However, they had to verify that your actual divorce decree says nothing about life insurance proceeds. You might have agreed to it verbally, but he didn’t ag
ree to it in the decree and it’s the decree that the lawyers are looking at. Therefore,“ Granger said handing her the last page, “this is for you.”

  Savannah took the paper. Life insurance proceeds were listed along with an amount and her eyes went to the bottom where a check was attached for a Savannah Ambrose, formerly Savannah Benson. Savannah blinked and then blinked again. “A million dollars,” she gasped.

  “And now that you’ve been served with this, it’s all yours. I would recommend walking right back into the bank and depositing that.”

  Savannah screamed something unintelligible and flung her arms around Granger. She could still hear him laughing as she ran for the bank.

  “Savannah!” Ten minutes later and one million dollars richer, Savannah was yanked from cloud nine at the sound of her name being yelled. Savannah looked across the street and saw Darcy waving to her. After getting back from their honeymoon, Darcy and Wade had quickly become a pillar of their lives right along with the rest of the family and the town. “Will you be at weapons class on Saturday?”

  “Wouldn’t miss it!” Savannah called out. She wanted to tell everyone what had happened. The most ironic windfall ever, but first she had to tell Ridge.

  “I hope they’ll let us use the pikes this time. Or at least the cutlass. I mean, I donated some of those.”

  Savannah laughed and shook her head at her friend. “As soon as we master throwing the dagger, we’ll be moved up. Want to practice with me tomorrow?”

  “I’d love to!” Then Darcy wrinkled her nose in thought. “Maybe we should have Lacy come and teach us after school gets out.” Yeah, they’d ask a fourth grader for help.

  Savannah waved goodbye to Darcy and hurried down the street to where Turtle held a ladder with Junior standing on the top of it. Her heart sped up at the sight. They were there for her and this had nothing to do with Penn. This was all her doing.

  The two men were bickering as she approached and Savannah rolled her eyes. “Guys, what’s the matter?”

  “It needs to move one more inch,” Turtle told her.

  “I’m telling you, it’s straight,” Junior said as he looked down the ladder at Turtle.

  Savannah took a step back and looked up. “You’re both wrong. Shift the top to the right a half of an inch and it’ll be good.”

  Junior did that and Savannah clapped. “It’s perfect!”

  A couple minutes later Junior was off the ladder and the three of them took a step back and looked up. Hanging off a black wrought iron hanger and freshly hung on the corner of the building was a white sign with navy blue letters outlined in gold that read Designs by Savannah.

  “It looks great,” Tinsley told her as she came out of her gallery and looked up at the sign.

  Savannah squealed, jumped up and down, and then scared the two men by wrapping each of them up in a hug. So much had changed in two months. Shoot, so much had changed in the past ten minutes. Savannah now had enough money to fund her new company and she’d just enrolled in college to finish her degree. She’d spent Thanksgiving with the Faulkners and felt as if she had a huge family of her own. She and Ridge had been dating and were so incredibly happy. This was what freedom and happiness felt like. It felt like love, family, and community.

  “See you at weapons class?” Tinsley asked as her phone began to ring.

  “See you then,” Savannah said before Tinsley hurried inside to get the phone.

  It was only when she was alone and looking up at her new sign that Savannah let her smile slip. And money couldn’t fix it—even a million dollars.

  Two months ago she’d told Ridge she wasn’t ready to move in together because it was happening too fast for her. She wanted to spread her wings. The fears brought on by her past had disappeared after only two weeks of dating Ridge. Ever since then, she’d been dropping hints that she was ready. And after two months, there wasn’t even a question about what she wanted and that was Ridge. She was his and he was hers and she was ready to be together in all ways.

  Ridge had done exactly what she’d asked of him. They’d dated. He hadn’t pushed. He hadn’t asked her to move in with him. He hadn’t brought up marriage. In fact, he helped her move all her things into the extra rooms in her office three days earlier. For the foreseeable future, Savannah was going to be living in her office.

  Savannah had gotten desperate three weeks ago and begun mentioning marriage to him. Ridge hadn’t run scared. He’d listened and then nodded, but didn’t say anything. But no more. Savannah had her own company and she’d sold her house. She did all that herself. She reached her goals with his support, but on her own. So today she was going to tell Ridge that she wanted him in her life forever.

  Savannah opened the door to the upstairs unit and ran up the steep staircase she’d painted white to make it look less claustrophobic. She used her key to unlock the office door. Inside was a prime example of her decorating style, but it was her temporary bedroom in the back she was in a hurry to get to.

  Savannah started to undress as she made her way back. She’d clean up later, she told herself as she kicked off her shoes and pulled off the ocean blue fuzzy sweater she’d been wearing. She would change into something pretty and then find Ridge and tell him everything. About the sale, about the money, and most importantly about how much she loved him and wanted to be with him.

  Savannah pulled her tank top off and let it drop in the hallway as she turned into her room. She was looking down at her jeans as she unbuttoned them and rushed straight into a hard body.

  She didn’t need to look to see who it was. She knew every inch of Ridge’s body and even then, she would have known it was him by his smell alone.

  “Ridge! I was just coming to find you. I have so much to tell you.”

  Ridge dropped his hands from where he’d caught her and took a seat on the edge of her bed. “Really? Why don’t you finish undressing as you tell me?” He smiled and it went straight to her heart and then straight down to her . . . “Savannah, why are you staring at my lap?”

  When she brought her eyes back up to his face, she saw him grinning back at her. What was she going to tell him? Whatever it was, it could wait.

  She unhooked her bra, let it fall to the ground as she stepped toward him. His smiling face transformed into one of desire as he licked his lips in anticipation. He opened his legs and she stepped between them. With a flick of his fingers and a push of his hands, Savannah was bared to his gaze and to his touch.

  There was nothing better than feeling Savannah under his hands. Ridge touched every inch of her. Tasted every inch of her. Loved every inch of her. And soon they were naked, breathing hard, and very satisfied as she lay in his arms.

  Their lovemaking had grown more and more intense as they fell deeper and deeper in love over the past two months. Ridge couldn’t get enough of Savannah.

  Reluctantly, Ridge got out of bed. “We have the celebratory dinner for opening your company in thirty minutes. We better get going.”

  Savannah threw off the covers. “Oh my gosh, how did I forget about that?”

  Everyone was gathering at The Pink Pig for a huge dinner. Savannah had invited practically the entire town. Even Earl from Lowcountry Smokehouse agreed to set foot in enemy territory so long as Savannah agreed to host her next event at his place and Darius agreed to go to that one.

  Ridge pulled up his pants and slipped his sweater over his head. He ran his fingers through his hair and tucked the loose strands behind his ears as he watched Savannah dress.

  He’d given her the space she wanted. He offered his support and love to her as she set out to reach every goal she’d set for herself, and Ridge couldn’t be prouder of her. Savannah spun around in the long-sleeved ivory sweater dress that hugged all her beautiful curves. She fluffed her hair and Ridge loved the way her cheeks were still pink from their lovemaking.

  Savannah looked him over, and with a saucy grin, let her eyes linger on his pants. “Is that a hammer in your pocket or are you just gl
ad to see me?”

  Ridge looked down at his tented pants and stuck his hand into his pocket. “I’m always glad to see you. I love you, Savannah.”

  “I love you too.” Savannah smiled sweetly as she came forward and placed a sweet kiss on his lips.

  “Before we head out,” Ridge started to say, “I have to tell you how proud I am of you. You knew what you wanted and you went after it. I love seeing you grow and flourish as you discover what I already know.”

  “And what is it that you already know?”

  “That you are the most incredible woman in the world. You’re smart, talented, kind, compassionate, and a true friend.” Savannah blushed even deeper and Ridge felt as if there was no way to completely convey his feelings for her. “I’m so lucky to have you in my life.”

  “Oh, hush and take out that hammer. We’re going to be late to the party.” Savannah laughed before she kissed him hard and deep.

  “You asked for it,” Ridge teased as he pulled his hand from his pocket.

  Savannah couldn’t care less if she was late to her own party. Ridge was her whole heart and hearing him talk was enough to make a girl ruin her mascara in all the fun ways.

  Savannah licked her lips thinking about all the ways she was going to show Ridge how much she loved him when he pulled his hand from his pocket. It wasn’t his hammer. “Ridge?” she asked as she saw the navy blue velvet box in his hand.

  Ridge took a step back and went down on one knee. Savannah gasped and her hands started to shake as he slowly opened the box. There sat a beautiful emerald-cut diamond engagement ring and Savannah knew she was ruining her mascara in the best way possible.

  “Yes!”

  “I haven’t asked you anything yet,” Ridge said with a smile.

  “The answer to you is always yes, Ridge.” Savannah swiped at the tears as Ridge’s smiled widened. She watched through blurry eyes as he pulled out the ring and held it up to her.