Jack and the Beanstalk (Modern Wicked Fairy Tales Book 13)
Page 7
“Jack!” Goldi cried as he threw the covers back and sat, blood already blooming on the bandage covering his shoulder wound. “Stop it!”
“I’ll kill him,” Jack croaked, reaching for the I.V. tube keeping him tethered to the bed. Goldi grabbed it before he pulled it out.
“They’re in jail, Jack. Please, get back in bed,” she pleaded. “You can’t bring Will back. Nothing… nothing will bring Will back.”
That fact sank in as Jack reluctantly got back under the covers. He glowered sullenly at Goldi.
“They might be in jail now, but they’ll be out soon enough.” The thought of revenge was already beginning to consume him.
“No.” She shook her head, standing by his bedside, urging him to lie back down. “Falco’s dead, Jack. He was shot. And Giancarlo… well, he’ll never be out.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The FBI showed up after… after what happened.” Goldi smoothed the hair back from his forehead, trying to soothe him. “They’ve apparently been investigating the Giordano family for years. They told me they have more than they need to put Giancarlo away for a long time.”
“Falco’s dead.” Jack almost felt cheated out of killing the man himself. But at least Will’s death had been avenged in some way. “Was anyone else hurt?”
“Two of Giancarlo’s men.” Goldi shrugged. “No one from the Bean Collective died. A few of them are here with gunshot wounds, but they’re all going to pull through.”
Jack nodded, thoughtful. “So, how do you know The Giant won’t beat the rap?”
“It’s the FBI, Jack.” She snorted. “They have a list of charges longer than your arm. Including polygamy, apparently.”
“What?” Jack blinked in surprise.
“He had three other wives,” she said bitterly. “Besides me.”
“Goldi, I’m so sorry.”
“I’m not.” She slid her arms around his neck. “That means my marriage to him was never legal.”
“But… doesn’t that mean you don’t get any of his money?”
“Do I look like I care?” she scoffed. “I have everything I ever wanted, right here, with you.”
He still couldn’t believe he’d lost Will, but he had Goldi. It wasn’t a trade he wanted to make, but he hadn’t been given a choice. He was sad about Will, but so incredibly happy this woman was in his life, in his arms.
He pulled her close and kissed her.
Epilogue
A few days after Will’s funeral, most of the harvest was in.
Jack stood at the edge of the bean field, the training warehouse behind him, looking out at the work his men—Will’s men—had managed to complete, even after the firefight. He wished Will could have been there with him to see it.
The crunch of car tires on gravel turned his head and he smiled at the sight of the red Mustang. Goldi got out, wearing jeans, a t-shirt and cowboy boots. She had another shirt, red and white plaid, tied up at the waist over her t-shirt.
“You didn’t tell me they were letting you out!” Goldi cried as she approached. “I would have picked you up.”
“I signed myself out.” Jack waved away her look of shock.
“You were shot!”
“I’m fine. A little sore, that’s all. I’ve been worse-off after some fights than I am right now.”
“Well I hope it was worth it.” She put her hands on her hips, scowling at him. “Just why did you call me out to the edge of this old bean field, Jack Farnsworth?”
Old bean field, indeed. Will had left everything to Jack in his will, including this old bean field. But Goldi didn’t know that, not yet.
Jack said nothing as he put an arm over her shoulder, turning so they could both look out at the field. The sun was just starting to set, painting everything orange.
“Do you think you could be happy here, Goldi?”
She was so quiet that he had to look down, just to make sure she’d heard him.
“I could be happy anywhere with you, Jack.” She looked up to meet his eyes, but he saw the hesitation there and knew exactly what it was about.
“I have two questions for you, Goldi. And I don’t want you to answer either of them until I ask you both, okay?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Okayyy.”
“First of all… since Will left everything to me, and there’s plenty of money to go around, I’d like to start a country music label. I want to call it Bean Field Records.”
Goldi gasped but didn’t say anything.
“I want you to be the first artist I sign.”
“Oh Jack…” Her eyes were filling with tears.
“Shush now.” He smiled. “Don’t say anything yet. There’s something else I want to ask you.”
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a little cloth bag labeled Magic Beans and placed it in her hands.
“Open it.”
“Oh Jack.” The tears that had gathered were falling down her cheeks now as she opened the bag, spilling an engagement ring into her palm.
Jack was already down on one knee. “Will you marry me?”
She looked from him to the ring and back again, incredulous.
“You can answer now,” he said, hopeful.
“Oh Jack, yes!” she sobbed, throwing her arms around him. He laughed as they tumbled together at the edge of the bean field, kissing and laughing and crying all at once.
There was a brief moment of panic when Goldi thought she’d dropped the ring, but she found it snagged on the edge of the Magic Bean bag.
“Will gave me his blessing before he died,” Jack told her, sliding the ring onto her finger. “He wanted our future to be happy.”
“Too late.” Goldi beamed at him. “I already am!”
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Selena Kitt is a NEW YORK TIMES bestselling and award-winning author of erotic and romance fiction. She is one of the highest selling erotic writers in the business with over two million sexy books sold!
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Her books EcoErotica (2009), The Real Mother Goose (2010) and Heidi and the Kaiser (2011) were all Epic Award Finalists. Her only gay male romance, Second Chance, won the Epic Award in Erotica in 2011. Her story, Connections, was one of the runners-up for the 2006 Rauxa Prize, given annually to an erotic short story of “exceptional literary quality.”
Her books, Babysitting the Baumgartners, Adventures with the Baumgartners, Heidi and the Kaiser and Unfolding are now adult films by Adam & Eve, directed by Kay Brandt.
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MODERN WICKED FAIRY TALES
A Modern Wicked Fairy Tale: Alice
A Modern Wicked Fairy Tale: Beauty
A Modern Wicked Fairy Tale: Bluebeard
A Modern Wicked Fairy Tale: Briar Rose
A Modern Wicked Fairy Tale: The Frog Prince
A Modern Wicked Fairy Tale: Goldilocks
A Modern Wicked Fairy Tale: Gretel
A Modern Wicked Fairy Tale: Peter and the Wolf
A Modern Wicked Fairy Tale: Pinocchio
A Modern Wicked Fairy Tale: Rapunzel
A Modern Wicked Fairy Tale: R
ed
A Modern Wicked Fairy Tale: Wendy
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