“The new school that is being built is going to keep us all safe. Aunt Demi said that I could have a puppy too if we let her pick it out.” Mary leaned very close to his ear and whispered loud enough that everyone could hear. “Did you know that the McCrays are all bears, Daddy?”
“I did know that.” Daniel looked at his sister. “Would you mind overly much if we lived around here so we can be close to you?”
“Are you kidding? You’d do nothing but cramp my style if you live here. Damn it, Daniel, I’d like nothing better than you living here. Also, you should be aware that Dad is staying too. He’s got a good job, like you, that he can do from home. Gannon and I are looking for him a place to live. He wants to be on his own. His own style, he told me.” Daniel started to ask about their mom, but he didn’t when Melody just shook her head. “He wants to be within walking distance of both of us, though I have no idea why. These kids would drive a nun to drink.”
When they converged on their aunt, he looked at Gannon. “Do you mind us living close to the two of you? I mean, we could find a home somewhere else.” Gannon told him that he wanted them close as well. He had fallen in love with not just his sister, but his kids as well. “Thank you for that.”
They talked about their school as well as shopping for supplies. Dan told him that there was a cross country team that he wanted to join, as well as football next year. Also that he’d gotten to suit up as a hopeful player for the team. Mary tumbled all over her stories about different things. Mostly it was about her room and how she was going to fix it up. Whatever that meant to an eight year old.
Holly was quiet, but that wasn’t anything unusual for her. She was more of a thinker, as he was. For his children not being related to him at all, he could see bits and pieces of himself in them. Perhaps not looks, but things, habits of his, that they had picked up.
“All right, you rug rats. Let’s let Dad get some rest. He’s got a big day tomorrow. We’re going to be bringing him home with us.” There were shouts of happiness all around. Daniel was grateful for Gannon taking them home. He was hurting more, and he felt exhausted, trying to keep the kids from banging him up too much more. “Tell your dad goodnight, and you’ll see him tomorrow.”
They were out the door before he could tell them over and over how much he loved them. Melody sat on the side of the bed when the kids were gone and took his hand into hers. Whatever she had to say, he knew that this was done on purpose. The kids being gone so that she could tell him.
“I’m keeping them at my house at night. During the day, since they’re getting used to their school, they have guards around them at all times.” He thanked her for that. “Gannon said that he told you about your in-laws. I have a little more information than he did before he said anything. Their names are Sara and Homer Chadwick. Believe it or not, they only live in Cincinnati. From talking to their neighbors and the people they hang around with, they’re nothing like Vicky. Sara is part of a sewing circle. Homer puts together train sets. They also think that Vicky is in prison. Nothing much is said about her, Demi was told, other than they have nothing around to remind them of her. No pictures. No bedroom set up for her. It’s as if she never existed. They’re looking into that too.” He asked why they thought she was in prison. “She murdered a boy and a girl when she was seventeen. The couple was in a movie theater with her when she got pissed off about them kissing. I guess there is more to the story than that, but I don’t know it. Also, the man that attacked me is in jail. He doesn’t have a trial date set up just yet, but it’s doubtful he’ll make it to it. His sleuth master, Rummy Carter, is going to make sure that he never hurts anyone again. I don’t like it overly much. I want him to go to prison for the rest of his life. But Rummy said that he’s hurt their kind, and having him pay will make others have second thoughts about doing something similar.” Daniel could see that but didn’t say anything more. “Vicky is out there, and we’re going to find her. She will pay. Gannon said that he told you about the money that she had some.” He said that it hadn’t mattered to him. “It should. If Demi has it right, it will come to her children. All three of them. It’s over two million dollars, Daniel. A good amount to use for them to go to college.”
“That is a lot. But I’m not going to count on it just yet. I want her put away. She did this to us. Her own children.” Melody said that she hated her more for it. “I do, as well. You do whatever it takes, Mel, to make sure that you and my kids are safe, will you? I don’t want anything to happen to any of you.”
“I don’t either, and we’re watching out for them all.” He nodded. “I’m going to go now. When you were out, Gannon took a bit of your blood. There is more to it than that, but we’ll talk about it later. But the reason that I bring that up is, if you need him, just think of him, and you can talk to him. Understand?”
“Yes. I understand.” She told him that there were guards at his door, too, that no one that wasn’t family would be able to come in at all. They had a picture of Vicky and knew to keep her out at all costs. “Thank you for that as well. You go home, have some fun. It’s been a hell of a week so far, hasn’t it?”
“It has, but we’re all safe, and that’s all that matters, right?”
He kissed her on the cheek, and she left him.
When the door closed behind her, it was opened again. The man standing there was dressed in a suit. He introduced himself as Mitch, the man taking care of him tonight. Thanking him, he asked if a nurse could come in, and almost as if he’d summoned her, she came in with some pain meds. Within minutes, probably only seconds, Daniel was feeling no pain and drifting off to sleep.
~*~
When they’d gotten home last night, they all nearly fell asleep standing up. He wasn’t sleeping with Melody yet, and he couldn’t wait until they did. Well, he could, but he was giving her space. Melody had been under a great deal of stress in the last few days. She paused in going down the stairs to turn to him.
“You didn’t kill him.” It took him a moment to realize who she was talking about. Gannon told Melody that he’d made a promise to her. “I don’t understand. Why didn’t you just kill him and not tell me?”
“Because I made a promise to you that I’d let people have their justice. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to murder his fucking ass. But I didn’t. I thought that you’d be proud of me.” She just stared at him. “What?”
“I don’t know. I guess…. Well, I thought that since you were in there with him, you’d say something like he had attacked you and you had to kill him. I’m not mad at you. I’m still trying to learn to trust people.” Gannon pulled her into his arms and was glad that she came to him willingly. “You’re entirely too good for me. I don’t know why you put up with me.”
“Because I love you.” She looked up at him and smiled. “I do. I know you’ve said it to me before, but this would be a really good time for you to say it again.”
“I love you very much, Gannon McCray.” He kissed her then and wanted more, but she pulled back with a frown. “I would like for you to tell me if you can, how Meadow was able to change me into Rummy. I mean, it was sort of freaky. I didn’t even sound like him to my ears.”
“You wouldn’t have noticed anything different about you if you’d looked in a mirror either. She didn’t change you, but she made Harvey think that he was seeing Rummy.” She frowned harder. “She has this great ability to change people’s minds about things, like making it so you’d not be able to see someone if they were in the room with you. Or like she did with you, made Harvey believe wholly that he was in the room with his leader all along. Also so that he’d not see anyone else in the room with the two of you, such as the police. That, I will be forever grateful for her doing in the event that something happened, and he tried to hurt you. By the way, you did an awesome job of pretending to be him.”
“I was terrified of him figuring it out. I knew that he was watching my every move.
That’s why I sat down.” He said that he’d not noticed anything. “Yes, well, you love me, so that’s why you never find much wrong with what I’m doing.”
“I do. And yes, that’s probably true as well.” He kissed her again. “I wish I could stay here and show you just how much I love you, but right now, I have to go and install cameras on the building that you’re renovating. It’s coming along nicely, isn’t it?”
The moment that he mentioned the bakery, her smile lit up the room. She was excited about what she was doing, and he couldn’t be more proud of her. She started telling him what was going on there as they headed to the kitchen for breakfast. The kids were already gone to his parents’ house.
Since it was Saturday, he figured that he’d go in and put in the cameras. It was for their safety as well as making sure that no one was walking out with equipment that was left there overnight. It had happened on job sites before.
After they ate a quick dinner, he headed out the door. Driving to the site this time, because he had so much equipment, he watched as store after store started closing up for the day. He had always loved the fact that nearly every store and shop closed up at around seven so that people working could go home to their families.
Pulling into the parking lot, he gathered up what he might need and headed inside. He knew something was wrong the moment that he walked in. While he didn’t see anyone around, he knew that something was up. Reaching out to his family, he asked if any of them were close. It just happened to be Demi and Meadow that were on their way to see the progress of the new building.
What’s up? He told Meadow that he didn’t know that anything was up, but he had an eerie feeling that something was. Those hunches are usually right on the head. We’re almost there. Just don’t do anything stupid and get yourself hurt. Melody would murder us all.
I don’t plan on it. He looked around twice more in the room that he was in. Turning his nose up to the air, he inhaled deeply. Nothing. I don’t know what I feel. I don’t smell anything out of the ordinary. I just—
“Where is she?” He turned to see a woman standing behind him. She was wrapped up in a bloody blanket and looked like he’d woken her up. Gannon told the others who he thought was there. “Where is Mel? I’d like a word or two with her about shit.”
“I don’t know who you’re talking about. Why are you in this building? You had to notice the No Trespassing signs out front.” She said that she didn’t care. “I see. You don’t care that you’re trespassing, which I might want to point out is against the law.”
“You’re stalling. Where is my sister-in-law? Where is Mel Austin? I want to talk to her. And you do too know her. I saw you at the hospital together. Is Daniel dead? I hope not. He owes me a great deal of back alimony. And he has to be around to pay up.” Gannon was stalling. He asked her how that was supposed to work, him owing her money. “Because we’re divorced, you idiot. When people get divorced, the man has to pay the woman. Everyone knows that.”
“No, I don’t think that’s the way that it works. It works so that the person who has the kids gets the money. That would mean that you owe him back support.” She told him that he had it wrong. “Doubtful. I’m assuming from our conversation that you’re the infamous Vicky Austin?”
She apparently didn’t understand what he meant by infamous, if her face was any indication. Gannon didn’t bother telling her what it meant, either. He did see Demi come into the back part of the building.
“You didn’t tell me what you’re doing here, other than you think someone owes you back money.” Vicky staggered to one of the rolls of electrical wire that had been left behind. “You’re hurt pretty badly, aren’t you?”
“Nothing that won’t heal. I’ve been hurt before.” Demi touched his mind, telling him to have her confess some shit. Rolling his eyes at her, he watched her pull out her phone. “When is she coming here?”
“Who?” She pulled out a gun and fired at the floor in front of him. “Melody isn’t coming. She’s at home with the kids at our home. She and I are getting married. Why did you wreck the car that Daniel was in?”
“I really don’t know why I did that. Fun, I guess. I thought about what I might have done had I killed him, but it was too late by then. You do know that Mel can’t have any kids, don’t you? I can if you’re up for it. I’m sure that once you’re up, you have a lot of staying power too.” Demi pretended to be throwing up behind her, and he nearly laughed. “I want her here. I’m going to take care of her. She has stuck her nose in my shit enough times.”
“I’m glad that she’s not. We found your parents.” That got a reaction. “Yes. They’re living a very nice life in Cincinnati. It’s funny, though, they think that you’re still in prison for killing that couple of seventeen year olds. Also, and this I find to be curious, they have nothing around their home about you. When we asked their neighbors about you, they didn’t even have a clue you existed. Why is that, Vicky Chadwick?”
“Why the hell are you looking for them? They don’t know shit about me. They washed their hands of me a long time before I killed those two. Christ, I guess they’re living in the same house too. Enjoying their retiring years.” Gannon said, just in a casual way, that they must be in their seventies about now. “So? Oh, I get it. They told you how old I am, did they? Well, yes, I’m fifty-four years old. I don’t look it, do I, handsome? You never answered me about your staying power.”
“And I don’t plan on it. So you thought it would be funny to ram your car into Daniel’s. Why? You said you hadn’t thought it all the way through. I’m thinking you go through most of your life like that.” She told him to shut up. “Did you know that your children were in that car too? Or do they not matter to you? They’re great kids. I love them very much.”
“Kids? Yes, I guess I knew they were in there. So what? It’s not like I wanted them anyway. But Daniel sure did. He was even willing to take them on as his own knowing that they weren’t even his. He’s a sap.” Vicky laughed. “I bet he’s making all kinds of plans to get them into college. Well, I hope he can afford it after paying me what he owes me. The insurance money should come in handy for that.”
“Insurance money? Oh, for you burning down his home. That wasn’t very nice of you. Besides, the last I heard about that, he wasn’t getting it until they had someone tell them who burnt it down. You do that for him, and he’ll have the insurance money in no time.” She just shook her head at him. “You won’t tell them you did it? Or do you mean that you didn’t do it? His house was all he had to keep your children safe.”
“Oh, I burned it down. I didn’t mean to, however. I was just going to scare him a bit. You know, tell him that I was going to do it. But my cigarette fell out of my mouth, and it caused it to go up. I had no idea that gasoline would ignite so quickly.” Vicky cocked her head at him. “Why do you care about any of this? I mean, you can’t possibly think that the police are going to use this against me. It’s just the two of us here.”
“I’m here.”
The gun went off before he could move when Demi spoke from behind Vicky. Gannon yelled for her to get down even as he was falling to the floor as the thing fired a few more times. Throwing his hammer in the direction of where Vicky had been didn’t do anything but make a dent in the wall behind her.
He felt something hit him in the shoulder, but he was more worried about Demi getting hurt. He didn’t want to have anything happen to her or the baby. He was still conscious, but he was in a great deal of pain. Telling Lucian what was going on, he stayed where he was until he could figure out his next move.
“She’s gone, Gannon. Are you all right?” He said that he’d been shot. “Well, fuck. Are you going to die then? I hope the fuck not. I would really hate to have to explain to Melody what happened to you.”
“You’re more concerned with telling Melody I was hurt than figuring out if I’m going to die or not? Damn, but that�
��s cold. Even for you.” He heard her giggle. “Are you all right, Demi? I really will be dead if anything happened to you.”
“I’m fine. The police are here. Just lay still until we have a look at you.” She told him that Vicky had gone out when she’d been dodging bullets. “Don’t worry, Gannon; we’ll get her. I think she’s more hurt than any of us thought she might be. We’ll find her.”
He certainly hoped so. He didn’t want her popping out of the woodwork again at him. And where the hell had she gotten a gun? Wherever she was, Gannon was going to get to her first. The fucking bitch had shot him.
Just as the medic came to stand over him, he realized that Vicky had confessed to burning down Daniel’s home. That had to be worth something, didn’t it?
He was helped to stand up. As soon as he was told that the bullet had gone right through him, he knew that he’d be fine. All he’d have to do was shift to take care of it. Next time, he knew he might not be so lucky. They needed to get that crazy woman off the streets before she did some real damage. Like to one of the kids, or Melody and Daniel.
Chapter 9
Melody wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do with all the space she now had. There was equipment in the big barn that she’d never even considered because of the price tag on it. She had not just things that she could use in here, but it looked like there was enough steel, chains, and other material that she could finish up the job at the school without any trouble.
“There is a standing order for you to have whatever you need to be delivered the same day if you order by two in the afternoon. Also, it says here that there is an office upstairs that you can use as an idea room. I don’t know what that means, but I’m sure you do.” Melody told Gannon that she did. “You can use all this, right? I mean, to me, it seems like a great deal, but then I don’t know anything about building doors like you do.”
Gannon: McCray Bruin Bear Shifter Romance Page 12
