by Holly Rayner
And Gwen, who was still sleeping peacefully, was so beautiful. Clay could hardly believe that this wise, witty, kind woman was his, that they were building a family together.
For the first time in a long time, he thought about the future.
There was so much to figure out. Would Gwen be willing to leave her job and stay with him on the ranch? Could she find work as a police officer here?
He eased himself out of bed and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
The lights were off throughout the house, and it wasn’t until he reached the kitchen and saw the clock that he realized it was morning. He had been asleep for a solid four hours. It hadn’t exactly been refreshing—he definitely needed to get more rest—but it had been a lot better than nothing.
He grabbed a glass from the cupboard, went to the sink, filled it, and took a long sip.
I’m a father.
His life had changed so completely over the past two days that it was almost impossible to believe. And yet, it was true. He was a father now. He had a son.
The following morning, Clay was in the kitchen making breakfast for Gwen. She was still asleep in the bedroom with little James.
There was a knock at the door.
Melissa, he thought absently. Her attention to him hadn’t waned once she’d realized he had a pregnant woman living with him, but it had changed in its nature. These past few months, Melissa had become a good friend to both him and Gwen. Clay knew that Ria would have told her that the baby had arrived, and it only made sense that she would want to pay a visit and see how the new little family was doing.
He went to the door and opened it.
The smile dropped off his face.
It wasn’t Melissa. It was a police officer, and the officer had a hard look on his face, as if he was braced for trouble.
No. God. Not now.
“Clay Murray?” he said.
Clay could hardly speak. His mouth was as dry as a desert. “That’s me,” he said.
“You’re under arrest for the purchase of federally protected land,” the officer said, holding out a pair of handcuffs. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to come with me.”
Chapter 22
Gwen
Gwen had never gotten dressed so quickly in her life.
“You don’t need to come down to the station with us, ma’am,” the police officer said. “You can take your time about it. Find a babysitter.” He glanced at James, who was crying in Gwen’s arms.
“Like hell,” she said. “I’m coming now.”
“Well, you understand we can’t wait for you,” the officer said. “We have to take him in right away.”
“Why? Has he been accused of a dangerous crime?”
“Well, no, but—”
“Is he a flight risk? Are you worried he’s going to take off on you? Because he’s been ten minutes outside of Amarillo for his whole life. If he was going to run off, he’d have done it ages ago.”
Clay was staring at her as if he had never seen her before, and it made Gwen wonder what he was thinking. But she didn’t have the bandwidth to worry about that right now. She needed to stay in professional mode if she was going to handle this.
The arresting officer looked rather taken aback. “Ma’am, I’m not sure you understand the situation.”
“I understand it just fine,” she said. “Listen, I’m asking you to have a bit of human compassion here. Give us half an hour to sort ourselves out. We’ll get someone to watch the baby, and then I’ll drive him to the station and he’ll surrender himself.”
“How can I be confident you’re going to do that?” the officer asked.
Gwen went to her purse, fished around for a moment, and pulled out her badge. She handed it to him. “You keep that,” she said. “I get it back when Mr. Murray turns himself in.”
“Gwen, no,” Clay protested. “You don’t need to do this.”
“Don’t say anything, Clay,” Gwen said. “You don’t say a word until we get a lawyer in for you.” She turned back to the officer. “Our baby was born less than two days ago, sir. Please.”
The officer’s expression softened slightly. “All right,” he agreed. “But if he’s not at the station in one hour, I’m starting a search.”
“Understood,” Gwen said. “We’ll be there.”
Clay closed the door behind the officer and turned to Gwen.
“What did you just do?” Clay asked, looking baffled.
“I bought us some time,” Gwen said. “It isn’t much, but we’ll be able to make a plan, at least.”
“I’m not going to run,” Clay said.
“Of course not,” Gwen agreed. “I’m going to take you to the station, just like we promised. Do you have a lawyer?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Call him.”
“I don’t know if he’s the right kind of lawyer,” Clay said. “He helped with my father’s assets after he died.”
“Just call him. He’ll be able to put us in contact with someone. I’m going to call Melissa and see if we can get her over here to watch James.”
Twenty minutes later, on the dot, they were getting into the car and making their way down to the police station.
“What’s going to happen?” Clay looked more nervous than Gwen had ever seen him.
“You’re going to surrender yourself,” Gwen said. “You’re going to be booked and put in jail. When your lawyer arrives, he’s going to try to work out a bail agreement so that you can get out and come back home to await your court date.”
Clay nodded. “Will I get bail?”
“Almost definitely,” Gwen said. “People who don’t get it tend to be accused of violent crimes or considered flight risks. Having me in your corner is a huge asset—a police officer who’ll look after you. And they’ll probably be more lenient because you have a newborn baby as well.”
“Okay,” Clay said.
“I’m going to do whatever I have to do to fight this,” Gwen said. “We’re going to get you off the hook. Try not to worry too much. I’ve seen hundreds of people who were definitely a lot guiltier than you are get out of jail.”
“Why isn’t that reassuring?” Clay asked.
“Because sometimes it’s hard to believe the legal system is going to get it right,” Gwen said. “But they will. It’s going to be fine.”
Even as she said it, she didn’t feel fully confident that it was true. Her heart was racing, and she felt sick to her stomach. How could this be happening now? For all the worrying she had done about Clay’s crimes and what they would mean for her relationship with him, she had never actually allowed herself to think about what would happen if he were arrested.
She swallowed. “Listen,” she said. “This might feel like a silly thing to think about right now, but I need to know whether you want me to go to a hotel if you don’t get bail.”
He looked at her. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m a guest in your house,” she said.
“You’re the mother of my child,” he said. “Of course I don’t want you to leave. You have to stay. You and James both. The only thing that’s going to get me through this is knowing that the two of you are waiting for me at home. Promise you won’t leave.”
She took his hand. “Of course I won’t,” she said. “Not if you don’t want me to.”
“I know you have your job to think about—”
“Oh, God, no,” she said. “I’m not going back to New Orleans until this is resolved, Clay. I promise you that. I would never leave you here to deal with it on your own.”
The truth was that she was beginning to doubt she would go back to New Orleans at all. Every time she thought of returning to her job, her mind recoiled from the idea. She wanted to stay here, in the little haven she had created with Clay, and raise their child together.
But that was something that would be better discussed when he wasn’t about to be arrested.
Watching Clay be arrested was
at once routine and horrifying. It was a process Gwen had seen dozens of times, one she had participated in. But to see it happen to Clay, who only two days before had been holding her while she gave birth to his child, was awful. It was as if she had slipped from a fantasy into a nightmare.
The lawyer arrived quickly, and Clay was given bail, as Gwen had predicted. They had only been at the police station for two hours before it was all over and they were allowed to drive back home, but the mood in the car was somber and quiet.
“That went well,” she assured Clay. “That was exactly what we were hoping would happen.”
He nodded but said nothing.
“It’s going to be fine,” she said. “Your court date is set, but we have a bit of time. You and your lawyer will work out what you’re going to say in court.”
Clay nodded. “He says he’s going to have me plead guilty.”
“That makes sense,” Gwen said. “Your name is on the property contracts, right? So there’s not much of a case for arguing that you didn’t do it.”
“Does that mean I’m going to prison?”
“Probably not. The lawyer’s job is to get you the lightest sentence possible. He’s going to try to get you off with just a fine. That wouldn’t be so bad, right?”
Clay nodded. “I’ve lost so much money to this whole thing already,” he said. “If only Dave were here. Then I’d be able to prove that I never knew anything about it. That I was barely involved.”
Gwen couldn’t help but agree. David Fischer’s absence was a big problem. The fact that he had run off made it look as though the two men had been aware of their crimes all along. But she didn’t say so. She didn’t want to make Clay feel worse than he already did.
“At least your court date isn’t until January,” she said as they pulled up in front of the house. “You’ll be home for Christmas. That’s good news, right?”
“Yes,” Clay said. “Although I wish our first Christmas as a family didn’t have to come under the shadow of this business.”
Chapter 23
Gwen
Gwen resigned from her post with the NOPD a week later.
Sergeant Kepler was the only one who really seemed surprised to see her go. Mike and Finn sent her a card wishing her good luck, and she emailed them photos of James, who had wisps of curly blond hair to match her own. She would stay in touch with the two of them forever, she realized.
Maybe I wasn’t really without a family after all.
As Christmas approached, she threw herself into shopping and decorating the ranch, desperate to take both of their minds off of the impending trial. Clay’s lawyer had decided to argue that Clay had been so hands-off in his business dealings that he simply hadn’t known what was going on, what properties were being purchased. It was the truth, but Gwen couldn’t help worrying about how difficult it might be to sell to a jury. They had no evidence to support it, nothing they could point to as proof that Clay hadn’t been directly involved in the purchases.
Christmas Eve arrived, and Gwen and Clay spent the whole day cooking. They had decided to boil some lobsters instead of making a turkey or a ham, to make seafood a part of their new family Christmas tradition in honor of the way they’d met. As Clay put some potatoes in a pot, Gwen cut out dough with cookie cutters for her pie crust.
It almost feels like everything is normal for us.
She could almost forget that in only a few more weeks, Clay would be facing a trial that would determine the fate of their whole family.
There was a knock at the door.
“That’ll be Melissa,” Clay said, drying his hands on a towel. “She said she was going to bring over a tin of Christmas cookies for us.”
“We should give her something,” Gwen said, feeling bad that she hadn’t thought of it. “Ask her if she wants a lobster. We can spare one.”
“What am I going to do, wrap a whole lobster in a paper towel and give it to her to take home?” Clay laughed and opened the door.
His laughter died. “Dave?”
Gwen turned. Sure enough, David Fischer was standing in the doorway, red-nosed and woebegone.
“Can I come in?” he asked.
Clay stood back, letting him into the room.
“I’m sorry to bother you on Christmas Eve,” Dave said. His eyes fixed on James. “Hey. This must be—”
“Our baby.” Gwen wasn’t eager to give her son’s name to the man who’d fled the country and left Clay in trouble.
“He’s adorable,” Dave said. “How old is he?”
“Three months,” Clay said slowly. “Dave, what are you doing here?”
Dave sighed. “I had to come back,” he said. “I’ve been checking the news, and I saw they’d arrested you. I couldn’t let you face it alone.”
Gwen could have sworn that she actually felt her heart stop.
“What are you saying?” Clay asked, sounding as breathless as a man who had just run a marathon.
“I’m saying I’ll turn myself in,” Dave said. “I’ll tell the police, the lawyers, everything that really happened. I’ll tell them it was my responsibility to manage the land deals, and I’m the one who didn’t check what I was buying. It’s my fault we tried to buy and sell protected land. Not yours.”
“Why are you doing this now?” Clay asked. “You made it abundantly clear that you didn’t want to help. You were ready to let me go down for this.”
“I know,” Dave said. “But then…she came to see me.”
“Me?” Gwen asked. “You didn’t change your mind when we spoke.”
“No, not then,” Dave agreed. “But you two were going to have a kid, and I couldn’t stop thinking about that. I ran away because I felt like I had the most to lose, so it didn’t matter if Clay took the fall. But that’s not true anymore.” He turned to Clay. “You have a lot more to lose than I do.”
Clay hesitated for a moment, the expression on his face one of uncertainty, as if he wasn’t sure whether or not he could believe what his former friend was saying.
Gwen didn’t know what to think either. Could they really be so lucky? Could Dave really have decided to come back now, in the eleventh hour, to save them?
But what other reason would he have for being here?
And what he was offering would work. Gwen had been around the justice system long enough to know that. If Dave was willing to own up to what he had done, the charges against Clay would almost certainly be dropped.
“Thank you,” Clay said at last. “I can’t tell you what this means to me, Dave.”
“Hey, you’ve got a family to think of,” Dave said, his lips quirking in a smile. “Maybe someday, when this is all behind me, I’ll be able to say the same.”
“I’ll help you,” Clay said. “If you need money, I’ll loan it to you. I’ll help you pay for a lawyer. Whatever you need. We’ll get through this together.”
“We’ll call the lawyer right now,” Gwen suggested.
Clay nodded. “Let me help,” he said to Dave. “Let’s put the past behind us.”
Dave agreed. They called the lawyer and met him at the police station. Dave was processed quickly and released on bail. Everyone at the station wanted to get home to their families.
Gwen and Clay invited Dave to come over for a Christmas Eve meal, and when Melissa eventually arrived with the cookies she’d baked, they invited her in as well. The four of them, along with baby James, spent the next several hours eating, laughing, and celebrating.
Gwen was surprised by how merry the whole occasion was considering the checkered history of Clay’s relationship with Dave. But the two men seemed ready to let go of the past. She could practically see the waves of relief coming off of both of them. It was something she had seen before—the easing of tensions when a guilty person finally came clean, or when an innocent person learned he wouldn’t be punished for a crime he hadn’t committed after all.
They opened a bottle of wine—and sparkling grape juice for Gwen, who was still breastfe
eding—and made their way into the living room to watch Christmas movies. Melissa requested one of the classics that Gwen and Clay had watched together in the Bahamas a year earlier. Gwen caught Clay’s eyes, and when he smiled at her, she knew that he was remembering that night.
What a difference a year makes, she thought and curled up beside him with their son in her arms.
Epilogue
A Year Later: Gwen
There was a slim, flat box beside Gwen’s plate at breakfast.
She looked at it, then looked back up at Clay. “What’s this about?”
“That’s your Christmas present,” he said.
“Okay,” she said. “What is it doing on the table?”
“You have to open it.”
“You know it’s December fifteenth, right? You’re early.”
“Yes, I’m aware. But you have to open it today.”
She laughed. “I know you and your dad didn’t really do Christmas presents when you were growing up, but you know that this isn’t how it traditionally goes, right? You’re supposed to wait until Christmas Day. And I’m supposed to get to give you your present at the same time.”
“Gwen,” Clay said, feigning exasperation. “Just open the box.”
She undid the silver ribbon and lifted the lid. “This is a plane ticket.”
“It’s actually two plane tickets,” he said. “James doesn’t need his own. He’s small enough to travel on our laps. We’re going on vacation.”
“When?” She examined the tickets more closely. “Tomorrow? Really?”
“So you’ll want to pack today,” he said. “Our room at the resort is already reserved.”
“The resort?”
“The Green Turtle Cay Resort and Spa,” he said, smiling. “I couldn’t think of anywhere I’d rather spend the holidays this year.”
