Promises of Forever

by Celya Bowers

  Finn moved closer to her, but the thunderous sound of six feet running into the living room halted all conversation. Three boys hurried into the room. Finn stood to hug them, but in their zest, they almost knocked him down.

  “Uncle Finn!”

  “Hey BJ, Kyle, Tristan!” Finn hugged the boys, then pulled Kayleigh up. “Guys, this is Kayleigh, she’s a friend of mine. Kayleigh, this is BJ, Kyle, and Tristan. Guys, say hello.”

  “Hello.” They didn’t make eye contact with her. Typical boys.

  Kayleigh took matters into her own hands. “Hey, guys. Your uncle has told me a lot about you. I hope you don’t mind, but I have something for you.”

  They made eye contact now. “Really?” BJ asked.

  “Yes, maybe your Uncle Finn will get it out of the truck for you.”

  “Please, please,” the boys begged.

  Finn laughed. “See what you started?” He dug his keys out of his pocket and handed them to BJ. “You can get them.”

  BJ snatched the keys out of his hand and was gone to the truck, followed by the other boys.

  Kayleigh shook her head. “Wow! Where do they get all that energy from?”

  Beth laughed. “You should see them when Robert’s here. It’s like I have four kids.”

  She shook her head. “At least it’s not boring.”

  “No, it’s not,” Finn said. “After Tristan’s birthday party, my head was ringing for two days.”

  “Oh, Finn is just whining. Tristan’s birthday was on Valentine’s Day and Robert was out on a training exercise, so Finn was elected to help me watch ten seven-year-olds.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Finally, someone understands my pain. Thank you, baby.” He kissed her.

  The boys ran back into the house, each carrying one of the gift bags she and Harley so thoughtfully packed. They dropped to the floor, ripping the bag to shreds in a matter of seconds. BJ pulled his gift out first. So there wouldn’t be any fights, Kayleigh got them all the same thing. She bought each an electronic game. The boys yelled their enthusiasm. It was money well spent. Since she wasn’t around kids, it was nice to hear the chaos.

  In a move she wasn’t expecting, the boys hugged her. She laughed as they did knock her over to the floor. “Thank you, Kayleigh.” They took off for another part of the house, no doubt to play with their new game in peace.

  Finn helped her up. “Are you all right? The boys can get a little carried away when they’re excited.”

  Kayleigh nodded. It did her heart good to see the children so happy. “I think that did more for me than for them.” She wiped away a tear.

  Beth joined them. “Kayleigh, you didn’t have to go to all that trouble, and I really appreciate it. That will keep them out of my hair for a while. It’s hard finding quiet time with four men in the house.” Beth starting picking up the paper. “They make a mess doing absolutely nothing.”

  Kayleigh helped her pick up the discarded paper. “Sounds like you need a girl’s night out.”

  Finn cleared his throat.

  “Do they still have those?”

  “Sure. My friend Harley and I have one every couple of months or so. The next time we go out, I’ll let you know.”

  Finn coughed.

  Beth smiled. “Really?” Her blue eyes lit up with excitement. “I can’t think of the last time that I hung out with women.”

  Finn cleared his throat again.

  Kayleigh couldn’t stand it any longer. She turned and faced him. “What?”

  He shrugged. “Nothing.”

  They finished clearing the paper and sat down to dinner. “The boys ate already, so it’ll be just us adults. I hope Robert gets home before we’re finished. He really wanted to meet you. But you know Uncle Sam comes before anyone else.”

  They ate dinner and mostly she talked to Beth. Finn was too busy eating. The roast beef was delicious. “This is very good, Beth.”

  “Thank you, Kayleigh. I’m sure it’s not as good as Finn’s. He’s the chef in the family.”

  Finn laughed. “She exaggerates. Mom is the best cook in the family. You’ll see next month.”

  Beth gasped, looking from Kayleigh to Finn. “You’ve already asked her?”

  Finn shrugged.

  Beth grinned. “I’m so proud of you.”

  Kayleigh knew there was some inner sibling dialogue she was missing. In time, Finn would let her know why it was such a big deal to meet his parents. She’d just have to wait to see what happened.

  * * *

  Later that night, Kayleigh and Finn lay in bed, not sleeping, not touching, not doing anything. He’d been quiet all the way back to his house. She had to work tomorrow. Finn didn’t want her to, but she didn’t have a choice.

  “Finn, I have to go to work. It’s a mandatory Saturday.”

  He flipped on the bedside lamp and then faced her. “I know it’s mandatory. I just feel like it’s a trap. Harley said there wasn’t any work for you guys to do. Plus, it’s only a few of you that have to work.”

  “I promised to be careful. Plus, I have some mace if he tries anything. If I don’t show up, it will look worse.”

  He sighed. “I just feel so damn helpless. Good thing I have a seminar tomorrow. At least I’ll be close.”

  She cleared her throat. “Harley and I were going to stay a little bit later and do some searching.”

  “No! I have that taken care of. You two have no idea of what you’re doing.”

  “You’re paying someone to go snooping?”

  “I didn’t say that. I told you I have it taken care of. I have the reports, remember. Just don’t go confronting him. You’ll give away the game.”

  She moved closer to him. “I love you, Phineas. You always look out for me, even when I’m not thinking clearly.”

  * * *

  The next day Finn was finishing up his seminar when he got a text message from Kayleigh. She wanted him to come to her office when he was done. He hurriedly put all his materials away and locked his office.

  This was the first time he’d been to Kayleigh’s company, and the place gave him the chills. Something was very wrong. He entered the office and it was empty. The lights were on and a few computers were still running, but no Kayleigh, no Harley, and no boss. Something was definitely wrong. He unclipped his cell phone and dialed his cop friend. “Hey, I’m downtown at my office building, something is wrong. I’m on the fifth floor in Kayleigh’s office and I can’t find her.”

  His friend told him to wait until help arrived. But how could he when Kayleigh might be in danger? Now that he’d finally discovered what real love was like, there was no way he was going let some asshole take her away.

  He had to do something. So he ventured further into the silent office, walking quietly down the rows of cubicles. He thought he’d heard a noise, but he didn’t.

  Kayleigh texted him again. She told him not to come in the office because it wasn’t safe and that she loved him. Finn took a deep breath. His inner voice was telling him to get the hell out of the office, before he became past tense. But his heart told him had to find her.

  * * *

  Kayleigh huddled next to Harley and a few other office workers. The man standing in front of them looked vaguely familiar to her. He was wielding a gun, so her vision might be a little off at the moment.

  It all happened in a blur. She and Harley were laughing at something the idiot was doing, then this man came in the office and asked to speak to the manager. The idiot came out of his office, took one look at the gunman and shrieked in terror. He mumbled something about stock options before the gunman planted three bullets in him as he retreated back to his office.

  Harley moved closer to her. “What are we supposed to do now? He killed the idiot.”

  “We don’t know that for sure, Harley. Maybe he’s just wounded,” Kayleigh said. “I’m sure he just wanted something from him. Not us. This has nothing to do with us.”

  “How can you be sure?”

&nb
sp; “I can’t.”

  He walked over to them. “Will you two shut up? Now, since your boss is of no use to me, I’ll ask you. Where’s my money?”

  “What money?”

  “He promised to return my money today.”

  Kayleigh and Harley exchanged glances. “We don’t have money here. We pay bills by the computer. The checks are printed in another state,” Harley explained. “There’s no cash here.”

  “I’m not talking about cash.” He wiped his forehead. “It was a simple plan and it went straight to hell.”

  Kayleigh had no idea what the man was talking about. She was willing to pay him every penny she owned, if he would just leave them alone.

  He paced the length of the small room. He was voicing his options, and he really had none. They knew his face and he couldn’t afford witnesses. He had to do something.

  He heard a voice outside in the office area. “Who else is here?”

  She shrugged. “There’s no one else from our company here. Unless it’s security making the hourly rounds.”

  “Get up,” he demanded.

  Kayleigh stood and then helped Harley upright. “Did you hear something?” she whispered to Harley. “I told Finn to stay away.”

  “Yeah, like he’s going to listen.”

  The gunman moved them to the room where the idiot lay dead. Since she’d watched both of her parents die, Kayleigh knew when she was in the room with death.

  * * *

  Finn checked around the office, and was relieved to see the security guards enter the office. They saw him and pulled their guns, but holstered them when they realized his identity.

  The younger man walked to him. “Sorry, Mr. Callahan. We got a call from a detective from the police department of a probable crime.”

  Finn lowered his voice and explained the situation. “I’ve been trying to locate the office workers, but no luck. I haven’t looked down the hall because I didn’t have any protection with me.”

  The guards nodded and suggested that he stay back and let them investigate. Common Sense Finn would have stayed back if it had been any other person than Kayleigh. In Love Finn had to make sure his woman was all right. He followed the guards at a distance.

  While he walked, he mouthed a silent prayer that both Kayleigh and Harley were safe.

  CHAPTER 26

  Finn and the guards had taken just a few steps when they heard a shot. They ran in the direction of the noise and tried to open the door.

  “It’s locked,” cried the guard.

  The other guard shot the lock with his gun and they all rushed inside the room. The guards, not sure who was the bad guy, aimed their guns at Harley and Kayleigh. Ignoring their orders, Finn burst inside the room and pulled Kayleigh’s shaking body into his arms.

  “What happened?”

  Kayleigh opened her mouth to explain but usually cool and calm Kayleigh was a basket of nerves. She sobbed into his shoulder. He turned to Harley for an answer.

  She pointed a chubby finger to the man on his stomach. “He came in the office and asked for our boss. The minute the idiot saw him, he tried to run, but he shot the idiot and killed him. Then he made me and Kayleigh and a few others go into the empty office. He kept saying something about money. That our boss was going to return his money. I tried to explain that we didn’t have money here, that the checks are cut in another state and it had nothing to do with us.”

  “How did the gun go off?” the guard asked.

  “He was going to kill us. He said he couldn’t have any witnesses. That it wasn’t nothing personal.”

  He watched the guard tend to the man. He wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t going to be moving anytime soon. The guard turned him over and Finn’s heart dropped to his stomach. It was Harry.

  What did Harry have to do with the embezzler?

  * * *

  A few hours later, after many questions by the police and the security guards, Finn brought Kayleigh home. The police had instructed her not to leave town. Unfortunately, Harry wasn’t so lucky. He died at the hospital. Finn cursed the older man every time he thought about the danger Kayleigh and Harley had been in. Kayleigh and Harley rushed Harry, got the gun away from him and Kayleigh had shot him.

  “Am I a bad person, Finn?” She asked later that night as they prepared for bed. “I mean I hated my boss, but I didn’t want him to die like that. Now there’s this cloud hanging over my head,” she said as she slipped into bed.

  “You’re not a bad person, baby. It was self-defense. And he’d killed your boss in cold blood.” He got into bed and pulled her into his arms.

  “How can I go back there to work? He was setting us up. No one knew we were working today. I overheard the guards.”

  “Baby, no one blames you. You need some time to get yourself together. Why don’t you take a leave from work until school is over? You’re going to stress yourself out.” She was already looking exhausted, and it had only been a few hours since the incident occurred.

  “I think that’s already happened. I keep seeing spots. When he was holding that gun on us, the spots started moving around.”

  He wanted her to stop talking about it and try to move forward, but he knew that wasn’t possible. She was going to have to work through it in her own time. “Try to get some rest, so those spots can go away. Tomorrow, I think you should call Ted so he’ll know what happened.”

  “Poor Uncle Teddy. I hope this isn’t on the news.”

  Unfortunately, due to Harry’s status in the community, and him dying the way he had, it was news. “It probably will be tomorrow. Harry’s been making noises about that investment that went bad, so he’s gotten a lot of face time in the press lately. Your picture might be on the news, but it has been ruled justifiable homicide. You have nothing to fear.”

  “Would you mind if I stayed here for a while?”

  He wanted nothing more. “You have an open invitation. I’ll get you keys to the house tomorrow.” He wished he knew of a way to reassure her that no one held her responsible for Harry’s death. Sure it looked bad on paper, but Harry did it to himself. He rubbed her back as she started to relax.

  After he was sure she was asleep, Finn thought how much his life had changed in just six weeks. What was he going to do? He was going to move forward. He wanted Kayleigh and he wanted her forever. That was all that was to it. He just had to find a way to make that happen.

  * * *

  Kayleigh stayed in bed most of Sunday. She didn’t want to face the world just yet. It was hard enough telling Uncle Teddy, and then Manny; she didn’t want to have to explain the whole mess again.

  But Uncle Teddy wasn’t satisfied. He had to see her for himself to know that she was well. Kayleigh knew better than to try to deny this man, so she invited him to Finn’s for lunch. She thought Finn was going to hit the roof, since she didn’t consult him first, but he didn’t.

  “That’s great, baby. I’ll make something special. What would you like?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know.” She wanted the day to be over, but she knew she had to deal with it. Her parents hadn’t raised her to hide from her problems. “I know he likes seafood.”

  He sat on the bed and rubbed her hand. “If you don’t want to do this, I can entertain Ted.”

  She shook her head. “No, that wouldn’t be right. He’s my godfather and I’ve talked to him all my life. It’s probably the jolt I need.”

  He nodded. “How are the spots?”

  “I can still see them, but they’re not as big as they were before. So I guess it’s getting better.”

  “I talked to my buddy at the police department.”

  “What happened?”

  “They were able to keep your name out of it. He did it as a favor to me. There’s a bigger mystery going on at your company.”

  That got her attention. “There’s a million dollars missing. Remember those reports Harley copied?”

  “Yes.”

  “The reason none of the numbers
worked was because those weren’t the actual numbers. I still don’t think it was him, but somebody in that company is stealing money.”

  “You think that person is still there?”

  “Yes. I just don’t know if they’re at your office or at another location. If a second report shows up, then yes, it’s higher up the food chain.”

  “Harry kept mentioning something about money. Was this the money he was talking about?”

  “I don’t know. This is liquid money. Meaning it’s cash.”

  Kayleigh was relieved. “Oh, we don’t have any cash at our office.”

  “You did yesterday. There had been a delivery from one of the banks, early Saturday morning.”

  “I can’t get my head around any of this. It doesn’t sound like Mr. Dahlar. The man was a complete idiot. He couldn’t even fill out expense reports right. Harley had to do it. He’d always get the columns confused, and it looked like he owed the company instead of vice versa.”

  His brows furrowed together. Finn was in deep thought. Then suddenly it cleared. He stood, kissed her gently and went downstairs.

  Kayleigh went to sleep with thoughts of how much she loved Phineas Callahan.

  * * *

  Sunday, Finn had just taken the salmon off the grill when he heard the doorbell ring. He heard Kayleigh hurrying down the stairs.

  “I’ll get it,” she called.

  He hoped the lunch went well. The next sound he heard was Ted’s booming voice inside the house. He wiped his hand on a towel and went to meet the guest of honor.

  Ted’s arms were still around Kayleigh when Finn entered the room. “Hey, Ted, glad you could make it.”

  “Well, I had to see her for myself. Her dad would come back and haunt me if I didn’t take care of his little girl. I owe him that much.”

  “Let’s eat. Then we’ll talk.” He motioned to the dining room.

  “My favorite order of things,” Ted said. “Everything sounds better after food.” He walked into the dining area.

  Finn and Kayleigh walked to the kitchen, grabbed the food and went to join Ted.

  “Finn, this smells great. You know I love salmon.”