The nighttime slipped away. Dawn spread its cool fingers into the recesses of the room where she was locked. Birdie knocked on the glass once more, while Dinwiddie took a powder.
“I arranged to have the rental car picked up. They didn’t mind. Hey,” she glanced at the clock on her phone, “you’re not just going to miss cooking for Du Jour, you’re going to miss your hearing.”
How did Birdie know about that? It didn’t matter—she was absolutely right.
“Do you want me to call your friend Mitzi and let her know she’ll have to shut the café today?”
The words detonated in Piper’s soul. Today, tomorrow and forever. Just as she nodded the sorriest sorry in consent, up walked Dinwiddie.
“You can’t be here, ma’am,” he said and shuffled Birdie away from the glass. At least he treated her gently. He couldn’t be all bad. He came in and said, “You’ll be removed from here to headquarters at eight this morning, unless…”
Unless? There was an unless? A glimmer of hope lit Piper for the first time in hours, ever since she’d been forced out of the rental car. She sat up straighter.
“Unless there’s someone you know who will order you to be in court in Texas.”
Dinwiddie’s voice was low and dripping with insider information.
“Agent Nicole Valentine.” Piper reached for her purse where the contact information for her so-called case worker lay. Of course, her purse had been placed in protective care. “I have her card, but—”
“Never mind. All I needed was a name.”
Dinwiddie disappeared.
Sitting back down, Piper hugged her knees to her chest. Pinning her hopes on a combination of Valentine’s mercy and desire for vengeance, as Zach had claimed existed, felt like trusting a grizzly bear to not eat her when she’d washed her hair with bacon grease. Valentine could just as easily laugh it off, leave Piper to the irony of being deported from a different border state, as insist she appear in court to have justice exacted upon her—with Valentine getting her own front row seat.
Offering up Valentine’s name to Dinwiddie, Piper had walked willingly into the lion’s den, with no guarantee of angelic intervention, no shield of being like Daniel, whose spotless life deserved divine protection.
What felt like an hour later, the door rattled. She didn’t know if she would dare search Dinwiddie’s face to see whether his call to Valentine had had effect—and she wouldn’t know how to read it anyway, whether softness there would mean she was heading back to Valentine’s clutches, or whether she’d be shipping out to country of origin.
She shut her eyes.
“Piper?”
The voice made her eyes pop wide.
“Zach!” In no time she flew into his arms. “You’re here?”
She’d never expected him to come—not so immediately. She melted against him, his arms and scent encircling her like a soft, warm blanket of comfort after a hard night of sleeping on the cold, cold ground.
“How did you get here so fast?” Her mind spun. She’d barely phoned him a few hours ago. It was just past sunrise. No way could he come this quickly, unless he’d already been en route.
“Remember that thank you note you sent to Dave the pilot?”
Uh, yeah? So?
“He said he took his wife to Du Jour with the gift certificate, and now he owed you big time. Let’s just say he’s refueling now, and we can be wheels up in time to make it for the hearing, as long as he flies like he’s breaking the world speed record getting back to San Antonio.”
Had it gotten that late? Piper’s stomach clenched.
“They’re not going to let me go with you, Zach. They have plans to send me to their headquarters, or something. I saw the paperwork that will shoot me straight back to New Zealand.”
Zach waved off her protests. “Didn’t Agent Dinwiddie tell you? He got in touch with Agent Valentine. She sent him signed paperwork insisting you be released in order to make it to your hearing.”
“You’re kidding.” It worked. Her terrible plan worked. She may still get deported, but it left her free to live to fight another day. Or at least half a day.
“Dinwiddie said you were the one who gave him the name. Good thinking.” Zach placed a kiss on her forehead. “You never cease to impress, Piper.”
He’d said that to her before, but she wasn’t tired of hearing it yet.
“Let’s get Birdie and go. Teacup is with Dave at the jet. Dinwiddie arranged a ride.”
Dinwiddie! He must really be reminded of his daughter when he saw Piper; that’s all there was to it.
“You brought Teacup along?” A terrible thought hit Piper. If she got deported this afternoon, which of the two of them would keep Teacup? If she couldn’t have Zach, she’d need Teacup for consolation. But she couldn’t wrench Teacup away from Libby.
Oh, this just got worse. They couldn’t lose today. Piper just had to stay—with Teacup and Libby. And Zach.
Zach handed Piper her purse and took her out the door. She checked her phone and saw twenty-one missed calls from Zach.
“You were worried about me?”
“You didn’t come back. And you didn’t call.”
“I would have. I wanted to.”
“I wanted you to.”
Piper climbed into the car beside him, all three of them across the back seat of the Border Patrol’s police car. It wasn’t the ideal location of a confession of love—not with Birdie listening and the agent who was driving the car, but Piper was done waiting for ideal moments. Life was too fleeting to insist on the ideal. What life ought to be was a constant approximation of the ideal. And so the back of a patrol car was the best place to tell Zach what was on her mind right now, because she was with him.
“Zach?”
“Mm?” He slid his arm around her, his eyes closing and his face looking relieved. He was tired. He’d stayed up all night worrying about her, calling her, and flying across the country to get her out of, well, jail. She nestled down under his arm, safety and peace flooding her.
“Thank you.”
“Mm,” he said, his body going slacker with every second.
“Wake up, just for a second.”
He peeked open one eye, his mouth rising in a one-sided grin.
“I want to tell you something.”
“What’s that?”
“That…” Say it. Just say it. It’s true. This might be your last chance. “That I love you. And I don’t want this to end.”
Zach’s eyes both opened—wide. “You mean that?”
“I mean it. And when I say this, I mean us. I want to be with you. I want us to continue. You and me. Mr. and Mrs. Travis—”
His mouth was on hers before she could elaborate. Both hands cupped her face, and she slid her arms around his back.
“Hey, this is a government vehicle.”
The agent at the wheel tapped the brakes, but Zach didn’t tap his. He kissed Piper deeper and longer than she’d been kissed before. When she pulled back for air, she had to ask, “I take it you’re not disappointed?”
“Piper Quinn, will you be my wife? For as long as we both shall live?”
Birdie applauded in the background of Piper’s consciousness, but all she knew was Zach wanted her to be his wife, in earnest.
And it was what she wanted too—and not to be torn from his grasp this afternoon by the immigration court at the hands of Agent Valentine.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Piper awoke, groggy and disoriented, with Teacup licking her face. Where was she? Birdie was stretched out on a bench across from her, and Piper recognized the CBH jet. She must have fallen asleep as soon as they boarded last night, er, this morning. She checked her phone as the plane came to a rumbling halt.
“Oh, my goodness. Zach!” She shoved his shoulder. He was sleeping in the reclining seat beside her, looking as handsome as he ever had. He wants me—forever. The warmth of that thought staved off the chill of noting the time. “We have to be at the courtho
use in twenty minutes. Birdie? You’ll be fine to get home on your own today, right?”
Birdie nodded, coming back to life after sleep. She also offered to take Teacup home for the day, since dogs and court hearings probably didn’t mix well.
Bless Birdie.
Zach rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up straight, standing and shaking out his legs. “Good thing I’m in my interview suit already.”
Interview suit. Wait…
“Wasn’t your interview supposed to be at seven this morning? If you were in Canada with me instead…”
They clambered down the steps that the airport staff had rolled up to their exit door and jogged across the hot asphalt.
“Right. I skipped it.”
Piper gasped. “But, Zach!” She stopped in the muggy air, the smell of jet fuel pervading her senses and the sun’s glare familiar. San Antonio was home. She hoped she wouldn’t be forced to leave it.
“No buts. I knew the right choice to make, and I made it.”
“It was the last partnership opening, though, wasn’t it?” She’d heard him say so, and that’s what had made their immediate marriage so vital. “How will you ever—”
“Look. You were in trouble. I didn’t even hesitate.” Zach’s eyes softened. “You’re worth it.”
At that point, he hadn’t even been assured of her commitment to him. Of course, now that she’d said something, he ought to know how deep her devotion ran, but as of the time he made that decision—
Wow. He must really, truly love her.
Hot fudge sauce poured through her body, his love so sweet and rich and decadent. She didn’t deserve it, but oh, how she wanted it. Desperately.
“I love you so much.” She placed a kiss on his stubbled cheek. “Please say we can get through this trial so we can be together and keep building this life.”
“I’ll do my best.” Zach’s brow clouded. “But there’s something you need to know before we go into the trial. It’s not pleasant.”
“None of this is pleasant. It’s a deportation hearing.”
“Right. But it’s about your ex-boyfriend Mike.”
“Mike!” she gasped. What could he possibly— The bottom fell out of Piper’s world.
∞∞∞
Zach didn’t have his notes with him. They languished on the coffee table at home. How would he have guessed that he’d never return home to grab them? All that had been on his mind was getting to Piper, not about how he could keep her here.
Blamed fool he was--but a loved fool. A loved fool in love. Piper loved him, and that counteracted anything negative in the whole world.
She loved him. She wanted to stay his wife, not end things when she got her green card and he got his promotion.
Well, not that his promotion was likely to happen.
In the clear light of day, he knew that he’d one, stood up Mr. Crockett for the promotional interview; and two, pretty much highjacked the firm’s corporate jet for his own personal use.
Yeah, Zach’s name might not be under consideration for partnership anymore. It might be on the list of recent firings, for all he knew.
They walked into the Ernesto P. Gallatin Federal Office Building, where the smell of floor wax, burnt printer ink, and bad coffee accosted his nostrils once again. This time, though, those scents meant doom more than bureaucracy.
A foreboding seized Zach’s breast. He loved Piper, and Piper loved him, and love could conquer all, they said—but did they include the Immigration and Naturalization Service in that definition of all? Possibly not.
“Well, here we go.” He put on a tight smile and held the door for Piper, who was still dressed in her concert t-shirt and jeans, not the best court attire, but there was nothing for it. They were here. That was what mattered. And they would do this thing together.
While Piper slept on the plane, he’d called in his parents to come and support them at court today. It was only fair, considering he’d ignored them for the wedding. He wouldn’t leave them out of his life again, not on such an important day. They were probably wild with worry at Zach and Piper’s lateness, considering how much they cared about her already.
In she went, and the sight must have jarred her more than he’d expected, because she stopped dead in her tracks. There, across the room sat Agent Valentine, and right beside her sat not only the even less welcome Stone Faced Mike, but another harbinger of angry doom: Chad Floyd, his eyes pinched and blazing with fury.
∞∞∞
Tornado warning indeed. Sure, Chad was sitting there looking as ticked as a man pumped full of steroids could look, but Chad’s fearsome face wasn’t what triggered her internal storm. The tornado set itself off in her chest the second she saw Agent Valentine staring adoringly up at none other than Mike Gavinson. Seeing him again seized her large motor skills and halted her in her tracks.
Whoa. More than two years had gone by since the whole blow-up with him. She hadn’t expected the sight of him to pummel her confidence so completely. Memories of how terrified she’d been for those few weeks when he’d stalked, demanded, threatened, waged psychological warfare on her. Mike’s treatment of her made Chad’s rage and raised hand yesterday look like a toddler’s tantrum.
Wow. Just when she thought she’d put all that behind her, here he came, looming back into her field of vision.
Zach stepped up beside her and took her elbow.
“Hey, you’re shaken, aren’t you?”
She was. Zach had warned her, fairly, that he’d heard Mike was part of the equation of today’s hearing, but somehow she hadn’t bargained on how it would feel to see him again.
“Piper? You okay?” Zach’s voice poured over her like liquid gold. It seeped into the holes of her spongy soul, filling the holes leavened by momentary fear.
Mike can’t hurt me now. I’m another man’s wife.
“I’ve got you, Pipe.” Zach rested a hand on her shoulder and it steadied her. She could do this. She turned and looked up at him, his eyes reassuring, a rock of refuge.
“Thanks.” He did. He did have her—body and soul.
Let him keep me—here, she sent a prayer heavenward for their future, together.
“All rise.” The bailiff, or whoever ran this bureaucratic courtroom, demanded their attention already. Wow, they made it to court with no time to spare. “Judge Underdown will take the bench.”
The bailiff indicated the man entering in a regular business suit and not the black robes Piper had expected. He wore his facial hair in a clipped mustache that made her assume his first name must be Clive or Nigel.
“You may be seated,” Judge Underdown said. “We are here to consider the citizenship case of one Piper Meredith Quinn. Is Miss Quinn here? Please give your full name and address.”
Piper sat beside Zach at what must be the defense table. She gave her name—including her married last name, as well as the address of their newly purchased house in the suburbs, the honeymoon cottage that didn’t ever get to experience a honeymoon, and which might not now. How she ached with regret for never giving herself to Zach fully, for holding back, even after she knew that he was the one for her. Because, in truth, she’d known in her deepest heart, from the outset that he was her one true love.
Unless the judge saw things their way today, there was nothing she could do about that now.
“So you have both changed your marital status and your residence in the last thirty days.”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Excuse me?” Agent Valentine piped up. “Point of clarification. She has changed her marital status and residence in the last twelve days, Your Honor—since receiving notice of deportation.”
“Thank you, Agent. You’ll get your turn to present.” The judge turned to Piper again, eyebrows raised in accusation. “Nevertheless, is that the case, Miss Quinn?”
“Mrs. Travis,” she corrected, and Zach pressed her hand beneath the table, filling her with courage. “And technically, yes.”
The
judge’s mouth made a grim line. “It doesn’t look good. I’m inclined to make that the one salient point on which I’ll base my decision, frankly. A quick marriage for citizenship is not smiled on by this court.”
Every word from the judge’s mouth pierced holes in the water barrel of Piper’s confidence. It was draining faster than a beer mug at Grandma Vada’s bar.
“Maybe so, Your Honor, but this marriage is sincere and as real as they get.” Almost. She knew this was a fib, in a way. “I do love Zach. Please don’t separate us. We’re a family. We even have a little dog. I’ve grown attached to his parents and sister and grandmother. I’d hate to lose them from my life.”
“And can you detail for me how long your acquaintance is with his relatives, for such a deep affection to have formed as you claim?”
“Uh,” she counted on her fingers. “I met them last week, but—”
A little guffaw rose from Agent Valentine’s place at the prosecution table, and a scoff from Mike. Piper’s face flushed hotter than if she’d bitten a ghost pepper. She’d better shut up. The judge would skewer her for what must appear to other people a shallow, faked relationship. Who could understand it other than the two of them? No one. There was no hope of convincing outsiders.
The judge turned to Agent Valentine. “I know you have questions for the defendant, points you’d like to bring out, and even witnesses—such as Mr. Floyd, is it?” He then turned to Zach, who straightened beside her under the steely gaze of the judge. “And you, I’m certain, Mr. Travis, have plenty to say in defense of your, ahem, wife—a woman who fewer than five days prior to marrying you had allegedly proposed to that man.” She pointed a red talon toward the seats behind the prosecution table.
Piper looked to see Chad looking at her intensely, as if his stare alone could light her afire and burn her to the ground.
Another shuffling of chortles rose from the prosecution’s side. Piper recognized that jeer as Mike’s, she’d heard it directed at her often enough, and her stomach turned. Clearly, Judge Underdown had little patience for apparent marriages of convenience, no matter what they meant to the married parties afterward.
Illegally Wedded Page 36
