The main thing, though?
That Cleo and I were made for each other.
Cleo was mine, just as I was his.
He was the flight of my life.
Chapter 23
And for my next trick, I’m going to convince you all that I’m a functioning adult.
-E-card
Rue
3 months later
“Did you know Hunstville State Penitentiary executes the most inmates in the state of Texas?” Cody asked as he read an article online.
I grunted.
Why he was looking up where Vanessa was currently imprisoned, was beyond me.
If I never thought of that bitch again, it’d be too soon.
Her trial had gone quickly.
Killing a police officer would do that, though.
She never even had a chance.
I’d never seen a case go by so fast, and I’d been a witness to quite a few over the course of my SANE career.
The trial that Vanessa had been a part of in the first place was quickly decided in Brendan’s favor. They were both investigated, Brendan being found to have no involvement in the entire fiasco.
And he’d been investigated very thoroughly.
Tunnel’s death was huge.
The entire Ark-La-Tex had been in on the investigation.
FBI, state police, local police.
If they were a law enforcement official, they were affected.
It didn’t’ matter if they’d never met Tunnel before.
Cops had other cops’ backs. No matter what.
If one fell, you’d better believe that the wrath of the entire police community nationwide would feel it.
“That’s interesting. I voted for the death penalty, but the judge ignored me,” I muttered darkly.
“I’m sure you’re not the only one, darlin’,” Cody snorted. “I heard DP and Cord finally went home last week.”
I nodded. That’d been an interesting three months, sharing living space with three men.
DP and Cord lived in Southern Louisiana, about an hour outside of New Orleans.
They’d both stayed here for nearly a month, helping any way they could, where they could, staying for days at a time. When they’d gone home, they still came up every other weekend. Mainly it was to help Cleo, though. He felt incredible guilt over the fire, as did I.
They knew when they were needed, and Cleo definitely needed them.
This week, he’d finally told them they could stop coming, and they’d agreed to cool it.
“You’re man is here,” Danita said as she hung up the phone.
I looked up from my paperwork I was inputting for my patient in room six and smiled.
I hadn’t seen him in a two days.
We’d both been working hard, especially him.
When Silas bought Life Flight, he’d implemented some new policies, making Cleo pull a lot of overtime trying to make sure everything ran smoothly.
I missed him.
“Really? What’s he bringing in?” I asked as I signed off on my chart and pulled up the next one.
“He’s not. He’s coming to see you, I’m assuming. He just called and told me to send you out front in five minutes,” she said cagily.
Looking at her like she was a loony bird, I stood, and started walking towards the ambulance bay.
I don’t know what I expected.
The Life Flight helicopter…his bike maybe, but not this.
I stood at the glass, taking in the spectacle before me, and nearly dropped to my knees.
“What the hell?” I said breathily, as I pressed the little silver button on the wall that would open the doors for me.
As soon as they slid open enough for me to exit, I dashed through the doors and started running, coming to a stop once I was ten feet away from him.
“Come closer,” he ordered.
He was just standing there.
In full gear.
The helicopter’s blades were spinning slowly as if they’d turned off only moments earlier.
I crept closer, slowly placing one foot in front of the other until I came to within a few feet of him.
He was wearing his flight suit. His helmet. His aviator sunglasses.
“What’s going on?” I asked in confusion.
He held his hand out to me, and I walked forward, taking it without thought.
He gripped my hand hard, and pulled me into his chest.
Effortlessly, I wrapped my arms around his neck and looked up into his eyes, seeing my face reflected in his glasses.
My face looked just as confused as I felt.
“Wanna come for a ride in my helicopter?” He asked with a smile.
Tilting my head, I said, “I’m working.”
His face lifted, and his eyes caught on something behind me. “Do you mind if I steal her for an hour?” He yelled to someone behind me.
I looked over my shoulder to see nearly the whole ER behind me, all watching the show.
Danita waved her hand in a shooing gesture. “She’s all yours.”
With that, he turned and started walking towards the helicopter, dragging me in his wake.
“Nonnie didn’t die, did she?” I asked worriedly.
He shook his head. “No, she’s still hanging on. I have something to show you.”
I followed closely behind him, coming to a stop near the side door which he opened.
He picked me up easily, and sat me down on the seat before grabbing the helmet at my feet and placing it securely on my head.
After strapping it on, he started on my belts, anchoring me down securely before he closed the door, and walked around to his own side.
I watched in silence as he did much the same, strapping himself in, followed by hitting buttons then flipping switches.
The large blades above us started spinning, the noise getting louder and louder as the blades spun faster and faster.
Once it reached a crescendo, we started rising, my belly crawling up into my throat as I watched the ground get further and further away.
Cleo kept his eye on the gauges, and his hand on the stick between his thighs as he lifted up, and turned a hard right, taking us out of town.
“Where are we going?” I asked again, my disembodied voice sounding funky through the mic’s speaker in my helmet.
He looked over at me, grinned, and didn’t say anything.
So I sat in silence, watching the buildings pass under my feet.
Something changed once we were fifteen minutes out.
The air in the cabin seemed to thicken, and I turned when I saw Cleo’s hand move from the stick between his thighs.
“You wanna fly?” He asked.
I looked at him, remembering the time I’d asked him if he’d let me fly nearly six months ago, and shook my head animatedly. “No, way! You said you’d never let me fly your multi-million dollar machine.”
He grinned, and looked back towards the horizon.
“I can’t ask you to marry me if you don’t hold my stick,” he teased.
I blinked, unsure if I’d heard him right or not.
“Say what?” I clarified.
He looked at me like I was a dumbass. “You heard what I said.”
“No, I don’t think I did. Repeat it one more time,” I instructed quickly.
Sighing, he reached over and took my hand, placing it on the stick between his legs.
I froze as he lifted his hand from the stick, causing adrenaline to pour through my body as I watched the sky in front of us.
“Cleo?” I asked nervously.
He reached into his flight suit, and came out with a velvet box.
I started hyperventilating.
He opened it, presenting me with the diamond that was nestled in the folds of velvet.
It was black and hot pink; exactly what I never knew I wanted.
“Holy shit,” I breathed, causing him to beam at me.
“I’ve waited a long, long time to ask you this
. Rue Delaney Loden, will you marry me?”
I nodded emphatically. “You betcha’!”
God, I was such a dork.
He leaned forward, placing the ring gently on the finger that was laying against his stick.
“That’s what I wanted to hear. Let’s go for a ride,” he said as he took over the helicopter, flying us East.
He didn’t have a destination in mind, and I was happy to be where he was at, even if it did only last until they got a call.
Cleo’s partner was a silent presence in the back seat. Making the best use of his time since he had to be there anyway.
I had looked back at him a few times, noticing that he was taking pictures with his phone at one point.
And I knew I’d have some of the best memories of my life forever memorialized in a frozen moment of time.
Epilogue
How to celebrate a wedding: Beer, hot sex, and donuts on your bike in the clubhouse.
-Bikers do it better
Cleo
6 months later
“What’s her dress look like?” I asked Molly.
Molly shrugged. Most of the wedding guests were seated and we were all talking as we waited for the wedding to start.
She was beginning to piss me off.
Torren had ignored her all day long, and she really didn’t like that.
Which, if I was being honest, was a good thing.
Torren had been crushing on my sister for a long time, as had my sister for Torren, and neither one of them had done a damn thing about it.
My sister had a lot of growing up to do at twenty, and Torren deserved better than Molly stringing him along.
However, it was none of my business, even if Rue liked to say otherwise.
“I’m betting she’s wearing black. You know…’cause it is the end of her life and all,” DP teased, punching me in the shoulder and knocking be sideways slightly.
I shot him a glare. “No, it’s the beginning,” I quipped back.
He winked. “Just keep telling yourself that.”
“She’s wearing a dress. A dress is a dress is a dress,” Molly said stiffly.
Molly’s words were heated, and I looked over at her to see her looking at Torren.
Who had his eyes on another woman for once.
A shy-eyed blonde with wavy hair down to her waist. She was wearing a slinky black dress that was really quite modest.
Tru?
I think that was what Rue had introduced her as.
She was a COTA, or a certified occupational therapist assistant.
The two of them had met at the hospital while Torren had gone through occupational therapy.
Tru worked in the therapy department of Christus Health.
Their paths had crossed from time to time, and they’d become friends.
I’d met her only a few times, but what I knew of her, I liked.
Even the part that captured Torren’s attention.
I loved my baby sister and all, but I cared for Torren, too.
They weren’t good for each other, and it was nice to see Torren moving on instead of staying in the same rut he’d been in for the last couple of years.
The music changed from the normal wedding shit to the bridal march, drawing my gaze from Torren, and placing it on Audrey as she walked down the steps of my back porch.
She looked great.
She’d been doing great, too.
After Tunnel had died, Audrey had withdrawn into herself for a few weeks, and it’d only been because of Cord, of all people, that she’d come out.
The two had struck up a friendship, that I could very well see morphing into something more given just a bit more time.
Then my soon to be wife showed at the top of the stairs, and all thoughts, except her, flew out of my brain and left me speechless.
I could, however, laugh.
We’d decided not to have a formal wedding.
Instead, we decided to have a backyard affair at my place, going for casual.
I’d been certain that Rue would dress up.
Don’t get me wrong…she was wearing a dress. It just wasn’t what I’d expected.
It was black and pink, to match her engagement ring and wedding band.
The dress was short, and tight.
She wore black cowboy boots, and had her hair up high on her head.
Oh, and let’s not forget the property patch.
She was wearing that, too.
By the time she made it to stand beside me, I was practically beaming.
“You look good in my patch,” I observed, once the music stopped and Reverend Spano started the ceremony.
She smiled. “Thanks. I wanted everyone to know I was yours. Lock, stock, and barrel.”
I’d given her the property patch, which was a leather vest with ‘Property of Cleo’ on the back, before we’d separated for the night.
I’d given it to her later than I’d wanted, but I needed her to have the right mindset when I gave it to her.
Which she didn’t have for many months leading up to the previous day.
It was simple in design, but it meant much, much more.
To her and to me.
Twenty minutes later, Rue became Mrs. Mikhail Caruso, and I was one happy motherfucker.
***
Rue
8 months later
Feeling on top of the world, I took my helmet off and turned to Cleo in the back, seeing him clutching the seat with wide, wild eyes.
He looked white as a ghost, and I had to suppress the urge to smile.
I’d just taken my last FAA- helicopter flight training session, and totally kicked its ass.
I couldn’t tell you why I wanted to fly a helicopter.
Mostly, though, it was so I could be closer to Cleo.
Sure he may be a little unsure right now, but eventually he’d be okay.
This was the first time he’d flown with me since I’d started the training over six months ago, and it showed.
“Well?” I asked. “How was it?”
He blinked rapidly before he let his grip on the seat go. “Uhh,” he croaked. “I think I might’ve died a thousand deaths in the last two hours.”
I gave him a wry look. “I did just fine, and you know it.”
With that comment, I had Ross laughing.
“Oh, boy. You should see your face in some of these pictures,” Ross crowed as he started going through some pictures on his phone.
Ross had demanded to go as soon as he’d heard it was my final teacher-assisted flight.
He’d especially wanted to go when he found out that Cleo was going, too.
Which, now I knew, was to get blackmail pictures of him.
He was becoming quite the photographer.
I secretly couldn’t wait to see the pictures either.
My hands fumbled with the latches that strapped me in, moving them this way and that as I tried in vain to get them off.
I heard Cleo sigh from the back, followed shortly by the door opening.
My door was opened moments later, and Cleo’s hands made quick work of the latches that were digging uncomfortably into my stomach.
“Thanks,” I said once he got me completely free.
His head fell down until it rested on my belly, and he started talking to our soon to be child as if I couldn’t hear every word he said.
“You’re mother’s making me fucking crazy. What kind of hugely pregnant person would want to fly when she has a perfectly capable husband that can do it for her?” He asked our child.
“The type that doesn’t like to cook in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant,” I snapped.
His eyes rose up to meet mine, and he smiled.
“I’m proud of you, girl,” he said, and meant it.
I smiled widely at him and wrapped my arms firmly around his neck.
The position was awkward at best, but neither one of us cared.
That was us.
Perfectly imperfect
.
***
Rue
1 year later
“Nonnie’s really living this up. I can’t believe she’s doing so well,” I said as I watched Nonnie show our eighth month old son a glass bird on the shelf beside our kitchen window.
Cleo looked up from underneath the sink where he was placing childproof locks and smiled. “All she needed was the grandchild she was making all those baby blankets for.”
I secretly agreed.
It was like a light switched the moment we introduced Nonnie to Zach.
Zachariah Lee Caruso was born a mere nine pounds one ounce via C-section.
He had a head of pitch black hair that was untamable, and had a killer smile just like his daddy.
Zach and Cleo were like two peas in a pod.
Now, at eight months, if Cleo was in the room, Zach had nothing to do with me.
He was a daddy’s boy, pure and simple.
Even if his momma did everything for him like feed him in the middle of the night and kiss away his boo-boos.
“Pass me those screws sitting on the counter,” Cleo instructed as he held out his hand.
Leaning forward, I grabbed the screws off the counter and dropped down to my knees in between Cleo’s splayed thighs.
He was killing me in his shirtless state and tight blue jeans.
Dropping the screws in his hand, I let my hands roam up and down the insides of his thighs, not quite touching the important stuff, but getting close enough that I was getting a response from Cleo.
The muscles in his legs tightened, and his abs flexed with the urge to stay as still as possible.
“You’re playing with fire, woman,” Cleo growled softly.
I smiled, and lifted one hand to trace the waistband of his jeans.
“You know, we do have a babysitter,” I said, letting my fingers dip slightly into his pants before slipping them back out.
Cleo didn’t waste any time dropping the screws and throwing me over his shoulder as he practically ran towards our bedroom.
“Silas is totally going to kill me for leaving him with your Nonnie and Zach,” he groaned as he tossed me down on the bed and then followed me down.
I grinned. “Yeah, but what a way to go!”
Coming Soon
Charge To My Line
April 2015
Life to My Flight Page 20
