by Liliana Hart
“I’m here to see Cooper. I think he’s expecting me.”
“Oh, sure. He mentioned something about that, though he didn’t tell me your name. You must be the new tenant over at the river house. I heard him mention the other day that it had been rented.”
“That’s me,” Marnie said, forcing a smile. After all, Lila and her family were potential customers. “Is he in?”
“Oh, sure, but I think he’s on a phone call. Let me check.”
Marnie could tell she was irritated that she didn’t introduce herself, but she wasn’t quite ready for that yet. Lila got up and knocked lightly on the closed door behind her desk. She stuck her head in and said a few words and then closed the door again.
“He’ll be right out,” she said, taking her place behind the desk again. “Where are you moving here from? Do I detect a little bit of the South in your voice?”
“I’m coming from Savannah. I’ve actually rented the shop next door to open a photography studio.”
Lila squealed and clapped her hands together, and Marnie wondered how it was some people never changed. She was still the same vapid popular girl, trapped inside a thirty-two-year-old body. And she’d still be that same girl at eighty.
“Oh, that’s perfect! We have to drive all the way to Myrna Springs to get family photos done, and that’s almost an hour away. A good friend of mine had her wedding here and she brought in a fancy photographer all the way from Billings.” Lila lowered her voice a little and said, “It was the sheriff’s cousin that did that, but they can afford it. Darcy always did have high and mighty taste. Must’ve cost a fortune.”
Marnie raised her eyebrows at that and wondered how long it took Lila to spread police business all over town. She probably had her phone to her ear the minute a 911 call came in to the switchboard.
“I’ve done weddings big and small all over the country. Now people will be coming to Surrender to get their portraits done.”
Lila’s lips pinched and her eyes widened in disbelief, but she continued to smile. “You must be a good photographer if you think people will come all the way to Surrender for photos. The only time we get visitors is when it’s fishing and hunting season. And those people aren’t too interested in fancy photography, if you know what I mean.”
Marnie kept her smile in place. “I guess I’ll have to wait and see. I had a six-month waiting list when I was in Savannah.”
Thankfully, Cooper’s office door opened and he stepped out. Her first thought was that he hadn’t changed much. The MacKenzies had all been blessed with good looks, but only a few of them possessed the black hair and blue eyes that had been passed down from their great-grandfather. Cooper, Darcy, Shane, and their nephew Jayden all shared those attributes. When it came to those four, it wasn’t just good looks. They were stunning.
Her last impression of Cooper was of a young man in his twenties who’d finished his term in the military and was trying to figure out what he should do with his life. He looked rougher around the edges than he had at twenty-five. She could see the sleeve of tattoos peeking out beneath his rolled-up shirt sleeves and a growth of stubble she had to imagine was on purpose instead of him forgetting to shave.
He was tall, like all the MacKenzies were, but Cooper was just a little taller than the others. He was broad through the shoulders and chest, like a body builder, and he wore the weapon in his holster like he’d been born to it. She’d known from the start that he was destined to protect and serve. She glanced at the gold wedding band he wore and could see the contentment on his face. He’d made a good life.
“Marnie,” he said, breaking out into a grin. “It’s so good to see you.”
He didn’t try to hug her. She’d never liked being touched much, but she went up to him to shake his hand. As their skin touched, she opened herself briefly. Her smile grew wider. He was very content in his life, he loved his wife and children more than anything, and Lila annoyed the hell out of him, but he’d given her the job as a favor to her husband, whom he did like.
“It’s good to be back,” she said.
“Is it?” His expression sobered and he took a good look at her, watching her as a cop would instead of a friend. But only because he was genuinely concerned about her.
“I think it is,” she answered. “I wasn’t so sure when I decided to come home. But it feels right now that I’m here.”
“Oh my goodness,” Lila said, her mouth forming a little “O” before she covered it with her hand. “Marnie Whitlock. I never in my life would’ve known that was you. Just look at you all grown up and back in Surrender. It’s me,” she said. “Lila Rose. Well, I’m Lila Randolph now. I married Tucker Randolph. You remember him? He graduated with Cooper.”
She didn’t remember Tucker Randolph, but that wasn’t surprising since Cooper was almost a decade older than she was. They hadn’t exactly run in the same circles. She did recognize the Randolph name, though. Mr. Randolph, had to be Tucker’s daddy, was the bank president.
The look on her face must’ve been confused because Lila pouted and put her hands on her generous hips. “Now don’t tell me you don’t remember me. We were in school together all the way through until you…left.” She let the word hang there and her eyes glittered with malice even though her smile remained in place. “Oh, I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to make you remember. That must’ve been so hard on you when your parents died like that. And with him wanted for murder and everything.” She clucked her tongue and looked like she was about to go on when Cooper interrupted.
“Lila, why don’t you take your lunch break? I’ll cover the switchboards until Deputy Greyson gets back. He’ll only be a few more minutes.”
Lila looked like she wanted to argue, but the look on Cooper’s face must’ve changed her mind. “Sure thing, Sheriff. You want me to bring you anything back?”
“No, I’m going to meet my wife for lunch once Greyson gets back. Thanks for the offer though.”
Lila grabbed her handbag out of the bottom drawer of the desk, eagerness to spread the news that Marnie was back in town practically bursting from her already tight seams. “Now, don’t be a stranger, Marnie. I’d love to sit down and catch up one afternoon. And I just can’t wait until your little studio opens. It’s been too long since we had a family portrait taken. Not since our littlest was born. He’s the cutest thing. You’ll just love him.”
Lila shot out the door as fast as her four-inch Louboutins would allow her, and the pregnant silence in her wake was almost like a breath of fresh air.
“I should apologize for her,” Cooper said. “But it wouldn’t do any good. She is who she is, and that’ll never change.”
“She’s never bothered me. She helped thicken my skin when I was still in grade school.”
“I bet,” he said, shaking his head. “Tucker is a close friend of mine. Took over for his daddy as the bank president when old Mr. Randolph passed on. And he does a good job of it too. But Lila’s spending habits don’t fit in with a banker’s salary, even as good as it is, so he told her flat out if she wanted to buy shoes that cost more than a mortgage then she could work for them herself.
“The problem was she’d never had a job before. Their youngest is three and a holy terror. The other two are in school. But she had trouble finding work without any qualifications. And my secretary was set to retire. We all do double and triple duty here, so that means she covers the switchboard for emergency calls too. It’s been a real interesting adventure so far.”
Marnie felt a laugh bubble from inside and it sounded foreign to her ears. When was the last time she’d laughed? In fact, when was the last time she’d done anything but work?
He grinned and said, “Come on back here to my office. I’m sure you want to get settled. Aunt Mary told you the house is furnished?”
“Yes, it’s just what I needed. The timing worked out perfectly.”
“It has a way of doing that.” He moved behind his desk and took papers out of a file folder and
then slid them across to her. “You’ll need to get sheets and towels for the house, but there are dishes in the cabinet. This is the lease agreement for the house and the shop next door. Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim own both of them so the paperwork is simple enough. Everything is as y’all discussed over the phone, but I’m sure you want to look it over. I’ve got the keys to both places, so once you sign we’re good to go.”
She looked around his office. It was small and sparsely furnished. A large L-shaped desk with two computer monitors dominated the space. A file cabinet sat in the corner, and a single bookshelf that was filled with a mish-mash of books, photographs and knickknacks sat next to it.
The photographs caught her attention as they always did. The faces staring back fascinated her. A pretty woman with dark hair cut like a pixie and laughing brown eyes smiled into the camera. The look on her face was flirtatious and a little bit naughty, and Marnie knew automatically that Cooper had been behind the camera. She held two little boys on her lap, about one and three years old.
“They’re beautiful,” she said, touching the edge of the frame.
“I think so,” he said with a smile. “But the youngest one is a handful. Aunt Mary says I’m getting what I deserve with that one.”
“I’m glad you’re happy. It shows.”
“And I’m sorry you’re not. We’ve always considered you as part of the family, even the years between when we didn’t see you. I hope you know that.”
“Oh, I do,” she said, looking over the rental papers blindly so he wouldn’t see the tears that filled her eyes. “This is a good start to my happiness. It’s where I need to be.”
“Good. Aunt Mary said to tell you to come to dinner tonight. Most of the family is going to be there. And she said no excuses because she knows you won’t feel like grocery shopping and there’s no food in the rental house.”
“I’d never argue with Mary.”
“I always said you were a smart girl.”
Chapter Eight
Marnie managed to make it a full week without having to interact with anyone but the MacKenzies.
Like an obedient daughter, she’d driven to see them that first night. She’d gone early, so the late rays of the sun painted the landscape in an orange glow. She’d taken the left fork in the road by the giant oak tree like always, purposefully blocking the image of her as a girl lying beaten at its roots.
Her hands grasped tight around the steering wheel and she let out a relieved breath as distance grew between her and the fork in the road. Her van struggled to make the incline and she pressed down a little harder on the gas, coaxing it along. She didn’t have the time or the money for it to stop working on her.
The van let out an audible sigh of relief when the land flattened out and she smiled as the sight of the lake and the house she’d spent so much time in as a child came into view. There were two main houses, one on each side of the lake, and James and John MacKenzie had raised their families in their respective homes until John and his wife were tragically killed, leaving four half-grown boys behind.
The houses looked the same, but different. Her attention was drawn to James and Mary’s house—the house that had been her real home. They’d added on to it, a patchwork quilt of stone and rough wood that blended in perfectly with the area. Trees had grown more mature and a tire swing had been added to a sturdy branch.
But that wasn’t the only thing that had changed. The barns and house that had belonged to John MacKenzie before his death—and from what she now understood belonged to Thomas—all all remained. But there was a massive concrete wall that encompassed a huge portion of the land, and there was no way to get to the house that she’d once pretended was her own without going through the gates.
Mary had called it a compound and she was right. It was intimidating and impenetrable, and Marnie felt herself start to sweat as she drove up to the big gates and the two men who stood there protecting them, even though she hadn’t done anything wrong.
The two men were armed and didn’t look like they possessed an ounce of good humor as they checked her ID and scanned her license plate. Then they took her fingerprints before finally signaling to someone on the other side that the gates could be opened.
Marnie had heard of MacKenzie Security of course, and she knew that it was Declan’s organization and that most of the family played a part in some way. It was something they all profited from, but it came at a cost. They lived at an elevated level of danger that Marnie hadn’t realized until she’d seen the security. Mary had told her they no longer took any chances after what happened to Shane. Family was too important not to protect at all costs.
Once inside the gates it didn’t feel like a prison. She was sure the MacKenzies had designed it that way. There were lots of trees and the entry road speared off in three different directions. She took the one to the left and followed it down to the lake where the trees became sparser and the land opened up so it was nothing but rolling green grass and the shimmer of the lake as the sun reflected off its surface.
She’d noticed the scattering of newer homes and she assumed they belonged to various MacKenzie children and their spouses. They were spread out far enough for privacy, but they were still close enough for everyone to gather quickly if there was an emergency.
Mary and James greeted her at the door with big bear hugs, and soon after, she was enveloped in hugs from everyone, even those she’d never met. She told herself to breathe and let them hug her. That they needed the contact, even though touching them and the emotions they were feeling almost brought her to her knees.
The MacKenzie house was pure chaos and she loved it. Almost everyone was there, except for Cade and his wife Bailey, who ran the Fort Worth office of MacKenzie Security, and Darcy and her husband Brant, who ran the DC office.
“Why’d you send Darcy so far away from home?” she asked Declan.
“The farther away that little hellcat is, the more peace we all have,” he said, grinning. “Besides, she’s adapted well to the city. Something about being close to Nordstrom and shoes that weren’t meant for trekking through manure. They’ll be home for Christmas. They spend Thanksgiving down with Brant’s family in Texas. Brant and Cade’s wife are brother and sister, so they do their own thing.”
“I don’t know how you keep up with everyone. It feels like there’s a thousand people in this house and they all have the last name MacKenzie.”
“It feels that way to us too. Mom knocked a couple of walls out between the connecting bedrooms and made a big playroom. She had an artist come in and paint a big family tree on the wall. It’s very cool because some of the branches come out from the wall and ceiling and have leaves on them. She said it was for aesthetic purposes and for the kids to enjoy, but we tease her about just needing one space where she can see everyone’s names and who belongs to whom.”
Marnie laughed and relaxed a little, spontaneously patting Declan on the arm in sympathy. It must have been because her emotions were raw and her walls were down, but the touch opened her to his most inner thoughts. She hadn’t meant to intrude but sometimes when she was tired or upset she didn’t have as much control over her power as she normally did.
“It must be nice,” she said. “Having family like that.”
“You have family like that too, kiddo,” he said, winking. “And every time we turn around someone’s getting married or a baby is being born. MacKenzie Security has offices in DC and Texas, and some of the agents that work for me are as close as brothers.” He shook his head, looking perplexed. “Then there are their wives and children. It’s a zoo.”
“You love it,” she said.
“Yeah, marriage has softened me a bit, I think.”
“Not softened you. Made you more compassionate. There’s a difference.”
“Don’t let the word get out on that. It’s best if competitors and employees alike still think I’m a badass.”
She laughed. “Oh, there’s no question about that.”
&n
bsp; “Good. We’ve started branching out quite a bit. Loaning our talents out for specific jobs. Very specific jobs. I’m choosy about who we associate with.”
“That seems wise.”
“You can always spot anyone who’s working for me around town,” he said. “Newcomers stick out like a sore thumb. It doesn’t matter how good at blending in they are.”
“Yes, I think I met one of yours in Annabeth’s shop the other day. She was very British.”
Declan smiled. “Ahh, Lady Olivia. You’ll like her. We’re working with her and Atticus on something very time sensitive at the moment.”
The scar along Declan’s jaw was new since she’d last seen him, but it was the scars on the inside that made her catch her breath. Declan had lived the life of a hero—seen and done things that no man should ever have to endure—and he deserved privacy in those thoughts. The good news was his wife and children helped balance him now, and many of those scars had healed because of them.
“You’ll get there in time,” she assured him. “You’ve made a good life, Dec. I’m glad for you.” She removed her hand and resisted the need to wipe it on her slacks. Seeing into Declan’s mind wasn’t easy. She couldn’t imagine living with it.
“And you came back to Surrender to build one for yourself,” he countered. “Everyone’s timing is different. This is your time. Enjoy it and be patient. Don’t let anyone rush you. Not even us. We can be bulldozers.”
His phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket, looking at the caller ID. “Speaking of work, I’ve got to take this. MacKenzie Security is helping out a friend with a job.”
She saw a quick flash of men—honorable men—in black BDUs and face paint, scaling walls and saving lives. “Delta Force,” she said, surprising him. And then she said, “I apologize. It was just a flash.”
“It’s okay. They’re the good guys. And we always try to help the good guys. There aren’t many of them left in the world.”
“You can trust Luke Brenner,” she said.
