“Don’t worry about it,” Mel said. “I probably would have snapped too if I’d been through what you had.”
“Anyway, when he told me about the phone call, I didn’t know what to think. I still didn’t believe that you existed, but how could he know about the phone call, or Facebook, or my kids names? They hadn’t even been born yet when Jack came up missing. And then the check showed up.
“He’d told me about the treasure hunt the two of you had gone on in the house, and then a check for nearly $50 million dollars shows up marked ‘Treasure Trove’. That along with his knowledge of the internet, smart phones, and everything else that he shouldn’t have known about was getting to be too much to ignore.
“I still didn’t believe you were a ghost hunter, but I was starting to believe that he’d met someone while he was in that house. So I stopped trying to convince him that you didn’t exist and started helping him try to find you. He finally got a hold of your assistant, and then today you knocked on the door…”
“And here I am,” Mel said.
“Yes, here you are,” Theresa said. “Thank you so much for saving my brother’s life. He’d still be frozen in that basement if it wasn’t for you. He probably would have never been found. You gave him back to us.”
Mel was very uncomfortable with Theresa’s gratitude. She’d been thanked for getting rid of ghosts many times, but never for raising one from the dead.
“Theresa,” Jack said. “Can you give us a minute?”
“Absolutely. I’ll just be in my room minding my own business and not listening to you at all.”
Jack turned back to Mel when Theresa had disappeared down the hall. “So?”
“So…you found me.”
“I did, but I was starting to worry that I never would. You’re not the easiest person in the world to find, and it was once my job to find people.”
“I’m un-findable by design. Betty has it set up that people can only find me when they’re desperate.”
He took a step closer to her. “Well, I guess I qualify, because I’m definitely desperate.”
“What do you want, Jack?”
He took another step closer. “I want you.”
“Jack, it would never work.”
“We haven’t tried.”
“You know what I do for a living,” she reminded him. “You know how busy my life is. I don’t have time for a relationship.”
He stepped closer still. “Betty said you would say that. She also said not to let you get away with it. I love you, and I know you love me. Don’t you think we owe it to ourselves to a least try to be happy? I know I haven’t been very happy without you.”
“My life is dangerous, Jack. You’ve seen that for yourself.”
“I intend to continue being a cop, so I guess you could say that my life is dangerous too.”
“You’re going to be a cop again?”
“Yes, I go to Nashville in two weeks to start training for their Missing Persons division.”
She looked up at him in surprise. “I live in Nashville.”
“I’m aware of that,” he smiled. “That’s why I’m going there.”
“I don’t know what to do,” she admitted.
“Do you love me?”
“Yes, I love you, Jack, but it’s not just about that,” she said, and pulled down the collar of her shirt so that he could see the stitches in her neck. “This is what my life consists of.”
“Jesus, Mel. What happened to you?”
“It doesn’t matter what happened. I can only tell you that it’ll probably happen again…and again. Maybe not a ripped neck, but it’ll always be something. It’s just part of what I do.”
“I don’t care,” he said, leaning over and lightly kissing the wound. “I’m not asking you to change your life for me. I’m only asking that you let me be part of it.”
“I’m gone a lot,” she pointed out. “I’m on the road more than I’m home.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. “I’ll always be there waiting for you when you get back.”
“We’d never have any privacy. You should know that Betty is never moving away from me.”
“Then we’ll get a bigger house,” he said and kissed the corner of her mouth. “They’ll be plenty of room for everybody.”
“She’s nosy,” she said. “She’ll be in all of your business, all the time.”
“I don’t have anything to hide.”
She was out of excuses, and she suddenly didn’t want any more anyway. What she wanted was Jack. Right now all she wanted was Jack.
“Okay, then,” she smiled. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
He kissed her, and she let all of her fear go. The feel of his lips against hers felt right.
“So what do we do now?” she asked when he pulled back to look at her.
“I was thinking the Bahamas. I do have two weeks before I have to report to Nashville. A vacation sounds good to me.”
“Betty will want to go.”
Jack laughed. “She already bought the tickets; all three of them. She’s meeting us at the Nashville Airport at 7:00 tonight. We should go. I still need to buy a few things for the trip, and then we have to drive all the way back to Nashville. Are you ready?”
She looked up at him and smiled. “I’m ready.”
He took her hand, led her out the door, and into a brand new life.
The End
We hope you enjoyed The Reaper Within. For other books by Stephanie Jackson check out:
When Angels Fall
Danielle Coulter had never believed in anything except her mother, hard work and heartache. She never had time for religious fairytales. But when her mother died, Dani was forced to believe…or die.
Not only was she forced to accept that God and Lucifer are real, but also that she is the last living descent of God on Earth. An undeniable fact when the Archangel Gabriel fell to Earth to protect her.
Archangel Gabriel; banished from Heaven over four million years ago for refusing to kill his brother, Lucifer, was about to get a second chance to re-enter Heaven. He was sent to Earth on a mission from his Father to protect the last Daughter of God; the last woman to carry the Blood of God on Earth, and kill his brother, once and for all.
Gabriel had never expected to feel anything for Dani, but he soon found himself willing to fight Heaven and Hell to keep her safe, even if it meant his own destruction.
Buy at Amazon.com
When Angels Fall: Stephanie Jackson: Amazon.com: Books
Paperback also available on Amazon
The Lamp
What can happen when you let the Genie out of the lamp? It may not be what you think. Ellie loves her friends and antiques. She even opened her own little antique shop, Timeless Treasures, when she graduated college. Little did she know that her love of antiques would introduce her to a supernatural being…a Jinn who possesses the most powerful object ever sent to Earth; King Solomon’s ring.
Not only did she just discover that the supernatural actually existed, but now she finds that she must make a decision as to whether or not to embark on a dangerous adventure that could cost her her very life, and just as she finds the love of her life, Matthaus.
Will she make the right decision before it’s too late to stop Iblis from claiming Solomon’s ring and enslaving the world of humans for all eternity?
Buy at Amazon.com
The Lamp: Stephanie Jackson: Amazon.com: Books
Paperback also available on Amazon
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