Serendipity

by Lisa Clark O'Neill

  “You’re lucky I can’t see my feet, or I’d plant one on your ass.”

  “I’m lucky, period.” He dropped a kiss on her lips.

  “Nice save,” she said against his mouth.

  “I thought so.” When she wound her arms around his neck, he slid deeper into the kiss than he’d intended.

  “Get a room,” Jordan’s younger brother Justin suggested as he walked by with an armload of plates.

  Still wrapped up in his wife, Jordan’s free hand connected to his brother’s biceps.

  “Ouch!” Justin nearly bobbled the plates. “Hey, I’m back on call in a few hours. Don’t mess with the arm that wields the scalpel.”

  Jordan smiled into Ava’s eyes as his brother walked away. “Go sit down,” he coaxed again, and she reluctantly acquiesced.

  As he watched her waddle – walk, he corrected, somewhat desperately. She’d scalp him if she knew he’d even thought the other word – toward his parent’s family room, he contemplated his incredible good fortune.

  Last month they’d watched her father deliver testimony that had resulted in Carlos Martinez being sentenced to several life sentences. His empire had crumpled around him like a house of cards, brought down at the hands of the brother he’d betrayed. Ava’s father’s testimony had earned him a plea bargain that would considerably shorten his time in prison, giving him hope that with good behavior he’d be paroled in time to get to know his grandchildren.

  Lorena Martinez’s body had been positively identified, and buried with due respect and ceremony in the cemetery near the church where she’d been abducted. Ava had handled the entire thing with remarkable composure, clutching her mother’s rosary in one hand, the other tucked into Jordan’s. She’d been surrounded by her friends and his family – her family now – for the kind of support that still brought a tear to his wife’s eye when she thought no one was looking.

  Robert Bender sat in jail awaiting trial.

  Jordan tried to feel sympathetic instead of vindicated whenever he came across Jeff Simpson – after all, the Internal Affairs investigation had shown that the man had neither tampered with evidence nor had any inkling what his nephew was up to – but really, he was only human, and Simpson had behaved like an ass.

  “Are you going to stand there all night, son, or are you going to take that dish into the kitchen?”

  Jordan snapped out of his reverie with a start, then smiled at his father, patiently waiting for Jordan to quit blocking the doorway. “Sorry. Just taking a moment to appreciate the scenery.”

  Tom followed his son’s gaze toward the family room, where Ava sat near the fireplace, hands draped protectively over her abdomen. The fifty degree weather hardly warranted the crackling fire in the hearth, but she looked so beatific sitting there, smiling at little Grace, that Jordan felt warm all over. He’d build her a dozen fires if she wanted them.

  “Are you ready?”

  Jordan understood that his father was talking about his impending fatherhood, as opposed to making his way to the kitchen. He took a deep – and admittedly shaky – breath. “As I’ll ever be.” He cast a questioning gaze toward his dad. “Were you scared when Mom was this close to her due date with Jack?”

  “Shitless,” Tom said succinctly.

  Jordan laughed. It was exactly what he needed to hear.

  His gaze drifted back toward Ava. While neither of them had expected their first joking discussion about fertility to have… well, already taken root, so to speak, they’d been ecstatic after the shock had finally worn off. They both wanted a family, the kind two people nurtured until it grew and blossomed, ripe with love.

  They had a bumper crop of love.

  And speaking of bumper crops, he mused, as his father clapped him on the shoulder and moved past him. He supposed it would be time soon to start thinking about that little garden he and Ava had talked about planting. On the little farm they seem to have bought. Fresh vegetables for lasagna, plenty of room for the animals to roam, and good, messy dirt for their children to dig in when they got a little older.

  And three bathtubs to house frogs.

  “Oh.” Ava looked up, startled, and pressed a hand to her back.

  The casserole dish slipped out of Jordan’s hands and shattered. “It’s time?”

  “I think so.”

  She met his eyes as other members of his family rushed in to see what had happened, happy chaos erupting when everyone realized the babies had decided it was time to join the fun. And instead of the nerves he’d been expecting, Jordan discovered that what he felt was excitement.

  “They’re a little early,” Ava said, almost apologetically as he quickly crossed the room.

  He took her hands and helped ease her from the chair. A new year, a new start. Two new lives.

  “That’s okay.” He leaned down and kissed his wife. “We’re ready.”

  Thanks for reading! Connect with me online at:

  http://www.lisaclarkoneill.com/

  Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/pages/LisaClark-ONeill-Novelist/287773574604107

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/LisaClarkONeill

  And here’s a sneak peak at Forbidden, the next book in this series, featuring FBI Special Agent Clay Copeland…

  CHAPTER ONE

  July 15, Present

  JANIE Collier was hot, tired, and mad at the world.

  Running away from home wasn’t supposed to be so hard, but getting out of Charleston on foot in ninety degree heat proved to be more of an undertaking than she’d initially guessed. The asphalt was so hot that her sneakers sank into it, and about every fifth step one or the other of them threatened to come off. They were too damn big, anyway, because they were hand-me-downs from her sister.

  Her stupid older sister who’d had to go and get herself knocked up.

  Why the hell hadn’t she listened when Daddy had told her that the Lawrence boy was no good? Hell, anybody with eyes could see Danny was only slumming when he asked her to go out cruisin’. Her older sister had a body like one of them centerfolds Daddy was always looking at, and that’s the only reason Danny Lawrence had shown the least bit of interest. Rich boys like him weren’t in the habit of making girlfriends out of poor white trash. Danny didn’t even come inside the trailer when he picked Joelle up. He just sat in his Mustang and beeped the horn, like he was too damn good to dirty his expensive Nikes by setting foot in their home.

  And wouldn’t you know it? Daddy’s prophecy had come true.

  Danny Lawrence had gotten in her sister’s pants one time too many, but now that she was pregnant he was nowhere to be found. His parents had sent him off to visit some relative for the summer. His daddy, a lawyer, had threatened to sue Janie and Joelle’s daddy if he ever laid a finger on his boy. Since Janie and Joelle’s daddy was a drunk, he hadn’t had the good sense to listen: he’d attacked Mr. Lawrence at his high-falutin’ home one night, demanding that Danny own up to his bastard.

  Consequently, Danny had left the state, her daddy was in jail, and the child welfare people had been swarming over her and Joelle like flies.

  Joelle, who was six months gone, was in a home for unwed mothers, and she – Janie – had just run away from her third foster home.

  Not like those idiots were going to miss her. The wife had been okay, but her lard-ass husband looked at her in a way that made her feel like she’d come down with chiggers.

  So she’d hightailed it out of there before Fat Hubby had decided to take those gropes-disguised-as-hugs to the next level. She was experienced enough to know exactly what the bastard wanted, and while she was no virgin, she preferred to pick and choose her partners. And if she chose wisely, she might be able to earn enough money to take the bus.

  Janie shivered despite the heat.

  Sweat trickled off the back of her neck, running down into her cotton panties, where little bumps of heat rash popped up like chicken skin. Looking at the road sign she’d just passed, Janie saw that she’d traveled approximately ten mil
es out of the city. At this rate, she’d turn fifteen before she made it to Florida.

  Janie sighed, blowing out a breath that ruffled her sweat-damp bangs. She needed some shade, she needed some water, she needed somebody with wheels.

  Coming upon a massive live oak, Janie dragged herself to the side of the road and sagged against the trunk. There was a fruit stand maybe a mile or two down the highway, and if she could just make it there she could buy herself an apple and a nice, cold drink out of the cooler. She’d love to have one of their cherry sodas, but she figured she’d better stick to water so she didn’t get dehydrated. They’d studied that in health class last year, so she knew all about things like blood sugar and hydration. For the most part, school seemed like a huge waste of time, but she had to admit she liked learning about the body.

  Maybe she’d go to college one day, become a nurse.

  But first she had to get to Florida.

  Janie pushed away from the tree and tried to convince her rubbery legs to move. She’d just about talked them into it when a car pulled alongside her. Warily, she looked it over – a dark-colored foreign job, one of those BMWs, she thought – as the man driving it lowered the window.

  “Sugar you’re not out here walking in this heat, are you?”

  He looked to be about thirty-something, maybe a little older. She really wasn’t the best judge of age. He was jacked and kind of handsome for an old guy, but that didn’t mean she could trust him. After all, Danny Lawrence was handsome, and look what a crock of shit he turned out to be.

  He turned in his seat to pull a soda bottle from a bag beside him, then extended it through the open window. “You look like you could use something cool to drink.”

  Janie hesitated, because she didn’t know this guy from Adam. Just because he didn’t look like a perv didn’t mean he wasn’t. She took in the expensive-looking watch on his wrist, the glint of gold on his ring finger.

  He seemed okay, but still…

  “Just take the soda, sugar. I promise I’m not going to bite.” When she still didn’t move, he held up his cell phone. “Is there somebody I can call to come pick you up? I bet your parents wouldn’t be too happy about you walking down the highway all alone. I know I sure wouldn’t.”

  “You have kids?” she asked, cautiously inching closer. He really did seem okay, and she was so thirsty.

  “Just one,” he admitted with a proud smile. “A little boy. And his mama would have my hide if she thought I passed you by without offering to help.” He waved first the bottle, then the cell phone. “Would you like a drink, or would you like me to make a call?”

  “There’s no one to call.” Janie accepted the beverage. “I’m on my way to visit my cousin in Florida, and I’m afraid if I call first, she won’t let me come.” Unscrewing the cap from the bottle, she upended and nearly drained it.

  “Well Florida’s a bit farther than I intended to go. But if you’d like, I can give you a ride down to Beaufort. Although if you ask me, I still think you should call your cousin.”

  “No.” She shook her head, trying to decide what to do. She was hot and sweaty and exhausted, and the air conditioning seeping out his open window made her want to dive in. Hitching a ride to Beaufort might not be such a bad idea. Swaying a little, Janie thought the heat must really be getting to her, because when she looked down the deserted road the pavement seemed to move in waves.

  Before she knew what was happening, the man was helping her into the backseat. “Easy, there. You look like you might be having a little trouble. Why don’t you just lie down and rest, and I’ll wake you when we get where we’re going.”

  She was conscious of him tucking her feet into the car, tossing the small backpack she’d been carrying in beside her.

  Then the door closed with a muffled thud, and she wasn’t conscious of anything at all.