Providence p-1

by Jamie McGuire

  When the sun lit up the room, Jared stirred. His eyes blinked and he lifted his head, looking up at me.

  “Good morning,” I smiled, running my fingers through his tousled hair.

  “You kept your promise.”

  “I always keep my promises,” I said, arching my back against the bed, wincing with the pain that ensued.

  His face tensed. “You had me worried there for awhile. We lost you a few times.”

  “Really? I feel cheated. I don’t remember a single white light. My life didn’t even flash before my eyes.”

  He pressed his lips together. “Leave it to you to joke about dying.”

  “Are you okay? When that happens and they bring me back…that doesn’t hurt you at all, does it?”

  “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine,” he shook his head both in answer and in disapproval at my question.

  “How’s your shoulder?”

  “Good as new,” he said, making a show of patting the point where the bullet had entered.

  “Yeah…I think my leg is going to take longer than your shoulder to heal.” I looked down, seeing the thick layers of gauze wrapped around it.

  He nodded, but his face was pained.

  I touched his cheek with my fingers. “What is it?”

  Jared shook his head, trying to keep the corners of his mouth up. His smile faded to a compressed frown and his eyes glossed over.

  “Jared,” I said, trying to think of something comforting to say. I couldn’t imagine what he had gone through, letting someone else try to save my life.

  He sucked in a breath and held my hand against his cheek. “I thought I lost you…,” he cried, his eyes closed, “…I thought I lost you.” His voice was agonized, and he groaned as he buried his face into my stomach.

  I rested my hand on his head, unsure of what to say. He sucked in another quick breath and wrapped his arms around my hips, pulling me gently to him.

  He kept his face hidden against me. “I didn’t know what I was going to do…I begged Gabriel to take me at the same time. I didn’t want to live a single second without you.”

  He lifted his face to meet mine, his eyes moist and red.

  “I’m fine,” I smiled, sweeping his cheek with the back of my fingers.

  Jared wiped his eyes and sighed. “This isn’t how I wanted to do this, but it will do.”

  I watched him with confusion as he leaned down to pick something off the floor. He sat up and placed a petite box on my lap.

  It was a takeout box from Blaze on Thayer.

  I giggled. “Sweet potato fries?”

  Jared smiled. “Sweet potato fries.”

  “For breakfast?” I asked, lifting the lid. It was empty except for a small black box. I looked at Jared, and felt my eyebrows shoot up. He lifted the box and held it in front of me.

  “Open it,” Jared whispered, wiping his eyes again.

  I carefully lifted the lid, revealing a golden band. A large diamond sparkled in the center.

  I gasped and looked at Jared.

  “I exist for you. And I live for you. And I live to love you,” he paused. “Marry me, Nina.”

  I looked back at the ring, and a broad smile stretched across my face.

  Jared watched me as I stared at the glittering diamond. “Will you marry me?”

  I looked at him, tears overflowing my eyes. I nodded emphatically and laughed. “Yes.”

  Jared’s smile matched mine, and he took the ring from the box and lifted my hand, pulling the silver band from Corn Island off, and slipping the delicate gold band onto my finger.

  He stared at it for a moment in awe, and then leaned forward, touching his lips to mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck, crying tears of pure joy.

  Jared smiled, triumphant. “We didn’t have to get through the nightmare to get our miracle. You, Nina….you’re my miracle. It’s always been you.”

  Epilogue

  I subdued my laughter while Jared washed the paint from his hair in the kitchen sink. He’d just finished rendering the bullet hole above the stove invisible; it was the last item on his list of things to remove, replace or repair since Shax’s visit just two months before.

  Jared was covered in ivory specks, and I found it amusing that he was so graceful and agile; yet he couldn’t seem to pick up a paint brush without half the bucket inexplicably appearing all over him.

  “What?” he asked, smiling as he scrubbed his hair with a towel.

  “You look good in Honeysuckle Beige. I think it’s your color,” I giggled.

  Jared tossed the towel onto the counter and walked to the couch where I rested. “How’s the leg? Need anything for the pain?” he asked, crouching beside me.

  “It’s okay. How’s the shoulder?”

  Jared grinned at me for a moment and then intertwined his fingers in mine. “Did something happen to my shoulder?”

  “Is that like the tree falling in the woods making a sound question?” I asked, watching the large diamond glitter on my finger.

  Jared’s bellowing laughter filled the room. “Yeah, something like that. Claire will be here soon with Mom. They’re bringing over some magazines, catalogs, things like that.”

  I smiled and ran my fingers through his wet hair. “You keep me fairly entertained.”

  “They’re bringing wedding stuff. Lillian has resorted to harassment to get me to let her come here. I made her wait until you were a little stronger before she ascended the loft with swaths and centerpiece options. I’m afraid it’s just given her time to collect more supplies.”

  “You didn’t tell them about the island, did you?” I accused.

  Jared squint one eye. “I think I’m going to need back up for that.”

  “You’re letting them come over here thinking we’re planning a big wedding? Jared!”

  He cringed at my reaction. “It’s okay! We’ll explain it together.”

  I rolled my eyes and nervously twisted my engagement ring around my finger. “If I can tell Cynthia I’m getting married before I graduate college, you can tell your mom we’re going simple.”

  Jared looked down and smiled. “You used to do that with Jack’s ring. It’s funny to think this time last year I would smile when I’d see you fidgeting with the Peridot. Now you’re twisting your engagement ring around when you’re nervous. It’s very….surreal,” he mused.

  “Tell me about it,” I grumbled.

  Jared nodded once. “Cranky when planning weddings…check.”

  I pressed my lips together, trying not to smile.

  Jared pulled my hand to his lips and kissed my fingers tenderly. “It will be fine. I promise.”

  The sheer white curtains swayed lazily back and forth with the summer breeze. The walls of the loft were now in beiges and whites, and when the sun filtered through the windows, everything seemed to glow. Light seemed to engulf Jared, and I smiled at the halo it created around him. His eyes were a soft blue-grey, cloud free since he’d brought me home from the hospital.

  Seconds later there was a knock at the door. Claire, Lillian and Bex walked through, arms full of sacks and thick catalogs.

  Jared smiled at the sight of his family, and then laughed when he turned to see my overwhelmed expression.

  “Be brave, sweetheart. Show no fear,” he whispered into my ear before affectionately greeting his mother.

  “Nina!” Lillian gushed. “You look so much better, honey. You had us so worried!”

  Claire set white sacks on top of a hot pink duffle bag while Lillian straightened a stack of bridal magazines on the coffee table.

  Lillian smiled as she looked around the room. “Oh…Oh! I just love what you’ve done in here! It’s so light and peaceful! I’ve been telling Jared for years to brighten this place up and you manage to talk him into it within weeks!” She winked. “That a girl, Nina.”

  “He practically forced me to choose a new color palette and shop for new décor. He was sure I didn’t like it before.” I smiled warmly at Jared wh
o watched me with a soft expression.

  “New color palette and décor?” Bex snorted.

  Jared lunged at him and wrestled him to the floor, putting him in a headlock and rubbing his knuckles against Bex’s head.

  “You’ll understand one of these days, punk,” Jared said, laughing.

  Laughter filled the loft as we watched them wrestle on the floor. Bex made an impressive effort, but he was unsuccessful in escaping Jared’s grip. Jared finally stood up, bringing Bex with him by the collar. Jared hooked Bex’s neck with the crook of his arm and squeezed, and Bex threw his arm up and over his big brother’s shoulder.

  “Have you seen this one, Nina?” Lillian asked, grabbing a magazine from the top of the stack. She licked her thumb and flipped to an earmarked page.

  The picture was of a woman standing on a beach, the bright blue sky and azure waters behind her, looking quite bored and desperately in need of a meal. She wore a bright white v-neck dress, clinging to the edges of her shoulders. The bodice was gathered from shoulder to the silver beaded empire waist. The chiffon and silk dropped straight down into a flowing a-line skirt.

  “It’s perfect,” I said, sighing over its beauty.

  Jared peered over from the end of the couch and Claire covered his eyes with her hand. “You can’t look!”

  “Well, you’re going to be easy to shop for!” Lillian giggled. “Does your mother have any favorites?”

  “Cynthia doesn’t…do weddings,” I said with a smirk.

  Jared pulled his sister’s hand from his eyes and smiled at me. “You like that one?”

  “Well, I’d have to try it on.”

  “Oh my, you will look so beautiful in that dress, Nina.” Lillian said as she hugged me to her, kissing the top of my head.

  “Does it go with a small white chapel on a tiny island off Nicaragua?” Jared asked.

  I looked up at him, trying to keep the corners of my mouth from turning up. “I think so.”

  “What?” Lillian asked, looking at Jared with a confused half-smile.

  “When we went to Little Corn during Spring Break, we found a little chapel on the island. That’s where the ceremony — the very small ceremony — will be. It only seats about fifty…possibly less.”

  Lillian looked at me with surprise.

  Claire gasped and then laughed, her mouth formed into an ‘O’. “You are so dead, Jared!”

  “A Nicaraguan island?” Lillian said softly. “Okay…we’ll make it work,” she said with a sweet smile.

  “You have to take a boat to get there, Mom,” Jared added.

  Lillian looked at Jared and then at me, trying to find words. “Wedding guests taking a plane to Nicaragua, and then a boat to a tiny island with huts for accommodations,” she thought aloud.

  I shut the magazine as Jared walked over to his mother, patting her shoulder. “It gives us a good excuse to keep the guest list to a minimum.”

  Lillian’s eyes brightened. “There’s always the reception,” she chirped, thumbing through another magazine.

  Jared laughed at his mother’s unfailing optimism.

  Lillian hugged me again and stood up, hooking her arm around the shoulders of her youngest son. “Bex has an early training session in the morning. Let me know if you need anything, Nina. I love you both,” she smiled.

  Claire shook her head at her mother with amused affection and then looked at me. “She lives for this stuff.”

  “Don’t think you’re going to get away with anything like this, young lady,” Lillian called to Claire. “Plan on a ridiculously lavish church wedding, now.”

  Claire waved to her mother, and I could see her expression turn to unease as I looked down to flip through more pages of the magazine.

  “What is it, Claire?” Jared asked.

  “We left a few loose ends at the restaurant. Those men are loyal to Grahm, Jared.”

  After several moments of silence, I looked up. Jared’s expression was impatient. “This could have waited.”

  “I disagree,” Claire said in a concerned tone. “Bex will be watching Ryan for me. I won’t let them come after Nina again.” She looked at me with a maternal softness.

  “What do you plan to do?” I asked, feeling a twinge in my chest.

  “I’m going to find every person involved, every enemy of Jack’s, every cop that is willing to avenge Grahm’s death…and I’m going to eliminate the threat.” She looked at Jared. “It’s what Dad would have done.”

  Jared looked at his baby sister with an appreciative smile. “And when do you plan on doing this?”

  Claire walked over to the table and unzipped the hot pink duffle bag. Within seconds, she molded a rifle from several pieces and then clicked on the scope, swinging the thick black strap over her shoulder.

  “When are you coming back?” I asked, leaning forward in reaction to her apparent departure.

  “When the job’s done,” she smiled, loading her holsters. She lifted her foot to the table and twirled a large knife around her finger, shoving it into a case in her thick, black boot.

  Jared rested his hands gently on her shoulders, kissing her forehead. “Watch your six,” he said, joining me on the couch.

  “Claire….” I said, feeling my eyes gloss over.

  She laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. I never miss.” Her eyes became unfocused and her expression turned menacing. “They ended their lives when they aimed at my sister.”

  She pulled her sunglasses over her eyes, and her straight, platinum bangs fell over the top of the rims. Walking to the door, she gripped the strap of her rifle with one hand, and twisted the knob with the other.

  “Gotta go to work,” Claire smiled wickedly, and then shut the door.

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you is not enough to say to my amazing mother Brenda, for a lifetime of love and encouragement, and to my daughters Eden and Hailey, for hugs, kisses and patience when Mommy was on a roll; my best friend/sister/cheerleader Beth for inspiration, endless enthusiasm, support and encouragement, and for being, without fail, overly confident that good things would come; my friends Lisa and Carrie, for swinging their pom-poms after every chapter, and who without this book might not have been finished; to my agent Jeff Mayhugh, who turned hope into reality, and Lindsey Bechtel Toscano for introducing me to the man who would become my agent; my friend Nicole Lambert whom I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting in person, but who devoted her time to my first web page, simply on the basis that she is generous and kind; my editor Ginger Hunter, who spent an entire summer turning the pages of Providence with a red pen so that it would be a novel instead of a good try; to Trisha Johnson of Shutter Full of Dreams Photography for working pro bono on a tight schedule, and for answering without so much as a dramatic pause; and to Dr. Ross Vanhooser, Wayne and Wanda Bookout, Chad Petrie, Jimmy Dean Hartzell, Kyra Bright, Erin Androulakis, Joseph Garza, Gregg Burlison, Shelly Stutchman, Jimmy Rivera, Larry Harris, Bobbi Washburn, Orlin and Terry Harms, and Jeff Washburn for their selflessness so that I might succeed.

  Jamie McGuire graduated from Northern Oklahoma College with a degree in Applied Science in Radiography, and lives with her two young daughters in Oklahoma. Her website is www.jamiemcguire.com. She is now a full-time, independent writer, currently working on the second installment of the Providence trilogy, Requiem. She has also written the novel Beautiful Disaster, to be released in 2012.

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