by Imani King
I frown. “What about you?”
Brad’s eyes seem to slip from focus. “I’m not going to jail. I’ve been there. Never again.”
“Don’t be stupid—”
“Get out of here while I’m letting you leave, goddamn it.” His mouth tightens. “Don’t make me regret my decision to let you have the brat and that slut.”
I hesitate for a second, but then Tamara begins to wail. I grasp the reins and turn in the direction of the ranch. I make sure Lindsay is beside him as we ride away. I don’t turn around to look at my brother.
48
Shawna
The EMT’s make it to the house in an ambulance equipped with a snowplow. They are preparing Lillian for transit to the hospital when she opens her eyes. “Brad,” she rasps.
I grasp her hand. “Jackson went after them.”
Lillian’s voice is slurred. “She let him in. If I’d answered the door...Lindsay didn’t know—”
“It’s not your fault, Mom.” I squeeze her hand, but let go as the paramedics prepare to lift Lillian onto a stretcher. “Jackson will find them. Several officers went after them in snowmobiles.” Privately, I don’t hold out much hope for their success. I hadn’t a clue which way to send the officers, so they were forced to rely following the horse’s faint trail.
I walk with the EMTs and Lillian as they roll her gurney outside. I stay on the porch as the technicians lift her into the back of the ambulance and close the doors. Then the paramedics climb in and start the engine.
At first, I think the loud engine sound comes from the ambulance. I realize the sound is coming off to the right and turn my head and see two of the three snowmobiles approaching the house. I recognize two of the passengers and run out to greet them ignoring the snow seeping through my socks. I get to the snowmobiles as they shut off their engines.
Jackson looks pale and haggard, and his face is drawn into lines of pain. He opens his coat with one arm to show me our baby. “She seems okay. She’s cold and will probably need to be checked out by the hospital, but she’s alive.” His voice is hoarse.
I reach for Tamara and pull her from the carrier’s pouch. I hug her daughter close, keeping the blanket wrapped around her. Tamara’s snuffling sounds are the the best thing I have ever heard. I
One of the officers helps Jackson from the snowmobile, while another lifts out Lindsay. “There’ll be another ambulance on its way by now. We’ll get you all seen to soon enough,” the young man says.
I rush forward and hug Jackson, who sways unsteadily. “What’s wrong?”
“I think he broke my arm.” Jackson rubs his swollen jaw. “He loosened a couple of teeth too.”
“Was it Brad?”
He nods.
She scanned the area. “Where is he?”
Jackson shakes his head. “I don’t know. He refused to come back with us. When we met up with the officers, they sent one of the snowmobiles on to look for him.”
“Your mom woke up as they were prepping her for the ride.” I wrap my arm around his waist. “The technician said she probably has a concussion. She might need stitches and will be in the hospital for a day or two, but she’ll recover.”
The other ambulance forces its way through the snow of the driveway, and its engine cuts off. With an officer’s help, in addition to my support, Jackson is able to walk to meet them. They immediately put him in the back on a stretcher and have Lindsay climb inside to sit on one of the benches. “Buckle up,” one of the men admonishes.
The other paramedic takes the baby from me and gives her a quick once-over. “Heartbeat is steady and strong. Lungs are clear. She looks angry, but I don’t think she suffered any physical trauma,” he tells his partner.
The other paramedic asks, “Are you riding with us, ma’am?”
I nod and climb into the ambulance. I settle on the bench secured to the other side of the ambulance and hold out my arms for Tamara.
The paramedic shakes his head. “Sorry, but she’ll have to ride in a car seat.”
“There’s one in the Prius in the garage,” I say. I am able to hold Tamara while he collects the car seat and secures it onto the bench beside Lindsay. Then he takes a protesting Tamara and straps her in.
“Where are your shoes, Shawna?” Jackson demands when he looks over the side of the gurney. “You shouldn’t be traipsing around in the snow with bare feet.”
I roll my eyes, but my smile is affectionate. “I’ll be fine.”
He looks like he wants to protest, but doesn’t. Instead, he drops his head on the stretcher and closes his eyes. I lean forward to look out the window and watch the second paramedic close the back doors before getting in. My mouth falls open when I see the third snowmobile pull up near the other two. Three officers stand up and drag out another person. Brad is helped to stand. He is wearing handcuffs and stumbles with his shoulders slumped towards an SUV with a siren on top. I lose sight of him when the ambulance heads down the driveway.
I lean forward and grasp Jackson’s hand. “Thank you for saving her.”
He opens his eyes and turns his head in my direction. “Brad did it.”
I blink. “What?”
Jackson licks his lips. “I’ll tell you all about it later. Right now, I don’t think you’re ready to hear everything.”
I frown, but don’t push him. He doesn’t look ready to tell me. “Thank you for going after her.”
“I couldn’t stand by helplessly.” He squeezes my hand feebly. “She’s my daughter in all the ways that count.”
“I love you, Jackson.” His eyes have closed again.
“I love you too,” he says slowly in a soft voice without lifting his eyelids. “Shawna?”
I lean forward a little more, until the seatbelt restraining me bites into my stomach and chest. “Yes, love?”
“Next time we go on a honeymoon, let’s take Mom and Tami.”
A small, shaky laugh escapes me. “Absolutely.”
“And somewhere with better weather,” he adds.
“Tropical island all the way.” I hold his hand and watch over him as he slips into sleep. I have no desire to be anywhere else, I realize. I am perfectly content to spend the rest of my life at home on the ranch, with my family.
Epilogue
Jackson
“Tell me the story again,” Tami says, bouncing on the bed.
I shoot a look at Shawna, not missing the way her eyebrows come together momentarily. “Well, maybe I should tell you something else.”
“Maybe you should just go to sleep. You’ve had a busy day,” Shawna adds. “It isn’t every day you turn four.”
Tamara’s nose wrinkles. “You know I need a story first, Mommy. If I don’t get one, I can’t sleep.”
“Blackmail,” Shawna whispers out the side of her mouth.
I stifle a laugh. “How about Cinderella?”
Tami frowns with irritation.
It is the exact same expression her mother wears, I realize with a grin. Tamara is practically a clone of her mother. The only distinguishable difference is Shawna’s hair is a shade darker, and Tamara’s hair has softer curls. “Jack and the Beanstalk?” I suggest..
Tamara shakes her head. “I want to hear about the princess.”
I hear Shawna sigh with annoyance, but I can’t deny Tamara. “Okay, but the quick version, okay?”
She hugs her teddy tightly and scrunches down under the blanket. She arranges Teddy just so before nodding. “I’m ready to listen now.”
I do laugh out loud then. She os so precocious at times. Just like with her mother, life with Tamara is never dull. “Once upon a time, there was an evil sorcerer, who stole a baby from her mother.”
“The queen,” Tamara says brightly.
“That’s right. This sorcerer takes the princess and leaves her in a faraway land.”
“Why did he take the baby?” Tamara asks, although she knows the answer.
I shake my head at the question she asks on cue. She could p
robably tell the story word-for-word by now. “The sorcerer was very angry with the queen because she didn’t like him anymore.”
“Then what happened?”
“The sorcerer left the princess with a lonely king, who wished for a family. He loved the princess very much.”
“What about the queen?”
Shawna groans and I ignore her. “She was resourceful and intelligent. She found the princess and moved into the castle to take care of her daughter.”
“But no one knew who she really was,” Tamara explains with delight.
“That’s right. No. Not even the king, who fell madly in love with the queen.”
Tamara’s brows furrow. “Mushy stuff.”
I ignore that too. “The king and queen decided to get married. The queen told the king who she was, but he had already figured it out.”
“With a lot of help,” Shawna mutters.
I shoot her a look, before continuing. “The king wasn’t angry, because he loved both the queen and the princess. He knew they would be a loving family. The king thought everything would be perfect from then on, but the sorcerer found out about their plans and got very angry. He took the princess again and hid her in the mountains.”
“With lots of snow,” Tamara reminds him.
“Yes, in the middle of a blizzard. The king had to fight his way through the snow and cold to rescue the princess.”
Tamara shakes her head. “He didn’t rescue the princess, remember, Daddy?”
I sigh. “I remember.” A shadow moves across his eyes for a second, before he blink. “The king was hurt, but the princess was in danger.”
“A dragon.”
Shawna rolls her eyes at that.
I deliberately turn my face away so I couldn’t see my wife’s reactions. She hates this fairytale. “That’s right. A baby dragon.”
Tamara clutches her teddy bear. “What happened to the princess?”
“You know that,” Shawna says.
Tamara nods. “Uh huh. The wicked sorcerer had a change of heart and rescued the princess.”
“But he was still a not-nice man,” Shawna says bitterly. “He tried to keep the queen from getting the princess back when they went to the royal court.”
“But the royal court didn’t listen to him,” I interject, not liking the way her expression grows sorrowful as she remembers Brad contesting our bid for custody. “They knew he would go to jail soon for his crimes and he couldn’t be responsible for such a special princess.”
“So the king and queen got to keep the princess.” Tamara nods her head, looking satisfied. “And the bad sorcerer was put in a tower across the sea and couldn’t leave for a hundred years.”
“A hundred years; seventeen years—what’s the difference?” Shawna asks, tweaking her daughter’s nose. “Do you know what happened next?”
Tamara nods. “They lived happily ever after.”
“That’s right,” I say.
Shawna tilts her head to the side and faintly smiles. “Their story wasn’t over yet.”
Tamara’s eyes get round. “It wasn’t?”
“No. The princess and her new baby brother or sister are sure to have more adventures in the future.”
“The princess is an only child,” Tamara says tartly.
Shawna leans forward to press a kiss to her cheek and tucks the covers around her. “Not for long.”
Tamara seems confused. “You can’t just change the story, Mommy.” She yawns. “Good night, Daddy. Good night, Mommy.”
“Good night,” we say in unison.
“Love you,” Tamara says as they got to the bedroom door.
“We love you too,” I say, closing the door behind us. Then I freeze in the hallway. “She has a point. You can’t just change the story.”
Shawna pats her still-flat stomach. “Yes, I can. I’m the resourceful queen, married to the virile king.”
My mouth falls open in surprise, and she stands on her toes to kiss me before I can speak. “Come along, your highness. I’m in the mood to explore the kingdom.”
I follow her down the hall to the bedroom, in a state of shock. “A baby?”
Shawna nods. “Yes. That’s generally what happens when you throw away the birth control like we did last month.”
I lift her into my arms and hug her. “I know, but I wasn’t sure it would be so soon.”
She pats my arm. “It’s all your fault. I can’t keep my hands off you.”
I put her down and push up her shirt. “The feeling is mutual.”
She grins at me. “I suppose it would be too much to ask for you to stop telling that morbid story before this child arrives?”
Jackson pretended to be outraged. “How can I deprive Tamara of the story? Our daughter loves it.”
Shawna sighed. “That’s because she’s strange. Like you.” She hugged him tightly.
“You like me this way.”
She shook her head.
Jackson frowned. “You don’t like me this way?”
“Nope. I don’t like you.” She pushed her hand into the side of his waistband. “I love you.”
A satisfied grin curved across his face. “I knew it.”
“How did you know?”
“I’m the virile king.” He grinned. “And I must have some powerful magic.”
She groaned. “You have magic?”
“I must, because I got you.” He kissed her passionately, not lifting his head until they were both out of breath. “It turns out you are everything I’ll ever need.”
“Yes,” she whispered against his lips as she snuggled closer. “And I need you now. I never imagined I could be so happy, or trust so much in love. I can’t believe I ever doubted a future with you.”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “I can’t believe it either, when it’s so clear we’ll live happily ever after.” He chuckled before taking possession of her mouth, intent on showing her a little preview.
About the Author
Imani King is an Amazon bestselling author of BWWM romance! As a special treat to all of her biggest fans, Imani King is offering everyone on her mailing list a FREE EBOOK! Right now, this ebook is only available to readers on Imani’s list. Subscribing to the list is free and readers can unsubscribe at any time.
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