Trouble with Nathan

by Anna J. Stewart

Everything went black.

  ***

  Someone, Laurel thought as she awoke, had split her head in two. Something was in her nose, itchy, cold. She tried to bat at it, but her arm felt heavy. Her side burned like she’d been stabbed with a hot poker. Something soft and crinkly cushioned the back of her head. “What—”

  She rolled her head to the side, blinked open her eyes, and found Nathan dozing in a torturous-looking chair next to her bed. “Hey,” she croaked, blinking spots from her eyes against the too-bright sun. “Wow.” She sighed as he sat up and rubbed his hands over his face.

  “Wow yourself.” He got to his feet and stood over her, his hand grazing her forehead with a gentle touch. “Welcome back. How do you feel?”

  She thought about it for a long moment then smiled a dopey smile. There was a field of flowers in her room. Baskets and vases filled with them. Thank God she didn’t have allergies. “I’m on drugs, aren’t I?”

  “Only the best for my girl.” He sat on the edge of the bed and held her hand. “Here.” He picked up a plastic cup with a bendy straw off the wheeled table. “I bet you’re thirsty.”

  Sipping the tepid water exhausted her. “I miss your Cap shirt.” She flexed her fingers to touch his shirt. “How long—” Her eyes drooped. She was so tired. And she hurt. Everywhere.

  “Couple of days.” Nathan pushed a button on a remote and the back of the bed lifted slowly enough it didn’t bother her. Much. “You had some pretty extensive surgery. Sorry, but your spleen did not survive.”

  “Okay.” What was a spleen anyway? “Joey?” The thought hit hard enough to leave her gasping. “Is she okay?” She tried to remember the last time she’d seen her, heard her, but that had been before Alastair, and the fire. “And oh, God. Poppy.” She wanted to cry. She felt like crying, but she didn’t have any tears. Why didn’t she have any tears? She tried to sit up but the pain sliced through her like a white hot blade. “Ah.”

  “Joey is fine. She’s staying with Morgan and Gage down in Lantano Valley. And Poppy’s okay.”

  She gasped. “He is?” She clutched at his arm. “You promise? Alastair said—”

  “I don’t lie to you, remember?” He stroked her cheek.

  “Your dad.” She swallowed, tried to remember. “What happened—with the crown? Is it all over? Alastair?”

  “If you’ll be quiet I’ll tell you.” His tone was soft, but he squeezed her fingers to get her attention. “Dad recorded his entire interaction with Alastair, Laurel. He sent copies of the video to TransUnited to prove their own client was responsible for the theft. The local police and Feds are combing through Alastair’s records. The man didn’t throw a scrap of paper away for decades. They already found his list of hires that included Kolfax and Johnny Saxon. As far as TransUnited Insurance is concerned, the case is closed. They already cut you the check for the recovery fee.”

  “Me?” How was that possible? She was a fraud. A liar. And they were paying her? “There’s a portion of the video where you dived at something out of sight. Dad let them believe you were trying to save the crown instead of getting in the way of a bullet meant for me.” She could see he was still irritated at that. “The case is officially closed Laurel. Alastair’s dead. He never made it out of the building.”

  “Alastair’s dead. You’re sure?” What she wouldn’t give to see his body.

  “Very sure. They found his remains in the rubble. Along with Kolfax and Blasden.”

  “I did a lot of bad things for him,” Laurel whispered. “Prosecutable things.”

  “Funny, the cops haven’t found any evidence of that in his records.” Nathan tried to frown, but the glint in his eyes released the last bubble of anxiety bouncing in her chest. “I guess we’ll have to chalk that up to one of those Nemesis mysteries. It’s over, Laurel. For all of us. We’re free and clear. The family sends their love. As you can see.” He motioned to the garden surrounding her. “They’d have been here, but Lydia’s funeral was the day before yesterday.”

  Laurel squeezed her eyes shut as her chest ached. Even knowing it was coming didn’t take the sting out of the loss. “You didn’t go to her funeral? Jesus, Nathan. Your family needed you. What were you thinking? You should have been there, not here.” The thought of him not saying good-bye to that little girl. She couldn’t breathe.

  “Yeah, well, I was a little worried if you woke up alone, you’d find a way to make a break for it. IVs and all.”

  “You don’t know that.” Given how she was feeling, it would have taken her a good couple of days to get out of bed. She shifted on the mattress and sucked in a breath when her stitches pulled. She tried to put a coherent thought together, but everything felt so . . . muddled.

  “Don’t lie to me, Laurel. I told you, you have a tell. There’s this twitch, just there.” He tapped his finger against the corner of her mouth. “Having second thoughts about what we talked about at Morgan’s the other night?”

  Her tell. She started to laugh, then groaned when her side burned. Someone had finally told her what her tell was. “No second thoughts.” Not really. Didn’t mean she wasn’t still scared. She looked at him. Make that petrified. Could this really be happening? Was there really a life for her with Nathan, free and clear?

  “Ask Dad if you don’t believe me. Remember what I told you? It takes a con—”

  “To beat a con. Yeah, yeah.” Well this was mortifying information. “I think maybe I should retire with you. It seems the smart thing to do after having been shot.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I’d hate to spend the rest of my life with someone boring. I bet we can come to some sort of a compromise. Might be difficult, going cold turkey.”

  She should have known. She smoothed a shaking hand down the front of his chest. “I had a feeling you wouldn’t learn your lesson when it came to a life of crime.”

  “We’re all in for some changes.” He bent down and kissed her. “But we’ll hold off on any life decisions until you’re back on your feet.”

  “Hold off for how long?” What if she lost her nerve when the drugs wore off? What if he changed his mind? What if she did? Maybe she should just bite the bullet and ask him . . .

  “The doctors expect you’ll be released in a couple of weeks. We’ll talk about this again when you come home. Get some sleep.” He smoothed his hand over hers as her eyes drooped. “Just go to sleep, Laurel. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

  Chapter Twenty-four

  “Mama!”

  Aches and pains aside, Laurel shoved open the car door and dropped out of the SUV as Joey raced toward her, looking happy and healthy and . . . safe. Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest. “There’s my Jelly Bean.” She heard Nathan curse as he raced out of the car to steady her as Joey pitched herself forward into Laurel’s arms.

  She hugged her daughter, those tears that hadn’t come in the hospital flowing down her face as if she’d turned on a faucet. “God, I’ve missed you.”

  “Careful,” Nathan murmured as he braced his hand on her waist. “Remember what the doctor said.”

  “The doctor didn’t know about this medicine.” Laurel dropped kiss after kiss on Joey’s face, the sound of her child’s laughter lightening her heart. “Video chats suck.” She should know. She’d been relegated to them for the last two weeks while she’d been stuck in the hospital.

  “I had plans to carry you,” Nathan said. “I was hoping it would convince Kelley and the twins you’re not a superhero after all.”

  “Not being bulletproof should have been a clue.”

  She couldn’t stop looking at Joey, but it was time to put her down. Her side was killing her and she could feel her stitches pull. “Have you been having fun?”

  “Are you kidding?” Joey squealed, hopping and skipping and tugging Laurel up the path toward the back gate. “Morgan and Gage are so much fun and they have kids! There are lots
of kids to play with and Nathan and I talked every night. We had dinner together just like we used to and you know what?” She whispered loudly. “He says I get to stay with you every day now forever and ever!”

  “Did he?” Laurel couldn’t stop smiling. “Is that okay with you?”

  “More than okay! It’s the bestest present ever! And you know what else?”

  “What?” She could listen to Joey talk for the rest of her life.

  “Drew’s been teaching me how to bake. I made cookies for today! Almost all by myself. Poppy said they were wonderful.”

  “Cookies for today?” Laurel arched a brow at Nathan, who had been exceedingly coy when it came to finishing that conversation they’d started in the hospital that first day. “Am I going to find out what this big surprise of yours is?”

  “I’m going to go tell them you’re here!” Joey yelled and darted away.

  “Clearly this isn’t going to be a surprise.” He wrapped an arm around her waist. “But you might want to brace yourself.” He pushed open the gate.

  “Brace myself for wh—”

  “Aunt Laurel!” Kelley, Cedric, Aiden and the two dogs came racing toward her.

  “Easy, guys,” Nathan reminded them. “She’s still a little wobbly.”

  “Aunt Laurel?” But Laurel pressed a hand against her side as she bent over to hug them. “You all know how to welcome someone home.” Cedric and Aiden dived at her and Nathan kept his hand on her back. “I’ve missed you guys,” Laurel whispered. She’d missed everyone.

  “Okay, you three, round up the pups and let us inside. Laurel.” He cupped her chin in his hand and brushed his mouth against hers. “There’s one thing I wanted to give you. Something you’ve never had, something you deserve more than anyone I’ve ever known.”

  “All I want is you,” Laurel whispered. “You’re all I need. You and Joey.”

  “Oh.” He blinked and grinned. “Well, then, take this in the spirit it was intended.”

  Nathan stepped aside as Laurel rounded the corner into the backyard. The cheers that erupted had her staggering back. She barely caught her footing before she was enveloped by everyone in the Tremayne and Juliano universe. Hug after hug after hug, her arms almost went numb from it all. And those were just the people she considered friends. The rest of the yard was filled with so many familiar Lantano Valley faces, including Jackson’s assistant, Corrine, and her son who manned the overflowing dessert table. Gage’s entire family monitored the roaring grill and endless tables filled with food. Balloons and streamers dropped from every possible attachment and there, off to the side in a new rock garden Nathan’s sisters had created, was Lydia’s empty wheelchair dotted with exploding summer flowers.

  The hand-painted banner (with crooked lettering) stretched across the back fence and said, “Welcome Home, Aunt Laurel.”

  “Oh.” Laurel couldn’t seem to utter another sound as she saw Gage’s cop buddies and Morgan’s circle of friends from the foundation and the Pediatric Cancer Treatment Center wave and cheer and welcome her back.

  “You really know how to impress a girl,” Laurel whispered as she turned and wrapped her arms around Nathan. Now she understood what he’d meant. He’d given her the one thing she’d always wanted, always dreamed about but never had.

  A family.

  “I bet I can go one step further.”

  “What? Nathan!” She stepped back as he reached into his pocket before dropping down to one knee. “In front of all these people?” He must be pretty confident she’d say yes.

  “I hope you like this. Dad designed it.” He cracked open a small black box and pulled out a ring, a solitary diamond nestled into the setting of a bronze crown. “Well? Are you going to marry me or what?”

  “That depends.” She grinned. “What’s the or what?”

  “I so like this girl,” Theresa Juliano announced to the silent crowd. “Is that a yes, young lady?”

  “Yes ma’am.” Laurel held out her hand as Nathan slipped the ring on her finger. “That is most definitely a yes.” He got to his feet and she threw her arms around his neck. “There’s just one more thing.” She leaned her head back and pressed her lips to his. “I love you.” She glanced around, half expecting the world to end the moment she said it. “I love you, Nathan Tremayne.”

  “That’s the signal! Change the sign!” Sheila shouted. “Let the engagement party commence!”

  “You know what this means, right?” Laurel asked as they rejoined the family.

  “That we’re probably going to want to elope?”

  “No. It means I was right. I got Nemesis.” She rose up on her toes and kissed him again. “I got all of them.”

  Epilogue

  Six weeks later . . .

  The barefoot bride wore lace dotted with tiny embroidered flowers that matched the ones in her long, brown hair.

  The groom wore a tux, sans tie as an ode to the bride’s desire for simplicity and comfort.

  A clear blue sky draped over the backyard of the Victorian house on Tumbleweed Drive in late-summer perfection punctuated with hundreds of white roses and sunshine-yellow daisies along with the celebratory cheers and laughter of happily ever after.

  And that, Jackson Tremayne thought as he sipped his champagne and watched his children settle into the future, made life worth living.

  “I thought they wanted small.” Rylan Price joined him at the far end of the yard near the collection of antique ladders and shelves Sheila had arranged to display the wedding gifts from the nearly seventy guests.

  Jackson chuckled. “By Tremayne and Juliano standards this is small. Glad you could come.”

  Rylan shrugged, looking every bit as comfortable in his suit and tie as he had in the basic black uniform of Nemesis all those weeks ago. “You wanted to meet with me and Cat this week anyway. And we were happy to take a break for a few days. Nice town you’ve got here.” He looked over to where Cat sat cross-legged on the grass braiding daisy crowns for various little girls’ hair.

  “You sure you’re up for taking over for us?” Jackson asked.

  “Taking what over?” Nathan dodged Cedric and Aiden as they darted around guests on their way to Poppy who was overseeing the giant chocolate fountain, a special request of the bride’s daughter.

  “Seems a shame to let Nemesis disappear for good,” Rylan said. “We’re negotiating terms.”

  “Don’t let the district attorney hear you say that,” Jackson said as he searched for Evan in the crowd and found him chatting with Gage and Morgan by the overflowing picnic tables, the unending buffet courtesy of Theresa and Angela. “Not that he wouldn’t welcome a respite from the bashing he’s taking from the press.”

  “News on the Stanton murder case reached us up in San Francisco,” Rylan said. “Seemed a slam dunk if you ask me. Wife did it. Case closed.”

  “Case lost. Evan’s going to have a tough reelection on his hands,” Jackson said. “We’ll help where we can. All the more reason to pass the Nemesis torch. That work for you, Nathan?”

  “After much thought, I’ve decided my Nemesis days are over.” Nathan glanced over his shoulder and smiled at Laurel as she pulled a reluctant and newly adopted Drew to the makeshift dance floor. The sixties and seventies soundtrack the bride had requested was a hit with everyone, especially Kelley, who had become fascinated with the idea of bell bottom jeans and beaded headbands. Veronica was playing fashion consultant for her as they scoured Pinterest on Veronica’s cell phone. “But I’m happy to be of assistance should the need arise,” Nathan continued. “I think my wife will understand.”

  “I’ll be surprised if she doesn’t want in on it herself,” Jackson teased. “Maybe Malcolm, too.”

  “How’s he doing?” Rylan asked. “With the chemo? He looks pretty good.”

  “Better than we are, I think.” The spark of contentment on Nat
han’s face faded. “I cornered Sheila the other day. He has his good days and his bad, but . . . ” he trailed off as they watched Malcolm smooth his hand over the slight bump of Sheila’s belly. She threw her head back and laughed as he bent down to talk to their unborn baby. “Yeah. I think working with Nemesis during his convalescence might do him some good.”

  “We could all do with some good.” Jackson slipped his hand into his pocket to capture the wedding band he’d worn for almost forty years. The band he’d taken off only this morning.

  “Dad? Everything okay?”

  “I was just thinking about the day I married your mother. One of the best days of my life.” The sting of Catherine’s absence had lessened of late despite the new revelations surrounding her death. The anger and guilt over her death would remain in his heart forever, but those feelings were tempered by the fact that Alastair Manville would never again hurt his family. “Now that Sheila and Malcolm have moved into the house, it’s time I got serious about finding my own place to live.”

  “Your suite at the Empire not cutting it anymore?” Nathan teased. “You know, the brownstone might be available soon. Laurel’s been looking at houses in this neighborhood. She doesn’t think I know.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re already spying on your wife,” Jackson laughed.

  “Is it my fault she doesn’t know when I’m reading over her shoulder? Joey and I found a nice house around the corner from here with its own guest house that’s perfect for Poppy.”

  “Final paperwork go through with the gym?”

  “Signed, sealed, and over and done.”

  “No regrets?” Jackson asked.

  “Maybe one or two,” Nathan said. “I’ll stay on until we can find my replacement. I appreciate you understanding me needing to do this, Dad.”

  “I never expected you to live my life, Nathan.” But he’d miss working with his son. More than he probably should. “Nemesis and the business aside, I want what’s best for you. What you think is best for you,” he added. “The rest?” Jackson shrugged. How could he be angry with his son for following his heart? “If I think you’re taking too long getting out, I’ll be happy to fire you.”