AT LAST

by Melissa Schroeder

  Kaitlin closed her eyes, then opened them. “Oh, God, I don’t think I want to know about that.”

  “Really? I could give you a few details about what he likes.”

  “No. And if you do, I’ll definitely forbid you from seeing Little Mike for at least a week.”

  “Point taken.”

  * * *

  Aeden stared at his brother-in-law, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do now.

  “What do you mean she’s not here? Where the hell is my sister?”

  “I’m having a de ja vu moment right at the moment.”

  Then he remembered the first day Brando had arrived, and how rude he had been to him.

  “Sorry. Are you going to step back so I can get in?”

  He shook his head in pity and stepped back. “My mom took Kaitlin in for an appointment, because I wasn’t sure if they would get back in time. I have a meeting this afternoon I can’t skip out on. Want something to drink?”

  “Naw. Well, hell, I wanted to talk to her.”

  “Again?”

  He studied his brother-in-law, as he poured himself a glass of water.

  “What do you mean…again?”

  “Come on. You know I married your sister, right? When you’re married, you tell each other things. And of course, we all know about you and Wendy.”

  “Damn.”

  He waved it off as he sat down. “You should be used it. I am. Big families like ours, we grow up in each other’s business. Sit down, Aeden.”

  “Why?”

  “You apparently want to talk to someone, and your sister isn’t here. I take it your brothers are busy?”

  “No. They’re not that happy with me about Wendy,” he said, dropping onto the sofa.

  “Why?”

  “They think I’m taking advantage of her. Which is stupid. Really stupid.”

  “I agree.”

  “You do?”

  He nodded. “Don’t get me wrong. I get why they are protective. Wendy has no one but your family.”

  “So you know about that?”

  He shrugged. “Not really, but I’ve been around long enough to see things. She went to Africa and when she returned, her family wasn’t there to meet her. They didn’t get an invite to the party. Something wrong there. Santinis would be all over the place and are when one of us returns.”

  Brando’s entire family was or had served in the military. There were always someone returning from deployment or an assignment overseas.

  “But that’s not what you wanted to talk to your sister about. Although, I would avoid talking to your sister that much anyway.”

  “Why?”

  “She’s Wendy’s best friend and your sister.”

  “And?”

  “Kaitlin is a romantic. She wants you two to fall madly in love with each other. She’s gotten worse since our wedding.”

  “What makes you think we aren’t in love?”

  Brando paused for a second, then said, “I mean, getting married and having babies kind of love.”

  Aeden let that comment sink in. The idea of marriage usually made him itch. Being tied down to one woman had never really appealed before. Granted, being a good Irish Catholic, he had always thought he would settle down when he met the right woman. The moment he thought of the term, the image of Wendy popped into his head. And not just Wendy. A smiling and very pregnant Wendy.

  Holy shit.

  “Hey, Aeden, are you alright? You look a little pale there.”

  He blinked and looked at Brando. While the image had dissolved, the feelings hadn’t. He wanted to marry Wendy. He wanted forever, and he damned sure wanted babies.

  “No. I mean, I’m fine. Damn.”

  Brando leaned closer, then a slow smile curved his mouth. “Ah, I see.”

  “What do you see, Marine?”

  He laughed. “So, when you going to ask her?”

  He popped up off the couch. “I didn’t say that.”

  “No, but I recognize the look.”

  “Yeah. What makes you an expert?”

  “Because I see that look every time I look in the mirror.”

  He stopped and looked at Brando. “You didn’t panic?”

  He shook his head. “Oh, when she tried to tell me she wouldn’t marry me when she found out she was pregnant, I panicked. But before that. Yeah, before that, I told my brother I was going to marry her.”

  “Before you moved here?”

  “Yeah. I saw her in New Orleans, that chance meeting years after college and I knew. I knew then I wanted her for my own. You have that same look.”

  “I just figured it out.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. Kind of.”

  “Great.”

  “Hey, just letting you know it isn’t anything to be afraid of.”

  “I’m not afraid.” His voice had risen and dammit, even to his own ears he sounded defensive. “It’s just that I need to be extremely careful with Wendy. She’s the type that might freak out.”

  “And you have all this crap hanging over your head about that note left on her car.”

  “Yeah. I sort of used that to move in with her.”

  There was another beat of silence. “Oh, that is actually brilliant. So, you moved your stuff into her apartment saying that you are there to protect her?”

  Again, Brando was making him feel stupid. “Yeah. My place isn’t big enough for both of us. I only have a studio. Plus, this is closer to work for both of us.”

  He nodded. “And, what if nothing comes of the situation?”

  Aeden shrugged, unsure of how to go on about that. “I haven’t planned past resolution of the situation.”

  Brando gave him a look of disgust. “Civilians.”

  “Oh, yeah, well how did you handle being told no by my sister? You showed up and got drunk at Declan’s, then went to play rugby. The result, you ended up at the ER.”

  “Thanks to you and your brothers.”

  “But to get back to the comment from before, no. I have no plan.”

  “As I said, civilians.”

  “What would you do?”

  Brando took another sip of his drink as he thought about it. “You have a couple options. First, is exactly what you are doing and hope that she goes along with it long enough to convince her to marry you.”

  “And the second?”

  “If you can’t convince her that way, just buy some knee pads.”

  “Knee pads?”

  “Yeah. For begging.”

  Aeden snorted as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t beg.”

  “As my father says, if she’s the right woman, begging might be a last resort, but it is always an option.”

  * * *

  Wendy was feeling pretty damned pumped after her little meeting with Kaitlin. She had never really had a sibling, not a real one that is. Sure, she had some steps and a few halves, but none of them were tangible to her. Not like Kaitlin. As a friend, she always had Wendy’s back and vice versa.

  And getting to see Little Mike was just the cherry on top of the sundae. She grabbed her mail on the way to her apartment. There wasn’t anything there, because, thank goodness, the charity was handling the fan and freak mail, as she had started to call it. It wasn’t that she was that big of deal, but with the media exposure, the hospital had been getting a few more inquiries about her and her work. With the threatening note, she was relieved that her home address had never been revealed.

  She walked up the stairs, her mind on the conversation she’d had with Kaitlin. She knew when this was resolved, she and Aeden would have to figure out how to move on. And the prospect of what that might mean for her wasn’t quite as scary as the last time she mulled over the question. In the last few years, she’d dated a few men, had one serious relationship, which ended when the guy took a job on the west coast. She wasn’t going to move for a man who couldn’t commit to living together.

  But that isn’t the feeling she was getting
from Aeden. In fact, even though he had been sneaky about it, he had practically moved in with her. Was he doing it because he couldn’t face his commitment issues, or was it because of hers? Did it matter?

  She sighed and decided that right now, she wasn’t up to the task of deciding which way it went. Truth was, she didn’t know if she ever would be. She had always said she would never settle down, but now Aeden was a factor in that prediction. She hadn’t been ready to move to California for a six-month relationship, but something told her she would do it without a second thought if Aeden asked. That scared her to pieces. She was definitely more vulnerable with Aeden than she had been in a long time.

  She pushed those thoughts aside. She was exhausted and ready to crash. If she started worrying about it, she would never get any rest. As she approached her door, she saw there was a folded piece of paper taped to it. It wasn’t an odd occurrence, as her maintenance man would leave notes for the tenants sometimes. She pulled the paper off and opened it as she unlocked the door.

  Stepping over the threshold, she dumped her purse on the small table just inside the doorway, and kicked the door shut with her foot. She just hoped there wasn’t something happening that would screw up her day. If they had already turned off the water, she didn’t care. She would just go to bed smelly.

  Sliding her finger between the two ends of the paper, she opened the note then froze. An icy finger slid down her spine as panic set in her chest. The lettering was the same and, once again, there was a threat.

  You can’t hide from me. You will get what you deserve.

  Chapter 9

  Aeden paced back and forth in Wendy’s small living room, as he tried to control his temper.

  “Being mad at me isn’t going to help anything.”

  He ignored her and continued to remind himself she was okay. It was just a note, and nothing had happened to her. Each time he got himself under control, though, she would say something that would set him off again.

  “I called you and Detective O’Reilly right off the bat.”

  “That’s the only thing saving you from me yelling at you,” he said from behind clenched teeth.

  “I thought you knew I was coming home by myself. It isn’t like anything has happened or that they had any leads.”

  “I thought my sister would be with you. Or at least follow you home.”

  “You think I would put your sister in harm’s way? She had Little Mike with her. I couldn’t do that.”

  He stopped and stared at her. In that moment, he realized she was right. There hadn’t been any other indicators that she had actually been the target. And there was no way she would allow Kaitlin and the baby to be put at risk.

  She protected the people she loved. It infuriated him on so many levels, but he admired that about her. She had a mama bear quality. Any threat against her loved ones would end up in a fight to the death for her.

  It was one of the things he loved most about her.

  For a long moment, he let that sink in. He had thought it more than once in the last few months, but him thinking it and not getting a panic attack was something new. His pulse rate hadn’t gone out of control. He didn’t feel as if the walls were closing in on him. Now, it just felt right.

  Before he could deal with that revelation, there was a knock at the door.

  “That’s got to be Detective O’Reilly.”

  She started for the door, but he stepped in front of her.

  “Let me check.”

  “I can answer my own door.”

  “I know you can, woman, but at least while I’m here, ease my worries.”

  She gave him a skeptical look, but relented and let him look out the peep hole. He saw Detective O’Reilly and opened the door.

  “Hey, Fitzpatrick. I hear we had another nasty letter.”

  “Yeah,” he said, stepping back to give her room to enter.

  “You have the letter?” she asked Wendy. She had placed it in a plastic bag from the detective.

  “And only your prints on it?”

  Wendy nodded. “I thought it was from my maintenance man, or I wouldn’t have touched it at all.”

  “More than likely, there will only be your prints, but you never know. We have those on file, right?”

  She nodded.

  “I’m going to check to see what kind of security you have here in the apartment building, but the truth is, most of these places are really low on security. The parking lots will have cameras, but inside the buildings, there isn’t that much. I’ll double check on that. Did you see anyone around?”

  She shook her head. “Most everyone is at work this time of day.”

  “Yeah, but I’ll ask around to see if anyone saw anything suspicious.”

  “Did the cameras at the hospital not show anything?” Aeden asked.

  O’Reilly shook her head. “There was an outage that night, and when they came back on, the note was there.”

  He looked at Wendy, then back at O’Reilly.

  “That means it could be someone who worked at the hospital.”

  “Oh, I don’t think—“

  “Actually, Ms. Reynolds, that is the theory I’m working. The hospital has good security, and my uncle couldn’t give me an explanation on why the outage happened. It just isn’t normal.”

  Wendy’s face went pale so fast, he was afraid she would pass out. He should have known better. She pulled herself together, took a cleansing breath, then straightened her shoulders.

  “I take it you’re going to interview everyone?”

  O’Reilly nodded. I just wanted you to know so that you weren’t hit with it at work. I know that a lot of people are going to be happy to help. But there are always one or two who will get pissy about it, even if they aren’t guilty.”

  Wendy nodded. “I got it. Don’t worry.”

  “I’m going to have this analyzed to see what they can find. Other than that, I would suggest you not be alone for very long. I can see if I could get you a detail.”

  “No.”

  “I had a feeling. But with Fitzpatrick here, or one of his idiot brothers around, you should be safe.”

  “Hey,” he said.

  The detective offered him a smile. “They’re your brothers. You know I’m right.”

  “Yeah, but you know I have to defend them.”

  “Call me if anything else happens. This might just be some jerk who is jealous of the attention you got when you returned.”

  Wendy rolled her eyes. “There wasn’t much at all.”

  “Yeah, well, you never know what will set some people off.”

  “True, but if it is that, it would make sense someone at the hospital is involved.”

  “Right. Again, call if anything happens.”

  He closed the door behind the detective and looked at Wendy.

  “Are you all right?”

  She frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Someone at work hates you.”

  She blinked. “Well, I never…well, damn.”

  “I thought you understood that.”

  “I did,” she said sinking onto the couch. “When you say it like that, though, it’s so…blunt.”

  Dammit. “I’m sorry.”

  “What?” her gaze focused on him. “No, I do better with facts.”

  He sat down beside her and took her hand in his. It was ice cold. “We’ll figure out who it is. Or, I should say, Detective O’Reilly will figure out who it is.”

  “Okay.”

  He put his finger beneath her chin and gently urged her to look at him. What he saw there in her gaze made his heart ache. She didn’t deserve to have someone hate her like this. He knew what was going through her head. Faces of the people she worked with every day and trying to decide which one of them hated her enough to want to hurt her.

  “Hey, don’t worry.”

  She smiled, albeit a small one. But at least she smiled.

  “I’m a nurse, Aeden. We always worry. Part of the territory
.”

  He slipped his arm around her and held her close. He just hoped that O’Reilly would figure this out sooner rather than later.

  * * *

  The night of work went by so slowly. They always hated when there were multiple trauma cases, but when only one showed up, it made for a slow night. And, it gave Wendy too much time to think. The idea that someone wanted to hurt her was bad enough, but the fact that it could easily be someone she worked with, someone she trusted…shocked her to her core.

  And there she sat, in the back corner of the staff room trying to avoid people and pretend she wasn’t that bothered about what happened. Everyone knew about the notes by now, but they all acted as if nothing was wrong. Peg, another nurse in Trauma, had told her she was there to talk if she needed. Other than that, they all worked as if nothing was really wrong. Because that’s what nurses did. They just moved forward.

  She closed her eyes and tried to calm her nerves. If they did get a call, she needed to be ready to work. If she was a nervous wreck, she could make mistakes. That was unacceptable.

  “You look upset,” Ryan said, smiling at her. Great, now she had to deal with him. She wasn’t in the mood.

  “Just a bad few days.”

  “I heard.”

  The look on his face told her he wasn’t happy about being interviewed by the police.

  “I’m sorry about that, but they wanted to know everyone I had talked to recently.”

  “It was a bit jarring. Detective O’Reilly is damned rude.”

  The vehemence in his voice took her off guard. Usually Ryan was always smooth. He didn’t like rocking the boat. On top of that, she had an issue with anyone saying bad things about the detective.

  “I found her to be very competent.”

  “I thought she was intrusive.”

  “That’s what cops do, you know. They intrude in order to find out the truth.”

  He frowned. “One thing she should learn are manners.”

  Ryan might have been top in his class at Columbia, but he wasn’t overly smart when it came to women. Or maybe it was that he was accustomed to women falling all over him.

  “What? Maybe she should learn her place?”

  Again, the man decided to put his foot in his mouth. “I thought someone with your background would understand.”