Four

by Jane Blythe

  “Of course not.”

  Searching his face to judge the sincerity of his words, and deciding he was being truthful, she nodded. “Okay.”

  “You believe me?” He sounded surprised by her apparently easy acceptance of his words.

  She was a little surprised herself that she had been able to believe in him, but so far Jack hadn't lied to her once, even when it had hurt and upset her, he had maintained his honesty. “You asked me to trust you and I do. You’ve never lied to me before. Even when you knew what you were going to tell me was going to hurt me.”

  He tipped her face up, and gently kissed away the last of her tears. Then his lips found hers, kissing her deeply and passionately.

  “Thank you,” she whispered when he finally pulled back.

  “For what?” he asked, his thumb lightly brushing around the stitches on her cheek.

  “For helping me find my way to the path to start getting my life back. I know I have a long road ahead of me, but at least I have hope, and before you came back into my life, I didn’t. Thank you.”

  Jack smiled down at her. “You’re very welcome.” Then he dipped his head to kiss her again. “Now, please tell me you had the hospital check the burn on your hand.”

  Resting wearily against Jack’s chest, she nodded. The doctor at the hospital had wanted her to meet with a plastic surgeon, and she had reluctantly agreed to go back tomorrow for an appointment. “I have to go back; will you go with me?” Laura reached for Jack’s hand and entwined their fingers.

  “Of course, I will.” Jack lifted their joined hands and pressed a kiss to hers. “Come with me to dinner at my parents’ house. Ryan and Sofia will be there, and Mark and his family. My parents are dying to see you again, they always loved you. Plus, I have a surprise for you.”

  Laura opened her mouth to protest and to express her wariness at just what his surprise may be, but he pressed a finger to her lips.

  “You said you trust me, Laura,” Jack reminded her. “You know I'd only ever do something that I believed to be in your best interest, so just trust me.”

  * * * * *

  8:21 P.M.

  “You okay?”

  They were sitting outside his parents’ house. Laura hadn’t said a word since they'd left her apartment. It hadn’t taken too much coaxing to get her to agree to the family dinner, but as soon as they opened her front door, she had clung to him so tightly he couldn’t walk. Once he scooped her up into his arms, she relaxed a little, and he got her to the car as quickly as was physically possible.

  Now she turned huge violet eyes to him. “I'm not sure I can do this. I want to go home.”

  He reached for her hands; he couldn’t get enough of touching her. “You’ll do fine.”

  Doubtful, she responded, “I can't even walk outside on my own, you have to carry me.”

  “So, what? You're coming out of your apartment and that’s great, I'm so proud of you.”

  “I'm not just going to be able to get over this instantly,” Laura warned him.

  “I know that, angel,” he assured her. “We’ll get you counseling and whatever else you need. Laura, we can take things between us as slowly as you need to,” Jack promised her.

  Laura took a deep breath and let it out slowly, looking thoughtful now. For a horrifying moment, Jack felt his heart practically stop, convinced Laura was about to end things, to say that she didn’t love him, that she wasn't relationship material, that she just wanted to be friends.

  Would he walk away if it was what Laura wanted? Could he?

  Would he stay and fight for her? Was that fair to Laura to do?

  But then the hands that he still held squeezed tightly, and Laura’s face lit up in the first proper smile he’d seen since he found her again. “I don’t want to take things slowly, Jack. I wasted ten years of my life being scared and alone; I don’t want to be anymore. I was wondering whether maybe you would want to come and stay with me for a while? I feel so much safer when you're around, and you're kind of good company,” she said shyly.

  He kissed her; he never wanted to stop kissing her. “I would love to come and stay with you. And not just for a while. Forever.” He released her hands and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small velvet box.

  Her eyes flew from the box to his face. “Jack, are you proposing?”

  He grinned. “Yes and no.”

  Her brow crinkled in surprise. “Yes and no?”

  “I bought this back in high school,” he informed her. “Laura, I always knew that I wanted to marry you, I've always been in love with you. So yes, I am proposing but not today. When I do, I want everything to be perfect. So, be ready, it’s coming soon and when you least expect it. Are you crying?” he asked, dismayed. He’d thought she would be pleased.

  “Yes. But happy tears,” Laura assured him. “I really missed you. I love you, Jack.”

  He kissed her again and then somewhat reluctantly glanced at his parents’ house, wishing now that he’d stayed home with her and kept her all to himself. He brushed away the last of her tears. “We better go in, they’re waiting for us.”

  Laura tensed immediately, small tremors began to wrack her body, and she gave a little whimper.

  “It’s all right, Laura. I’ll carry you inside, and you’ve been to my parents’ house hundreds of times. Plus, you know everyone in there except Mark’s wife. It’ll be okay.” Climbing from the car, he went around to Laura’s side and scooped her up. “So,” he waited until her eyes found his, “when I come and stay with you, do I get the spare room or your room?” he waggled his eyebrows.

  She laughed, as he’d hoped she would. “My room, but just for sleeping. I still want to wait for our wedding night.”

  Whether intentionally or unintentionally, she had just told him how he had to win her trust back. Fifteen years ago, when she’d told him that, he’d stupidly gone and slept with someone else, but now he wanted to wait. He wanted to do whatever made Laura happy.

  Inside, his family swarmed around them, his mother all but dragging Laura from his arms as they all covered her in hugs. Jack knew Laura didn’t like to be touched, by anyone other than him it seemed, but she didn’t protest his family’s demonstrative affections.

  Leaving Laura with his family, Jack pulled Ryan aside. “Are they here?” he asked his brother.

  “Yep, waiting in the other room,” Ryan replied. “Does she know?”

  “No.”

  “You think she’s going to be okay with it?”

  “I hope so.” Jack went to retrieve Laura. “Hey,” he took her hand, “ready for your surprise?”

  Instantly uncertain, she replied, “I don’t know.”

  “Trust me, Laura,” he reminded her as he guided her through the house and down to the kitchen.

  Laura froze when he opened the door and saw who was standing there. Last night, he had called Laura’s parents, explained to them everything that had happened and asked them to come to dinner tonight. He had promised them he would do his best to convince Laura to come.

  At the sight of her daughter, Karen Opal gasped, tears brimming in her eyes. She took a tentative step toward Laura, who squeezed his hand so tight he nearly winced, and stepped back.

  “It’s okay, angel,” Jack encouraged.

  “No.” Laura shook her head wildly, released his hand and spun toward the door.

  Worrying he’d done the wrong thing, he should have told her, prepared her. “Laura, wait.”

  With her hand on the doorknob, she stopped.

  “They're not angry with you.”

  “Baby, you thought we’d be angry with you?” Karen sounded distressed.

  “How could you not be?” Laura was crying now. “I just left. I never called or anything.”

  “We were never angry with you, baby; we understood that you were traumatized. We missed you and we were worried about you, but we weren’t angry,” Karen assured her daughter.

  Ever so slowly, Laura turned back around to face t
hem, her eyes moving from her mother to her father. She didn’t move toward them, but neither did she back up.

  Gauging Laura’s reactions, Karen came toward her again. This time Laura remained still. And then her mother sobbed and threw her arms around Laura. Laura didn’t return the hug but Karen didn’t seem to mind. Then Mick, who had remained silent, staring at his daughter like she might be a mirage, joined them.

  Catching his eye as he watched the family, Laura gave him a small smile to let him know she wasn't mad at him for blindsiding her with her parents’ visit. Jack was under no illusion that things were going to be smooth sailing for Laura now. She had a very long road ahead of her, but at least she wasn't doing it alone anymore. What she’d been through would never leave her, but hopefully she could learn to live with it and not let it rule her.

  As the evening went on, Laura grew more and more relaxed.

  Having other people around her helped her not to dwell so much, but it also wore her out. When they moved to the lounge room after dinner, Laura sat down in his lap and rested heavily against him. The shock and horror of the last few days, plus the adrenalin overload of last night, would take a while to work itself out of her system.

  “So, Laura,” Sofia suddenly spoke, “you're a psychologist, right? You counsel kids?”

  “Yes,” Laura’s voice went immediately tentative.

  “I inherited a fair bit of money when my family was killed,” Sofia explained. Fair bit of money was an understatement. Sofia was inconceivably wealthy. “And I've been thinking about what I wanted to do with it. I already spoke to Paige and Annabelle and Rose.” Tears sparkled in Sofia’s eyes as she mentioned Rose.

  Jack didn’t think that Rose’s death had really sunk in yet. It was hard to believe that he wasn't going to see her when he walked into work. Or that he couldn’t just text her to ask her something. Or that they weren’t going to hang out together with their friends. It also bothered him that Laura blamed herself; another reason to hate Axel Christenson.

  “And I wanted to open a center for women and kids who are victims of violence,” Sofia continued. “I used to run a women’s shelter, but now that I have more money to put into it, I want to expand it, and I was hoping you’d be involved, that you'd come and work there as a counselor once I get it up and running.”

  Laura was stiff in his arms. “I don’t know that I'm the best person to be helping others, given how badly I reacted to what happened to me.”

  Everyone in the room frowned reproachfully at her, but Sofia spoke before Jack could. “Laura, I'm going to be honest with you because we’re probably going to be related, and besides that, I hope we’ll soon be good friends. So, you know that’s ridiculous, don’t you? Just because you were a twenty-year-old psychology major who was brutally assaulted, you're not allowed to become agoraphobic? Honey, what you went through was horrific, cut yourself a break. I think the fact that you can truly empathize with other victims would make you an awesome counselor. So, are you in?”

  A shudder rocked through her and Jack tightened his grip on her. Laura snuggled closer, then sighed, “I'm in.”

  A collective sigh of relief flittered through the room and Laura rolled her eyes, but Jack just tilted her face toward him and kissed her. Already, Laura was making steps toward getting her life back. And he had gotten everything he’d ever wanted.

  Also by Jane Blythe

  Detective Parker Bell Series

  A SECRET TO THE GRAVE

  WINTER WONDERLAND

  DEAD OR ALIVE

  LITTLE GIRL LOST

  FORGOTTEN

  Count to Ten Series

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  Christmas Romantic Suspense Series

  CHRISTMAS HOSTAGE

  Flashes of Fate Series

  CHARITY'S WRATH

  MACKENZIE'S TRUST

  Subscriber Book

  FLASHES OF FATE

  Jane has loved reading and writing since she can remember. She writes dark and disturbing crime/mystery/suspense with some romance thrown in because, well, who doesn’t love romance?! She has several series including the complete Detective Parker Bell series, the Count to Ten series, the Christmas Romantic Suspense series, and the Flashes of Fate series of novelettes.

  When she’s not writing Jane loves to read, bake, go to the beach, ski, horse ride, and watch Disney movies. She has a black belt in Taekwondo, a 200+ collection of teddy bears, and her favorite color is pink. She has the world’s two most sweet and pretty Dalmatians, Ivory and Pearl. Oh, and she also enjoys spending time with family and friends!

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