She has a bright smile on her face then leans in stopping right before our lips meet and says, “I love you too, Parker Marshall.” She closes the gap between us and kisses me. I pull her out of her seat and into my lap, deepening the kiss wishing like hell I could have my way with her right this moment.
We stay locked in each other’s arms the remainder of the flight until we’re told to prepare for landing. Then the adrenaline kicks in, and I’m ready to get some answers. Ready to have Callie back with us. The second we land, Henry is on the phone getting a status and figuring out what we need to do once we step foot of this plane.
The last five hours have been the longest hours I’ve ever lived. I take Mandy’s hand in mine while we wait for Henry to get off the phone and tell us what is going on.
“Got it, we’ll be there as soon as possible.” Henry hangs up the phone then looks at the three of us sitting there anxious to hear what he has to say.
“Okay everyone, Callie is in FBI custody and we have to go to the local office to get her. Upon arrival, the agents watched and followed them but waited until they were in baggage claim to approach them quietly, so as not to draw too much attention or scare Callie. Tamera and Connor were arrested on the spot. That’s about all I know at the moment. Mandy they will want to talk to you when we get there after you’re reunited. Parker, they have questions for you regarding the blackmail. They want to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s so they can charge them accurately, and with all the crimes they’ve committed.”
“Whatever I have to do, I’ll do it to stick it to that asshole. Henry, because of the previous papers Connor signed relinquishing his parental rights, and now the kidnapping, will we be able to get the custody case dropped or thrown out?” Mandy asks.
“I’ll be working on that once things settle down today. I have a couple of rooms booked in town for the night since Marsh can’t play in the Minneapolis game, per the commissioner, we aren’t going to make this day any longer. Not to mention we have a lot of things to take care of here first. We’ll meet the team back in Nashville the day after.”
“That sounds good to me,” I answer.
The door of the plane opens, and we are on our feet quicker than anything, getting to the door and the waiting car. I tell the girls to get in the car and then help the crew get all of our stuff into the back of the SUV. Once we are all loaded, I squeeze myself into the second row with Mandy and Maggie. I can feel Mandy’s body trembling and I don’t know if it is from excitement, nerves or the adrenaline I’m sure is cruising through her body. Either way, I take her hand in mine, look in her eyes and say, “I’ve got you. Everything will be okay soon.” Then, I kiss her temple and she leans against me, resting her head on my shoulder.
The car isn’t going as fast as I’d like it to go, the traffic is horrible. It takes us almost another forty-five minutes to get the FBI field office. When we do arrive at the front doors of the building, I have to almost hold Mandy back from charging into the building. Henry leads us in, asking for the agent in charge. We are then escorted through a security door and lead to a conference room. “Wait here,” says the person that lead us here, before closing the door behind her.
We have to wait for what seems like forever before the agent in charge comes to see us. He goes over everything Henry had already told us before calling for the lady who is taking care of Callie. Finally, Callie is brought to us.
Mandy immediately jumps up and takes Callie from the girl’s arms, holding her tight to her chest, sinking to the floor and crying. Maggie goes to her side and I stay back, letting the three of them have their moment. It’s a beautiful sight seeing them together again. A tear runs down my face, Henry comes to my side clapping me on the shoulder, “Beautiful sight, eh?”
“Yeah.”
Once Mandy has gained her composure, she stands up, still holding on to Callie for dear life. Like she is afraid she will disappear again. She finally comes to my side, holding Callie out to me so I can hold her myself. I hug her to my chest and kiss the top of her head, “How’s my number one fan? We brought you something.” I pull out the pink flamingo from my travel bag that Mandy has been holding on to since she disappeared. When Callie sees it, she starts squealing with excitement and reaching her hands out for it. This melts my heart, such a small gift to give her from me and she absolutely loves it. I hope she loves it forever.
Now we have Callie back in our arms, the tough stuff starts. I hand Callie back to Mandy when I’m called to be interviewed about everything that has been going on. I give Callie a kiss on the head and then a brief kiss on Mandy’s lips before I leave the room.
The interview doesn’t take long, I’m not the criminal or the one being investigated; however, I was in there for about an hour to make sure they had all the details and the Nashville police contact information for the formal police reports. When I enter the conference room, Maggie is in there with Callie, and Henry and Mandy are gone.
“Where is Mandy?” I ask.
“Henry went with her to go talk to the agent in charge. They only left a few minutes ago.
“Okay. Have they said anything about where Connor is? I worry she will run into him in this building.”
“No, they haven’t. Let’s just hope they don’t cross paths. How did your interview go?” she asks.
“As good as can be expected. I told them all I knew and referred them to the police reports back home.”
“I’m ready to get out of here, and more than ready to get home.”
“It hasn’t been the best few days has it? I’m hoping that life will go back to normal once we get home.”
“You and me both,” she chuckles as she tickles Callie’s belly.
34
Mandy
I finally have Callie back in my arms, and just as fast I have to hand her over to Grandma so I can go be interviewed by the FBI agent. I wish I didn’t have to go through it all again, but I need Connor to pay for what he’s done to all of us.
I was in that cold room for an hour and I haven’t learned anything about why Connor did all he did. The agent has all of the information he needs from me, and I’m lead back to the conference room. I immediately go to Callie and hold her tight, afraid she might disappear again.
The only thing I know is that Connor and his sister are being held on federal kidnapping charges here in Boston. What’s to come from the Nashville police is unknown at this time, but I’m sure the list is long.
“Do you know if we can leave yet?” I ask Henry.
Henry is quick to reply, “Let me go and talk to the agent in charge and see if we are needed any longer. We need to get Callie out of here and somewhere quiet.” He rushes out of the room.
“The press is going to have a field day with this one. I hope his baseball team has a good PR person; however, I don’t think they can get him out of this one.” I laugh. Serves him right going all psychotic. I’m getting anxious waiting for Henry to return and start pacing the length of the room. I am ready to get out of here.
Five minutes later, Henry and the agent in charge comes back into the conference room.
“We are good to go,” Henry says.
“We will be in contact if we have any other follow up questions for any of you. I’m glad things worked out today in your favor. We still have to talk to Conner and Tamera and figure out why they did what they did. We’ll be in touch,” the agent says before opening the door for us and leading us out the building. The car is waiting and takes us to the hotel Henry booked earlier. Even with all that has gone on the last few days Callie doesn’t seem to be fazed one bit. She is still the happy go lucky little lady she always is.
Once we are settled in our two rooms, me with Grandma and Parker with Henry, we meet up to grab something to eat, since it is dinner time. I’m lucky enough to have all of Callie’s supplies with me, I know Grandma gave her a bottle while I was being interviewed, but who knows when before that she was fed.
The five of us enjoy a
relaxed quiet meal in a separate dining area, set up by Parker so we can have our privacy. After dinner, Parker asks me if I want to take a walk.
“Sure, but Callie is coming with me.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” He half laughs.
Grandma and Henry stay behind and grab a nightcap. I’m glad she has him as a friend, she needs someone she can talk to, someone that knew Grandpa.
When we get to the lit walkway, it’s a little colder than I thought, and I shiver a little bit. Parker takes his jacket off and wraps Callie and I in it, then pulls me against his side.
“Having you both here by my side makes me so happy, I know it didn’t seem like it, but I was terrified. We all were Mandy. We might have been taking care of you, helping you through this, but we were all scared out of our minds that something bad could happen to this little lady.”
“Parker, I know, and I appreciate you all for what you did to be there for me. I will have to thank Cam, Seb, and Ski when I see them. That reminds me, have you called them with an update yet?”
“Shit. No, I haven’t. Let’s do that now.” He pulls out his phone and calls Cam. We need an update on how things are going with Angie anyway, since she hasn’t called me yet.
“Marsh, it’s about time. Do you have Callie back yet?” He’s frantic on the other end I can hear it loud and clear. Callie hears him too and starts to squeal with excitement. Parker holds the phone up to Callie so she can tell Cam all about it.
“Hey Callie Girl. Whatcha doing?” I hear Cam. Parker pulls the phone away and back to his ear.
“Does that answer your question?”
“Thank God. I have to go let everyone know.”
“Cam, wait. Mandy wants to talk to you,” he says, handing the phone to me.
“Hey Cam.”
“Hey yourself. So happy things worked out today. Love you both.”
“Awe love ya too, Cam. I haven’t heard from Angie. Is she okay?” I ask.
“As far as I know. Her asshole husband wouldn’t let me see her. After you left, he got me kicked out of the hospital just for shits and giggles. Told the staff I had no right to be there or some shit. So, I left. He did say they were going home immediately after she was released. I can see if Coach can stop by your room here and talk to her for you, or you can call the hotel yourself. I’m not sure if they are even still here though.”
“Damn it. Thanks Cam I appreciate it. When you, go give an update about Callie if you can? And see if Coach can stop by then give me a call, I’d appreciate it. We’re staying the night here then going back to Nashville tomorrow since Parker can’t play in tomorrow night’s game. It’s been such a long day and I want to get Callie home anyway. I’ll hand you back to Parker. Bye.” Now I’m pissed off again. That asshole is so not good for Angie. I hand the phone back to Parker and concentrate on Callie and tickling her.
Once Parker is off the phone, we continue our walk. Since it’s the middle of winter here in Boston we make it a quick walk so we can get Callie back into the heat of the hotel. I’m pretty cold myself. Parker is keeping us warm though pulled into his side.
We walk back to my room, where Grandma is nowhere to be found and get Callie ready for bed together. I give Callie a bath while he gets her portable crib ready. Once Callie is all snug in some warm jammies, has her flamingo in a tight hold, Parker takes her from me and walks around a little rocking her and singing a sweet lullaby. Something else I didn’t know about Parker is that he has a beautiful voice. He lulls her to sleep, brings her over to me so I can kiss her precious cheek then lays her down in her bed. It’s like he’s done this a thousand times before. He was perfect with her and I tear up a bit at the beautiful sight. Someone that actually cares about my little girl and wants to be here. He stands and watches her for a few beats before turning toward me with a huge smile on his face.
It scares me how good he is with Callie and how natural it feels to be the three of us in this small room together, like a little family. I brush off the feeling as Parker walks to me, wiping the lone tear away from my cheek then kisses me softly on the lips.
“I’m going to go, you two get some rest and I’ll see you in the morning.” He brushes his lips over mine once more then walks out the door. A total swoon moment that takes my breath away.
I send off a text to Grandma letting her know we are back in the room and Callie is sleeping then go and take a shower. Once I’ve washed the day off of me, I put on my comfy jammies and lay in the bed, watching my daughter sleep. Grateful to have her laying in her crib next to me. I can finally breath again and sleep takes me over, the exhaustion more than set in.
I wake up startled for a moment, it was just a bad dream, I tell myself as I look inside the crib next to me and see Callie snoozing away. Grandma is in bed sleeping, I must have been so exhausted I didn’t hear her come in last night. I look at my phone and see a few missed calls from a number I don’t recognize and a voicemail. I hit the button to listen to the voice mail.
“Mandy, it’s Angie. John made us come straight home on a late flight last night. He’s pissed. He’s being irrational. I don’t know what to do. He thinks I cheated on him with Cam. This isn’t good. I have to go. Bye.”
“Fuck.”
Why can’t I have one normal day anymore?
I try and call the number back, even though it’s only six am in Boston, making it five in Nashville. I don’t get an answer. Now I’m worried. If it was John’s phone I do not want to keep calling. Angie’s phone was never found so I can’t call her number.
I get up and start pacing the room. The movement eventually wakes Grandma up.
“Girl, what’s wrong with you? Go back to bed it’s early and Callie isn’t even up.” She says in a hushed voice, so she doesn’t wake Callie.
Taking a seat next to Grandma on her bed I tell her in an equally hushed voice about the voicemail I just got.
“Oh no, I thought John was a nice guy. He always seemed that way and comes from a good family. I wonder what is wrong with him. He needs to trust Angie, she’s no dummy.”
“We know that, unfortunately it seems John doesn’t. If he knew Cam, he would realize he’s a caring guy. John got him kicked out of the hospital yesterday. I can’t see this being good for anyone. Hopefully, I’ll be able to talk to Angie soon.”
“Try and get some more rest until Callie wakes up and then we will go from there.” Grandma says as she snuggles back down under the covers. I take that as my cue to do the same. I lay there for a while and eventually close my eyes for a little longer before Callie starts to wake up. Another long day ahead for me.
35
Parker
Tonight, felt so right. Being a part of getting Callie ready for bed, it made me think of the big picture, the one where we actually are a family. It amazes me how connected I feel to them both. A few months ago, my plan was to fuck my way through bunnies now I want what I never had for myself, a family.
After getting back to my room I check in with Cam and Coach.
“Hey Coach. Did you talk to Cam?”
“I sure did, and the team is celebrating the return of Callie,” he answers with a smile in his voice. The first time in days I’ve heard something come through his tone that resembles happy.
“Awesome. Did Cam ask you about stopping by Angie’s room? Mandy was pretty upset earlier about not knowing anything about her.”
“I tried but no one answered. I went to the front desk and they said the key was turned in right before I got down there. I have to assume they flew back to Nashville and didn’t want to travel with the team and go to the game tomorrow night.”
“Thanks Coach, I appreciate it. We have a flight tomorrow back to Nashville. We’re all exhausted, and think it’s best to get Callie back home. Henry also has to go talk to the police about everything so we can get that press release out and get me back on the bench. I need to be in the net. I need my outlet for everything going through my head—I need the peace and concen
tration.”
“I’m sure you do. It hasn’t been an easy month or so for you. How’s the face doing anyway?” he asks.
“Mandy has been keeping a good eye on it. I’ll be able to play, I still need to keep it covered and have it checked in between periods per Mandy’s orders,” I tell him.
“Good, good. We leave in the morning, early. Meyers was released this afternoon and is all sorts of pissed off. He said he had overheard Chris talking to his wife about adopting a baby, and the baby would be of blood relation. The smart kid was able to put some pieces together and realized Chris’s wife was Connor’s sister. He said he thought he tried to warn Mandy, but it was a little foggy. I reassured him that he indeed did try. It didn’t make him feel any better about what happened though. “Maybe you and Mandy should talk to him when we’re all back in town together.”
“We will,” I say as Henry comes walking into the room. “It’s late here so I’m going to get going but call if you need anything, or Mandy for the game. We can get there if need be.”
“I think we’re good, but I will if need be. Have a good night and hug those girls for me,” he says before hanging up.
“Hey, Henry. I’m about to take a shower and go to bed.”
“Sounds like a good plan, I’ll shower in the morning. I’m exhausted after the long day. Night.”
“Night,” I say then head to the shower.
Morning comes too quick. I could go for a few more hours of sleep but we have a plane to catch in a few hours. I pack my bag as Henry get’s showered and ready for the day. As I’m zipping up my bag, I hear a knock on the door. I answer the door and Mandy is on the other side.
“Morning sunshine,” I greet her as I wrap my arms around her in a hug.
“Not so sunny over here,” she snarks back at me.
Breakthrough Page 20
