Forever Freed

by Kathleen Brooks

  Aniyah looked out of the carriage window as she drew closer to the distillery. Her family, Riley, and her adopted moms, Bridget and Gemma, were all waiting for her in the main building. Everything was perfect. Riley as her matron of honor, under Dr. Ava and Dr. Jace’s supervision and approval. She had the gown of her dreams— a mermaid dress with a red satin bow around her waist. Her family and her dear friends were all here to see her marry the man she loved more than anything. Yet, she was still missing one thing—her father.

  Every girl dreamed of her daddy walking her down the aisle. To avoid thinking about it, Aniyah had come up with every crazy thing she could think of as a way to make her entrance not feel quite so lonely. Everyone had assured Aniyah that her parents would be there in spirit. But she still felt lonely.

  The carriage pulled to a stop and Aniyah took a deep breath. “I miss you, Mom and Dad,” Aniyah said silently as she fingered the necklace she wore with both of their wedding bands on it. “But I found a man to share a love like you two had.”

  The carriage door opened and Aniyah looked out at the two hands being held out to help her down. “Lord have mercy,” Aniyah gasped as she clasped the hands and stepped down.

  She looked at the two men in tuxedos and teared up as she saw they were wearing the red and black tiger print bowties that DeAndre and his best man, Matt, were wearing.

  “We know this is presumptuous,” Cy said to her. “Since you didn’t ask us.”

  “But we feel as if you are our daughter. It’s not just anyone we’d bury a body for,” Ahmed said, holding her hand in his. “But we’d bury one for you.”

  Aniyah sniffled while Ahmed and Cy looked horrified at the prospect of tears.

  “Will you give us the honor of escorting you down the aisle?” Cy asked.

  Love filled Aniyah as she hugged her two new adopted dads. The rings warmed over her heart and she couldn’t help but think her parents had sent these wonderful people into her life to watch over her.

  “I would love that,” Aniyah said as the music changed and her processional music began to play.

  Aniyah took their arms, and with Cy and Ahmed by her side, Aniyah walked down the aisle. She saw Riley and Matt smiling. She saw her friends and family standing in welcome. She saw DeAndre’s aunt, Pastor Deborah, holding the family Bible. But what she really only saw was the love shining from DeAndre as he watched her walk toward him.

  Aniyah stopped in front of him and when Pastor Deborah asked who gives this woman away, two deep voices answered proudly, “We do.”

  But then one of those voices dropped to a whisper. “And if you hurt our girl, we don’t care how good a friend you are, DeAndre, we will kill you, slowly. And trust me when I tell you no one will ever find you.”

  Aniyah flung her arms around Cy and Ahmed. “Thank you,” she whispered to them as she placed a kiss on each man’s cheek.

  The ceremony seemed to be a dream to her. Aniyah lit a candle in honor of her parents, vows were spoken, the unity candle was lit, and then her grandmother approached with the broom. Aniyah and DeAndre turned to face their friends and family as Granny swept the air in front of their feet and then laid the broom down.

  Pastor Deborah spoke of the history of the broom—how slaves weren’t allowed to marry and they jumped the broom as a ceremonial union. “As the bride and groom jump, they physically and spiritually cross the threshold into the land of matrimony. It symbolizes the sweeping away of the old and the welcoming of the new, starting their lives with a clean sweep. So, Aniyah and DeAndre, leave behind the past and jump into the future as Mr. and Mrs. Drews. Everyone, please count with me.”

  Aniyah put her hand in DeAndre’s as all of their loved ones counted, “1-2-3 . . . jump!”

  Aniyah and DeAndre jumped into their future filled with love.

  35

  “You almost ruined a wedding that was very important to us.” Evie shivered as Ahmed’s deep rumbling voice and the eyes that had turned almost black with annoyance echoed off the walls. He leaned a hip against the metal table bolted to the ground in the basement of the security building on Desert Sun Farm. Jonathan wasn’t smart enough to be intimidated.

  Dylan chuckled next to her in the viewing room. “Taking notes?” Jackson asked his friend.

  “Hell yeah. My father-in-law is a legend. Plus, I have a hundred bucks on no one beating my time to make them break,” Dylan replied.

  “How long did it take for your man to start talking?” Jackson asked. Evie, Ahmed, and Abby had watched Dylan’s interrogation earlier.

  “Three minutes, six seconds.” Jackson looked at his watch. “They’re going on two minutes and thirty seconds.”

  From where she stood, Evie could see where Abby was interrogating one of the men and Ryan in a third room questioning the man Dylan had broken. Ryan had been invited in by the Rahmi government only after Dylan got the information he needed. US operatives needed permission to be there since they were technically on the grounds of the embassy. Mo was only giving it after Dylan, Abby, and Ahmed had a chance at the prisoners since they were basically unknown in the world of terrorism and crime. No evidence of their interrogations would ever enter the public record.

  Dylan had learned that AR had tried to link up with a terrorist group from Russia. They’d sent some contacts to Jonathan, which is where he got the explosives. Dylan and Abby were on the next flight to Russia to take care of this “little problem” after they got the answers she was looking for. Then the man now in custody would be handed over to Ryan as Abby and Dylan went to “handle it”. At least that’s how Jackson explained it to Evie.

  “Like I care about a wedding?” Jonathan sneered.

  Evie grabbed Jackson’s arm as Ahmed smiled at Jonathan. “It’s okay, sweetheart. He won’t hurt you,” Jackson whispered back as Ahmed leaned forward. His voice dropped and Evie couldn’t hear Ahmed anymore. But she did see Jonathan’s face turn white as his body began to shake. Ahmed looked down, slid from the table, and took a step back. A puddle was forming on the ground where Jonathan has pissed himself.

  “I’ll tell you everything, please!” Jonathan cried.

  “Dammit,” Dylan cursed as he pulled a hundred dollar bill out of his wallet. “Two minutes and forty-nine seconds.”

  “I want you to tell the next person who walks in here everything. If you don’t, I’ll know it and it’ll be even worse for you.” Ahmed ordered. Jonathan nodded as he began to cry.

  The door opened and Ahmed sauntered in and snagged the hundred from Dylan. “I still got it,” Ahmed said with the friendly grin Evie had come to know. Suddenly the man Abby was talking to began to cry.

  “Three minutes, six seconds,” Dylan commented. “A tie! I almost beat her this time.”

  “Shall I give Ryan permission to talk to Jonathan now?” Mo asked quietly from where he was standing in the back of the room.

  “Yes, he’ll get more info from him than the one he’s talking to now,” Ahmed said. Jackson walked over to the window and tapped it. Ryan wrapped up in seconds and walked into their observatory.

  “What’s up?”

  “Jonathan’s ready for you,” Mo told him.

  Ryan looked at his watch. “That has to be a new record.”

  “Not my best, but not too shabby for a retiree.” Ahmed punched Dylan’s arm as Abby walked in.

  “One time!” Dylan said with a roll of his eyes. “I called you that one time and you’ll never forget it. And, babe, I tied you.” Dylan did a little dance and in the midst of the horror, the tension, and the hurt, Evie managed a laugh.

  Ryan walked into the room and he’d barely gotten the Miranda Warning out before Jonathan was waiving his rights and telling him all about AR. How he’d developed the idea, how he’d found the Russian contacts, how he’d studied the movements from the 1970s, and how he recruited his followers. He handed over all the passwords to social media showing private groups, chats, and how he’d planned the attack. There were lists of people from all ove
r the world who supported AR, but when it boiled down to actual threats, there were many fewer people who were actively involved. Jonathan told Ryan of his plans to kill the leadership and throw America into chaos. As Ryan questioned him, it became clear the only reason he did this was because he wanted to take whatever he wanted without having to earn it.

  Evie didn’t realize she was crying until Jackson hugged her. “What did I do wrong for him to be this selfish?”

  “You’re not responsible for him, Evie” Jackson told her as Abby rubbed her back gently.

  “Jackson’s right. He’s his own man. You tried to show him the right way, but he chose to follow a different path.”

  “A path that he was targeted for.” Dylan handed his tablet to Abby. Abby shook her head and handed it back.

  “Let’s just say he was targeted because of his social media posts. As much as he’d like to think he was behind this all, he was getting some big pushes from someone else who wants to harm this country. Your brother is a pawn.”

  “We need to get going,” Dylan said to Abby.

  “Just know it’s not your fault and we’ll try to make the person actually responsible pay for it.” Abby turned to her father and hugged him. “See you soon, Dad. Love you.”

  “Love you too. You both be careful and call if you need me.”

  The room was quiet as Abby and Dylan left for parts unknown. Evie probably would never know what they did or where. It was time to look forward, not backward.

  “Ahmed and I can handle it from here. I’ll call the rest of the FBI in as soon as Ryan is finished,” Mo told them.

  “Thanks,” Jackson shook their hands before slipping his hand into hers. “Come on. Let’s go home.”

  Jackson led her from the security building and to his SUV. Evie looked down at her feet in flip-flops that read BRIDESMAID and shook her head. What a day. Jackson opened her door, but he was kissing her before she could get in.

  “I love you, Evie.”

  “I love you, too.” Evie took a deep breath and when she let it go, she felt the stress melt from her shoulders.

  “You know what else I love?” Jackson asked as his lips quirked up.

  “What?”

  “Bathrobes as evening gowns. I can have you naked and in my arms in less than a second. I think I’ll tell Sydney that she needs to start designing them for next year’s fashion line.

  Evie laughed but Jackson wasn’t lying. As soon as they got home, he did have her naked in under a second.

  36

  Six weeks later . . .

  * * *

  Evie logged out of her work computer and turned off her desk lamp. She stretched as she walked through door and into the living room of Jackson’s apartment in Louisville.

  “Did you get your office unpacked?” Jackson asked from the kitchen. Evie had been living in the apartment above Southern Charms in Keeneston for the past six weeks while Jackson went back to work in Louisville. She’d had to travel to give a deposition about her stepbrother and everything that had happened from that afternoon in Seattle forward. Neely Grace Rooney, an attorney in Keeneston, had been by her side through it all, along with the Parker and Davies families.

  When Jackson wasn’t on a mission or wasn’t in a training session, he was with her in Keeneston or she was visiting him in Louisville. Jackson insisted on the separation so that Evie could get a taste of what it was like living with an active HRT operative. Evie knew every time Jackson had to leave in the middle of a date or when he couldn’t call her for days at a time that he thought she would end it. But she hadn’t. Had it been hard? Sure. Had it caused her to stop wanting a future with Jackson? Not even close.

  Instead, Evie took the time alone to do something she’d never done before: find out just who Evie Scott really was. And what she’d discovered was that bartending and Aniyah had led her to discover her real passion. Evie drove out to Barrel Creek Distillery and met with Cady Woodson. Evie couldn’t help but admire what a young woman in her mid-twenties had accomplished. When she told Cady what she wanted to do, Cady listened, crunched some numbers, and offered Evie the smallest salary she’d ever had. However, attached to that small salary was the chance for it to grow along with the distillery and what she herself accomplished.

  Evie was now the head of public relations and head mixologist for Barrel Creek Distillery. The first batch of Cady’s bourbon was still a couple of years away from release. While the bourbon aged in the barrels, Cady was making Barrel Creek vodka, which gave Evie plenty to work with when coming up with new drinks.

  “I’m all unpacked and even got some interviews set up for Cady,” Evie said as she took a seat on the barstool. “Looks like this spring is going to be busy. The distillery is booked for an event every weekend.”

  “That’s wonderful,” Jackson said as he set a plate of pasta in front of her. “I just got off the phone with Fortin. I’ve got some good news and some bad news.”

  Evie knew it. Jackson was shipping out for an extended tour again. Well, no matter what, she would be waiting for him to come home.

  “Just when you’re done unpacking, I find my team is being relocated,” Jackson told her.

  Evie set her fork down in surprise. “I didn’t know that was possible. Where are we being moved to?”

  “We?”

  “Of course, we. I go where you go. Isn’t that what couples do?”

  Jackson walked around the counter and kissed her hard. “I love you so much, Evie.”

  “I love you too, Jackson. And I will always be with you, even if you don’t believe it.”

  “I do believe it because I believe in you and our love.”

  “So, where are we moving?”

  “I find out on Monday.”

  Evie took a deep breath. Today was Saturday, so they could live in their own little world for two days until reality took him away. “And the good news?”

  “Colton’s fire station is officially open. He’s asked us to come to Keeneston tomorrow for the dedication.”

  “That’s great.” Evie had grown very close to Jackson’s family over the months, and she wanted nothing more than to show them how much they meant to her.

  “And,” Jackson said with an even bigger smile, “Jace just called and is opening his own practice in Keeneston. He passed his boards and is ready to go.”

  “We have to get them something!” Evie said, already thinking of what she could do for them. As she and Jackson spent the evening talking about his family and trying to guess where they were going to be moved to, Evie lived in the now. And right then she had the man she loved all to herself. When they went to bed that night, Evie lived each moment to the fullest and showed Jackson they were connected on so many levels, it was foolish to ever think that she would leave him.

  Riley and Matt sat in Jace’s brand-new office on Main Street in Keeneston and waited as he took her blood pressure. “I’ve been doing everything you told me. Aniyah has handled all my work correspondence, but I have to go to Frankfort to start voting soon.”

  Jace undid the cuff and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Riley. Your blood pressure has started to creep back up again. You had it under control for the past six weeks as you stepped back from work, but you’re at nineteen weeks and the baby is growing at an even faster rate. This is when preeclampsia can start to set in. We need to be proactive with this. Continue resting. I believe the yoga and meditation has helped, so keep those up. We don’t want any blood clots forming so easy walks are good. I’ll be at your house daily to monitor you. Next week when you come in, if your blood pressure is still elevated, we’ll test for proteins in your urine as well as blood tests to check liver and kidney function. We’ll also do an ultrasound.”

  “And if I have it?”

  “We’ll try lowering your blood pressure with medication. There aren’t many that are safe to use when you’re pregnant, but there are a few. We’ll try them first,” Jace explained. “Now, do what you need to do workwise and rest. Reme
mber, light activity and lie on your left side as much as possible.”

  Riley left the office clinging to her husband who was stonily silent. “What is it, Matt?”

  “You’re not going to like it,” Matt said, stopping to look at her.

  “What?”

  “I think you should step down from office. Ask the governor to hold a special election.”

  Riley thought hearing the words would hurt more, but they didn’t. “I’ll call right now. Effective immediately.”

  “Are you okay with that?” Matt asked with concern.

  Riley thought about it and realized the answer was right in front of her. “Yes. I am.”

  Riley pulled out her phone and was soon talking to the governor, explaining her medical condition and her need to step down. “It’s up to the party, but your recommendation will hold a lot of weight,” the governor said to her. “Who do you support as your replacement?”

  “Aniyah Drews,” Riley answered without hesitation.

  “Well, that will make this session very interesting. Talk to her and let me know. I’ll handle it from there. Good luck, Riley. You’ve served your district honorably.”

  Evie watched the scenery go by as they drove from Louisville to Lexington. They were going to stop at a store Jackson knew to pick up a gift for Colton and Jace before heading to Keeneston.

  She tried not to dwell on the fact that she was going to be leaving soon. She’d come to really love the area and the people. She was going to have to talk to Cady today to give her a heads up about the move and hope Cady would let her work remotely.

  “We’re here,” Jackson told her.

  Perplexed, Evie looked around at the tree-lined road where cute houses sat on large yards. “This isn’t a store.” No, this was a family neighborhood. She saw chalk drawings on driveways and decorated wreaths on doors.

  “No, I ordered something to be made. I have to pick it up at the house. Come on,” Jackson said, getting out of the SUV and walking around to take her hand.