by Alex Ander
Ashford smiled. “You’d probably get more of those if you,” he threw a look toward her father, “moved back to Virginia.”
Mahoney grinned at his son-in-law.
“You too?” Faith rose from her chair while scooping up her plate and utensils. “I can understand that coming from,” she thrust out her left elbow toward her parent, “him, but I at least thought I had,” she sent a hip into Ashford’s chair as she passed by her brother-in-law, “you on my side.”
Devlin clanged pots and pans together while readying the basin for soap and water.
“Hey,” his hands went up, “I’m Switzerland. I take no sides in all this.” After a casual glance at Faith to confirm her back was to him, he turned to Mahoney and gave the man a wink.
The elder man responded in kind.
Rising, Ashford grabbed his father-in-law’s plate and pointed at Randall’s. “You done?”
Randall waved him off. “Let me clear the table.”
“Yeah,” Faith rolled up a dish towel and used it like a whip, gently connecting with Ashford’s upper arm, “you and Jess cooked all this.” She took the stoneware from him. “Go. Get out of here. Noah and I can clean up.”
Devlin shoved a handful of knives and forks into the dish drainer’s plastic cup a little harder than necessary. Noah and I? Well, at least you can remember this one’s first name.
“Sold.” Ashford backed away from the table, his hands in the air. “I accept your offer.”
“You, too, Jess.” Faith made a move for the cloth rag in her sister’s hand. “Let me take over for you.”
Devlin boxed her out with a clockwise shoulder pivot. “I’ve got it.”
Faith scowled at her sibling. “What the hell’s your problem, anyway?”
The dish washer confronted her younger sister.
Faith raised a finger. “You’ve been...”
After spying her daughter...
“...pissy with me ever since—”
...Devlin lifted eyebrows at Faith.
Noticing the incoming daggers, Faith regarded her niece, did a one-eighty, leaned against the counter, folded her arms, and looked away. Crap.
“Cassie,” Devlin poked her chin at Cassandra, “go get ready for bed. It’s late. And you have school tomorrow.”
“But Mom it’s not my bedtime yet. It’s only—”
“Cass—” Devlin rubbed her forehead and made a conscious effort to tone down her delivery. “Babe, please get ready for bed.”
“Let’s go, Cassie.” The girl’s grandfather took her hand. “The sooner you get ready for bed, the more time we’ll have for me to read you your favorite story.” He led the little one out of the kitchen.
“You mean Tiny Shiny Bunny?”
Mahoney looked at her. “I thought Barney and his Barnyard Buddies was your favorite?”
“That’s so last week, Buppa. I like Tiny Shiny Bunny now.”
“Okay. Tiny Shiny Bunny it is.”
The duo ascended the stairs.
“Buppa, are Mommy and Antie Fay fighting?”
“No. No. They’re not fighting. They just have something to discuss.” Having always given his daughters the opportunity to resolve their petty differences before he doled out the discipline, Father Mahoney glanced over his shoulder and sent a look he had not conveyed to his children in a decade or two.
Catching the nonverbal message, their recollections taking them back to their childhood days, Devlin and Faith glimpsed one another, each woman thinking something similar. We need to work this out.
“You get your jammies on, Cassie, and I’ll get the book.”
“Do you want to know why I like Tiny Shiny Bunny, Buppa?”
“Why’s that, sweetie?”
“It’s because he’s so...” Cassandra’s voice trailed off as she bounded into her room.
Devlin took the towel from Faith’s hands and tossed it onto the counter. “Come on. Let’s talk.” She left the kitchen and headed for the den, Faith trailing behind her.
In his mind, Ashford heard Faith’s offer from a minute ago. Go. Get out of here. Noah and I can clean up. Planting hands on his hips, eyeing the surrounding mess, the man of the house sighed. That coupon sure had a short expiration date. He picked up the dish towel and flung it at the only other person in the room. “I’ll wash. You dry?”
“Sounds—” Randall snatched the white cloth, “sounds good to me.”
*******
Faith closed the door to the den, spun around, crossed arms over her chest, and threw a hip out to one side.
Assuming the same pose, minus the weight transfer, Devlin squared off with her sister. “You want to know what the hell my problem is,” she hesitated, “why I’m so pissy as you put it? And, thank you for saying that in front of my daughter by the way.”
Faith glanced down at her hiking boots. “It just slipped out. I’m sor—”
“You’ve done this to me my whole life...both me and Dad.”
Faith turned up her palms and hunched shoulders. “I’ve done what?”
“You hook up with a guy, bring him into our family, and get us liking him. Then, when you get tired of boning him, you dump him and move on. And Dad and I are always just supposed to,” Devlin chopped the air in front of her a couple times, “fall in line and cut off all communication with him, too...regardless of the possibility that maybe we actually liked the guy.”
“Well, I never knew I was such a slut.” Faith’s stomach churned while she recalled the men she had ‘dated’ over the years, her inner voice contradicting her words.
Devlin waved a hand. “That’s not what I meant.” Envisioning Randall’s face, she thrust a finger in the direction of the kitchen. “I have to work with him. And you dating him and dumping him is going to cause me a lot of grief sometime down the road.”
“Who says I’m going to dump him? Maybe he’s—”
“The one? Maybe he’s the one? Is that what you were going to say?”
Faith was silent.
“I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard you say that. You always...”
*******
His ear pointed toward the den, toward the voices growing louder, and having heard his name mentioned twice, Randall dragged the dish towel over a mixing bowl. “So,” he wavered, “is everything okay in there? They seem to be getting angrier.”
Ashford pulled the plug from the drain, set the stopper near the backsplash, and looked down while listening to the muffled shouts. He shook his head a beat later. “Naw. They’re still at DEFCON 5. How about a beer on the back deck?”
Randall eyed the den again. If that’s DEFCON 5, I’d hate to be around for—
“We’ve earned the right to throw back a couple cold ones.”
“Uh,” the houseguest faced Ashford, “sure,” before holding up the mixing bowl. “Where’s this go?”
Ashford pointed and opened the refrigerator.
Randall deposited the baking item into an overhead cupboard.
A minute later, Randall followed Ashford through a patio door and glanced around.
The size of two, side-by-side parking spaces, the wooden deck had two fancy metal lawn chairs flanking a padded outdoor couch that lay straight ahead. The seating lined the deck’s perimeter. Three side tables had been strategically positioned to provide horizontal surfaces for people’s drinks. On the other side of the deck’s railing, a white plastic ball and red plastic bat rested on a decent-sized, well-manicured lawn that was surrounded on three sides by ten-foot-high Thuja Green Giant evergreens.
“Wow.” Randall slid shut the door. “This is beautiful back here.” He gawked at the natural ‘fence’ around him. “Those things block out everything,” he listened, “except for the birds.”
Ashford took the seat in the center of the couch, effectively forcing his guest to pick a chair. “Yeah...they grow fast. They were half that size when I started dating Jessica a year ago.” He motioned, “Have a seat,” before twisting the cap off
his beer bottle. “I’ve been wanting to have this little chat with you.”
Two feet from the chair stationed on his host’s ten o’clock, his stride hitching a bit, Randall thought back to his conversation with Devlin right after they had rappelled down the mountain...
Randall flicked his eyes toward Devlin before focusing on his task again. “So,” he paused, “are you going to bring that up to your husband in your...after-action report shall we say?”
She glimpsed him. “Bring what up?”
“You know...the sex swing thing...and the incident on the raft.”
She chortled. “Are you crazy? I know I’ve told you Curt’s a good man, but even good men have their limits on how much they can take.”
Randall sat down, crossed his legs, ankle on knee, cracked open his beverage, and studied Ashford. Hopefully, you kept your promise, Jessica.
∞=∞=∞=∞=∞=∞=∞
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Chapter 34
Family First
7:59 P.M.
Having spent the last thirty minutes arguing, bringing up the past, apologizing for bringing up the past, and repeating this process twice more, Devlin and Faith were physically and emotionally drained.
“Faith,” Devlin sighed, “I love you. You know that. But believe me when I tell you...your track record with men,” she grimaced, it sucks, “it’s not good. Odds are this thing with Noah is eventually going to fizzle out. And, when that happens, you’ll be forcing me to pick a side...you or him.”
Faith lifted her head to gaze into her sister’s pleading eyes.
“Please don’t make me have to choose between the two of you.” Devlin approached and laid a gentle hand on each of her sibling’s shoulders. “Because you know I’ll always choose my family...every time...over anyone else...regardless of the consequences.”
A halfhearted smile came and went from Faith’s face. “I know.” A beat. “I know you would. And I don’t want to screw things up with you and Noah. So,” she filled her lungs, looked away, and exhaled, “I’ll back off.”
Devlin shut her eyes. “Thank you.”
“I don’t know.” Faith turned around and ran fingers through her hair. “Maybe this whole thing centers around the classic hero/savior complex. I mean I was only moments away from being assaulted. And most little girls dream of a handsome man swooping in to save the day.” She huffed. “All that was missing was the white horse I guess.”
Devlin smiled.
Faith shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe I was primed for falling for him.” She regarded her sister for a long moment before lifting arms and going in for a hug.
Devlin embraced her. “I love you, baby sis.”
“Love you, too, Jess.”
They separated.
Devlin rubbed Faith’s upper arm. “Family first?”
Faith repeated their mantra. “Family first.”
Devlin put an arm around Faith’s shoulders, Faith slipped an arm around Devlin’s lower back, and the two strolled toward the door.
The older woman cast a sideways glance at the younger female. “I’ve been meaning to tell you...it’s been fun working with you.”
“I’ve enjoyed it, too.”
“Listen, I’m not trying to pick up where Dad left off, but...have you ever thought about moving back to Virginia? You’d have a job already waiting for you, you know?”
Faith glanced at Devlin. “You mean working with you? And Noah? Are you sure that’s wise considering what we just discussed?”
The U.S. Marshal pursed her lips. “I suppose you could be right. Well, I’ll leave that up to you. But it sure would be nice to have you by my side.”
Barely shaking her head, Faith opened the door. “I like being a detective, Jess. And I like living in Seattle. It would,” seeing Randall through the patio door, “take something special to,” she half closed an eye at him, or someONE special, “to get me to move.”
Devlin nodded. “I understand.”
The women left the den.
“Well, the job is yours if you ever decide you want a change of scenery.”
*******
For the past several minutes, Ashford had talked about loyalty and sacrifice as well as his former partner when he worked for the FBI, Special Agent Raychel DelaCruz. He took a pull from his beer and held the bottle in both hands on his thigh. “If it had come to it, Mr. Randall, I would have done anything to protect Cruz, including taking a bullet for her.”
“She sounds top-notch.” Randall eyed his male counterpart. Where’s this all heading, Curt, old buddy, old pal?
“As you’re aware, Jessica’s partner did just that for her.”
Randall’s stomach tightened. He made a face and quickly took a drink to wash down the guilt flaring up. Guess I’m not quite over that yet.
“Blake was a great guy.”
Randall nodded. “That’s what I’ve heard.”
“Jess liked him. I liked him. Everyone liked him.”
A bird chirped in a nearby tree.
On the other side of the house, a car zoomed by the street, a thumping bass beat and foul lyrics blasting out its windows.
Ashford leaned forward, put his beer on the deck near his foot, and rested elbows on knees. “So tell me something, Mr. Randall.” He confronted his guest.
Randall locked eyes with him.
“Are you a great guy, too? Would you do anything to keep my wi—Jessica—safe?”
Randall lowered his gaze, focusing his attention on his beer bottle’s small opening. Fair question. He rolled the query around in his brain. I haven’t known her all that long. And we did start out on rocky ground.
Shadows moved inside the house.
He pivoted his head a couple degrees.
Devlin and Faith approached the closed patio door.
The feeling of imminent death cascaded over him as he saw himself falling through the air right before Devlin caught him on the mountain. I’d be dead right now.
He saw her removing his handcuffs and giving him a gun when they were holed up in a shack in Mexico. She took a big chance on me that day.
Randall replayed the question in his mind, Would YOU do anything to keep Jessica safe? before looking Ashford square in the eye. “Yes. I would.”
Ashford let a sliver of a smile play out over his features. “When asked that question, a lot of people would have responded immediately in the affirmative...without contemplating the implications of their reply.” A beat. “I appreciate you taking the time to consider your answer. And I think...”
The sliding glass door opened.
“...that says a lot about your character, Noah.”
Randall hiked an eyebrow a fraction of an inch. Noah? Must be a good sign.
Devlin stepped onto the deck. “Sorry we left you guys with the dirty dishes.”
Ashford cocked his head at his wife. “Are you? Are you really?”
A twinkle in her eye, she sent him a coy grin.
“Yeah. I didn’t think so. That’s all right.” He motioned toward Randall. “Noah and I cranked them out in record time.”
Devlin spied her work partner. “I hope he didn’t crack the whip too hard.”
Randall shook his head. “Not at all. I was happy to help.”
She glanced down at the large padded envelope she held before meeting her husband’s gaze.
Knowing what was in the envelope, Ashford stood and strolled by her, stopping to plant a kiss on her left cheek, “I’ll leave you two alone,” before sticking out his chin at his sister-in-law. “I just bought a new gun that I think you’d appreciate. Care to see it?”
After glimpsing Randall, who had yet to make eye contact with her, Faith regarded Ashford and forced a smile. “Sure.” She backtracked into the house, her brother-in-law following her.
∞=∞=∞=∞=∞=∞=∞
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Chapter 35
We Always Will, Jessica
Taking the spot on the couch nearest to Randall, Devlin crossed her le
gs and lightly bounced the topmost one. “So,” she shot a look at the patio door to see her mate walking away, “did you and Curt hit it off?”
“I think I broke through his defenses. And,” Randall lifted his beer, “he offered me one of these. That’s got to be a good thing, right?”
“Let me see the label.”
He spun the bottle.
“I wouldn’t get ahead of yourself.” She gestured toward the dark-colored glass. “He saves those for people who show up uninvited.”
Randall sulked, took another peek at his beverage, and came back to her. “Really?”
She threw him the same playful look she had given Ashford a moment ago.
“Ooh,” Randall wagged a finger at her, “nice one. You...”
She laughed.
“...you had me going there.”
Her mood changed as she beheld her black shoe. “I...I suppose you heard us arguing in there.”
Taking a drink and setting his beverage on a side table, he held on to the container for a few seconds while downing the liquid in his mouth. “You don’t have to worry about me, Jessica. I get it. I’ll stay away from your sister.”
Devlin was silent.
“I wouldn’t want to harm our relationship.”
She nodded. “I appreciate that.”
Awkward moments passed.
Randall eyed Devlin’s dress. “You look nice.”
“Thanks. It feels good not to have to wear pants.”
The tension still hovering between them, he peeped at her legs and drew upon his humor to try to cut through the uneasiness of the situation. “I think this is the first time I’ve seen you without nylons on.” He dipped his forehead toward her bare skin. “You’d blend right in if you stood next to a ghost, you know that?”
Devlin feigned hurt feelings and lifted her top leg to examine her whiteness. “Yeah...well, it’s a little difficult for us working mothers to find the time to lounge around in the sun or visit tanning salons.”
“Don’t get me wrong.” Randall pointed at her lower limbs. “It’s good to know you have those,” a tick, “you know...in case we ever lose our flashlights when we’re on assignment.”
