by Beth Rinyu
“You bitch!” he shouted, pulling on his shackled arm, trying to free it. The mention of his father had hit him where it hurt, and there was something so much more satisfying in that than flying off the handle in a fit of rage.
“Jack’s going to walk out of this hospital and be at your trial to watch you finally get what you’ve got coming to you, and no lawyer in the world can save you from that fate this time. Rot in hell, you piece of shit!” My eyes locked with his, and I wouldn’t allow myself to look away first. I was no longer that pathetic, sad woman he had made me into for all those years. Unlike Francesca who was forced to bury everything away for all those years, I had stood up to the person in my life who had caused me the most pain—and there was something very freeing about it, not only for myself, but for Jack and our baby boy as well.
“You okay?” Ted asked when I exited the room.
“Surprisingly, I’m better than I’ve been in a long time.”
I reached for my phone in my purse when I heard it beeping with a text.
Kara: The hospital just called. Dad is coming out of it. Just finishing up with eating and heading up there.
I let out an unidentified noise sounding like a gasp combined with a sigh of relief. The tears of pain I had been holding back just a few moments ago while I was in that room had now been released, morphing into tears of happiness.
“Everything okay?” Ted asked.
“Yes.” I nodded. “Jack. He’s coming out of it.”
“Oh. Thank God.” Ted let out a relieved breath. The police officer who had been standing at the door arrived back with a cup of coffee in hand. “Well, I think Agent McGuire needs to pay the next patient a visit,” Ted joked.
“Yes. Yes, she does.” I couldn’t control the massive grin that was stretched across my face even if I tried.
Chapter 40
JACK WAS SLEEPING when I entered his room, and my glee from a short time ago had morphed back into despair. I had been hoping to be looking into his bright blue eyes after the text I received from Kara instead of seeing him in the same state he was in the day prior. His skin tone did appear a little brighter and the bloating of his face had gone down considerably as I stepped closer to his bed, getting a better look at him. The machines beeped overhead, but the IV of fluids and medicines being pumped into his body were a painful reminder that he still had a long way to go. His eyes slowly peeled open when I took his hand in mine.
“Jack,” I whispered, raising his hand and pressing my lips against the dry skin on his knuckles. “How are you feeling?”
“I’ve been better.” His voice was low and hoarse.
“Yeah, I guess you have.” I smiled down at him. Silence loomed between us, but everything that needed to be said seemed to be conveyed through the locking of our eyes and the touch of our hands. There was so much I wanted to tell him, so many things I needed to say, but he looked so worn out. “Go back to sleep if you’re tired,” I finally spoke.
“No. I don’t want to sleep,” he protested, clasping tighter to my hand, causing the words I wanted to say to swirl around in my heart, finally finding their way off my tongue.
“You had us terrified, you know? If anything had happened to you…” I choked back a sob and looked away. “It’s funny how it takes something so bad to help you put things into perspective.” I turned my head and focused on his gaze once again. “I love you, Jack, but I think you already know that. I never stopped loving you. You’ve been a part of me for so long, it’s just inevitable. What you don’t know is…” I gathered my courage. Francesca was right. Professing your love for someone was a lot harder than releasing your wrath. “I also never stopped being in love with you. There were just so many things I had to work through to finally admit that to myself and to you. I’m sorry to be laying this all out now, and I know you might not even remember me saying this to you. Maybe that’s why I’m finding the nerve to say it now,” I yammered on.
“Steph.” Jack finally put an end to my incessant chatter. “I think you already know this, but I’m going to say it again, just so you know my brain hasn’t been altered by all this.” He managed a chuckle. “I’m in love with you too. I meant it when I said you’re the only girl for me...a lifetime ago when I asked you to marry me. I screwed up, and I’m so sorry for that.”
I shook my head. “Don’t. We both screwed up. We grew up together. We grew apart together. Now let’s grow old together.”
“Well, according to you, I already am old.” Jack’s smile was anything but old in the literal sense, but it was old in the familiar sense. It was the same adorable expression that was spread across his face when he took a seat next to me in chemistry class for the very first time. “Hi, I’m Jack McGuire. I’m gonna be honest, I’m the worst lab partner ever because I suck at chemistry, so I kinda hope you know what you’re doing.”
Turned out he wasn’t the worst lab partner ever, we got through that class together, the same way we had gotten through life. Just like chemistry class, the problems weren’t always easy, but we had managed to pull it off. Truth was, Jack had always been there for me, but I had been too grief-stricken and stubborn to see it—but not anymore. I leaned down, pressed my lips to his forehead, and whispered, “You will always be the best partner ever.”
Epilogue
Nine months later…
IT WAS A somber day. Exactly one year since Tommy Cavlan took his life and exactly eighteen years since Patrick James McGuire—our baby boy had been born and taken from us. It was the memory of that anniversary that had led me to be on the beach that day one year ago in the same exact spot I was sitting at that very moment. But this time, instead of being alone, I had Jack by my side, and Max who was running up and down the beach, barking at the waves as they rolled on to the shore. We had visited Patrick’s gravesite earlier in the day, wishing he were with us celebrating his first year of adulthood instead of never even getting to experience life at all. It wasn’t easier to face this year, I wasn’t sure if it would ever be, but it was bearable because for the first time since it had happened, Jack and I faced it together.
So much had transpired in the months following Jack’s release from the hospital. As expected, he had a long road of recovery ahead of him with months of physical therapy and doctors’ visits, but he was finally fully recovered.
We had renewed our vows to each other by remarrying in a very small ceremony attended only by my father, Francesca, and Kara. Francesca was in her glory, so grateful she got to witness my wedding the second time around. It was as if we were newlyweds once again, knowing how much time we had let slip away while we were apart.
Jack was toying around with the idea of retirement in the upcoming year. He had more than enough years in and, very soon, he’d be celebrating his fiftieth birthday, meeting the age requirement. I didn’t want to pressure him either way. It was a decision only he could make, but I was hoping he would. I knew I couldn’t face another scare like the one we had after his shooting.
Guy Antonaci had been sentenced to thirty years for human trafficking and attempted murder on a federal agent, among a slew of many other charges. Jack was there front and center on the day the guilty verdict was read and also for his sentencing, obtaining the same sense of closure I had gotten that day in the hospital.
Francesca and I were as close as mother and daughter could be. We’d FaceTime every chance we could get. She’d come out and visit when she could, and Jack and I had even payed her a visit over the summer. She had gotten to know my father through her visits, and they had actually become good friends, bonding over their mutual love of me and wine. She was still trying to convince him to come to California to visit and experience the wineries in the Napa Valley.
As expected, more women began to speak out against Dominick Cavlan. He was still adamantly denying any allegations, but it was definitely being investigated. I was certain it was only a matter of time before charges were brought out against him. These women had all found their voice, tha
nks in part to Francesca sharing her story.
Kara had graduated from college in the spring and was fortunate to land a first-grade teaching position at a nearby school district. Jack had definitely softened toward Ian in the months that passed. He too came to realize Ian was a great guy, even though he never came out and said it. He and Kara were inseparable, and it didn’t come as any shock when Ian approached Jack and me a few nights prior, requesting permission to ask Kara to marry him. He had planned on popping the question on the day of their first anniversary. More like the day he first spoke to her after she had led him through a wild goose chase in the woods when he was assigned to watching her. I was beyond excited for the two of them and had to be super mindful whenever I was around her to not slip on the surprise.
I looked up at the bright autumn sky as the cool wind whipped down the beach. Such a stark difference from that stormy day one year ago. So much like the change that had occurred in my own life.
“Are you ready?” Jack asked.
I nodded, reaching into my coat pocket and gripping the letter I had written. I was fully aware it would never be seen by the person it was intended for. Instead, it was written for myself as a means of expressing the words I never got the chance to say.
Jack stood up first, reaching out his arm to me and hoisting me up from the sand. We trekked down to the water, observing the waves crash upon the shoreline in a thunderous boom. I thought back to that day as I watched the man who was my biological father step into these same unforgiving waters. Back then he was just a stranger. Some unfortunate soul who found it easier to face Mother’s Nature’s wrath than the trials and tribulations of life.
“We have so much to thank him for,” I said to Jack. “If it wasn’t for him, you and I would’ve probably still been in the same place we were a year ago. Kara would’ve never met Ian, and I wouldn’t know the wonderful woman who gave birth to me.”
“That’s so true,” Jack said, wrapping his arm around me. “It’s weird how one small action can create such a chain reaction. I’m sad it had to happen this way, but I’m happy so much good came out of it.”
“Me too.” I squinted up at him, standing on my tippy-toes and placing a peck on his cheek.
I pulled the letter from my pocket and took a few steps closer to the ocean, stopping just where the waves washed up on the sand. Bending down, I placed the piece of paper in the water, watching it spin around in the current until a bigger wave crashed up on the shore, pulling back and taking the letter with it. My hand clenched to the gold locket hanging around my neck, the same one that was found in the sand one year ago. As I ran my fingers over the name etched onto it, I thought about the baby it was intended for. A baby whose mother spent most of her life yearning for a piece of her heart that had been taken away and whose father redeemed himself at the end of his life by getting it back for her.
My life and the lives of those I loved had changed so much in that past year, and it all had to do with one man. A man I never met, but who had shaped my future in ways he could’ve never imagined. He had reunited me with my birth mother. He had led my daughter to the love of her life and helped me find my way back to mine. I would be forever grateful to that stranger in the ocean and the woman who so bravely gave birth to a baby she knew she’d have to give away. I was honored to be part of their bittersweet love story, and so happy they could be part of mine.
The End
Author’s Note
I hope you enjoyed the story! Whether it’s your first book by me or if you’ve read them all, I appreciate you taking time from your busy life to get to know my characters. This book was a little different than my usual. When I first started writing, most of my characters were always in their mid 20’s just starting out adult life. As the years progressed, I found myself wanting to write my main characters a little older, so I started making them in their 30’s. This is the first time I’ve written my main characters in their 40’s (actually closer to 50) Why? Because I’ve read so many books lately where they portray women over 40 as old…and to be honest, that makes me angry because that’s not old (okay, maybe I’m a little biased because I fit into that age category). But honestly, life does not end at 40, 50 or even 60…life is as exciting as YOU make it, whether you’re 20 or 100.
Until the next book….XO
~Beth
