by Lane Hart
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Elizabeth
“Hey, it’s good to see you,” Cooper says when I walk into the conference room.
“Where are our attorneys?” I ask.
“I asked them to give us a minute alone. They didn’t want to, so I sort of had to threaten their lives and shit.”
“What do you want, Cooper?” I say with a heavy sigh. “I haven’t heard from you in a week, since you were released from jail.”
“I just wanted to say that I love you. And this annulment?” he picks up the papers and rips them in half and then in quarters. “I don’t want to end our marriage. I want you back.”
“That’s…Cooper, I don’t think I can do this with you again.”
“Do what? Live with me? Keep being my wife? Love me? What part can’t you do?”
“All of it! Jesus, Cooper, when I found out you got arrested…I think my heart stopped, and it stayed lodged in my throat until the second you walked out of the jail.”
“I’m sorry. I know it was stupid, looking back on it. After I got out, I finally went to the doctor about my…about my nightmares. They gave me some medicine, put me into therapy, all kinds of shit. The doc says it’s PTSD and what they call survivor’s guilt that’s been tearing me up. I haven’t told any of the guys about it, but I wanted you to know. Besides, with the club’s connections, and being able to show I’m getting treatment…shit, you already know. The thing with Kozlov, it was just chalked up as an inmate scuffle, and my charges have been dismissed.”
“That’s great news, all of it, but, Cooper…” I begin as I pull out a chair and sit down.
“Please, Liz, hear me out,” Cooper interrupts as he leans across the table and takes my hand. He flips it over, so that the wedding band I’m still wearing catches the light. He still has on his, as well. “You are far and away the best thing that has ever happened to me. Better than the club, better than the money, better than everything. I know I made a mess out of things, and I don’t want to just blame the explosion, but…”
“You were hurt so badly,” I whisper.
“I was,” he agrees. “And I lashed out at everything. My brothers to a degree, but especially you. I’ve apologized to Cedric for the worst of my tantrums, but he just shrugged it off and told me to save it for you. Liz, I’m begging you. The love I have for you means everything to me. If there is even a chance that you and I can put this behind us and build our lives together…well, I’d do anything to make it happen. Anything.”
“All right,” I whisper.
“I just want you to think about it…wait, what did you say?” Cooper stares at me slack-jawed. “You know I can still barely hear when you mumble!”
“I said all right,” I smile at him as I raise my voice. “I love you, Cooper Cummings. God, you can be infuriating, but what we have isn’t like anything I’ve ever known. I was so afraid that after Ruby, that just seeing me would always remind you of what could have been, and that you just wouldn’t be able to move past it. But if you’re serious…”
“I am,” he interrupts me as he stands up from the table still holding my hand. “Oh God, Liz, I’ve never been so serious about anything. I love you.”
“Then I think…” I smile as he comes around the table and helps me to my feet. “I think that it’s time for you to kiss your bride and finally take her home.”
Epilogue
Cooper
Six months later…
“Where are we going?” I ask Liz as she heads for the highway.
“It’s a surprise. Put on the blindfold,” she replies, holding out her black sleep mask to me.
“Okay, kinky,” I say with a grin as I slip the elastic over my head and cover my eyes.
“We’ll be there in about ten minutes and then you can take it off.”
“What’s with the secrecy?”
“I was afraid that if I told you where we’re going that you would refuse and blow me off.”
“That bad, huh?”
“Guess we’ll find out soon enough,” she replies.
A short time later, the car comes to a complete stop and Liz says, “All right. I’ll come around and help you out.”
I hear the passenger door open, and then she unclicks my seatbelt and pulls me gently by my arm, guiding me out. As soon as the car door shuts, she tells me, “Okay, take off the blindfold.”
I jerk the fabric up and find a group of kids running around a playground, chasing each other down the slides, pushing each other on the swings. It reminds me of Ruby and all the things we’ll miss out on with her. She wasn’t old enough to bring her to a park like this, but I can imagine how she would have cackled and enjoyed it and all of the things we never got to do with her.
“Sorry, Liz. I don’t know why you would bring me here, but it’s just too damn depressing,” I say when I start to turn and walk back to her car.
“Wait,” she says when she grabs the front of my cut to stop me. “Suck it up, buttercup, because however depressed you are is nothing compared to these kids. These…orphans.”
“Orphans?” I repeat. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
Liz places her finger to my lips and whispers, “Small ears are around us. Watch your mouth.”
“So why are we here?”
“Because we have been approved for adoption for months, and all of these kids need a good home. I thought maybe we could play with them, talk to them, see if there’s one we can’t live without…”
“You’re serious? You want to just pick out a kid like we’re shopping for produce at the grocery store?”
“Yes. And, since these are all orphans, free and clear of parental rights, we could take a child home with us today.”
“I don’t know, Liz. I appreciate the thought, but Ruby’s not a toy you can just replace. She was special to me. To us. There’s not another one of her in the world. Besides, we’re just getting used to being together again –”
My protests are interrupted when a small, wobbly blonde girl comes running toward us saying, “Meow! Meow! I’m a kitty.”
“Ah, hi, kitty,” I reply.
“Meow?” she says again. “Kitties no talk. Kitties only meow!”
Looking at Liz, who is hiding her smile, I tell the girl, “I’m sorry. Meow, meow, meow.”
Her adorable face lights up at me before she starts running in a circle. “Kitty chases its tail, meooow, meoow!”
“Oh my gosh, she’s so freaking cute!” Liz whispers when she comes up beside me and takes my hand. “Does kitty have a name?” she asks.
The girl stops spinning and lurches hard to the right. I catch her just before she faceplants.
“Kitty’s name is Lily.”
“Well, hello, Lily. It’s nice to meet you,” Liz responds.
“Meow?” the girl asks with her hand cupping her ear.
“Sorry. Meow, meow, meow, Lily.”
Lily bursts into giggles, tickled that Liz played along with her before she runs back over to the group where two women are staring at us cautiously. The leather biker cut doesn’t exactly say warm, loving father. But looks can be deceiving.
“All right. Where do we sign?” I ask Liz.
“You don’t want to meet any of the other kids?” she asks, gesturing to the playground.
“No. Do you?”
“No, I don’t think so,” she answers with a bark of laughter. “Is it crazy that I can already see her riding a Power Wheels motorcycle around our front yard?”
“They really have those?” I ask, pulling out my phone to search for it on Amazon and one-clicking. “It’ll be here tomorrow,” I tell Liz with a grin when I put my phone away and take her hand.
“Then what are we waiting for?” she asks. “Let’s give Lily, the kitty, a home.”
The End
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About The Authors
New York Tim
es bestselling author Lane Hart and husband D.B. West were both born and raised in North Carolina. They still live in the south with their two daughters and enjoy spending the summers on the beach and watching football in the fall.
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