Hot Colorado Nights
Page 8
She sighed. “You’re right. We have the rest of our lives to plan.”
The next day Maddie drove up to Derek’s apartment building.
He had a son, and she was going to meet the little boy today.
As she walked up to the number Derek had given her, her heart fluttered. She was so lucky to have found the love of her life again. That he had a ready-made family was even better. She’d always wanted a family of her own, and this would be a new start.
Maddie drew in a deep breath and held it as she knocked on the door.
Derek’s deep voice sounded through the panel. “Coming!” He opened the door and smiled as he let her into his small apartment.
On the floor of the little living room sat a little boy who looked just like his father.
Derek caught Maddie’s hand. “Before you two meet, I wanted you to know they caught the mayor trying to leave town.”
Maddie’s eyes widened. “Thank God. Did he confess?”
Derek shook his head. “No. He lawyered up as soon as they cuffed him.”
She touched a hand to his chest. “Tell me he won’t go free. Not after what he’s done.”
With a smile, he took her hand. “Not a chance. One of the kidnappers we captured is spilling his guts about the mayor’s involvement. The man will spend the rest of his life in jail.”
Maddie sighed. “I hope they can recover some of the girls who were already sold.”
“Me, too.” He turned her hand over and pressed a kiss to her palm. “Now, there’s someone I want you to meet.” Derek ushered her over to a couch near his son.
Maddie sat on the edge of the cushion, her heart beating fast.
“Jacob this is the lady I told you about,” Derek said. “Her name is Maddie.”
Jacob glanced up at Maddie, with his teal eyes so much like Derek’s, and said, “Hi, Maddie.”
“Hi, Jacob. What are you playing with?” Maddie asked.
He held up the action figures and vehicles he was playing with. They were all super heroes. “I’m playing good guys and bad guys, just like my daddy.”
Maddie smiled. “Can I play, too?”
“Sure. You can play the girl, and I can be the good guy so I can rescue you,” Jacob explained.
“Sounds like a plan.” Maddie said, as she settled on the floor to play with Jacob. She glanced up at Derek and they both smiled.
Epilogue
One month later, driving on the roads in Montana, Derek felt like his world was finally falling into place. Maddie, his fiancée, sat next to him in the passenger seat. His son sat in the back seat, playing with blocks and his books and asking them twenty questions about where they were going. Behind them in another vehicle was Maddie’s Dad, Charles Finley, and her sister, Janie. As they drove through a large gate they could see the house down the road. A spreading forest surrounded a rock house with an incredible view of the Crazy Mountains.
“So, what do you guys want to do first? Ride horses or go cow tipping?” Derek asked in a terrible John Wayne accent.
Maddie looked over at him, and then at Jacob in the back seat, “What do you think partner?” she asked Jacob.
“Ride horses!” Jacob shouted. Then he giggled and pointed toward the house. “Is that Mr. Hank?”
Hank stood on the porch, his arm around a blonde woman, with a little girl toddling at their feet.
Derek smiled and waved outside the window of the SUV as pulled up in the front of the house.
Maddie exclaimed, “That’s Sadie Patterson, Hank’s wife. And that must be their daughter, Emma. Oh my, she’s so cute.”
The SUV that Maddie’s dad was driving pulled up next to theirs, and everyone jumped out and started talking excitedly to Hank, Sadie and Emma.
Hank and Derek shook hands. “Come on in. I want to show you our operations and let you meet some of the guys you haven’t already met.”
Maddie strolled behind the men, arm in arm with Sadie, who carried Emma on her hip. Jacob came skipping along talking to “Peepaw Finley” as Jacob had already started calling Maddie’s dad. Derek could just make out Janie near the cars, talking to a tall well-built man with a rich tan. Derek hoped the shadows under Janie’s eyes went away soon. He knew she still had nightmares since her experience with the human traffickers. But she was trying to move on with her life.
Hank gave Derek a tour of the house and introduced him to a couple more of his Brotherhood Protectors. The operation was impressive and the setting great for running ops out of.
Derek admired all that Hank had accomplished and how he was helping other soldiers to find a new place in life after leaving the military.
Life was good.
About the Author
PAIGE YANCEY is the daughter of New York Times Bestselling Author Elle James. She’s a wife, a mother of two wonderful boys and a nurse. She gets her love of reading from her mother and grandmother. Since she was a teenager, she’s been brainstorming ideas with her mother, helping her to dream up stories for her readers. She’s excited to debut her first book in her mother’s Brotherhood Protector’s Kindle World. Paige loves to hear from her readers. You can write to her at paigeyanceyauthor@gmail.com