Breaking the Rules (67 page)

She laughed because she knew that he was thinking about sex, but then she started to cry, because she was just so overwhelmed.

“Hey,” he said, trying to sit up to put his arms around her, but the nurse started making noise, so Jenn came to him, so he could hold her. Even though he was the one in the hospital bed.

“I’m sorry,” she said, but he stopped her.

“It’s okay,” he said, his hands so gentle in her hair. “It’s all right. Everyone’s all right …”

“I know,” she said, “and I’m so grateful. And it’s all working out just perfectly. You know, we missed the meeting with CPS, but even that’s okay, because Ivette and Greg didn’t. Izzy really must’ve had some kind of come-to-Jesus meeting with them, because they convinced the
social workers to let Ben live with either you and me or Eden and Izzy, either is fine, so maybe we can share him, you know? He can have a room in both of our apartments, like joint custody, so we can all have some alone time, too. And I was talking to Eden and we figured when you and Izzy go overseas, the three of us can live together, I mean, we’ll try it, you know? It might make it easier. And all the charges against Eden have been dropped, and the FBI is going to help Neesha find her grandfather, and everything’s going to be
wonderful
, except Mark and Lindsey just want to crawl away somewhere so they can cry, because it
didn’t
work out perfectly for them. They lost their baby and what if I really am pregnant and won’t that be rubbing their faces in it? I mean, God!”

“Wow,” Dan said. “Okay, I’m glad I opted for the local anesthesia, because if I were on something heavy-duty right now? I’d start crying, too. That would’ve been a mind-bender. But I’m pretty sure I followed. And really, Jenni, I don’t think you’re gonna have to worry about—”

Jenn wiped her face as she sat back to look at him. “I threw up. Before. In the bathroom.”

He laughed. “Are you shitting me?”

“Maybe it’s a bug. I really didn’t think you could get pregnant that fast.”

“Well,
I
can’t get pregnant at any speed,” he pointed out.

“You
know
what I mean.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m
good.
”

Jenn laughed her disbelief. “That’s your response? That you’re
good
?”

“Well, obviously I am.”

“Maybe
I’m
good,” she said. “Maybe I’m just, like, so fertile, we’re going to have twenty kids. Ten sets of twins. One a year for the next decade.”

Dan was unfazed. “Only one a year? We can do better than that.”

She laughed again, and he said, “I meant what I said. I love you. I also meant what I said about leaving the Teams. I think it’s time.”

Jenn shook her head. “You don’t have to do that for me. I know that I was scared when you got injured—”

“It’s not just about that,” Dan told her. “It’s about … Well, you having to leave your job. But if I don’t reup, we can live in New York, and you can keep doing what you’re doing. Your work with that shelter for homeless veterans—Jenni, that’s so important—”

“And what you do isn’t?” she countered. “As important as it is to make sure homeless vets have a place to go, what
you
do, as a SEAL, keeps regular soldiers out of harm’s way. What
you
do reduces the need for homeless shelters.” She smiled. “Dan, trust me, I’ll find an important job—something that I love doing—in California. And if I am pregnant, well, I hope I don’t shock you, but if I have a baby? I’m going to want to work, part-time, from home, if I can. At least until, I don’t know, preschool? Like I said, please don’t do this for me.”

“How about if I do it for me?” he said quietly.

Jenn gazed into his eyes, and nodded. “I’ve already given Maria my notice, so … Whatever you do, I think we should stay in California, at least for the short term. Until Ben graduates.”

He looked back at her. “You’re serious.”

“I meant it, too,” she told him. “When I made those vows.”

He drew her in for a kiss. But then he started to laugh. And when he pulled back to look at her, Jenn expected a variation on the “Damn, I’m good” theme.

Instead, he smiled at her with such warmth in his eyes, and he said, “Baby, you have no idea how very much I love you.”

“Actually,” Jenn said, smiling back at him, “I think I do.”

By the time Dan was moved into a regular hospital room, Lindsey and Jenk and Lopez had left to bring Neesha to an FBI safe house, along with the little girl who’d been on the plane.

Jenk and Lindsey were going to be staying with Neesha for a while, until she felt more secure in her new surroundings.

So it was just Eden and Izzy and Jenni and Ben hanging out in Danny-Danny-bo-banny’s room, mocking the contents of his dinner tray, complete with runny Jell-O.

Actually, it was Izzy who was doing the mocking as Eden sat on his lap. Jenn was still looking a little peaked, and Ben was curled up on the other empty bed, taking a nap.

There weren’t a lot of chairs in the room, but that wasn’t why Izzy had pulled Eden down on top of him.

He wanted his arms around her for another few hours. Okay, days. Weeks? Years. Damn, it would be okay with him if they could just sit like this for the rest of their lives.

Of course, having her there made it hard to concentrate on the quiet conversation that Jenn and Dan were having, across the room. Until Izzy heard Dan say, “… two bedrooms—it’s really nice. It’s close to the base, too, and … I talked to Jenk, and he said it would be great if we rented. He thinks it’s unlikely they’ll be able to sell in this market—”

“Are you talking about Jenk and Lindsey’s condo?” Izzy asked. “Because I just talked to Linds, and
she
said that Eden and I could rent it.”

“No, no,” Dan said. “Uh-uh. We got first dibs.”

Izzy sat up, making Eden grab him more tightly around the neck, which was very nice. “How do
you
get
first dibs
? What are dibs, anyway, and why should you get them?”

“Maybe we should flip a coin,” Jenn suggested, ever the voice of reason.

“Flip a coin?” Izzy asked, “for the greatest apartment in San Diego?” as Dan chimed in with, “Ah, babe, seriously, their place is
awesome.
”

“Cool,” Ben said, opening his eyes. “If I’m living with both of you guys, I get to live there no matter what, right?”

“The kitchen’s amazing.” Dan waxed poetic. “And the living room
has this huge slider that opens up the entire wall to this screened porch. At night, when the sun sets … The view … It’s gorgeous.”

Izzy was nodding his agreement when Eden kissed him on the side of his face. “It’s just an apartment,” she whispered into his ear. “We can find someplace else.”

And as he pulled back to look into her eyes, he realized that she was right.

“Tie goes to the man who was shot,” Izzy said as he held Eden’s gaze. “The man who has to stay overnight in the hospital instead of renting a fabulous hotel room with his wife, on the government’s dime.”

“Are we seriously renting a fabulous hotel room on the government’s dime?” Eden asked with a smile.

“Kinda gotta, sweetheart,” Izzy reminded her. “Dead guy in your apartment.”

“Yeesh,” she said. “I forgot about that.”

Izzy stood up, with Eden still in his arms. “In fact, I think we’re going to go out right now and make those arrangements. Ben, we’ll be back for you a little bit later, dude.”

“I’ll be here,” Ben said.

“Wow,” Izzy heard Dan say as he carried Eden out of the room, “I think Zanella just let me win, but how come it doesn’t feel like I won?”

Eden was laughing, so Izzy put her down in the hallway, and they walked, hand in hand, to the elevators. It wasn’t until they were out front, at the taxi stand, that she turned to him and said, “Thank you for believing me—and not giving up on me.”

“You’re welcome,” he said.

“I love you,” she said, “and I need you. You make the sky more blue.”

“You do the same for me,” he admitted.

She nodded. “Good. And—I just want you to know that, the next time something in my life is hard and painful, I’m going to run toward you, not away from you, okay?”

Izzy nodded, too. “That would be most excellent.”

“And about the apartment,” she said. “I just thought since Danny seemed to really be into it, and … That sort of thing doesn’t matter that much to, well, to either one of us and …”

“Eden,” Izzy told this woman who was his wife, his lover, and his best friend, “we’ll find someplace perfect. I know we will, because as long as you’re there? I’m home.”

Eden smiled and kissed him.

And the sky was very, very blue.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

S
UZANNE
B
ROCKMANN
is the award-winning author of fifty books, and is widely recognized as one of the leading voices in romantic suspense. Her work has earned her repeated appearances on the
New York Times
bestseller list, as well as numerous awards, including Romance Writers of America’s #1 Favorite Book of the Year and two RITA Awards.

Brockmann divides her time between Siesta Key, Florida, New York City, and Boston, Massachusetts. Visit her website at
www.SuzanneBrockmann.com
and find her on Facebook by searching for Suz Brockmann’s Troubleshooters World.