Honor Unraveled (37 page)

She didn’t. She didn’t know where she was going. Just away. Away from the neatly ordered future that ripped her heart right out of her chest. Kit caught her arm and spun her around, pinning her against the wall in the hallway as he braced his hands on either side of her head.

“It has to be this way,” he said in a broken whisper.

“No, it doesn’t.”

“I want you happy and safe.”

“I can’t be happy away from you. I know that now. I’ve done that. I’ve lived that safe life. I hated it. I won’t do it again.”

“I need to know that you’re alive, that somewhere out there, you breathe and laugh and
live
.”

“I’ll die without you.”

“You’ll die with me if you stay. Jesus, Ivy, I almost got you killed yesterday.” Kit’s voice was growing more strident.

“I’m not leaving you.”

“We’re not the only ones we need to be considering. We have to think about our daughter.”

“Casey needs her father. She needs you.”

“Let’s try this. For a little while. Please. You’ll be safer a long way away from me.”

“You don’t know that. We should be close to you, near enough that you can protect us.”
 

Kit sighed. “I can’t protect you. We know that now.”

Ivy reached up to hold his face. “I’m not leaving you. I would much rather have a short time of pure joy than a long life of being broken hearted. Things won’t always be this way. They’ll calm down.”

“They may. They may not.” A muscle beaded in his jaw.
 

“Whatever comes, we’ll be together. Who’s going to teach Casey to drive defensively if not you? Who’s going to teach her to shoot and care for her weapons? Who’s going to train her in self-defense? These aren’t things I can do for our daughter. I need to be learning them right alongside her. We are, right now, where we need to be, Kit Bolanger. I’m not going to let us live a life we don’t want to live because we’re fearful of what might be—you taught me that. We’ll only be in more danger the farther we go from you.”

“You’ll have a completely new identity. New names. New social security numbers. New credit history. New bank accounts. New degrees and transcripts. Everything. No one will be able to associate who you’ll become with who you were.”

“No. I’m not going to do it. If you don’t want us here, we’ll go back to my house—not several states over. But you better look me in the eye and tell me you want us gone.”

“Iv….” He swept a hand down the uninjured side of her head. He scrubbed the back of his hand against his eyes. “I never knew fear, ever, until I found you again and met my daughter. And now I’m terrified for you. Terrified of a life without you.”

“Say it, Kit. Say you don’t love me.”

“I will never say that to you.”

“Then you can’t get rid of us. We’re staying.”

Kit dropped his hands and straightened. He sighed, his shoulders dropping with his released breath. “Yeah. You’re staying.”

Ivy reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. He pulled her close. He cupped the back of her head gently as he held her for a deep kiss, which he broke away from, then restarted, plundering her mouth with his tongue.
 

It wasn’t until someone cleared his throat that they realized they weren’t alone in the hallway. Ivy looked over to the crowd that had gathered farther down by the living room and foyer. Ty was smiling. Mandy had an arm around Casey’s waist, holding her in place. Casey watched them with a tense expression, her hands clasped in front of her face.

Kit opened an arm and gestured her over. She ran to them, throwing her arms around her dad. “Looks like you two are going to become permanent residents,” he told her. “You okay with that, Case?”

She nodded as she looked up at him. Ivy rubbed her back, feeling the tension coiled in her daughter’s young body.
 

“It’s a helluva place to grow up. We have tight rules that can’t be broken without putting everyone in jeopardy. You won’t have the freedom many of your friends will have.”

Casey swallowed. She sent a look over at Ivy, then straightened her shoulders as she glanced up at her father. “I’m with Mom. We’re not leaving you, Dad. You’re going to have to deal with that.”

Kit laughed and pulled them both in tightly. “I will gladly deal with that.” He looked at the team and their women, who were still gathered in the hall. Ivy didn’t miss the tension that slipped into his expression.
 

“I’m keeping the girls with me,” he told the group. “That cause anyone any heartache?”

“’Bout time you came to your senses,” Blade answered, smiling.

Owen shook his head. “Apparently, we’ve become a family barracks.” He looked at Val. “Let’s not forget that there are females—and young—running around.”

Val grinned. “What are you looking at me for? I’m always on my best behavior.”

“No. You’re always in high performance, but that and best behavior aren’t usually the same.” Owen turned toward the dining room, leading the others out of the hall.

“Casey, go in to lunch with Aunt Mandy. I need to talk to your mom about a few things.” He looked at Blade, who was grinning at him. Ivy felt heat seep up her neck into her face. “Don’t wait lunch for us.”

“Not likely,” Blade answered as Mandy led Casey away. “I’d like to eat sometime today.” He nodded at someone behind Kit. “Want me to see your visitor out?”

Kit turned to look at Owen’s man and cursed. “Sorry about that.”

“Not a problem.” He shook hands with Kit and nodded at Ivy. “Looks like things have worked out for the best. If there’s anything else you need, Owen knows how to get me.” He followed Blade to the front door.

Kit looked down at Ivy. She smiled and reached up to touch his cheek. He bent and caught her beneath her knees, swinging her up into his arms as he headed down the hall to her room.
 

“I love you.” His eyes were so serious. “I always have.” She gave a last thought to all the time they’d lost, then let those memories slip away. They had the entire rest of their lives together. She smiled at him, tracing his lips with her fingers.
 

“I love you, Kit. I always have and always will.”

* * *

Everyone looked shell-shocked at dinner that night. The girls were withdrawn, the guys preoccupied. Kit tossed his napkin on the table. “That’s it. Let’s take a night off.” A few curious eyes turned his way. “Amir’s with the FBI. The WKB are back in their box for the time being. And the town’s having a street dance tonight. How about we go? They moved the fireworks from last night to tonight. We need a break.”

“Agreed. You should go.” Owen looked at the guys. “I’ll man the control center, Greer.”

“We all go,” Kit said to Owen. “A few hours away won’t hurt anything. The house is locked up tight. The alarms will trigger if anything happens here while we’re out. And we’re only a few minutes from town.”

Owen sighed. “Copy that.” He stood up. “Meet outside in ten?”

Kit grinned and stood up. “Roger that.”
 

“I can go, too?” Casey asked him.
 

“I’m not leaving you here alone.”

“Yes!” She jumped, then hurried away to get ready.

Selena remained at the table as the group exited the room. Kit looked back. “Selena, you too.”

“Not me. I’m not a people person. I could really use some quiet time.”

“Join us,” Owen said as he moved back into the room. “That’s an order.”

Selena laughed. “You can’t order someone to have fun.”

“And yet I am.”

“Whatever.” She got up. “It’s your dime.” She brushed past Owen as she left to gear up, bumping into him.

Owen sighed and looked at Kit. “How did she make it through Red Team training?”

“I thought you knew. She ate her teammates. The school had no choice but to pass her.”

Owen chuckled. Kit stared at him. The man almost looked human when he laughed.

They parked their vehicles in a field set up for festival visitors and walked as a group toward the street that had been shut down for the weekend. Without any prior coordination, the three men with women walked in the center of the group’s phalanx. The men without females went in front and behind them. Selena walked on her own, off to the left, between the crowd and the group.
 

They got some curious looks from the civilians, geared up as they were with their bulletproof vests and sidearms. Val had left his rifle at home, but was equipped with all of his other weapons. The farther they moved into the blockaded street, the more intense was the reaction from the people. The band stopped playing. Residents who were milling about the street moved away, creating the wide path on either side of the guys.
 

Kit looked down at Ivy, hoping she wasn’t feeling uncomfortable. Casey slipped her hand into his.

Selena nudged Kit. “Give me your keys. I’ll get the women and kids out of here while you deal with this.”

Kit fished them out of his pocket and handed them to her. She’d just started to round up the females when the weird silence was broken by a man’s voice.

“There you are! I’ve been waiting for you.” the mayor said, hurrying forward. He had a showman’s voice. Though he was speaking to the team, his words were meant to be heard by the crowd.
 

Kit let go of Casey. He looked at his daughter and his woman. “If Selena says go, you go. No argument.” Ivy wrapped a hand around Casey’s shoulders and nodded. Kit went forward with Owen to meet the mayor.
 

The mayor shook hands with them. “I wanted to be sure to thank you. Your information helped us be prepared and let us minimize damage to our visitors and our town. It could have been so much worse if we hadn’t been ready.”

“Your guys did great,” Owen told him. “They executed the plan perfectly.”

“Yes, they did,” Sheriff Tate said as he joined them. “I told you we had a need for a town militia.”

The mayor nodded. “I guess those drills weren’t a waste of time after all.” He shook hands with Kit and Owen again, then looked toward the stage and motioned the band to start playing again. “The beer and food vendors are all open late. Please tell your team that it’s my treat,” he said, before being pulled away by someone anxious to see him.

Sheriff Tate put a hand on Kit’s shoulder. “I’m proud of you, boy. You took a bad situation, all those years ago, and made something good out of it.” He handed something to Kit. “You gonna do this or what?”

“Here?” Kit asked him.

“Yeah. I want to see it. I don’t get to be part of happy endings all that often.”

Kit looked at Ivy, who was frowning, trying to understand their side conversation. He went down on one knee. Casey was standing next to Ivy. He winked at his daughter. The guys gathered around them, cutting off line of sight from curious onlookers.
 

“Ivy, will you marry me?” He took hold of her hands. He could feel when she started to shake. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. She went pale. Her eyes teared up. Kit watched her reaction, unsure how to take it, knowing he would beg her—in front of their daughter and his men—to accept him.

“The ring, boy,” the sheriff prodded. “Give her the ring.”

Kit dug in his pocket for the box. He popped it open and held it up toward her. Ivy took it from him. “Kit…” she said in a broken voice, one hand covering her mouth.

“If you don’t like it, we can exchange it.”

“It’s beautiful. You remembered I love rose gold.”

“I remember everything.”

Ivy hit her knees. She put her hand on his chest. “Yes, Kit. Yes, I’ll marry you. I love you so much, more than ever.” Tears were streaming down her face.
 

Kit laughed and pulled her in for a kiss. “You had me scared there for a minute,” he said, laughing against her mouth. “Let’s try this on.” He took the box from her and pulled the ring out, then slipped it on her finger.

“It fits! I love it!” She held her hand out and admired it.
 

“The style of the twisting streams of gold and the little side diamonds are meant to resemble a climbing rose. Was the closest I could come to a thorny cactus flower.”

She laughed. “My thorns.” She held her hand to her chest and covered the ring with her right hand.

He cupped her cheek. “And my flower.”

“There are times, still, that I wish things had been different,” she said, sniffling as she looked up at him. “I wish I’d tried to find you sooner. I wish Casey had known her dad sooner. I wish I hadn’t been so afraid when you came back into our lives. But if we had to go through all of that to be where we are now, I wouldn’t change any of it.” She took hold of his cheeks. “Thank you for giving me the time and space to figure things out. I’m ready to start over. With you. Forever.” Her eyes were swimming in tears as she looked up at him.

“I have a lot of regrets, too—that I quit looking for you, that I made the assumption you were over me. Most of all, that I missed all those years with you and Case. I’ll be doing double-time in the coming years to make up for that.”