Vindicate (Recovered Innocence #1)(75)

“I love you,” she whispers against my mouth.

“Oh, God. I love you too, Bluebird.”





Epilogue


Beau


I forgot how stiff shirt collars feel and how dress pants ride up and crush your nuts. I yank on my collar for the trillionth time and glance over my shoulder at Cora. She’s sitting next to Leo on the hard-assed bench two rows back. He’s holding both of her hands in his. I’m glad she finally moved on and got a f*cking life. Half of rotting in prison was me wanting to pound the walls and half was me worrying that my screwed-up life somehow screwed hers up too.

My new attorney leans in and whispers something to me. I can’t hear anything she says. If I close my eyes I wouldn’t even be able to say what she looks like. All of my focus is on the judge. He’s glancing through some papers, riffling through them casually, like he’s reading a f*cking novel on the beach. Everyone in the room is on pins and needles, and it’s a regular afternoon for him.

He picks up the gavel and bangs it. He blathers on about the justice system and the balances of justice and some other bullshit I couldn’t care less about. One of the takeaways from my justice-system experience is that judges love to hear the sound of their own voices. They love to expound on the greatness of our country’s justice system.

They haven’t been bent over and f*cked in the ass by it.

If they had, they might not think it was so fantastic.

I realize he’s addressing me, so I sit up in my seat. I’m playing a role like everyone else in the room. I have to look honest while everyone in the room judges my sincerity. I have to look contrite while everyone tries to figure out if I’m really guilty or not. I have to look worthy while everyone decides if I’m worthwhile.

“Mr. Hollis. I sincerely regret the way in which your case was handled. I hope you find meaning in your experiences and are able to create a life of profound goodness and honor. It is my pleasure to reverse the verdict set down by this court. Mr. Hollis, you are a free man. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.” He bangs the gavel. “We’re dismissed.”

The courtroom erupts. There’s so much noise. My attorney is saying something about filing this and that. I turn in my seat and find Cora. Her face is streaked with tears. She holds a hand out to me.

I’m free.

After two thousand, two hundred seventy-one days, I’m free.





For Hannah Beth, who left us too soon

And as always, for my husband, Mr. Y, for buying into and supporting every single one of my crazy Lucy-and-Ethel schemes…including the one where I thought I could write a book





Acknowledgments


Oh, wow. Where to begin?

Supreme thanks to my agent, Courtney Miller-Callihan, who took a risk in showing this series with only three chapters and a synopsis to recommend it. And to my editor, Sue Grimshaw, who saw something in those pages that made her want the books and for helping me shape them into something I’m very proud of. Many thanks to Debra Mullins, Charity Hammond, and Alison Diem. You prop up my words and make me feel like my voice matters. To the ladies of The Keeper Shelf, the mighty, mighty unicorns—you’re my New York. I couldn’t do any of this without you. I’m so very lucky to have the love and support of my parents and sister, who show up for events and book signings and proofread all of my books. If there are any errors, they’re totally on them, not me. And to my husband and sons, who put up with me dragging my laptop on vacations, writing night and day, and eating a lot of take-out dinners. We’re a little bit closer to that pool, boys.





BY BETH YARNALL


Recovered Innocence Novels


Vindicate

Atone





PHOTO: SCOTT YARNALL





Bestselling author BETH YARNALL writes mysteries, romantic suspense novels, and the occasional hilarious tweet. A storyteller since her playground days, Yarnall remembers her friends asking her to make up stories of how the person “died” in the slumber-party game Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board, so it’s little wonder she prefers writing stories in which people meet unfortunate ends. In middle school she discovered romance novels, which inspired her to write a spoof of soap operas for the school’s newspaper. She hasn’t stopped writing since.

For a number of years, Yarnall made her living as a hairstylist and makeup artist, and even owned a salon. Somehow hairstylists and salons seem to find their way into her stories. Beth lives with her husband, two sons, and their rescue dog in Southern California, where she is hard at work on her next novel.

bethyarnall.com

Facebook.com/BethYarnallAuthor

@BethYarnall





The Editor’s Corner


Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November…wait, it is November, and Loveswept is releasing some of our best books of the year! Check out these fabulous romances:

New York Times bestselling author Marquita Valentine releases her second new novel in her Boys of the South spin-off series Take the Fall series with When We Fall, in which a small-town sweetheart takes a chance on the bad boy who’s always been her hottest fantasy. Another Loveswept New York Times bestselling author, Tracy Wolff introduces her new Hotwired series with Accelerate, where an unassuming passenger is taken for the ride of her life. New York Times bestselling author A. Meredith Walters releases a powerful romance akin to The Fault in Our Stars with Butterfly Dreams. Then, welcome to Thistle Bend! A charming series debut from Tracy March, Should’ve Said No introduces a small town where old secrets are revealed—and wounded hearts are opened to new love. And in a short novel, Rebecca Rogers Maher’s Rolling in the Deep, two kindred spirits share a winning lottery ticket—and discover what it really means to get lucky.