The Other Man(75)

And he kept going.  “This isn’t negotiable.  I let you go once.  I went against every instinct I had and walked away from you, because I thought it was the unselfish thing to do.  Now you’re stuck with me for as long as I’m alive.  You’re mine, that baby is mine, and we’re going to make it legal.”

“We don’t even have our own identities.  It wouldn’t mean anything.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed with a rough swallow as he stared at me, his expression raw, cold eyes stark.  “It would mean something to me.”

God, he knew how to get to me.

“Tell me something sweet,” I urged him with a smile.

“I need you,” he rasped, voice weighty with feeling.

“And?” I prompted.

He looked confused, so I made it easy on him.

“Do you love me, Heath?”

“Of course I do.  What do you think all this is, if not love?”

That stunned me, stopping my heart, then sending it slamming wildly back into life.

And still, I felt the need to say, “You never would have taken me with you if you weren’t forced to by circumstance.”

His brows drew together, making him look stern.

Mean and magnificent.

The combination I found most irresistible on him.

“You’re absolutely f*cking right I wouldn’t have.  If I hadn’t been so careless, because I was obsessed with you, you wouldn’t be in this situation right now, trapped, confined, in danger.  I’d have spared you that.  But I’d have done it for you.  Not for me.  If I were a completely selfish bastard, I’d have chained you to my side from the start.

He stared me down for a solid minute, then continued, “And another thing, I was always planning to come back for you, when it was safe.  If you’d moved on, if you hadn’t, I didn’t give a damn, I was going to come, shake up your life, and take you back when this was all over.  That’s a f*cking fact.”

“Yes.  Yes, I’ll marry you,” I said suddenly, impulsively, because he’d given me what I needed.

This man loved me how I deserved to be loved.

I’d been waiting a long f*cking time for that.

EPILOGUE

We were married in a church.  Heath, who remained constantly and consistently unexpected, insisted on it.

It was a tiny gathering, just us, Iris, Raf, Gustave, and a few bodyguards standing witness.

Heath’s face was unsmiling and serious as he recited his vows solemnly.

I had no doubt in my mind that he meant them.

None of it was anything I could have even pictured a year ago, but I recited mine back with tears in my eyes and joy in my heart.

Life on the run was not as expected.

It was chaotic and a little scary, sure, but there was something unutterably beautiful about it, the living each day like it could be torn from you.

They were rough times, yes, rough years, but roughness was not the nucleus of it.  At the center of it all were memories of joyful reunions and meaningful goodbyes, of holding on to the man I loved for dear life and knowing how precious every single moment we had together was.

It taught us to love in a new way, one that we’d never forget.  Having a love that was endangered made it all the more precious.

And enlightening, because I learned so much about what love should be, how it should be treated, made me learn to express it as often and elaborately as I could.

Love is all that matters.  Every other thing in life is a detail.  Love is both your legacy and your salvation.  If you have the right kind of love, you can get through anything.  That’s what those years taught me.

We were a strange little group, with our new names and identities.  Heath installed us all in a huge house in the northwest, so it started out as five of us, two pregnant women in different stages of their lives and pregnancies, two college boys, and Heath, who came and went often.

Well, nine of us, if you counted the fact that we each (with the exception of Heath) got our own personal bodyguards.

Iris and I hit it off right away.  It was one of those friendships that required no effort at all.  It just worked.  Our age difference was drastic, but it didn’t matter; we got along famously, almost from the beginning.

Like sisters.  And, when we were having fun, partners in crime.

It was Iris who told me just who she was testifying against that had made their lives so dangerous.

“The vice president?” I repeated back to her, not quite sure if she was messing with me.

She loved to mess with me.

She nodded, biting her lip.  “Our grandmother.”

My eyes narrowed on her, looking for a lie.  “Your grandmother is the VP, and you’re testifying against her?”

She nodded again.

“What’s the charge?”

“The better question would be:  What isn’t the charge?  I’ve got so much dirt on that woman I could start a farm.”

Now I was pretty sure she was messing with me, but she kept going.

“But the reason I devoted my life to taking her down is that she murdered my parents and my sister.  I’d die to bring them justice.  They’re worthy of that.  And even if she kills me, they’ll still have a case.  My testimony will help, but I gathered so much concrete evidence that it can speak for itself.”