When Love Comes Back Page 26

Felicia glanced over her shoulder. The airman—Steven had called him Dalton—spun in a circle, looking around in panic, looking for escape.

  His gaze landed on her. He pointed at her, and his expression morphed into pure hatred. “She screwed this all up. I did this for you, Major. I only wanted to love you. It’s her fault. Everything got fucked up because of her.” The airman’s voice had been shaky with panic, but now it had hardened with hatred as he seemed to be in control again.

  “Doc,” Gage whispered urgently. “You need to get out of here.”

  “I’m not leaving you,” she whispered, even as Gage tried to not so gently shove her and Austin behind him.

  She wanted to get Gage out of the line of fire, but she worried that helping him to stand would draw Dalton’s attention back to him. Glancing over her shoulder again, she saw that Steven had put himself in between them and Dalton.

  But she couldn’t worry about them when Gage was bleeding here. Her hands shook where she still held the T-shirt to Gage’s leg. He had started to look really pale and waxen.

  “Hey, Gage, you with me?”

  His eyes had momentarily shut, but now they fluttered open.

  “I need you to stay conscious, okay? I need you to stay here with me.”

  “No.” He gripped at her arm. “You need to leave.”

  “Nope. You know why I can’t do that? Because I love you, you big idiot, so you can’t die or get hurt even worse, okay?”

  Gage’s eyes widened. “Seriously, all it took to get you to say it to get shot? Totally worth it.”

  She giggled and it sounded more than a little hysterical as her eyes filled with tears. “You’re an idiot.”

  Dammit. There was too much blood pooling on the fabric in her hand. She had to keep Gage’s focus off that and on her. She needed him conscious, not passing out from the sight of the blood or drawing Dalton’s attention to him again.

  If that meant bantering and joking with him, that was the best weapon she had right now while Steven distracted Dalton.

  Behind them, Steven was trying to talk Dalton down. “You know, Airman Kennedy, you’ve been one of the best admin troops I’ve ever had. No, maintenance wasn’t your thing, but I think we’ve found your calling in the office.”

  Dalton was crying. “That’s why you should stay in the Air Force. You’re one of the good ones. Why did you have to get led astray by that Jezebel? She’s the daughter of Satan.”

  Felicia’s eyes widened dramatically at Gage. He looked to be close to passing out, and she had to keep his attention. “I’ve had people who didn’t like me before, but I think that’s a first. Should I tell him that my dad was a manager the Ford shop in Las Cruces?”

  “I wouldn’t,” Gage whispered in a droll tone. “What if his last piece of shit car was a Ford? You already have several strikes against you.”

  “Hmm, you make a good point.”

  “Dad,” Austin hissed. “How can you guys even joke right now?”

  She met Austin’s terrified gaze over Gage’s shoulder. “Because we know that the sirens are getting closer, and they’re going to get him detained. We’re going to be okay.” She put as much confidence as she could into those whispered words and just prayed that they turned out to be true.

  Finally, the sound of the police cars screamed into the ranch parking. Felicia felt the first threads of hope. She knew Steven still stood between them and Dalton like a huge, fierce protector, and there was no way Dalton would get around him. She also didn’t think he’d hurt Steven, since his obsession appeared to be more devotion to Steven than anything else.

  But then Dalton began to scream, and Felicia glanced over her shoulder instinctively draping herself over Gage and Austin to protect them in that split second.

  Dalton said, “If I can’t have you, no one can.”

  The gun fired. Steven crumpled to the ground, and Felicia watched in horror as Dalton turned the gun on himself.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Felicia slowly opened her eyes and took in the hospital room. London—what was she doing here?—lay sprawled over a chair with her legs hanging off one side, her head lolling off the other. The girl was going to have one hell of a crick in her neck.

  Everything seemed coated in cotton...fuzzy and just out of reach in her mind.

  Felicia turned her head and hissed in a breath at the pain radiating from her left shoulder. Gingerly, she lifted her right hand and probed the area covered with a thick bandage. What had happened?

  Machines beeped, and an IV line went from her right wrist to the pole beside her bed.

  Her hospital bed.

  Slowly things were starting to come together where she could make sense of them. She was in the hospital. Why? What had happened?

  Suddenly, images from the ranch began to fill her mind. Gage shot, Steven falling, Dalton...

  A sob welled up her throat. “London, London, wake up. Where’s Gage? Where’s your dad?”

  The alarm on one of the machines beside her started blaring, but she didn’t care. She sat up, ignoring the scream of pain as blazing heat tore out of her shoulder. She threw her legs over the side of the bed. The corners of her vision swam, and she closed her eyes, holding still for a moment, trying to keep from throwing up.

  “Hey, Doc,” the voice she craved said with a light touch of reassurance on her knee that she desperately needed. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  She opened her eyes and cried out.

  Gage sat before her in a wheelchair, his face pale, but he was there and more importantly... Alive.

  “You weren’t here...and I thought... you were...dead. Are...you okay?” Words burst out of her between little sobs and catches of breath as she clutched at his hand.

  He lifted her hand and kissed her palm. “Yeah, I’m good. We’re all good. A few walking wounded, but overall okay.”

  She looked him over. He was so pale with dark circles under his eyes and a full day or more of dark scruff on his gorgeous face, but she couldn’t see any other wounds besides the thick bandage mounding on his thigh under his hospital gown. “They got the bullet out?”

  He nodded. “Yes, and they fixed the nicked artery. I don’t how much you remember, but Steven was shot, too. That bullet tore through his lung and did significant damage before passing through him and hitting you in the shoulder. You’ve had multiple injuries the last few weeks, so your rattled head didn’t appreciate more trauma, but you’re stabilized now.”

  That’s why her shoulder hurt so much.

  “They had to airlift Steven out, but he’s out of surgery, and they’re giving him a good prognosis. It’s going to take a lot of time for him to heal, though.”

  “Dalton...” She didn’t want to remember, but she did in entirely too much clarity. That was one moment she wished she could forget.

  “Was a very confused man who’s not a threat anymore. I met briefly with the OSI who was investigating, and there’s still a lot they don’t know, but it appears he’d been fixated on Steven for a long time. One entire room in his apartment had been converted into a shrine to his obsession—Steven. As far as the investigators are concerned, no one from the base is to blame. It appears that there was some undiagnosed mania in him, but he had hid it really well. He didn’t have many friends, but those who did know him wouldn’t have even guessed.”

  She frowned. “That doesn’t make sense. When he broke into the clinic, there were three of them.”

  Gage’s mouth thinned. “He kept journals of every step of his obsession. He lured two local boys—minors—to help him by offering they could steal drugs from your clinic to sell. But the real goal of that break-in was to scare you off from Steven. Kennedy had planned to vandalize the place and plant the screwdriver with a threat of more damage to come to your clinic and reputation if you didn’t stay away from Steven. You were never supposed to be there that night.”

  She shuddered. There had been so many close calls over the last few weeks, but now it was o
ver. They were safe.

  Tears flowed down her cheeks. “I love you. I’m sorry it took me so long to accept it, to accept you back in my life, my heart.”

  He gingerly stood, although Austin hovered behind him ready to catch him if he fell. He leaned toward her. “I love you, too...forever and always. Fate...it’s always been there for us. We just had to trust in it.”

  Epilogue

  Two months later

  The first day of the twins’ senior year. Why was it that Gage was the one with butterflies in his stomach? He flipped another homemade, blueberry pancake onto the platter. He’d awoken bright and early this morning, had gone for a run, and had still beat the other three occupants of the house into the kitchen.

  His thigh ached slightly after running now, but he was happy to almost be back up to his full running strength. Ralph nudged the back of his knee, and Gage looked down at him. “No way. I’m not that sucker. That’s Felicia.”

  The same Felicia, who, as a vet, knew better than to feed him table scraps, but she was the worst of all of them.

  Ralph adored her for it, and his ears perked up at her name.

  “Yeah, why don’t you go get Felicia? Get Felicia.”

  The golden retriever took off running down the hall toward their bedroom.

  But after he passed by their doorway, both the twin’s bedroom doors opened in tandem. It was freaky how they did that sometimes. The more Gage spent with the twins, the more he realized there was definitely something to that twin connection that people talked about. His kids had it. They didn’t even acknowledge one another as they shuffled into the kitchen and sat on barstools.

  Austin’s head dropped to the crook of his arms on the counter. London propped hers on one arm. She might appear more alert, but that was a fallacy. Looking at the two of them made Gage crave more coffee.

  He grinned. “It’s nice to see you both so bright and chipper this morning. Excited about the last first day?”

  They both groaned. London might have opened one eye, but that could have just been a nerve twitching.

  The cat, Cagney, jumped up on the counter, and Austin began to pet her, although he didn’t lift his head. So, he was at least partially conscious.

  Felicia and Ralph bounded into the room. “There they are,” she enthused. “The senior class.” She waved jazz hands at the twins although neither one of them opened their eyes to see. She whipped out her phone and began to snap photos of them. “Aw, yeah,” she crooned. “They are going to be the stars of my IG account today.”

  London lifted her head and glared daggers at Felicia as she pointed. “You will not post those anywhere.”

  “Oh, really?” Felicia raised an eyebrow, barely flicking a glance at his threatening daughter as she flipped through the photos on her phone. “And how are you going to stop me?” She lifted the phone to show a particularly bad shot of London that made her look like an escapee from a meth lab.

  London shrieked in outrage.

  Cagney shot off the counter, and Austin glared at his sister. “You scared Cagney.”

  London rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him. “The cat isn’t supposed to be on the counter, anyway.”

  “Aww, she’s always the blossom of modicum and decorum,” Gage said to Felicia. He grabbed Felicia’s phone and scrolled through the truly awful photos of the kids. “Oh, yeah. Here, you caught it.” He turned the monitor for Austin and London to see.

  London let loose another screech of outrage, but Austin just laughed.

  He laughed until Gage showed him the photo that made him look like an escapee from a mental institution.

  Austin could predict Felicia’s moves in half the time that Gage could. He sat up straighter and looked her dead in the eye. “What do you want that will get those photos deleted?”

  Felicia propped her hands on the counter, fully ready to negotiate hardcore with the twins. Her domineering attitude was getting him a little hot. He surreptitiously adjusted himself in his thin running shorts.

  “I want you two to pose nicely for me this morning before you leave,” Felicia bargained.

  Austin groaned as if she’d just announced he’d never be able to get online again.

  “Without whining,” Felicia added.

  “Deal,” London said as she grabbed Austin by his shirtsleeve. “Come on. Let’s go get pretty for our annoying paparazzi.”

  Felicia made a put-out sound as the twins disappeared into their rooms. She turned to Gage. “I’m not that annoying, am I?”

  “Hmm, let me check.” He tugged her close so her body pressed into his from knees to breasts. “No.” He kissed her long and deep. “I don’t find you annoying at all. In fact, I think it’s really incredible how you are keeping track of all these moments for them. They may not appreciate it now, but in another few years, they’ll really appreciate having all the photos. Thank you for that, Doc.”

  He kissed her again. This time, the kiss went a little deeper.

  She pulled back. “You know, after they leave for school, I’m thinking we might both need a shower.”

  “Together?” His cock jerked in his shorts, and she felt it.

  She cupped him, which just made him that much harder. “Oh, yeah. Definitely, but first I want some of these pancakes you made.”

  “I think I should be offended. You’d rather eat than...” He gestured down to his still-throbbing erection.

  She shrugged. “We still have teenagers in the house.”

  He narrowed his eyes down the hall. “Another year and they’ll be going to college. Then I’ll have you all to myself.”

  “Until you move again.”

  He shook his head. “That isn’t going to happen. I put in my retirement paperwork. As of December, I am out of a job. Think you’ll still love me when I’m unemployed?”

  Her mouth dropped open. “Seriously?” Her eyes filled with tears. “You’re not moving?”

  “Well, yeah, I kind of have to.”

  Her face fell, but he just kept talking.

  “The incoming commander will want the house, so I was kind of hoping we could make this permanent, and I could move in with you.” He reached into the drawer where he’d stashed the solitaire engagement ring he’d bought her eighteen years ago and dropped to one knee. “Will you marry me?”

  This wasn’t how he’d planned on doing this, but it felt right even though he was sweaty from his run, and she’d barely rolled out of bed.

  There was a reason he’d stashed the ring here. He had a feeling the right time would happen when he least expected it, just like everything else in their lives.

  This is who they were, and they were perfect...as long as they were together.

  She dropped to the floor in front of him and grabbed his hands as tears rolled down her cheeks. She nodded as she kissed him.

  “I need the word, Doc.”

  “Yes!”

  THE END

  THANK YOU...

  Thank you for reading When Love Comes Back. When I wrote When Love Intrudes, I truly thought the series was done, although there was a couple of characters (like Felicia) who I thought might someday spark a story. Welp, it happened and book #5 appeared in my head.

  And so did book #6.

  What? Yep, you read that right. There’s at least one more book to come...

  I’m writing When Love Surprises right now. This is Steven’s story and I can promise you, it’s not going to be what you (or he) expects. There are a few surprises to that story. The only thing I can say...trust me. There was a very good reason why things weren’t perfect between him and Felicia.

  Would you like to receive a FREE book and find out when I release my next book? You can sign up for my newsletter e-mail list at www.christi-snow.com.

  You can also follow me on Twitter at @ChristiSnow, or like my author Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/christisnowauthor

  Reviews help other readers find new books. I appreciate all reviews, whether positive or negativ
e. Thank you for taking the time to give feedback.

  If you liked this book, I have several other books in different genres available and coming soon.

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  Operation: Endeavor (Book #2)

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  When Love Intrudes (Book #4)

  When Love Comes Back (Book #5)

  When Love Surprises (Book #6...2018?)

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  Book #5

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