In Love and Rescue: When love is the perfect rescue... (34 page)

“She’s out of surgery,” Wren answered. “The doctor says that the next twenty-four hours will be crucial, but it looks like she’s going to make it.”

Surprised, Desmond bent to Wren’s level. “Wait, what did you say? It looks like she’s going to make it?”

She nodded and then crumbled to the floor, taking Desmond down with her. He pulled her into his arms and squeezed her tightly.

“So…so these are happy tears, then?” He asked, suddenly breathless.

“Ecstatic tears,” Wren replied. “From the bottom of my heart, Desmond, thank you for ev
erything that you have done. If it weren’t for you, she would be dead. He would have killed her. I know he would have killed her. I just can’t…Oh God,
thank you
.”

He placed his cheek on top of her head and gently rubbed her arms as her body racketed with tears. Behind them, Maria wiped at her eyes.

After a few moments, she patted the exam table. “So, Mr. Harding. About those broken bones?”

He stood and helped Wren up with him, then gave her a long, tight hug before she made her way
back to the hospital lobby. Then, he turned around, and smiled. 

*****

When Larke opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Desmond uncomfortably sprawled in the hospital guest bed underneath the large room window. With the exception of his left arm, which was wrapped up in a blue cast, he seemed to be intact. Ironically, it was
his
health that she’d been most worried about, regardless of the fact that she was lying in a hospital bed with tubes coming from different parts of her body.

The last thing that she remembered was him holding her in his arms and the intense pain moving throughout her body. She’d been sure that she was going to die in the middle of the cabin living room, but even with how terrifying that prospect seemed, she never once questioned why she pushed Desmond out of the way. She would do it again if she had to, but hopefully the opportunity never arose because the end result was still painful as all hell.

As though he could feel her staring at him, his eyes opened. Realizing that she was awake, he sprung up from the bed and was immediately at her side.

“Hey you,” he greeted, gently stroking the back of her hand. “Are you in any pain?”

With the exception of how much more difficult it currently was to take a deep breath, she felt mostly fine. The hospital staff had drugged her up pretty well.

“I’m not in any pain,” she replied, flipping her hand over so that her palm was facing up. Instinctively, he wrapped his hand around hers.

“You know I’m mad at you,” he told her.

Larke smiled. “I figured you would be.”

He laced their fingers together. “You scared the hell out of me.”

“I guess even
SEALs get scared, huh?” She joked. The smile that spread across his face was better than any narcotic they could pump through her veins. So was the finger that he was now using to stroke her wrist.

“Gano and Lindholm survived,” he told her. “Their list of charges are about as long as
Les Misérables
.”

She paused. “And Eddie?”

“Eddie’s dead,” Desmond definitively answered. “Right now, his entire empire is being dismantled. It seems as though he didn’t have as much loyalty as he thought. People are practically falling over each other to try to cut deals with the Feds and avoid as much jail time as possible.”

Tears filled Larke’s eyes. “So…am I safe?”

Desmond nodded with a smile. “Yes. You’re safe, baby.”

He reached down and planted a kiss on her forehead, then used a thumb to wipe the moisture from the corners of her eyes. Desmond couldn’t believe the way he felt at that moment
: euphoric, ecstatic, grateful. The prospect of ever leaving Larke’s side, ever again, suddenly seemed outrageous and insane. He was nothing like his father. Actually, the fact that he’d suppressed so much after his mother’s death was the real reason he’d been slowly transforming into the cold, uncaring person that his father had been. His mother, on the other hand, had always encouraged him—in school, life and even when it came to matters of the heart—and now that Larke had opened him up to those possibilities and more, his mother’s spirit was more alive in him now than it had ever been. He’d been so angry about her death that he’d failed to realize that she’d spent her entire life making sure that he didn’t become his father. She’d shown him love and compassion. From a young age, she’d shown him what it meant to care for the people that you loved, and even those that you barely knew. She’d wanted
her
legacy, not his father’s, to live on through him and by many standards, she’d greatly succeeded.

“Des, you in here?”

Doug entered the hospital room looking unremarkably healthy for a man that had just taken a bullet to the abdomen. He was also holding his daughter in his arms, her usually big curly hair pulled back into a puffy ponytail with a glittery headband. Behind him, his wife trailed in.

“Are you sure you were shot?” Desmond asked, tugging him in for a quick pat.

“O ye of little faith,” Doug teased. “Man, I’m made of Teflon. You didn’t know?”

“No, I wasn’t aware,” Desmond answered. He gave Alisha a hug and tickled Tandi’s cheek.

“How are you two holding up?” He asked.

Alisha sighed. Even though she was putting on a brave front, Larke could tell that she was still worried about her husband.

“I’m trying to feed off of Doug’s positive energy,” she replied. “Somehow, I can’t seem to get over the feeling of being scared to death when they told me that my husband had been shot, as easily as my husband has seemed to have gotten over actually being shot.”

Doug chuckled and placed a loud smack on Tandi’s cheek. “Leesh, what do I always tell you? No matter what happens, I will always fight my ass off to make sure I come back to my ladies.”

Tandi scrunched her nose and held out her hand. “Daddy, you owe me a nickel.”

Doug mimicked her expression. “I’m pretty sure I’m caught up on your allowance. That drawing you left in my pocket with the man on the dollar bill crying
‘red tears’ kinda sped things up.” He turned to the room and whispered, “She said she didn’t have a blue crayon, but I know better.”

Tandi giggled. “No, Daddy. It’s for the swear jar. You just said a bad word.”

He glanced at Alisha. “Since when did we get a swear jar?”

“Since Mommy hit her toe on the bottom of the refrigerator playing hide and seek without knowing that
Tandi was in the cupboard.”

Doug placed an
other kiss on her cheek. “Okay. I’ll add some money to the swear jar little Miss Casey.”

Tandi giggled again and Larke found her gaze wandering to Desmond. He was staring at Doug and his daughter with the same wishful smile that he had
at Ivor and Eva’s house when he’d watched them on the dance floor.

“But how are you feeling, Larke?” Doug redirected.

“I’m good,” she answered. “Better than I thought I would be.”

“I’m so glad to hear that,” Doug added. “You had us all worried there for a minute. By the way, I kinda told some people outside that if I came in here
and didn’t come out in five minutes, it meant that you were awake.”

Alisha opened the door and one by one, they walked in:
Heather, Thomas, Wren, Phillip, Jay, and Lawrence. Jay was holding a fistful of giant balloons that read “We Love You,” and Phillip pulled a vase of red roses from behind his back and placed them on the table beside Larke’s bed. For the next few minutes, she was bombarded with hugs and well wishes.

Heather pulled a plastic container from her purse and
placed it next to the flowers. “I made your favorite last night,” she said. “I snuck it past the hospital staff.”

“She almost got caught though,” Jay jumped in. “When she walked by, the big dude at the front desk started sniffing hard.”

Heather gently pinched him and Jay playfully reacted as though he’d just experienced the most painful thing in the world. Larke laughed and her family grinned in delight. It was finally all over and they still had their Larke. Things could finally begin to even out.

“As soon as you’re back on your feet, we’re going shopping,” Wren told her sister. “I’m also looking into transferring out to a law school near you so that we can be closer. Oh yeah, where’s Jay? Jay, tell her your good news.”

Jay cautiously sat at the edge of the bed. “Well, I got a scholarship offer from Georgetown, so guess where I’ll be living next year?”

Larke’s eyes widened and she wanted to squeal in delight, but didn’t have the lung power for it just yet. Instead, she motioned for a hug and squeezed Jay as hard as she could.

“Congratulations, Jay,” she told him. “So what, both of you will be in DMV area with me by this time next year? Dammit. Just when I thought I was getting rid of you.”

The room laughed and Tandi notified Larke that she too owed her a nickel for the swear jar.

As everyone continued to chat, Desmond moved over to the corner of the room and silently watched on with folded arms. Heather nudged her husband in the side, and Thomas nodded towards her before walking over to Desmond.

“Desmond, I never got the chance to thank you, man to man, for what you did for my daughter. Not only am I thankful for what you went through to protect her, I’m also grateful for what you went through to protect our country. I can honestly say that I have never met a man greater.”

Desmond smiled, slightly embarrassed. He held out his hand, but Thomas wrapped him up in a hug instead.

“I have one more surprise for you,” Doug announced. He placed Tandi on the floor and motioned to someone in the hallway. When they entered, Larke’s jaw dropped.

“But wait,” Ivor began, making his way through to her. “What happened here? The last time I saw you, you were supposed to be in good hands.”

Eva walked in behind him with a tote full of food in her hands. She placed the bag on the table next to Larke before leaning in for a loving hug, and
planting a tender kiss on Larke’s cheek. Ivor looked around the room until he spotted Desmond in the corner. He then motioned him over.

“Mister, w
hat happened here?” He asked.

Desmond jutted his chin out towards Larke. “Why don’t you ask her?”

“Me?” Larke responded. “I didn’t do anything except heroically save your life.”

Ivor gently “tsked” before squeezing Desmond in a tight hug. “It is so good to see you, son. You don’t know how good it is to see you. The two of you.”

Eva touched Ivor on his sleeve. “Tell him what we talked about.”

Before Ivor could speak, Desmond put his hands up in front of him. “First things first. What are the two of you doing here?”

Doug raised his hand. “That would be my doing. Remember that I told you I had an informant in Jamaica? Well…”

Ivor proudly tucked his thumbs in his belt loops. “That’s me. They call me The Informant.”

Desmond stared at him incredulously. “So, all this time, you knew way more than you were letting on and that Larke and I were really married?”

Eva’s head shot up. “What?”

“Lord…” Ivor started.

“
Really married? Ivor, you didn’t tell me that there was ever a doubt.”

“I forgot, sweetie,” he cooed.

“Don’t sweetie me,” Eva warned. “Sometimes I want to just deck you.”

Ivor sent her a devilish grin. “Not me, baby. I’m a lover, not a fighter.”

She fought to hide a grin, but Ivor had already spotted it. All he needed was to see that grin to know that he’d won her over with his charm. Even after nearly eighty-years, he still had it.

“But anyway,” he said, turning back to Desmond. “Me and Eva were thinking that, since you don’t have any family, we could adopt you.”

Desmond smiled. “Adopt me? Don’t you think I’m too old for that?”

“Not at all,” Eva chimed in. “We don’t mean with papers or anything. We wanted to let you know
that you can come visit us for the holidays. And we can come to you. You can call, write, email
me
since Ivor still doesn’t know how to use the computer…”

Ivor shot her a look.

“Think of us as your family,” she added. “Even like parents…if you want.”

There was no mistaking the hopefulness in her voice.

“We loved having you around,” Ivor continued. “And we missed you when you were gone. The two of you. Having you there made me and Eva realize that it would be nice to have a son like you. Plus, watching the two of you in love renewed an even greater passion in me and Eva’s relationship.”

Eva
blushed and Desmond ran an embarrassed hand over his face.

“
What they say is true, you know,” Ivor added. “Old people are wise and wrinkles are just pockets to hold your wisdom as you get older.”

“And who says that?” Desmond asked, folding his arms across his chest.

“It’s in the bible,” Ivor answered, flinging one hand in the air.