Legal Ease (Sutton Capital Series) (21 page)

Kelly laid her head back down on his chest and breathed easily for the first time in a long time. “Yes, Jack. I’ll marry you for real.”

Jack took Kelly home the following day and over the next few weeks, they began the process of trying to put the turmoil of the kidnapping behind them. The kidnappers were arrested and their testimony led back to the mastermind of the human trafficking ring and to Denise, who had set up Kelly by getting her to go out the back door where her security detail wouldn’t know she was in trouble until it was too late to do anything about her disappearance.

The group had struck previously in two other cities and the FBI were working with the kidnappers  to have their sentences reduced if all ten of the other women who’d already been sold could be located and returned home. Sam was working to help police locate and monitor the people who accessed the site where the women were sold in the auctions. A sting was being set up to arrest interested buyers.

Jack and Chad decided to find someone to provide temporary security for Kelly until she felt safe being on her own again and she was going to take some self-defense lessons and see a therapist to help her regain her confidence.

Kelly felt good that she had taken steps to help Jack and the police track her down but she still felt vulnerable when she left the house and she knew she couldn’t live her life feeling that way. She needed to take back what those men had taken from her. She knew that Jack would help her do that.

Jack and Kelly planned to renew their vows in a real wedding ceremony the day before they left on their three-week trip in August. Jennie and Jessica helped Kelly pick out the wedding dress of her dreams and pale violet bridesmaids’ dresses for them to wear. Chad and Andrew would stand with Jack as his groomsmen and Aunt Mabry would sit behind Jack where his mother and father would have sat. Chad and Jack agreed, it was good to have Mabry – the old Mabry – back among them.

Jack walked into the house and called out for Kelly and Mrs. Poole. He had come home early from work, something he had been doing a little more often since Kelly had come home from the hospital. Mrs. Poole came bustling in from the kitchen.

“Hi, Jack.” She greeted him with her usual cheery smile. “She’s sitting outside on the patio. She seems more relaxed today.”

“Thanks, Mrs. P. What’s for dinner?” Jack asked as he kissed her on her cheek.

“Roasted chicken with new potatoes and carrots,” Mrs. Poole answered as she swatted him away and shooed him in the direction of his wife.

Jack watched Kelly for a few minutes as she sat in one of the Adirondack chairs on the patio. There was a book next to her but it sat on the table unopened, and Jack hoped she wasn’t thinking about the kidnapping. He would do anything to take away those memories and help Kelly heal.

Jack thought back to his life before Kelly and wondered how it was that he hadn’t known how empty his life was. He had no idea until Kelly arrived that he was missing the
fullness of a life with the one that he loved. As he crossed to her now, he thought of the completeness he felt with Kelly by his side.

“Hi, beautiful,” he said as he came up behind her. He was happy to see that she didn’t flinch when he spoke. He pressed a kiss to her lips and sat on the edge of her chair and looked into her eyes.

“What are you doing out here?” Jack asked.

Kelly smiled at Jack. “I was just looking at the lawn and thinking that this is a lawn that is calling out for children. I’ll be busy with school for a few years, but I want us to have kids someday,” she said, as she looked out over the lawn. “There should be children splashing in the pool and children running down to the beach. There should be a dog and a tree house. And a horseshoe pit. We should have horseshoes.”

Jack grinned. “Anything you want, sweetheart, as long as I have you. Anything you want,” and he gathered his wife into his arms and swept her away into the fairy-tale land of kisses and passion once again.

Thank you to my wonderful husband for his patience and support. Thank you to Susan Smith for her endless brainstorming and reading, and to Cathy Cobb, Amy Glasgow, and Liz Burton for reading early drafts. Thank you to Patricia Thomas, whose editing proved invaluable. Thank you to Patricia Parent, my final set of eyes, for cleaning up after me. Thank you to all of the friends and friends-of-friends who read the pre-release version for me. I owe you all so much.

Thank you for reading my book!

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