After a barrage of tests, the ER doctor cleared Janie to go home. One of the patrolmen drove the girls back to the jeep Maddie had driven to the warehouse. The patrol unit followed them to their house to make sure they made it back alright.

Maddie wondered if Derek had requested the police escort.

As they walked up the steps to the house, Maddie smiled. “So, Janie, are you glad to be back home?”

Janie looked so pale and little, even though she was taller than Maddie. “I will be glad to get back to normal. Feels like a lifetime has passed since I was taken,” she said quietly.

“We’ll get everything settled and as back to normal as we can, but first, I think you need to go to bed.”

Janie nodded her head slowly in agreement.

As soon as they walked through the door, LouLou came bounding around the corner and straight into Janie’s arms. The large dog stood on her hind legs and licked Janie’s face in welcome.

Janie staggered backward, laughing. “Best greeting a girl could get.” With a little bounce in her step she walked to the kitchen table and sat down at the table. As quickly as her little burst of energy seemed to come, it drained from her body, and she slumped in the chair.

Though her sister wasn’t quite herself she was home, making Maddie feel whole again.

Just then, Maddie’s phone rang. She checked the caller ID and saw it was a blocked number. She hoped it was her father.

“Hello,” said Maddie.

“Maddie, are you girls okay?” Her father’s voice came through the line, loud and clear.

Janie looked up from the table, her eyes widening. “Is that Dad?”

“Oh, hey, Dad. Yeah, we are now. I tried to call you the other day but couldn’t get through,” Maddie said with gruffness in her voice and a little hitch at the end.

“Sorry, Maddie. We had some unrest here in Turkey and trouble with the phones and access to internet for the past 24 hours. Talk to me.”

Maddie looked over to Janie again. They nodded to each other at the same time.

“We had a situation here, but we took care of it, and everything is fine now,” Maddie said.

“Maddie?” Suddenly the tone in her Dad’s voice changed, and she knew she’d been caught in a lie. “I know what’s been happening. I got a call from the Lieutenant Slaughter at the police station, as well as from Hank Patterson. I keep tabs on you girls, even when I’m so far away.”

She laughed at this. “I figured you did, but it’s hard to know for sure when we can’t get hold of you.”

His voice boomed through the line, “Well, you girls are in luck. I’m coming home in a month, so be prepared.” He chuckled.

Maddie remembered all the times growing up when Dad was on a vacation or break. He didn’t know how to stop working and always had some activity planned that he wanted to get done. This trip would be the same.

The doorbell rang.

“Dad, I better go. Here, talk to Janie.” She handed the phone to her sister.

As she left the room she could still hear her dad’s booming voice and Janie’s quieter one responding.

Maddie pressed her eye to the peephole in the door, and her pulse quickened.

“Maddie, open up,” Derek said.

Maddie flung open the door.

Derek swooped her into his arms and planted a kiss on her lips.

She melted against him, her arms encircling the back of his neck. Maddie opened her mouth to his kiss and met his tongue with her own.

When they finally broke away, she grabbed his hand. “Come on, let’s go to my room.” Maddie dragged Derek to her room as if they were two teenagers hiding from their parents. She stopped in the hallway and pointed Derek toward her room. Over her shoulder, she hollered to Janie, “Are you okay if I go to bed?”

Janie yelled back, “Yeah I’ll be fine. I wanted to talk to Dad a little longer.”

“Okay, Janie. I’m glad you’re back and safe. Love you,” Maddie said, not so loudly this time. Then she sprinted to her room.

As she crossed the threshold, Derek grabbed her up in his arms again.

When Maddie tried to say something, Derek covered her lips with one of his fingers, “Maddie, I love you, and I want to make a go of this.”

“Oh, I do, too. I mean, I love you and want to see where this relationship goes,” Maddie said with a sigh.

Derek kissed her again, his soft lips moving down the side of her face to the top of her shirt. He suddenly stopped and glanced into her eyes. “Maddie, I wanted to tell you before, but so much has happened in a short time… There’s one thing you need to know, before we go much further,” Derek said all at once. He stepped away from her for a moment, and his broad shoulders squared.

The top two buttons of his shirt were undone, and Maddie could see the sparse hairs across his broad chest. Her heart beat faster. She wanted to touch him, but she held back. Whatever he had to say was important to him.

He met her gaze, unflinchingly. “I have a son.”

Maddie blinked, her heart racing. “You have a son?”

He nodded.

Maddie loved kids and didn’t seem to understand what the problem was. Unless… “You’re not married, are you?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I’ve never been married. After we broke up, I went to college and met a girl. We got engaged, but then she left me. I thought that was the end of it, until a couple years ago, she told me we had a son. His mother was dying of cancer. That’s why I left the military. I had to take care of them. She died, and I’ve been raising Jacob ever since.”

“Okay.” Maddie took a deep breath and let it out before saying, “When do I get to meet him?”

He smiled. “Soon.” Derek moved toward her like a cat stocking it’s pray. “But first…” He caught her in his arms and backed her up until she felt the mattress against her thighs.

“Yeah. First things first.” And she loosened the rest of the buttons on his shirt and tugged it free of his jeans.

Soon, clothes were flying, and their bodies came together at last.

Derek kissed a path from her mouth down the side of her neck to one of her taut nipples. He sucked it into his mouth and pulled hard.

Maddie dug her heels into the mattress and arched her back, tingling spreading from her core to the tips of her fingers.

Once he had suckled both breasts, he moved back to her neck and kissed her up to her mouth.

When he latched onto her lips, Maddie sighed.

The tip of his cock pressed against her entrance, and he stopped.

“What?” she said, eager to consummate their relationship.

“Protection.” He bent over the side of the bed, grabbed his pants and rescued his wallet from the back pocket. “There better be one…” he muttered.

Maddie chuckled.

He held one up, triumphantly.

Snagging the packet from him, Maddie tore it open and rolled it down his swollen shaft. Then she grabbed his hips and guided him into her. Their tongues danced together while he moved in and out of her.

In one move, Maddie rolled them over, so that she was on top and Derek was on the bottom. Maddie wiggled until her core was poised just over him and let her wet entrance seep over his hood. He then lurched, and his cock was inside of her again.

Maddie’s mouth formed an O as she moaned and rocked up and down on him. When she felt she couldn’t move anymore, Derek pushed her off his body, rolled off the bed, then pulled her to the edge. He bent her over the bed and spread her legs. His cock probed until he felt her warm wet entrance, and then slammed into her body.

A scream rose up Maddie’s throat, and she buried her face into the mattress. She quivered from the explosion erupting inside her body.

Derek moved in and out of her a couple more times, and then buried himself in her, his cock throbbing with his release. When his body relaxed, he scooted her deeper onto the mattress, and then lay down beside her and wrapped his arms around her.

Maddie spoke first. “I could stay like this forever in your arms.”

Derek smoothed her hair out of her face and said, “We can stay like this for ever, but I’m sure there are things we both need to do.”

She sighed. “You’re right. We have the rest of our lives to plan.”

* * *

The next day Maddie drove up to Derek’s apartment building.

He had a son, and she was going to meet the little boy today.

As she walked up to the number Derek had given her, her heart fluttered. She was so lucky to have found the love of her life again. That he had a ready-made family was even better. She’d always wanted a family of her own, and this would be a new start.

Maddie drew in a deep breath and held it as she knocked on the door.

Derek’s deep voice sounded through the panel. “Coming!” He opened the door and smiled as he let her into his small apartment.

On the floor of the little living room sat a little boy who looked just like his father.

Derek caught Maddie’s hand. “Before you two meet, I wanted you to know they caught the mayor trying to leave town.”

Maddie’s eyes widened. “Thank God. Did he confess?”

Derek shook his head. “No. He lawyered up as soon as they cuffed him.”

She touched a hand to his chest. “Tell me he won’t go free. Not after what he’s done.”

With a smile, he took her hand. “Not a chance. One of the kidnappers we captured is spilling his guts about the mayor’s involvement. The man will spend the rest of his life in jail.”

Maddie sighed. “I hope they can recover some of the girls who were already sold.”

“Me, too.” He turned her hand over and pressed a kiss to her palm. “Now, there’s someone I want you to meet.” Derek ushered her over to a couch near his son.

Maddie sat on the edge of the cushion, her heart beating fast.

“Jacob this is the lady I told you about,” Derek said. “Her name is Maddie.”

Jacob glanced up at Maddie, with his teal eyes so much like Derek’s, and said, “Hi, Maddie.”

“Hi, Jacob. What are you playing with?” Maddie asked.

He held up the action figures and vehicles he was playing with. They were all super heroes. “I’m playing good guys and bad guys, just like my daddy.”

Maddie smiled. “Can I play, too?”

“Sure. You can play the girl, and I can be the good guy so I can rescue you,” Jacob explained.

“Sounds like a plan.” Maddie said, as she settled on the floor to play with Jacob. She glanced up at Derek and they both smiled.