Chapter 11

 

 

MY PHONE woke me early the following morning, much too early for a Saturday, and when I moved, still tangled with Ian, he tightened his grip on me, as was his instinct.

“Phone,” I muttered, and he reached over me to grab it and hand it over at the same time his went off.

“Oh, what the hell,” he grumbled, rolling toward his nightstand to grab it as Chickie laid his head on the end of the bed to look at us. A voice blasted at me as soon as I answered it.

“Miro!”

It took me a second. “Min?” It was her, but I’d never heard that exact tremor in her voice before in my life. It was almost scary.

“I need help.”

My head cleared instantly. “What’s wrong?”

“Ned has lost his fuckin’ mind.”

“Ned?” I wasn’t sure I was understanding her. “Janet’s Ned?”

“Yes, Janet’s Ned.”

“What happened?”

“He checked Janet into the hospital yesterday and is trying to have her committed.”

I sat up straight. “But she just had a baby.”

“What does that have to do with what I’m telling you?”

I had no earthly idea, but it had made sense in my head.

A month ago Janet had delivered her first child. She was still out on maternity leave. Ian and I were supposed to go on our honeymoon, but we agreed we’d skip that and use our vacation for the birth of the baby instead. But I had wanted to wait until Cody, Janet’s son, was at least three months old so he wasn’t so boneless. I had held Sajani when she was a month old, and it freaked me out.

“Honey, I need you to wake up because I need you to save Janet.”

“Okay, go back,” I demanded, throwing off the covers, getting out of bed.

“It sounds like Ned’s mother got him going because Janet didn’t want to leave the baby with her. She convinced him that Janet is suffering from postpartum depression and suggested she go with Ned to a spa and rest.”

“There’s more, tell me more.”

“As I understand it, Janet and Ned were in the bedroom fighting about going out. Ned wanted to; Janet wanted to stay home with the baby, but when he tried to take Cody out of Janet’s arms to put him back into the crib, she tightened her hold, and Ned pulled at the same time,” she sighed. “In the process of this teeny tug-of-war, Cody fell, and as Janet was crying, Ned’s mother, who was also there, called the police.”

“The police?” I rasped, not believing how quickly something so innocent had escalated.

“Yeah. So when the police got there, Ned’s mother said that Janet was endangering her child. When they asked Ned for confirmation, he said that yes, she was, and had purposely dropped the baby. He blamed postpartum depression, and the cops took Janet to the hospital, but Ned had her transferred immediately to The Meadows Treatment Facility, which is where I need you to go spring her from this morning.”

“Wait.”

“Yes?” she said, and I could hear the tension and exasperation in her voice, like she didn’t want to explain things to me, she just wanted me to listen.

“Janet’s not some dying calf in a thunderstorm, right? I mean she’s strong and gutsy and—there’s no way she doesn’t stick up for herself in that situation and get the cops to listen to her,” I contended, knowing Janet, certain she would have argued, had a rebuttal for Ned’s allegation to defend her actions. “She would have told them that it was his fault, that he was the one trying to grab the baby away from her.”

“Normally, yes, I agree. I know she would have been able to handle this and stop it from blowing up, but this time she lost it.”

“Why?”

Sharp exhale of breath. “I don’t know. I think maybe she must have gotten scared, because it said on the police report that she started screaming and threatening Ned and his mother, and then she threw her cell phone at him while the police were right there.”

Hurling the phone at Ned was bad enough, but the fact there was an infant in the house compounded it. The big-picture concern would be that Janet was a danger to herself and others. Once the police made that determination, that would have been all they needed to take her into custody and remove her from her home.

I could feel my heart starting to pound. “And?”

“And that’s it.”

I couldn’t breathe. “When Cody fell—how—”

“He fell probably three feet onto the bed.”

It took me a moment. “I’m sorry?”

“No, you heard me right.”

“He fell onto the bed?” I could barely believe what I was hearing, and I was getting angrier by the second.

“Yeah.”

“Onto the bed?” I was flabbergasted. “Are you kidding?”

“I wish I was.”

“But—”

“I know. Believe me, I know.”

“So Cody’s fine.”

“Totally fine, yes.”

“Then all this is because of Ned’s mother.”

“And Ned,” Min snapped, the anger seeping through her words. “Don’t forget him. But yes, his mother was there, and—well—it escalated from bad to worse.”

“No shit. So what now?”

“Now you go get her skinny ass out.”

“How?”

“Well, as you know, I don’t practice law in DC, but I have a colleague there, and he filed a restraining order for me on Janet’s behalf against Ned and his mother.”

“Just tell me what I need to do.”

“I need you to go there, get her out of the hospital, and go with her so she can take custody of Cody.”

“Where’s Cody now?”

“He’s with Ned and his mother,” she explained and then continued on, talking to me using so much legalese that I couldn’t even follow her. Clearly she was speaking to me like I was a colleague and not her friend.

“Min, tell me again and use small words.”

In the midst of her freaking out about Janet, she took a breath. “Okay, sorry, honey, I’m just—you know.”

“I know.”

“Okay, so, I filed for a court order to stop what Ned was doing with Janet at the hospital, and the restraining order had to be approved and served to make the baby legally Janet’s until this gets straightened out. I did that all yesterday, and it was in fact approved, but it was too late to be served by the court, you understand?”

“Yes.”

“So it’s all good, there’s just no one there to serve it on a Saturday.”

“Right. So did you send me a copy?”

“Yes. I emailed it to you, so print it out and get on a plane. I don’t want her in there any longer than she needs to be. She’s probably losing her fucking mind.”

“Course.”

“I’ll be in Chicago tomorrow morning. That’s the quickest I can get there because I’m in goddamn Puerto Vallarta instead of where I should be at home with Jensen!”

There was no time to ask. She was probably doing something for work, meeting a client or something else, but whatever it was, I suspected she wouldn’t ever do it again.

“It’s fine. Try not to worry. I’ll take care of it.”

“I know you will, I know,” she said frantically. “It’s just when Janet called me yesterday, I—she was hysterical, and I—I know she called me because I’m the lawyer, right, and I couldn’t fix it right away, and if she’d called you or Ian, I just—”

“It wouldn’t have been any better,” I assured her. “And there was no way she could have gotten hold of me yesterday. I was dealing with my own shit.”

“Yeah, no, sure—I—”

“Min, sweetie, you’re doin’ awesome.”

She took a quick breath. “Okay, so, listen, Catherine will meet you there at the hospital. She left Manhattan about ten minutes ago.”

“Leaving now.”

“Listen to me,” she said solemnly, and I heard the tears in her voice. “You do not let them keep her or that baby, do you understand me?”

“Yes.”

“Aruna should be there to get you and Ian in twenty minutes. Shower, shave, wear your suits, take your badges, get it done.”

In the middle of something this scary, I was struck by her absolute faith in not only me, but Ian too.

“Min—”

“Put Ian on the phone, please.”

Turning, I found him growling, obviously annoyed at whatever his call had been about.

“So that was my father on the phone, and he doesn’t think that the deal Stafford and I worked out for Lorcan is good enough, and he—Miro? What’s wrong?”

“Min wants to talk to you,” I said, holding my phone out for him.

“What’s wrong?” he repeated gruffly.

I jiggled the phone, and he grabbed it from me.

“Hello?”

He listened while I ran around and got into the shower. Even under the water, I heard him yelling.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

I left the water on so Ian could get in right after, and as soon as I stepped out, he went in, slamming the shower door behind him.

“I’ll fuckin’ kill him.”

Meaning Ned, of course.

The doorbell rang, and I raced downstairs in only a towel to meet Aruna, who was there with Liam, holding Sajani’s hand.

“Minnow!” Sajani greeted me cheerfully, holding up her arms. Miro was not in her vocabulary, but the name of a small fish was.

Frickin’ kid.

Scooping her up, I carried her inside as Chickie barreled around the couch and up to me because I had his prize.

“Chickie!” she squealed, contorting in my arms to get down to be with him.

As soon as I set the tiny bird-boned toddler down, she opened her arms and wrapped them around Chickie’s muzzle. It should have been scary—he could have eaten her in one bite, maybe two—but instead it was sweet because her trust was complete and his protection unlimited. He’d stand between her and anything.

“Why are you not ready?” Aruna asked me irritably. “We’ve got a plane to catch.”

I was surprised. “She bought plane tickets?”

“This is Min,” she reminded me as Ian pounded down the stairs. “Of course she bought plane tickets.”

“Ian!” Sajani announced loudly, almost shrill.

“How come she can say Ian?” I questioned Aruna.

“I’m sure I have no idea,” she answered, clearly bored with the topic.

“Here’s what I think—”

“Hey. You take care of my girl,” Liam said seriously, patting my bare shoulder before hooking the nylon leash, made out of the same stuff people used when they went mountain climbing, to Chickie’s collar. “I’ve got your dog.”

Ian leaned in, hugged Liam, kissed Sajani, and then bolted for the kitchen to grab keys and probably see if he could get one cup of coffee in before we had to go.

Aruna turned, kissed her husband, then her daughter, and shooed them away before following Ian.

“Don’t screw up,” the mass of muscle that was Liam warned me.

“I won’t. Get out.”

He pointed at his wife—in my kitchen with Ian as they decided if tea would be better; we had Assam, and that was good in the morning—“I want her back just like that.”

“I promise.”

He left then, holding his daughter and leading my dog.

“I hate it when I’m not around when he goes for walks with those two,” Aruna yelled from the kitchen.

“Why?”

She gestured at the door he left through. “Are you kidding? Beautiful man with a cute kid and a gorgeous dog—he’s a chick magnet.”

I rolled my eyes and headed back for the stairs.

“Ovaries exploding all over the place!”

Dressing quickly, I was back downstairs in minutes as Ian and Aruna both gulped down some apple juice—no time for tea—and the three of us headed for the front door.

“You both strapped?” Aruna asked.

“Ohmygod!” I yelled.

“What?”

“Yes,” Ian answered as he grabbed his wool topcoat and headed outside.

I shoved her out after him.

“Watch it,” she groused.

“Are we strapped…? Who talks like that?”

She was cackling as the Lyft driver pulled up alongside our truck on the street.

“Seriously,” I said as I got into the back beside Aruna. “Min is fuckin’ scary.”

“She’s thorough,” Ian corrected. “I like it.”

Aruna gagged.

“He’s her favorite, you know.”

“That’s because he’s a bootlicker,” Aruna taunted.

He reached between the seats and swatted her leg.

“Owww, you ass!”

“Not a bootlicker. Ask Miro.”

I leered. “He licks other things.”

“I’m gonna throw up.”

The driver couldn’t keep from chuckling.

 

 

WE GOT serious once we were at the airport. After we checked in, the TSA had to determine that our clearances were good. Even law enforcement didn’t get to just carry a gun on a plane. But as federal officers, we were required to carry at all times, so even on vacation, even going on a fishing trip or something inconsequential, we had to be armed.

Badges, credentials, tickets, routine check with our office and Homeland to make sure we were who we said we were, and once we were approved and wanded and patted down—watches, gun holsters, belts, shoes, and our guns looked at again—we joined Aruna, who was waiting for us.

“It’s amazing that I made it through before you guys,” she grumbled. “Now I need coffee before we get on that plane.”

Once we were in the boarding area, Aruna’s face crumpled.

“It’s gonna be all right,” I promised, wrapping an arm around her and tucking her up against my chest even as I watched Ian talk on the phone. He was pacing as he explained where we were going and what we were doing. I wasn’t sure if he’d called Kage or Becker, but whoever it was, he was doing a lot of nodding.

She took a halting breath. “Of course it will.”

Several women and a few men turned as they passed Ian, taking another look at the gorgeous man they walked by.

“Yeah, if I wasn’t married, I’d take another look at him too.”

“I can’t stop looking at him,” I told her.

“I like the sweater and sport coat and scarf you’ve got him in. All those layers of earth tones are very handsome,” she said, turning to look at me. “Well done.”

“It helps when you’re built like that,” I agreed, gesturing at him. “I mean, what can’t he wear?”

“Are you guys talking about me?” Ian asked as he sat down beside me and put a hand on my thigh.

“Yes, of course we are.”

“The clothes?” he surmised because he knew us.

“Mmmmm,” Aruna murmured, smiling at him.

He bumped me with his shoulder. “You know how he is. I just have to put it on.”

She nodded. “Well, you look fantastic. What is that pattern, windowpane?”

“Very good,” I praised. “You’ll notice that the stripes go with the sweater.”

“I do,” she said brightly, looking better now, more her, more upbeat.

“Windowpane?” Ian said like the word burned his mouth coming out. “Who cares?”

“Well, clearly your husband wants to make sure that you don’t look like a shmuck, even before coffee on a Saturday morning,” Aruna defended me.

He left to go to the bathroom, and we watched him walk away.

“Yep, very handsome man,” she sighed before turning back to me. “And it’s cliché, but really, what’s on the inside is better.”

“I know.”

“May I just say that this blazer, jeans, and cashmere sweater combo you’ve got going on is very handsome as well?”

“And the gray lace-ups?” I teased, lifting my feet.

“A very nice touch,” she said, giggling. “But Ian’s Chelsea boots are better.”

“They’re mine.”

She laughed, but then she took a shaky breath, remembering, I was sure, that we were in the airport for a reason and not a vacation. I stood quickly and yanked her into my arms, hugging her tight as she pressed her face into my chest and sobbed.

“It’ll be all right,” I promised hoarsely. “We’ll fix it.”

“The fuck happened?” Ian grumbled as he walked up beside me. “I left you with a perfectly happy woman, and now look at her. What’d you do?”

“I didn’t do anything. She’s a crybaby,” I told him, and she laughed and hiccupped before ordering me to find the Kleenex in her purse.

As soon as I had it, Ian snatched it from me and then held a tissue over her nose so she could blow. It was adorable. We got on the plane fifteen minutes later.

 

 

THE PLANE ride was an hour and fifty minutes, and as predicted, Catherine was there when we walked out of the terminal. She ran to Aruna and grabbed her, and as they hugged, I got ready to be next. But she lunged for Ian as soon as she was released, and what started out awkward changed to him holding her like she would break in seconds.

“I knew Miro would come,” she said, sobbing into his sweater. “But I wasn’t sure you would. Thank you, Ian, I’ll never forget this.”

She and Ian would be different going forward, closer, and I was so much more than pleased.

In the line at the car rental, Ian explained his plan.

“Miro, you and Catherine go get Janet out. Me and Aruna will get the baby.”

“So we need two cars,” I told him.

“We have two cars,” he assured me.

“She really is just terrifying,” Aruna said with a whistle, referring to Min again.

After stopping quickly at a copy shop on the way to the facility to print out the paperwork Min sent, we reached the very-high-end rehabilitation center just after ten in the morning.

“I wonder why us,” I said absently to Catherine.

“What?” she asked, getting out of the Cadillac Escalade we’d paid for the upgrade on, since Catherine refused to ride in the Dodge Dart the guy at the Enterprise counter tried to give us. She looked stunning, I noticed, hair swept up, diamond studs in, Dolce&Gabbana black power suit and sunglasses on, black clutch tucked under her arm.

“You look kinda scary.”

“You look like you’re ready for a day of antiquing.”

I scowled.

“But to your question,” she said as we began toward the front door, her black Louboutin heels sliding over the gravel as she walked. “I’m a doctor, so me at the mental health facility makes sense, and Janet will want to see you first. I just hope when Ian kicks down the door of Janet and Ned’s place that he doesn’t scare the crap out of everyone. He can be a bit—intense.”

“He can be, yes.”

“But perhaps, in this instance, that’s what’s needed.”

At the front desk—it was more like a five-star hotel inside than what I was expecting—a woman smiled at us.

“Hello,” Catherine greeted. “We need to speak to the doctor in charge, as well as to one of your patients who we have an order of release for.”

“I’m sorry, but—”

“Ma’am,” I said, stepping forward, holding up my credentials, “deputy US marshal. I’m afraid I’m going to need to insist.”

And with that little, she went from combative to helpful. This was the nation’s capital, after all; they knew how to obey people with badges.

Catherine went to the office with the doctor on duty, Dr. Abbott, who seemed more than a little blown away by one of the top neurosurgeons in the country striding through the corridors of his facility. Did it make sense? No. But Catherine was using her big words, her smile, the feeling of money that oozed off her, and the hard click of her heels on the floor as she walked to intimidate the man but good.

I followed a nurse and two orderlies. “It must be hard, coming here every day.”

“The hard part is when you meet people who have no support systems,” the nurse told me. “People who’ve had their families turn their backs on them for whatever reason—that’s what breaks my heart.”

I cleared my throat. “I have a new job with the marshals service working with kids.”

She reached out and patted my arm. “Oh, then you understand how I feel. When there’s no one for your kids, you’re going to have a heck of a time, but just remember, never stop trying and never stop caring, that’s my motto.”

“It’s a good motto.”

Her smile was bright. “You don’t get into this line of work, or yours, I suspect, unless you’re a fighter—am I right?”

“You are.”

At Janet’s door, the bigger orderly gestured for me to go ahead and open the door.

“It’s not locked?”

“No, of course not,” he said. “That’s not the kind of facility we’re running here. She can leave her room, just not the building.”

I opened the door and found Janet sitting up on a made bed she clearly had not slept in, legs crossed, breathing deeply in and out.

She was dressed as she’d probably been at home, in yoga pants, socks, a Lululemon short-sleeved shirt, and a large sweater coat with pockets. Her bright red hair was tied back in a messy ponytail, and when she saw me, her face went from slack and ashen to infused with light.

“Oh,” the nurse almost cried as Janet leaped off the bed and rushed across the room to me, leaping at the last second so I had to catch her in my arms. “I’m glad you’re taking her. She didn’t strike me like some of the other postpartum moms we got in here.”

While hugging Janet tight, I heard her start to cry, face resting against my shoulder, trembling hard, breathing rapidly. “If she seemed all right, why did you let her husband check her in?”

“Because he said she was a danger to herself and their baby, and we can do a seventy-two-hour hold without question if the husband signs off on it.”

“Which he did.”

“Yes,” the nurse answered, looking like she might cry as she watched Janet shuddering in my arms. “Poor dear.”

“Well, I appreciate your help, and—”

“I need to see my baby,” Janet whispered, lifting her head to look into my eyes. “Miro, where is he, do you know if he’s safe and—”

“He’s okay,” I promised, putting her on her feet, hands on her face, wiping away her tears. “Ian and Aruna are getting him, all right?”

She was having trouble talking and catching her breath. “Ian and Aruna?”

“Yes, honey, we’re all here.”

Leaning into me again, arms back around my neck, she clung as I rubbed circles on her back and told her that everything was going to be all right.

“I knew you’d get here, I knew you’d come,” she chanted. “I knew it, I knew it.”

“Min mobilized us.”

“I knew that too,” she said, her voice breaking as the tears started again.

“Come on, let’s get outta here.”

Once we were out in the hall, Janet clung to my arm with a death grip as we walked toward the front exit.

“It was so surreal.”

“Ned, you mean?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you think happened?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he got scared that his life was going to change—and it is, I mean, of course it is, because, you know, baby.”

“Sure.”

“I thought about it all last night, and the only thing I came up with is that he had an idea in his mind of how I was supposed to be, and what he thought and the reality didn’t mesh.”

She was so logical; of course she’d thought about it and come up with an explanation for his behavior. “And his mother didn’t help.”

“Oh hell no,” she said flatly, “and I tell you what, if I see her—oh,” her voice dropped suddenly as she saw Catherine. “I knew she’d be here too, just like you. All of you guys, my friends, I swear to God, you’re the blessing of my life.”

I patted her hand as we closed in on Catherine.

“When I lost my mother, she said, ‘Baby, you’re gonna be all right. You have the girls, your sisters, and you have Miro. All of them will stand in for me until I see you again.’”

“Don’t make me cry,” I grumbled. “I haven’t had enough coffee.”

When we reached Catherine, they enfolded each other, hugging so tight, neither of them breathing. After a moment Catherine let Janet go, and she returned to my side, plastered there as Catherine rounded on the doctor.

“Thank you for taking such good care of her,” she said graciously to Dr. Abbott, who nodded and smiled before shaking her hand.

And just like that, the three of us strolled outside and into the sun.

 

 

WE DROVE to Janet’s house in Georgetown, and as she showered and changed, Catherine found luggage and packed her up, and I packed for Cody.

Janet did not want to stay. The perfect crib, the perfect room she’d painted herself, all the details she lovingly put in place, she could barely stomach to look at. The bouncer, some kind of contraption that jiggled the baby, was necessary, as were a few other things that folded down easily as I packed them into more suitcases.

“Aruna has baby stuff at home,” I told her as she dried her hair.

“Yes,” she agreed, nodding, looking nervous.

I took her hands in mine. “This is Ian and Aruna, honey. Do you think they’re not coming back here without Cody?”

Tears filled her eyes, and I drew her in close and hugged her.

Catherine put Janet’s many, many face and eye and lip products into bags.

“Don’t ever tell me again that I have a lot of crap,” I warned, and for the first time since we sprang her, she smiled.

“Why did I think that Ned’s mother lived in Maryland?” Catherine asked after she pronounced the bathroom done.

“She did live there,” Janet explained as the three of us went downstairs, me toting the four massive suitcases stuffed to the gills. “But she moved to be close to us right after Cody was born, to help, she said.”

“Yeah, but doesn’t she have, like, a million grandchildren already?”

“But Ned’s her baby,” Janet sighed, looking wrung-out and…. “Ohmygod, this hurts so bad.”

“What?” I asked anxiously.

“Where’s your breast pump?” Catherine inquired, knowing exactly what the issue was without having to be told.

“How’d you know?” I asked her.

“Because she was holding her breast, Miroslav.”

“I love it when you use my whole name.”

“Oh, I know,” she scoffed, getting the pump for Janet while I turned on the TV as they messed with the electric contraption that would also make the trip.

“Miro, honey,” Janet said, chuckling, which was nice to hear, “instead of trying to drown out the pump, why don’t you go put the suitcases in the car.”

I did as I was told.

Once they were done, I packed the breast pump in the trunk as well, and then I asked Janet if there were things of her mother’s she wanted to take from the house.

“You’re gonna laugh,” she said softly.

Both Catherine and I turned to look at her.

“All the stuff my mom left me is still in storage in Chicago.”

“In that place we all shared?” I asked.

She nodded.

“No shit?” Catherine exhaled sharply, smiling brightly. “How fortuitous.”

I snorted as we all heard a car pull up beside the row house. After walking out the front door, the three of us stood on the stoop and looked at the car. I saw Aruna first, smiling like a crazy woman, waving from the front seat, and then Ian emerged from the driver’s side before opening the back door and getting out a car seat. He came around the trunk of the car and up onto the stoop as Aruna stepped out on the sidewalk.

Janet burst into tears as Ian passed Cody to her. He was very pink, with wisps of red hair, and he had Janet’s cute little button nose. There was a moment of yawning, then squirming before he settled again and made bubbles on his lips.

“Oh, he’s beautiful,” Catherine gushed.

“He’s pink,” I said.

“He’s perfect,” Aruna sighed as she joined us.

“He’s got some serious lungs,” Ian remarked, eyes big for a second.

Aruna chuckled, patting his face for a moment before moving around me to reach Janet.

“You guys,” she whimpered, back to crying.

“What took you so long?” I asked Ian. “You go there, you kick down the door, you grab the kid—what the hell?”

“Oh no,” Aruna corrected me. “We went to the police station first.”

I looked at Ian.

“What?”

I crossed my arms, waiting.

“New job had me thinking,” he said, reaching up to brush my hair out of my eyes. “That going in by the book, doing things with a handshake instead of a fist—I mean, that’s the way to do it, right?”

“It is.”

“Oh, you should have seen him,” Aruna sighed like she was smitten with him, sliding one arm around Ian’s back, one hand on his abdomen. “He was so calm.”

“Were you calm?” Catherine asked as Janet rocked the baby.

“No,” Aruna admitted, “but I kept my mouth shut while Ian talked to the desk sergeant and then the police captain, and showed them the approved restraining order and explained the situation. Then when we got to the house, he knocked, and when Ned came to the door, he showed him the order and asked him to give Cody to him.”

“And?” Catherine prodded.

“And when he said they couldn’t come in, one of the policemen stepped in front of Ned, served him the restraining order, and told him that they were there to take the child into protective custody, and to step aside or they would make him.”

“But Ned has as much right to the baby as Janet does, then,” I said, glancing at her.

“Yes,” Aruna answered. “Except that he had Janet placed on a seventy-two-hour psych hold that was bullshit, and he’s going to have to explain that to try to reverse the restraining order, as well as during the divorce.”

“Divorce?” I asked.

“Oh hell yeah,” Janet said, starting to cry again.

“So we all packed up?” Ian wanted to know, trying to change the subject, crying having always been hard on him. He’d watched his mother cry herself a river after his father left, and then go silent and dead inside. He had an aversion to it that, somehow, did not include me. When I did it, it brought out every protective instinct he had. Fortunate for me it worked like that.

Janet nodded quickly before passing me Cody and launching herself at Ian. He rocked her with as much gentleness as she had her child.

We caravanned back to the airport, and after we checked the bags, paying a mint because they were way overweight, we got out the stroller and car seat for inspection, let them wand the baby and Janet, and then Janet and Cody together checked Catherine over because she kept beeping, finally figuring out it was probably her diamond tennis bracelet—even with all that, the girls made it through before Ian and me with our guns.

“Holy crap.” Janet was amazed, finally smiling, feeling truly safe and untouchable on the other side of the security checkpoint. “I thought they were going to strip-search you guys.”

“I’ve had that done. It’s not enjoyable,” Ian told her.

“I could have lived my whole life without knowing that,” Aruna told him.

As we sat in the boarding area and Janet prepared to breastfeed Cody while Catherine draped his baby blanket over the top of baby and boob, Janet started to shake.

“What?” I asked, seeing the fear flood her features.

“I just—what if cops come and surround us, and Ned gets them to take Cody, and—”

“That’s why I took the cops with me when I picked him up,” Ian explained. “That way if any new paperwork comes across their desk, they know that the restraining order trumps it, and they have my contact information for questions. They’ve also got the number for Min’s lawyer friend who filed the papers for you.”

She inhaled quickly. “Okay. Okay.”

“So a divorce?” I asked Janet. “You’re sure?”

“It feels like the only answer right this second,” she said, taking a breath. “But I guess thinking about it from his perspective, he might truly think that me not wanting to leave the baby for even a dinner out is me being depressed.”

I was quiet, just listening.

“I mean, he might actually be worried about me, and all of this was him showing his love,” she conceded. “But if you guys could have seen him yesterday, looking at his mother instead of me, taking his prompts from her…. I can’t… I can’t have that. I’ve always known I was second to her, but when I saw her nodding, and then the way she smiled at me as they were dragging me away from my baby—there’s no way.”

“Don’t worry anymore,” Ian murmured, and we all looked at him because his voice had gone cold in a way that was a little scary. Every now and then, I was reminded Ian was trained to kill because… every now and then… it slithered to the surface, and it was there in the slow blink of his eyes, the sneer on his lips, and the languid sprawl of his body that could come, instantly, to deadly movement.

“Okay,” Janet agreed, eyes big as she stared at him.

On the plane, Janet passed Cody to Aruna, took a shuddering breath, lifted the armrest between us, leaned into me, and was out seconds later. Aruna gave Cody some water during takeoff because we needed his ears to pop.

“I think we should go into business doing this,” Aruna said brightly. We sat three and three, Aruna and Catherine next to a stranger who appeared pleased to see Catherine until he saw the ice rink on her ring finger. “Rescuing people, saving kids.”

“Miro already does that,” Ian said hoarsely, sliding a hand up my thigh.

“Oh? What are you doing?” Catherine wanted to know.

So I explained about Custodial WITSEC on the ride home, and I noted Catherine’s huge smile along with Aruna’s.

“What?” I rumbled.

“Oh, honey,” Catherine almost squeaked, all choked up, “that’s like the perfect job for you. You’ll be so good with the kids because you’ll totally get where they’re coming from.”

“I know,” Aruna whimpered. “He’s gonna save all the babies.”

“It’s not gonna be all sunshine and roses,” I protested.

“Wow, that boss of yours,” Catherine went on, completely ignoring me. “Can he spot talent or what?”

“I know,” Aruna agreed. “And he’s yummy too. Remember how great he looked at their wedding in that suit that fit like a glove?”

“Ohmygod, that’s right,” Catherine agreed, nodding, eyes wide. “So hot. If I wasn’t married, I’d tap that.”

It was horrifying to think of Kage in any kind of sexual anything. “That’s disgusting,” I assured them, and when I glanced over at Ian, he looked just as revolted.

“Oh, Ian got a new job too,” Aruna announced. “He’s in charge now, aren’t you, bunny?”

“Bunny?” Ian repeated, looking pale.

“Tell me all about it,” Catherine purred, elbow on the armrest, looking at him like he was the second coming.

And Ian, who always found Catherine overbearing, found that being the center of her attention really wasn’t all that bad.

 

 

WHEN WE got to O’Hare and exited the terminal, Aruna pushing Cody in his stroller—the way it all hooked together was beyond me, but apparently Ian had it down after having only done it once before—we found Min waiting. She was looking for us, and when we got closer, she put her hand over her mouth and started crying. Janet was a go with the waterworks then too.

They ran to each other, arms out, and collapsed to the floor together, sobbing, laughing, hugging the daylights out of each other, and generally making a spectacle of themselves in public as people had to walk around them.

I saw Jensen standing off to the side, and when I waved, he returned the gesture but moved for Ian, hand out, ready to shake. I was surprised Ian hugged him instead, though briefly, before they turned to watch the wailing women.

We clustered around them, and then Jensen lifted Min while I lifted Janet. There was more hugging then; Min hugged us all one by one and then went into Ian’s arms and stayed there, shivering, content not to move as he bent and whispered to her as she nodded furiously.

“She really likes him,” Jensen said, shoulder-checking me.

“The feeling’s mutual,” I told him and then turned to really look at him. “I thought she wasn’t getting here until later tonight.”

He nodded. “I have a plane.”

“Huh.”

“I flew to Mexico and then here.”

“That’s handy.”

“Yeah,” he said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

He was a handsome man. I wasn’t sure about the beanie inside, but I liked the Crossroads Gin T-shirt, the vintage jeans, brogue boots, leather jacket, and the chunky Pierre DeRoche watch. The fact that he paired the timepiece with beaded bracelets and a silver cuff on the opposite wrist was a bit too hipster for me.

“So,” I said, “you rich?”

He turned his head. “Yeah.”

“I thought you restored cars.”

“I do, but, yanno, for celebrities and on TV and stuff.”

I nodded. “Min wouldn’t care about that. The rich part, I mean.”

“I am aware,” he agreed.

I cleared my throat. “Not that I’m not glad you’re here, but… why are you here?”

“Because,” he said, his eyes on Min as he answered, “there’s going to be a moment when she’s gonna come undone, and when… that… hap… pens….”

She turned from Ian, took two steps, saw Jensen, and reached.

He was there fast, sweeping her up off her feet, into his arms, hugging her tight, and she cried into his shoulder, howled. She’d been a rock and put her faith in us because it had to be Catherine going, and me, had to be Aruna and Ian, not her. She was the general. We did what she asked; we were her minions. But now in her moment of need, of total breakdown, Jensen was there to pick up the pieces, and I had to give it to him—it was damn smart.

I stepped close and swatted his back as he crooned to his girl. “Did you meet her mother?”

“Nailed that,” he said, lifting his head and giving me a superior smirk.

Ass.

I would have to grill Min later about how much her mother, who hated me and Catherine, liked the man who looked like a bad boy but was, in reality, the complete opposite.

When I glanced over at Aruna, I realized she wasn’t paying any attention, and I quickly understood why. She was smiling at Liam and Sajani, who had come to the airport to see her.

Liam, who realized when Aruna was graduating from college that letting her go back to her family in Dallas would be a huge mistake, was still smitten with his wife. And Aruna felt the same about the six-foot-five lieutenant in the Chicago Fire Department. They had always been my idea of what a good relationship was, the trust, the communication, and the humor. I’d been so glad to share them with Ian.

“Let’s go eat,” Liam suggested, and everyone agreed that was a fantastic idea.

Jensen had rented a car, and between that and the Honda Odyssey Liam brought, we were ready to caravan for the second time that day. I was just happy we were all together.