Chapter Fourteen
Anne would never forget the look on William’s face as he held her and blood dribbled down his lips. Pain. Shock. Fear. Anger. No words came from his practiced lips. No tricks left up his sleeves. Never before had Anne felt so keenly what it would mean for William to be out of her life, permanently.
Harrold Egerton had shrieked William’s name. Clary had smirked and aimed her gun again. But Anne was a good shot, even with William’s body sagging heavily against her as a grisly human shield. She caught the side of Clary’s arm, causing the woman to drop her gun.
“You shot me!” Clary protested, as though offended.
The scene had been truly surreal.
Moments later, the other officers on the scene, including the captain, had come sweeping up, taking father and daughter in on charges of conspiracy to murder, smuggling, racketeering, and on and on. Clary, however, was going to be facing multiple accounts of murder one. She had smiled all the way to the cop car.
Now, Anne sat by William’s bed in the hospital. He’d been in for surgery to remove the bullets, and the doctor had said William had done well. He hadn’t woken yet, though, and Anne felt almost continuously that she might just vomit everywhere. She couldn’t do that though. Because she was in a hospital. Where William could die from a gunshot wound.
“Wake up, you idiot,” Anne whispered occasionally. She worried they’d make her leave, soon. She wasn’t his wife or anything. When pressed, she’d blurted to the nurse that William was her daughter’s father, and they’d made their own assumptions, or maybe the nurse had thought it was close enough.
She clutched his hand and closed her eyes. She’d cried so much already that she couldn’t imagine having any tears left, but her body clearly had other plans.
“Rude,” William murmured.
Anne looked up and squeezed his hands. “Will? William! Are you awake?”
“Yes. Please don’t shout. Think I’ve got a mother of a hangover.”
Anne clicked her tongue in annoyance. “You don’t have a hangover, you idiot. You were shot. Oh, my God, are you teasing me? You nearly died. How dare you tease me?”
“Think I saved your life, love.” William looked at her groggily. “I’ll tease you if I like.”
Anne covered her mouth and shook her head.
“I’m hard to kill, you know. Plus, I’m sure I’ve got another scar or two out of this. Nice bonus.” William reached up to her. “Don’t cry.”
Anne leaned over him and took his face in both of her hands. “You are not allowed to do that ever, ever again!”
“Who the hell shot me anyway?”
Anne pulled her chair closer and rested her head against him. They held hands as she explained to him about Clary, about his mother’s ring, and about how, she suspected, Harrold Egerton had always been his father, not Anthony Spencer.
“I don’t know how I feel about that,” William murmured, stroking her fingers with his. “Egerton is such a bloody stupid name.”
“Don’t be like that. I know it must be shocking.”
“It makes more sense why he was always trying to get me on his side. I always thought it was some kind of pissing contest between them.”
“I’m not sure if there’s a better man between them, but Egerton at least had the decency to be upset when Clary shot you. I honestly don’t know what to think about her.” Anne looked up at William. “She clearly dropped the ring at the crime scene on purpose. She rolled on Santiago and a dozen other people she worked for. This bust is going to be huge when it’s all done with. I think this is all just a game to her.”
“That makes more sense than my mum having a set of twins and handing one of them over to her father to pretend she doesn’t exist,” William grumbled. “My parents were fucking nuts. All of them.”
Anne squeezed his hand. “Don’t get shot anymore. Promise me.”
“I’m not planning to go modeling at a gun range, pet.” William rubbed his eyes and licked his lips. “Could you get me some water?”
“Oh, here.” Anne tried to hold it to his lips, but William insisted on holding it himself.
He took a long sip and handed it back to her. “I appreciate your coming in there after me. I meant to keep you out of it, but you could’ve just waited to see if I made it out that day.”
“Not an option after I’d realized Clary had already attacked you once. She’s erratic. We wouldn’t be able to predict what she’d do. Her own father couldn’t predict everything.”
“Still.” William nodded. “I understand you did it because you’re a good cop. This doesn’t have to mean anything.”
Anne stared at him. He was trying to give her an out. A way to pretend that she hadn’t gone running into a dangerous situation and gotten him shot all because she cared too much to stay away. She looked up, then to her left. William tried to shift in the bed and grunted softly.
“Be careful,” she ordered.
“I hope I’m not so poorly that I can’t sit up.”
Anne pressed her lips together hard, then looked William in the eye. “I didn’t do it because I’m a good cop.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s us. It’s complicated.” William’s lips twisted to the side.
“That, but also…” Anne placed her hand on his leg and leaned forward. “Evie’s yours.”
William didn’t react for a moment. His brows furrowed, then shot up, and his mouth opened as he blinked a few times.
“Michelle said—”
“She was covering for me. She knew I didn’t want you to know. It’s why I...” Anne balled her hands into fists. “That’s why I broke things off when you went to prison. It’s why I’ve had such a hard time accepting what you’re offering me. I should’ve told you. I just didn’t want Evie to have to wonder where her father was, if you were arrested again, or worse…”
“I wonder if you expect me to disagree. I am who I am, Anne, but having had not one but two terrible fathers in my life, I wouldn’t wish that on her for the world,” William admitted. He reached for her, and she drew nearer. “If you don’t want me—”
“I want you!” Anne cried. “I can’t live knowing I took her away from you and kept our family apart because of all these stupid fears I’ve never dealt with.”
William rested his head back. He looked so tired and overwhelmed. Anne rubbed her hand up and down his arm.
“Then…” William took a deep breath and pushed himself up again. “Then, marry me, Anne.”
“Marry you!”
“That’s what folks do, isn’t it? Usually before the children, but I wouldn’t go forcing normality on us now.” William smiled slowly and a little uncertainly. “Marry me. We’ll move someplace wonderful, and I can try to be a good father to Evie. You can keep your job, or not. Whatever you want. And we’ll all still be together.”
Anne wiped her eyes and stood to give William a kiss. “Yes.” She kissed him again and again. “Yes! Let’s try it. If anyone could figure out a way to make this work, it would be you, you criminal mastermind!”
“Masterminds don’t find themselves pawns in police investigations or lying flat in a hospital bed.”
“Oh, the things the infamous William Spencer does, all because he loves me,” Anne teased.