~ Chapter Twenty-Four ~
Three months later …
Carter
“Who’s up next?” Captain Waverly yelled as he stood in front of the water dunking tank. Due to all that’d happened with Corey, the annual Williamsport Fire Department picnic had to be pushed back a few weeks, since Rescue Four was hosting it. Thankfully, the fall weather had held out just long enough to give us unseasonably warm weather through most of September. I was grateful for it, because it gave Michelle time to work on planning the event with her company.
“Don looks pissed,” Michelle laughed, as she stood by my side.
“He’s about to get even more pissed.” I chuckled and rotated the nerf ball I had in my hands a few more times.
“Let’s go, Townsend, show us what you’re made of,” the captain taunted.
“We all know your aim’s shit!” Don yelled from inside the tank, goading me to hit the mark.
“Ohhh! He said a bad word!” Diego yelled and pointed from my opposite side.
“See, Donnie, just for cursing in front of the kid, you gotta go!” And with that, I aimed and fired the ball right for the target. The tank made a ding sound just before Don hit the water, splashing it everywhere. A few drops even managed to hit me as I laughed my ass off.
“Yay!” Diego cheered, clapping. I bent down to pick him up.
“You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep picking him up! I told you that,” Michelle insisted. She often scolded me for picking Diego up, saying he was too big, but I got a kick out of it and so did he, if the way he threw his arms around my neck, squeezing tightly was any indication.
“You ready to do this?” I whispered in his ear.
He pulled back, his brown eyes gleaming with excitement as he nodded.
“Okay.” I sat him down on the ground and reached into my back pocket.
“Mama, come here. Mr. Carter needs to ask you something,” Diego prodded, pulling his mother by the arm closer to us.
I grinned at the way her eyebrows dipped in confusion. I couldn’t see her eyes through the square-rimmed sunglasses she wore but I had memorized every look of hers. I knew the special way her eyes wrinkled at the corners when she was questioning what was happening without using words.
“Come here, sugar.” I took her hand from Diego’s. “The little guy and I both want to ask you something,” I stated, looking down at Diego to make sure he was included in this special moment. I raised my other hand to show her the documents I held in them. “These are forms signed by one Gabriel Garcia relinquishing any and all parental rights over Diego Garcia.”
Michelle’s mouth dropped open. I hadn’t told her about Gabriel signing these forms until now. She’d asked how I got him to leave her alone but I refused to give her all the details.
“He actually signed them?” she questioned.
“I can be very convincing. See, I was thinking we could change Diego’s last name.” I had to release her hand to switch the top document and reveal the second set of forms I had already begun filling out.
“Are those …”
“Adoption papers?”
I nodded. “I think Diego Townsend sounds a hell of a lot better than Diego Garcia, don’t you? Oh, and of course, his mama’s name needs to match. So, I was thinking, Michelle Townsend sounds better than Clarke.” I paused to pass the forms to Diego, while I pulled the ring box out of my back pocket and got down on one knee.
Michelle let out a small gasp.
“Michelle Clarke, will you do me the ho–”
“Yes!” she blurted out, falling to her knees to wrap her arms around my neck.
I pulled back to cup her face and press a kiss to her lips. It wasn’t the full on kiss I wanted to give her, but we needed more privacy than we had at the moment for that type of kiss.
“Sugar, you didn’t let me finish. Diego and I had a whole speech written out. Didn’t we?” I turned to Diego.
“Yeah, Mama!”
Michelle cupped Diego’s cheek. “You were in on this, too?”
“Yes! Mr. Carter asked my permission to marry you and be my forever daddy.”
Michelle cupped Diego’s chin with her hand. “And how do you feel about that?”
Diego’s eyes grew big and he turned to look at me, smiling so wide the gap from yet another fallen tooth was apparent. “I love him like he’s my daddy already.” He moved from Michelle and wrapped his tiny arms around my waist.
I will not cry … I will not cry … I will not … I’d hear about it for months if I broke down in front of my squad, but dammit if Diego wasn’t making it hard. I ruffled his curly hair, clearing my throat.
Thankfully, Michelle did the crying for me. She turned to me with watery eyes and said, “Thank you.”
I pulled her in again. “Thank you for filling my life up with what I never knew was missing.” I managed to get the ring out of the box and slip the twisted halo diamond ring, set in platinum, around her finger.
“This is too much!” She gasped as she finally took in the ring.
“Not enough as far as I’m concerned.”
“’Bout time someone made an honest man out of you, Townsend!”
I heard Don’s voice not too far off and I glanced up to see him dabbing at his wet hair with a towel strewn around his shoulders. I stood and helped Michelle to stand, so we could accept the congratulations from my squad members. Eric clapped me on the back while Angela pulled Michelle into a warm hug. Next was Sean, followed by the captain, and a soaking wet Don who kept his distance from Michelle with just a handshake to avoid soaking her, but did his best to drench me.
We all laughed, and I felt lighter than I ever had. Even with the shadow overhanging Rescue Four. Corey still hadn’t adjusted to his new life, even though he had been discharged from the hospital and was in a rehabilitation facility ― one of the best in the city, since an anonymous donor provided the financial means he would need to get back on his feet. And we still didn’t know who or even if there really was someone after Rescue Four. No more incidents had occurred in our day-to-day calls. Even still, I was relentless in ensuring Diego and Michelle were safe, hiring discrete security guards to keep an eye over both of them, at Diego’s school and at Michelle’s work. Neither one of them knew about that and I planned to keep it that way. Gabriel was out of the picture. He was tied up in a very messy divorce, blacklisted in the Williamsport legal world, and for all intents and purposes a non-factor, but I still kept tabs on him just to make sure. Nothing was going to touch my new family.
“Who the hell is that?”
I looked up from a giggling Michelle to where Don’s head was turned, and squinted.
“I’ll be damned,” I uttered.
Walking across the Williamsport City Park in our direction was a tall figure I was very familiar with. With his darkly bronzed skin, dark hair, and dark glasses, I couldn’t see his eyes but I was sure they held some mischief.
“’Sup boys!” he called as he moved closer.
“Emanuel? The hell are you doing way across town? Your squad’s not participating in the picnic this year,” Sean stated, slapping fives with Emanuel.
“You didn’t get the news?” he questioned, looking around. “Captain didn’t tell you?”
We all looked toward Captain Waverly who’d been too preoccupied with his date to notice Emanuel’s arrival.
“Oh, Emanuel. I thought you weren’t arriving until next week. Anyway, Rescue Four, say hello to our newest squad member, Emanuel Allende.”
“Oh my,” a woman behind me whispered.
I grinned. He still had that effect on women.
“That’s right. The brass finally decided to send a real man over to Rescue Four. Show you clowns how it’s done.”
“Fuck you, Allende!” Don yelled, causing most of us to laugh.
“Watch your mouth in front of Diego!” I told Don.
“What’s up, dare devil?” Emanuel greeted, holding out his hand to me.
My grin widened as I clasped his hand and pulled him in for an embrace. I leaned over in his ear so only he could hear me, “Suck my cock for that quip about my squad.” I pulled back. “Maybe we can make a real firefighter out of you yet, Havoc,” I finished. “Let me introduce you to my fiancée, Michelle.” I wrapped my arm around Michelle. “And this little guy …” I rested a hand on Diego’s shoulder, “is my son, Diego.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Michelle and Diego,” Emanuel greeted.
“Welcome to Rescue Four.”
I watched as Emanuel looked around, grinning at the women who’d come out for the picnic. “I think I’m going to like it over here just fine.”
I chuckled and then took Michelle into my arms as Emanuel sauntered off to meet the rest of the squad.
“Dare devil? Havoc?” Michelle inquired.
“Nicknames … from our army days together.”
She looked over her shoulder toward Emanuel and then back to me. “You two used to get in a lot of trouble together, didn’t you?”
“I’ll never tell, sugar.”
“As long as you’re not up to your old tricks.”
I shook my head. “Never. The only trouble I’m getting in these days is with you … and Diego.” I laughed as I bent down to pick Diego up on my shoulders.
“Thank you for coming to my rescue all those months ago. And everyday since,” Michelle said just above a whisper, as she stared me in the eyes. She pressed a kiss to my awaiting lips. “I love you.”
“Love you more. You’re my flame. My heart. And my love.” I kissed her again and ran my thumb along her bottom lip. Nothing else mattered but this.
The End