Chapter Twenty-two
Help me, Liam. Help me.
Andi could only hope Liam recognized her silent plea and didn’t assume the worst. Did he trust her? Would he come to help her or walk away, believing that history was repeating itself no matter how impossible—and wrong—that belief would be?
Still holding Christian, who was bubbling with joy over the return of his father, Jeff got a solid grip on Andi’s arm and brought her along without following her gaze, thank God. He’d surely have recognized Liam and Jag.
While they walked to the playground, Andi tried to slow the spinning of her head and make sense of what Jeff had told her on the drive over here. And the fact that she’d had no idea that Jeff was so motivated by greed, but it was clear from his story that that was the source of his downfall.
Jeff had reconnected with his sister when she’d gone to visit him in Europe, and true to her ability to find the worst types of people, she’d soon connected with a ring of “art dealers” who dealt exclusively in stolen treasures.
Soon after, Jeff learned there was a way to make a lot more money in architecture than by drafting blueprints. A piece of art here, a holy treasure there…the underground market for such things turned out to be quite lucrative.
Then, a small team with Jeff unearthed a reliquary that had been hidden in the bowels of the Cathedral of Trier for centuries with a nail inside. Could have been a nail from the building, but could have been a nail from a crucifixion, since Trier already had another nail like it. Jeff knew that possibility made it worth a dizzying sum and made a quiet deal with the witnesses, paying them handsomely to “forget” it ever existed.
He could have taken it to the “dealers” that Nora knew, but Jeff wanted this one for himself, with only Nora in on the take.
That was his first greedy mistake. One of the “witnesses” was part of the same circle of thieves, and suddenly, Jeff was on their deadly radar. That’s when he picked up and moved off the continent and returned to a small town where he could hide out for a while and keep the nail off the market for five or six years until any interest in it or rumors about it died down.
Still, he worried they’d find him. So faking his death was Nora’s idea, and it worked beautifully until his mother died and Jeff made his second greedy mistake. He and his sister were so infuriated by their mother’s inexplicable decision to leave Christian a small fortune that they felt justified in going to Charlottesville, with Jeff disguised as her husband, to meet the attorneys and fight for Nora’s rights.
But the Germans suspected Jeff wasn’t really dead, and they knew his mother had passed away, so they had a spy watching Nadine’s lawyer’s office. Jeff walked right into their trap.
Now, they wanted the nail and five million dollars. The only way to keep them from killing him was to give them both…and disappear again.
Which, as he hugged Christian and did the whole “returning dad” thing, Andi knew would mean she would once again have to pick up the pieces of Christian’s broken heart. But with a man this desperate? She’d take a broken heart over something worse.
Far-off in the square, Andi could see Nora watching them. The woman could have a gun for all Andi knew. And any one of these people passing by could be these so-called evildoers who would kill for this nail that Andi, remembering that graduate school research paper, doubted was real anyway. But now wasn’t the time to fight that battle.
She didn’t dare do or say a thing that would put Jeff on alert. As long as he believed she would help him, he wouldn’t hurt Christian or her. He’d ordered her to act normal, not touch her phone, and stay with him while Christian took him to the nail, so that was exactly what she did.
“Mom says you found a nail here,” Jeff said, scooting him from one arm to the other with ease. “Can you take me to it?”
“Yes!” He squirmed to be let down but Jeff held him tight. “It’s at the very top of the pirate ship!” He turned to point to the play area where two children, both a little younger than Christian, played at the foot of the slide.
Were they safe? Andi’s heart rate, already impossibly high, kicked up even more.
“Liam helped me hammer it in,” Christian said. “After he married Mommy.”
“Christian,” Andi said, getting close and putting a hand on his shoulder to settle him down. “I need you to tell me the truth, okay?”
His eyes widened like he half expected what was coming.
“Did you use a nail that you took from my office?”
When he didn’t answer, Jeff lowered him to the ground, but held onto his shoulders. “Christian!” His tone was sharp, making the child flinch. “The truth now.”
Very slowly, he nodded. “I…I…yes.”
“From that box I told you not to touch?” Andi asked.
He looked up at Jeff as if he thought he could get him out of it, but his father scowled at him. “Did you use it or not, Christian?” Jeff demanded.
“It…it was…really big. I knew it would work on the board.”
“Take me to it.” Jeff yanked his hand a little too hard. “Right now!”
Some color drained from his face at the command. “Are you mad, Mommy?”
“Jeff, don’t—”
“Is Daddy going to leave again? I’m sorry.” Tears welled and spilled as his lower lip quivered as he stumbled under Jeff’s powerful hand. “Don’t leave, Daddy. Please don’t leave again!”
The two other mothers on the bench stopped talking to watch the family drama unfold, and for a moment, Andi almost cried out for help or told them to run for safety. But Jeff had Christian halfway up to the first level by then, pushing him to move faster and looking from side to side as if he expected someone to come after him at any minute.
Only Liam…but where was he?
Rushing to catch up with Jeff and Christian, she stole a glance over her shoulder, willing for Liam to come into sight, but she didn’t see him.
“Stay down there,” Jeff ordered her, making her heart hitch.
“Why? I can help you.”
“Stay down there, Andi,” he repeated, his voice tense and nervous as he climbed the rope ladder to the top platform.
Frustrated, she clung to the bottom of the structure, looking up, willing this nightmare to be over, refusing to think about what her son would have to face when Jeff left again. Liam would be there. Liam…
She checked out the entrance to the square again, which felt like a million miles away.
Where is he?
He’d left, of course. He saw her with Jeff and probably took his dog and left, because who would put themselves through misery twice?
“Here it is.” Christian’s voice was soft and scared, making Andi’s chest hurt. He was so confused now. Terrified and thinking he was in trouble. He’d blame himself when Jeff disappeared.
Muttering a dark curse, Jeff got down on his hands and knees, pulling something out of his pocket. Squinting through the spaces in the boards, she realized it was a penknife, and he was digging the nail out of the wood.
She shuttered her eyes and prayed that even if the relic was real, God would forgive this particular travesty and let Christian be safe.
“We could get my toolbox at home,” Christian said, his sweet offer breaking her heart. “That might help, Daddy.”
“Shut up.”
She grunted at Jeff’s cruel command and the soft sob that came after.
“Let him come down, Jeff,” she called up. “Just let me take him, and you can get your nail.”
“Not a chance.”
She tried to swallow. “Why not?” He didn’t answer, and her chest squeezed. “Jeff?”
“Got it!” Jeff stood, giving Christian a shove toward the ladder.
“The slide is faster,” Christian said, turning to the opening of the long, twisted tube that delivered small bodies right to the bottom.
“Go down it, Christian!” Andi called. “Get on the slide, honey. Now!”
In one smooth move, Christian flung himself into the tube, but Jeff was right behind him, both gone from sight as they disappeared into the tube. Andi darted to the bottom to grab Christian when he came out, just as the sound of a dog’s bark cut through her thumping pulse.
She turned, seeing Jag tearing across the square at full speed, bounding through the air, his focus on that slide. He was still fifty feet away when Christian’s feet appeared, but Jeff rolled out on top of him.
Jag barked again, loud and furious, getting Jeff’s attention. Without a word, he slammed a booted foot into Andi’s stomach, vaulted out of the slide, and swooped Christian up.
“Jag!” Christian screamed as Jeff flung the child over his right shoulder and took off at full speed. “Jaaaaag!”
Andi started running, but Jag flew by her and launched himself onto Jeff’s back.
His teeth got hold of Jeff’s left shoulder, instantly making him drop Christian and fall to the ground, screaming. As Jeff threw his hands over his head to protect himself, Jag barked and slammed his paws on Jeff, holding him down.
“Zimmer!” Christian hollered. “Zimmer, Jag, zimmer!”
Instantly, Jag backed off, and Jeff scrambled to his feet to take off, but as he did, a man came out of nowhere, running directly toward Christian and Jeff, a gun drawn.
As the mothers screamed in horror, Andi threw herself at Christian, covering his body with hers, smashing him into the grass to protect him.
“Fass! Fass!” The attack order came from behind her in Liam’s voice.
Jag leaped at the command, launching toward his victim, directly in the line of the man’s gun.
“Jaaaaa—” Christian’s scream was cut off as Liam threw himself on top of Andi, shielding her and Christian. Under him, Andi could see Jag had the man down before any bullet was fired, coming at him with his full weight and a bite into the arm holding the gun, which went flying.
Only then did Liam roll off them, hopping up in one move. Jag had his teeth in the man’s arm, wrestling him to the ground. Liam shouted a command, and Jag backed off as Liam took over and pinned the man with a knee to his chest.
Liam looked at Andi and notched his head toward Jeff, who’d run about sixty feet by now and was going to be long gone soon.
She read the question in his eyes. Send Jag? He’d have Jeff down, bitten, and trapped in seconds. And Christian would see the whole thing.
Or they could let him go.
She shook her head and Liam acknowledged her decision with a slight nod, but then his attention was back on the man under him, and she turned hers to the child under her.
“Shhh.” She wrapped Christian’s quivering body into hers, trying to quiet the sobs. In the distance, she heard sirens, vaguely aware of the other children crying and being swept away by their panicked mothers.
The man Liam pinned was muttering something that sounded like German, and Jag was right in his face, ready to attack again at Liam’s command. Andi turned to where Nora had been standing, a witness to all of this, but she was gone, although others in the park were rushing to the action.
“I’m so sorry, Mommy. I’m so sorry. I made Daddy leave. Jag bit Daddy, and I made Daddy leave.”
“No, no, you didn’t.” She stroked his head and tried to get him up and to somewhere safe, although nothing seemed to be safe now. She started to push them both up when her hand hit something sharp.
There, on the ground, was a four-inch-long black nail that definitely looked like it could be a few thousand years old.
* * *
Andi came down the stairs with a completely different expression than the one she’d worn a few nights earlier when she descended that same staircase in white lace. Instead of smiling with joy, she now nibbled on her lower lip, a frown tugging while the heavy sigh of an exhausted mom escaped from her lips.
“How is he?” Liam asked, waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.
“Asleep, thanks to Jag.” She gave him a weak smile. “Let’s just say I’m glad the guest room has a king-size bed, or I’d be battling a dog for space.”
His heart dropped. So she’d be sleeping with Christian tonight.
“I don’t know what I’d have done without you talking to him like that,” she said. “It really helped him to understand that Jag was doing his job to go after Jeff. He’s having an easier time forgiving Jag than Jeff, but that will come, I suppose.”
He nodded in agreement, nudging her toward the kitchen. “Come on. You haven’t eaten all day.”
“It’s the last thing I’ve thought about, but…” She put her hand on her stomach. “I am starving.”
“Crystal left us dinner. Dad’s gone up for the night, and so has Gramma Finnie. Darcy’s staying with a cousin tonight.”
“I really appreciate the offer to stay here…for a while.”
“Until they find Jeff.”
She exhaled again, this time with frustration, not exhaustion. “He’ll be back,” she said. “If he thinks I have that nail.”
After the police arrived and arrested the man who claimed to be a German tourist, but was surely involved in a European art-theft ring, Liam and Andi had spent a long time talking to law enforcement, taking turns answering questions and calming Christian.
Eventually, they let Christian and Jag go to Waterford with Shane, where the family did their thing, surrounding the child with love and dogs while Andi participated in more interviews at her house. She’d spent enough time with Jeff to be able to fill in many holes for law enforcement.
Paul Batista had been there the whole time, and arranged a phone conversation with the Wytheville PD, who’d handled the investigation of Jeff’s “death.” Finally, Andi had given Paul the nail and reliquary to arrange a return to the cathedral in Germany through Interpol.
Only then had they been able to put the day’s events behind them and concentrate on taking care of Christian, which was when Liam talked to him about forgiving Jag.
Now, at nearly eleven o’clock, Liam and Andi could finally have a private conversation.
He led her to the kitchen table set for two with the cold chicken and salad Crystal had prepared. “Something to drink?” Liam asked.
“Maybe a vat of wine or two.”
He laughed, encouraged that she hadn’t lost her sense of humor. “I opened you a bottle already.” Pouring a glass, he brought it to her, along with a beer he’d been sipping while he waited. “Here you go, sweetheart.”
She looked up at the endearment, uncertainty in her eyes. “A sympathy ‘sweetheart,’ or did you mean that?”
“If you have to ask, you haven’t been paying very close attention to me.”
A sad smile flickered. “You’re pretty much all I’ve been paying attention to, Liam, and that might be the problem.”
The words twisted inside him as he sat down next to her. “We don’t have a problem.”
She shot him a look as she lifted the wineglass. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I mean, obviously, we have a problem, since Jeff is still out there. And Christian was wrecked by this. But together, we can handle anything.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep drink, putting the glass on the table as Liam’s words faded.
“We are together, Andi.” It wasn’t a question. He refused to let it be.
After a moment, she picked up her fork, then put it down again. “I didn’t know him,” she said softly. “I was with him for more than a few years in Boston, and another one here, and I knew nothing about the man. He was a thief? No, he was a gifted architect with a talent for restoration.”
Restoration that included helping himself to valuable artifacts and selling them for a tidy profit. “He clearly got involved with the wrong people over there,” he said, hoping that made her feel better.
“Was I madly in love with the guy?” she asked, almost to herself. “No, I never was. But I liked him. I respected him. I thought I knew him. I would have bet anything and everything that he was an upstanding man who loved his son and wouldn’t hurt him.” She shuddered. “And he tried to use him as a shield.”
“Andi.” He put his hand over hers, but she drew it away, a move that sliced him, but he understood how fragile she was.
“It’s like I don’t even know people I think I know.”
He sighed. “Don’t judge the world by one man.”
“I’m judging me, not the world,” she replied. “How can I not question my own ability to decide who I should and should not have around my son or in my life?”
“Ouch.”
“I’m sorry, Liam, but…I’m confounded by the human race tonight.”
“Well don’t lump me in with the rest of them, Andi. I’ve never been anything but…” In love with you. “Honest,” he finished.
She closed her eyes, acknowledging that. “Yes, you have. But I’m reeling, Liam. Christian is wounded by this, and so am I,” she finally said.
“What do you need?” he asked.
“I need time,” she answered after a moment. “I need to go back to where I was, inching him into the world with love and care and one hundred percent of my attention.”
“I can help you.”
She sighed and picked up the wine again. “I can’t imagine trusting anyone.”
“Andi.” He took the glass and put it down, then closed his hands around hers. “We’re married.”
“Are we?”
“You said the words, and so did I.”
“It was an act. We did it to stop a custody battle, which I’m pretty sure I won. Along with Christian’s inheritance.”
He stared at her for a long moment, trying to let this process. She’d walk? The vows meant nothing? He meant nothing? An old and far too familiar weight pressed on his chest, one that started the day she looked at him and told him Christian’s father had returned. And now—
Bright headlights of a car pulling into the Waterford driveway flashed into the dimly lit kitchen, pulling their attention. Frowning at unexpected company at this hour, Liam stood to see who it was.
“Paul Batista,” he muttered at the sight of the detective getting out of a car.
“Maybe he has news.”
The two of them walked straight to the kitchen door to go out and greet Paul.
“We got him,” Paul said without preamble.
Andi swayed into Liam. “You do? Is he okay?”
Liam tried not to react to the fact that her first question was about Jeff’s well-being. He was and always would be Christian’s father.
“He’s fine, and so is his sister. They had a fender bender on the highway and the state trooper who showed up recognized them from the alert. And the bastard was bleeding like a stuck pig from the dog bite. He was treated, and both of them are being held without bail.”
Liam put his hands on her shoulders, feeling the tension melt away at the news that she and Christian were completely safe.
“Assuming he talks, and we believe he will in order to get a reduced sentence, he’s going to be able to help Interpol put a lot of people in jail. This was a real coup, you two.”
Andi nodded and turned to Liam. “Thank you,” she whispered.
He barely smiled. When was she going to learn he didn’t want thanks? He wanted…love. Something she might not ever be capable of giving to anyone but Christian.
Even her husband.
“Oh, and I have some more news for you,” Paul said, coming closer into the porch light. “It might actually make this all easier for you, considering…” He looked from one to the other. “That you sort of rushed that wedding for legal reasons.”
Denial rose up in Liam, but Andi looked straight at the man as if she couldn’t wait to hear what he had to say.
“I did a little digging since…” Paul laughed. “That’s what I do. And it turns out that since you applied for the marriage license on Friday and Monday was Labor Day, it hasn’t been processed yet.”
Liam stared at him, hating the words as they were spoken.
“Not processed?” Andi asked.
“It has to be processed for the ceremony to be official, so if you pull it before nine a.m. tomorrow, you won’t have to go through any annulment business. The marriage would be void.”
Void.
Now there was an ugly word. But under Liam’s hand, which was still on Andi’s shoulder, he felt her relax even more. As if this was as much a relief as Jeff being in custody.
All he had to do was get to the town hall by nine in the morning.
“Thanks for letting us know, Paul,” he said, stepping toward the man to shake his hand.
“Hey, I’m sorry if I seemed, you know, dubious about all this. Nature of the job, you know. You’re a good man, Liam.”
Yeah, and look how great that was working out for him. “No worries, Paul.”
From the car, Hawk let out a sharp, impatient bark, making Paul smile. “And I still want to go back with a good dog for the force. You have one, right?”
“Not Jag,” Andi said quickly. “You wouldn’t take Jag.”
“Of course not,” Liam assured her. “Come by tomorrow morning, Paul, and I’ll introduce you to Fritz. You’ll love him, and we can do some work together training him.”
Paul frowned a little. “Tomorrow morning. Are you sure? Don’t you want to go to the county clerk’s office and pull that marriage license?”
Liam stood stone-still, waiting for Andi to say they wouldn’t do that. Willing her to say it. But she didn’t say a word.
“Afternoon, then,” Liam said.
“Sounds good.” With another shake, and a quick hug for Andi, Paul got back in his car and drove off, leaving them standing in the evening heat on the back porch.
Crickets and cicadas hummed in the Carolina summer air, and the occasional dog barked from the kennels, a sound that was so familiar to Liam, he barely heard it.
Andi sighed, and he sure heard that. And all that it implied.
For once, Liam had no fight left in him. If this was what she wanted, then that’s what he’d give her.
“I’ll pull the marriage license in the morning,” he said softly and headed back into the house, because he couldn’t stand there on the porch where his father proposed to his mother and know that the one woman he wanted didn’t want him.
“Liam.”
He almost stopped at his whispered name. Almost hoped that this would be it, the moment she’d let him in and trust him as the one certain thing in her life. Almost took that chance one more time.
I can’t imagine trusting anyone.
He could still hear her confession. Just how many times did he have to be hit by the two-by-four? She didn’t want what he wanted and he was done begging for scraps of her affection like an unclaimed pound puppy.
He stepped inside the kitchen, but Andi stayed outside for a long time. When she finally came in, she took her wineglass and went upstairs to sleep with her son.
And Liam went out to the kennels to be with the dogs. Because, as he’d always known, people sucked and dogs didn’t.