CHAPTER ELEVEN

 

 

In a daze, Jackie watched her nightmare strolling leisurely along the dock towards them. One moment she’d been in Heaven, listening to Cooper say the most magical, improbably wonderful things to her, and the next it had all come crashing down. Ivan was walking closer and closer, his favorite Taurus pointed at them, and there wasn’t a thing she could do.

At least Kalli is safe.

Her precious daughter was safe, yes, but Cooper wasn’t. He was here with her, and in very real danger of death. Ivan had killed before—he’d bragged about it—which is why the outstanding warrants for his arrest had been so motivating. And every time Jackie had seen him looking the way he was now—perversely pleased—someone ended up hurt.

Usually her.

And tonight, Cooper Weston, the best man she’d ever known, was going to be hurt too.

Her gaze dropped back down to him. Had he really been proposing marriage to her, only a few seconds ago? Everything had changed in a few heartbeats.

Still holding that simple, beautiful, impossible ring in his hand, Cooper slowly rose to his feet. He kept his attention on Ivan, but the grip on her hand was as strong as a lifeline, reminding her of his promise to keep her safe.

No.

Kalli was safe, but Cooper was in danger because of Jackie. It was up to her to make sure he stayed safe.

Taking a deep breath, Jackie stepped in front of Cooper. She felt his strength at her back, and that gave her the courage to raise her chin and stare down Ivan with all the disgust she felt.

“Go away. I don’t want you here.”

But Ivan, in that nonchalant, hurtful way of his, just snorted derisively and sauntered closer. “Looks like you were wanting pretty hard just a minute ago.” He reached the rubber mat with all of the firework mortars set up, and stepped around it without looking down. “Looks like you didn’t wait long before replacing me.”

Replacing him? Cooper was twice the man Ivan ever was! The ridiculousness of Ivan’s pout made his words almost funny instead of upsetting. Perhaps that knowledge was in her voice when Jackie said, “I haven’t seen you in almost a year, Ivan.”

“Yeah, you’ve been hard to find. But you didn’t have any trouble finding a man to climb between your legs, did you?”

Jackie stiffened in offense, the shock at such crude words making her heart climb into her throat. Behind her, a rumble warned of Cooper’s anger, and he moved her out of the way to stand beside her.

“Watch your mouth around my future wife, you cretin,” he growled.

Jackie could’ve kissed him, just for such a sweet defense, but Ivan’s gun had swung around to cover Cooper instead of her. Apparently, she wasn’t considered a danger, not with Cooper standing there looking like an avenging angel.

I love you, she wanted to shout. If Ivan hurt Cooper tonight, she would never forgive herself.

Ivan snorted again. “Or what, big man? You’re going to tackle me? High school football, I assume?” He waggled the Taurus and shifted his weight, until he was standing square between the fireworks and the couple at the end of the dock. “But this ain’t no ballfield, buddy, and I’m not a kid. I ain’t afraid to hurt a man who’s standing between me and what I want, and right now what I want is her hurt.”

Feeling Cooper stiffen beside her, Jackie was desperate to distract Ivan. “Why?” she blurted.

“Because, you dumb woman.” He rolled his eyes. “That stunt you pulled right before you skipped town cost me months of my life, and I’ve been running ever since.” His eyes hardened and the gun swung back towards her. “You screwed up my life, Jackie, and I’m going to repay the favor.”

Before she had time to sort through the terror over that threat, and the relief that she was the target once more, Cooper spoke up.

“Whoa, hey.”

He stepped forward slightly, his hands up in a conciliatory gesture, his fingers wrapped around something small. His grin was back, and his voice was friendly, but Jackie knew him well enough to hear and see his strain. Was he trying to trick Ivan?

And then the Taurus swung back towards Cooper, and Jackie started praying.

 

 

Coop’s prayers had coalesced into something vague and universal: please please please please. He figured he was praying to keep Jackie—and him, he had to admit—safe, but he couldn’t think beyond please please please please.

Seeing that man threatening her, hearing he wanted to hurt her, had caused all other thoughts to go out the window. Now it was up to God to understand Coop’s plea, because he was focused on doing whatever he could to stop Ivan.

He swallowed down his first instinct, which had been to lash out at the other man after that horrible insult to Jackie. Coop forced himself to think through the repercussions of challenging a man currently pointing a gun at the woman Coop loved, and to admit it had been a dumb instinct. Instead, he looked around for other inspiration.

And found it.

With his hands hidden by Jackie—the woman had stepped in front of him!—Coop had fished out his lighter and last smoke bomb from the pocket of his jeans. It wasn’t much, but it might buy him some time.

Plastering on his most convincing smile—and wondering if Ivan would buy it for a second—he stepped out from around Jackie, done with letting her protect him. He was the one who promised her she’d be safe; he was the one who’d get her out of this mess.

And put Ivan down for good.

“Whoa, hey.” When the gun was pointed at him once more, Coop actually felt a little more at ease, knowing she was out of immediate danger. “No need to be rude, mister.” As if Coop would ever forgive the man for what he’d insinuated about Jackie. “We can work this out like adults.”

Ivan made a noise which might’ve been a laugh, but was pretty darn derisive. “Oh yeah, we’re adults here, and I’ll be the one to work things out. See, everyone else over there is having a party, with the talking and the music and noise. An’ us? We’re way out here.” Ivan used his other hand to gesture at the lake surrounding them. “With nowhere to go. So I’m just going to pop you both real quiet-like, then stroll back over to the party and climb in my car and head out of town. I’m thinking maybe Salt Lake City is where I head next. What do you think?”

The man sounded like he genuinely wanted to know Coop’s opinion on his evil plan. Knowing it wouldn’t help his cause to tell Ivan what he really thought, Coop pretended to consider it.

“Maybe California? Seems more your style.”

“Good point.” Ivan frowned thoughtfully, but the gun didn’t waver.

When Ivan had casually mentioned killing Jackie, a band had tightened around Coop’s chest, and it felt like he couldn’t take a real breath. Still, he knew what he had to do. Wishing he could somehow communicate to Jackie his plans, he raised his hands a little higher and decided to give Ivan one last chance.

“So why don’t you just go on ahead and do the stroll and car and California thing now, huh? You don’t need to hurt anyone before then, and it’d only make things worse for you if you did.”

“Nah,” Ivan drawled cruelly. “I’ve been looking forward to my revenge for months now, and you’re just in my way, mister. I think I’ll probably kill you first, just to watch her scream.”

Well, that did it; Coop was finally able to draw a deep breath, his decision made.

Carefully, he opened a few of his fingers in his right hand to strike the lighter. The sudden light drew Ivan’s gaze, and the gun twitched, but he must’ve seen it wasn’t a threat. Still, Coop waved the tiny flame back and forth a little.

“I think you should just turn around and leave, Ivan. Or else.”

“Or else what, hotshot?”

Slowly, careful not to startle Ivan into shooting, Cooper moved the lighter over to his left hand. His left hand, which still clutched Jackie’s ring…and now a smoke bomb. “Or else this.”

He lit the smoke bomb. The tiny firework began to hiss and spit, and gray smoke poured over his fingers, creating a tiny cloud. Coop kept his attention on it, pretending it was the most fascinating thing in the world, and prayed that Ivan would to.

Prayed Ivan wouldn’t realize it was a distraction, while all the while Coop’s right hand inched back towards his pocket where the launch remote nestled.

Everything was silent, still, as the three of them watched the smoke bomb spit smoke—not even enough to completely obscure Coop’s hand. Finally, Ivan laughed.

“Oooh, the hotshot’s got a little toy!” He waggled the gun like he was having a grand time. “Did you think that was going to do anything?” Another cruel laugh. “That’s a smoke bomb; it doesn’t explode!”

Coop released the tiniest little sigh of relief when his fingers closed around the remote in his pocket, and he eased it out. He switched his gaze from the now sputtering smoke bomb in his left hand to Ivan, and made sure all his contempt sounded in his voice when he said:

“No, but those do.”

By feel, Coop mashed number twelve on the remote, the command to launch every tube at once. During the show, each mortar tube could be triggered separately, or in sequence. Number twelve though…number twelve would bring the fire and fury.

Coop saw Ivan’s eyes widen as he began to twist towards the mortar rack, but that was all he could allow himself to see. Instead, Coop lowered his shoulder and, in a move which would’ve made his high school football coach proud, barreled into Jackie and flung them both off the dock.

Hitting the ice-cold water was a shock, and he felt her stiffen against him. As they sunk—he allowed himself to be pulled down, down, into the darkness—she began to struggle against him. He remembered her saying she couldn’t swim, never had the chance to learn, but they couldn’t surface, not with—

Above them, the night lit up.

Coop wrapped his arms around her and began kicking away from the bottom, the dock, and the inferno above them. He angled towards where he guessed the shore was, only knowing if he was running out of air—and he’d been able to take a breath before going overboard—then she must be frantic.

Above and behind them, something blazed orange as the night sky lit up with every color of the rainbow. His carefully planned and organized comets and shells and mines had all burst free in a cacophony of falling leaves, willow breaks, and dragon’s tails.

Just as their heads broke the surface, and they both sucked in grateful gulps of air the twenty-five-shot cake of the grand finale exploded above them, turning the night sky red, white and blue for a time.

Coop twisted to swim backwards, one arm under Jackie’s and the other pulling them both towards the shore. She hung limply beside him, but he could hear her breathing as they both kept their attention on the distant dock.

Now that the after-effects had faded from their vision—those fireworks hadn’t been intended to all go off like that at once—Coop could see the blaze on the dock. Something was burning, but he couldn’t tell if it was his mortar rack…or Ivan.

When they reached the shore, Coop dragged himself upright, pulling Jackie up under her arms. She stumbled to her feet as well, and then half-crawled, half-walked out of the water. He wanted nothing more than to lie there on the rocky shore and thank God they were both still alive, but if Ivan had made it off that dock, he’d be even more determined to hurt Jackie now. Coop had to get her safe.

Wrapping his arms around her, he debated the best place to run to.

“Coop! Cooper!” His name was being called from far away. “Is that you? I hope you’re—” Charley Easton skidded to a stop on the rocks beside them. “Thank God.” She pulled up the radio clipped to her belt. “I’ve got them, they’re both safe, along the south shore.”

She breathed a huge sigh of relief and pinned Coop with a serious stare once more. “When we saw that show, we knew something was wrong and came running. Half the docks are on fire; your cousin isn’t happy at all.”

The idea of Will’s anger made Coop laugh, or maybe it was the fear of the last few minutes catching up. Or the joy at being alive and knowing Jackie was safe.

She was the one who spoke to Charley. “There was a man,” she said quietly. “He’s a killer, and he was armed, threatening us.”

Charley snapped to attention once more. “Where is he?”

“He was on the dock when I set off the mortars,” Coop managed. He forced himself to sober. “It was Ivan, and he’s extremely dangerous. There are outstanding warrants for his arrest in Chicago, maybe other places. I’ll testify if you can catch—”

But Charley was already running away, towards the boathouse, yelling indignantly into her radio about “the dangerous criminal running loose on my ranch”.

The stillness of the night closed around them once more, and Coop could feel Jackie trembling against him. For lack of anything else to do, he wrapped one arm around her shoulder and began trudging along the shore towards the gathering crowd. Marybeth would be there with Kalli, and judging by how much he needed to see that the baby was safe, Jackie would need that even more.

Sure enough, soon they were both hurrying along, although that might’ve been because the exercise warmed them up. Coop kept one eye on the distant dock, and saw several figures bringing fire suppression equipment out from the boathouse. It looked like the end of the dock where he’d set up his rack had burned pretty significantly, and was now tilted drunkenly into the water. But at least the flames were out.

So where was Ivan?

They got their answer a few minutes later, when an ambulance’s sirens cut through the background noise. The crowd moved aside for the vehicle to pull up to the boathouse, and paramedics with stretchers scrambled out onto the docks.

Coop pulled Jackie to a stop, and they both watched the paramedics scrambling to lift a man-sized form from the floating rubble of what had been the fireworks display. The form wasn’t moving, but they watched it being loaded into the ambulance, which then sped away as the police began pouring over the docks.

Jackie and Coop both exhaled at the same time. He had his answer about Ivan. Whatever the outcome was, Ivan was secure now, and couldn’t hurt anyone.

Which only left one thing…

He pulled Jackie into a tight embrace, tucking her head under his chin. “I’m sorry,” he whispered against her wet hair.

“For what?” she asked against his chest.

For what? “About a million things,” he said, chuckling. “I’m sorry I scared you like that, sorry I didn’t give you warning, sorry I dragged you out here in the first place where he could get us alone, sorry you’re freezing right now, sorry—”

She wriggled free and placed a finger against his lips. “You saved our lives. Thank you.”

He took a deep breath and captured her finger, wrapping it in his large hand and pressing it against his chest. “But I’m most sorry—and this is dumb—for losing that ring.

“What!”

He couldn’t tell if the incredulous way she was looking at him was because he’d lost the ring, or because he was sorry he’d lost the ring.

So he shrugged sheepishly. “Yeah. When we jumped in, I guess I dropped it. It wasn’t really expensive or anything, I just…”

When her laughter threatened to drown him out, he trailed off. Her hand was still clasped in his, and it seemed like it might’ve been the only thing holding her upright, she was laughing so hard. Was this her way of letting go of all the emotions of the last hour?

“What’s so funny?” He pretended to be indignant.

“I’m sorry!” she gasped. “It’s just—just—” She swallowed down her desperate laughter. “We almost died! And you’re still going on about that ring!”

He raised a brow. “It was a nice ring. Like I said, it wasn’t fancy, but I really wanted to propose tonight.”

She was still chortling, so she pressed her forehead against his chest. “And you don’t think you can do that without the ring, I guess?”

“Well…” He was about to answer her question, when he realized what it implied. “Wait! You mean you wouldn’t mind if I asked you to marry me without a fancy ring?”

“Cooper Weston, I wouldn’t need a ring, fancy or not.” Her voice was muffled.

“Oh, okay.” He took a deep breath. “So…will you marry me, Jackie?”

“No,” she promptly replied.

He blinked. “No? No?”

“There are so many issues.” She sighed. “I mean, everything’s so up in the air…”

He stepped back and tucked his fingers under her chin, lifting it, until she was standing in front of him, staring up at him.

“I love you, Jackie,” he said distinctly. “I want to marry you. Whatever issues there are, we can work them out.”

“I don’t know…” She cut her eyes away.

Inspiration struck. “Okay, list them, sweetheart. List your concerns.”

“Fine.” She took a deep breath and met his eyes once more. “Ivan.”

“Ivan can’t bother us. He’s on his way to the hospital, if he’s even still alive.” Coop replied promptly, and tried to tamp down the worry that he might’ve killed a man. He’d do it again if it would keep her safe. “He’s not a concern.”

She bit her lip and seemed to consider his words. Finally, she nodded slowly.

“If Ivan isn’t a concern for now…”

“He’s not,” Coop assured her when she trailed off.

“And if you’re okay living your life the way I have been, always looking over your shoulder, wondering when Ivan is going to catch up…”

“I am. I mean,” he hurried to correct himself, “because, between us and the police back in Chicago, we’re going to put him away for a long time.”

She didn’t seem convinced. “And if you’re okay marrying a woman who lives in a hotel room with her baby and no money…”

That made him laugh, because there was nothing he could imagine that he wanted more. “I’m never going to be a millionaire, sweetheart, but I work hard and I love my job. I promise to take care of you. And I promise that I already love Kalli like she’s my own.”

Tears formed in Jackie’s eyes. “She loves you too.”

“Is that why you’re crying?” he asked in a whisper.

She shook her head. “He never even asked about her, Cooper.”

Her voice broke on a sob, and he tucked her head against his chest once more, knowing exactly what she meant.

“I know, sweetheart,” he whispered. “But that’s because Kalli Jo Novak doesn’t mean a thing to Ivan. She’s all yours.”

Jackie sniffled once. “And yours,” she said quietly.

Coops heart soared. He tightened his hold on her and swung her in a circle while she squealed and hiccuped.

“Ivan wasn’t her father, Jackie, but I’ll be the best dang stepdad this country’s ever seen. I swear.”

“And how about me, Cooper?” Her tears were still there, but she’d stopped actively crying. “Could you stand to spend the rest of your life with someone like me? Someone without a real name, who’s done…terrible things in her past?”

“Honey…” He dropped his forehead to hers, his hands still on her upper arms. “Jackie, you have a name. Just because you chose it doesn’t make it less of a name. And yes.” He had to squeeze his eyes tightly to keep from kissing her, he so badly wanted to show her his feelings. “Yes. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Even if it takes that long for you to understand that your past doesn’t mean squat to me, and it’s who you are now that I love.”

She stood, stiff and still against him, for almost a full minute. He prayed she was weighing her options and would agree.

Only it came out like please please please please again.

Finally, she softened, and sighed, then leaned back just enough to smile gently up at him. “Okay then. If you’re sure, and you’re sure you want all that, then yes.”

“Yes you’ll marry me, even though I lost the ring?”

She slapped his arm. “The ring is irrelevant. I’ll marry you because you’re the best man I’ve ever met, and I would be blessed to spend the rest of my life with you.”

He kissed her. He kissed her with all the feelings and desire and longing and fear and joy he’d felt during the last few weeks, ever since their first kiss. He kissed her to show her how special she was, and how much he honored and respected her.

And she kissed him back.