Dylan's Redemption (34 page)

“He loves her very much. He wants her to be his mother, and I’m doing my best to make that happen.”

“This wouldn’t have happened if she were your wife. She’d have rights then.”

“Don’t I know it.” Dylan thanked him again and headed downstairs while he left Lynn to get the paperwork sorted out.

Several of the officers he knew said hello and told him he looked like hell. He knew it and felt it. When he got downstairs to the holding cells, a woman officer greeted him and led him down a hallway, her keys clinking against her thigh as she walked.

“She’s down here, Sheriff. She didn’t eat this morning, and she’s asked about you every chance she gets.”

He came to the cell where Jessie sat on a cot with her knees pulled up and her chin resting on them. Her arms were wrapped around her legs, her eyes shadowed and half-closed, her shoulders slumped. Completely wiped out, she stared blankly at the wall.

“Jess, honey.” The words barely made it past his lips. He choked up seeing her this way. When she lifted her head and found him with wide eyes brimming immediately with tears, he couldn’t get past the cell door fast enough to get to her. He dropped on his knees beside her and gathered her into his arms, ignoring the pain radiating through his body.

“I’m so sorry you had to be here. They’re going to let you out in a few minutes. I cleared it all up with the lieutenant.”

She pulled back from him and ran her fingertips over the cut on his head and the scrapes and bruises. She kissed each one softly and took his hurt arm and kissed each of his fingers. “Are you okay? Are you really all right?”

“I am now. Lynn came and broke me out of the hospital. I had no idea what happened to you.”

“It doesn’t matter. Where’s Will?”

“He’s with my parents still. I haven’t seen them. I came straight here to get you.”

“You should have gotten Will first. Oh, Dylan, you should have seen him. He was so scared. Your parents wouldn’t let me take him in to see you. We didn’t know how badly you’d been hurt, and then the police took me away from him.”

“We’ll go and get him right after I get you out of here.”

His eyes fluttered and he had a hard time keeping them open. He kept squinting and held himself rigid to stop the pain.

“Did the doctor say you could leave the hospital?” she asked, brushing her fingers through his hair at his temple.

“He doesn’t know I left. Lynn told me you’d been arrested for kidnapping Will and I got here as fast as I could.”

“Dylan. You need to be in the hospital. You have a concussion.”

“I only need you.” He gathered her as close as he could get her. “I’m sorry they wouldn’t let you see me. I can only imagine how scared you were I’d been seriously injured.”

“You were seriously injured.”

“Yeah, and the only medicine I need is you, and they wouldn’t let you see me.”

“About that.” She held his face in her hands, careful not to press on any of the bruises or scrapes. “Marry me, Dylan McBride. I want to be your wife. I don’t want anything to ever happen to you again, but if it does, I want to be the one there to help you. Marry me because I love you and I never want to be separated from you ever again.”

He kissed her and held her tight. She’d just answered every dream he ever had. “When?”

“As soon as possible. Today. Tomorrow. I don’t care as long as it’s soon. I want you and Will to move in with me. His room is all ready and you can bring all your stuff, and we’ll be a family. I think we could all be comfortable in the house together. I always wanted it to be a home. It’s not home unless you and Will are in it.”

Dylan never answered. The officer arrived, saying, “Sheriff, I’ll escort you and Miss Langley upstairs. The paperwork is ready, and she’s free to go. The lieutenant wants to discuss the charges and your parents.” Dylan sighed, but nodded his agreement.

They left the cell and followed the officer upstairs. Dylan never took his arm from around her. He didn’t want to let her go and hated to admit it, but today, he needed to lean on her too. Physically he wasn’t all there, but more so, he mentally needed to lean on her. She’d trusted him to come and get her when he could, and she’d put Will first. She expected him to go to Will and take him away from his parents before he came for her. Nothing could have made him love her more than knowing she trusted him again.

She’d been so sweet and earnest about getting married as soon as possible. What she didn’t know was that for weeks, he’d had everything ready for when the time was right.

He couldn’t think of a better birthday present than Jessie becoming his wife.

Chapter Thirty-Five

D
YLAN MARVELED AT
the way Lynn took care of getting the local police to move quickly on the paperwork. She drove them back to the hospital where Jessie parked her car. Jessie insisted he see the doctor before going home. Lucky for him, the doctor released him with a prescription for some pain medication and orders that he rest for a couple of days.

The ordeal with his parents couldn’t be overlooked. Dylan pounded on their front door, then turned back to see Jessie leaning against the hood of her car watching him. Worried and upset, he wanted to go to her, wrap her in his arms, and tell her everything was all right. But first, he’d have to make it all right, and that meant finishing this with his parents.

Will’s little feet pounded on the floor in the entry hall as he ran to the door. Dylan’s heart skipped a beat. The wait for the door to open took too long. He needed to grab hold of his son and hug him.

The door finally opened, and his father stood in the doorway, Will beside him.

“Daddy.”

Dylan scooped him up and held him close despite the pain it caused his sprained wrist and aching body. He felt a weight lift from his shoulders just having Will close and out of his parents’ grasp. “Hey buddy. I missed you.”

“They took Mommy away.” Will’s bottom lip trembled.

“I know.” Dylan’s voice held a deadly edge, but he held back the anger roiling inside him for his son’s sake. “I got her back. She’s right over there. Go see her. She needs one of your special hugs real bad.”

Dylan set his son down. He ran like the wind into Jessie’s open arms. Tears trickled down Jessie’s cheeks. She held Will close, her face turned into his neck. Every one of her tears tore at Dylan’s heart and made him rage against his parents for putting her through all this in the first place. And so he turned to his father. His mother stood just behind him to his left.

“Dylan . . .” his father began.

“Don’t. I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.” He swallowed hard. He couldn’t believe it had come to this. “You had the woman I love, the woman I’m going to marry and spend the rest of my life with, the woman who gave birth to your granddaughter, arrested. In front of Will. At gunpoint.”

“We were only looking out for your and Will’s best interests.”

“Bullshit.” Dylan had never sworn in front of his parents, and their faces reflected their shock at his outburst. “If you cared about my happiness at all, you’d know that I’m only happy, only whole, when I’m with her. She’s everything to me. But you couldn’t set aside your petty dislike for her for my sake, or Will’s, because she’s what we want.”

“She’s only going to hurt you,” his mother said, the corners of her mouth dipping into a deep frown.

“No. She won’t. She’s just not capable of it. But you are. You’ve hurt me for the last time.”

“Come inside,” his father coaxed. “You should sit down, take it easy, and we’ll talk about this.”

“There’s nothing left to say. Maybe someday I’ll find a way to forgive you for what you’ve done, but I’ll never forget. Stay away from me and my family.” God, it felt good to know Jessie and Will and the babies to come would be his family, everything he’d ever dreamed of having. “If you don’t, I’ll file for a restraining order. Push me, and I’ll arrest you for filing false charges against Jessie. As it is, I’m the only reason you aren’t in jail right now.”

His mother gasped.

“That’s the last favor I’ll ever do for you,” he said, meaning every word.

“Will is our grandson. You can’t take him away from us,” his mother pleaded.

“You kept me from my daughter,” he snapped. “After everything that’s happened, that’s the one thing I’ll never forgive. I’m not a vindictive person, and it pisses me off that you’ve pushed me to this, but you will stay away from Will and whatever children Jessie and I have in the future.”

“Dylan, son, you can’t mean this,” his father pleaded.

“I mean every word. You sided with her.” He pointed an accusing finger at his mother. “You took her word for everything. She didn’t want my daughter as her grandchild. Why would you want any I have in the future?”

“Dylan, please,” his mother said, the weight of his words and the lonely future they’d face finally sinking in with her.

Nothing else to say. They’d turned their back on Hope, kept him from his daughter and Jessie, and now Dylan was going to hold on to his family, expand it with whatever children Jessie gave him, and build a life with them.

He turned his back on his past and walked down the driveway to his future and Jessie’s open arms. She knew how hard it was for him to walk away from a life and family he’d thought he’d known. He buried his face in her neck, took in the love and warmth she offered, and left his parents’ home for the last time.

The sun glared through the windshield. Dylan had to put a hand over his brow to keep the worst of the glare from his eyes as a headache pounded through his brain. Jessie sat quiet beside him and drove.

“Let’s stop by my place and pack up some things for me and Will. We’re moving in with you this afternoon.” His tone didn’t leave any room for argument. Jessie gave him a soft smile and made the next left toward his house. Her easy acceptance helped ease some of the strain after his confrontation with his parents.

Efficient as ever, Jessie helped them pack his truck in record time, making sure he didn’t do even a quarter of the work. They stopped off for fast food and ate in the truck on the ride to Jessie’s house. Finally home, they walked into their house together as a family.

“I need to make a few calls,” Dylan said.

Jessie lugged in the hastily packed bags from the car, because he couldn’t, and she wouldn’t allow it with his injuries.

“Dylan, honey, please go upstairs and rest.”

The warmth and caring in her eyes seeped through his skin and straight into his heart.

“Take Will up and get him settled in his room. He’s exhausted, so he’ll probably fall right to sleep. I’ll be up after I take care of some business,” Dylan promised.

His whole body ached with exhaustion. He trudged up the stairs to the master bedroom nearly an hour later. Jessie was there, putting his clothes into a dresser drawer.

“Finished with your calls?”

“All set.” He hoped he’d covered all his bases. He had a surprise for Jessie and with his head aching and foggy, he hoped he hadn’t forgotten anything important. He didn’t want to ever disappoint her.

She closed the drawer and came to him then, taking his face in her hands. “You need to sleep.”

“Come to bed with me.” His words came out a hoarse plea.

Her hands slid down his chest, undoing buttons as she went. She spread his shirt wide and carefully helped him out of it. He let her undress him, her hands smoothing over his skin. He sat on the edge of the bed and she pushed his pants down his legs before she took off his boots, socks, and jeans. She tucked him into bed before standing beside him, his eyes roaming over every inch of her as she stripped. His whole body warmed and grew tight. So beautiful, he wanted to sink into her warmth, but knew he didn’t have the strength. She slid under the covers beside him and took him into her arms. With his cheek pressed to her bare breast, so soft and welcoming, he exhaled and let go of the last of the tension knotting his muscles.

Groggy, he slid one hand up her thigh, over her hip and up her ribcage to cup her other breast in one long, hot caress. “I want to make love to you,” he told her, knowing she’d understand he didn’t have the strength right now.

“Shh. Sleep, I’m here.”

Dylan fell asleep in her arms. Jessie stroked his hair and lay along his side in their bed. He woke the next morning with the sun shining on his face. He reached out for Jessie and came up with only a handful of cold sheets. Just after eight o’clock, according to the bedside clock, she was probably downstairs with Will.

Will laughed and Jessie joined in. Dylan sat up in bed carefully, relieved his head didn’t pound and throb anymore, but settled into a dull ache. Naked, he grabbed his jeans from the chair Jessie had thrown them over last night. Pulling them on, barefoot and shirtless, he went looking for Will and Jessie. Surprisingly, he found them on the stairs. More specifically, sliding down the sides of the stairs. It hit him then why she’d built the stairs so wide and put a slanting platform on each side of the staircase. An odd setup, but the perfect indoor slide. She and Will ran back up and took their positions. Will counted to three and down they went, laughing all the way. Will won, only because Jessie slowed herself down, and he raised his hands and yelled with victory.

“Shh. Your father is still sleeping.”

“No, he’s not,” Dylan said.

Jessie glanced up the stairs at Dylan and a bolt of lust hit her low in her gut. So handsome, his bare chest and wide shoulders set off little fireworks in her belly. He sauntered down the steps, his gaze locked with hers, that cocky half grin on his face. He stopped inches away, and she put her hand over his heart and leaned up and kissed him good morning. She dipped her head and planted several soft kisses along the bruise from his shoulder and down across his ribs from the seatbelt that locked against his chest during the crash.

“Mmm. This is the first Sunday in a long time I woke up and didn’t dread the day because I have to leave you tonight. This is the first day of the rest of our lives together.”

“I love the sound of that, and you. I’m so glad you’re okay. Happy birthday, Dylan.”

“It’s going to be,” he said cryptically. They both looked down at Will with his arms wrapped around her and Dylan’s legs, hugging them together and grinning up at them.