Meant to Be: Southern Heat Series (25 page)

“I’ll sit with you until his family arrives.”

“Thank you.”

W
hen Mitch’s parents arrived
, along with Lexie and Drake, there still wasn’t news about Mitch’s condition. He’d lost a lot of blood. The possibility the bullet had hit a vital organ was strong. But they prayed the doctors could fix him.
You’re broken.
Oh, God.

His family sat in the same waiting room, but Sydney had no right to join them. Mitch was fighting for his life because of her. So she stayed on her side with Patrick, until he left in the early hours of the next morning.

When the doctor came in and told them Mitch would survive, Sydney nearly fell to her knees. His parents were allowed to see him, but not her. She understood. She wasn’t family. Still, she held vigil. When he could see guests beyond his family, she’d be there.

“Doctor Preston?”

She looked up at Drake. “Under the circumstances, you should call me Sydney.”

“You’re exhausted. Let Lexie and me take you home.”

Sydney shook her head. “No. I can’t go until I see him.”

Drake sat next to her. “It will be a while. Besides, you look terrible. It won’t do him good to see you like this.”

“What do you mean a while?”

Drake took her hands. “His parents are worried… because of the situation… you might put him in danger.”

“But Julia has been arrested.” Her words didn’t have much oomph behind them. In reality, she was too tired to fight and couldn’t blame them. She’d brought nothing but pain and violence to Charlotte Tavern.

Mitch’s parents entered the room. His mother was crying, but her softened expression suggested they were tears of relief. “He said, ‘Mom.’”

“And then he was out like a light. He always was a deep sleeper.” Mitch’s father had his arm around his wife and pulled her closer. It made Sydney think about what Mitch had told her about his parents’ love that first night in his home.

“Why don’t we take you to the apartment?” Drake stood.

“Oh, I can’t leave.” Mitch’s mother fluttered her hands.

“Mom. You need your rest,” Lexie said.

“I’m not leaving. They said I can stay with him.”

“Let me get her situated and then you can take me to get some rest,” Mitch’s father said.

“When can I see him?” Lexie’s tear-filled green eyes, so like Mitch’s, demanded more than asked.

“Why don’t you go back with your mom? They’re setting up a chair or bed or something for her to stay. You can only visit for a minute. Only your mom can stay the night,” Mitch’s father said.

Drake turned to Sydney. “Let us take you too.”

She shook her head. “I’ll make my own way, but thank you.”

S
ydney didn’t make
her way home. When she was too tired to keep her eyes open, she found a doctor she knew at the hospital and asked for a cot used by on-duty doctors when they pulled long shifts. She slept a few hours until the sun peeked around the edges of the dark drapes and then got up and made her way to the restroom. Drake was right. She looked terrible. She washed her face and ran her fingers through her hair. Then she headed to the ICU, where she was told Mitch was stable, but no, she couldn’t see him.

She planted herself in a chair in the waiting area and waited.

“For a friend with benefits, you sure stick.”

Sydney shot up from her seat, grabbing Lexie’s hands. “How is he?”

“He’s good. He’s asking for you.” Lexie smirked. “There’s a ton of information you can get from a guy when he’s on drugs. We got here this morning, and he’s higher than a kite. He’s insisting on seeing you.”

“Your parents…”

“Mitch gets whatever he wants. And right now, he wants you.”

Sydney nodded. Tears sprang to her eyes.

She stepped into his room, and her heart ached to see him in the bed with wires and machines beeping around him.

When he saw her, his green eyes glinted as much as they could through the haze of medication. He sent her a lopsided smile. “Hey, Doc.”

“Officer.”

“That’s detective to you.”

She tentatively glanced at Mitch’s parents.

“Let’s get some food. Mom, Dad, come on.” Lexie motioned for her parents to leave, while Drake held the door open.

“I can’t leave—”

“Yes, you can, Mom. Your grandbaby needs food.”

Sydney could see the tug-of-war in Mitch’s mother’s eyes.

“It will be okay,” Lexie insisted, taking her mom by the arm.

When the door shut, Sydney’s nerves skidded across her skin, much the same way they had at the party her freshman year of college when Mitch swept her off her feet.

“You okay?” His eyes inventoried her body, not sexually, although she felt warm and gooey inside anyway because he cared.

Then she rushed to his side. “Mitch, I’m so sorry.”

He took her hand. “Why? It wasn’t your fault. In fact…” He frowned. “I messed up. If I was really thorough, I’d have looked at her. She was in both cities.”

“But who’d have thought? God. I can’t believe I didn’t see it. How could she have fooled me?”

He squeezed her hand. “It’s difficult, I know.”

She appreciated that he didn’t give her some line to help her feel better. He knew there was no easy way to rid feelings of guilt and stupidity.

“But, you need to screen your friends better.”

She pressed his hand to her face. “Maybe you can help me with that.”

“Syd?”

“Hmmm?” She wanted to crawl into the bed with him, hold him, and rest her head on his chest to listen to the beat of his heart.

“I can’t remember… maybe it was a dream. When I was shot, laying there, I wanted to tell you I love you.”

Sydney swallowed the lump in her throat. “It wasn’t a dream.”

“Did you say it back?”

God, she hoped he forgave her for not giving him the most important words at what could have been the end of his life. “I didn’t have time. So I’m going to say it now. I love you, Mitch.”

It seemed to take him a moment to register what she’d said. “Like friend love or love love?”

Giddiness bubbled. Maybe they had a chance, after all. “Love love.”

He brought her hand to his lips. “Me too. I’m going to mess up again, but it won’t be because I don’t trust you. It will be some other dumb reason. But consider the makeup sex we’ll have.”

“I’m counting on it.” Unable to wait a moment longer, she kissed him.

“Ah, Sydney.” His eyes closed, and a moment later, he was snoring.

Sydney smiled and watched as he slept. He was alive and he loved her. She couldn’t ask for more than that.

“
Y
ou razzed
me every time we stopped by the hospital, and now here we are for the second time today.” Kevin pulled the car into the parking lot. “I know it’s your first day back, but—”

“You’re going to complain? You getting tired of that pretty wife of yours?”

“Nah. And if you tell her otherwise, I’ll shoot you myself.”

“Just drop me off at the offices. I’ll catch a ride home with Syd.”

“I never thought I’d see it happen. The love bug bit playboy Mitch McKenna. Bit him good, too.”

Mitch smiled, willing to take the teasing. “See you tomorrow.” He exited the car and entered Sydney’s building, heading straight to her office.

He knocked twice on her door and poked his head in when she called, “It’s open.”

“I need a doctor.”

“Do you, now? My specialty is women. I’m not sure I can help you.” She stood and went to him.

Her wide smile, shining with love, made him wonder why the hell he’d been so dense before.

“You’re the only one who can.” His arms wrapped around her and pulled her against him. He smiled at the familiar and welcome jolt that came when he touched her. He kissed her and, for a moment, considered altering his plans to include an interlude on her desk. When her phone rang, he changed his mind.

“Let me take this and then we can go.”

“You’re my ride. I’ll wait by the car.”

S
he came
out several minutes later, stunning him yet again with her beauty. He opened her car door to let her in, and then he got in the passenger side.

“How was your first day back?” She pulled the car out of the space and headed to his home.

“It was good.” The only problem with going back to work was that on medical leave, he had a reason to keep Sydney at his house. Now that he was recovered, he worried she’d get it into her head he didn’t need her and move back to her place. Of course, he had a solution to that. “We caught the guy who stole Mrs. Ragland’s old Cutlass.”

“You caught a car thief today?”

“It wasn’t that hard. It was her daughter and the daughter’s boyfriend.”

Sydney laughed. As corny as it was, Mitch thought it must be what the sun sounded like when it laughed.

“How about a picnic?”

“Tonight?” She glanced at him for a moment.

“Yes.” He took her hand, unable to go more than a minute without touching her.

“Sure.”

“I’ll pack the food. You grab a blanket. I’ve got a thick army one in the hall closet. It’s warm but ideal to keep bugs and dirt away on a picnic.”

“Okay.” She pulled into his driveway.

M
itch pulled
his truck into the lot at Dogwood Park. He glanced at Sydney and smiled as happiness and nerves washed over him. “Ready?”

She smiled back, the smile that lit her face and shone with love. To think he’d nearly ruined any chance to see her look at him that way again. He shook his head of the thought. It was a waste of time to ruminate about near mistakes.

He grabbed the basket from the back of the truck and took her hand as he led her toward the star grove. He drew her to the middle of the circle, giving her a quick kiss to reassure her, since the last time they’d been there he’d been a mean SOB. She unfurled the blanket and he sat, pulling her down with him.

“I’ve got all your favorites.” He opened the lid and pulled out a box of unicorn cookies and a mason jar with clear liquid.

“Is that what I think it is?” She held the jar and studied it as if moonshine had special properties.

“It is. The real stuff too. Created under the moon in some Appalachian hollow.”

She laughed. “As a law enforcement professional, aren’t you worried about having this?”

He shook his head. “Nah. It was a gift.”

One beautiful brow rose. “Isn’t that illegal too?”

“Not a bribe. A gift.” Of course, it was still illegal. In Virginia it was okay to make beer and wine at home for personal consumption, but not moonshine. But Mitch figured risking a class 6 felony was worth it this one time. If caught, hopefully he’d only get a year in the pokey. Of course, he’d lose his job, but, in this moment, he was ready to risk everything for the woman sitting beside him.

“I told you the story about the star grove, right?”

“About how Jasper Cahill built it for his true love Lucy Mae, who then betrayed him and ran off with Sam someone?” Sydney opened the box of cookies, plucking a few and popping them in her mouth.

“Shifflet.”

“Right.” Her eyes narrowed, wary yet curious.

“Well, I didn’t finish the story.”

“There’s more?”

Mitch pulled her to him, maneuvering her to sit between his legs, leaning back against him. “One night, a night sort of like this one, old Jasper is here in the grove, feeling pretty down about losing Lucy, when all of a sudden, a vision in white appears. Right over there.” Mitch pointed toward a gap in the trees backed by the river. “As she drew near, he saw it was Lucy in her nightdress.”

“She decided to betray Sam too?” Sydney’s tone suggested she didn’t like where the story was going.

“I’m telling a story here. In the south, you don’t interrupt a good story.”

She tilted her head to look at him and pressed her lips together.

“That’s more like it. Now where was I? Oh, right. Turns out Lucy Mae left Jasper because Sam, the coldhearted banker, was going to take Jasper’s farm unless he could have Lucy. But deep down she loved Jasper and didn’t want him to lose his farm. Old Jasper said he’d give up everything he had to Sam just to have Lucy Mae as his wife.”

“That’s romantic. Did Sam take the farm?”

“Well, he tried. But coldhearted bankers are also susceptible to dying, especially when they take a woman that doesn’t love them. The official cause was a heart attack, but some believe Lucy Mae used her knowledge of plants and herbs to poison him.”

“So love won in the end.”

Mitch took her hand, looked in her eyes, and hoped beyond hope she was ready for a happy ending. “Was there any doubt?”

“You kissed me here during the fair. Does that mean our love will last?”

“Yes.”

Her lips parted in an O, as if she hadn’t expected him to agree so readily.

“In fact…” He slid his finger down her neck and hooked it around the chain where she wore the engagement ring he’d given her ten years earlier. “I was thinking it was time you wore this in another way.”

Her eyes widened.

“But then I thought, this ring is the past. It represents the love we had before, but it’s different now.”

To make sure she wouldn’t misunderstand, he pulled the platinum and diamond ring from his pocket. “This ring, on the other hand, represents the commitment I want to make to you now and forever.” He took a deep breath. “Sydney? Will you marry me?”

S
ydney didn’t need
moonshine to feel giddy and dizzy. She stared at Mitch, not quite believing what he was saying. How long had she hoped this moment would come? And now that it was here, she was speechless.

The hopefulness in his eyes dulled. “I know I haven’t always been good to you. And I have a reputation that suggests I can’t be faithful, but I can, Syd—”

She stopped his speech with a finger over his lips. Her mind ran through all sorts of things to say — that she believed in him and his love, that she knew he could be faithful. But ultimately, she decided there was only one thing to say. Only one thing he needed to hear.

She turned around and cradled his face in her palms. “Yes.” Once the word was out, the giddiness burst out too. “Oh, yes, Mitch.” She threw her arms around him, knocking him back on the blanket.

His arms wrapped around her, and he rolled until she was under him, feeling the warmth and strength of him. His lips met hers with such tenderness, tears formed in her eyes.

“I was worried there for a minute.” He cascaded kisses on her cheek and along her jaw.

“I’m sorry. I was stunned as sometimes happens when dreams come true.”

He grinned. “Dreams, huh?”

“It’s always been you, Mitch.”

He inhaled and closed his eyes, as if letting her words wrap around him. When he opened his eyes, he stared at her, silly with love. “Remember when we met?”

“At the party in college?”

He rubbed her back. “I looked across the room and you were sitting all prim and proper.”

She laughed.

“You looked up and caught me staring at you, and my heart stopped.”

His words made her breath hitch.

“My destiny was set right then. You and I were meant to be. If only I hadn’t been so stubborn after—”

She stopped his words with a quick kiss. “Don’t go there. In some ways, I think we needed the time apart.”

The frown suggested he didn’t like what she was saying.

“We’re stronger now. We know more now. We’re going to be even better now.”

He let out a breath. “I suppose you’re right.”

“All that matters is now anyway.”

“I hurt you.”

She studied him. “I hurt you too.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Mitch.” She considered telling him she forgave him and asking for his forgiveness. To explain how dwelling on the past only kept them from enjoying the moment. Instead, she said, “I love you.”

“I love you, Sydney. So goddamn much.”

“Well then, kiss me.”

He did. This time, the kiss started out tenderly but quickly heated. “What would you say if we packed up and went home?”

“Already?” She wriggled under him, needing more contact.

“I’m willing to go to jail for moonshine, but what I want… need to do now, with you, to you, well that could land us in jail for life.”

“Well then. Let’s go home.”