Snatched (Coronado Series Book 2) (30 page)

He looked around wild eyed, as if he was trying to come up with an answer. “You need to come with me and talk to the people who I cut the deal with. They might believe you, because they think that you know what’s going on.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. Go home Jackson, I’m not going anywhere with you.”

He suddenly took a step forward and grabbed her arm, “I said that I want you to come with me.”

She tried to get him to release his grip, “Jackson, let go. You know what Max is going to do to you when he walks in the door. You need to let me go and never come back.”

“I don’t care about Max, you need to come with me now!” He gripped her arm and started to pull her away from the stove.

“She dug her heels in. She had seen enough crime shows to know that you never left with an attacker. They would never find her again if she did. “Max will kill you if he thinks that you have scared me or harmed me or for that matter uttered a rude word in my direction. Escape while you can, because I won’t be able to stop him and I’m not sure I want to. I’ve had enough of this nonsense.”

He snapped, and everything about the last six months hit him, and he knew this was his last chance. He pulled her arms hard, he had to get her to meet with the men that he promised so much to. “Come on.”

She was so tired of men threatening her and trying to get her to go places. She’d had enough and didn’t feel patient any more. She yanked her arm out of his grip and faced him as she placed one hand on the handle of the pan that had the risotto in it. She suddenly felt grateful that she had invested in the heavy bottomed sauce pan. It might be useful for more than making sure that your food didn’t burn on the bottom. “Get the hell out of my house, now!”

He tried to lunge for her and she lifted the saucepan over her head and let it smash against his head. The hot risotto flew out of the pan and slid down his head as he dropped to the floor. She looked down at him and wondered if she killed him. She told Max she was going to smash the bastard’s head in when she found out who was responsible and she did. She didn’t think she would actually have the opportunity to do it.
 

The door flew open and Max ran in with his big gun drawn, he caught sight of her and quickly realized she was unharmed. She stood in the middle of her beautiful kitchen with a big pan in her hand and looked down at the floor. She looked up and started shaking, “I don’t think I killed him, but I hit him really hard on the head. I’m really tired of men trying to hurt me and get me to go places with them. I think you should call 911.”

He rushed up to her and swept her into his arms as she collapsed against him. He engulfed her and gently removed the pan from her fingers and set it down. “I called 911 when I saw the breach on the back yard gate.”

“You became your own hero and saved your own life. If I was an insecure man, I might worry that you don’t need me.”

She started to cry, laugh and shake all at the same time. She buried her face in his chest and tried to disappear into him. “I think holidays are definitely going to be awkward if Jackson shows up at any of them. It’s going to take me a long time to forgive him for this.”

He kissed her head and let out a big breath, he had never been so scared in his whole life. When he received the signal that the gate had been opened - his heart had stopped beating. For a man who had been in more life threatening situations than he could count - he almost lost his shit. He would not survive if anything had happened to Rory.

The cops and paramedics came rushing in the door and the chaos began. “How are you feeling sweetheart? I think we need to go to the hospital and have you and the baby checked out. I want to make sure that you are both ok.” She nodded her head and buried herself further in his arms, she didn’t feel very good.

***

Rory lay in the hospital bed attached to all kinds of monitors, “Max did you bring my sour gummies?”
 

He pulled a bag out of the pocket of his sweatshirt, “Here you go. Are you sure it’s ok if you have them now?”

“Are you sure that you want to stay married? Hand over the gummies.”

“I see how it’s going to be with you.”

“I’ve had a rough evening, and I want my sour gummies.”

He opened the bag and handed them to her and kissed her on the head. “I love you, and I’m glad this is finally finished. I should have been aware of where Jackson was - when we got home.”

“I don’t think there was anything else that you could’ve done. You have taken care of me, protected me, married me and put a baby in me. You are definitely a man who can multi-task.”

He took her hand and kissed it as he heard the door open. He turned and in walked Rory’s Mom. “Well Cara, you’ve had a difficult evening.” She walked up to her bed and kissed her daughter’s head and looked at her carefully. “Is there something you want to tell me?”

Max stood up and gave his chair to her Mom, “We have some great news for you. We think you are going to be very excited about it.”

“When is my grandchild going to be born?”
 

Max stood up at his full height in a modified parade stance, “We look forward to welcoming the baby in June.”
 

She looked up at him and studied him, “I see.” She took her daughter’s hand and pulled Max’s hand from behind his back, then she held them together and looked at their matching wedding bands. “Anything else you would like to share with me? I’m guessing that you did more than swim and lie on the beach in Florida.”

Rory tried to sit up but was hampered by all of the monitors that she was attached to, “Mama.”

“Don’t Mama me, Rory Evangeline Basso - you are in trouble with me.”

“Mama, we are going to have another ceremony this weekend, and you will be there to see it.”

Max stepped forward, “This was my idea. I wanted to get married right away, because I wanted our anniversary to be close to the baby’s birthday. I never wanted there to be a question that we were not together in every way.”

“I understand, but I’m going to be mad for a little while. I know that so much has been going on since Jackson started all of this craziness. Let me ask you this Max Bishop …do you love my daughter?”

“With my whole heart… for the rest of my life. She will always be my first priority as well as the children we have.”

She nodded her head, “All right, I can live with that. All I want for my girls is for them to be happy and loved.”

“You are not getting married again this weekend. Let’s wait and take our time and have it at the house. I want to give people enough time to arrange their travel plans and I want to meet your parents and have time to get to know them. Let’s do it right and let everyone have the chance to come and celebrate with you both.”

“All right Mama, I think that’s a good idea. Thank you for understanding.”

Max put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her, “Thank you, I know Rory was worried about how you would feel.”

“The first priority is your health and the health of the baby you’re carrying. Let’s not make stress where we don’t have to.”

“Mama, I think I really hurt Jackson. I bashed him over the head with my risotto pan.”

Her Mother looked at her for a second with a concerned face and then broke out in a laugh. She quickly covered her mouth and tried to stop, “I know it’s wrong to laugh, but that boy has had problems for years. In a way he had it coming for all of the pain he caused. He has caused his Father so much grief and sadness, and it makes me miserable because his Father gave him every opportunity and chance.”

“Maybe he will get the help he needs and take this opportunity to change his life around.”

“I hope he does, because he’s been cut off by his Father. Bob set up provisions with his lawyer that Jackson has to meet. If he is unable to do that, then he will not be eligible for any of the money in his trust. It was a very smart move, because it leaves me out of it. It’s between Jackson, the lawyer and the director of his trust. Bob set this up almost a year ago along with the sale of his company. When we first got the diagnosis, he confessed that he’d been aware of it for almost two years.”

“How are you doing, Mamma - do you feel like you are under a lot of pressure?”

“No, I’m relieved. We have a diagnosis and a plan, and now we just enjoy all of the good days we have together. Bob took care of everything before he felt like he was unable to.”
 

They were interrupted by a knock on the door, a tech rolled in a big cart with the ultra sound machine. “Would you like to take a look at baby Bishop?”

“I would love to see the baby.”

“My first picture of my grandchild, I’m so lucky to be here.”

Max went around to the other side of the bed, “I hope she looks like her you.” He kissed her lips quickly and rested his head against her forehead. “Love you.”

“Love you more.”

The images started to come up on the monitor as the tech moved the paddle around on Rory’s stomach, “When is your due date?”

“I think they estimate June 15
^th
. How does the baby look in there?”

The woman was quiet as she looked at the monitor and Rory started to feel a little nervous. “You are around ten weeks pregnant – that’s a little early to determine if you are having twins. Let’s take a look and see what’s happening.”
 

Max held his breath and wondered if his gut was going to be right about this. The tech continued to move around the monitor, and clicked lots of buttons as she created images and noted measurements. She finally looked up at them and smiled, “Mr. and Mrs. Bishop, it looks like it’s going to be twins.”

Max felt his legs falter for a second as he looked down at the woman who had made every single one of his dreams come true. She looked at him as a tear rolled down her cheek, “Show off.”

A huge smile creased his face, “I can’t help if my swimmers used their super SEAL strength to make it to home base.”

Carolina took both of their hands, “Congratulazioni! I nostril migliori auguri e tanta felicita.” She kissed them both and then looked at the monitor, “I would like to have copies of the pictures as well. These are my first grandchildren. I have waited a long time for these two.”

“Mama, I’m only twenty eight, you have not been waiting long.”

She shrugged her shoulders, “It seemed like a long time.”

Rory shook her head, “Well at least we are giving you two… since you had to wait so long.”
 

Max watched Carolina straighten her shoulders and look at her daughter and nod her head. Now he knew where Rory got the royal nod from.
 

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

“I can’t believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I feel like it was just yesterday when I walked into your office.”
 

They had parked down the street from Birdie and Mark’s house, when Max stopped in front of a house that was having some work done. “I think that was the house that Birdie and I looked at last month. It looks like someone bought it.”

Max started pulling her through the gate, “Do you want to look inside?”

“No, someone bought it. I don’t want to snoop.”

“Come on, let’s go see if the door is open.”

“Max, stop. We can’t.”

“Yes we can.” He walked backwards holding both of her hands in his, “I think we can.”

She looked at his mischievous smile and started to get an inkling of what was going on. “Mr. Bishop, is there anything that you would like to tell me?”

“Let me think about it Mrs. Bishop … there might be something.”

“Max, please ….I’m dying to know.”

They stood at the front door, and he pulled out a key ring with a red ribbon on it and handed it to her. “Merry Christmas, sweetheart.” He watched as his wife stood in front of him speechless, he knew how rare it was for her not to be able to come up with something to say.
 

She threw herself at him and hugged him with everything she had, “You bought me my dream home. How did you know?”

“Remember when I brought those files for Mark and Travis? You and Birdie had just come back from looking at it, and Birdie was excited because you liked it. She wanted you to move in. I contacted the realtor and started working on purchasing it. I wanted it to be the house that we raise our family in. It closed while you were on your trip.”

“We were not even speaking at the time and you bought a house that you knew I loved.”

“I hoped that you would give me another chance, and I wanted that chance to happen here. I told you that I wanted everything, and the only way to have that is to give everything.”
 

She lifted the key and watched the sun glint off the surface as she turned it in the lock. She finally realized that Max had brought every magical thing into her life. They walked in the front door and stood there in a puddle of light and looked around their new home. “I think your right... five bedrooms is not too big at all.”
 

He wrapped his arm around her as they walked around. “Adam is checking out the electrical and plumbing and refinishing some surfaces and painting the walls white. All you have to do is tell him what you want.”