Free Fall

“So romantically spoken.” She rested her head against his shoulder, toying with the chain on his dog tags until they slid free from under his T-shirt.

“But from the heart. And actually, it’s the logical, practical truth, just the way you like it.” He clasped her hand and pressed it against his chest right over his pulse pounding for her. “When I’m with you, I don’t fear the future anymore. I want it all, as long as we’re together.”

She started to answer but he needed to tell her everything. He wanted her to understand how much peace she brought him.

“Before you say anything, I’m willing to revisit the issue of kids.”

Her eyes went wide with shock, and she wasn’t blinking anything, much less Morse code. “I’m listening.”

This part was still tough for him to wrap his brain around, but it was getting easier. And he had faith now that he could be a part of a healthy relationship, with Stella. “I would just ask that we wait to have children until I’m out of the field so there would be less pressure on… our family.”

Was it wishful thinking, or did some color flood back into her cheeks? She looked so damn happy she practically glowed.

“That sounds good, really good.” Her fingers caressed along his heart, grasping a handful of his shirt. “After what I’ve been through with my mother, you won’t hear any argument from me on that part. Are you sure, though? I don’t want you to make spur-of-the-moment promises because of what happened last night.”

“It’s not spur-of-the-moment. It’s been a slow and steady build to the realization that I’m not my mother or my sister. I’ve been through the worst stress imaginable in the last month and a half, and I haven’t thought of taking a drink.” He rubbed his cheek gently against the top of her head on the uninjured side. “I’ve only thought of you and how to make you happy.”

“You do make me happy, Jose.” She looked up at him, and he knew he wanted to stare into those eyes forever. “And I have total faith in you.”

“Besides, any leftover doubts I had got kicked in the ass yesterday. This has been the kind of time that makes a person reevaluate life. I want to spend mine with you. You’re going to be an amazing mother someday and I want to be a good dad.”

“We’re going to make it work, Jose. Forever.” She tugged his dog tags, bringing him closer for a kiss to seal the deal.

Sealing their future together.

And making him the happiest flipping man in the world, because he wasn’t letting her go.

Epilogue

Aswan, Egypt—Six Months Later

When Stella Carson was eight years old, she made a scrapbook from magazine photos, collaging the “perfect family” and a monstrously big wedding. Reality was a thousand times better than any of her childhood fantasies.

Never in a million dreams could she have envisioned getting married on a sailboat, anchored in a scenic cove along the Nile River. Best of all, her mother stood with her below deck in a tiny cabin, pinning white jasmine blossoms in her daughter’s long, loose hair. Stella watched in the oval mirror, Annie’s face reflected beside hers like a picture in that long ago dream album.

Her mother smiled. “You look beautiful, sweetheart.”

“Thanks, I’m just so very happy to have gotten this right, to have been this lucky.”

Peace flowed through her without even a hint of pre-wedding jitters. She and Jose were meant to be together and today was the fulfillment of the first time she’d seen him emerge from the Gulf of Aden.

After their mission in Africa had wrapped up, she’d taken a leave of absence from her job with Interpol to spend time with Jose in Georgia where he was stationed at Moody Air Force Base. She’d struggled at first with what to do with her life and took a job at a local college to pay bills, only to find she enjoyed the hell out of the intellectual challenge. Life was funny sometimes in the way she found her best answers in the surprises.

Like her unexpected meeting of her Mr. Right the day Jose had pulled himself up into her boat and changed her world forever.

Stella passed another flower and bobby pin over her shoulder. “I’m glad you and Sam could be here with us today.”

The couple would serve as their only witnesses, Sam and Annie having eloped five months ago.

Annie clipped the final bloom in place. “I wish I could have been there for so many other important moments in your life.”

“You’re here now.” Stella clasped her mother’s hand over her shoulder and turned to face her.

Annie’s face radiated contentment, her restlessness having finally eased. “Ajaya has given me a do-over of sorts.”

Sam and Annie had sponsored his immigration to the United States and served as his legal guardians. He’d been placed in a boarding school for teens with troubled pasts, but he would spend all holidays with Annie and Sam.

“And now I have another brother.” Her biological brothers were slower in warming up to their returned-from-the-dead mother, but time and patience seemed to be easing the path.

Life was too short to waste on anger. Too easily they could have all died six months ago. Thank God the guilty had been brought to justice.

Mr. Brown—Henry Pope—had been arrested and was currently standing trial for treason. Yet, he’d never once spoken about his crimes or given evidence. At one point he’d been placed on suicide watch, but never tried to end his life—unlike the teacher Mr. Gueye who’d hung himself rather than face justice for selling his students. Profilers could only deduce that Pope had chosen to live for his daughter, who was being brought up by her mother’s sister.

The warlord responsible had been traced through the bio toxin, a formula so specific it might as well have left a signature. He’d been taken out by his own troops before he could be arrested. And another warlord stepped into the power vacuum. It seemed a never-ending battle, but with defenseless boys and girls lives in the balance here? Turning away just wasn’t an option.

Music drifted through the open hatch, a lute and harp lightly calling her to shake off the thoughts of work for now. The time had come to join her life with Jose’s.

Annie picked up the lotus bouquet and offered it to Stella. “Are you ready?”

“Absolutely,” she answered without hesitation.

“He’s a great guy.”

“You don’t have to convince me.” Stella laughed lightly. “I’ve known he was the one since the first time I saw him.”

Clasping the fragrant flowers, Stella started up the steps and into the shining sunlight. The rippling breeze teased her simple eyelet cotton gown around her ankles. Date trees and palms rustled along the bank, reminding her of another time here with Jose.

And the love of her life stood waiting on deck beside a military priest. The sight of Jose, tall and steady in his uniform, made the breath catch in her chest. The sunlight glistened along his jet-black hair, the familiar angles of his handsome face so dear to her. She’d found her family, found her home in Jose.

He held out a hand to her and she joined him, his touch familiar, stirring. He squeezed her hand, the love in his eyes speaking as tangibly as words. Her smile answered him right back before she turned to the military chaplain as her mother moved to stand by Sam, hooking her arm with his.

Stella held hands with Jose, the sailboat rocking gently by the Nile River. His voice rumbled low and firm as he spoke his vows with a firm conviction that tingled through her. And then it was her turn.

“I, Stella, take you, Jose, to be my husband…”

She and Jose had decided to keep the wedding simple and celebrate later with a larger party in the States. Today, this moment, was just about the two of them, affirming their love and their future by each placing a simple gold band on the other’s ring finger.

“…to have and to hold, from this day forward.”

Thanks to Jose and his fearless rescue, she was alive to enjoy that future.

“For better or worse…”

They’d been through so much and survived so much already this past year, coming through it all stronger. Life wouldn’t always be easy, but together? They were rock solid.

Stella continued, “For richer or poorer. In sickness and in health.”

She’d started attending Al-Anon meetings, arming herself with the knowledge to better understand his recovery and the challenges they could face. And each day made her all the more certain she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, as his wife.

“…to love and to cherish from this day forward, ’til death do us part.”

And before the chaplain could even finish with his official blessing, Stella arched up to kiss her husband. Warm anticipation curled deliciously through her veins, along with love. So much love.

She’d been wrong about one thing that day they’d met. She’d thought the timing was off. But she’d fallen for the right man at the right time, and looked forward to falling for him all over again every day for the rest of their lives.