The Fey (19 page)

“
But inside, you’re still
the same. Yes.”

He took her hand and led her past the
bathroom to the loveseat in the tiny room he used as his study. He
pulled her onto his lap. Tucking her head under his chin, his arms
held her close.

Alex felt as if they were in a small quiet
bubble while chaos swirled around them. She closed her eyes drawing
him in through her senses. He felt the same, smelled the same. He
was the same and different.

“
Misplaced,” Alex said.
“Max used the word misplaced.”

“
Yes. It’s as if you
misplaced your life, yourself.”

“
When did you feel like
that?”

“
When we moved to London,
then again in Scotland. I spoke Ulster Gaelic. I had heard English,
but never spoke it. I could read English but I hadn’t been to
school… probably ever. My life was all family, all the time.
Suddenly, I’m in this English-language-only Catholic school in the
middle of London with no Irish people around. Rita worked to
support us. She was busy and bereft for herself. I was basically
alone. It was like being an apple plucked from a tree filled with
apples to sit amongst a bushel of peaches.”

Alex’s eyes watched his face. He never
talked about his childhood. She wondered why she hadn’t
noticed.

“
I did well in school
because I was desperate to create some traction, some definition of
myself–I’m a student; I’ll be a doctor; I’ll make a lot of money. I
could not tolerate living in that vast unknown.”

He looked into her face. “Is that how you
feel?”

Alex nodded. He caressed her face.

“
And yet, the phone has
rung off the hook for you. Erin and Matthew waited for you until
ten o’clock tonight. I guess, she had it out with your father. Raz
left his date early to come home. He’s asleep in the basement.
Ben’s rang from the airport, from the plane and from France. Colin
wants me to tell you to ring him. Your father came by this evening.
Your mother rang. She’s very upset, by the way. Even Sam rang. And
you were off shooting arrows?”

Alex nodded.

“
With your twin. That’s
not to mention me. I’ve been here waiting for you to return to our
home, our life and my love.”

“
It sounds stupid or
selfish, but in some ways that makes it harder.”

“
Why?”

Alex closed her eyes for a moment trying to
collect her thoughts.

“
To use your metaphor, I
guess because the peaches expect me to be an apple. I just found
out that I’m not an apple, I’m an orange. I don’t know how I feel
about being an orange.”

“
I think it takes time. Do
you feel like you made an awful mistake?”

“
I love you more than I
have breath to express.”

He held her tight against his chest.

“
Good answer,” he said. “I
rang in sick tomorrow. I also spoke with your command. Colonel
Gordon would like a conversation. Otherwise, you are free for the
day. I made some arrangements.”

“
Arrangements?”

“
I scheduled a massage for
you first thing, then I thought we could spend the day together in
the mountains. I booked lunch at your favorite restaurant in Aspen.
Maybe we can figure out what is next for us.”

“
What about the flock of
people?”

“
They’ll be
peachy.”

Alex smiled at his joke. “You hurt Max
too.”

“
Yes, I did,” John said.
“But Max has a hearing tomorrow. He’ll be in court most of the day.
We can get together tomorrow evening. I made reservations at Sushi
Sasa for dinner.”

“
What about your
brother?”

“
My brother,” John said.
He laughed at the sound of the words. “He has a lot to attend to.
We’ll leave him with the peaches.”

Alex nodded.

“
Come to bed, love. You
need rest.”

He took her hand and led her to the bedroom.
One piece at a time, he carefully removed her clothing then helped
her into bed. He plucked his pajamas off, then laying face to face,
he rested on his side.

Her eyes watched his face while he stroked
her hair with delicate care. She ran her fingers over the curves of
his familiar face. He kissed the palm of her hand then closed his
eyes. She watched him fall asleep then, rolling onto her back, she
released into peaceful sleep.

Some time before dawn, she opened her eyes
to find John watching her. Not quite awake, she smiled and turned
to her side to look at him.

“
Will you marry me,
Alex?”

“
Of course.”

F

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Three weeks later

September 8 – 10:15 A.M.

Denver, Colorado

“
I’m sorry to bother you.
I’m looking for Alex Hargreaves,” a medium sized muscular man said
when Cian opened the front door.

“
And who might you be?”
Cian said.

It was the eight of September and everyone
was on edge. Well, Cian was always on edge having not quite settled
to living in Denver. He said that the altitude kept him agitated
but Alex thought his agitation was just part of his
personality.

“
Who are you?”

“
Joseph! Get in the house.
Oh my God, what are you doing here?” Alex asked. “It’s not safe to
be here.”

She pulled him into the house then held him
to her. They stood in the entry way hugging until Alex wiped the
tears from her eyes and stepped back.

“
It’s great to see you,”
she said taking his hand.

Captain Joseph Walter nodded, working to
control his emotions, then smiled at her beaming face.

“
You too,” he
said.

“
This is John’s brother,
Cian Kelly,” Alex said. “This is my Captain, Cian. Joseph
Walter.”

Joseph shook Cian’s hand and Alex led him
into the living room.

“
So you know,” Joseph said
under his breath.

“
I found out a couple
weeks ago. How did you know?”

“
Remember all that trouble
you got into after marrying John?”

“
I was almost kicked out
of the Army,” Alex said.

“
John’s IRA connections
made for a good excuse to kick you out,” Joseph said. “Ben vouched
for you and Charlie…” Joseph’s eyes filled and he cleared his
throat. “I still can’t say his name without…”

“
He was your best friend
for more than twenty years. It’s understandable.”

Alex hugged him.

“
Cian? Would you mind
closing the drapes?” Alex asked.

After closing the living drapes, Cian
returned to the kitchen where he and Eoin were working on possible
recipes for their probable bakery. Joseph took one end of the couch
and Alex sat facing him from the other end. As if he wasn’t real,
she scanned his face, his hands and the casual T-shirt and
jeans.

“
How are you?” Alex
asked.

Joseph turned to look at Alex when she asked
the question. Their eyes held for a moment. He nodded then looked
away.

“
There are a lot of
answers to that question, Alexandra,” he said. “Our Alex is doing
well. He started the third grade a couple weeks ago.”

“
Wow, the third
grade.”

“
Yeah, the time
flies.”

“
And the girls?” Alex
asked.

“
Wanna see
pictures?”

“
You know I do,” Alex said
taking Joseph’s wallet from him. The picture showed two adorable
girls’ faces under matching hats and a picture of a beaming boy in
a Pop Warner uniform.

“
Alex is nine years old
and the twins turned two years old in June,” he said looking at the
picture. “Here’s another. They are amazing Alex. I…”

Joseph looked at the picture of his three
children. Glancing to Alex, he held out a beefy hand out to her.
She grabbed onto his hand.

“
I would have never
survived this without them,” he said.

“
I know,” Alex said. “Do
you like living in Crested Butte? It’s pretty remote.”

Joseph reflected for a moment on his life in
hiding.

“
It was a hard transition.
Nancy wasn’t able to find a job for a while. We can make it on my
pension but hanging around her grief stricken husband was pretty
trying for my Nancy. When they sold the ski resort to that
corporation, she was able to get a Controller job. She seems happy
there. I think we both miss living in Denver.” He shrugged. “We
have a lovely home tucked into the side of a mountain. We ski in
the winter and hike in the summer. I finally have time to work out
every single day. I try to really live, every day, because I know…”
He cleared his throat.

“
Me too,” Alex
said.

“
How are you
feeling?”

“
I’m not a hundred percent
but getting around without a crutch is pure bliss,” she
said.

“
I bet.”

“
Why are you here? It’s a
tremendous risk.”

“
I received a telephone
call from the President,” Joseph said.

He stopped talking when Cian came into the
room with a plate of Snicker Doodle cookies and two cups of Irish
Breakfast Tea.

“
Would you like to try a
biscuit?” Cian said. He handed Alex a cup of tea then gave the
second to Joseph. “We thought they were pretty good but you can
tell us.”

“
They are trying out
recipes for a bakery,” Alex said.

“
A PIRA bakery?” Joseph
laughed.

Cian startled. Shaking his head, Cian’s eyes
went wide. “We’re out of all of that.”

“
He’s kidding Cian. I
guess he and our Commanding Officer knew about John.”

Cian smiled. “So I don’t have to pretend to
be normal? I didn’t want your friend to think…”

“
Normal?” Alex
laughed.

“
Drink your tea,” Cian
sneered. They heard Cian telling Eoin in Irish Gaelic about their
response. Eoin laughed and mocked Cian.

“
Why would the President
call you?” Alex asked.

“
He wants to have a
ceremony on the second anniversary of…”

“
What?”

“
Yeah. He wants me to
attend. He said that I’m no longer at risk and that he would like
me to come to the ceremony as the only survivor of the Fey Special
Forces team.”

“
Huh,” Alex
said.

“
Exactly. Nancy and I were
up all night talking about it. Nancy wanted me to talk with you.
You’re still my intelligence officer to Nancy… and me. I didn’t
want to risk the telephone so I came down the mountain.”

“
I’m glad you did. It’s
wonderful to see you.”

“
We don’t believe that I’m
no longer a target. Have you heard that?”

“
As far as I know, nothing
has changed. We don’t know why everyone was killed so we don’t know
if someone wants to kill you.”

“
Do you still get those
phone calls?”

“
Not for six months.” Alex
shook her head. “It’s complicated but we believe he’s coming for
me… probably next month. He tried to kill Matthew, Troy, Andy,
Chris and Zack in Afghanistan on March eighth.”

“
Your friends,” Joseph
said. “That’s what he said he would do right? He said he would kill
your friends while you watch.”

Alex nodded.

Joseph was silent for a moment. “I haven’t
left Crested Butte in over a year.”

“
And the
house?”

Joseph looked at Alex. “Not much. You?”

“
My family forced me out
just after the New Year. I’ve been… It’s nice not to get those
phone calls.”

“
I bet,” Joseph said. “I
just…” His eyes filled with tears and he stopped
talking.

“
Have you been to the
memorial?”

“
Not since the funeral,”
he said. “Do you think Eleazar will kill me?”

“
I don’t know,” Alex said.
“Let me do some research. At this moment, I’m not sure why the
President thinks that you aren’t at risk. What do you want to
do?”

“
I’m a patriot, Alex. My
President personally asked me to do this one simple thing. How can
I say no?”

“
What does Nancy
say?”

“
Where was the President
when your team was cut in two by an AK47? He wouldn’t give two
shits if you were dead right along with them.”

“
Sounds like Nancy,” Alex
said. “She loves you.”

Joseph smiled. “I’m very lucky and so are
you. How are you and John?”

Alex shrugged. “It’s been an interesting
couple of weeks.”

“
I like the ring,” Joseph
said. He touched the three carat round diamond surrounded by two
heart shaped sapphires on Alex’s left ring finger.

“
My engagement ring. It
turns out that this is the proper ring for a doctor’s
wife.”

Joseph burst out laughing. “We created a
monster.”

“
Yes, one time humble army
husband turned flashy rich surgeon.”

Joseph jostled Alex and she laughed.

“
He wants to get married
again,” Alex said. “John Kelly is married to someone in Belfast.
It’s just…”

Laughing, Joseph shook his head.