Too Hot to Hold (31 page)

“I want you to declare me dead, in public, once and for all. I don’t care how you do it—you can say I was killed in Iraq, or that you found my body years ago and never said anything. Whatever it takes.”

“I can’t do it.”

“You owe me that.” His voice rose angrily for a second until he tamped it down. “Please. Do this for both of us. You know it’s the only way. There’s no going back for us, so let’s just move forward. Make it so I don’t have to look over my shoulder all the time for the press. Even your other children think I’m dead. Now’s the time to let it all go. I can’t give you the forgiveness you’re looking for—but with this, I can move on. That’s got to be enough for you.”

Walter turned away from him, stared out the window. Nick watched the broad shoulders crumple for just a second and then looked away, because he didn’t want to feel this, not any of it.

“I’ll do it,” Walter said finally, without turning around. “First thing in the morning, I’ll call a press conference. I’ll tell them Deidre wanted me to wait until after she’d passed to make the announcement. I’ll make sure the press believe me. Now please, just go.”

Nick opened his mouth to say something, to thank Walter, but he couldn’t. Relief flooded him as he turned and left the room and then the house, closing the door behind him.

The path out had been different this time—the back exit and not down the trellis and across the side lawns—but the feeling was as familiar to him as the other path had been all those years ago. But the freedom was even more of a rush this time, because the fear was finally gone.

And when he walked out of the gate to the street where he’d parked, he stopped short. Because just like all those years ago, Jake was there waiting for him. Had followed his ass all the way to New York without Nick noticing.

Jake wasn’t alone either. There were Chris and Kenny. And Kaylee. All waiting to bring him home.

Kaylee waited while he hugged Dad first, and then Jake and Chris. And then the men moved to the side, and finally, he put his arms around Kaylee.

“He’s going to do it—hold a press conference and declare me dead.”

Kaylee had tears in her eyes. “I know how hard this was for you. How hard it’s all been.”

“It’s done now. I can move on… with you.”

Now she smiled. “I can keep a secret, Nick. This secret. All of your secrets. I want to keep them.” She pressed her lips to the side of his neck.

“There’s going to come a time when what I do compromises your job. And vice versa.” Nick moved away, pressed his fists to his temples for a second. “You became a journalist because of your mother—I’m not going to let you leave that behind. I know what it’s like to love your job.”

“You’re not
letting me
do anything.” Her eyes blazed. “I make my own choices. I chose to call you that first time. And the second time. So if I tell you that, for me, finding love trumps my career ambitions, you have no right to tell me otherwise. I can opt out of stories that concern the military—I can make it work. And if I can’t, I can’t.”

Nick could swear he felt tears rise up behind his eyes at her words. The last time he cried was at Maggie’s funeral. Since then, the walls were up high enough that no one had breached them.

Kaylee had definitely climbed those walls.

“I know you thought that you weren’t capable of love—that you wouldn’t be able to share your full life with someone. But you did share it with me. And I’m not letting you take it back,” she told him. “I love you.”

“Come here.” He heard the gruffness in his own voice, barely trusted it. And when she walked back into his arms and looked up at him, he told her, “I do love you, Kaylee Smith. Probably from the second you stole my damned car.”

“Our car now.”

He nodded. “Yeah, our car now.”

Nick helped Kaylee into their car, and then he started it up, and together they followed Jake’s Blazer and the rest of his family toward the best kept secret of all—home.