Unexpected Love (Jo's Story) (58 page)

“Absolutely nothing, you are amazing and I love you,” I walk up to him and pull him down to kiss me.

“Whoa,” he laughs when I pull away.  “What just happened?”

“Lizzy just told me that she wants to go and celebrate at her daddy’s party on Friday,” I smile and feel tears again.

“Baby, that’s great,” he smiles and pulls me close.  “I’m so glad she decided to be there.”

“She wouldn’t have decided that if you wouldn’t have talked to her about it.”

“I think she would have, she just needed to know that it isn’t to make people sad, it is to make them happy,” he smiles. 

“Well either way, I have you to thank,” I look up at him.  “I love you, and thank you for being my rock right now,” I kiss him again.

“Mommy,” I hear Abby yelling from the backyard when I come down the steps.  I walk out and see her sitting on Danny’s back.  “Mommy, look who I found,” she is giggling.

“I see you found Uncle Danny,” I smile.

“He said I was getting to big, and then told me I couldn’t pin him down,” she smiles.

“Good for you baby girl,” I laugh.  Danny is just lying there letting her sit on him and talking to Lizzy.  I can tell they are happy to see him.  They haven’t seen him since the funeral.  I am actually surprised that Abby even remembers him.  But he was always Lizzy’s favorite.

“Hey, you ok?”  I hear Bobby say.  I turn around and look at him.

“I’m fine,” I smile.  “Jake talked to Lizzy earlier about something and I just wanted to thank him for it.”

“Oh,” he smiles.  “So how have you been?  You were a wreck when I talked to you on Saturday, but you two seem to be good now.”

“Yeah, we are.  When you told me who was in the picture I knew obviously nothing happened.  I think I knew before that, but I was upset he lied about it to me.  But we talked and got things back on track,” I smile.

“Good, I would hate to have to kick his ass,” he pulls me close and hugs me.  “So have you talked to Ed at all about Friday?”

“No, which surprises me, I thought he would have called me.”

“He has been pretty busy.  I stopped there yesterday and talked to him about it.  I guess Barb opted not to talk this year and Luke is going to.”

“That is probably a good thing.  I think she would be really emotional with Danny being there.”

“Yeah, probably.  How are you doing with him being back?”

“I’m fine,” I smile.  I know everyone is concerned because of how close the three of us used to be.  “I actually don’t mind having him here.  He is on my unit at work now.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yep, just started yesterday,” I laugh.  “Remember when Jarrod always told me he wanted us to work together so we could make sure nothing happened to either of us?”

“Oh yes, I remember that,” he laughs.  “That was his speech at Danny’s graduation party remember?”  I smile at the thought of it.

“Here is to my baby brother, who has become a cop, I choose to think it is so that he can keep a watchful eye on his favorite sister-in-law,” Jarrod holds his glass up.  “Congrats Danny.”

“Hey Jo,” Lisa walks up behind me.

“Hey,” I smile and give her a hug.  The girls go running past us and out to the back yard to play with Abby and Lizzy.  “How are you?”

“Fine,” I smile.  I love all the people that are in my house right now.  I don’t know where I would be without any of them.  I see that Ryan and Molly have also showed up and wave at them.  I think back to just two months ago when I didn’t have some of these people with me and don’t know how I survived.  I have gained so many friends along with a great guy.  I don’t know what I ever did to deserve this.

We are all finishing up our dinner and having some drinks when Danny stands up.  “I want to make a toast,” he says.  Everyone stops talking and looks at him.  “I have not been here for almost two years and I can tell how much you all have taken care of my sister-in-law.  Her and my nieces have gone through hell and back the last couple years and I’m so happy you have been here to help her through it.  I have been introduced to the new man in her life, and as the brother of her first love, I think he would approve very much of what the two of you have.  I have not seen a love like this since I saw Jo and Jarrod together last.  I’m happy for you Jo, and I damn well bet that my big brother is up there shining down on you two right now.  So here is to Jo and Jake, may you be happy, forever.  And also to my big brother, I know you are up there looking down on all of us today and every day.  We know you love us and it is obvious that you have brought an amazing group of people around to support and help the ones you love the most.”  He raises his glass and so does everyone else.  Jake puts his arm around me and pulls me close.  I’m so happy right now, and I think Danny is right, Jarrod has surrounded the girls and I with people that he knew would love us forever.

~~~~~

“So are you ready for your speech tonight?”  Ryan asks me when I walk into the office on Friday morning.

“I don’t know,” I smile.  “It is going to be hard, but I know that things are getting easier for us.”

“You girls are doing amazing,” he smiles.  “I think you are going to be great with Jake.  He loves you more than anything,” he laughs.

“I know.  We are lucky to have him.”

“Hey Jo,” Ricky comes into the office.

“Hey,” I smile at him.

“So I was wondering what time the memorial starts tonight.”

“It starts at 4:30.  Did you plan on coming?”

“None of us are going to miss it Jo, you know better,” he smiles.

“Ok,” I laugh.  I look at my computer and see that Chief wants to have a meeting with us all at 10:00.  “So how are we looking on cases?”  I ask Ryan after Ricky leaves the room.

“Looking good, Bob and Ricky are working on the last one that we had from NorthSide.  That one took a little longer to connect the drug activity I think.  Chief gave me one to take a look at but I’m not sure that it is something we should be looking into.”

“Why not?”

“Well, I’m not sure that any of us could really be completely involved in this case.”

“What do you mean?”

“There have been charges brought up against someone that I don’t think any of us can really be straight headed about.”

“Who and what kind of charges?”

“Amber.”

“And what was she charged with?”

“Neglect on her six month old daughter.”  My mouth drops open.  I cannot believe that.

“You’re not serious right now are you?”  He just looks at me and hands me the file.  I open it and look inside.  Sure enough.  Her mom is the one that is pressing charges against her.  “Not only neglect but abuse?”

“That’s what it looks like,” he says.  “And it is only from about a week ago.”

“Ryan this is not something that I can deal with.  I have a restraining order against her I can’t handle a case that she is involved in.”  I stand up and go out of the office and down to Chief’s door.  It is open and he is sitting at his desk.  I knock a little on his door.

“Hey Jo,” he says.  “What’s up?”

“I need to talk to you about this,” I set the file on his desk.

“Oh, yeah, I just wanted you to look and see if you can find any holes in the story.”

“Chief I cannot get involved in something that has to do with her.  I can’t be neutral on a case that involves her, not with the history that she and I have.”

“That’s fine, I just thought you could have someone on the team look at it.”

“They won’t want to, they were all there the night she tried to fight me at the bar.  No one on my team is going to want to see her get away with this.  But we can’t look into it with clear heads either.”

“Its fine Jo, I understand.”  I puts it on a stack of papers he has sitting by his computer.  “So how are you holding up today?”

“I’m ok,” I smile.

“You’re leaving at noon right?”

“Yes, so I can go home and change and get down to talk to Ed.”

“Ok, well I want to have a meeting at 10:00 so in about twenty minutes, does your team have anything to do after that?”

“As of right now that was the only case we had on our desk.”

“Ok, well why don’t you tell everyone to start packing up their paper work and anything that can be carried in bins or boxes, you guys are moving,” he smiles.

“We are what?”

“Moving, to new offices.  So you all have your own office instead of shoving you all into four offices,” he smiles.

“Ok,” I say sort of in shock.  “I will let them know.”  I turn and walk back down the hall to mine and Ryan’s office.  “So, Chief just told me to tell everyone to start packing their things.  Apparently we are moving.”

“What?”  He looks up at me.

“That’s what he just said.”

“Ok,” Ryan laughs.  He looks over at me.  “Jo, is everything ok?”

“Yes,” I laugh.  “I think I am just out of it, or something I don’t know.  I am going to go tell everyone what Chief said,” I turn and walk down the hall and stop at everyone’s doors and let them know what our orders are for the day.  I am at my desk putting stuff from my drawers into a box when Ryan gets up.

“Meeting time,” he says.  I get up and follow him to the board room.  The meeting only takes about forty-five minutes.  All Chief wanted to tell us is that we are moving to the fourth floor and that we will have it to ourselves just in case we need to expand again.  He goes over some files that we got again and then tells us all to have a safe weekend because he is leaving early.  My guess is he is also going to be speaking tonight at the memorial.  He usually does because he has had such an impact on my life and career.  I go back to my office and continue to pack my things and get my desk and cabinets completely emptied by 11:30.  I look at my phone and see that I missed a call from Barb.  I wonder what she wants, she doesn’t usually call me during the day.  I look up and see Danny coming down the hall toward my office on the phone.

“Yes mom, I will tell her, I’m going into her office right now,” he says.  “Ok, see you soon, I love you.”  He hangs up.  “My mom wanted me to tell you to make sure that you don’t bring anything but you and the girls.  She doesn’t want you bringing food or anything like that.”

“She’s a wreck isn’t she?”

“Absolutely,” he smiles.  “She always gets like this when she is trying to avoid feelings, she finds things to do and people to call to keep her mind off of whatever is bothering her.”

“Yeah, I know.  Well, I’m going to head out, I have to go get the girls from school then go home and change and get them ready.  I think Jake is picking us up at 3:30 to head to the department.”

“Ok, we will see you there,” he hugs me.  “Stay strong,” he kisses my cheek.

“I’m trying,” I smile.  I walk out of the station without saying much to anyone because I know that I will see most of them tonight at some point.  I have been amazed the last two years by the support I have gotten from the people at this station.  Not just my team but everyone.  Even squad members that I don’t see much have been there to support me.  It’s true what they say, a family can be made up of anyone as long as they care about you.

~~~~~

“Hey Jo,” Ed gives me a hug as Jake, the girls, and I walk into the station.

“Hi,” I smile.  “You remember Jake,” I say.

“How could I forget,” he laughs and shakes Jake’s hand, “good to see you again.”

“You too,” Jake says.

“And you might not remember these two beautiful girls,” I smile as I look down at Abby and Lizzy.  “This is Lizzy, and this is Abby.”

“Wow, you girls have grown up,” he gets down to their level.  “You know what, your Uncle Bobby told me you girls were going to be along tonight, and so I had something special made for you.  Why don’t you come in the dining hall with me and take a look?”  He smiles.  We follow him into the kitchen area and I can see that they have pulled out more tables and chairs for tonight.  “I found this on one of the cameras that we have in the fire house here and thought that tonight would be the perfect night to give them to you.  I know they are a couple years old, but I thought you should have them,” he hands both girls a picture.  It is of them sitting on Jarrod’s lap in one of the trucks.  Both girls have big smiles on their faces and he looks so happy.  That was taken the summer before he passed away.  Both girls get big smiles on their faces and I of course start crying.  Jake puts his arm around me and pulls me close.  “Sorry Jo,” Ed says.

“Your fine,” I smile.  “That is an amazing picture of them.  Thank you so much,” I hug him.  “I thought maybe today would be a little easier, but I think I was wrong.”

“Well, we are here to remember him as the great man he was,” Ed steps back from me a little bit.  “You will get through it,” he smiles.  “Here, I have this for you,” he hands me a picture too and this one is of Jake and I from the fundraiser that we did a few weeks ago.

“How did you get this?”  I look at him.  I can recognize that it is from when I was talking to him about his family but we are both smiling and looking at each other, it is an amazing picture of us.

“Joan took it and sent it to me.”

“She did what?” Jake looks at him.  I think he is shocked more so than I am.

“She didn’t want you to know, and I thought tonight would be the perfect night to give it to you.  I know that Jarrod will always be a part of your life, but Jake is your new life.  And even though you are moving past the things that have happened we still love you here, you are still our family no matter what Jo,” Ed smiles.

“Thanks Ed, that means a lot to me.”

“So everyone should be getting here soon, we have the stage set up out back and everything should be up and running.  All Towne Street calls are being routed for the next three hours to the next house, unless it is something they can’t handle, but we should be in the clear until about 7:00.”