Black and Blue (Black and Blue Series) (20 page)

Jamie took a deep breath and looked over her shoulder.
“I don’t like keeping things from him, I wish I could have my own father at my wedding, but that can’t happen. If there will be a war I will stand by the man I love, and fight against my father. I know that things are moving quickly with us, but I don’t want to be with anyone else. He is what I want. Ryan was my first love, and look how that ended. Henry is my world now and it would mean so much to me if you were there to support me.” Jamie kept her voice low just in case anyone was coming to check on her, and sh cn hat.e turned around to face the girl that was like her sister.

Emily sighed, and narrowed her eyes.
“I would support you even if you wanted to marry a monkey.”

Jamie smiled, and saw that Emily was biting her cheek to keep her smile back.
“Hmm…I don’t know if I would support
you
if you wanted to marry a monkey. I think it might be against the law.”

Emily burst out laughing, and Jamie smiled.
“What you are doing tonight is against the law, and I’ll be right behind you. You
better
support my ass if I want to marry a freaking monkey.”

Jamie laughed and shook her head.
That was why they were best friends. They had always understood each other. Jamie went to the bed and lay down, and Emily lay next to her. “My dad should be down here any minute to check on me,” she whispered and turned her head to look at Emily.

“
Yeah I figured that,” Emily yawned, and Jamie reached down and pulled up the blanket to cover her and Emily up. “I’m going to get some sleep before we need to be up to get ready for tonight. I know you didn’t get that much sleep last night with planning, so you need your beauty rest.”

Jamie smiled and turned around, Emily was
right she hadn’t slept that much. Henry, Cameo and Kerri had planned all night. She and Emily would arrive there at midnight with Matthew Rich, her new guard. He was starting that morning. Jamie wasn’t too sure about him, but Henry told her he was their only choice, and that he was a first lieutenant in the Black army. Her father wouldn’t turn him down, and he was a better choice than Ryan.

Gradually Jamie’s eyes grew heavy and she didn’t want to fight it anymore; she allowed her sleepiness to take over her.

* * *

Henry walked into the Moore house, and was greeted by William
.

“
Good morning Henry, I would like to talk to you about yesterday.”

He knew he would have t
o talk about it, and what he’d seen. “Of course, sir.” He nodded.

William t
urned around and indicated for Henry to follow him. They walked into the downstairs office which was done in bright colors.
Cynthia must have given her womanly touch in the room,
Henry thought.

William walked to the large cedar wood desk that sat in the back of the room. The carpet was
a bright red and the chair candhe lar in front of the desk was white. “Sit down, Henry,” he said and nodded his head toward the chair.

Henry
sat down, and William sat there staring at him.

“
I have been doing extra background checks into my new employees. Did you know you are my only new hire, other than Ryan?”

He knew that it was his job to know what was going on in the Moore house. He was the newes
t
employee William had hired in about five years. “I knew that, sir.”

William nodded, and put his elbows on his desk. He leaned forward with his face in his hands. “Since you started here
, there have been two incidents. First the bloody cow’s head and heart and yesterday my daughter was almost killed when a bomb went off in her hands. It seems a little strange that nothing had ever happened until you were hired.”

Henry thought about what he wanted to say, he knew how things looked for h
im. The cow’s head and heart had been him, but that was before he knew that Jamie was in the house. He would
never
send her a bomb, but he thought he might know who did. “Sir, I would never do anything that could send me to the tower. I’m pretty sure my causing harm to you or your daughter would send me there with no hope to return.” Henry kept his eyes on William’s green ones.

“You live at Robert Rich’
s house, correct?” he arched an eyebrow, and Henry felt his heart speed up with the mention of Robert’s name.

“Yes sir,
my mother has been employed by the Rich family for twenty years. I live in the guest house, and she lives in the basement.” he knew there was no point in lying to him. He was more than capable of find the information without him telling him.

“It is nice of them to allow
you and your mother to live with them. Do you know anything about a rumored revolution?” William asked, removing his head from his hands, as he folded them on the cedar desk.

Henry kept his face blank. “No sir, I haven’t heard any more than what you have. I might have heard something in passing at the
No B Club
, but that is it.” He was already prepared to be asked that question, and known what he would say.

William stood up, and walked over to Henry. “I would like
it if you would keep an ear out for anything that would concern me and what’s mine.
Someone
knows about my daughter and I want them found.”

Henry
had planned on doing a little digging anyway. “Yes, sir,” he responded to his boss, and William nodded.

“Good, thank you. Now I’
m going to check on my co civ>

And Henry stood up. He moved
behind the older man.

William walked out of the office and
moved down the hall toward the basement where Henry knew Jamie was. His thoughts turned to the previous evening. He couldn’t believe Jamie had agreed to marry him after the party that night. He’d thought she’d want to have something bigger, and when she’d told him she didn’t care as long as she got to call him her husband, his heart soared. He’d never believed he would find someone he would love as much as he loved Jamie Moore.

* * *

Jamie heard the door open and knew her father had entered Cynthia’s room. She sat up so he knew she was awake, and she didn’t want to wake up Emily.

“Hey sweetie, how are you doing?”

She smiled ever though it was hard for him to see. “I’m okay, not in pain anymore.” Slowly she got out of the bed hoping she wouldn’t wake Emily. She walked to the door and she heard her father follow her.

“Are you sure you still want to have a party tonight?”
he asked as he walked to the dark brown couch, sat down and crossed his legs.

Jamie sat across from him in t
he matching recliner. She’d had a feeling he would want to cancel the party tonight. A part of her couldn’t blame him, but she wouldn’t let it happen. She had been planning the masquerade ball for the last few years. She had always wanted one and now it was happening for her eighteenth birthday. “Dad I don’t want to cancel just because someone wants to kill me. If I did that, then I would be giving that crazy person what he or she wanted. You’ve always taught me to stand up when I’m scared and never run from danger. I won’t start now.” Her father had told her since she could remember, to stand up when she was afraid of something, and never walk away. That was one of the major reason he’d put her into self-defense classes. He’d wanted her to be able to protect herself.

Jamie really looked at her father and saw th
e dark circles under his eyes. She knew he hadn’t slept much last night and it was her fault. He was worried about her, and was most likely trying to figure out who had tried to blow her up. His normal salt and pepper hair was slicked back away from his handsome face, but today it was messy and in his eyes.

“You know when I found out that your mother and I were having a girl
, I was terrified. I didn’t know how to be with a little girl/ I knew how to be with boys, since I am one. Your mother told me that I would know as soon as I held you in my arms, and she was right. From the moment I held you, I knew you were tough and a fighter.” He closed his eyes for a few seconds and when he reopened them, tears were streaming down his cheeks. “Jamie when I heard the bomb go off, my first thought was you, and when I saw you, I nearly lost it. I didn’t know what to do, and I couldn’t believe what had happened. I cd hht w have been checking everything to see how it got past the gate, and I haven’t found anything.”

Jamie wanted to reach out and hold her father, as he buried his face in his hands and wept with his sor
row. The one thought that kept nagging her was
inside job
. Someone she knew had most likely sent her that package, hoping that it would kill her. “So do you think it was an inside job?” she whispered and her heart raced thinking about it.

Slowly her father lifted his he
ad, and his glossy eyes met hers. “That is my only conclusion and my number one suspect, Henry Roarke, checks out. So I don’t think it’s him, but I know it has to be someone that works for me. Our bomb detectors should have picked up on that package, and it should never have gotten into this house.” Jamie felt her face heat up when he mentioned Henry’s name. She’d thought the same thing when it happened, but she knew he would never hurt her.

She sighed and got up to sit
next to her father on the couch. She placed her hand on top of his. “Have you figured out anything?” she wanted to know what he knew and maybe she could tell Henry.

“No nothing yet, but I won’t give up until
I find out who did this. I actually have a new guard for you, his name is Matthew Rich, and he comes highly recommended. He will be with you at all times, starting today. I know you don’t want Ryan around you and I agree. He won’t be in the house anymore. He will be outside for now. I should have talked to you before I hired him.”

Jamie lo
oked over at her dad and smiled. She thought back to what she remembered of Matthew. She’d only seen him for a second, but he was hard to forget. He was handsome like his little brother, his blonde hair was shaved which made his green eyes stand out more. Her dad had never really asked her what she wanted. Typically he would just do what he wanted and expected her to go along with it. “Dad it doesn’t matter. I wasn’t completely honest with you about our break up. I should have told you the whole story, but I was embarrassed that he cheated on me. I felt worthless, and I didn’t want you to see me hurt like that.”

Her father took her face in his hands, and fresh tears ran down
his cheeks. “I never want to hear you say you are worthless, you could never be worthless. You are the best thing that has happened to me, and you will find someone that will treat you like the queen you are. Your perfect match is out there Jamie and you will be happy. All I ever wanted was for you to be happy.”

Jamie felt her heart breaking for her father, he would want her to be happy
, but with a Black. If he knew about her relationship with Henry he wouldn’t be so happy. “One day I will be as happy as you want me to be. And know that when I do I will do anything to keep that happiness,” she said and stood up. She knew he would never accept what she wanted.