Outlaw (45 page)

After getting checked-in, Natalie drove the SUV
around, and parked it in front of the room they’d paid for. They both climbed
out of the vehicle, and stretched. Angel turned and opened the rear passenger
door.

Natalie opened the one behind the drivers seat, and
leaned in. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Angel looked up at her with a frown as she reached
for her bag. “I’m getting my bag.”

“Oh, no, you’re not. I’ll get it. I know you think
you’re perfectly healed now, but you don’t need to be lifting anything yet.”

“Natalie, the doctor said I’m fine. It’s been weeks.
It’s healed.”

“Never the less. I’ll get the bags. Here.” She
reached across the seat, and handed Angel the room key. “Go open the door.”

“Yes, ma’am. Boy, you sure have become bossy,
lately.”

“Yes. It’s my new persona. Get used to it.”

They entered the room, and Natalie set their bags
down. “I’m beat.”

“Me, too.”

“I don’t even feel like going out for food,” Natalie
added.

“Maybe we could have a pizza delivered,” Angel suggested.

“Sounds perfect.”

Angel fell back on one of the beds, and stared at
the ceiling. Tomorrow she would see her children again, and Cole. She wondered
how that would go. Would he be happy to see her? Or cold and distant? She was
betting on the latter.

Natalie checked her watch, and picked up the
television remote, and turned it on. She flipped through the channels. They had
crossed the California state line, and the local channels were all California
stations. She kept flipping until she found the one she was looking for. It was
a newscast from a station broadcasting out of San Jose.

“Angel, look!” Natalie exclaimed excitedly.

Angel rolled her head on the mattress to see what
she was looking at. What she saw had her sitting up, stunned. Staring back at
her from the television was a close up of Melissa, smiling, and waiving at the
camera, her face pained with flowers on her cheek. Angel looked at the screen,
dumbfounded. “Why…why is my baby on TV?”

The camera zoomed out, and Angel could now see a
reporter holding a microphone, and talking to the camera. What she saw in the
background made Angel move closer to the screen. The reporter was standing in
the parking lot of Cole’s clubhouse. Angel would recognize the two-story
redbrick building anywhere, even if she hadn’t seen the rows of bikes parked in
the lot. But in this shot there were some things she’d never expected to see at
that location. Some things so out of place, it was laughable. Her eyes took in
an inflated jumping house, a clown making balloon animals, kids running around
with cotton candy? What was going on?

She listened intently as the reporter described the
event that had taken place earlier that day, the first Leukemia charity run,
called Melissa’s Ride, named after the daughter of one of the club’s members.

Angel’s mouth dropped open.

She watched as they cut to footage of the run,
showing hundreds of bikes heading out for the ride. Then it cut to a shot of
Melissa, Cole and TJ sitting at the collection table. The reporter was talking
about the money raised, and then the story cut to another reporter, who was
standing in front of a medical center, and was interviewing one of the
personnel. Angel listened as the director of the center’s bone marrow donation
program explained how they had been overwhelmed with members of this club
showing up to be tested as possible donors. The director was telling the
reporter how centers all across three states had been seeing the same thing
today, and that she had never seen anything like it in all her years as
director.

Angel watched as they cut back to the reporter
standing live at the clubhouse. The camera zoomed out, and Angel saw Mack
standing next to the reporter. She began interviewing him about the event. He
was saying how he wanted to thank a special someone who helped him organize
today’s event, Melissa’s aunt Natalie.

Angel looked over at Natalie. She was looking at
Mack on the screen, and smiling like he was talking directly to her. “You…you
knew about this?”

Natalie looked over at Angel, and nodded, tears in
her eyes. “It looks like it went very well. I’m sorry we weren’t there for it.”

Angel got up from the bed, and walked over, and
hugged her aunt. “Thank you.” Tears filled her eyes.

“Maybe…maybe we’ll be there for next year’s event?”
Natalie pulled back, looking hopefully into Angel’s eyes.

*****

There was now a chain link gate at the end of the
drive that Cole had installed so the kids could play without him worrying they
would get out into the street. The kids were both riding their new tricycles
around the driveway. Cole was out in the driveway in front of the garage, where
he was changing plugs on his bike.

He was bent down next to the bike, but he was still
keeping an eye on the kids. They were racing each other back and forth from
where Cole was, up the long drive, down to the gate, and back again.

Angel and Natalie pulled up to the house. Natalie
looked over, and saw Angel studying the quiet, tree-lined neighborhood and the
house with the white picket fence. She smiled, and murmured the same words that
Cole had said to her not too long ago, “Not what you expected?”

Angel looked over at her, and shook her head.

Natalie pulled off the street, and stopped at the
gate.

Cole heard the car engine, and glanced up just as
they were getting out of the vehicle. They approached the gate, and Cole rose
slowly to his feet, dropping the rag in his hand. He watched as they opened the
gate, and entered. The metal clanged as they shut it. About that time, TJ and
Melissa looked up, and spotted their mother. Cole watched as they scrambled off
their bikes, and ran to her.

Angel dropped to her knees, and gathered them in her
arms, holding them close.

Cole stood motionless, watching.

TJ broke from his mother’s hug, and turned to his
father, and yelled down the length of the driveway to him, “Daddy, mommy’s
home.”

“I see that, son,” Cole whispered. He wondered why
he suddenly found it hard to remember to breath. He watched as Angel slowly
stood up, her gaze finding him. Then she pushed the children toward Natalie, who
hugged them fiercely, and Angel started walking towards Cole.

Here it comes, Cole thought. Would she be angry with
him for taking the children? He tried to read her body language. She was still
a bit too far away for him to clearly read her facial expression. Was she here
to take the children away from him, and back to Arizona? Or something more?
Cole was afraid to hope. He took in a deep, shaky breath, trying to prepare
himself for the worst.

She got about half way down the drive, and then
something he never expected, happened. She began running to him. Cole was
stunned, but he had the good sense to open his arms as she vaulted herself into
them. Her arms came around his neck, and suddenly he found himself holding her
tightly to him.

His eyes slid closed. Thank you, God.

It was all he could do to whisper the words in her
ear, “You better come running.”

Epilogue

Angel

I picked my camera up off the mantel, and crept
toward the plush sofa pit group that we had gotten for the new house. It was a
slate gray micro-fiber that was soft and comfy. We had a kick-ass coffee table
and matching end tables that Cole had built himself. He’d started making
furniture, wooden pieces, tables, mostly, as a business. He’d converted the
large outbuilding behind the house into his workshop. He was really talented.
His stuff was awesome, and I loved every piece he made. I wanted to put every
one of them in our own house, but he persuaded me that he had to have some
pieces to sell, otherwise he wasn’t going to be able to send our kids to
college.

I knew this wasn’t exactly true. He’d told me about
the money, and he’d been smart with it. There was a good chunk set aside for
the kids. But, I got his meaning. He wanted to make his business a success,
with an actual income. So, he told me, ‘No more pieces for the house, baby’.

Crash had thrown into the business with him,
although his area of expertise was wrought iron. Turns out the kick-ass wrought
iron candle sticks and barstools at Cole’s house were the work of Crash. He had
a ‘flare for metal’ he’d told me with a smile. His stuff was awesome, and some
of our biggest sellers.

I, on the other hand, it turns out, was good at
selling. I’d gotten a job with a local Porsche dealer. I only worked three days
a week, but I still brought home a nice paycheck. Plus, I got the added benefit
of getting to drive a sweet ride. It was a loaner, of course, but still. And I
got to dress up, something I came to find out, my husband liked as well.

With Cole working from home, and Natalie living with
us, I didn’t have to worry about putting the kids in daycare. Natalie, by the
way, was still seeing Mack. Something that shocked me at first, but after I saw
the way they were together, I couldn’t help but be happy for them.

I loved our new house. The sunken living room was
one of my favorite rooms. It was a great place for the whole family to hang
out, and I absolutely loved the big stone fireplace. The deck off the back was
great, too. And it had an awesome view. We were secluded, the house set back
off the road, and I loved the big pine trees that surrounded the place. It was
a great house for entertaining, something which we often did, like today.

We’d celebrated the twins 3
^rd
birthday
today. And it had been a full house. We’d grilled out in the backyard. The
kids’ big present from us had been a fabulous wooden play-set that their father
and Crash had built. It had a slide, swings and this awesome tower that was
part fort, part castle.

They loved it.

Everyone had just left about an hour ago, and Cole
had fallen asleep on the big sofa group. He was stretched out in the left
corner of the sectional. His head propped against the soft back cushion. Lying
along his right side, between him and the back of the couch, was Melissa. She
was snuggled up into his armpit, with her head on his chest, her little arm
wrapped around his abs. Her little mouth was open, and she was sound asleep. TJ
was curled on the opposite side of the corner, his legs going out to the
section to the left, his head tucked under Cole’s chin, lying on his shoulder.

I crept closer. I wanted to capture the moment,
which was something I loved to do, and something Cole thought I overdid. I got
them all in the frame, and clicked off several shots. I pulled the camera down,
and scrolled through the shots, smiling. I knew exactly where I was going to
put this picture, once I got it framed.

“Babe. Took a ton of pictures. Enough, already.”

I looked up. Cole was looking at me.

I smiled. “This one’s my favorite. The perfect
ending to a perfect day.” I put the camera down on the table, and knelt next to
Cole’s head. I reached up, and brushed the hair back from his brow, then I ran
my fingers through his hair, again and again. It was something I loved doing,
and something he loved me to do. I would often do it late at night, when the
kids were in bed, and it was just the two of us. It often put him to sleep.

“Love the way you touch me, babe,” he murmured with
his eyes closed.

I leaned down, and kissed his mouth. “This was a
good day.”

He opened his eyes, and looked over at me. “It was a
great day, mama.”

I always called Melissa my little ‘sugar-bear’ and
TJ my little ‘honey-bear’. Cole had taken to calling me ‘mama-bear’, which then
often got shortened to just mama.

I smiled at him.

“You throw a good party. Which, gotta say, has me
torn. Love that people love to come over here, but not crazy about havin’ a
house full every weekend.”

“It’s a great house, sweetie. People love to come
out here.”

“People love to come here, babe, because you have a
wonderful way of makin’ ‘em feel welcome. And I love that about you. Just gotta
say, missin’ the quiet. Like our alone time, babe.”

“Understood. I’ll slack off on the invites.”

“Appreciate it, mama.”

“I love you, Cole.”

“Back atcha, babe.”

I rolled my eyes. “So romantic.” I started to get up
off my knees, but he grabbed my arm, and pulled me back.

“In case I don’t say it enough, in case you got any
doubt, let me clarify. Love I feel for you, babe? It’s rock solid. Ain’t
nothing gonna shake it.”

I smiled, feeling like I was going to start tearing
up. My baby. He could say exactly the right thing, and he often did.

“No tears, babe. This is a good day.” He kissed me.
“Let’s get our brood to bed.”

I gathered up TJ, and Cole scooped up Melissa, her
little body nestled against his shoulder, her limbs hanging lax. I followed him
up the stairs. I loved watching the children in my husband’s arms.