“Uh-huh, high and dry. Just what I thought.” Nikki turned and looked at Tony. “I want you to give Molly a job with the company. She’s going to need a way to make herself a living, and we can do that for her.”
“I still need an assistant,” Vic piped up. “She’s welcome in my office.”
“Good.” Nikki turned and smiled sweetly at Freddie.
“You mean you’re going to give my ex-wife a job with Walters Construction? How could you do that to me?” he wailed.
“Because, my brother, unlike you, most of the Walters men believe when they make a commitment to a woman, they should keep it. This is a way our family can at least keep the commitment you made to Molly. You’ll just have to live with that,” Tony smirked at him.
Freddie shut up, and so did everyone else. After a few minutes, Tony said, “So, since this day has been so lovely, does anybody else have anything they’d like to get off their chest before we take a deep breath and relax?” He looked at Bart, Mark, and Bennie; they all shook their heads. He glanced Nikki’s way. “Honey?”
“I got nothin’,” she smiled. “My life’s an open book.”
“Vic?”
“Well,” Vic started hesitantly, “no, nothing I should say out loud.” Nikki gave Tony a knowing look, and he shot back a sad smile.
“Clayton?”
“Aw, hell no. My lesbian sister’s wife is having my baby, my new four-year-old son is Black, and my wife is expecting an eight-year-old. Plus I just found out one of my uncles is just my half-uncle, I have a new half-uncle, and I had a cousin who was shot and killed by my mother. Unless some dead relative comes back to life or I’m a zombie and nobody’s told me, those damn soap operas got nothin’ on me. Nope, I think I’m good over here,” he said, looking kind of shell-shocked.
Tony leaned over and patted Clayton on the knee. “You okay, buddy?”
“Yeah, I’ll be okay. I just need a quiet corner to process all this in, that’s all,” Clayton told him, not looking at anyone.
“Anybody? Anything else?” Tony asked. Everyone looked around at each other, then at the floor. “Well, I’ve got one last thing.”
“Sweet lord, don’t tell us you’ve been abducted by aliens,” Clayton moaned. “I don’t think I could take it.”
Tony grinned. “No, son. Better than that.” He straightened, then turned to Nikki. “Honey, I’m sorry I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to you about this first. I was going to make the big announcement on New Year’s Eve, but this seems like the right time, so bear with me and don’t get mad, okay?”
“Shit, babe, what now?” Nikki asked, that horrified look coming back to her face.
“No, no! It’s good, I swear!” He looked around at everyone, then said, “As of January first, I’m retiring from Walters Construction; well, semi-retiring.”
“What?” “When did you decide this?” “You can’t do that!” Questions started coming at him from all angles. Nikki stared at him like he had an arm growing out of his forehead.
“Hey, guys, hey! Give me a minute! I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I’ve had Steve working on the paperwork to see how we could work the whole thing out. And he’s come up with a workable plan. But it’s like this,” he said, turning back to Nikki. “I love Walters Construction; I really do. I’ve loved working with you over the last few months, sweetheart. And I love working with you guys,” he said, looking at Clayton and Vic, then turning back to Nikki. “But, baby, most couples get married, and they daydream about growing old together and when they’ll celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary. I’m a realist; we’re never going to celebrate our fiftieth. We’ll be lucky if we’re still healthy enough to enjoy our twentieth. But I want us to be able to spend as much time together as we can while we’re healthy, active, and fit. I have some ideas for what I want to do. I’m not going to stop working altogether, but I want to do something that will let me spend all the time I can with you. Does that sound crazy?”
“No,” Nikki whispered, tears in her eyes. “That sounds wonderful!” She kissed him and hugged him tight. “I’m so happy!”
“But Dad . . .” Clayton started, sheer terror in his eyes.
“No buts. We’re going to work this out. It’s all going to be okay; I won’t leave you guys twisting in the breeze, I promise. I’m still planning to work two or three days a week. Can everyone at least support me in this, even if you don’t agree? It’s important to me.”
Tony went around the room, and everyone either agreed or nodded. When they were done, he looked at John Henry. “And I’d like you to come back to Walters Construction. Clayton and Vic will need help, and we’ll all be glad to show you the ropes.”
John Henry nodded. “I’d like that very much. And I kept working in the construction industry, so I have quite a bit of experience. I’d love a chance to make up for the damage I did all those years ago.”
“Good! It’s settled.” As far as Tony was concerned, they were done, really once-and-for-all done. “We’ll find you a spot, something we need filled and you’ll enjoy, and it’ll be settled.” He took a deep breath, let it out, and said, “And now, I’m finished, not to mention exhausted, by all of this. So if no one else has anything, I smell something delicious in my kitchen courtesy of my girls, and I think we need to eat.”
Everyone got up and started to the dining room; everyone except Nikki. Tony got all the way to his seat before he realized he’d left her behind. He went back to the great room and found her still sitting there, looking kind of dazed.
“Hey, baby,” he whispered, steeling himself to apologize.
“Hi,” she replied in a low voice.
“You okay? I forgot to bring you with me. I’m sorry. You hungry?”
“I’m not sure I can eat.” She seemed foggy. “I’m still kind of in shock.”
“The retirement thing?” he asked.
“Everything.” She was bone-weary. “I need a nap.”
He smiled and took her hand. “Eat first. Then I’ll nap with you.”
She smiled back. “Just make sure I don’t wind up face-down in my plate.”
“If you do and you drown, I’ll give you mouth-to-mouth,” he grinned.
“Oh, I feel so much better knowing that,” she responded sarcastically, getting up under her own steam. “Whatever would I do without you?”
With a sudden seriousness, he told her, “I hope you never have to find out.”
She looked at him with an equally serious expression. “I hope I never have to either.”
After they’d eaten, all of the brothers went back to their wives at their hotels in Louisville, and everyone got teary-eyed as they were leaving. Bennie promised he and Caroline would come and stay with Nikki and Tony soon so they could start over. Tony, Vic, and Clayton told John Henry they’d like to have lunch with him during the next couple of weeks to make some plans, and Tony invited him to come over and watch bowl games on New Year ’s Day; John Henry said he’d really enjoy that.
The women sat at the table in the cleaned-up kitchen, talking about Katie’s pregnancy and which room they’d use for the nursery. Tony played with Little T and Ella Jane, and Clayton and Vic watched a show on TV about mummies. Nikki was trying to get to the bedroom for the nap she needed, and she’d made it as far as the base of the stairs when the doorbell rang. She waited, but nobody made a move to answer it, so she decided she’d get it, hoping Tony wouldn’t get mad at her when he found out she was stirring around by herself. But with everything that was running through her head, she forgot to look through the peephole, and she opened the front door to a short, bald man pointing a snub-nosed five-shot revolver at her. “Close the door,” he snarled at her.
What the hell do I do now?, she thought. Her Walther wasn’t in her waistband; she hadn’t been carrying it because she couldn’t maneuver well enough to even put the holster in her pants. She looked at the man, and then she recognized him: This was the man who’d killed Dottie. Everyone in the house was
busy doing something. Would anyone even notice she hadn’t come back from the door? Had anyone else even heard the doorbell?
“What do you want?” she asked him. He seemed nervous, maybe strung out? His eyes were red-rimmed, and his nose was flushed. “I don’t have any money.”
“I don’t want your money, bitch. I want you. I’m gonna kill you. My Dottie is dead because of you,” he whispered menacingly.
If I can keep him talking, maybe somebody will find me, she thought. “How is that my fault?” Nikki asked.
“Because!” He seemed confused, looking for what he wanted to say. Then he screamed, “Because everything was fine until you came along! Then she got all crazy and wanted me to go. She was okay as long as he was alone, but when he found somebody, well, she couldn’t stand it. It was pretty obvious she was still in love with him. So she was taken from me, and I’m going to take you from him!”
“But you’re the one who killed her!”
She instantly wished she hadn’t said that. He started to shake, then cocked the hammer on the gun and waved it around. By then Nikki was very sure he was high on something. “Get down on your knees with your back to me. I don’t want you watching me when I shoot you!”
“I’m not getting down on my knees,” Nikki said matter-of-factly. “I can’t. I have an arm in a sling, in case you haven’t noticed.”
“Your damn arm isn’t going to make any difference!” he screamed. “You’ll be dead in a few minutes so it won’t matter!” At that point, he got exceptionally worked up. “Now I said get down on your knees!” he shrieked.
“What was that?” Clayton asked Vic, his head cocked, listening. “Wait – who was at the door? I heard the bell.”
“I don’t know, but I heard it too.” Vic got up and went to the kitchen; somebody was missing. He ran up the stairs calling Nikki’s name, then ran back into the great room. “Nikki’s not in the house.”
Tony heard Vic say Nikki wasn’t in the house, and a chill ran through him; he called out, “Girls, keep the little ones close. Something’s wrong.” He ran to the foyer to find Clayton pointing at the peephole, obviously terrified. Tony looked through the peephole, and his heart froze. By the time Vic made it into the foyer and looked through the peephole, Tony had pulled his nine millimeter Ruger from the back of his jeans; Vic produced his Ruger forty-five, and Clayton had already drawn his three-eighty SIG Sauer. “Clayton, around from the back to the right; Vic, same to the left. When you’re in position, Vic, try to get her attention, let her know to drop. When she drops, I’ll yank open the door. Stay to the sides so I don’t wing you if I have to shoot him.”
“Got it,” Vic nodded, and he and Clayton took off.
Tony stood at the door, looking through the peephole. He could tell Nikki was stalling the guy, hoping someone would notice she was gone. In a matter of seconds, Tony saw Clayton to his right in the peephole, and Vic to the left. He saw Vic raise one hand, and do a quick three-two-one downward-point hand signal. Then Vic nodded, counted down, and Tony saw Nikki’s head disappear from the peephole.
He jerked the door open and leveled his weapon at the man’s head, and the guy looked genuinely surprised to see a gun pointed directly at him. In a steady voice, Tony told him, “There are three weapons trained on you right now. It would be in your best interest to drop your gun.” Never moving his gaze, he told Nikki, “Sweetheart, crawl past me and into the house, then close the door and call the cops.” For once, he got no argument out of her. Even though it was a struggle for her, she made it through the door in record time.
“What’s it going to be?” he asked the man, who was becoming visibly agitated. “I don’t want you to die, but if I have to shoot you and I don’t kill you, one of the other two guys will. So please, put the gun down. I really, really don’t want to shoot you. I’m just not that kind of guy.”
It seemed to take forever for the man to make up his mind, but he finally dropped the gun he was holding and put his hands on the back of his head. Clayton ran forward and grabbed his wrists, forced him to the ground, and placed a knee in the middle of his back. Within minutes, two cruisers pulled up.
Nikki was watching through the sidelights, and she came out the door when the cruisers pulled up. She told Tony, “It’s him – Hector. He admitted it; he killed Dottie.”
“Wonder where the car is?” Tony mused, looking down the driveway as far as he could see.
“What’s going on here?” the uniformed officer asked.
“Officer, this man held a gun on my wife,” Tony told the uniform. “If you’ll call Detective Bryson Hawkins of the Louisville Police Department, he’ll tell you all about it; this man is wanted in the murder of Dorothea Walters in Louisville. By the way, did you see a gray car with the side all dented in on your way in here?”
“Yes sir, the other side of the hill there, off the side of the drive. Is that significant?”
“Very. Please have it towed to Louisville as well. I’m sure they’ll want it for evidence. And please, get him out of here.” Tony looked at Vic and Clayton. “Everybody all right?”
“Yeah, we’re both okay.” Clayton turned to Nikki. “Mom, you okay?”
“Yes, honey, I’m fine. And thanks for finding me. I was afraid no one would know I was out here.”
“I heard something and that’s how I figured out something was wrong. Then we started looking for you and couldn’t find you. I was so scared.” Clayton hugged her tight. “I just got you forever; I sure don’t want to lose you.”
“Well, that was Bryson,” Tony told Nikki after he hung up the phone. “That guy is Hector Ramirez. He confessed to killing Dottie. So it’s all over.” The look of relief on his face was a blessing to her.
“So what’s next?”
“I have some press releases to send out in five days about the retirement issue, and then we step into our new life. And I’ve got some surprises for you, Mrs. Walters!”
“Oh, Mr. Walters, I can hardly wait!”
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
“So she’s released? Completely?” Tony asked Nikki’s doctor.
“Yes, completely. You can resume all normal activities,” Dr. Jessup told Nikki, then smiled at Tony. “All normal activities. But you might want to work up to normal. Just keep it within reason.”
Tony let out a belly laugh. “Gotcha. I’ll take it easy on her.”
“See that you do! She’s still got some healing to do. And good luck to both of you. Stay safe,” Dr. Jessup ordered as he walked with them to the door.
Once Tony had helped Nikki into the Yukon and was in the driver’s seat, he told her, “Well, that’s that! I guess we have something to celebrate, huh?”
“Yep! I can’t wait!”
“Me neither. I might just drag you into the back of this SUV . . .”
“Oh, no, buster! Not out here in the parking lot of the medical plaza! I’m too damn old for that,” she laughed.
“No you’re not. But I’ll humor you this time and wait until we get home.”
When they walked through the door, Tony scooped Nikki up and took her up the stairs two at a time. He practically threw her on the bed, stripped her down in a matter of seconds, shucked all of his clothes, and was on her and in her so fast she didn’t have time to catch her breath. He stroked in and out of her tenderly for a few minutes, then pulled out and took a minute to trail his lips down her neck, down her breast, and down to the scar on her ribcage. She wound her hands in his hair, and he kissed the scar over and over. Finally, he said, “You’re going to wear this for the rest of your life, and all because of me. Baby, I’m so, so sorry.”
She pulled his head up and the love he saw in those clear, turquoise-kissed eyes made his heart sing. “The only people who will ever see it are you and members of the medical profession. And if you don’t care about it, I don’t care what they think. So it doesn’t matter. It’s all over and we’re moving on. Now, make love to me and don’t stop until I’m screaming, okay?” she smil
ed.
“Oh, I can definitely do that,” he moaned, kissing back up to her mouth and burying his shaft in her warmth and wetness. He lay his full length on top of her, wrapped his arms around her, and put his hands on her ass, pumping into her with an edginess that made everything inside her flair until it all blazed. She moaned and kissed him, forcing herself into his mouth until their tongues met. They made love like that for hours, coming over and over until neither of them could move. Lying in each other’s arms, they dozed as the dinner hour got closer and closer.
When they woke, they were lying side by side in the dusk. “So, have you got the plans all drawn up?” Nikki asked him without opening her eyes.
“Yeah, and we’re not enlarging the present barn. You can have it; I know you want it.”
“Yay! I was so hoping you’d say that! I want to get us a couple of saddle horses. Please?”
“Sure! We’ll do that. As for everything else, it’s all coming together. I can’t wait until we can break ground, probably this summer.” Tony kissed the tip of her nose.
“Woo-hoooo!” You’re really excited about this, aren’t you?”
“Well, yeah! It’s going to be such a big leap from what I’m used to doing. But I’m going to love it – you will too.”
Nikki trailed a fingertip down his chest. “Shouldn’t we at least tell the family?”
“Naw. I don’t want to. I did tell Vic, though; I’m going to let the Lexington office do all of the work. It’ll get done fast and right, and I won’t have to look over everybody’s shoulders, just spend my time enjoying being with you.”
Nikki snuggled into him. “That, Mr. Walters, sounds like an excellent idea.”
“God, I love these wasabi almonds.” Vic took another handful. “Nik, did you make these?”
“Yeah, but the ones I get from Trader Joe’s are much better.”
“I don’t see how they could be any better.” While Vic kept at the almonds, Tony and John Henry were practically scuffling over the cheddar popcorn. Nikki hadn’t made that; she’d cheated and bought it.