Page 46 of I Do, or Dye Trying
Emory nodded subtly and offered a small, uncertain smile before he left without another word. I closed my eyes and took some cleansing breaths to clear my mind and body of the toxic fear and hysteria that had bubbled up. I decided that I was going to take my own advice. I was going to accept that I wasn’t in charge of the universe and I was going to have a little faith—in myself, in Gabe, and in our future.
“ARE YOU GETTING NERVOUSabout the big day?” Adrian asked during our lunch break on the Wednesday before the wedding. It was my last work day for more than two weeks and I was happy that things were blissfully quiet in Blissville for the time being and we could enjoy a nice lunch at the diner.
“No,” I said honestly. “I’m excited about the wedding and looking forward to the two weeks in Hawaii with my husband.” Yeah, I didn’t bother hiding my smile over the images that came to mind just then.
“I sense a but,” Adrian said, “and not the kind with two T’s either.” The smile slid from Adrian’s face, and the expression in his eyes grew serious. ‘You’re worried about De Soto, aren’t you?”
My mind went back to Monday evening when Josh told me about the conversation he had with Chaz and Meredith over lunch. He laughed nervously when he got to the part about Chaz plotting a future book out loud and how it scared the crap out of them, but I wasn’t laughing. Chaz had very valid points—ones I had considered myself. There was absolutely nothing Jimmy De Soto could do that would destroy me more than killing Josh. If I were playing the role of a villain that was exactly where my mind would go, and I had to put myself in the brain of a villain frequently as a cop to outsmart and apprehend them.
Josh said something that shook me to the core that night. “Gabe, I’m doing better at realizing there are only so many things I can control in this life. I can’t control what other people do, but I can control how I react to it. Today, I was paralyzed by fear when Chaz talked about some lunatic that wanted to exact his revenge by killing one of us. Then Emory stopped over, and I saw how hard he was struggling to resist a future event with Jonathon Silver that he doesn’t want to happen. I told him that sometimes we have to stop thinking that we know better than fate and have some faith. If I’m only going to have one more minute, one day, one week, one month, or even a year with you, then I’m not going to waste it worrying about when it’s going to end. Regardless of how long we have, I’m going to love you for a lifetime. I am going to marry you on Saturday, and no lunatic with a B-movie plot for revenge is going to ruin that, Gabe.”
We made love that night like it could be the last time, but it wasn’t the beauty of our joining or his positive words about having faith that followed me into my dreams. Instead, I lived out that horrific B-movie plot in HD color with surround sound so crisp that it felt like I was really in my dream. I could even hear the thoughts dream me had running through his mind; it was the most frightening thing I’d ever experienced.
Twenty seconds. That was how long Josh was my husband before all hell broke loose. One minute he was smiling at me after we shared our first kiss as husbands and the next he was in my arms with a bullet wound in his chest. I had removed my suit jacket and tried to staunch the flow of blood while Josh fought to breathe and to speak.
“Don’t say anything, Sunshine. Save your breath. Where’s that ambulance?” I shouted, but I heard the sirens faintly in the background, just as I heard Josh’s mother, and mine, sobbing. They had wanted to rush to his side, but I made them stay back because crowding him was the last thing he needed and I wouldn’t let anyone take him from me until the squad arrived.
I looked down to where I held his limp hand in mine in the back of the ambulance as it sped toward the county hospital where a Care Flight helicopter would meet us. Dried blood marred the perfection of the diamonds in our matching wedding bands. The only thing louder than the screaming sirens was the pounding of my heart as I prayed for him to live.
“Don’t leave me,” I begged Josh.
Twenty seconds. I saw every dream I ever had come true in Josh’s eyes before…
“Mister…” The EMT wasn’t exactly sure what to call me.
“Roman-Wyatt,” I informed him.
“Mr. Roman-Wyatt, don’t give up hope. Mister….” He nodded to my husband, unsure what to call him also.
“Roman-Wyatt,” I said. It was something that we easily agreed on. We were going to be equal partners—in name and everywhere else.
“Mister Roman-Wyatt has a lot to fight for, and it helps. He’ll arrive at the University of Cincinnati Hospital in minutes and they’ll rush him into trauma surgery. It’s the absolute best place for him to be right now.” I nodded my head because I knew he was right. “You won’t be able to ride with him because there’s not enough room onboard the chopper.” I knew I could hitch a ride with one of the many people who would make the trip to Cincinnati.
I just needed to be with him as long as I could. Arriving at the hospital and seeing the helicopter waiting was bittersweet. It was the only way to save him, but it also meant that I had to let go of his hand, not knowing if I’d ever look into his beautiful eyes again.
I ran alongside the gurney until the last minute when they needed to load Josh onto the helicopter. “Don’t you leave me,” I said firmly. “You promised me forever and twenty seconds isn’t forever. You hear me?” I dropped a kiss on his forehead and prayed it wasn’t the last.
The EMTs pulled me away from the helicopter so the flight crew could strap my husband down for transport and liftoff.
I came out of the dream the minute the helicopter lifted off the ground.I sat up in our bed with my heart racing and lungs pumping, and the sound of those chopper blades echoing in my ears. I was so relieved to see Josh sleeping peacefully beside me that I cried, but not loud enough to wake him.
I called Deputy Marshal Matthews the next morning and asked for an update on the search for Jimmy. The man didn’t owe me anything, but he told me everything he knew as a professional courtesy. They knew from the camera at his bank that he cleaned out his safe deposit box hours before the grand jury issued his indictment, which meant that the secret proceedings were anything but, and someone tipped him off.
“Do you think he fled the country?” I asked hopefully. If he prepared to bolt for this possibility, then maybe he also had a fake ID and passport. It was obvious he was corrupt as hell and would have connections to someone who could procure quality fake documents.As well as guns.
“It doesn’t look that way, Detective Wyatt,” Marshal Matthews said. “He ditched his car a few hours north of Miami and stole one parked outside a convenience store that a guy left running while he went inside to buy cigarettes. We later found it abandoned near the Georgia-Florida state line when he stole a different car. We’ve been able to track him by this pattern but could never get ahead of him, even knowing that he was most likely on his way to pay you a visit.”
I liked the way Deputy Matthews made it sound like Jimmy was coming over for a barbecue. “Where was his last known location?” I asked.
“We lost his trail in Tennessee,” Matthews said. “A park ranger found the last known stolen car in the parking lot at one of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park visitor centers. De Soto didn’t steal a car from that parking lot or the immediate area which means he hitched a ride or…”
“… Had help,” I said, finishing for him. “Any known family, friends, or colleagues in the area that might be helping him?”
“We’re working on it, Detective Wyatt. Has something happened to make you think he is in the area?” Matthews asked.
I couldn’t very well tell him about Chaz’s ramblings and my scary dreams and expect him to take me seriously should I need to call him again in the future. Instead, I said, “I’m getting married this weekend, and I don’t want any surprises.”
“I understand your concern. Would you feel a little better about the situation if I sent two deputy marshals undercover as wedding guests?” Matthews offered. “Do you have extra pieces of cake to spare?”