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Savannah steadied Hez as he walked slowly to the bench by the small pond in the hospital exercise area. She inhaled the spicy scent of the white rhododendrons wafting from along the concrete path. “Their flowers are gorgeous.”

He sank onto the bench with a sigh of relief. “I’d rather look at you than the flowers.”

Even injured, he took time to make her feel loved and desirable. She let him tug her down beside him. “Are you exhausted?”

“The doctor says my strength will come back the more I walk. This was a good idea to come down here even if I feel like I just ran a marathon.”

He squeezed her fingers. “Any update from Bruno?”

She relished his strong grip. A couple of days ago he barely had the strength to hold her hand. “The fake website and company are all set up, and we’re primed to make an offer when a smuggled artifact is posted. Bruno was fast. Now it’s in Hope’s court.”

“She stopped by yesterday. They’ve concluded Beckett didn’t commit suicide.”

She shuddered at the mental images that flooded her head. “He was murdered?”

He winced before fumbling in his pocket for sunglasses and slipping them on. “That sun is brutal. Hope said they’ve got a prison snitch who will testify Deke Willard called the hit.”

She tensed at the unsettling news. “More confirmation there are bigger fish to catch.”

“Once we get what Hope needs for another warrant, we can spring a trap that hits the smugglers from multiple sides at once. Your idea was a good one.”

He glanced down at his phone. “What time are Jess and Simon coming?”

“Any minute. She’s bringing you a po’boy for lunch.”

“Did I ever tell you how much I like your sister?”

She nudged him with her elbow. “That’s your stomach talking.”

“Uncle Hez!”

Savannah turned at the sound of Simon’s excited voice. Carrying a paper bag from Little New Orleans, her nephew raced down the walk ahead of his mother. Jess looked like a model in her heels and blue dress, but the fake smile on her face told Savannah she’d rather be anywhere but here.

Simon skidded to a stop in front of Hez, who reached up to pull him down onto his knee. “Thanks for coming to see me, Simon. Have you been staying out of trouble?”

Simon nodded. “I’ve been helping Mom and Toni. We haven’t found any clues yet, but we’re working on it. When Mom brought me in before, you were slurring your words, but you sound like yourself today.”

His gaze settled on Hez’s incision. “Are you always going to have the scar?”

Hez exchanged an amused smile with Savannah. “My hair will grow back and cover it.”

“That’s too bad.”

Simon eased off Hez’s knee and squeezed between him and Savannah, then handed Hez the bag of food. “There’s one for me and Aunt Savannah too. Mom didn’t want one. She likes the one with onions and she didn’t want her breath to stink before her meeting.”

“Simon, do you need to repeat everything?”

Jess muttered on her way to the bench on the other side of the walk.

Savannah hid a smile. “Thank you both. Your uncle Hez is getting tired of hospital food, but he gets out tomorrow.”

Simon was already unwrapping his po’boy and didn’t answer. Savannah’s mouth watered at the scent of blackened shrimp in the sandwich Hez handed her, and she realized she hadn’t eaten yet today. Lunch would be a good excuse to avoid telling Jess about her plan. Her sister was even more protective than Hez and would demand that Savannah stay out of the detective business. Silence settled around them as they dug into their food.

Jess sat on the bench on the other side of the path and set her bag down beside her feet. She watched the ducks dive for food before clearing her throat. “I hate to bring up business, but it’s important. Did you sign that loan paperwork yet, Savannah?”

Savannah took her time with her last bite of food. The strident tone of her sister’s voice was unmistakable. Savannah took a sip of her sweet tea and balled up her sandwich wrapper. “Hez hasn’t had a chance to look over the papers.”

Jess’s lips pressed together and she shot a pointed glance at Hez. “Is that really necessary? It’s all very straightforward.”

He nodded. “It would be foolish for Savannah to sign them without a lawyer checking out the fine print to make sure the financiers’ attorneys haven’t hidden any questionable clauses.”

Jess reached into the bag at her feet. “You could just skim them to make sure. I brought them along for you to see.”

She withdrew a sheaf of papers and rose to hand them to Hez.

He didn’t take them. “It’ll have to wait a few days, Jess. I still have a splitting headache, and my eyes want to jump around when I try to read.”

“Don’t be a wimp! Just get it done. The financiers are getting frustrated with the delay.”

Don’t be a wimp? Her sister was way out of line. Savannah saw the indecision on Hez’s face and leaped up to step between him and her sister. “Jess, he told you it’s going to have to wait until he’s physically capable of doing it.”

Jess’s hand containing the papers dropped back to her side. “But they may pull out of the deal! I’ve worked hard on this, Savannah, and you’re about to waste all my efforts. Worse, it leaves TGU in a terrible position. It would take him fifteen minutes or less to skim these.”

“He needs to do more than a light read. Jess, he just had brain surgery. I’m not going to put up with you pushing him. Put those away for now. He has a copy, and he’ll look it over when he’s able.”

Her counselor would be proud of her for standing up to her sister. Savannah glanced at Hez and saw his color had gone paler. “Now I’d better get him inside to rest. Thanks for coming to see him.”

She saw the defeat in Jess’s eyes as she guided Hez back toward the hospital. It was about time her sister learned who was in charge here.

* * *

The gorgeous day matched Savannah’s excitement at finally taking Hez home from the hospital in Mobile. She was so thankful to have him beside her in the car and on the mend. She’d been happy to grant his request to take the scenic route to Pelican Harbor down Highway 98. They both loved the drive through Fairhope and Point Clear. She always slowed to take in the view of a house she’d loved since childhood, but she was so focused on Hez’s condition she missed seeing it today.

She turned onto the bridge over the inlet between Mobile Bay and Weeks Bay and inhaled the salty air pouring in their open windows. Hez had his eyes closed and his face turned to the sunshine. “Don’t think you’re going to go home to plunge right into work, mister. The doctor said you have to take it easy.”

He opened his eyes and turned toward her. “I’ll do my best. I could certainly get used to having a personal chauffeur for the next three months, especially one as easy on the eyes as you.”

“Just be grateful it was a few seizures and not an epilepsy diagnosis. They would have made you suffer through my driving you around for six months.”

The neurologist had told him he couldn’t drive for at least ninety days because he’d had seizures, and Savannah knew the loss of independence must bother him. “And thanks for the compliment, but you’ll probably have to get used to Uber. I have a day job, remember? Besides, you’ll be able to relax in that cozy condo most days.”

“True. The law school is letting me teach my classes online for the rest of the semester, so I’ll have a chance to answer the tsunami of emails in my inbox.”

“One of those is from me. I emailed you the loan papers Jess wants me to sign. Don’t let her push you into reading them before you’re ready, though.”

“I’m sure they’re fine, but I’ll take a look.”

He yawned. “Maybe not today, though.”

“The first day home from the hospital is exhausting, so I’d suggest taking a nap when I get you to the condo.”

“I’m sure Cody will be ready to have one with me. He’s there, isn’t he?”

“I asked Jess to drop him off this morning so he’d be waiting for you. He’s been so mopey he didn’t even want to challenge Boo Radley to a fight last night on our walk.”

“I can’t wait to see him.”

He glanced back out his open window and gestured toward a park ahead near the Fairhope Tea Plantation. “It’s so gorgeous out. Do you mind stopping to take in some fresh air? I’m tired of being cooped up.”

She nodded and pulled into a small parking lot. “I love this spot.”

Oak trees towered over masses of rhododendrons and azaleas, and as usual, the place was deserted. The beautiful spot was one of those mostly unknown treasures in the area. “The last time we were here was about a month before Ella died.”

She smiled as the memories flooded back, each one tender and wonderful. Ella loved the swings here, and they’d had the park all to themselves. Hez had carved their three names in a tree, and they’d eaten s’mores until they’d all had stomachaches. They’d taken Ella home covered in mud, and she’d fallen asleep in the bathtub.

His eyes glistened with moisture. “I pushed her on the swing until my arms about fell off. I like to remember that day. I think it was the last perfect day in my memory.”

She reached across to take his hand. “It won’t be the last.”

“I hope not.”

He released her hand and opened his door to clamber out. “Let’s see if our initials are still in the tree.”

When she joined him at the front of the car, he tucked her hand into the crook of his arm. “I think it’s this way.”

“It’s there.”

She pointed to the big oak next to a rambling thicket of bushes. “I love the smell of the air after a rain even if it’s as muddy as a swamp. It’s like everything is new.”

She pressed her fingers tighter on his arm. “Seems appropriate, don’t you think?”

“Sure does.”

His voice was hoarse, and he stopped when they reached the tree. She touched their initials in the bark before he started to crouch as he glanced toward a nearby blackberry bush.

She followed his gaze and saw a glint of something metal. The flash was followed by a clicking sound. A gun? “Get down!”

Before he could drop to the ground, she leaped on him. Her weight pushed his face into mud, and he came up sputtering with goo dripping from his chin.

“Are you okay?”

Adrenaline made her voice shake, and she kept her hand on his back as she stared at the bush. Was there one shooter or more than one? How did they get to safety? She couldn’t lose him. She jerked her head slightly toward the bush. “There’s someone there with a gun.”

Hez pushed up against the press of her hand. “I’m fine, honey. It’s not what you think.”

The bush shivered, but not from the wind. A figure with dark hair stood from behind the leaves. She blinked. “Blake?”

Carrying a camera with a high-powered lens, Blake stepped from behind the bush. “Sorry to scare you.”

He was trying not to smile, but a grin kept peeking through. When he glanced at Hez, they both chuckled.

“What are you doing here?”

She turned and checked Hez’s incision. It had been spared the onslaught of mud and no blood oozed out. “What’s going on?”

Hez wiped red mud from his cheeks. “I asked him to come. He’s supposed to be taking pictures of me proposing. This wasn’t quite how I imagined it playing out.”

Hez gestured for Blake to come closer.

Blake reached them and turned the camera around to bump through a series of pictures. There was a perfect shot of them walking through dappled sunlight with her hand on his arm and another of them looking toward their names in the tree bark. The next one showed Hez starting to go down on one knee while Savannah stared at the camera with sheer terror on her face. When the last picture flipped into view, it was of Hez face down in the mud with Savannah on top of him.

Laughter bubbled up in her throat. “It looks like we were about to go head-to-head in a mud fight.”

Her smile faded. “I did it again, huh? Ruined a proposal? You’re going to get tired of trying.”

“Third time’s the charm?”

He sank onto one knee and pulled out the velvet box while Blake took a few steps back and raised the camera. “We’ve had rough spots, my love—horrible, agonizing experiences—but one thing has never changed. I love you—I always have and I always will. I love the sound of your laughter and the way your mind works. I love hearing you talk to the dog first thing in the morning like he’s a person. I love the little line between your eyes when you’re concentrating, and I love how your eyes reflect your mood.”

He reached out to curl a lock of her hair around his finger. “I love the way your hair glows red in the sunshine. I’m a better man when I’m with you, Savannah. I hope you know that. I want us to experience all of our tomorrows together.”

When he opened the lid of the box, she gasped at the sight of a halo of rubies around a familiar diamond. “It’s beautiful.”

She stared into his hopeful blue eyes, and her chest expanded with the strength of the love she felt for this man.

“Will you marry me again—this time forever? I won’t fail you again, babe.”

Joy overwhelmed her, and she could barely breathe, let alone speak, so she managed a nod before she could force out a trembling, “I will.”

Hez plucked the ring from the box and slipped it onto her finger. It fit perfectly, and she flung herself into his arms. They toppled over together, right smack in the middle of a mud puddle.

Hez held her and laughed in her ear. “Life will always be an adventure with you, but I’m ready.”