Hal’s face turned distraught. “She’s gone?”
Alex nodded. “For now. For a while.”
“But why?”
“What she came here to do isn’t finished. She has to tie up the loose ends.”
“Oh.” Hal scratched his chin as he squinted suspiciously at Alex. “But she’s coming back.”
Alex smiled. “Yes.”
Hal smiled at last as he let out another sigh. “Good.”
“What did you find out with the background checks?”
Hal tossed a small stone into the woods. “Tyler was dirty. Before I got to him he killed himself.”
Alex took pause at that news. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I know. We all were. The good news is that everyone else checks out.” He gestured vaguely. “So what happened? How did things go up there?”
“Well,” Alex said, “it’s a long story.”
Hal shrugged. “I’ve got the time if you do. I’d like to hear all about it — if you don’t mind telling it.”
“No, I’d like to tell you about it, as a matter of fact.” They both sat down on the broad, smooth boulder. “It would be good to get it all out, share it with someone.”
Hal squinted skeptically. “But she’s coming back, right?”
Alex smiled. “She is. She said yes when I asked her to marry me.”
Hal blinked in surprise. “Marry you?”
Alex nodded. “I can’t go to that world. She’s going to give up her world to come here and be with me, so I had to let her go back and settle things there. She has to know that it’s going to be all right for her people, that they will be safe. For now she had to return, but she’s coming back.”
Hal considered it a moment. “That makes sense. But it will be a relief to have her back.” He cast Alex a sidelong glance. “Married, eh?”
“We want to have a ceremony with just the members of the Daggett Society,” Alex said. “Get married with the people who have done so much for both our worlds and not even known it.”
Hal smiled. “We’d all like that, Alex.” He put an arm around Alex’s shoulders. “We’d all like that a lot. We’re going to be here for you. I know you’ve lost everyone you had, but know that you have us now. And we’ll be here for Jax as well when she comes back. She won’t be lonely here with just you to be her friend, I promise.”
Alex grinned at the generosity of the man. “Thanks, Hal. That means a lot to me right now.”
Hal let out a satisfied sigh. “So what about this story you were going to tell me?”
Alex let out a long sigh of his own. “Well, I guess it all started when this beautiful woman popped into my world.”
Hal chuckled. “Isn’t that how it always starts?”
