her father.”
The room grew painfully quiet.
“We square?” Black glanced around the room again. “All right, then. Albert is one of ours. If he’s alive, we’re going to make damn sure he gets back home.”
Chapter 23
“HEY. YOU’RE BACK.” JESS WALKED out of the grocery section of the store and into Ty’s arms when he shut the door behind him. “Did their flight take off OK?”
Ty’s mom and dad had recently spent a week with them to get to know Jess and to celebrate the engagement and upcoming wedding. He kissed her. “They did. And they both loved you.”
“That street goes both ways.”
She looked so happy. And she’d handled his family well. Last month, after he’d called his big brother, Mike, to ask him to be his best man, both Mike and his wife, Eva, had dropped everything and made a quick trip to the lake to congratulate them and, as was typical of Mike, to give Jess dire warnings about what she was getting herself into by shackling herself to Ty.
She, of course, had loved Mike and Eva, too. Ty hadn’t figured it would go any other way. Jess was vibrant and happy and opening up to him and to life more and more every day. Her parents had even made a trip to the lake, and he’d seen where Jess had gotten her backbone and values.
He couldn’t believe it had been more than a month since she’d agreed to marry him, less than a month until their Thanksgiving wedding.
“Let’s not wait for Christmas,” she’d said two weeks ago, delighting him when he’d suggested they have a holiday wedding. “Let’s compromise and make it the Thanksgiving weekend.”
That worked fine for him. The sooner she officially became his wife, the better.
Since September, he’d been back to Florida twice. Once to hire an office manager to keep on top of things for him while he was here and a second time to make sure things were going smoothly.
Then he’d bought the float plane. She would be his winter project, but he had every intention of having her painted, spit-polished, and ready for the spring season. Jess had started advertising Kabby Charter Service on her Web site three weeks ago, and that had already generated several inquires.
Everything was coming up roses in the north land, and it was about to get even better. He’d been busting to get her alone to show her his big surprise.
“Come on. Let’s take a little ride. I’ve got something to show you.”
“I can’t leave the store.”
“Thirty minutes. That’s all I need. Put a sign on the door. Tell ’em you’ll be back at—” He glanced at the wall clock. “Four o’clock. Nothing’s happening this time of day, anyway. Come on,” he coaxed again when he could see her weakening. “You do not want to miss this.”
She gave him a studied look, then expelled a deep breath, and he knew he had her. “This better be good.”
He laughed and waited while she made her sign, taped it to the door, and locked up.
“YOU DIDN’T SAY anything about a blindfold,” she sputtered, after he’d gotten her into the Jeep and insisted she put on the sleep mask he’d bought for this occasion.
“What kind of a surprise would it be if you saw it coming?”
“I repeat,” she sputtered, adjusting the mask. “This had better be good. And it had better not be another junker plane.”
“Have a little faith,” he said, grinning, and pulled out of the parking lot.
Ten minutes later, after several guesses on her part that had them both laughing, he pulled into a driveway.
“Sit tight. I’ll come around and help you out.”
“Is this all really necessary?”
Once she was out of the Jeep, he hugged her hard, kept his arm around her shoulders, and guided her down a crushed-rock path.
“I smell the lake,” she said when he finally stopped.
“And this would be why.” He tugged off the blindfold, then stood back and let her take in the large log house with its wraparound porch, the sloping lawn that led to a wide dock, and the brilliant blue waters of Lake Kabetogama.
She looked at the house, then looked at him. “What are we doing at the Owens house?”
“We’re not at the Owens house.” He smiled into her eyes. “We’re at
She blinked at him as if he’d lost his mind. He saw the moment the light began to dawn. And that’s exactly the expression that fit. A dawning, glorious light filled her eyes, then spread to a smile both disbelieving and hopeful.
She glanced back at the For Sale sign stuck in the ground by the mailbox, saw the Sold banner covering it. “Seriously? You bought it?”
“I bought it.”
She pressed spread fingers of both hands to her breast, looked out over the lake again, back at the house, then back at him. “You
He loved that look. Joy, amazement, love. “I really did.”
“Oh, my God, Ty. I’ve always loved this place.”
“I know. Shelley told me.”
Hers hand flew from her chest to her cheeks as she stared again at the house and the gorgeous view of the lake.
“Want to take a peek inside? I happen to have the keys.” He fished them out of his pocket and was about to hold them out to her when she flew into him so hard she almost took them both to the ground.
He laughed as he steadied himself and wrapped his arms around her. “Told you it’d be worth it.”
When she pulled back to look at him, tears filled her eyes. “This is the most amazing thing anyone has ever done for me.”
He cupped her face in his hands. “And you are the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me.” He kissed her then, long and slow and sweet. “We’re going to raise some babies here,” he said when he pulled away. “And if you keep looking at me like that, we’re going to start working on that straight away.”
This time, she laughed and grabbed his hand. “Come on. Let’s go look inside.”
LIFE HAD NEVER been sweeter, Ty thought later that night, as they lay in Jess’s bed after celebrating the purchase of their new home. He was one contented man. And the woman sleeping beside him was the reason.
A loud pounding on the front door of the store, however, cut into that contentment like a buzz saw. Bear sprang to his feet from the rug by the bed and snarled like his namesake.
Jess jerked straight up in bed. “What? What’s happening?”
“Go back to sleep. I’ll check it out. Somebody probably ran out of gas.”
On a yawn, he threw back the covers and reached for his jeans and shirt.
He was still buttoning up when he hit the bottom step and walked across the store to the door and looked through the glass.
The lights from the pumps backlit the silhouette of a man he’d recognize in pitch dark.
He undid the lock and jerked open the door. “What the hell?”
