Jon had given me tea and some painkillers while I’d waited in his cozy house loaded with kitsch ornaments. But I’d been too on edge to drink the beverage. Dean’s phone had been off. I’d managed to get hold of Lars, who’d arrived at Flevopark.
Dean was there, looking for me. Sonny had told him about some red and white thing hanging out there. The fucking fucked up Christmassy creature! He’d arrived there before Lars could catch up to him. His was bike was at the carpark but not him.
He was missing.
Over and over, I tried Dean with Evi’s phone.
“Answer the phone!” I barked at the screen.
My clothes were drenched with sweat. It was too hot, too much being in this car, held in a state of helplessness.
“Everything will be okay,” Evi went for reassurance.
It fell on deaf ears. If Flevopark was that creature’s home, and it’d gone back there after its moment with Tessa and her sons, then it might have bumped into Dean.
I’d seen the way it killed.
No. Not my Dean. Not him.
Please, not him …
We rolled down the road toward the carpark, blue police car lights full blaze under the flyover. Before the car came to a full stop, I was jumping out.
“Jake!”
It was Lars. I hurried over to him. “Please tell me you’ve found him?”
He sighed. “No sign of him.”
“Fuck it.” I tried his phone again. Nothing. Then again and again and again. “He has to be okay, he has to be—”
Ringing in the distance.
“Jake?”
I almost fainted at the sound of his voice.
“Oh, my God!” I cried.
“Jake! Where are you, baby?”
His voice did that weird echo thing of someone on the phone nearby.
“I’m here … Flevo … oh, Dean …”
I saw him then. He stepped out from behind a pillar. He was covered in mud, his hair disheveled, every bone intact.
Dropping the phone, I ran to him as he ran for me. We clashed so hard, hands going everywhere, followed by the biggest bear hug ever.
“I thought …” I couldn’t speak.
“I thought you …” He had the same problem as me.
He was here, solid, all the bones still in his body.
My ribs hurt as we hugged, but I didn’t give a shit.
Words came bubbling up …
“Marry me!”
We said the same two words at exactly the same time.
“What?” I asked.
“What?” he repeated.
“Marry me,” we both said again.
I laughed. He laughed.
“Yes.” There was some perfect synergy going on there.
We sealed it with a kiss.
Later, sitting in the back of Lar’s warm car, he told me all about Mrs. Visser and the tragedy that’d taken place, and I filled him in on all the shit I’d seen.
It was a tragedy. The Vissers had been screwed over by a seriously unfair dealing of the cards of fate, along with her victims.
“This isn’t on you,” I told him. I knew what was going on in his head. “You can’t punish yourself for this. If you’d walked away, if you’d let her carry on, then you’d be in a whole different situation.” I slid my hand into his, our fingers curling together.
It took him a while to answer. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
I had to give him time, I knew that. Let him work this out for himself. I’d be there through every step. I mean, I was his fiancé now.
“I have to say, I’m never eating a candy cane again,” I said.
His smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“Sorry,” I added. “Just trying to, well, you know, I’m being a knob.”
“You’re not a knob.”
“Yeah, I am. But whatever. Case solved, I guess.”
“Yes. Now we have the Conclave to deal with. They dumped that body in the canal to distract me. That means they were watching our moves.”
“But they didn’t count on Mrs. Visser getting pissed off with them touching her handiwork, so that’s why she followed them over to NDSM. Thank fuck she did.” I sighed. “All that stuff Tessa said about me from the Coldharbour days. What the fuck?”
“Then, there’s the fae door situation.”
Now that was super-weird. “My head hurts.”
“We need to find that Parker guy,” Dean said.
“He never answers the damn phone, but I think he’ll show up again. He’s clearly involved, wants to mess with me. He might be a supe if he could just disappear like that, or a pod-born. Wait. The Conclave wouldn’t want him if that was the case, though, would they?”
“Could be more complicated than we think.”
“Ugh. I don’t want complicated right now. I want a bath and bed.”
“No presents?”
“Them first.”
“Before the bath? You are keen.”
“Okay, bath first. What about in the bath?”
“Might be a bit awkward if you drop a present in the water.”
I rested my head against the window. “I can’t wait to see Lou. You think she’s awake?”
“If she’s anything like her daddy, she won’t be sleeping until those gifts are in her hands.”
“That’s my girl,” I replied.
Lars and Evi were chatting away ecstatically outside, their body language revealing so much about how they really felt. Now, if only they could admit that they both fancied each other, then love could bloom.
Man, they were a cute pair. I was putting money on them getting together.
They spotted me watching and ended their chat.
Evi opened the door. “Goodbye,” she said.
“Thanks so much for your help,” Dean replied.
“And sorry about your phone,” I added.
Her smile was so warm. “That’s fine. It’s only a phone. I’m so glad you’re both safe.”
“Have a great evening,” I said.
“Goodnight.” She gently closed the door.
I watched her say goodbye to Lars, then he came and sat in the driver’s seat. “Ready, gentlemen?”
“Take us home, Jeeves.”
“Sorry?”
“Nothing.”
Epilogue Dean
St. Nicholas Day began with too many pancakes and bacon, just me, Jake, and our daughter together for the festive celebrations.
Present wise, Jake had bought me a really fancy notebook and pen, as well as some cologne that he always said turned him on. Frisky guy. For him, I’d got a box of fantasy books, and some Lord of the Rings trinkets I’d slipped in
