She wanted a good, hot spray. Lots of heat and tons of mist. She stepped in ahead of Chase, glad to have the heat, to feel renewed from all that had gone on.
She’d been so close to...
Death.
But now life loomed ahead of her. She had been right: she and Chase—with the help of agents, police and friends—had proven the truth of the man her father had been, never careless, always clean, always caring about others.
And even before that...
She had realized what she had thrown away. But Chase had never forgotten. Never really left her. And now they had a chance.
He slipped in behind her. She felt the heat of his body, deeper, more encompassing than any other. She turned into his arms, and with the water sluicing over them they kissed and touched and scrubbed. They managed to laugh as the soap slipped to the tub bottom, as they both reached for it, crashing into one another, nearly falling, catching each other...touching and kissing again.
Then they were out, so they wouldn’t fall, drying, laughing...
Making their way back to the bedroom.
Making love.
She had no clue how many hours passed, but at one point, she rolled over, half-asleep, and noticed that there was a gun on the bedside table, not the one he’d had earlier—
He noticed her curiosity.
“A service weapon is always taken when it’s been fired under such circumstances,” he told her. “They’ll return my regular one.”
“And that—”
“Is a personal backup. I think... I think it’s over. But like it or not, fame follows what we’ve done and...”
“You went into what you do because you knew that something had happened and happened very wrong,” Sky said seriously, looking into his eyes. “I don’t know everything you’ve done through the years, but I know it’s been important to you.”
“I—I can stop.”
She shook her head. “No, Chase. You’re the man I love. And you’re the man I love because of all your determination, because you do want... Well, none of us can fix the world, but you want to do what you can to stop very bad things. I don’t want you to change.”
He ran his fingers gently through her hair, shaking his head. “You are amazing. And you—”
“I love what I do. I’m not always sure I’m changing the world, but I love kids. I love working with them, and I always hope that I’ve given them something that they can love, that they can do, that can keep them from...other things.”
He nodded. “I love kids, too. We are having a few, right?”
“Five or six.”
“What?”
She laughed. “One at a time, and we’ll see how it goes.”
“Legacy!” he teased.
“Legacy. So...”
“We don’t have to be anywhere at all today. We can just...”
“All right!”
She rolled back into his arms.
A while later, they finally slept. And it was night when they woke up, ran down to take Larry out and dig around in the kitchen.
And then, of course, they realized that they had dozens of missed phone calls, and that while the night of both amazement and horror was over, other things might be just beginning.
But that was okay.
Because now they both knew they had a lifetime together.
Epilogue
The events at the arena had naturally created a media sensation. While Sky would rather have been kept out of everything, there were too many people who had been involved, and the coverage went on for weeks.
And, in due time, Mandy Ferguson returned from Ireland, a pile of mixed emotions. She had been terrified for her only child, and then, of course, grateful.
She didn’t seem the least surprised that Sky and Chase were together again.
“Honey, honey, you are the best daughter, loving your dad so much!” she told Sky as she hugged her repeatedly. “I mean...who knew we were waiting for this, but...”
Unsurprisingly, Sky was wanted for interviews. At first, she’d wanted nothing to do with them. And then she realized that she didn’t want to be seen as a pathetic victim, but when he’d talked to the press, Chase had let them all know that she’d been instrumental in saving her own life.
And she was grateful—grateful, too, that was Chase just being... Chase.
