Twice a Hero, Always Her Man Read online

  Chapter Seventeen

  Colin’s eyelids felt like lead.

  He was certain that he’d opened his eyes a number of times, struggling each time, only to ultimately realize that he still hadn’t even managed to pry his lids apart at all.

  He needed to open his eyes, needed to see where he was and if everything was all right. There was a boy, a boy he was trying to save.

  Colin kept struggling for what felt like an eternity and then, finally, finally, he managed to force open his eyelids.

  It didn’t help. He had no idea where he was.

  Slowly, his brain began to make sense of the scene, processing the faint antiseptic smell mingling with the scent of vanilla and lavender.

  A memory stirred, gradually taking shape.

  That was her scent. Her perfume.

  “Ellie?”

  At the sound of his voice, Ellie jolted upright. She’d spent the better part of the last twenty hours in Colin’s room, sitting in the world’s most uncomfortable chair beside his bed. Somewhere along the line, she must have fallen asleep and now her body was loudly complaining about it. Complaining about the very awkward, pretzel-like position she’d wound up assuming.

  She ached all over, but that sensation was a distant second to what she was experiencing right now: the most tremendous amount of relief she’d ever felt.

  “Welcome back, Detective Benteen,” she said, blinking back tears of joy. She dragged the chair a tiny bit closer; it was all the distance that remained between the bed and her.

  “Where am I?” His ordinarily powerful voice came out in what sounded like a croak.

  She allowed herself to touch his face, brushing the hair back out of his eyes. “Not in heaven,” she informed him.

  “You sure?” His voice faded for a moment. It took another moment before he could continue to speak. “Then why am I looking at an angel?”

  Wanting to laugh and cry at the same time, Ellie took his hand in hers, grateful simply to be holding it, to feel the warmth of his flesh against hers. She touched it to her cheek.

  He was alive!

  “Oh, you’re going to have to do better than that to make up for this,” she informed him once she could find her voice again.

  Details began to come back to him, choppy details that were out of order. His brow furrowed as he tried to organize them to remember them the way they occurred. “I was shot.”

  Ellie nodded her head, still holding on to his hand tightly. “Good guess.”

  His eyes suddenly became alert as more details came rushing back, sharper now.

  He remembered.

  “What about the boy?” he asked her urgently. “Is the boy all right?”

  Before he had finally and reluctantly left her, Jerry had called the station and gotten the full story that had come across the wire. There’d been a burglary in progress. Apparently, he’d told her, no one was supposed to be home. Nothing ever went according to plan. It turned out a twelve-year-old boy had been home from school, sick. It was the boy, hiding in his bedroom closet, who’d called 911 about the two thugs who were breaking in.

  Because of his proximity when the call came in, Colin was the first on the scene. The burglars, two hardened criminals with two strikes against each of them, were armed. A gun battle ensued.

  “The boy’s fine. The studio’s probably doing a story on his 911 call right now.” She suppressed the urge to beat on Colin for rushing in alone like that. “Why didn’t you wait for backup?” she asked.

  Colin sank against his pillow, suddenly feeling very drained again. His eyelids were trying to close. “You know about that?”

  “I know everything,” she told him, her voice close to cracking again. “I’m a reporter, remember?”

  His eyes were already drifting shut again. “Wanted to get them...out of there...before...they found...the...boy. Seemed...like a...good...idea at the...time.”

  He was asleep again.

  Ellie sighed and settled back in the chair where she’d been since he had been wheeled into the room from recovery.

  “I’ll be here when you wake up,” she quietly promised the detective.

  * * *

  The next time Colin woke up, he realized that Ellie wasn’t the only one in the room.

  Seeing him open his eyes, his niece shrieked with joy and threw her arms around his neck. Ellie didn’t have the heart to pull her away.

  “You’re alive!” Heather cried happily. “I was so scared, so scared, Uncle Colin,” she confessed, trying not to cry. “Ellie said not to worry, but I kinda did, I did worry.”

  When he looked at Ellie over his niece’s head, she gave him the explanation she figured he was looking for. “Heather wanted to see for herself that you were alive.”

  From the recess of the hospital room a third voice joined in. “She would not believe me when I told her you were going to be all right. She is stubborn, like her uncle. So I brought her here because Ellie said it would be all right,” Olga informed him matter-of-factly. “And now we will be going back,” she said in her no-nonsense tone, addressing Heather. “Your uncle, he is needing to rest.”

  “Do as she says, kid,” Colin told his niece fondly. Smiling weakly, he stroked her hair. “I’ll be home before you know it.”

  “You promise?” It wasn’t a question; it was a plea for his solemn vow.

  “I promise,” he told her. “But Disneyland might have to wait for a while.”

  “I don’t care about Disneyland,” Heather told him with feeling, angry tears welling up in her eyes. “I just care about you.”

  Colin felt himself getting choked up. Trying to clear his throat, he looked at the woman who’d brought his niece in. “Thanks for bringing her, Olga.”

  “No need to be thanking me,” she replied in her crisp manner. “Just remember to be ducking next time.”

  Putting her hands on the girl’s shoulder, Olga began to herd Heather out of the room.

  Belatedly, Ellie called after the girl, “I’ll be by later.”

  Colin waited until Olga and his niece left before asking, “What’s that about?”

  “I’m just dropping off some of my things at your apartment later tonight,” she told him.

  Ellie had raised more questions for him than she’d answered. “Something going on I don’t know about?” Colin asked.

  “Lots of things going on that you don’t know about,” she told him mysteriously. And then, taking pity on the man, even if he was a damn fool who’d almost gotten himself killed, she said, “I’m moving in to take care of Heather while you’re lying around here taking it easy. I don’t want her life being disrupted any more than it already has.”

  “What about Olga?” he asked. For the last eight months, the woman had been his go-to babysitter.

  “This is more than just watching her occasionally. Besides, Olga has a job. She can’t afford to just take off for several weeks straight.”

  He supposed that made sense, but something else didn’t.

  “And you can?” he asked, remembering what she’d said about not being able to take a week off to go to Disney World.

  “I put in for a leave of absence,” she explained. Marty had told her to take as much time as she needed, assuring her that her job would be waiting for her when she got back. She smiled, grateful for the program manager’s support. “Under the circumstances, I have a very understanding boss. So,” she informed him, “like it or not, Detective Benteen, I am in this for the long haul.”

  It took effort because he was so tired, but Colin smiled. “Oh, I like it,” he told her. “I like it very much.”

  Ellie made no response. She didn’t want him thinking that she was trying to play what had happened—and his temporary disability—to her advantage. All she wanted w
as for him to get well.

  She cleared her throat, then said, “Now, if you’re through playing twenty questions, you have a menu to fill out. You’re going to be here for at least a few days, so you might as well have them bring you something you like to eat.”

  Colin waved his hand dismissively—or tried to. He just didn’t have the energy for it.

  “Pick anything,” he told her, a wave of exhaustion washing over him. “I’m easy.”

  Stunned, Ellie raised her eyes to look at him. “Not hardly.” And then she looked closer. “And...he’s asleep again,” she murmured to herself.

  Resigned, she sat down with the hospital’s menus and began to fill out the selections for only the next three days, fervently hoping that she wasn’t being overly optimistic.

  * * *

  “You’re not ready to go back to work,” Ellie protested loudly as she watched Colin getting dressed in his bedroom.

  For the last six weeks, for Heather’s sake, she’d spent her nights on his living room couch. She’d cooked their meals and overseen every one of his physical therapy exercises. All along she’d watched Colin get progressively better with what seemed like a vengeance.

  Very gently, he put his hands on her shoulders and moved Ellie out of his way. He took his shirt from the closet and began to put it on.

  “The doctor just gave me a clean bill of health and cleared me for duty,” he informed her.

  Like she cared what the doctor said. Ellie made a dismissive noise, telling him what she thought of the doctor and his clearance.

  “Well, I’m not ready to clear you for duty,” she stated.

  “Ellie, I can’t go on just hiding in my apartment,” he pointed out. Finished buttoning his shirt, he tucked it into his pants.

  “Why not?” she asked. “At least it’s safe here. Nobody’s going to shoot you in your apartment,” Ellie pointed out.

  Colin stated the obvious, thinking of the incident that had taken him out of commission these last six weeks. “Unless they break in.”

  “Pancakes would never let them—as long as you don’t lock her up in that puppy crate,” she specified. “Maybe you haven’t noticed, but she’s been your shadow the entire time you’ve been home.” There had been a change in the dog since Colin had come home from the hospital. “It’s like she can sense you’ve been hurt and she wants to protect you.”

  “If she does, it’s because she’s taking her cues from you.” Done getting dressed, Colin took her into his arms. “Not that it hasn’t been great being with you, having you bully me around,” he deadpanned, referring to the physical therapy session he’d endured in order to be able to walk without a limp, “but you need to get back to work and so do I.”

  “What if you get shot again?” she challenged. She managed to keep the fear out of her voice, but there was no way she could keep it out of her heart.

  He wasn’t about to tell her he was bulletproof. “I can’t tell you that I won’t—”

  “Terrific,” Ellie bit off.

  He had to go in, but he didn’t want to leave her like this. He wanted her to understand. “Life doesn’t come with guarantees, Ellie—you know that. You could get killed covering your next story,” he pointed out.

  She frowned, shaking her head. “I do mainly fluff pieces.”

  “Mainly, but not always. For that matter,” he stressed, “a gas main could blow up just as you’re going to your next location.”

  Okay, now he was really reaching, she thought. “That’s not exactly a regular occurrence.”

  “Neither is my getting shot.” He took her hands in his. “Honey, the important thing is that we make the very most of every minute we have.”

  “I just want to have more minutes,” she told him, even as she knew that she couldn’t stand in his way. It made her feel completely helpless.

  Colin grinned. “I’m glad you said that.”

  “You are?”

  “Yes—” he released one of her hands and put his into his jacket pocket, reaching in for something “—because then you make this easier for me to ask.”

  Ellie thought she knew where this was going. “You’re talking about Disney World again, aren’t you?” she asked. “Because I don’t think—”

  “No,” Colin said, cutting her off. “I’m talking about this.”

  “This” turned out to be the black velvet box that he was holding in the palm of his hand. He held it up to her, expecting her to take it.

  Ellie stared at the box and then at him, but she made no move to take it from him.

  “What is it?” she whispered.

  Since she wasn’t taking the box from him or even opening it, he opened it for her.

  Inside the box was a gleaming marquise-shaped diamond engagement ring.

  When had he had time to buy this? She looked at him with confusion. “I’ve been with you the entire time you’ve been home from the hospital. How did you—?”

  “I bought this before I got shot. I was going to ask you to marry me at Christmas,” he explained.

  “Then why didn’t you?” Ellie asked. It didn’t make sense to her.

  “Because I got shot,” he repeated, “and I didn’t want to propose to you while you were here taking care of Heather and me. I didn’t want you saying yes to my proposal because you felt sorry for me.”

  “So you’re asking me while I’m angry at you?”

  This was getting too involved. He wanted to keep it simple. “I was hoping that this would make you less angry.” He slipped it on her finger while he made his argument. “I love you, Ellie. I can promise to love you for as long as I live—and then do my damnedest to live for a very long time.”

  She still wasn’t saying anything.

  Colin took a deep breath and made his final offer, “If you want me to stop being a cop—”

  “Yes, yes, I do,” she cried. “With all my heart, I do. But you are a cop—it’s what you do, who you are, and I have no right to ask you to change, because I don’t want you to change. I wouldn’t want you to want me to change, so I have no right to dictate any conditions,” she explained. Ellie slipped her arms around his neck. “I fell in love with a cop, heaven help me, and I guess I’m going to stay in love with a cop.”

  He encircled her waist, holding her close to him. “So, is that a yes?”

  She smiled up into his eyes. “You’re a clever cop. You figure it out,” she challenged.

  Colin drew her closer still. For the last six weeks, he had remained celibate. He’d been too weak in the beginning and then it seemed as if either Heather or Olga or both were always around, not to mention that there’d been an endless stream of visitors and well-wishers who kept dropping by. It was never just the two of them.

  It was now. Olga had taken Heather to school a little while ago.

  “You know,” Colin told her, “I can be late on my first day getting back.”

  She could feel him wanting her. “What is it that you have in mind?”

  He pressed a kiss to the side of her neck before answering. “Making love with my fiancée.”

  She could feel herself melting already. “So you’re assuming that I’m saying yes?”

  “Not assuming,” Colin corrected. “Praying.”

  Ellie smiled then, a warm smile that began in her eyes and radiated all through her, pulling him in.

  “Well, lucky for you, sometimes prayers are answered.” And then, in case there was any lingering doubt, she said, “Just to make it official, yes, Detective Benteen, I will marry you. Since you stole my heart, you might as well have the rest of me.”

  Colin had nothing to say about that. He couldn’t. He was far too busy kissing her and making good on what he’d just promised to do.

  Epilogue

  Cecilia
had been watching for her.

  The moment she spotted Olga entering the church, she half stood up in the pew and waved the woman over.

  “Olga, come sit by us,” Cilia called to her in what amounted to a stage whisper.

  Olga approached the pew hesitantly, recognizing her employer as well as the woman’s friends Theresa Manetti and Maizie Sommers, women she’d had the occasion to meet several times in passing.

  “It is all right?” Olga asked, not wanting to intrude.

  “More than all right,” Maizie assured the woman with a welcoming laugh. She scooted over, as did Theresa and Cilia, as well as a woman Olga didn’t know, creating room for the newcomer. “If it weren’t for you, this might not be taking place.”

  Once Olga was seated, the fourth woman rose to her feet.

  “I’d better take my place up front,” Ellie’s mother told the others. “I don’t know how to thank you,” Connie Williams said, repeating the sentiment she’d voiced earlier as her eyes swept over the four women. “I’ve never seen Ellie looking happier. Anything you want,” she told them, “anything, I’m in your debt.”

  “Our pleasure,” Maizie told her friend. “It’s what we all really enjoy doing, isn’t it, ladies?” She addressed her question to her friends.

  But it was Olga who spoke up as soon as Ellie’s mother had eased herself out of the pew and made her way up to the front of the church.

  “This is what they call matchmaking, yes?” the woman asked, looking from Cilia to the other two.

  Cilia’s smile answered her, but just in case Olga needed more verification, Theresa told her, “Yes.”

  Olga nodded, a satisfied, somewhat thoughtful expression on her face.

  “I think I like this matchmaking. Can we be doing this again?” She looked from one woman to the other, waiting for an answer.

  “You bet your buttons we will,” Maizie said with a laugh, her eyes glinting with amusement as well as pleasure.

  “We will be needing buttons?” Olga asked, confused as she slanted a glance in Cilia’s direction.