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“Hang around awhile. ” She tightened her fingers on his. “Don’t run off on us, Timothy. We miss you. ”
He sighed again. “Yeah, well, DHS has suspended me again. ” He grinned, like a little boy that had been caught doing something naughty. “They don’t like my methods. ”
She grinned at that. “They’re crazy, then,” she decided. “But that’s all the better for us. ”
He scratched his cheek. “Alex wants to be chief of police. ”
She nodded at that. “He’ll get it, too. ”
“Well, of course he’ll get it. ” Timothy’s grin widened. “How much you wanna bet I can’t win the next election for mayor, though?”
Janey stared back at him in shock, then in amusement.
“You wouldn’t dare. He’d die. ”
“I know how to boss him around,” Timothy chortled. “Trust me, Janey, he won’t get bored at his job. ”
He rose to his feet, and his expression became serious once again as he reached out and touched her hair. “You’re too old to adopt. ” He sighed. “Too bad. I’d have enjoyed holding a shotgun on Alex. ”
Janey shook her head before patting his hand and staring up at him gratefully. “You’re a good man, Timothy. ”
His shoulders shifted, his wrinkled suit jacket bunching around his neck. “I better go. Alex will be getting antsy. ”
“Timothy. ” She stopped him as he moved to turn away.
“Yes?”
“You’re part of my family,” she told him then. “Admittedly, those Mackay boys are hard to get along with, but I have a feeling you enjoy that part of it. ”
His grin was mischevious. He finally grunted. “It’s the only reason I didn’t slap their asses in jail last year.
They’re good boys. Damned good boys. ”
“And we’ll see you soon?” she asked, looking for promises. She felt the need for promises right now.
She didn’t want to lose anyone else she cared for.
“Yeah. ” He nodded slowly. “Yeah, Janey. You’ll be seeing me more often than Alex might like. ”
With a final grin, he left the room. Silence surrounded her for the first time in too long, and before she knew it, her eyes drifted closed and sleep was finally attainable.
No bitching cousins, no worried brother, no sister-in-law hovering anxiously. She missed Alex, but she knew he was close. She could feel him. She let her head sink deeper into her pillow and let sleep wash over her.
She felt the kiss at her brow and almost smiled. Heard the soft whisper of her lover’s voice, and almost woke. But it was quiet here, peaceful, and warm. And she let the warmth wash over her. Just for a little while.
TWENTY-FIVE
Hoyt’s journals, and there were many of them, detailed a young boy growing into a young man aware that he had disappointed the father who’d expected him to be taller, broader, and stronger. He had a mother who had loved him with almost fanatic inten
sity, and he’d had the knowledge, even as a boy, that there was something not quite right about the parents he loved.
The past six months, the journals had been filled with fear as well. Attempts to make certain his mother took her pills, even hiding them in her food, melting them in her coffee. But nothing could have stopped Augusta Napier’s insanity.
The fact that Nadine Grace and Dayle Mackay had always been her enemies didn’t help. For years she had hated Natches, and only after word had circulated that it had been Natches who revealed his father as a traitor had Augusta decided he was a man worthy of her love. He and Alex, they were like her husband, she had decided. Strong and brave.
The man Jimmy Napier had been was just average. A soldier who had taken every tour he could get to escape his wife. A man rumored to have had a different lover in each different area he had been assigned to. His last lover, the daughter of a terrorist, had been his downfall. He had died in her arms, literally.
He’d been a good soldier, a loyal soldier, but he’d never advanced because he didn’t have the drive, or the strength, to go higher. Or the trust. He wasn’t known for keeping his word. Jimmy Napier hadn’t just broken promises to his wife and son.
