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It shouldn’t surprise me, but it did.
Oliver’s teeth ground loud enough to be audible in the silence as he spoke quietly to me. “Jen, pull my phone out and call Neal. This ends now.”
I did, my hands shaking to the point I could barely hit the right name in his contacts. Oliver did most of the talking when he picked up, which was good, because I felt like my brain was moving through molasses.
After a minute, Oliver nodded. “You can hang up now. He’s on his way.”
I did, still numb from everything, and when he saw that, his eyes softened. “Jen, it’s over now. Neal is going to take Harvey with him, and with his testimony, we’ll put Diana away, too. It’sover.”
Somehow, that’s what I’d needed to hear, and tears ran rivers down my cheeks, the numbness finally abating as Oliver carefully tucked me into him, while still keeping the gun leveled on Harvey.
“It’s alright, this is normal. I know those action movies make it seem easy, but adrenaline is hell on your system. Just take deep breaths until you feel stable again.” He said, the beat of his heart thundering under my ear.
I focused on it, using it as an anchor until the worst of the tears had passed. Harvey didn’t say anything else, either unconscious or dead from blood loss.
I didn’t care. Right now, all that mattered was that he was out of my life, and I could justbreathe.
Thankfully, Neal was fast, and in what felt like a blink he’d arrived with two other officers in tow. He said something about an ambulance, but I couldn’t make it out.
Once they had Harvey hustled out, Oliver lowered the gun and put it aside. Focusing entirely on me now, he kissed my head and rocked on his heels.
“You holding up okay?” He asked and I shook my head, burying myself further into his chest.
“No, not really. I can’t stop crying.”
He hummed. “Like I said, that’s normal. The action movies get it all wrong. You’ll probably be shaken for a bit, but after we put some distance between us and this, you’ll feel better. Nightmares are probably going to be normal, but I’ll be right here to help you with them. Okay?”
I nodded, shifting all my focus on him instead of the overwhelming feelings still hitting from all sides. He was right, hewashere, and no matter how bad everything felt now, it would be okay.
Harvey was almost out of our lives, and Diana would follow him.
We could enjoy our time without them hanging over us.
This time, the tears were of relief, and I let them fall.
It was finally over.
Epilogue
The park’s air was humid but not sweltering as I leaned on Oliver’s side. Sam sat not far away, looking through the basket between us curiously.
Things had been hectic lately with Harvey and Diana’s trial, but as of yesterday, everything was squared away. They’d both be getting jail time, and I could finallybreatheagain.
Oliver’s arm was a comforting weight around my middle, and I reveled in it. This was the first outing we’d planned after the trial, but there’d be many more.
I couldn’t wait.
We even had plans to meet up with his family! He was already resigned to the fact I’d be asking his mother for baby pictures.
Looking up at him, I smiled. “We should do this more often.”
He nodded, kissing my head, before looking at Sam and teasing, “Yeah, we need to get the antisocial one out more often anyway.”
Sam rolled his eyes, “I came willingly. Why do you always assume I’m a recluse?”
Before Oliver could say anything in response, Sam’s eyes trailed over his shoulder and widened.
“Cecilia?”
Looking at where he was, I took in the stunned woman staring right back at him with the same amount of shock.
“Samuel?” She said, her long blond hair blowing softly in the wind.
Stealing a glance at Oliver, we exchanged an entire silent conversation.
It looked like things were going to get interesting around here.
