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“You okay?” he asked her. When she nodded, he said softly, “Remember, ‘I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do...’”
“‘...And by the grace of God, I will,’” she finished. “I know. I just wish it was over.”
“It will be...soon enough. Just think about how much this means to every woman who was ever trafficked—and those who will never be trafficked because of your willingness to stand up and testify against these men.”
“‘This stops here,’” she quoted softly, nodding to herself as she remembered Alec saying this to her almost a year ago when he’d first convinced her to testify. Drawing courage from the memory. “‘This stops now!’”
* * *
“A verdict was reached in a federal courtroom in Washington, DC, today,” announced the CNN news anchor, “in a complicated and hard-fought human trafficking conspiracy case. Correspondent Carly Edwards is standing by at the courthouse with the verdict. Carly, can you hear me?”
“Yes, Tom,” Carly Edwards said into the microphone from the top of the courthouse steps. “Guilty on all counts for all the conspirators. Let me repeat, guilty on all counts. The verdict was announced an hour ago, in a trial that was postponed when two gunmen opened fire in this same federal courthouse, killing the lead prosecutor and wounding—”
Liam clicked the remote to turn off the TV in their DC hotel room. He’d been in the courtroom with Cate this afternoon when the verdict was announced, but it still gave him a surge of satisfaction hearing “guilty on all counts.” Later tonight he and Cate were meeting Alec and Angelina for a victory dinner to celebrate.
They also had something else to celebrate, something Alec had confided in him just as Angelina had confided in Cate—Alec and Angelina were expecting a baby. Sometime in the new year he was going to be an uncle for the second time.
Cate had been ecstatic for them. And her reaction to their pregnancy news had laid to rest Liam’s last, lingering doubt about her feelings for Alec. He hadn’t known that doubt still existed—until it was dispelled. Until she’d slipped her hand in his, her eyes like stars, and whispered, “If there is a God, that will be us, Liam. Someday.”
Cate had refused to marry him until she’d confided her fear to him that she might be sterile and why she suspected it, and it had nearly broken his heart. Not so much for himself—although the idea of never having children of his own had been a body blow—but for her. Because it was just one more thing to add to her insecurities. One more potential heartbreak for a woman who’d already suffered enough heartbreak in her relatively short life.
Cate had wanted a fertility test performed on herself before their wedding, but Liam had adamantly refused. “Hell no!” he’d told Cate, the only time he’d lost his temper with her. “If we can’t get pregnant we’ll adopt.” And though she’d argued with him that her problem didn’t have to be his, he’d stood resolute, and eventually she’d conceded.
So they were trying. Maybe some people would say it was too early in their marriage, but Liam was thirty-six and ready to be a father. Not that he’d actively been seeking a mother for his children when he’d met Cate—he hadn’t. But now that he’d found the woman he would love and cherish for the rest of his life, he was ready to give her all the children she wanted—he hadn’t worn a condom since the day they were married in a quiet ceremony ten weeks ago, shortly before the trial began. He’d been out of the hospital only a week at that point and still recovering, so their honeymoon had been somewhat...limited.
Liam smiled suddenly. Despite his limitations, Cate had managed to make their honeymoon memorable. Creatively memorable. In fact, she’d reveled in taking charge. His shy bride had been transformed into every man’s bedroom fantasy, and he hadn’t complained. It was proof she trusted him completely—with her body as well as her heart.
Now that the trial was over, now that all the conspirators had been found guilty and faced long prison sentences, he still wasn’t sure where they went from here. D’Arcy was confident Cate didn’t need to assume a new identity...and Liam was almost convinced Baker Street was right. But he’d already resolved in his mind to resign from the DSS, if necessary, and go with Cate wherever she needed to go. He hadn’t told her that—she had enough to worry about with the trial. The king of Zakhar had made him a respectable offer, too—more than respectable, actually. That was another thing Cate wasn’t aware of. But he didn’t really want to leave the DSS unless he was forced to. He’d only consider the king’s offer if he couldn’t stay in his current job, if he and Cate couldn’t make the US their home base.
