Page 44 of Two Weddings and a Shoot Out

“Dad, Remi is taking Ginger to be painted. She wants to change the color to pink,” Beth said softly. Her dad loved the Monte Carlo he’d taught all the girls to drive with. Ginger was his baby, and although he let the girls use her sometimes, he would have a fit if anyone hurt or changed his baby.

Hope grinned and chuckled.

Beth turned, “Has he introduced you to Ginger?”

“Oh yes, I’ve heard the story, and he talked about us taking Ginger on a date to Nelson’s sometime because she needs to know she’s still loved. I’ve only ridden on his motorcycle so far, though.”

Beth stood there waiting. She was positive her dad was close to waking up because his fingers had moved, and he wasn’t breathing quite as deeply. Maybe she’d try something else.

“Dad, some guys beat up Hope,” Beth said.

“Beth,” Hope chastised.

Beth didn’t care. Locks shifted in bed, and then his eyelids moved—opening a little and then closing. His lips moved, but she couldn’t hear.

“What, Locks?” Hope asked.

“Who did it? She okay?” he asked.

Beth chuckled and then hugged Hope.

“She’s fine. I just needed you to quit with the beauty rest after the shooting,” Beth said.

Locks’ eyes opened, and Beth was so glad to see he was waking up. He turned toward Hope.

“Marry me. Can’t wait,” Locks said.

Beth waited to see if Hope was going to answer him. Hope sniffed and leaned over Locks, laying her hand against his cheek and kissing his lips. She pulled away and whispered yes.

Beth patted her dad’s hand and went out to tell her sisters and the family that he was awake and okay. She’d let Hope tell about the proposal. Now, she could go back to Texas and do her job: find the perpetrators and make sure they met justice, one way or another.

She walked down the hall. She had a five-hour drive to consider some other things about Flick. A lot could be decided on a long car ride with the music providing inspiration.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Locksgingerlygotoutof Ginger and hid his wince at the pain from moving. Today was the first day that Hope had let him out of the house, and it was only because Bluff Creek Ink was having something special since the addition was done and the additional tattoo artists were arriving today.

He wanted to welcome them. He would have never believed Bootstrap could have the addition finished in such a short period of time, but they’d worked around the clock taking shifts. It helped that the building inspector was a friend of the club and ran over to okay anything, no matter what time of day or night they got done.

Locks breathed in deeply. The promise of rain was in the air, but Locks was just thrilled to be standing and not in a hospital. Hope slid her shoulder under his arm just in case he needed help, and Benji grabbed hold of his hand.

His wedding to Hope was right before he was released from the hospital. They’d applied on Monday and been married onThursday by a chaplain in the hospital chapel. Those who couldn’t be there in the chapel were on video calls with them. Neither of them cared about dresses or suits. After their near loss, they wanted to be married and be together.

The love he had for Hope when she said the first ‘I do’ had brought tears to his eyes. When he’d promised to love her until their last breath, he’d meant every word. Kathryn was his past, and Hope was his future. Once Beth and Flick were back from their assignment, he wanted to have a reception with all his family, but for now, being married to the woman was perfect.

He and Hope were petitioning to adopt Benji and have her son’s rights severed. Locks didn’t want Benji’s dad to have any say in how Benji was raised or by whom. Locks was going to make sure that Benji had the childhood he deserved and knew every day how very much he was loved.

His family was growing, and Locks was thankful he was around to experience it. He would never take each day he walked this earth for granted after how close he came to leaving it.

Winnie and Bear had headed down to Texas to be backup for Beth, Flick, and Della. Roam, Sprite, Baron, Regina, Rascal, and Meg were taking turns watching the kids. If he felt better, he’d want to help, but he couldn’t even lift anything over ten pounds right now. It was frustrating, but he wasn’t going to complain because, at least, he was alive. He didn’t regret taking a bullet for Hope. He’d much rather it was him any day.

Locks let Hope and Benji help him lower himself into the lawn chair they’d brought for him to watch the festivities with. He wasn’t going to fight her because he felt as weak as a newborn calf, stumbling around. The doctor told him that he needed to wait until after his check-up to start doing any type of exercise, but Locks was going to start walking because he was getting his strength back.

The doctor had already told him no strenuous activity, which included making love to his wife, and unfortunately, Hope was a stickler for helping him get better. Despite him trying to convince her that he would just lay there and let her do all the work, she said no and left the room.

He’d shared with Hope the night he’d come home from the hospital what he’d seen when he’d died. Her acceptance of it and her thankfulness that he was still around made him feel like he wasn’t crazy.

The reason he was positive that he’d really seen Kathryn was because she’d been in a pale gown that he’d never seen her in before. He didn’t believe his mind would make that up, but even if it had, in his heart, he had Kathryn’s blessing and her push that it wasn’t his time.

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