Once Upon a Marriage

Marie held out her hand.

Gabi took the other one. Pulling Marie down into a chair and taking the one beside her.

“The guy who was after Liam, his name is Hank Chassen. After his father lost everything in the Connelly Ponzi scheme, he committed suicide. The money Walter was paying back was like salt in his wound. It didn’t bring his father back. He’s not stable, Marie. How you managed to keep him so calm...you were great.” Her lips were trembling as she smiled.

Marie felt as though she might cry, too. But wasn’t sure how at the moment. Everything was still so...distant. As if she were outside her body looking in.

She’d made such a huge mistake—thinking she didn’t trust Elliott—convincing him that she couldn’t be a good spouse to him. She had to see him. To tell him how very much she loved him. And knew that even a day of happiness with him was better than a lifetime of being safe.

“The woman who was in your shop, the law student, he told her that no one would get hurt as long as she packed up, walked calmly to the door and then pulled the security guard away long enough for him to get the door locked. He said she could call 911 as soon as she got to her car.”

She remembered now. A swarm of people. Calls of “All clear.”

“He told me didn’t care if he got caught.”

Liam was answering the male detective’s questions. They were speaking softly, and she could only make out the rumbles of their voices. They were in a family trauma area of the hospital and were apparently the only family with trauma that night.

“He knew your routine,” the female detective said. She might have introduced herself at some point. Marie couldn’t remember. “And waited for Elliott to leave before making his move.”

“But... Elliott was there...”

“He said something just hit him,” Gabi said, pushing hair out of Marie’s face. “He had a letter to hand-deliver for a client, but then wondered why in the heck he’d stop for dinner when you’d said you wanted to talk to him. He was coming in to wait in the shop until you were finished working when he heard Chassen tell you to keep going.”

Marie frowned. “I was going to push him over the rail,” she said, the memory clear and encased in fog at the same time. “It’s old,” she said, as if that explained everything.

And she had to know... “How bad is Elliott hurt?”

“He’s fine.”

At Gabi’s words, tears filled her eyes and ran down her cheeks. She was listening but couldn’t stop the tears. Gabi wiped at them as she spoke.

“He has one superficial wound. A bullet grazed his shoulder. Chassen didn’t get so lucky. Elliott’s first shot hit the ceiling. He’d used it to get Chassen to let you go and turn around. His second and third shots to Chassen’s arm and thigh hit their marks perfectly.”

“A hostage negotiation team was on the way,” the woman, who’d taken a cotton swab with something cold to Marie’s hand, said as she put her vial away.

“And if I’d waited for them to get there as requested, he could have killed her,” Elliott said. “A life I’d been hired to protect was being threatened. I was within my boundaries to take action.”

Marie swung around, her throat closing up again as she saw the man who’d just spoken coming up behind them. She didn’t think about jumping up.

She just did it. And ran straight into his opened arms. He held her so tightly her ribs hurt and she didn’t care.

“You can make me doubt myself for the rest of my life,” she said, knowing she probably sounded crazy and didn’t care. “I’d much rather have you worrying me than spend the rest of my life living without you.”

The words poured out of her, not at all the way they were meant to. They’d have a long talk. She owed him that. But loving him, being his wife, couldn’t wait.

Elliott’s eyes glistened as he gazed at her.

The others were there, maybe talking, maybe gawking.

“I am going to spend the rest of my life protecting you from hurt, little one,” he said. “Hopefully you’ll make it easy on me and let it be from by your side. I do much better up close.”

“You didn’t do too shabby from down a flight of stairs.” Liam had joined them, holding out his hand to Elliott. The detectives, obviously having all they needed for then, were back in the distance.

Gabi came up and Liam drew her to him with his free arm. “You saved our lives.”

Marie missed the warmth of Elliott’s arm when he let go just long enough to shake the hand Liam proffered. She didn’t want to let go of him at all.

But wasn’t going to let herself give up autonomy again. She was a new woman. Standing on her own two feet. Ready to love. And to let herself be loved.