In His Keeping (Slow Burn 2)

Seeing Ginger so happy for these last months had given Gavin a sense of purpose he’d never before experienced. After so much sorrow and loss, the woman he loved sparkled with life, love and laughter. Every day she delighted in discovering something new about motherhood and their precious baby girl.

Gavin knew in his heart that there was nothing he wouldn’t do to protect them both. No price was too high to pay. No, he hadn’t done it cleanly or by the book. He should have notified the police and social services. And pursued adoption through the proper channels.

But he only had to look into his wife’s eyes as she stared at that tiny baby girl and he knew he could never risk losing their daughter by doing things the “right” way. He could live with his conscience and even live with his soul forever being damned just as long as Ginger was happy. He’d brave the fires of hell and the devil himself before ever being the cause of her eyes losing their shine.

She looked at him as though he was a hero—her hero—when in fact he’d broken so many laws that years in prison spread ominously before him were it ever discovered all he’d done. And he’d made damn sure that Ginger was in no way touched by the decisions he’d made. That if it were ever discovered what he’d done, Ginger—and Ari—would be free.

Ginger laced her fingers through his, clenching them anxiously as she adjusted the fabric baby carrier that held Ari so she faced Ginger and was nestled against her mother’s chest. They disembarked the small jet, Gavin being extremely careful that she not stumble or fall as they hurried toward the waiting car.

When he slid into the backseat beside her, she turned to look at him, her brow creased with tension.

“I don’t know why I’m so nervous,” Ginger said in a shaky, apologetic voice. “I trust you, Gavin. Please don’t think I don’t. It’s just that for the last five months we’ve seemingly lived a world away from reality. Like we had our own little bubble where time stopped and no one but us existed. And now that we have to return to the real world, I’m so scared. I’m scared this has all been a dream and when I wake up tomorrow Ari will be gone.”

Gavin curled his arm around her shoulders and pulled her and Ari into his embrace. He brushed the top of her head with his lips. He hated that she worried, that she feared the unknown, but he understood it. Knew it was impossible to completely allay her fears, or his own, for that matter.

Theirs would be a lifetime of always worrying about discovery. Of having their child torn from them. Maybe as more time passed their fears would ease, but right now with their move back to resume their lives as before, they were both understandably afraid of the worst.

“I will never let that happen,” Gavin said in a grave tone.

He glanced out the window of the nondescript vehicle that had picked them up at the private landing strip.

“Will you be happy here?” he asked Ginger, voicing just one of his many fears. His wife’s happiness overrode any other priority in his life.

He’d scaled back his many business ventures to just the one oil company that was headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was a city he was familiar with. In his past life, he’d done “business” with Franklin Devereaux and even planned to renew their acquaintance, because Franklin still had his fingers into the life Gavin formerly led, and he could be useful in aiding Gavin in his quest for complete anonymity and the birth of a completely new life.

It was a decision he’d grappled with, because by contacting Franklin, he risked a breach in the security he’d gone to great lengths to establish. But Franklin had connections that Gavin no longer had, so in the end, he’d decided to assume the risk. Even if he considered Franklin a fool for risking his greatest treasures.

Franklin had what Gavin—and Ginger—both craved. Or rather had craved in the past. A family. But now Gavin no longer felt envy when thinking of the Devereauxs. Because of Ari and the fact that she had completed him and Ginger, had solidified their relationship and had made a couple a family instead.

Ari awoke from her doze nestled against her mother’s chest and lifted her head, gifting her father with a toothless smile that never failed to make his heart do a complete flip-flop.

“Well, hello, little one,” Ginger said, extending her finger for Ari to clutch her fist around.

As usual, anything that touched Ari’s hand went straight to her mouth and she grinned and gurgled as she gnawed on her mother’s finger.

“How long before we get there?” Ginger asked. “She needs a diaper change and she’s going to be hungry now that she’s awake.”

“Ten minutes at the most,” Gavin reassured.

“She’ll be good until then,” Ginger said, smiling and cooing nonsense at Ari.

Then she glanced up at Gavin, her eyes full of love and warmth.

“We’re really a family,” she whispered in awe. “This is real.”

Gavin smiled and leaned over to kiss the top of Ari’s downy curls, inhaling her sweet baby scent. Then he captured his wife’s lips and kissed her thoroughly, savoring the private moment with his wife and child.

“Yes, sweetheart. This is our life now and it’s real. No one will ever take it from us.”

His was a quiet vow, but determined all the same. Nothing or no one would ever take from him what was his. And he would forever shield his wife and daughter from the harsh realities of life. No matter the cost.

THREE

FOUR MONTHS LATER . . .