Queen Her (King Me Duet 2)

“Your mom?” I asked, with a grin.

As he whisked her off her feet, I got a front seat view of what love looked like.

“Yeah. That’s my mom. Come.”

He helped me out after we removed the headsets and unbuckled our seatbelts. It was good to be on the ground after a being in the air a few hours.

“This must be Natalie,” a petite woman with light brown hair and big brown eyes asked.

I gaped.

Liam had told his mom about me. “Yes, Natalie, this is my mother, Natalie.”

She didn’t hold out a hand, she hugged me. “Oh, I’m so happy to meet you. Is it weird I think it’s great we share names?” I didn’t get a chance to speak when she took my ring finger. “You said yes.”

It was an awkward moment as I smiled, painfully. She had so much joy while Liam and I had so little time. I didn’t want to throw the cold water on the situation and face the reality.

She moved on to hug her son. “I’m so happy for you.”

Liam caught my expression and his soured some. “We don’t have a lot of time, Mom. I’ll let Dad explain.” The light in his mother’s eyes dimmed as her gaze bounced between the two men in her life. “I’ll call you later,” he said to the two of them.

His hand landed on my back and he urged me forward. Ahead, I spotted his truck. He opened my side first and gave me a boost. Then he was in on the other. “You’re going to need to navigate me.”

It felt like familiar times. I nodded and pulled out my phone because I wasn’t familiar with his town. Once we pulled onto the two-lane highway that linked each of the towns in the panhandle, I turned off the GPS. I knew the way from here.

When we turned on my road, I noticed a lot of activity at Jody’s house.

“Looks like the Feds are here,” Liam said.

I silently agreed, unable to swallow the lump in my throat. He pulled to a stop in front of my house, and I jumped out of the truck, not sure if I’d closed the door.

Though I’d gotten a response from Mom, I needed to see her to know she was truly safe.

Before I reached the house, the door opened but it wasn’t my mother behind it. The three letters FBI were in full view on the woman’s hat. “Hi, I’m Special Agent Gandy,” she said. “You are Natalie?”

I nodded.

She checked her watch. “We don’t have a lot of time…”

I blew past her, ignoring the rest of what she said.

She called out after me.

I didn’t stop.

“Mom,” I said, once I passed the threshold.

“In here,” I heard her call from the kitchen.

I practically tackled her in a bear hug when I saw her. I hated the dark circles under her eyes. “I’m never leaving you again,” I declared.

“Don’t say that, child. One day you’ll have a family of your own.”

It didn’t feel that way knowing I would be walking away from Liam long before the day was over.

“Not without you,” I told her.

She looked over my shoulder and her eyes widened. I knew Liam had followed me. “Is this your young man?”

He reached out a hand. “I’m Liam, ma’am.”

Mom skirted around me with the biggest grin. “Oh, yes you are. Come here and give me a hug. You said you’d bring her home and you did.”

She went in and he held on as I heard her sob.

I mouthed, I’m sorry, to Liam knowing his shirt would be stained with her tears. I wondered when they’d spoken. He hadn’t mentioned it. Then again, I had called her from his phone back at David’s penthouse in Chicago.

Thirty seconds more of her hugging Liam and I would have intervened. Luckily, she pulled back. “He’s a keeper,” she said to me.

Having forgotten all about the ring on my finger, I scratched my head trying to figure out how to explain that keeping him wasn’t an option. She had to know that. At least, I assumed the FBI agent that stood beside the stack of boxes had explained what we were doing and why.

“Oh my lord,” she exclaimed and took my hand in hers. “You’re getting married?”

I opened my mouth, but Liam beat me to it. “If she’ll have me.”

“We can’t,” I said. They turned to look at me as I began to work the ring off my finger. “We are going into the witness program, Mom. Liam can’t come.”

“Why not?” she asked, looking as crestfallen as I felt.

“Because he has family here, and we can’t drag him into this mess.”

My phone buzzed and I checked the screen. When I glanced up Mom was still shaking her head. Liam was going to speak, but I held up a hand. “Jody,” I said and answered the call.