Page 107 of Protected from Reprisal
With our silent agreement established, I turn back to Yara. As we start down the hallway, I kiss her cheek. She looks up at me with a smile. “He’s doing okay, isn’t he?”
“He is,” I agree.
“And he doesn’t hate me.”
“No.” I squeeze her hand lightly. “He doesn’t. Just like I said.”
After a beat, her smile expands. “Well. I guess you have to be rightsometimes.”
CHAPTER 21
YARA
“Doyou think we brought enough presents for your family?”
As Ace looks up from his phone, I add, “We have the handbag and scarf for your mom, the carved tackle box for your brother, the charm bracelet for his wife—she goes by Carol, not Caroline, right?—and for the twins, we’ve got the matching tiaras and fairy wings. Oh, and the stuffed dragons. Should we have brought more?”
Ace laughs. “Tink. That’s plenty. Trust me. The adults never do a ton of gifts. And the twins will have so many presents, they’ll get lost in them.”
I pull out my own phone and open the photo of the sparkly fairy wings we bought. Spence and Carol’s twins—Ellis and Ella—are apparently huge fans of fairies, which is why Ace and I spent hours trawling the toy stores of Portland to find the perfect fairy-themed gifts.
Personally, I’ve never been a fairy type of girl, despite my nickname. As a kid, I was more interested in inventions andInspector Gadgetand building my own little workshop. But Ihave to admit, the fairy wings we bought are adorable. They’re handmade, with intricate designs woven throughout the lacy film and adorned with semi-precious stones in all the colors of the rainbow. Sparkly fabric trails from the bottom of them, so when the little girls run, it’s supposed to look like they’re flying.
“Maybe we should get something else for your mom,” I suggest. “Like a gift card for a spa weekend or something.”
“Yara.” Ace’s hand comes over mine. “My mom will love the gifts.” His lips twitch. “And really, we could show up with nothing and she’d still be thrilled.”
The flight attendant stops beside us, offering drinks and snacks, so I wait until she’s gone before replying, “Why? Because she gets to see you for Christmas?”
“Nope.” He grins at me. “Because I’m bringingyouhome for Christmas. I’ve never brought anyone home for Christmas before. Well, aside from some of my teammates. But a woman? Never.”
“Never?”
“Never. And let me tell you, she’s beside herself with excitement. Her oldest son, who she long-lamented would be single forever, bringing home a woman. And not just any woman, but a woman he’sliving with.”
“She doesn’t think we’re moving too fast, does she?” I hate feeling so insecure about meeting Ace’s mom, but I want her to like me. Not that he’s said anything to make me think she wouldn’t, but still. It’s been a very long time since I met a boyfriend’s family. And I’ve never cared this much about it going well.
“No,” Ace replies firmly. His gaze holds mine. “She doesn’t think that. Because she trusts my judgement. So when I told her that the brilliant, gorgeous, brave woman I’ve been friends with for the last year finally agreed to live with me, she didn’t question it at all.”
Because we are living together, officially, despite all the craziness of the last few weeks. First planning our op in Iran, the mad rush across the world to rescue Malik, five days afterwards in Bethesda so we could spend time with him, and then finally back to B and A.
But somehow, in all of that, we managed to move most of my things to Ace’s apartment and coordinate with my work so I’ll only need to go into Seattle on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Plus, I spoke with the enrichment coordinator at the community college where I teach, and they agreed to schedule my robotics class for Tuesday nights next semester so I’ll be able to continue working with my students. When Ace isn’t traveling for work, he’ll come with me on those days and work remotely.
“I know you can go to Seattle on your own,” Ace explained.“But I want to go with you. Being home without you doesn’t feel right.” With a sheepish smile, he added, “I miss you even when you’re doing girls’ night with Eden, Bea, and Noelle. So two and a half days without you feels like much too long.”
I’m not complaining. I want Ace with me, too. It’s funny, after living on my own for so long, coming to value the solitude and privacy, I’ve found I don’t enjoy it as much anymore. Now, I like having people around me. Especially when that person is Ace.
“Tink.” Ace rubs his thumb across my palm. “Don’t worry. Everyone is going to love you. Just like I do.” He stops. Chuckles. “Okay, they’re not going to love youexactlylike I do. That might be strange. But they’ll love you like you’re part of the family.”
A lump swells in my throat.
Family. It’s something I’ve avoided thinking about ever since I left the Army. But now it feels like I’m surrounded by it. Embraced by it. The Blade and Arrow team, my old teammates—Saint, Kai, and Ford all came to Bethesda for a long-overdue reunion—Ace, and now, hopefully, his family, too.
The plane hits a spot of turbulence, making it jerk. A little boy a few rows ahead of us worriedly asks his parents, “The plane isn’t going to crash, is it?”
“No,” the boy’s father reassures him. “It’s just a pocket of air. That’s all.”
“A pocket?” the boy asks. “How can the air have a pocket?”
