Jake exhaled. Maybe for the first time in hours.
It really was over. Finally.
FORTY-THREE
Three months later
Jake and Piper held hands while walking the trails near Auditorium Shores along Lady Bird Lake in the heart of Austin. It was a beautiful, sunny early-spring day. They had both just indulged in ice cream cones from a vendor truck up the way. Piper had her favorite—cotton candy with sprinkles. Jake stuck to his usual plain vanilla. They were celebrating their move back to Austin. Jake had just driven a U-Haul truck into town last night. They were renting a house in North Austin until he could hopefully buy something soon. He wanted to plant roots again. He knew Piper needed it. In so many ways, they were completely starting over as a family. And that was OK.
The past three months had been a difficult time as they’d tried to recover from her traumatic abduction and the fallout from so much death and chaos in the family. Jake had immediately been cleared of all charges. Beth Spiller had told the police the truth. She was remorseful but would still do plenty of jail time. Lars had stubbornly lawyered up and was now awaiting trial. But there was too much evidence that he was behind hiring a hit man who had killed several people. All his money and power would not save him this time around. Lars would likely be going to prison later this year.
There had also been some positives to what happened. The rest of the Kingston family had embraced Jake more in the past three months than the fifteen years prior, as if the dark truth about Lars had finally set them free. He would not be able to dominate and control them from a prison cell.
Jake knew they had a long road ahead of them—maybe a lifetime. Piper was still regularly having nightmares. Jake would often wake to find her snuggled up in the bed next to him. Which he welcomed. He hardly wanted to be away from her for even a second. Both of them were regularly seeing a therapist. Jake had been completely honest with his daughter about everything that had happened. She needed to know the truth about the secrets that had nearly destroyed her mother’s family in order to fully heal. But the dark cloud that had hung over the two of them since Sarah had died seemed to have lifted, finally. Despite the challenging circumstances, Piper seemed to be happy for the first time since all this had begun.
Jake was happy, too. He’d gotten a coaching job at a local middle school. It had felt so good for him to be back on the football field working with kids again. He was slowly getting his life back. And maybe something else.
Dani sat in her car and took a deep breath. She was surprised by how nervous she felt. While she and Jake had regularly been talking on the phone for the past few months, she had not been around his daughter yet. At least not outside her official FBI duties. She really wanted Piper to like her. That was probably dumb, but she couldn’t help herself. She was also nervous for other reasons. It felt surreal to be talking to Jake again. Even though it had been fifteen years, they had so easily slipped back into a natural rhythm. She’d had a lot of extra time to talk on the phone with him since she’d had to serve out a thirty-day suspension. Did she really want to go down this road with Jake again? The first time had ended so painfully. She had to accept some blame for that. She’d chosen to go to DC. He’d chosen to stay. Dani had wanted to blame it solely on Sarah Kingston all these years, but it was clear in talking it through with Jake recently that it was never about Sarah.
One more deep breath.
Was she ready for this? To put her heart out there again?
There was only one way to find out. She got out of her car.
Jake paused near the statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan, the legendary singer-songwriter.
“What are you doing?” Piper asked.
“I told you. We’re meeting someone here.”
“Oh yeah. Why won’t you tell me who it is? What’s with the secrets?”
Jake smiled. “You’ll see.”
About that time, Dani walked up to them from the opposite direction. She wore a burnt-orange UT hoodie, black leggings, and running shoes.
“Piper, you remember Special Agent Nolan?” Jake said.
Piper nodded. “Hi, Agent Nolan.”
“Hi, Piper. You can call me Dani, OK?”
“Oh, OK, sure. So you’re the big surprise guest?”
Dani glanced at Jake, who shrugged and grinned.
“I guess so,” Dani said. “Surprise.”
Piper rolled her eyes in a playful way. “Come on, Dad. I saw this coming from a mile away. You hate talking on the phone. But you’ve been on it nonstop for months.”
“Guilty as charged.” Jake laughed. “I just wanted you to have a chance to get to know each other better. Is that cool?”