“He loves her very much. He wants her to be his mother, and I’m doing my best to make that happen.”
“This wouldn’t have happened if she were your wife. She’d have rights then.”
“Don’t I know it.” Dylan thanked him again and headed downstairs while he left Lynn to get the paperwork sorted out.
Several of the officers he knew said hello and told him he looked like hell. He knew it and felt it. When he got downstairs to the holding cells, a woman officer greeted him and led him down a hallway, her keys clinking against her thigh as she walked.
“She’s down here, Sheriff. She didn’t eat this morning, and she’s asked about you every chance she gets.”
He came to the cell where Jessie sat on a cot with her knees pulled up and her chin resting on them. Her arms were wrapped around her legs, her eyes shadowed and half-closed, her shoulders slumped. Completely wiped out, she stared blankly at the wall.
“Jess, honey.” The words barely made it past his lips. He choked up seeing her this way. When she lifted her head and found him with wide eyes brimming immediately with tears, he couldn’t get past the cell door fast enough to get to her. He dropped on his knees beside her and gathered her into his arms, ignoring the pain radiating through his body.
“I’m so sorry you had to be here. They’re going to let you out in a few minutes. I cleared it all up with the lieutenant.”
She pulled back from him and ran her fingertips over the cut on his head and the scrapes and bruises. She kissed each one softly and took his hurt arm and kissed each of his fingers. “Are you okay? Are you really all right?”
“I am now. Lynn came and broke me out of the hospital. I had no idea what happened to you.”
“It doesn’t matter. Where’s Will?”
“He’s with my parents still. I haven’t seen them. I came straight here to get you.”
“You should have gotten Will first. Oh, Dylan, you should have seen him. He was so scared. Your parents wouldn’t let me take him in to see you. We didn’t know how badly you’d been hurt, and then the police took me away from him.”
“We’ll go and get him right after I get you out of here.”
His eyes fluttered and he had a hard time keeping them open. He kept squinting and held himself rigid to stop the pain.
“Did the doctor say you could leave the hospital?” she asked, brushing her fingers through his hair at his temple.
“He doesn’t know I left. Lynn told me you’d been arrested for kidnapping Will and I got here as fast as I could.”
“Dylan. You need to be in the hospital. You have a concussion.”
“I only need you.” He gathered her as close as he could get her. “I’m sorry they wouldn’t let you see me. I can only imagine how scared you were I’d been seriously injured.”
“You were seriously injured.”
“Yeah, and the only medicine I need is you, and they wouldn’t let you see me.”
“About that.” She held his face in her hands, careful not to press on any of the bruises or scrapes. “Marry me, Dylan McBride. I want to be your wife. I don’t want anything to ever happen to you again, but if it does, I want to be the one there to help you. Marry me because I love you and I never want to be separated from you ever again.”
He kissed her and held her tight. She’d just answered every dream he ever had. “When?”
“As soon as possible. Today. Tomorrow. I don’t care as long as it’s soon. I want you and Will to move in with me. His room is all ready and you can bring all your stuff, and we’ll be a family. I think we could all be comfortable in the house together. I always wanted it to be a home. It’s not home unless you and Will are in it.”
Dylan never answered. The officer arrived, saying, “Sheriff, I’ll escort you and Miss Langley upstairs. The paperwork is ready, and she’s free to go. The lieutenant wants to discuss the charges and your parents.” Dylan sighed, but nodded his agreement.
They left the cell and followed the officer upstairs. Dylan never took his arm from around her. He didn’t want to let her go and hated to admit it, but today, he needed to lean on her too. Physically he wasn’t all there, but more so, he mentally needed to lean on her. She’d trusted him to come and get her when he could, and she’d put Will first. She expected him to go to Will and take him away from his parents before he came for her. Nothing could have made him love her more than knowing she trusted him again.
She’d been so sweet and earnest about getting married as soon as possible. What she didn’t know was that for weeks, he’d had everything ready for when the time was right.