He couldn’t think of a better birthday present than Jessie becoming his wife.
Chapter Thirty-Five
* * *
DYLAN MARVELED AT the way Lynn took care of getting the local police to move quickly on the paperwork. She drove them back to the hospital where Jessie parked her car. Jessie insisted he see the doctor before going home. Lucky for him, the doctor released him with a prescription for some pain medication and orders that he rest for a couple of days.
The ordeal with his parents couldn’t be overlooked. Dylan pounded on their front door, then turned back to see Jessie leaning against the hood of her car watching him. Worried and upset, he wanted to go to her, wrap her in his arms, and tell her everything was all right. But first, he’d have to make it all right, and that meant finishing this with his parents.
Will’s little feet pounded on the floor in the entry hall as he ran to the door. Dylan’s heart skipped a beat. The wait for the door to open took too long. He needed to grab hold of his son and hug him.
The door finally opened, and his father stood in the doorway, Will beside him.
“Daddy.”
Dylan scooped him up and held him close despite the pain it caused his sprained wrist and aching body. He felt a weight lift from his shoulders just having Will close and out of his parents’ grasp. “Hey buddy. I missed you.”
“They took Mommy away.” Will’s bottom lip trembled.
“I know.” Dylan’s voice held a deadly edge, but he held back the anger roiling inside him for his son’s sake. “I got her back. She’s right over there. Go see her. She needs one of your special hugs real bad.”
Dylan set his son down. He ran like the wind into Jessie’s open arms. Tears trickled down Jessie’s cheeks. She held Will close, her face turned into his neck. Every one of her tears tore at Dylan’s heart and made him rage against his parents for putting her through all this in the first place. And so he turned to his father. His mother stood just behind him to his left.
“Dylan . . .” his father began.
“Don’t. I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.” He swallowed hard. He couldn’t believe it had come to this. “You had the woman I love, the woman I’m going to marry and spend the rest of my life with, the woman who gave birth to your granddaughter, arrested. In front of Will. At gunpoint.”
“We were only looking out for your and Will’s best interests.”
“Bullshit.” Dylan had never sworn in front of his parents, and their faces reflected their shock at his outburst. “If you cared about my happiness at all, you’d know that I’m only happy, only whole, when I’m with her. She’s everything to me. But you couldn’t set aside your petty dislike for her for my sake, or Will’s, because she’s what we want.”
“She’s only going to hurt you,” his mother said, the corners of her mouth dipping into a deep frown.
“No. She won’t. She’s just not capable of it. But you are. You’ve hurt me for the last time.”
“Come inside,” his father coaxed. “You should sit down, take it easy, and we’ll talk about this.”
“There’s nothing left to say. Maybe someday I’ll find a way to forgive you for what you’ve done, but I’ll never forget. Stay away from me and my family.” God, it felt good to know Jessie and Will and the babies to come would be his family, everything he’d ever dreamed of having. “If you don’t, I’ll file for a restraining order. Push me, and I’ll arrest you for filing false charges against Jessie. As it is, I’m the only reason you aren’t in jail right now.”
His mother gasped.
“That’s the last favor I’ll ever do for you,” he said, meaning every word.
“Will is our grandson. You can’t take him away from us,” his mother pleaded.
“You kept me from my daughter,” he snapped. “After everything that’s happened, that’s the one thing I’ll never forgive. I’m not a vindictive person, and it pisses me off that you’ve pushed me to this, but you will stay away from Will and whatever children Jessie and I have in the future.”
“Dylan, son, you can’t mean this,” his father pleaded.
“I mean every word. You sided with her.” He pointed an accusing finger at his mother. “You took her word for everything. She didn’t want my daughter as her grandchild. Why would you want any I have in the future?”
“Dylan, please,” his mother said, the weight of his words and the lonely future they’d face finally sinking in with her.