Love's Taming(62)
Returning her mom’s hug, she could feel the sting of tears threatening to fall. “I love you mom. He may just be the one.”
Straightening to her full height, which was only the same five foot two inches that Annie was, she announced, “Well, then let’s go feed our men!”
The afternoon was spent in a similar fashion to the weekend before at Shane’s house with the exception of Harvey stealing Shane away to his workshop for a while.
Shane looked on with interest at the intricate woodwork that Harvey created. “These are amazing, sir. I’ve admired this type of work on houses that I drive by but confess to not having ever thought of who made them and how they were made.”
“It’s kinda like your children. You do the best you can but never quite know how they’ll turn out. Now take my Annie. She’s a hard worker. Decided years ago to be a vet and she’s never strayed from that path. I worry about her though.”
Harvey rubbed his hands over a few of the wood pieces that he had made, allowing his rough hands to smooth along the curves. “Without sounding like a cliché, can you tell me about what you do, Shane? I know you’re a detective and Annie indicated that you were undercover for a while. But son, all I really know is that shortly after meeting you, my daughter got shot at in her own clinic.”
Shane nodded, knowing this conversation was going to be coming at some time. “Sir, my father was a policeman. Worked vice for a number of years in Richland and was killed in the line of duty before I could join him on the force. It’d been a dream of mine to work beside him. Instead, I had to bury him before I had that chance.”
He paused and noticed that Harvey had leaned against the workbench heavily, as though that information weighed on him.
“I worked the streets before becoming a detective and moved into vice as soon as I could. I had one goal, and that was to take down as many drug dealers as I possibly could.”
Harvey nodded but said nothing, so Shane continued.
“An old friend of mine had his fiancé kidnapped by some dealers and we barely got her out alive. I decided then that it was time. I went undercover, but honestly I thought it would last six months to a year at the most. Two years later, I was dug in deep but still not at the top. Then it got personal with Sarge here,” he said as he rubbed Sarge’s ears, “And that’s when I met your daughter.
“Never meant for her to be involved. Never meant for any harm to come to her. Truthfully, never meant to see her again after she helped me the first time with Sarge. But I couldn’t stay away.”
Harvey nodded again and said, “That’s real admirable, son. And I’m sorry about your dad. I bet he woulda been real proud of you. I gotta say though, that you still being in vice makes me nervous about Annie’s safety. She told us you got her apartment and clinic wired but is she safe?”
Shane wasn’t offended by Harvey’s questions. Hell, if I had a daughter who’d been shot at because of her boyfriend, I’d be pissed. “While I won’t make promises I can’t keep, I can tell you that the ones we went after are now behind bars. My involvement is over in that case, but I am still not takin’ her safety for granted.”
Harvey sighed heavily as he raised back to a standing position, holding out his hand again. “Well, son, that’s all I can ask. Welcome to the family.”
Just then, Annie appeared at the door to the workshop to call the men to lunch. “Everything okay in here?” she asked, her eyes going back and forth between the two men she loved.
Her father slung his arm around her shoulders kissing the top of her head. “Everything’s fine, doll-baby. Let’s go eat your mother’s good cooking!”
He walked on ahead of them and Shane took the opportunity to steal a kiss. Looking at her questioning gaze, he said, “It’s all good. We had the father ‘what are your intentions with my daughter talk’ and we’re fine.”
She rolled her eyes saying, “Oh lordy.”
* * *
That night, after Shane had come in from taking Sarge outside to do his business, he broached the subject of their living arrangements.
“Baby, you know Sarge needs more room to run and something that your dad said today got me thinkin’ about findin’ another place to live.
She tried not to let the hurt show on her face when she said, “But you just moved in. I kind of thought you would stay a little bit longer.”
Shane caught the look in her eyes that she was trying so hard to hide. “Baby, you got me wrong. I’m talkin’ about us findin’ a place. Us. You and me. Well…and Sarge, Boo, Rags, and Tiddles.”