The aftermath of the day in the Everglades had been traumatic. Kyle speculated to Jassy that Rafe had confessed to Madison only when he’d been certain he would soon kill her as well. Something in his mind had come unhinged when he’d been very young, leading to his obsession with Lainie, as well as her death and the deaths of the women who resembled her—and almost to the deaths of Madison and Kaila. Roger Montgomery had grieved for the man he’d always thought of as his son and taken on the guilt for every woman who had lost her life, including Lainie.
Kyle had spent an equal amount of time wondering what he could have done to change the path of his brother’s insanity.
It didn’t matter that they’d discovered that Rafe wasn’t biologically related to either one of them. Roger had raised him, Kyle had always lived his life as if he were his brother, and he was probably never going to forgive himself for the things he hadn’t seen.
Madison tried to tell him that they’d all been blinded.
Naturally the papers all across the country carried every conceivable piece of news regarding Rafe and his family. It was painful for all of them, but Madison could worry only about Kyle.
She was upset when he immediately offered her an annulment, saying there was no reason why she should stay married to the brother of a murderer. She’d told him that Rafe had been more her brother than his over the past few years, and that he wasn’t getting out of his marriage quite so easily.
He didn’t leave her, but he didn’t touch her, staying up nights and staring into the darkness. When he told her that he was leaving the FBI, she was upset, though it wasn’t totally unexpected. She told him that she refused to allow him to leave until they talked. Really talked.
She managed to get him back down to the Caribbean. She rented the same bungalow they’d had the night of their marriage.
And she managed to get him back to the church.
Once inside, she’d spun him around and shaken him. Hard. When he looked at her, anger blazing in his eyes, she smiled.
“Good. Glad to see that you’re alive!” she told him. And then she knelt down before him. “I love you, Kyle. I’ve loved you forever and ever. Please don’t let our marriage die. There’s been enough tragedy. I need you.”
He looked at her, still without touching her.
“You needed me, but it took me so long to get there. I failed Lainie, and I nearly failed you.”
“My mother failed herself!” Madison assured him. “Please, Kyle, I love you….”
And it was then, in the church, that she finally got through to him. He cradled her in his arms, holding her. “You do know why I married you, right?”
“To protect me,” she said, her words muffled against his throat.
He shook his head. “Because I’ve loved you forever. And I was afraid. I had to have you. God, I do love you….”
That night, for the first time since the events in the swamp, they made love. Again and again. They talked without stopping. They worried about everyone around them. And he told her that he really did want to change his whole life. He loved the Keys, and he wanted to own a diving business.
“Although…” he said, his voice trailing off.
“What?”
“I’d like to consult now and then as an investigator. Maybe privately, maybe for the cops. Then there’s that mysterious mind of yours….”
“My mind? I heard you calling to me when my eyes were closed,” she told him solemnly.
He smiled. “I heard you calling to me. In my heart.”
And so they began to heal.
Roger and Jordan remained good friends, supporting each other through the barrage of media attention.
Jassy married Jimmy so they could converse happily about police work and body parts whenever they wanted.
Kaila and Dan renewed their marriage vows, and Kaila started modeling on a part-time basis.
Darryl married Lindy.
The movie rights to Trent’s book sold for a million dollars, and everyone expected the book itself to become a bestseller.
Madison still modeled and sang. Kyle took out some of the dive trips himself, but he hired people so he could be dive master when he wanted to be and lie in the sun when he didn’t.
Six months after the incident, they were all beginning to find their lives again.
Now as Madison walked toward the boat, she saw Kyle standing on the deck, reading the newspaper. He was in dark sunglasses and cutoff denims. His bronzed chest was bare, as were his feet. His dark hair was lifted by the breeze, and Madison decided, stopping to stare at him, that he wasn’t just the man she loved, he was gorgeous.
She was smiling as she approached the boat.
He sensed her coming, looked up and hopped out to help her in.
She wasn’t quite six months pregnant, but she was as round as a tub.
“Well?” he asked her.
“Carrie Anne is going to be with Darryl and Lindy for three days. They’re going to Disney World.”
“That’s great. She’ll have a really good time. And…?”
She smiled.
“Come on, this is torture! I should have made you reschedule your appointment when I couldn’t get out of my meeting with the Board of Tourism.”
“Is it?”
“Madison, boy or girl?”
“Boy.”
“Wow!”
“And girl.”
“Madison!” His voice held a warning growl.
She ignored it, kissing his lips. “Both, my love. One of each. Twins.”
He sat down hard by the helm.
Then he drew her onto his lap and kissed her, very tenderly.
“Can you read my mind right now?” he whispered.
She shook her head.
“Good. You’d get all bigheaded and uppity.”
She laughed. “Why?”
“Because I was thinking how much I love you. And that you’re the most stunning pregnant woman in the entire world.”
“Can you read my mind?” she asked him.
He shook his head. “No. Why, are you thinking that you love me and I’m a stunning pregnant father, as well?”
She shook her head solemnly. “No, I was thinking it’s a good thing you married me, because I must have gotten pregnant the first time we fooled around.”
He started to laugh, lifting her up—and heading for their cabin.
“Actually…”
“Yes?”
“You are pretty stunning,” she told him.
He smiled and carried her down the narrow steps.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-2861-4
IF LOOKS COULD KILL
Copyright © 1997 by Heather Graham Pozzessere.
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