“He wants me to give up the Life.”
“I ain’t mad at him. Mama and I worry about you all the time. Where you are? Are you alive?”
“I know,” she replied softly.
Because JT and her mother loved Max, they rarely expressed their fears about what she did for a living, but JT could see fear in her mother’s eyes every time she spoke about Max having a new assignment; a fear that maybe their last good-bye would be the last ever. “Even Pam Grier got too old to play Coffy, Max.”
Max smiled beneath her glasses.
“So what are you going to do?” JT asked. She would love not having to worry about her sister’s safety.
Max gave a minute shrug. “Who knows, but if I turn in my stuff, it’ll have to be because
I
want to, not because somebody else does. I do that and I’ll be letting folks chip away at my soul for the rest of my life.”
JT had never known her sister to be so philosophical. “Deep.”
Max tossed back a smile. “Thought you’d like it.”
That evening, JT admitted to herself that not having Reese in her life was the thing chipping away at her soul. Lord, she missed him. She stepped outside to get some air and to look at the stars and saw her sister slowly closing her phone. “You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, “Max replied solemnly.
“Was that him?” JT wondered if she’d get to meet her sister’s famous scientist love.
Max nodded.
JT shook her head and said softly, “We’re a mess, you know that?”
Max smiled.
“I’m going back to Cali in the morning. You want to come? We could do some major shopping and call it retail therapy.”
Max grinned. “Nah. Think I’ll hang here with Mama for a little while longer.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll take you to the airport in the morning, though.”
“That’ll be cool.”
After a few moments of silence, JT said, “I’m going to bed. Don’t be out here all night.” Max had been a night owl since they were young.
“I won’t. Good night, Jess.”
“Night, Max. See you in the morning.”
At the airport, JT decided she wasn’t going to California after all. Going up to the agent at the ticket counter, she changed her itinerary, paid the additional fees, and walked to the gate to await her flight.
Reese and Pops were sitting on Reese’s front porch. The afternoon air was finally starting to feel like summertime. Pinky and the Brain were underground working on a new design, while Pops and Reese enjoyed lunch and each other’s company.
Pops said, “I hear she’s been calling, but you won’t talk to her. How long you planning on punishing her?”
“Frankenstein and Igor talk too much,” Reese groused. “And I’m not punishing her. She wanted space. I’m just letting her have it.”
“Uh-huh. You’re in love, Reese, and we men hate putting our hearts out there for some woman to take an axe to. Suppose she’s been calling to say yes?”
Reese had told his father about her response to his proposal. “She’s not.”
Pops shook his head at his stubborn eldest. “And you know this, how? Have you talked to her?”
Reese sighed. “No.” Mainly because he didn’t want to hear her say no. Too painful.
“Your brothers and I love her a lot, and we really wish you’d hurry up and get this fixed.”
“I’m trying, Pops. I just don’t know how. I can’t drag her to the altar by her hair.”
“True, and she’d probably shoot you afterward.”
“No shit.”
They both stilled as a cab pulled up in front of the house. Pops asked, “Who’s that?”
Reese didn’t know. Both men stood.
JT stepped out dressed in one of her killer designer suits and her signature heels. Her hair was fly, and gold was around her neck, wrists, and in her ears. She looked good.
“Damn,” Pops said softly, torn between staring and grinning.
“I second that.” To Reese, she looked so good she made his heart ache.
While the cabbie took her bags out of the trunk, she stood looking up at Reese. “You promised me a trip to Hawaii if I beat Brain at Madden, so I’m here to collect.”
Reese grinned. “You don’t look like you’re dressed for the islands.”
“I’m sure you can fix that,” she tossed back saucily.
Reese’s arousal was instant.
She paid the cabbie and gave him a fat tip. After he drove away, she said softly, “Hey, Pops.”
“Hey, you,” he called back affectionately. He turned and looked at the happiness on Reese’s face and said, “I think this conversation might be too much for an old man, so I’m going home and make butter pecan ice cream.” He gave his son a pat on the back, then walked down the steps. As he approached JT, he said, “Knock ’em dead.”
“I plan to. Oh, here’s my mama’s number. She said call her.”
JT didn’t see his startled smile because her eyes were locked on Reese.
“I’ll do that,” Pops said, and hurried off to his place.
They were left alone. They stood motionless for a moment, savoring the sight of each other, then he left the porch and she started up the walk. They met in the middle and no words were needed.
They flew to Hawaii the next day. A car met them at the airport and whisked them away to one of the islands’ small private enclaves where a few high-priced condos were nestled on the ocean. She’d never seen such a gorgeous place. There were wall-wide windows to let in the view of the water and the breeze, and the space was furnished in his signature Afrocentric style. There were three large bedrooms and a matching complement of baths; a fully stocked, beautiful kitchen and a key-shaped in-ground pool.
“You know,” she said, turning to him, “you’re probably going to have to throw me in a bag to get me to leave here. This is fabulous.”
He walked over and settled his arms loosely around her waist. He gazed down at her happy and very beautiful face. “Glad you like it. Now, we need to change clothes so we can get lunch.”
“Where are we going?”
“It’s a secret.”
“Hmm. What should I wear?”
“If it was up to me, you’d wear that little black number you had on last night.”
“The one you ripped to pieces?” she asked with a grin. They’d been so eager to reconnect, her black bustier and tap pants had been rather tattered by the time they finished making love.
“Oh, that’s right,” he said as if suddenly remembering. “Guess I’ll have to buy you more, but jeans and a top are fine for lunch.”
She leaned up, gave him a soul-stirring kiss, then whispered, “Be right back.”
A shiny black SUV driven by a young man picked them up a short while later. She’d been to Hawaii numerous times for the NFL Pro Bowl, held the week after the Super Bowl, but because of all the activities tied to it, she’d never had a chance to see anything other than the hotel and the game. Looking out of the window as the SUV rattled over the unpaved road, she had no idea where they were, but the raw beauty was unlike anything she’d ever seen. It was a tropical paradise complete with hidden waterfalls, lush green foliage, and a breeze that soothed.
Reese reached into the back pocket of his jeans and took out a blue bandanna. “I’m going to blindfold you.”
“Oh really?” she asked, looking at him. “Sounds kinky, but there are children in the car, babe.”
The driver chuckled.
Reese grinned. “Behave yourself. Hold still.”
He covered her eyes with the soft clean cotton and then tied it at the back of her head. “Too tight?” he asked.
She touched the fabric. “Nope. Feels okay.”
“It’ll only be for a minute. It’s part of the surprise.”
JT knew that he was the only man she’d ever allow to do this, which meant he was the only man for her. A few moments later the road beneath the SUV grew even more bumpy, and she assumed they were now off-roading. They tossed and bucked for just a bit longer and then the vehicle came to a stop.
Reese said, “I want you to keep the blindfold on while I help you out and get you seated.”
“Reese?” she said, laughing. Her curiosity was piqued and she was eager to remove the blindfold.
“Just another few seconds. It’ll be worth it, I promise.”
She could feel the ground under her feet and the soft breeze on her face, so they were still outside, and she didn’t hear the hustle and bustle usually associated with a restaurant, so where were they?
“Okay. Here’s your chair. I’m going to guide you down.”
She sat. Her fingers played over the edge of what felt like a table, and then the bandanna was taken away. She gazed around and what she saw made her jaw drop. They were outside on what appeared to be a plateau so high up in the mountains that she could see the dense Eden spread out before her for miles. “Wow!”
“Like it?”
Words failed her. She felt like a goddess overlooking a world, one unsullied by the works of man and as pristine as it might have looked at the beginning of time. Between the silence, the beauty, and the sheer magnificence of the surroundings, she didn’t know what to say. “Where are we?”
“A little piece of property controlled by the developers who built my condo complex. First time they brought me out here I was blown away.”
She understood why. She’d been all over the world but had never seen a vista as stunning. “And this is where we’re having lunch?”
He nodded.
The table was beautifully set for two, with gleaming gold-rimmed china, ornate silverware, crystal wine goblets and water glasses. “Is this more of your courting?”
He simply smiled and took his seat at the table.
Another SUV drove up, and out of it stepped a uniformed waiter. Assisted by the young man who’d driven Reese and JT there, he unloaded their prepared lunches and served the three-course meal with an elegance befitting the surroundings.
JT couldn’t get over her amazement, and as they ate and talked, she realized just how much she loved him. She knew of no other man who would go to such lengths to give her a gift of such magnitude. She would never forget this lunch. Ever.
To her amazement, he wasn’t done. After lunch, they got back into the SUV and were driven to a small airport a short distance away.
“Ever seen the inside of a volcano?” he asked as they walked toward a helicopter sitting on a pad a few yards away.
She stopped. “Volcano?”
“Yep. Volcano. The copters fly as close as they can get and the view is wild. You game?”
Of course she wasn’t, but she was willing to try anything once. “Yeah,” she said enthusiastically.
He grinned. “Then let’s go.”
It was the ride of her life. Kilauea, home of Madame Pele, the goddess of fire, was so scary and beautiful, JT found it hard to breathe. According to the pilot, the present eruption began in the late nineties, and she’d been spewing red and gold lava since. He got them as close to the main cone as safety would allow and she looked down into a pit of glowing magna that was indescribable. It was like being on another world. Plumes of smoke rose from the rims of one of the major vents, known locally as Pu’u O’o. It was the most active at the moment, and located on Kilauea’s backbone. From the air, it could be seen moving over the landscape like a fat red snake. Next, the pilot swung over the Martin Luther King vent, named for the great leader because of the flow that began bubbling from it in January 2004, around the day of his birth. She marveled at the lava in all its shapes and forms, particularly the veins that slid off high cliffs and exploded into the Pacific Ocean below, creating the island’s signature black beaches and huge clouds of hydrogen sulfide gas. She wanted the trip to go on forever but they had to land when the tour ended, and she added yet another memorable moment to the day.
On a different part of the Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles south of Hawaii, Big Bo Wenzel looked out from the veranda of his beachside estate in New Zealand and savored his new life with Brandi. He supposed he was going to have to marry her; after all, her plan for faking his death had worked like a charm.
It had been Brandi’s idea to use scuba gear to mask his escape. Her small sailboat had been positioned a few hundred yards away from his speedboat. The fuse on the explosive had been long enough for him to light it and swim away. With all eyes on the explosion, no one had seen him slip aboard the sailboat and hide himself belowdeck. As far as the United States government was concerned, Big Bo Wenzel was dead, but in New Zealand his name was Carson Paget and he was very much alive. Trips to a plastic surgeon in Spain had altered his face just enough to blur his features, but of course it hadn’t altered his memories. He wondered how his son was doing. Brandi said she might have a way for Matt, Melissa, and the coming baby to visit, so he was holding her to that. In the meantime he was enjoying life.
That night, Reese and JT had dinner outside by the pool. The condo management supplied the elegant meal, and they’d dressed for the occasion; he was in a nice suit, and she wore a skinny black sleeveless dress that brushed her ankles and a pair of jewel-encrusted sandals.
When they were done eating, they took a stroll in the moonlight along the black sand beach. Filled with the memories of the beautiful day and her feelings for him, JT said, “After we get married I’d like to live here a couple of months out of the year. I love this place.”
Reese’s heart began to pound but he played it cool. “We’re getting married?”
She looked up at him in the moonlight. “Yeah. We are.”
“Really?”
She stopped, got down on one knee in her very expensive designer gown and said against the sound of the waves, “Will you marry me, Reese Anthony?” Because she loved him more than she loved breathing, and because she couldn’t live without him, now or ever.
Reese thought this was the absolute best day of his life, so in response he got down on one knee too. “Only if you marry me, Jessi Teresa Blake.” He loved her more than life.
He extended his hand and they both stood. He eased her close. She ran her hand down the dark pane of his cheek.
“I think I fell in love with you over the cherries.”
He smiled. “I was a goner by then myself.”