Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
And, as if the universe was listening to us, and agreed with my sentiment, there was a knock on the door.
We both scrambled to get dressed as Jeremiah hollered, “Just a minute!”
When we were both decent, he walked to the door and took a look through the peephole to outside.
He stiffened when he saw who was standing on the other side of it.
“Jeremiah, who is it?” I asked just as he opened the door.
He used his body to block me from seeing, but I knew the instant that I heard the voice who it was.
The man that’d saved my life.
The man that Jeremiah had been tirelessly looking for every day since.
“Call off your dogs,” he ordered. “I’ll tell you what you think you need to know.”
Jeremiah crossed his arms over his chest, and I hurriedly fitted my prosthetics into place.
Only when they were on did I make my way over to the door, and slowly opened the door to reveal the man standing on the other side.
He was tall, had an impeccable suit on his body, and he was staring at my hands in surprise.
“You lost your hands?” he asked.
I looked down at my hands, then back up at him.
“I lost my hands, but not my life.” I nodded. “Thank you for saving me.”
His eyes softened infinitesimally.
“You were in the wrong place, at the wrong time,” he grumbled, then turned back to Jeremiah. “I’ve been following the drug trade along the southern border for the last two years. In that two years, Erich came up in conversation more times than I could count. One day, we became acquainted, and I used him to my advantage to move on to some bigger dogs. However, right around the time that we first met, you raided his business and took half a year’s supply of drugs from him. Not that anybody knew that. The powers that be thought it was Erich trying to get into distribution, and I received the order to kill him for his trespasses.”
I swallowed hard at his words.
“You’re bad?”
I couldn’t believe I’d said that.
“I have to be.” He shrugged as if it was no big deal. “You’re safe now. I never told anyone what actually happened. But next time you decide to destroy a million dollars’ worth of product, I’d suggest making sure that the man on the other end of the line doesn’t hold grudges.”
“So how did you find her?” Jeremiah asked, clearly unsurprised to find that Erich was dealing with some bad shit.
“I found her because I was following the shipment. Or, the beacon that Erich gave us to keep an eye on it. I found her instead.” He pointed at me. “Just in time, too. I’m sorry for not releasing her. I just couldn’t be found at the scene for obvious reasons.”
Then, without another word added to his explanation, he straightened up from his slouch against the door and walked out of the house.
Things were eerily silent for a few long seconds before I said, “Well, that was anticlimactic.”
Jeremiah snorted. “You could say that again.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and said, “I hope you got a necklace for my ring. Because I’m not going to be wearing a diamond ring on my fake hand.”
“Don’t worry,” he said as he disappeared into our bedroom, reappearing moments later with two boxes. “I got you a fake ring for your fake hand. The real ring is actually a necklace.”
Then I watched as he walked up to me, his hands slightly shaking.
He looked down at the ring, then up at me, and said, “A year ago, I would’ve told you that you were lying if you said I would be here again. But here I am, and I’m quite happy about it.”
I held my fake hand out to him and said, “Yes.”
He smiled. “I didn’t ask you anything yet.”
I winked at him and said, “Well, get on with it then. I have a book to finish.”
• • •
Two months later, our house arrived via two exceptionally large semi-trucks.
A month after that, I married Jeremiah on the beach with our closest friends and family surrounding us.
Two months after that, we moved into our new house that was a quarter mile away from the cabin.
A month after that, I got our first shipment of exotic meat from my grandfather, with a note that said he’d like to meet my husband officially. Something in which he’d done unofficially the day of my accident.
Six months after that, we opened a second bakery. This time we called it Moist.
EPILOGUE
Well, well, well. If it isn’t the bridge I said I’d cross when I got to it.
-Gracelynn to Jeremiah
GRACELYNN
I was kneading the dough with my nubs—hell, I still hadn’t found a good enough title to call them—and listening to an audiobook when Jeremiah came up behind me.