Carson started pulling me and as we approached the table, the men turned and smiled, calling out to me and Carson, Dylan saying, "Hey Prosecutor!"
When the first round of drinks came, Leland raised his glass first and looked around at the guys. "To Ara," he said, "Always."
"To Ara," they all said. And we all raised our glasses and toasted in memory to the girl whose life and death inspired a whole group of good men to go to radical lengths to save others like her. It was her legacy, her last gift to the world. And it meant that she hadn't died in vain.
We laughed and talked and celebrated that night. Celebrated all they had accomplished, all they had overcome, and all that they would always work to vindicate.
As Dylan was in the middle of telling a story, I caught Carson's eye and I smiled. As he smiled back, his eyes warm and happy, I thought back to our first exchange in this very bar, and how I had thought I hated him. I looked at the same man in front of me now, the man I knew I never wanted to live without. And I thought to myself, life is wild.
**********
Carson
I hung up the phone and sat at my desk thinking about the call I had just been on. I had spoken with the Houston Chief of Police. He wanted us to organize a similar task force in their city, as human trafficking was a growing crime demographic, and they simply didn't have the resources to address it.
I'd have to talk to Leland, but I thought it was a good possibility that we could get something going there, maybe not just in Houston, but in other cities as well. He had a lot of contacts–wealthy contacts–that would have the means to fund an operation like ours.
Leland was out today, and so I opened my computer and started composing an email that he would see tomorrow morning, outlining all my thoughts on the proposal, making sure I wrote it all down while it was still fresh in my mind.
Twenty minutes later, I heard a small knock on my door and called, "Come in."
Grace peeked in and smiled and I grinned back at her. "Hey baby, this is a nice surprise."
"I brought lunch." She smiled, holding up a couple of takeout bags. "Hot dogs."
I laughed. "God, that sounds good. How'd you know I love hot dogs?" I asked teasingly, as she placed the bags down and walked around my desk to sit on my lap.
"Oh, I know everything about you, Carson Stinger," she said, a glint in her eye.
"You think so, do you?" I asked, smiling and kissing her neck.
She laughed as I tickled her ear with my tongue. "Hmmm hmmm," she said.
"But," she paused, "you don't know everything about me."
I pulled away from her ear, raising one eyebrow. "Oh really?" I asked.
She shook her head. "No. I have a secret."
"A secret? Ah, well how about we play a little game then? A shot for a secret?"
She grinned and tilted her head. "Well, okay." She leaned forward and took the pens out of the cup on my desk and moved it to the far edge. Then she reached into her purse, next to the takeout bags, and pulled out a dime.
She held it up to me and I took it out of her hand. "Last time I made a shot and got your secret, my whole life changed."
She just looked at me, her face going serious. But then she smiled, nodding her head in the direction of the cup.
I raised an eyebrow again. What was she up to exactly? But I lined up my shot and threw the dime. Solid dunk. Yup, I still had it. I grinned at her.
"Give it up, Buttercup," I said.
She nodded and licked her lips, looking serious again. "So, as it turns out, your boys are really good swimmers too," she said quietly, her eyes studying mine.
"My boys?" I asked, confused. She just kept looking at me.
And then I suddenly understood and my whole body froze beneath her. "You're pregnant?" I breathed out.
She nodded her head yes, still studying my eyes warily.
"You're pregnant," I repeated, letting it sink in. "We're having a baby."
"Yes," she said.
I couldn't help the grin that spread over my face. She blinked at me.
"You're happy?" she whispered.
I nodded. "Yes, Buttercup, I'm happy." I smiled. "Very happy."
She laughed, but it sounded like there was a small sob beneath it.
"Did you think I wouldn't be?" I asked.
She shook her head. "I thought you'd be happy, but I wasn't sure… the timing… I know you have a lot going on and we're…"
"Grace," I said, looking into her eyes. "I'm happy," I repeated, letting her see in my face that it was true.
When she nodded, tears starting to roll down her cheeks, I said, "Marry me, Grace. Marry me today. Let's go to one of those chapels on the strip. We're already practically living together. Let's make it official."
She laughed through her tears. "I don't want you to marry me because I'm pregnant," she said.
I frowned. "Marry you because… Grace, I've been waiting to marry you for five years now. Maybe I didn't exactly know it, but it's true."
She laughed and then smiled at me for a few beats before replying, "Okay, I'll marry you. But not in a chapel on the strip. I want our friends and family there."
I smiled at her. "Okay, whatever you want, Buttercup," I said, hugging her to me.
After a minute I pulled away from Grace, frowning as something occurred to me.
"What?" she asked.
I put my hand on her belly. "I think this needs to be a boy. I don't know if I can handle having a daughter."
She smiled a gentle smile at me, understanding my reasons for that. "If I remember my biology lessons correctly, the man is in charge of the baby's gender."
I breathed out. "Okay, then it's in the bag," I said. I bent down and whispered to her belly, "Hey, Junior."
She grinned and kissed me, for the second time, giving me a secret and changing my life.
EPILOGUE
One year later
Grace
"That is the saddest tree I've ever seen," Audrey muttered, tilting her head to look at it.
I laughed, standing back and admiring the half bare, leaning tree, weighed down by the heavy strands of outdoor lights, standing in the middle of our cabin.