After finishing his shift, Kevin Atwater had gone straight to Bayley Martinez's house, as was often now the case. He had the code to get through the electronic gates, and a key to open the front door. His visits were so frequent now that his presence had become normal to Rodrigo, Bayley's right-hand-man, and to her housekeeper, Valentina.
On this particular evening, Valentina had prepared fillet steaks for Bayley and Kevin's dinner. It was served in the dining room, at a table big enough to sit ten people. As it was only the two of them eating on this occasion, they had taken seats in the middle of the table, opposite each other. While waiting for the meal, they had talked about Kevin's day, which had been pretty uneventful as far as police work went.
"Thank you, Valentina. You can leave us now," Bayley said after the housekeeper poured wine for her and Kevin.
"I'll be heading home after I've cleaned up in the kitchen, ma'am. Unless there's anything else I can do for you tonight?" Valentina asked. The use of ma'am made Kevin feel a bit uncomfortable, but Bayley seemed to consider it normal. He figured she put more emphasis on social standing than him.
"No, that'll be all."
"Goodnight," Valentina said politely before leaving, quietly closing the door behind her.
"Wonderful steak," Kevin said, having tried his first piece. It was cooked medium-rare to perfection, exactly as he had requested it.
"Yes, Valentina buys from a butcher who is a friend of mine. And she's a good cook."
Kevin wondered if she meant friend of mine in the same way it was used in movies like Goodfellas. Being in a relationship with a mob boss, even one making the transition out of that life, never failed to put thoughts like that into his head.
"Just to be open with you, I had Raquel Gonzalez over at that house I'm renovating this morning," Bayley announced. Flipping houses was one of the legit business activities she partook in, in order to justify the lifestyle she enjoyed to those who might have suspicions about her operating on the wrong side of the law.
"Oh? Why would Raquel be over there?" Kevin asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I had one of my guys bring her so that I could talk to her. Unfortunately he took the wrong meaning from my instruction to persuade her to come speak to me, but don't worry, she wasn't hurt."
"Persuade Raquel to do something. Not sure I'd want that assignment. He was probably more likely to get hurt than she was," Kevin said, and they both smiled. "What did you want to speak to her for?"
"I offered her a job. Now that I'm getting out of guns and I'm going to be elected, I wanted her to head up my security detail. I offered her good money to do it."
"Let me guess, she said no," he said.
Bayley sighed. "Right. I kind of expected her to, but if you don't ask, you don't get. Despite everything that happened, and finding out that she was working undercover the whole time she was here, I miss having her around. She was, or I guess is, so good at what she does."
"For real. So, that was your morning. How was the rest of the day?"
"Good," Bayley smiled. "Spent it working with Melina on the campaign."
Melina Perez was the manager of Bayley's election campaign for governor. Kevin didn't particularly like the woman, finding her abrupt manner annoying, and not liking the way she thought she could give him instructions on what to do to play his part in the campaign. He could understand that the candidate's partner played an important role in making them appealing to the public though, so most of the time he did what was asked of him, so long as it didn't interfere with his work.
"Ruze showed everyone the clip of McMahon endorsing you," he said while eating some of the delicious steak. "That's a pretty major deal. Not sure how you pulled that off."
Bayley just smiled. "It is a major deal. I actually got off the phone with Melina just before you got here. I'm now leading the opinion polls for the Republican primary, and my numbers are going up in the opinion polls for the gubernatorial race as a whole. People want to vote for McMahon's policy platform, which is why I adopted it all."
"Not because you believe in it?" Kevin asked, already knowing the answer.
She took a drink from her wine glass. "This is politics, Kev. You don't tell people what you believe, you tell them what they want to hear."
"Cynical, Bay," he said, shaking his head slightly.
"Just realistic," she replied with a shrug. "I'm in this election race to win it, and I'm going to win it."
He nodded while chewing a mouthful of food. "That I can believe."
"Welcome home, son," Jay said as he walked over the threshold with Henry in front of his chest in a baby carrier. It was the day after he had been born, and both he and Erin had been discharged from the hospital. Erin wasn't in great shape, but she was now at least at home to continue her recovery.
"That's sweet, Jay," Erin said. She walked into the house behind him, carrying the bag of her things that had needed to be brought back from the hospital.
"Hey, guys!" Kayla said excitedly, coming through from the living room where she had been doing some cleaning judging by the smell of polish in the house and the rag in her hand. She had visited the hospital after the birth, so this was not her first time meeting the baby that she was going to be caring for.
Jay and Erin both greeted her, then Erin said, "Did Clem get to school okay?"
"She did. She was grumpy about it, but she went. I think she wanted to stay here and wait for Henry to come home."
"Bless her," Jay said. "I think she's loving the thought of being a big sister."
"I think so too," Kayla said, looking at Henry, who made happy noises. "He's a very cheerful baby. What a sweetheart. Would you like me to take him so that you guys can sort yourselves out?"
"Thank you," Jay said, allowing her to carefully take Henry out of the carrier. "Come on, Er, let's go and sit for a minute." He led her through to the living room, where they sat down together on the couch after he took off the baby carrier and dumped it on a chair.
As soon as they were settled, Erin leaned against Jay, resting on him, and he put an arm around her.
"Hardest thing I've ever done, Jay," she said. "Can't even tell you tough that was."
He gave her a kiss on the top of her head. "But you did it. You were amazing. And what a wonderful boy we have. I'll never stop being grateful for him, and for everything we have."
"Neither will I. I need to get some sleep before Hank comes over this evening."
Right on cue, Henry started crying from the direction of the nursery, where Kayla had taken him.
Best of look sleeping, Jay thought. He imagined there wouldn't be a lot of that going on for some time.
Despite Henry's best efforts, Erin had actually managed to get a couple of hours of sleep in during the afternoon. It meant that she felt a little fresher ahead of Hank's visit to see his grandson for the first time. He had opted not to visit the hospital as he had a hatred of the place since suffering his stroke.
"That'll be Uncle Hank," Erin said to Clementine when a loud knock came on their front door.
Clem didn't need to be told to go and open the door. She was more than happy enough to hurry out of the living room to do it.
"Hey, Uncle Hank," Jay heard her say happily when she opened the door.
"Clem! How's my favourite trouble causer?" came Hank's familiar gravelly voice.
"I don't cause trouble!" she objected, making Jay and Erin smile. Relieved from nanny duty for the evening, Kayla had gone out to spend a few hours with Kalinda.
"I'm not so sure about that," Hank said as he followed Clem into the living room.
"Dad! Uncle Hank says I cause trouble," she protested.
"Well..." Jay said, pretending not to be sure about it.
"Jay!" Erin said. "We know you don't cause trouble, Clem."
"Of course we do," Jay said. "Hey, Hank."
"Congrats to you both again. How are you, Erin?" Hank asked as she motioned him to sit beside her.
"I'm recovering. The birth really took it out of me, but I'll be okay. This little guy was worth it." She was holding Henry in her arms, having taken him out of his moses basket a few minutes earlier.
"Come sit on my lap, Clem," Jay said. With no seats left on the couch, and Erin and Hank's attention on Henry, he wanted to make sure Clem wasn't left out. He suspected she was bordering on too old to sit on his lap, but she did it without thinking twice. He supposed if she was happy to do it, that was all that mattered.
"Oh, he adorable," Hank said, taking in his grandson's appearance for the first time. "He's got your mouth, Erin."
She laughed. "Everyone's saying that, but I don't see it."
"So, is it Henry, or is it Hank Jr?"
"It's Henry," Jay and Erin said simultaneously.
Hank chuckled. "Well that's definitive. Can I hold him?"
"Of course," Erin said, handing him over.
"You guys should be so proud. Henry, Clem, you have the most amazing kids."
"Yeah, we do," Jay said, sharing a smile with Clem. "And Henry has the best big sister. We're very blessed to have such an amazing family."
"Yes, you're right," Hank said. "The only thing we need to figure out is which one of them is going to be a cop and run Intelligence when they grow up? That's something we need to keep in the family."
END OF BOOK EIGHT
A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to support this story. I never imagined it would go on anything like this long when I started it. And I still feel like there is more that can be written, too. We have two weddings that haven't happened yet, the election, and plenty more besides. So, if you want to see book nine, let me know!