Chapter Twenty-two

Jordan knew that everyone else would probably not believe Charles was Woody anymore than she did unless they saw some hard forensic evidence. So she came up with a plan…and told it to Woody, who agreed. But they waited until Nigel and Ronnie came in from Phoenix.

Until then, Jordan and Woody kept up the premise of Charles. She had to be really careful not to call him Woody at work…or look at him with anything more than friendly affection in her eyes. She was always relieved when five o'clock came and they could go home….and go back to being a married couple. Woody had filled the hot tub. They didn't wait until Friday to enjoy it. She thank the powers that be everyday that Woody was back with her…and she wasn't about to let him go again.

Just one thing tickled the back of her mind. One night, before they got in the hot tub, she finally got up the nerve to ask, "What happened to the divorce, Woody?" He drew her to him and begin to untie the knot in the back of her bathing suit top, "I fed them down the garbage disposal."

"You did what?"

He grinned. "You heard me. I fed them down the garbage disposal…piece by piece."

"So we are still legally married?"

"Legally…and in every other way." He began to nibble at her earlobe and she didn't think about the papers again.

Nigel, Ronnie, and small Jordan came into the morgue on Thursday…and Jordan put her plan into play. Everyone was there to see them…and Woody watched with amusement as Jordan played with her namesake…totally taken with the baby. Finally, when things had calmed down just a modicum, Woody told Bug, "I need you to put me in the system…I was hired in such a hurry that I haven't had a chance to put my fingerprints or DNA in the computer. The chief wanted to know if you could put my prints in today…Jordan already pulled my DNA…but could you do the prints?"

Bug nodded…"I just need to get you to put your them on this." He handed Woody a fingerprint card. Woody followed the instructions and Bug scanned the fingerprints into the system.

Everyone was still talking and getting caught up until Bug said, "Sweet Mary Mother of God." And he turned to Woody with his mouth open. "You can't be." Woody grinned.

"What?" Peter asked. Bug seldom got rattled….and he obviously was now.

"It can't be," Bug said, running his fingers through his hair. "Nigel…come here a minute."

Nigel walked over to Bug's computer then whirled around to Woody. "No….I couldn't find you at the accident…you weren't anywhere…what…."

Woody laughed. "You didn't look too hard. I was blown out of the blast area…of course, they didn't know who I was for nearly two months…so no hard feelings…even though you did sign my death certificate. I hate to see the paperwork you're going to have to do to get that thing rescinded."

Garret looked at Nigel, then Bug, then back at Woody, who he still thought was Charles. "What is going on?"

Nigel turned to his former boss and said, "Charles isn't Charles. Charles is Woody…look…" he pointed to the computer screen. When Bug had scanned in "Charles'" fingerprint, it popped up as Woodrow Wilson Hoyt.

The room erupted into laughter….and lots of questions. Woody answered all of them as best he could. A lot of his medical history, he wasn't sure about. He was unconscious a good deal of the time. "How long have you known?" Garret asked Jordan, who was now holding her sleeping namesake on her shoulder.

"For sure….about a week. But remember, I always told you I felt like Charles knew me…that we had met somewhere before….and I was right."

Welcome back, son," Garret said, shaking Woody's hand. "What are you going to do now?"

"I have a couple of more minor grafts to go…and then…I think I'm going to ask a certain medical examiner if she wants to start a family…" he glanced at Jordan, who was still holding small Jordan.

Later that night, after everyone's curiosity had been satisfied and Woody and Jordan were in bed together, she rolled over on her side. Propping herself up on an elbow, so she could look her husband in the eyes, she gently stroked his beard, and said, "Have you any idea how much I love you?"

He snaked his arms around her and tugged her on top of him. "You could show me," he said suggestively.

"Hmmmm. Later. I need to ask you something."

"Okay…" he looked at his wife with dubious eyes. Something was on her mind.

"If you had made it back to Boston that night…hadn't been in the wreck…what were you going to do?"

"I had destroyed the divorce papers before that…"

"So?"

"Been back on your doorstep in Phoenix when your six months were up. Drag you kicking and screaming back to Boston if I had to…but you weren't getting away."

"What if I didn't want to come?"

"Then I would have followed you to wherever you ended up. If you wouldn't come with me, I'd stay with you."

Jordan absorbed this bit of information, now tracing his lips with her fingers. "We've wasted a lot of time….being so stubborn."

"It's my fault. I should have never had you served with divorce papers."

"And I should have stopped putting other things before us…I forgot how important 'us' was."

He drew her face down for a kiss and rolled her underneath him. "I'll make sure I remind you from now on."

"I don't think I'll need reminding. I believe I have learned my lesson."

Woody chuckled and began to kiss her again…along her neck and that sweet curve of her shoulder…all the way down to that sweet mole on her…..They both had learned their lesson the hard way…they had been to the ragged edge of nowhere…each thinking they were alone…and found their way back home and to each other.