A Fresh Start
Chapter Two Hundred Sixty Three
By the time Frank and Megan arrived at the hospital, Reva, Josh and Billy are walking in. "Frank." Josh says, stopping as he and Megan walks up.
"Josh, Reva, Billy." He says, looking at each of them. "How did you… Did Jeffrey call you?"
"No, Marah called me. She ran into Julien coming into the hospital. I was with Cassie and I dropped her at City Hall to get Richard. So I'm pretty sure they will be here before too long. I called Josh as we were leaving the Beacon. Do you know what happened?" Reva asks.
"Not all the details." He says, glancing at Megan. "Do you guys know…?"
"Megan, of course." Reva says, hugging her. Megan hugs her back and then steps back. "
"Do you know what floor Sam and Jeffrey are on?" Josh asks, looking at Frank or Megan.
"I left them on the surgical floor. Sam was extremely upset but Jeffrey wouldn't let me talk with her."
"He probably won't now." Megan says, turning to walk away from them.
They all follow her. When they reach the elevators, Frank pushes the button for the surgical floor. No one speaks as they ride up four floors. When the doors open, Frank walks out. Looking around, he expects to see Jeffrey and Sam in the waiting room across from the elevators. "Let me see if I can find a nurse." He says, walking down the hall to the nurse's desk.
"May I help you?" One of the surgical nurses asks.
"Yes, I'm looking for Jeffrey and Sam O'Neill. Her brother was brought up…."
"The mayor and his wife are in an exam room just down the hall with her Doctor." The nurse says as Megan walks up.
"What happened?" Megan demands, as Jeffrey steps out into the hall. Megan spots him and rushes over to him. "Jeffrey, where's Sam?" She demands.
"She's in with Dr. Sedgwick." He says, holding up his hand to stop her. "She's going to be okay and so is the baby." He says, glancing at Frank.
"What happened? How did Jeremiah get shot and where is he?"
With that last question, Jeffrey realizes that he's going to be the one that tells Megan that her brother is dead. He takes a deep breath and then glances at Frank. He still feels like he has to protect Sam. "Frank, could you give us a moment?" Jeffrey asks. Frank looks at him and is about to argue before Jeffrey says. "Please."
"You said you would speak to me once you took care of Sam."
"And I will. Just let me speak with my sister-in-law first." Jeffrey says.
"Alright, I'll got tell Josh, Reva and Billy that Sam's alright." Frank says.
"Wait, Josh, Billy and Reva are here?"
"Yes, and I'm sure Cassie and Richard will be here soon as well."
"How did they know?"
"Apparently Marah ran into Julien and he told her about the shooting and then she called Reva and told her."
"Would someone tell me what happened?" Megan demands, getting everyone's attention again.
"I need to speak with you as soon as you finish speaking with Megan." Frank says, turning to leave.
Jeffrey waits until Frank's gone before he looks at Megan and then takes her hand. He leads her down the hall away from Sam's room. Sam doesn't need to hear the aftermath of what he has to tell her. When they stop, he turns back to her. "Jeffrey, what happened?"
"After Sam left this morning, your brother showed up at the house, demanding to see Sam. I told him she wasn't there and that I wouldn't let him get close to her. He pulled a gun and forced his way into the house after he hit me with the pistol. I'm not sure how it happened but the next thing I knew Julien walks in the front door with a gun and Jeremiah grabbed me. I could've disarmed him before any of it happened, but I might've killed him and I know Sam wouldn't blame me, but I didn't want to do that to her. So I'm standing there with a gun to my head.
Jeremiah's spewing his usual stuff about Sam coming back to her place with him and threatening to kill me. At some point, Sam came up from her clinic. I should've known she was there because Julien was there, but it just didn't enter my mind. She heard Jeremiah talking about taking her back to the organization and her taking her place beside him and she confronted him, telling him that she would never go back with him.
I tried to distract him. Pointing out that he was surrounded by three Federal agents, one of which is a perfect shot." Megan smiles slightly. "Anyway, he didn't believe Sam would shot him I guess. So he let go of me and at first I thought he was going to shoot me, but then he started to turn towards her. I didn't get the chance to move, Julien and Sam both fired and your brother went down. That brought up the staff from the clinic. Julien called 911 and Jeremiah was rushed here and into emergency surgery."
"Alright, so where is he?" Megan asks. Jeffrey really didn't want to be the one to tell her this. "J, where's my brother? Is he still in…?"
"He's not in surgery. They rushed him into emergency surgery but…" He looks away for a moment before he says. "…he didn't make it Megan."
"What do you mean? He's dead!" Megan whispers, staring at him.
"He lost too much blood before they could get him into surgery to stop the bleeding. He's gone." Jeffrey says, watching and waiting for her reaction. Slowly she smiles, which is not the reaction he expected. "You understand what I'm saying, he's dead."
"Of course I understand what you're saying. And of course I'm sorry he's dead. But it's a relief too. Sam has always worried about him. She tried to pretend she didn't but it's always been in the back of her mind. You have to know that." Megan pauses, looking at him. When he doesn't reply, she says.
"It's a complicated dynamic, you know that Jeffrey. I was a baby when Mom and Dad split. I don't remember too much of how our lives were. So I always believed what Dad said about our mother, until Sam played the tape for me after I left Georgia with Patrick. As much as I was happy to be with Patrick, I couldn't ever understand why she completely turned her back on our father. She didn't come to his funeral, did you know that?"
"No, but I'm not sure I was around when your father died."
"Well, no you weren't but I thought she might've told you. Anyway, she didn't come and it bothered me to no end, so I asked her about it one day and the response she gave me was to play that tape of Dad scheming to frame my mom for sexual abuse, just to keep her away from us. Sam and Jeremiah were old enough to understand what was going on when they split although Jeremiah always believed anything my father said. Sam not so much, so she questioned him and he didn't appreciated it. Jeremiah didn't appreciate when Sam questioned him either. So, yes I understand that he's dead and I feel bad that Sam was forced to choose like that, but I'm relieved to be free of him completely." Jeffrey looks at her and nods once. "How is she doing?"
"She was desperate to help him right after it happened. Leah had to pull her off him so that the EMT's could take over and get him to the hospital. And then when they told us he didn't make it she lost it. We brought in Dr. Sedgwick and between her and I, we've calmed her down. They're monitoring her and the baby to make sure none of this has affected him."
"Can I see her?" Megan asks.
"Of course, I need to speak with Frank anyway. I told him that I would explain what happened after I got Sam calmed down. So, I'll go do that while you visit with her. Come get me if you need me." He says, as Megan nods. They walk towards the room the Jeffrey walked out of when she and Frank arrived. "Jeffrey." She says, stopping at the door to Sam's room. He turns to her. "Reva, Josh and Billy were in the waiting room when we arrived." She says and he looks surprised.
"How did they know?"
"I think their daughter told them. She ran into Julien as he was coming into the hospital and he told her about the shooting and when he left, she called Reva and told her. Reva was with Cassie when she got the call."
"Is Cassie…?"
"She wasn't there when we arrived but Reva seemed to think that she and Richard wouldn't be far behind us."
"Thank you for telling me, go sit with Sam while I talk to them." He says, as she nods. She goes into Sam's room while Jeffrey walks towards the elevators and visiting area.
Sam is lying on her back, her head turned away from the door when Megan walks in. She doesn't turn to see who it is when the doors open, expecting it to be Jeffrey. When Megan walks into her view, she closes her eyes. A silent tear rolls down her cheek. Stepping forward, Megan takes her hand. "It's okay. You don't have to tell me anything." She sits down beside her, still holding her hand.
When Jeffrey walks into the visiting area, Reva looks up. "Jeffrey." She says, moving to get up.
He holds up his hand to stop her. "Don't get up." He says, walking over to an empty chair. He sits down and then settles back. Closing his eyes for a moment, no one speaks while they watch him. Finally he opens his eyes and looks around. Everyone is there, including Richard and Cassie. When he doesn't see Frank, he asks. "Where's Frank."
"I'm right here." He says, stepping up from the corner. Jeffrey nods once.
There's another long moment of silence before he says. "I know you all have questions and I'm sort of glad you're all here so that I can tell what happened at one time. Sam left this morning to go to Megan's to get ready for the fundraiser. She asked Leah to look after her patients for the day. While she was gone I was on a call with the Governor handling some business for Springfield. I had just wrapped up that call when someone rang the door bell. So I got up to answer. When I opened the door, Jeremiah was standing there."
"I thought he was in jail." Josh says.
"He was, or he was supposes to be. I'm not sure what happened there." Jeffrey says and everyone looks at Frank.
"He escaped." Frank says, not saying anything more.
"And you didn't think you should've warned them." Billy says.
Jeffrey steps in. "Let's put that aside for now. Anyway, he was at the door and I basically told him that Sam wasn't there when he demanded to see her. And I told him that I wouldn't let him see even if she was there. He kept insisting that he was going to see Sam. During some time in that he pulled a gun and forced his way into the house. I could've disarmed him. But I held back. I didn't want to kill her brother and that's likely what would've happened. So I let him hold me at gunpoint."
"How did Sam get involved with this? Did she come home and find…?" Cassie asks.
"I'm wasn't sure how that happened until Megan just told me that she had a feeling that I was in trouble and she demanded that Julien take her home. I don't know when she arrived because I was focused on Jeremiah. The next thing I knew, Julien was coming in the front door and Jeremiah took me hostage. They were in the middle of that confrontation when I'm assuming Sam came up from the clinic. She heard what Jeremiah planned to do and she confronted him, telling him that she would never leave with him and that I was her husband and father of her child and children.
I tried to distract Jeremiah, by pointing out that he was surrounded by two Federal agents, one of which is a very good shot. I don't know what changed in him, if he realized he wasn't going to win. That Sam wasn't coming back with him and that he was not facing more charges than he was before, but he pushed me aside and at first I thought he was going to shoot me, but then he turned and he sort of raised his gun and then Sam and Julien both fired."
"So what's his prognosis?" Richard asks.
There's a moment of silence before Jeffrey answers quietly. "He didn't make it."
"Oh Jeffrey." Reva says, getting up at the point. She slips her arms around him. And he sags against her for a moment. Cassie gets up at the moment and goes over to him. Sitting down beside him, she lays her hand on his back.
"How did Sam get a gun?" Frank asks.
Jeffrey sits up and looks at Frank. "I don't know." He says.
"Did she have one on her?" He asks.
"No, she doesn't care one. She's licensed to carry but there was no reason for her to have one on her."
"Even with the threat of Jeremiah, she had a bodyguard. Maybe she wanted the extra protection of having a weapon, especially after the attempted kidnapping." Josh says.
"She would've told me if she wanted to carry her weapon. And she never said anything to me."
"So you don't know where she got the weapon." Franks asks, clarifying Jeffrey's statement.
"No, I don't know." Jeffrey says, as Julien walks up.
"I can answer that?" Everyone turns to him. "She got it out of her office, in the clinic."
"I didn't even know she had one down there." Jeffrey says, as Julien nods.
"So, she stopped at her office before she came upstairs. How did she know that she would need that gun?" Frank asks.
"I don't know. She just knew that Jeffrey was in trouble and she said she wasn't going in there without a weapon. I tried to get her to stay out and let me handle it but you know her." Julien says, as Jeffrey nods.
"She'll do anything to protect me. She did the same thing in Belfast and later in Russia." He says, as everyone looks at him. "They were missions that we were on. They both turned out bad. I was in danger and she did what ever she had to do to protect or save me. In the case of Russia, she faked her death for twelve years."
"So, she came upstairs with the idea of protecting you. When did it turn into her shooting her brother?" Frank asks.
"We both shot him." Julien says.
"But which shot killed him." Frank asks, looking at him.
Jeffrey's silent for a moment before he says. "The shot to the abdomen killed him." Frank nods. "Frank, you know her. She did this to protect me. She thought we were in danger."
"Did he turn the gun on her?"
"I don't know what his intentions were. It happened so fast."
"Mr. Parker, did you believe that Mr. O'Neill or Dr. O'Neill was in danger?"
Julien pauses for a moment before he answers. "Yes, that's why I fired. I didn't aim to vitally wound him because he was Sam's brother. I didn't want to kill him."
"Do you believe that Sam wanted to kill him?
"Frank!" Megan demands, walking up to them.
"It's question that has to be asked Meg. Your brother was shot…."
"He was shot by my sister, who was defending her husband and unborn child as well as her own life."
"And she couldn't've shot him in his leg or other shoulder, like Mr. Parker did."
"She was trained not to." Jeffrey says, as Frank looks at him. "We're given training on defending ourselves with weapons. That's a normal part of training but when you're in the field you learn to take the lethal shot. It will save your life, your partner's life or your team's life. She felt we all were in danger."
"And if Jeremiah succeeded in taking her away from Jeffrey. Her life and her child's life were in danger. I'm positive of that." Megan says, as Dr. Sedgwick walks up.
"Doctor." Jeffrey asks, turning to her. "Is everything…?"
"Sam is fine and the baby's fine. She's asking for you." Dr. Sedgwick says, as Jeffrey nods. He turns to leave.
"Jeffrey…."
"Frank, my priority right now is my wife and child." Jeffrey says, following Dr. Sedgwick back to Sam's room.
Frank turns around and everyone is staring at him. "I have to ask these questions."
"Seems to me you're going after my sister like she's a murder suspect. She was protecting her family." Megan says.
"I'm curious Frank. How did Jeremiah get out of police custody?" Josh asks, looking at him.
Frank looks down. "He escaped." Megan says.
"We know that, I'm wondering how he escaped. He was supposes to be locked up. So how did he escape from the county jail?" Josh asks.
"He didn't." Megan says, as everyone looks at her. "He escaped from Cedars."
"He escaped from the hospital!" Reva asks, as Frank looks up.
"I didn't know anything about this until this morning."
"So what happened?" Richard asks.
Frank looks at him and then says. "Jeremiah was transferred to Cedars complaining of severe abdominal cramps and other symptoms. The ER doctor suspected that he had ingested tobacco…."
"Most likely he did that to specifically enable his escape." Julien says. Frank glances at him.
"He was admitted and put into a room with two guards. One of the guards had been on shift for over ten hours so his partner sent him home. At that point, a nurse came in to check Mr. Whitmere and in the process her glasses fell out of her pocket. Mr. Whitmere hid them from her. When she was gone, he broke the ear piece off and picked the handcuffs he was being restrained by. Once he had accomplished that, he tricked the remaining guard to come into the room. He overpowered him, taking his gun and his uniform before he slipped out of the hospital. I don't know what happened after that because the call for Sam's shooting came in."
"So, your department screwed up."
"The department followed procedure for injured or ailing inmate." Frank replies.
"But yet that inmate only proved to escape and thus was killed by my wife." Jeffrey says, walking up behind Frank. "Why weren't we notified that he had escaped Frank? You knew that he had ordered her kidnapping. You have her attempted kidnapper in the same jail Jeremiah was being held in. He's given a statement indicating that he acted on Jeremiah's orders and no one thought to let us know that he had escaped. Do you think I would've let her leave this morning, if I knew her brother was free?"
"We should've contacted you and I'm not sure why it wasn't done, but that doesn't change the fact that she shot her brother."
"She shot him defending me and our unborn child. He would have shot one of us or both of us that much I am certain of. You're acting like she did this intentionally."
"Are you sure she didn't?" Frank asks, as Jeffrey takes a step towards him.
Josh is quick to get between them. "Take a step back, Sam does not need you to be arrested for assault."
"He just accused her of intentionally killing her brother."
"I know." Josh turns to Frank. "Are you arresting her?"
"No, I won't make that decision until after the autopsy."
"Then you have Jeffrey's statement. You can speak to Sam after she's been released." Reva says. Frank pauses for a moment before he turns and leaves. "How is she doing?" Reva asks, turning to Jeffrey.
"She's calmed down now, but Dr. Sedgwick wants to monitor her." Jeffrey says, turning to Richard. "I also came out here to tell you what was happened and to apologize to Richard. We're not…."
"You don't owe me an apology. Go take care of her." He says, holding up his hand to stop his apology. "I wish I didn't have to go to this tonight otherwise we would stay." He says.
"Go, have the fundraiser. I need you to be Mayor." Jeffrey says, as Richard chuckles.
"We don't know for sure that I'll win the election."
"You'll win." Cassie says, taking his hand and squeezing it before she hugs Jeffrey. "Take care of Sam and we'll check on her later. Did anyone tell Ava about the shooting?" Cassie asks. Jeffrey gets the stricken look on his face. He hadn't even thought about Ava. "Don't worry about it, we'll stop by the loft and tell her."
"Thank you, but please ask her not to come by. I want to take Sam home and take care of her. She can't handle too much right now."
"I'll tell her that you'll call her." Cassie says, as Jeffrey nods.
As Richard and Cassie leave, Jeffrey turns back to Reva, Josh, Billy and Megan. "Dr. Sedgwick is processing her release papers once those are signed I'll take her home."
"Jeffrey." Megan says and he turns to her. "Have you thought that maybe it might be a good idea to take her someplace else tonight?"
"No, I hadn't."
"I'm just thinking that she's probably not going to want to be in the house where he was shot. I don't know where it happened, but it's probably not been cleaned up and…."
"No, you're right. She doesn't need to see that. Okay, I'll need to get a room somewhere."
"Go to the Beacon." Reva says, as he looks at her. "I'll call the front desk and let them know that you're coming and to comp you a room."
"You don't…."
"Take the room Jeffrey, and relax. I'm sure that once the autopsy is finished Frank will realize that this was all and accident. Take the room for a couple days, and we'll handle cleaning up the house before you go back." Reva says, as Josh and Billy nod.
"Thank you." Jeffrey says quietly.
"Don't worry about anything." Reva says, hugging him. He turns to go back to Sam with Megan and Julien following behind him while Reva, Josh and Billy leave.
Kevin walks up to Richard as he and Cassie as they walk into the fund raiser. "You're late." He says, looking at Richard.
Richard pauses for a moment before he answers. "We had a family emergency." Richard says before he takes Cassie's hand and leads the way into the fund raiser.
They both are greeting donors when Cassie spots William and Ava. She taps Richard on the shoulder and then nods towards them. He nods and then turns to the couple they were speaking with. "We're very grateful for your support but if you'll excuse us. I need to speak with my brother." He says, taking Cassie's hand.
He walks over to Ava and William. "Richard." William says, as they walk up.
"Hello." He says, shaking William's hand and then hugging Ava. "Could we speak with you privately?" He asks.
"Sure." William says, taking Ava's hand and following Richard and Cassie out to the balcony.
"Is something wrong?" Ava asks.
Richard looks back over his shoulder to make sure none of the other guests or reports could overhear them. "Did either of you watch TV this evening?"
"No, we were busy getting ready and Emma settled with the sitter. "Did something happen? Is Dad or Sam...?"
"They're both alright." Cassie says, laying a hand on Ava's arm.
"But something did happen?" She asks, looking at both of them.
"Yes, something has happened. Neither Jeffrey nor Sam was injured..."
"Injured!" Ava demands
"Sweetheart, let him finish." William says, putting his arm around her.
"There was a confrontation at their house this morning, between Sam, Jeffrey, her bodyguard Julien and Sam's brother Jeremiah." Richard replies
"Her brother, he was arrested." William says
"He escaped from Cedars last night. He showed up at your father's house demanding to see Sam. Jeffrey insisted that Sam wasn't there and if he had been he wouldn't've let him see her. He pulled a gun..."
"My Dad!"
"He's fine." Richard says, looking at Ava. She nods once. "So, he pulled a gun and forced his way into their house. Jeffrey let him be taken hostage because he didn't want to kill Sam's brother."
"Where was Sam?" William asks. "Was she downstairs?"
"No, she was at her sisters and while she was there she had a feeling that something had happened to Jeffrey so she forced Julien to take her home. When they got there, they split up and Sam went to her office, to retrieve the gun that she kept there." Richard says.
"Which, I might've figured out why she had a gun in her safe downstairs." Cassie says, as Richard looks at her. "After that guy come to the clinic demanding she turn that girl over to him, she might have wanted the protection. You saw her the night she came by the farm to get my car." Cassie says, as Richard nods.
"That's possible, but back to today. She came back home from Megan's, she goes to her office and gets her gun and she sinks upstairs. Meanwhile, Julien has confronted Jeffrey and Jeremiah by coming in the front door and Jeffrey really is his hostage at that point."
"At what point does Sam come in?"
"I'm not sure but I don't think it was too long after Julien came through the front door. Sam overheard Jeremiah saying that he was going to take Sam away from Jeffrey and so she confronted him. They argued and Jeffrey tried to distract him. After some time, Jeremiah pushes Jeffrey away and both Julien and Sam shot him. We're not sure what caused him to release Jeffrey but Jeffrey's positive that Sam only shot because she feared for his life, her life and the baby's life." Cassie says.
"So what happened?" Ava asks, looking at both of them.
"We'll EMT's were called and Jeremiah was rushed to Cedars. They rushed him into emergency surgery but he didn't make it."
"He's dead!" Ava says, staring at them.
"Yes and Sam took it pretty hard. When we left the hospital, she was being looked at by Dr. Sedgwick."
"Oh god, the baby, did she...!"
"She didn't loose the baby, but her blood pressure was high because of what happened and Dr. Sedgwick wanted her to stay so that she could monitor her for a while. I don't think she'll be kept over night though."
"We have to go." Ava says, turning to William.
"Actually your dad asked that you not come." Richard says, as Ava looks at him.
"He wants to keep Sam as stress free as possible, so he's taking a room at the Beacon for a couple days. He said he'll call you once they've released Sam." Cassie says
"He's okay, right?" Ava asks, as William slips his arm back around her waist.
"He's fine. He's worried about Sam and the baby a little bit but other than that, he's fine." Cassie says, laying a hand on Ava's arm.
"We should get back to the guests, but we told him that we would let you know what was going on." Richard says.
"Thank you." Ava says, as she reaches out, hugging both Richard and Cassie. "Are you sure they're all okay?"
"They are as good as can be expect with what happened." Richard says, as she and William both nod. They all return to the party a few moments later.
When they come back inside, Kevin is waiting for him. "Sir, these guests are here to…."
"Kevin, I had some family business to discuss. I know why we're here but I needed to speak with my brother and his fiancé for a moment. I'm sure the guests will understand that." Richard says, leading Cassie back into the crowd.
"Is something wrong between you and Kevin?" Cassie asks, as they start to dance.
"No, why?"
"I just noticed that you've been a little short with him tonight. Did something happen?"
He pauses for a moment, debating on telling him about the report he found on Kevin's desk that afternoon, he decides against telling her. "Nothing happened, but I don't need him reminding me every five minutes what I'm supposes to be doing. I ran a country for Christ's sake." Richard says, as Cassie smiles. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing you just sounded very American right then."
"Maybe you're rubbing off on me."
She leans in closer. "I think I've done more than rub off on you." She whispers in his ear. Turning his head, he kisses her for a moment before he pulls away with a smile.
For the rest of night, Richard avoids Kevin, spending his time with guests, charming them all while Kevin stands to the side. Looking around he spots Cassie standing alone, he slowly makes his way to her. "Mrs. Winslow." He says, stopping beside her. She looks at him and then turns her attention back to Richard.
"He's doing very well." Cassie says, watching Richard as he works the room.
"It won't matter how much money we can raise, if he keeps secrets from me."
"What are you talking about?" Cassie asks, taking her eyes off Richard.
"I'm talking about your absence this evening and tardy arrival. And I must say, the less than informative explanation as to the cause."
"You were told everything you needed to know. We had a family emergency."
"What family emergency? You're parents are non existent. And Mr. Winslow's are deceased." Kevin says, watching Cassie's face.
"First, I have family in this town. Second, I don't appreciate your tone. You're not dealing with a first time candidate here. He ran a country."
"A fact that should enable him to arrive at functions on time."
"How late were we?" Cassie asks, crossing her arms as her temper rises.
"The length…."
"We were late maybe five minutes." Cassie says as Richard walks up. He overhears the last of that conversation.
"Mr. Harrison, you've said enough." Richard says, slipping his arm around Cassie. "I think it's time we ended our association." He says, as they both look at him.
"Mr. …."
"I know about the file you have on my wife." Richard says, as Cassie looks at him and then Richard. "He's had you investigated." Richard says, tightening his arm around her.
"Wait, what do you mean? Why would…?"
"You have a past, Mrs. Winslow." Kevin says, his tone says it all.
"Everyone in Springfield knows about my past. Hell everyone in San Cristobel knows about my past."
"Do they know that your ex husband kidnapped your…?"
"That is enough." Richard says, stepping between Kevin and Cassie. "You will not bring my deceased daughter into this. "You are fired and I suggest that you leave now." For a moment Kevin looks at him. As he turns to go, Richard says. "I want all the information you have, everything." He says. He turns to his right and finds Miles standing beside him. "Miles." He says and he steps up. "Would you follow Mr. Harrison back to headquarters and make sure that he leaves with only his personal belongs?"
"Of course, sir." Miles replies, looking at Kevin.
Both men turn to leave as Richard says. "Mr. Harrison, if you do anything or say anything that is at all inflammatory or derogatory towards my wife I will be forced to take certain measures to protect my family, is that understood?" Swallowing, Kevin nods before he and Miles walk away.
"Richard." Cassie says as soon as both men are out of hearing range. "Why did you just do that?"
He looks at her and then reaches up and lightly caresses her cheek. "I will do everything in my power to protect you. He ordered that investigation without my knowledge or consent. I won't have your past used against you again." He says, laying his hand against her cheek as he looks her in the eyes. "Edmund telling the whole country about a painful and extremely stressful period in your life nearly killed you, I won't let that happen again."
"But he was on your side."
"Was he? I haven't felt comfortable with him from the beginning. I only hired him because Jeffrey recommended him. I think it's better if I find someone to stand beside me that I trust and want." He says, as she leans in, kissing him. "Besides, I totally did not like his tone when we arrived tonight." He says, as she laughs. "Do you want to dance before this is event is over, Mrs. Winslow?" He asks, holding out his arm.
"I would love to." Cassie says, taking his arm and following him out onto the dance floor. Most of the guests move to the side, leaving them room. It was almost like they were back at the palace, dancing at a state function. Looking up, she smiles at him and says. "I love you."
"I love you, and the boys and our little one too." He says, his eyes dancing with happiness.