Page 138 of Crosshairs

Linc grabbed the crutch closest to him and hopped toward her. She met him halfway.

“Ainsley...” His voice broke. He pulled her into his embrace.

She leaned into him and laid her head on his chest.

“I love you,” he murmured against her hair.

Her heart spiraled. “I love you too. When I thought she was going to kill you...”

He tilted her chin up. “But she didn’t. Ainsley, I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

71

TWO WEEKS LATER

Ainsley stood with her dad on one side and Linc on the other, her palms sweaty as the congregation sang the first verse of “His Eye Is on the Sparrow.”

Midway through the second verse, she joined in and soon was conscious of nothing but lifting her voice.

I sing because I’m happy,

I sing because I’m free,

For his eye is on the sparrow,

And I know he watches me.

It was on the last refrain that Ainsley realized hers was the only voice singing. Total silence filled the church when Ainsley finished. Then a thunderous applause broke out.

She was barely aware of sitting until Linc hugged her.

Her dad beamed at her. “I want you to know I thought that was beautiful,” he whispered.

Peace filled her heart. She’d done it. Lifting her eyes heavenward, she murmured, “Thank you.”

The church service seemed to fly by, and they were soon leaving. “Ride to your grandmother’s house with me?” Linc asked.

“I’d love to.”

While he seemed happy for her, a somber frown creased his brow. “So,” Linc said as he pulled away from the church, “we haven’t talked about what your plans are.”

No, they hadn’t, because until this morning, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. Not only that, she’d been so busy getting Cora settled in Gran’s house after the sisters decided neither of them needed to live alone. Then she’d listed Cora’s house with a Realtor and found someone to come in each day to help Gran and Cora after she left. If she left.

“Could we talk about that after we eat? Gran’s expecting us in”—she checked her watch—“five minutes.”

“You know you’re killing me,” he grumbled.

“Poor baby,” she said and laughed. Linc had asked her about her plans at least once a day for the past two weeks, but she couldn’t tell him something she didn’t know. They hadn’t talked about their relationship at all. She didn’t know why Linc had skirted the subject, but Ainsley had because she feared he’d said he loved her while still caught up in the heat of the action.

And there was the matter of Sarah’s death. It was something they both had to live with. Ainsley had talked with the department’s psychologist on an internet face-to-face and would have an in-person session before she returned to work.

Linc still had to come to terms with the fact that Sarah had killed her brother ... his best friend. She feared he was still dealing with guilt over his hesitation when Blake was shot, but she did know he’d been visiting the gun range.

Maybe he didn’t even remember saying he loved her.

Once Sunday dinner was over, Gran shooed them out of the kitchen. “You two have better things to do than help clean up, and besides, your dad will help me, right, son?”

“Sure,” her dad replied.

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