Page 90 of Fallout

“Get your own idea.” Blake mock-punched him. “This one is mine.”

Destiny laughed. Jasper watched her brother lean down and kiss her cheek. “Love you, sis.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Destiny gently pushed him away. “Love you, too.”

Blake strolled away down the hall.

“You keep talking about a wedding, but aren’t you jumping about fifteen steps?”

Jasper shrugged. “Am I?”

Destiny lifted one hand and started counting off her fingers. “Dating. Meeting my sisters as my boyfriend. Getting engaged. Having our first fight. Making up. Premarital counseling. Which brings me to the whole church thing.”

“I’ll go with you.” It was the next step for him anyway. “And the rest will come in due time, but fair warning, your hair will be smoking because we’ll be going so fast.”

“Good, even though it’s tacky. But it’s tackier for me to be huge when we get married, but everyone will think we did all this out of order and it’s your baby.” Destiny bit her lip. “Maybe people will just think what they want to think, and we’ll have grace from God regardless. We know the truth and where our hearts are.”

“Don’t worry so much, okay?”

He got the feeling he might spend a lifetime telling her not to worry so much. But it meant she cared. For Vanguard, for their relationship, and for this baby and any others they would have. Worry meant the thing in front of them had weight—and he agreed. These were the most important things.

And he would be there for every second of it to support her.

She touched the buttons on his shirt. “I’m going to worry about you getting hurt. I’m going to worry about how to best raise this child and what people will think. I’m going to worry that what I went through will rear its head again, and I won’t be able to control my reaction. I’m going to worry about Violet and Blake and about if your mother is all right. I’ll worry how your dad is doing and whether my sisters are getting into trouble. But I promise to ask you to pray with me so I can put the worry aside and trust God with the future and the people we love.”

“I promise to be praying already, even before you ask.” He realized then he hadn’t really stopped since he’d started. There was a lot for him to learn, but he was in exactly the place he needed to be. “But I’ll always stop and pray with you when you ask.”

“I love you, Jasper Hollingsworth.”

“I love you, too.”

He kissed her, and the lobby around them erupted into clapping and cheering. When he was good and finished, he lifted his head and saw her smile.

He heard someone say, “Told you,” and he looked over.

River stood beside Tessa just inside the door, a dog sitting on either side of them. Tessa had the biggest smile on her face. She burst into laughter, and her dog barked. Then she nodded, gave a loud whoop, and kept the clapping going.

Destiny let out a contented sigh that he caught even with the noise. Jasper liked the sound of it a lot. He took her hand. “How about a tour of the police department?”

She grinned. “Is there a cafeteria?”

He gave her a quick kiss. “I guess you’ll have to find out.”

FORTY

Two months later.

Destiny heard the distinct sound of a crying baby. She winked at the young woman who sat behind her former desk and knocked gently on Clare’s office door.

She heard a muffled “Come in” and entered.

Clare said, “Thank goodness it’s you. Is he here?”

“Not yet.” Destiny reached for Baby Kara.

“I’ve got to change my shirt because the lovely Kara just puked on me.”

Destiny smiled, even though it wasn’t funny. Thankfully, Clare had a full bathroom and several changes of clothes in her office. Destiny walked with the baby across the room, looking at the décor and absently rocking her. It was naptime for the eight-week-old—and nearly for Destiny, too.

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