Hannah covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, God.”
Ava gaped at Quinn, her eyes filling with tears. “She’s from Jack?”
“Aye, she is.”
“A last gift. Thank you, Jack.” Ava held the puppy close, tears spilling down her cheeks, its tail wagging. Her voice quavered as she called her daughters. “Olivia, Isla, come and see what Daddy got you. It’s a puppy.”
The girls were delighted. The puppy was happy, too, the three of them instantly the best of friends, the girls squealing as the puppy slathered them with kisses.
“Thank you.” Ava wiped the tears from her face. “I would never have known.”
Hannah made them tea, and they sat together in the kitchen, Quinn and Elizabeth telling them a sanitized version of the story, leaving out some of the violence but sharing with them every good and brave thing Jack had done.
“I didn’t hear that on the news,” Hannah said about Elizabeth being abducted and Quinn rescuing her.
“It’s a secret,” Elizabeth explained. “Quinn might go to prison if they knew he was there.”
Both women’s eyes went wide.
“We certainly won’t tell anyone,” Hannah said. “No’ a word.”
“Do you remember the day I said that Jack had died for nothing?” Ava asked Quinn. “You told me he’d never done anything without a reason and that we would find out in the end that he’d tried to help someone. You were right. Even when I doubted, you still believed in him. My husband died trying to protect teenage girls from thosemonsters. It breaks my heart, but I can make peace with that.”
Elizabeth took Ava’s hand. “Your daughters will grow up hearing how their father was a hero.”
Then Hannah spoke. “You saved my brother’s reputation. Our family will never be able to repay you—either of you.”
“Jack…” Quinn’s voice cracked, his throat tight. “He was my best friend. He saved me. He showed me the way. I finally had the chance to return the favor.”
Hannah blew her nose, stood. “I hope you’ll be stayin’ for supper. We plan to head into the city to watch the Christmas lights switch-on at George Square. We’re trying to keep things normal for the children. They’re too young to understand, and itisChristmastime. There will be fireworks and music. We’d love for you to join us.”
Quinn looked at Elizabeth, who nodded. “Aye, thank you for invitin’ us.”
* * *
The next fewdays felt chaotic to Elizabeth. The Cobra team went back to Denver, while Quinn and Elizabeth moved out of the Fortress and into a hotel closer to Ava. Because Lewis was dead and Whitehall wasn’t being charged with the crime of committing Jack’s murder, the Procurator Fiscal released Jack’s body, enabling Ava, at last, to hold his funeral.
Quinn helped complete the funeral arrangements. He also installed a new alarm system on Jack and Ava’s house so that Ava could feel safer.
“Life will never be the same for them.” Quinn held Elizabeth close, watching Jack’s girls play with the puppy.
It broke Elizabeth’s heart that Jack never got to see how happy his gift had made his wife and children. “No, it won’t be the same. But you’ve made it better.”
* * *
Jack William Murraywas laid to rest on a sunny Saturday morning with full military honors. Elizabeth sat behind Ava and Hannah, who were surrounded by friends and family, the two little girls, who clearly didn’t understand what was happening, sitting beside their mother.
But Elizabeth’s attention was on Quinn.
Ava had asked him to say a few words at the church service, and he was nervous. He wasn’t used to the limelight, and this was so close to his heart.
He was grieving, too.
Elizabeth had helped him put his thoughts into words, helped him practice. “You’ll do fine. I’ll be right there.”
He looked so handsome in his dress uniform, standing at attention near Jack’s casket, which was draped with a Union Jack, Jack’s beret resting on top of it.
“Greater lovehathnoman than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” said the rector. “Those are the words of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who, like Jack, was betrayed by a friend. How much greater the love in a man’s heart when he gives his life for strangers. Jack didn’t know the girls who were being abused in that house. He didn’t know their families. But he did know right from wrong—and for that, he was killed.”