Safeguarding Kelly(24)
Author: Zoe Dawson

 

“Of course, if Mommy says that’s okay.”

 

Kelly smiled and started getting Kiko dressed. “I think that would be okay.”

 

Kiko clapped her hands.

 

Serena laughed and said, “Maybe I should prescribe ice cream instead of medicine?”

 

“It tastes better,” Kiko said as Kelly lifted her and supported her under her bottom.

 

Back outside it had grown dark, and the black SUV was gone. But the silver sedan was still parked in the spot. Kelly went to the passenger side of the car and started to put Kiko in her car seat. George Crouch drove this make and model of car and the color matched. He pulled out his cell phone to check the license plate. Something on the floor of the sedan caught his eye. It was a sheet of paper—a sonogram and under the bright light of the streetlamp he could make out a name.

 

Thompson, Emily.

 

It was dated three days ago. He turned to look at Kelly, who had Kiko securely strapped into her car seat.

 

When she saw his face, she said, “What? What is it?”

 

“This is George Crouch’s car.”

 

“What? Here. They were here the day they were abducted and murdered?”

 

He called Davis, then Talbot. They would need to impound the car and run forensics on it. This was a huge break in the case. He turned to look back at the big building. Naval Medical Center San Diego complex, an auxiliary filled with all medical specialties. A veritable hunting ground for a serial killer preying on medical personnel.

 

He sent Kelly home with two agents to watch her, so she could feed Kiko and put her to bed. The little girl had fallen asleep by the time NCIS and Davis had arrived.

 

Inside the car he’d confirmed the piece of paper had been a sonogram of Emily’s unborn child. He found her purse under the seat with an appointment card in it for an OB/GYN who had his practice in the building. His heart squeezed for her and the life that never had a chance to grow and live. In the glove compartment he found the car registered in the name of Peter Cannon. He also found an engagement ring.

 

When he walked around the car, he discovered George’s keys beneath the car just under the back bumper. Had he been lured here and that’s where he and Emily had been forced into another vehicle? He turned to see if there were cameras.

 

They would need to pull any footage.

 

All the time he spent on gathering evidence and cataloging leads, he couldn’t seem to get Kiko’s birthday off his mind. She was born nine months after he’d met Kelly.

 

Their affair had been short but volatile, and the last time he’d been with her…he’d lost his cool, had unprotected sex with her. He closed his eyes as he sat in his car once George’s vehicle had been loaded on the flatbed to be transported to NCIS for further investigation.

 

There was no way to get around this math. Either Kelly was pregnant before she met him or that little girl…that sweet, cute little angel was his.

 

Anger should have been his first, immediate response. But then he remembered how secrets kept people safe and Kelly had kept this secret all these years. It hadn’t been selfish, and it hadn’t been malicious. It had been to protect them…all of them.

 

Didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt to know he’d missed so much of her life. Didn’t mean he didn’t feel betrayed that Kelly hadn’t trusted him enough with this information for him to make his own decision about what he wanted to do.

 

The irony wasn’t lost on him, either. His own father had kept him secret all these years. He should be used to it. But this wasn’t about his father. This was about his own daughter. This was about integrity and honor. This was about his own flesh and blood, someone he’d brought into this world. Someone who was his responsibility to nurture and grow.

 

He closed his eyes. He’d never really thought about his own children. It never crossed his mind that he would be caught in his own dark secret, one that had the potential to ruin not only him, but Kelly and Kiko.

 

There was a thump on the window, and he turned to find Davis standing there. “Go home, man. Get some rest. We’ll process the car tomorrow.”

 

He nodded and put the car in gear. He was aware there were consequences to his actions. There was no way he could let this go.

 

He drove to Kelly’s house. After going through a security check, he entered the house and locked the door behind him.

 

“We’re up here,” Kelly called.

 

He climbed the stairs and found Kiko already in bed. Kelly looked frazzled and exhausted. “She refused to go to sleep until you read her a story.” She smiled at him and handed him a book.

 

A Zoo for Zeppy the Zebra.

 

He smiled at her. “I thought you loved polar bears.” He sat down on the edge of the bed and tweaked her nose as wonder traveled through him. He was a father. This was his baby. His throat cramped up and his eyes got moist.

 

“I do. But zebras need love, too. Right?”

 

“Everyone needs love,” he said.

 

He settled back as she snuggled against him. He looked at Kelly. “How about we make a Kiko sandwich?”

 

Kiko laughed and Kelly couldn’t seem to take her eyes off him.

 

He started to read the book and by the middle, Kiko’s eyes were getting heavy. By three-quarters, she was leaning heavily against him and by the end, she was fast asleep.

 

Inhaling deeply, he shifted his gaze and looked at her, his stomach dropping like a rock when he saw the stark distressed expression in her eyes. He stared at her, then exhaled heavily, his pain settling into a heavy, resigned feeling. Finally, he knew what he wanted, what he’d always wanted, and if she hadn’t walked away from him all those years ago, he would have told her.

 

He wanted a family, one that was his, out in the open without barriers and hidden secrets, one that he could nurture and love, give everything he had bottled up inside all the years he’d been denied his dad’s acknowledgment. He wanted Kelly. That hadn’t changed. Secrets might keep people safe, but keeping them made him a coward, made him just like his father.

 

He held her gaze, then he looked down and closed the book and set it on the nightstand. He stood up and she scrambled off the bed and faced him across their sleeping daughter. “We found each other in the frigid north. We came together like we were two parts of one heart that was finally made whole.” His voice quiet and very subdued, he continued, “I’ve never forgotten you, Kelly. I’ve never really stopped looking for you in every woman’s face.”