Angel's Hero

Chapter 26

The day of the Fourth of July party dawned, and Angel woke with a sense of worry in her gut.
Was it because she worried about meeting Conner's parents?
Or perhaps as Owen still hadn't made a move, every day that passed seemed to indicate they were getting closer and closer to the final showdown?
Or could it be because her period had been due a few days ago and it hadn't come? She went to the toilet first thing, expecting to find it, as sometimes it came a day late. But no, no sign yet. Was she pregnant?
Her breasts were tender, and she had that cramp-in-the-lower-belly feeling that was the usual sign it was coming. She'd always been semi-regular, usually within a day or so, but it had never been an issue before because before now she hadn't been having sex. And she had to admit that she'd been enjoying a lot of it. Like, a lot. She smiled at that smug feeling, before shaking her head.
Focus, Angel!
She'd gone on the pill the moment she'd made her plan to go to Portland to meet Henry. That was about a month ago.
Not being able to sleep much the night before, she'd searched online, to try figure things out.
She found out that it took two weeks for the pill to be effective. Wonderful. She'd missed that part, and had only been on it for three days before first time with Conner.
Then she'd searched for early signals of pregnancy, and basically all the results had said the same thing.
Her symptoms were either because her period was due, or a sign that she was pregnant.
Really helpful, thanks.
There was no way that she was going to tell Conner until she knew for certain, and maybe not even then. Knowing how he had reacted to finding out she was a virgin solidified it in her mind that if he thought he had gotten her pregnant, his moral sense of duty would kick in, and have him down on one knee before she could blink.
She didn't want him to be with her because he felt like he had to be.
She wanted him to want to be with her. As it was, she knew he did, but did he know it yet?
To choose to love her simply because he did, and not because an unplanned pregnancy forced him to?
Her stomach was a mess. She felt tied up in knots.
Relax! Stress isn't good for the baby.
Shush, stop teasing.
Then just go get a bloody test, and find out for sure.
Valid point. If she peed on the stick and it said negative, then she had nothing to worry about, and things could carry on as they were.
But if it's positive...
Angel's heart soared despite her firm resolve not to get ahead of herself.
She couldn't help but picture it though; the little boy or girl she and Conner would create.
The perfect little person, with Conner's dark hair and dimple, and her sense of humor. She was the funny one after all.
Ah, crap. Now look what you did. I'm excited.
Angel rushed through her routine of getting ready, and met Conner in the kitchen.
He handed her a cup of coffee. She took a sip, and then paused before swallowing.
Uh, oh.
What if she was pregnant? She shouldn't have caffeine, just in case. Trying to be nonchalant, she opened her lips and let the liquid pour out back into the cup while Conner had his back turned to her.
Now what? He would ask questions if she poured it down the drain.
Think, think, think, woman, think!
She took a walk toward where she knew there was a loose floorboard, and 'tripped', dropping her cup on the floor.
"Oh, no. Would you just look at that mess!" she cringed at her overly dramatic tone.
"Careful there, love. Are you alright?" Conner looked at her from his seat at the kitchen island, and smiled. His deep blue eyes looked at her softly as she picked up the cup.
Did he just call me 'love'?
Relax, don't react to it. Just keep moving.
"Yeah, just dandy," Angel rolled her eyes at her fake accident as she took a cloth to the mess.
At least that was over and done with.
"You can have mine if you want," Conner offered.
Oh, dear.
I don't want coffee!
"No, no, you have it. You have a big day," she said. It was true. He did have a big day.
First a full day at the station, then the party that evening, plus he had to organize all his deputies to handle the rush of day visitors to the harbor, and the closed off streets for the harbor festivities, which were already beginning.
Before the fire, Angel had been hoping to make a killing that day, as the tourists flooded the streets, and took part in the annual street festival. As it was, she wouldn't be able to continue with any of her building plans until tomorrow at the earliest. They'd started the ground work just the day before.
"Do you have your bag for tonight?" Conner asked her as they cleared their breakfast dishes.
"Yup, all packed at the door," she smiled.
They were staying at Conner's place that night as it was less than a minute away from the farm, and he wanted to show it to her. He'd bought a house just last week, a real fixer-upper, and was in the process of moving all his belongings over from his rented townhouse.
Right now there was a bed and a fridge, and a coffee machine. She'd joked that that was all they needed. Conner had just pulled her in for a hug, and said he couldn't wait to show her around.
Angel was looking forward to seeing it.
She tossed him the keys to her Jeep as they left the porch.
As usual, his face split into that wonderful grin. He so loved driving her Jeep, and it gave her great pleasure to see him so happy that it didn't bother her riding shotgun in her own car.
She'd even done something as silly as looking into buying him one for his birthday the following month.
Turns out they shared a birth month.
She'd be thirty-one on the fifteenth of August, and he'd be thirty-five just two days later. Perhaps they'd have a joint celebration. Perhaps it would be a thing they did each year.
As they approached the harbor, the signs for the road closures were already in place, and traffic officers were using hand signals directing the flow of traffic.
Conner slowed as he entered the area, and Angel smiled and waved to a number of people she recognized. Some setting up stalls while others claimed their spot for the day.
"Hi, Angel! Sheriff!" Charlie, the florist called out.
"Hey, Angel! What's happening Sheriff?" April, from Winters' Brew, and her group of friends waved from the sidewalk.
"Miss Lew! Hi Sheriff Grayson!" Maureen, jewelry store owner, already seated in her fold out chair, waved from the picnic grounds set up for the day.
"How you doin', Angie?" Timothy, a construction worker moving some barriers, smiled as they drove past. "Happy fourth of July, Sheriff!"
She recognized so many, and they knew her too.
In less than a year, this place had become her home, and the people in it, her family. She knew most of their names, and those she didn't he could still identify as locals. Everyone seemed to know hers, though, thanks to the bakery first, and now thanks to the fire.
She had received hundreds of letters and cards from the people living in Boothbay since then. Her house was overflowing, as was Sienna's when she'd said she would gladly take some bouquets from her.
Settling back against the seat, Angel inhaled the fresh air and held it deep in her lungs. She'd never had one before, so it was with a giddy feeling in her belly she thought - This was her home!
It made it easy for her to look around at the number of strangers already filling the sidewalks, and know them as visitors to her town.
That thought alone settled a sense of contentment deep within her. She looked at Conner and smiled. He added to her contentment.
They approached a barricade, and Conner waved the officer over to open it for them.
Angel looked up to the sky. It was going to be a beautiful day.

*

"Here she is!" Conner said as he jokingly handed Angel over to Michelle and Robert with a hand on her shoulder.
Michelle grinned at him, then turned a stink eye on Angel. She was still so mad at her friend.
Conner hid his smile.
"Thanks, bud. I think I can handle it from here," Robert slapped Conner on the back. He felt tense.
With the influx of visitors to Boothbay Harbor for the Fourth of July Festivities, and later for the firework display over the marina, every single deputy had to pull double duty, which left Angel unguarded.
The FBI agents were stationed all over town, as per Du Pont's directive. She'd elaborated that she had a feeling that Owen would take advantage of the chaos of the day, and make a move. He'd agreed, reluctantly. The notion sat in his gut like lead.
He didn't want to let Angel out of his sight, but he couldn't drag her around with him today. There was just too much he needed to do that he couldn't put onto anyone else. He was still Sheriff, and this town was still his responsibility.
It didn't matter that the woman he loved was in danger. Not to the people flooding in from outside their town. He looked at her now; her downcast eyes as she listened to Michelle lecture her looked different. Distant almost.
What was on her mind?
What is it, love?
Yes, he loved her.
That realization had hit him at her disappearing act, when all sorts of traumatic thoughts had flooded his mind.
The woman had idiotic ideas on the regular, so she'd definitely be keeping him on his toes.
He still couldn't quite believe she had put herself so directly into harms way like that. He understood the why, but still, he struggled to fully accept it.
They'd been almost ferocious in their love making against the door afterwards. Conner had never felt that all-consuming need for someone before, and when he'd imagined her hurt and in danger, he'd panicked that she would never know how he felt, never know that he couldn't imagine a world without her in it, without her in his life.
So here he was, on the morning of the first day of the rest of their lives. He planned on revealing all to her as the fireworks went off at dusk, before the main show here in the harbor.
Conner had been raised a gentleman, and gentlemen made grand gestures to their ladyloves. And a proposal under a summer sky lit with fireworks was pretty grand.
He couldn't wait.
Right now, he had to head back to the station to run through the report on the boat break in. They'd managed to link it to a tool stolen from the hardware store just yesterday. Conner felt it in his gut that Scarlett was involved in both, but couldn't prove it yet. He wasn't taking any chances, so he wanted to go through the reports again individually, before playing the information off the two reports against each other.
Leaving his happy mood behind, he strode over to the station.

*

"God, I could kill her," Michelle said as she stood next to Robert in the street.
Angel had asked them if they could stop at the pharmacy before heading over to the restaurant to help Shelby out and prepare them for the rush, so they were standing on the opposite side, in the shade, away from the mad rush of people using the sidewalk in front of the store.
"Relax, now," Robert said, taking her hand, and stroking her fingers. "She made it back in one piece, thankfully."
"But, still," Michelle pouted. "Stupid-things-that-Angel-does should be a sport. A banned sport. She could have been killed!" Michelle did something she never did.
She stomped her foot in frustration.
"Easy, now, Mish," Robert said. She silently thrilled at the nickname he'd given her, and it tempered her anger a bit.
It was even more effective when he whispered it in her ear in the dark as they lay together. Thoughts of their encounters in the dark reduced her flaming anger to a mere smolder.
She'd spent a number of nights at his place in the past two weeks. Finally taking the plunge, she'd introduced him to Jackson as her friend, and all Jackson had been able to talk about was the hero Sheriff, much to Michelle's chagrin.
Robert hadn't seemed too phased by the way Jackson was obsessed with Conner, but it had made Michelle a little nervous that Jackson may never warm up to him.
And then Robert, the sneak, had come over for dinner a few nights ago, and worn a Judge Dredd T-shirt.
Jackson had taken one look at the image emblazoned across Robert's chest, and launched into an animated display of hyped-up-kid-talking-about-his-favorite-movie.
Robert had given her an innocent look, and Sienna had laughed while she'd just rolled her eyes, and released a tension she hadn't been aware of.
When Michelle had mentioned Robert was a volunteer fireman with the Sheriff over dessert, the little boy had been sold on a new hero.
Now, all they heard around the house was Jackson talking about his new friend. Most of his sentences began with, "my friend, Robert."
It warmed Michelle's heart to see how easily this man had just accepted her son. Whenever she said she couldn't stay over, he would simply drive her home. He never questioned her priority, or felt threatened by it. It was a new experience to have a man so completely understand her and be patient with her that she didn't quite know how to always act around him.
She still tensed up whenever she disagreed with him, or he disagreed with her.
He's not Owen.
I know.
He's not going to hit you.
I've only known him for a couple of weeks. He could just be hiding that side of himself.
Look at him. He's not Owen.
Michelle looked at Robert now, and the way he lazily looked around at everything. He felt her eyes on him, lifted the corner of his mouth in a smile, and winked at her.
She knew.
In her heart she knew. She could feel the difference.
You're right. He's not Owen.
Just then, Angel stepped from the pharmacy into the crowd of people passing it. She was jostled, and she dropped her handbag, and the brown paper bag containing her purchase.
Angel immediately pounced onto the paper bag, commical in her scrambling.
Michelle wanted to laugh, knowing that the only reason Angel went into this specific drug store, was because they stocked her preferred brand of tampons. No one liked their period purchases on display.
A man with a cap low over his face, and a woman in a bright tie-dye dress stopped to help Angel gather the belongings that had spilled from her handbag.
Angel smiled to them quickly as she took her bag, and hugging the contents in her arms to her chest, dashed across to join Michelle and Robert.
"Shall we go?"
Angel was blushing furiously.
Michelle frowned to her friend who refused to meet her eyes. Perhaps she'd been a bit hard on her.
Hooking her arm through the taller woman's, they followed Robert to walk the short distance to The Fisherman's Wharf where they would be helping out.
"I'm sorry, Shelley," Angel said out of the corner of her mouth.
"I know you are. Just don't do anything like that again," Michelle rested her head against Angel's shoulder.
The three of them made their way through the crowds unaware of the man smiling brilliantly as he watched them move off.
He pulled his cap lower.
He'd been right in front of her! He'd had his hand right there, an inch from hers, and she hadn't known it was him. The thrill of pushing his body into hers, and making her stumble still reverberated through Owen.
You see? You see how close I can get?
No one can touch me.
I am in charge.
With that, he turned on his heel and went back to his beat up pickup truck.
It was almost time.

*

Angel stared.
The instructions said to wait two minutes before reading the results. She didn't posses an ounce of patience in that moment, so she narrowed her eyes as the test developed in front of her.
There it was.
Clear as day.
The second pink line.
Pregnant.
Not quite sure she should believe her eyes, or just the one test, she dipped the second test into the little catchment tub that came with the first test, and set it down.
She stared at the little display window.
This one was digital, and she had to watch a little flashing clock as the test processed. The bars of a building meter flashed as it reached its culmination.
The meter on the side almost reached the top.
She held her breath.
Pregnant.
The word appeared on the screen.
Her breath whooshed out on a sob. She was pregnant. She took a minute to absorb the news fully, her mind racing to all possible conclusions of what this could mean, but at the end of the day, it meant that she was going to be a mother.
Her face split into a grin. Happy tears poured from her eyes.
She had to tell Conner.
Currently seated in a cubicle at the restaurant, her lap was covered in the papers and boxes that the two pregnancy tests had come in. Her bags sat on the floor between her feet.
Gathering as much as she could into her hands and slinging the strap of her handbag over her shoulder, she stood and managed to open the door, and pushed the overnight bag with her feet.
Hmm. No trash can.
Someone must have just taken them out, while she'd been inside, as she'd looked hopefully at the overflowing trash when she'd entered, knowing she could bury her tests in there, underneath other things, and have the evidence hidden.
Walking to the row of sinks, she looked herself in the eye, and jumped a little at the mess she presented.
Her hair was windswept, and her eyes were red and watery. Her cheeks were splotchy.
Shoving the tests into her handbag, Angel leaned forward to wash her face, hoping the cool water would temper the redness around her eyes.
Standing slowly, Angel looked at herself again.
She took out one of the tests and looked at it again.
Her smile faltered.
Almost as if seeing the two pink lines, and the confirmation of her state, jump-started her body. It decided to act pregnant.
She turned around and rushed into the stall she had just vacated, and emptied her stomach out.
Wonderful.
Angel returned to the sink, and washed her mouth out.
"Please let there be gum in here," she said as she dug around the contents of the bag she'd brought along with a change of clothes.
She remembered shoving the pack she'd bought at the pharmacy into the duffel bag after she'd dropped everything when that sweaty man had knocked her over.
It was mid afternoon now and they had been busy from the moment they had arrived to help Shelby prepare for the seafood barbeque that the restaurant was hosting.
Angel hadn't had a chance before now to take the test. Now they were about to head back to the farm to get the party started for their group of family and friends, and she'd not been able to contain herself much longer. Taking the small makeup bag from deep within the green duffel, Angel decided she needed to freshen up and look her best.
She wanted to tell Conner about the baby, but she needed to get a gauge on his feelings for her before she told him.
Maybe she had better wait until she could see a doctor?
No, she couldn't wait that long.
She had to tell him tonight. She'd tell him once they were alone, back at his place, so they could celebrate.
She and Conner had gotten together about a month or so ago, and had been pretty active in the sheets ever since. She wondered how far along she was.
She couldn't be more than two or three weeks into her pregnancy then, if her math was correct. Or was that six or seven weeks according to the way they worked out period math? She didn't have a clue, all she knew was that she was going to have a baby.
Oh, god. She was going to have a baby.
Angel couldn't contain the smile she felt. It bubbled from the tips of her toes.
Slicking back her hair into a bouncy ponytail, Angel bit her lip. She wondered what Conner's reaction would be.
Would he be happy?
Or would he run?
Shaking her head, and forcing a brighter smile on her face, she left the bathroom to go find her friends.