Not in the Cards Page 23

  “You did. I nearly got you killed.”

  “The fire nearly killed me, Carducci, not you. Look at me.”

  Raising his head slowly, Tony looked at Delta with tears in his eyes. She knew he had seen his career as a cop go up in the same flames that almost took her life.

  “Carducci, the end justified the means. Stop dwelling on the mistakes. That won’t get you anywhere.”

  “That’s just it, Delta, my career won’t be going anywhere after this. I blew it big time.”

  “Not to me, you didn’t. We all screw up, Carducci, and when we do, we just hope it doesn’t cost any lives. All I care about is the fact that a bunch of kids have the chance to grow up. Damn, Carducci, that’s something to be proud of.”

  Tony looked back down at his hands. “They’ll probably take you off TP now.”

  “Probably.”

  “You deserve that much, Delta. What you did...well...it was great. I only want the best for you.”

  “Me, too. And I hope the best for you. Right now, that means going home, getting cleaned up, and bringing me something for breakfast that doesn’t look or taste like plastic. Will you do that for me?”

  Tony’s head jerked up and a flicker of excitement immediately replaced the gloom in his eyes. “You bet. What would you like?”

  “Everything. Eggs, pancakes, sausage, toast, coffee, the whole ball of bacon. But be careful. Don’t let Nurse Ratchet see you.”

  Rising, Tony fumbled in his pockets for his keys. “Anything else?”

  “How about a newspaper?”

  “You got it. I’ll be back in a flash.”

  “Oh, and Carducci?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Take a shower.” Delta grinned. He reminded her of a puppy that just wanted to do the right thing, but didn’t quite know how to do it.

  “Gotcha. I’ll be back with the best breakfast this side of the Mississippi.” And with that, he flew out the door, leaving Delta wondering about their tenuous future.

  That evening, Delta arrived home to find it blanketed with flowers and gifts from the guys at the station. Closing the door behind them, Megan escorted her to the couch and ordered her to sit down and stay there for the remainder of the evening.

  “I mean it, Delta. I don’t want you getting up for anything. For once in your stubborn life, let someone take care of you.”

  Fluffing up a pillow, Delta did as she was told. “It feels good to be home,” she said.

  “Connie said she’d be right over after she finishes up a few things at work. Gina sends her love and says she’ll see you tomorrow. The phone has been ringing off the damned hook. I didn’t realize so many people cared about you.”

  Delta grinned. “What can I say?”

  “You can start by telling me who all of these women are.” Megan grinned back as she handed Delta a list of callers.

  “Looks like my date list from my little black book,” she said, winking. “Actually, it’s just the dispatch crew, the clerks, the secretaries, other cops, and detectives. All of the women I work with.”

  “Hmph. I suppose I should pay more attention to the women you come in contact with, huh?”

  Patting the couch, Delta made room for Megan. “The only woman I want you paying attention to is me.”

  Snuggling up next to Delta, Megan was careful to avoid touching her wounds. “That’s an easy request.”

  “Good, because the next request might not be.”

  Raising up so they were eye to eye, Megan waited. “Oh?”

  “Meg, I know this fire thing came up at a bad time and all—”

  “I thought we had already discussed this. There’s no reason to apologize.”

  “I’m not apologizing. I’m trying to tell you that I want you to go to Costa Rica as you planned.”

  Megan’s expression didn’t change. “Excuse me?”

  “Honey, I want you to go. I’ve thought long and hard about it and I think you’re right.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Meg, I’m not going to die. I’m not going to fall apart. Staying here under such ridiculous pretense is only going to prolong the inevitable.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “That you need to go find out who the new Megan Osbourne really is. My accident doesn’t change that fact.”

  “Did you bake your brain while you were in that house?” Megan teased, dropping a kiss on Delta’s cheek.

  “No. But when death stares you in the face, you suddenly realize how short life is. I don’t want to take anything from your life, sweetheart. I want to add to it. If you need to explore your life away from me, then I understand. Well, at least, I’m beginning to.”

  Lightly touching Delta’s lips with her fingertips, Megan sighed. “You don’t think the timing is bad?”

  “I think the timing is just right. I want to be a good partner to you, Megan. I love you so much I just want to do right by you. You’ve been so supportive of me, I think it’s time I returned the favor.”

  Megan lowered her mouth to Delta’s. She kissed her tenderly for a long time. It was a kiss that said ‘I’ll love you for the rest of my life.’ It was a kiss that told Delta she had made the right decision.

  “I love you, Delta Stevens.”

  “Then, you’ll go?”

  Looking deep into Delta’s emerald eyes, Megan nodded. “I’ll go. I’ll go because I have to, because I need to. Because I want to come back to you knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that here is where I want to be—that you are who I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

  Kissing Megan’s chin, Delta hugged her. “If going will tell you that, then go. But damn you, Megan, you had better come back ready to live with me, ready to love me, ready to...marry me.”

  Megan quickly pulled away. “What did you say?”

  “I said, marry me.”

  “Are you serious?”

  Delta nodded. “I want to have a civil union with you, Megan. I mean, when you’re sure that I’m the one you want and this is the life you choose.”

  “A union?” A small smile crept onto her mouth. “You mean with a preacher and everything?”

  “Everything. Will you? I mean, when you get back, will you give me an answer?”

  Throwing her arms around Delta, Megan squeezed her so tightly, it hurt. “Yes, I’ll give you an answer.” Kissing Delta hard, Megan abruptly rose. “You never cease to amaze me, Delta Stevens.”

  “I hope I never stop.”

  Suddenly, the front door opened, and there stood Connie with her hands full of newspapers. “I thought maybe your scrapbook wasn’t full yet.”

  Delta grinned. “Come on in. Want a cup of coffee?”

  “This late? No thanks. It’ll keep me up for hours.”

  “I thought that was the plan.”

  “The plan,” Megan said, returning to the front room, “is for you to get some rest. Right, Connie?”

  Shrugging at Delta, Connie sat down. “You mean after I tell her what I’ve found out?” The rebellious twinkle in Connie’s eyes gave her away.

  Turning on her heel, Megan shook her head as she walked back into the kitchen. “You’re both incorrigible—beyond hope.”

  Looking at Connie, Delta shrugged. “Beyond hope?”

  “You heard her.” Connie grinned.

  “Well, would you mind being the best woman of an incorrigible cop who’s completely beyond hope?”

  “Get outta here.”

  Delta grinned. “You and Gina had one. I think it’s time for Megan and me to make a formal commitment to each other. I just asked her and hope she will say yes.”

  Connie jumped to her feet and started dancing. “You’re going to get married! Can we make it a Navajo ceremony? I know, how about a dual ceremony? One for the blessing of the baby by Changing Woman, and the other, a marriage ceremony. It’ll be great!”

  Delta looked at Connie as if she’d gone nuts. “Easy. She hasn’t even agreed to it yet. Besides, in your bizarre little s
cenario, who’s going to marry us? Shaman Lady and Goofy Two Steps?”

  Connie stopped moving and jammed her hands on her hips. “You can have such a teeny tiny little mind sometimes.”

  “Perhaps because it’s been smashed up against my skull twice in one week.”

  “Well, I don’t care. I’m going to ask Megan if she would mind having a dual ceremony.”

  “She hasn’t said yes to any ceremony, yet.”

  “Ah, then we shall pray to the White Shell Woman.”

  Delta couldn’t help but laugh. “What the hell has gotten into you? Locoweed?”

  Connie tried to hide her grin, but was unsuccessful. “Okay, I’ve been reading a book about the Navajo tradition, and I’m a little pumped is all.”

  “About what?”

  Connie shook her head. “I am a lot of things, but I am not a thunder thief. This is your day for sharing special news.”

  “Umm, she hasn’t said yes. When she does, it will definitely be my special day. Until then, spit it out. What’s brewing in that head of yours?”

  “Well, I cannot lie to you, my friend. Gina is being inseminated today.”

  Delta’s mouth opened but nothing came out. “Excuse me? Did you say—”

  Connie’s grin brightened. “After everything that’s happened, we decided not to wait. Life’s too short, Storm, to hem and haw around, so we sat down last night and decided that we wanted a Native American child.”

  “I...I don’t know what to say.”

  “The Native American heritage is dying a slow death, Delta. Keeping the bloodline alive is a gift Gina and I can give back to the Indian nation. It’s the very least I can do.”

  “Is the father full-blooded?”

  Connie nodded. “I brought his picture.”

  Delta sat up so quickly, it hurt her. “No kidding?”

  “I knew you’d ask. Here.” Handing Delta the picture, Connie beamed. “I think he’s beautiful.”

  Taking the wallet-size picture, Delta carefully studied it. The man looking back at her had deep brown eyes on either side of a strong nose. What stood out most were the dimples in his cheeks and his flawless smile. Connie was right. He was beautiful.

  “Whoa. I suppose my niece will end up being the next Gerber baby, then. He’s gorgeous.”

  Taking the picture back, Connie studied it a moment. “Yes, he is. Now do you understand why I’m a little fired up?”

  “I’m so happy for you..”

  “Happy enough to have a double ceremony?”

  Megan came out of the kitchen with two cups of coffee. “Yes, Connie, if Delta and I decide that a union is what we want, then I would be honored to have a double ceremony.”

  “I’m glad one of you has the sense the goddesses gave you.”

  Delta merely shook her head. “Consuela Rivera, if my head wasn’t pounding before you got here, it sure is now.”

  Connie started reaching into her pocket. “Wait. I was just reading about the ancient Hopi herb for headaches....”

  When Delta walked into the station the next day she received a hearty and sincere round of applause from her colleagues. Cops seldom showed much open emotion, and it deeply touched her that they would stop what they were doing to acknowledge her return.

  “Thanks, guys,” Delta said, feeling both proud and slightly embarrassed by the commotion.

  “Hey, Stevens!” One very large officer called out. “When I grow up, I want to be just like you!” Everyone laughed and shouted the usual clichéd comebacks about Erwin growing more than he already had.

  “You frame that leather jacket,” another officer said. “The paramedics said it saved your life.”

  Nodding, Delta stopped when a clerk threw her arms around her and hugged her tightly. “I have two kids of my own, Delta. What you did...it makes me so proud.”

  “Makes us all proud, you hotdog!” another voice chimed in.

  “Thanks, really. But you’re making a fuss for nothing. You’d all have done the same.”

  “That’s right,” Connie said, emerging from behind her desk. “You guys act like she’s a heroine or something. Sheesh. If you don’t stop now, we won’t be able to get her big head through the door.”

  Again, the crowd snickered.

  “You done good, Delta.”

  Grinning sheepishly, Delta shrugged. “I was taught by the best. What can I say?”

  Suddenly, a young officer with a crew cut stepped forward and shook Delta’s hand. “I’m proud to say I work with you, Delta, and I’d be really proud if you were ever my partner.”

  “Hey, speaking of partners, where the hell is wrong-way Carducci, anyhow?”

  Suddenly, the grins turned into scowls, and Delta felt the tension flowing through the room.

  “Maybe,” another cop offered, “since your tail was cooking in the fire, his ass is in hot water.”

  “Serves him right.”

  “Yeah. Man, if he were my partner—”

  Looking around the room, Delta saw the suddenly grim, frowning faces of her colleagues. It was one thing to make a mistake; it was another matter entirely when a cop almost bites it because of another cop’s error. Forgiveness didn’t come easily to this group, and Delta knew that Tony had probably taken a verbal beating for his blunder the night of the rescue.

  “Come on, guys, lighten up,” Delta admonished.

  “Lighten up? Stevens, you gotta be crazy. If he were my partner, he wouldn’t be after a fuck-up like that.”

  “Dougherty’s right. That rookie nearly got you deep fried. As it is, he still got you sent to the hospital. That didn’t need to happen, Stevens, and you know it.”

  “Look, we were off duty, Carducci’d had a drink or two. Nobody expected that we’d have to think so damned fast on our feet. He made a mistake. What do you expect? Perfection?”

  “We’d expect him to know his left from his right,” Came a deep voice from the corner. “Or his right from his left. Or up from down...or....”

  “Admit it, Stevens, he almost got you flame broiled like a Whopper. We all know it. Don’t try to protect him, man. He fucked up royally and I, for one, don’t care to work with someone that stupid.”

  “Ditto!”

  Connie stepped over to Delta and gently laid her hand on Delta’s shoulder. “Give it a rest, you guys. She’s back one minute, and the next, you’re giving her shit. Ease up, okay?”

  “We’re not on her, Rivera. It’s her dim-witted rookie, AKA The Cop Who Couldn’t Find His Ass With Both Hands.”

  As a few officers chortled at Tony’s new moniker, the door slowly opened and Tony walked in looking like a man who had just bet everything he owned on a lame pony. Instantly, the laughing subsided and everyone ducked their heads and went back to work.

  Lowering his head, aware that the whole room had just been talking about him, Tony headed for the locker room.

  “Hey, Carducci, wait up.” Brushing past a few of the back slappers, Delta reached him in three of her long strides.

  Tony forced a small grin. “How you feeling?”

  “I’m fine. Really.” If anyone had told Delta that she’d see the likes of Tony Carducci cowed, she would have bet a month’s pay that it would never happen. But standing before her now was a beaten man, a rookie who had probably taken a lot more abuse in the last two days than the verbal sputterings she had just witnessed. Delta knew what bastards the Internal Affairs cretins could be, and she knew by Tony’s hang-dog appearance that they hadn’t been kind.

  “Delta, I know I let you dow—”

  Suddenly, the captain’s door opened and Captain Henry appeared, hands on his hips, wearing something between a frown and a scowl on his weather-beaten face. “Stevens, when you’re done signing autographs, I want to see you in my office.”

  Frustrated by his timing, Delta patted Tony on the back before heading for the captain’s office. “We’ll talk later. In the meantime, don’t let the guys get to you.”

  “Yeah. Sure.”

/>   Following Henry back into his office, Delta knew what was coming. She knew, and she had prepared herself.

  Moving his great frame around to his side of the desk, Captain Henry clicked his little lamp off. “It seems you find yourself in the limelight once again.”

  Delta couldn’t tell by his demeanor whether that was a good thing or not. “If I had my choice, sir, I wouldn’t be.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, Delta,” the captain said, opening the file laying on his desk. Delta hadn’t noticed it when she sat down, but she knew exactly what it was. “You have, again, brought this department some very positive media attention. What you did, how you risked your life, is stuff the media loves writing about and the public adores reading.”

  Delta watched Henry move in his seat like a panther paces back and forth at the zoo.

  “It seems,” he continued, “that no matter where you’re assigned, you always seem to end up in the thick of things.”

  Delta started to respond, but thought better of it.

  “Saving those kids has sure made us look good in a year when police brutality claims the headlines.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Her confidence turned to bafflement.“Captain, just where, exactly, is this conversation heading?”

  Leaning across the desk, Henry’s eyes narrowed. “Where do we put you now? The department is going to look real bad if we keep you on Training Patrol after this. Already, the papers want to know why you’re there now. The Tribune is actually speculating that you’re being punished for your role in the Zuckerman death.”

  Delta’s eyebrow rose. “Aren’t I?”

  Slamming his fist on the desk, Captain Henry caught himself and walked over to the window. “Damn it, Delta, you’re not making this easy for me.”

  “Captain, I’m not exactly sure what this is.”

  Folding his arms across his chest, Henry stood there staring at her. “You and I know that it wasn’t luck that made you follow that Camaro. I don’t know how you did it, but somehow, you managed to weasel your way onto this case.”

  “But—”

  “Let me finish. Right now, how you knew, how long you’ve been collecting evidence, and how many regulations you’ve broken during your investigation are moot points to everybody. And I do mean everybody. Suddenly, you’ve become the golden girl of the police force and I don’t know what the hell to do about it.”