Page 99 of Reckoning

Patti was there when the chopper arrived. They couldn’t see the actual recovery, but when the chopper was leaving, they saw the body basket swinging in the air as it was flying away.

Tate pointed. “There he is, Miss Patti. He’s okay now. See?”

“He’s okay, but I’m not,” she said, then swallowed a shaky sob and stood up. “I’m ready to leave.”

Tate folded up his blanket, packed it away, then held out his hand.

She clasped it tight and let him walk her down.

Her sons were right where she’d told them to be, but the sullen expressions on their faces had turned to sadness, and the chopper to take Tate home was inbound.

“Phillip. Jake. You will apologize to Tate for the doubt.”

“There’s no need, ma’am,” Tate said. “It happens all the time.”

“How do you do it?” Phillip asked.

“Got no idea how it works. I was born this way,” Tate said.

“It must feel weird,” Jake mumbled.

“Not really. It runs in the family,” Tate said.

“Wait here,” Patti said, and walked across the parking area to her car. Tate’s ride home was landing as she returned. “Put this in your pocket before it blows away, and know you earned every penny of it.”

Tate looked down at the fifty-thousand-dollar check, then pulled out his wallet and tucked it inside. “I’m sorry we met under sad circumstances, but I am blessed to be able to help.”

They stood back as Tate ran to the chopper and were still watching as it flew away. Then Patti pointed at the car.

“Get in. Both of you. Phillip, you’re grounded until your grades come up, and you, Jake, will end this ridiculous relationship today…with a phone call to the bitch, and you will do it in my presence. There will not be ‘one goodbye fuck’ either. If some angry husband shoots your ass and I have to bury two people I love, you will break my heart. I can’t believe you thought scratching an itch with a married woman was a good idea. I raised you better than that.”

Both sons’ steps were dragging as they followed their mother to the car. Their dad was dead. They’d hurt their mother at the saddest time of her life, and Tate Bandy was the hero they hadn’t seen coming.

* * *

Briar’s last test was over. Her grades had been posted. She’d earned a straight-A average for four years of college and was graduating with honors. She’d had three different roommates in four years and was leaving no close friends behind. She’d never put down roots, because she’d always had Tate. He was the anchor of her world. And, once she moved out of the dorm, she was moving in with him. They’d already discussed it and were celebrating the chance to finally be together like normal people.

They still weren’t taking their relationship public, but Tate was confident that the routine he’d built over the past four years was secure enough to keep their lives private.

Locals called him the lost-and-found man. Lots of others believed he got his information from ghosts and spirits. But this was New Orleans, a city built on shipping, slavery, and voodoo. One man with precognition wasn’t all that big of a deal. Tate didn’t care what they thought. They didn’t live in his head.

The graduating ceremony for the School of Business was being held today, and when he asked her if her parents were coming, she shrugged.

He frowned and lifted a curl away from the corner of her eye. “Did you send them an announcement?”

“I didn’t order any announcements. Who would I send them to? You’re my family, and you already know,” she said, then looked away.

“Come here to me,” he said, and when she walked into his arms, he pulled her close. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ll be the proudest dude there, watching you cross the stage. We’re still knitting our world, and this is one more knit and purl in the yarn, right?”

She looked up at him and smiled. “I love that! Knit and purl one more link.” Then she glanced at the time. “I have to get back to my room and get dressed.”

“Then hop in the car. I’ll drop you off. When do you have to move out of your room?”

“Tomorrow.”

“I’ll be waiting. You just pack yourself and come home to me, darlin’. It’s been a long four years,” he said, then sealed the request with a kiss.

They drove to the campus, and then to her dorm.