A Valentine's Loves (The Valentine's Trilogy Book 3) Read online

  A Valentine’s Loves

  The Valentine’s Trilogy, Book Three

  Sam E. Kraemer

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 by Sam E. Kraemer

  Cover Design: pro_ebookcovers

  Cover photograph: Depositphotos.com

  Pre-reader: Genevieve

  Published by Sam E. Kraemer

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any form, printed or electronic, without the express permission of the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  This book was originally published on free fiction sites under another title, which was owned by the author as well. These characters are the author’s original creations and the events herein are the author’s sole property. No rights to the content of this story are forfeited due to the previous version of the manuscript.

  WARNING: This book contains material which may be offensive to some readers: Graphic language and/or adult situations. It is not suitable for anyone under 18.

  All products/brand names mentioned in this work of fiction are registered trademarks owned by their respective holders/corporations. No trademark infringement intended.

  Summary:

  DEREK-

  Five years ago, I met, fell in love, and married Gray Carson, the man of my dreams. We’d endured more good times than bad, and we were getting ready to experience another life-changing event and a fresh start in a new city along with new jobs for both of us. I’d been hired for my dream job as a Texas Ranger, and I was living on Cloud Nine until I found out more about my first assignment, which involved going undercover. When a State Senator decided he needed a bigger paycheck, he didn’t consider how much his decisions would impact my life and the life Gray and I were trying to create.

  Gray took a job working for the Division of Family and Children’s Services, where he met two children who needed someone more than any two children I’d ever met in my life. Having three people who depended on me to keep them safe made it more important than anything to wrap up my undercover assignment as soon as possible. Protecting my three loves might cost me my life, but I’d protect them with everything at my disposal. I was learning a Valentine would do anything for his loves…even break the law.

  Dedication

  To JMJ who loves these characters.

  Thank you for your encouragement.

  One

  Derek

  I was sitting in one of the uncomfortable, metal chairs on the football field of TDECU Stadium at the University of Houston. The main graduation ceremony had taken place earlier before the various schools broke off to the have their own ceremonies. Fortunately, Gray's college ceremony was taking place at the same stadium, and I was quite happy to be seated near the front of the parents' section. As I waited for the graduates to file in and take their seats, I thought back to the road which led us to that happy day.

  My Gray was graduating with his Master's degree in Social Work; his undergraduate in Human Development & Family Studies. It had been five years since we met, and a lot had happened to us. We were ending one chapter of our life together and starting another. I thought it was pretty damn great.

  After our wedding in Key West that spring, we returned to Houston and Gray finished his freshman year. That summer, he’d worked at The Rainbow Center as an assistant to the director, Dr. Janet Everwood. The pay wasn't a lot, but it was work he loved, and he was able to take classes over the summer. He and Ethan were both eager to finish their undergrad years to begin to their mark in the world, and I supported my husband one-hundred percent in anything he wanted to accomplish.

  During the break between summer sessions, Ethan took Craig home to Lubbock to meet the parents and come out at the same time. According to Craig, it was quite a trip with family bickering back and forth, but at the end of the day, the Glass family accepted Ethan's news and Craig at the same time.

  In the beginning, Ethan’s folks were pissed all right, but they liked Craig and saw he could be a good role model and mentor for their son. Craig and I agreed it was a good outcome, especially after I told him about the empty grave back in Friendsville with my husband's name on it. He agreed with me…it was completely fucked up and Gray never needed to know about it.

  As I came to find out after some digging, the whole tombstone thing was just for show to the residents of Friendsville, Texas. Grays' parents hadn't tried to declare Gray legally dead. They simply bought a plot, had the dirt tilled to look like a fresh grave, and purchased the stone.

  The story to the townsfolk was Gray had been killed in a climbing accident in South America after his brother passed away and it took a while to recover the body and have it returned to the States for burial…a private burial.

  There wasn't anything I could do to get the stone removed because it was at a private, church-owned cemetery and their Baptist minister dismissed my request, stating, "The family has the right to grieve the loss of their son in the way the choose whether he's actually dead or not. When Gray told his mom and dad he was gay, it was the same hurt they felt when Gerry died. I won't punish them further by ordering the stone be removed."

  Of course, homophobia was nothing new to me so I made a vow to myself never to let Gray go alone to the cemetery. I'd try to keep him away, but it was where his brother was buried so I had to be careful. At least if I was with him, I could keep him from seeing the stone, or so I promised myself.

  Gray had stopped working at ‘Wayne's Deli’, and I was fucking happy about it. In fact, Tyrone had quit as well and was working as a personal trainer at a gym across town. After everything went down with Cary Saunders and Josh Moore in Key West, neither Gray nor Tyrone wanted anything to do with Maddy Wayne. The hurt with regard to the loss of Drew Corner would be hard for Gray, but I hoped to help him get through it.

  Miss Caroline and Maddy had hidden Cary away in Europe and it pissed all of us off. Hiding Cary from the authorities to keep him from taking responsibility for his participation in Drew's death was unforgivable. The fact Cary was allowed to be on house arrest instead of in jail pissed me off, personally. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do about it.

  Cary had agreed to become an informer for the Feds, giving up information regarding the drug trade in which he and the missing Jeremy Corner were involved, so the Feds took him into custody and cut off my access to the dick. It seemed as if Jeremy Corner kept his people on a tight leash, so he was pretty sure Cary was signing his own death certificate by turning on him. Unfortunately, we were all trying to find that asshole and it was like looking for a fucking needle in a haystack.

  The federal prosecutor took Cary's testimony into consideration but was hesitant to proceed to the sentencing phase until they had Jeremy Corner in custody. If the man was ever found, he would spend the rest of his miserable fucking life behind bars, which made me quite happy.

  Agents John Cabbott and Danny Offer wanted to convince the US Attorney to prosecute Miss Caroline and Maddy for obstruction of justice and perjury, but I'd asked them to consider the situation for what it was…the two women were doing what they believed they needed to protect Cary. He'd had a shitty life and they both felt guilty about it, trying to make up to him for his parents' absences.

  Additionally, they were older women, and t
hey'd present a sympathetic case of trying to protect Cary and believing him to be innocent of any wrongdoing, so it was a frivolous pursuit at best. Besides, Miss Caroline was likely well-connected and could probably get out of any charges, leaving the Feds and our office by extension, looking foolish. They finally agreed, but they weren't happy.

  Craig and I had given depositions, just like Gray and Ty, regarding the events leading to Drew Corner's death and the shit that went down after. We were material witnesses, so we were kept out of the loop regarding what was going on for the most part. Cary pled guilty to lesser charges, but the Prosecutor requested house arrest and a Stay regarding the sentencing phase for both Cary and Josh. The best thing to come out of it was Jeremy Corner's debut on the FBI's Most Wanted List.

  After Josh's colossal fuck-up in all of it, Internal Affairs did an investigation, finding the rest of us weren't involved, thankfully. The LT lectured all of us regarding proper procedures and protocols (even though she knew what was going on the whole time), so everything was by the book again for a while. As an example, Craig and I were assigned to desk duty, but it all worked out in the end.

  Once Craig and I were back on patrol, Lt. George called me into her office one afternoon and informed me she'd recommended me to the Governor to be considered for a job with the Texas Rangers…not the baseball team, the actual Texas Rangers' Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety. It was a very prestigious brotherhood to join, as I'd learned as a kid because the Rangers' museum was in Waco and it was one of my favorite places to visit.

  Gray was proud of me when I was sworn in, though I had to spend a considerable amount of time in Austin in the beginning for lots of extra physical and procedural training. Eventually, I was assigned to the Houston field office, and my husband and I were once again living in wedded bliss.

  I worked on cases ranging from the allegations of political corruption to murders and kidnappings, to assisting in crowd control during popular events or times of unrest for many reasons in the State of Texas.

  I grew to love my job, and after Gray graduated, we were moving to Austin. He had accepted a job working for the Division of Children's and Family Services and I was transferred to the Austin field office. We were looking forward to the move.

  I felt a tug on my long hair, pulling me from my trip down memory lane. I turned to see my niece, Sila, and my sister, Cara, standing at the end of the row. Mom and Dad were behind them and they were waiting for me to move my ass out of the way so they could get to the chairs I'd saved.

  I picked up Sila. "How are you, pretty girl? Is your mother still beating you on a daily basis?" I teased as I held her. She was a carbon copy of her mother at four years old, and it reminded me of the turn of events that took place when she was born.

  I found a parking spot at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center and hurried inside the emergency room. "What floor is the maternity waiting room?" I asked.

  The woman looked it up and smiled. "Five." I thanked her as I hurried down the hallway. I took the slowest elevator in North America to the fifth floor and followed the signs to the waiting room, seeing Gray and my mother sitting together.

  "What's going on?" I asked.

  "Dad's in with her. She said we were driving her crazy," Mom complained. Gray looked up at me and winked, which led me to believe Mom was driving her crazy and he went along so Mom didn't feel bad.

  "How much longer will it be?" I asked as I sat next to my husband and kissed his lips quickly. I hadn't seen him since the previous morning when he sucked the life out of me, fed me breakfast, and put me to bed before he left for his work at the shelter. I worried about him there, but he told me I always worried too much. He could handle himself. I had to take him at his word or suffer his retribution if I didn’t, and he definitely had a temper I didn’t want to encounter.

  Before Gray or Mom could answer, Dad came in and smiled when he saw me. "Hey, son. Right on time. Cara wants me out of there so you're up. Be supportive but don’t try to diminish her pain," Dad teased as he shook his hand in the air. Gray giggled.

  He gave me the room number and I went inside, seeing a nurse taking Cara’s vitals. "I can come back," I offered. If she was going to get up into my sister's business, I wanted nothing to do with it.

  "No, no. I've already done that check. Come on in," the nurse greeted with a big smile. Her nametag read "Rita," so I smiled back at her.

  "Thank you, Miss Rita," I returned. She was in her fifties, and I could tell she'd dealt with pregnant women for a long time. My sister was in good hands.

  "Rita, this is my brother, Derek. He's married to Gray," Cara introduced as she began sobbing.

  "Oh, um, it's nice to meet you, Derek. I'll be back," the woman told me as she hurried out of the room.

  I walked over and sat down, taking my sister's hand. "What? She got somethin' against queers?" I asked, not happy about the woman's attitude at all.

  Cara smiled through her tears. "No, no. It's just I explained something to her, and she knows what I'm…oh…OH!" She began huffing and puffing, squeezing my hand to the point I thought she was going to crush it. It was my shooting hand, dammit!

  Instead of bitching like a pussy, I just let my sister squeeze away and smoothed back her hair with my free hand. Cara continued to glance at a machine next to her, and when it beeped, she took a big breath and let it out. "Whew, that was a big one."

  "You were saying," I reminded as I extracted my hand from hers and flexed it, checking for broken bones.

  She looked nervous, and I was too tired to play games. "Sissy, just tell me."

  "I've decided to keep the baby. I’m going to take a year off from law school and stay home with her, taking Momma and Daddy’s offer to move back home. They said they'll help me with her and hell, I'm in town already since I couldn't get a position over the summer, so I might as well stay. I'll have to clean out my apartment in Dallas at some point, but that's what I've decided to do.

  "It's not because I don't think you and Gray would be good parents for her, Derek. It's just…I can't fathom…I can't be away from her. I've carried her inside me for nine months, and to just walk away from…Oh, fuck." She grabbed my hand again, and a bell went off on the machine, which brought people into the room.

  "Sorry, Uncle Derek. You'll have to leave us. We need to see what's going on," Nurse Rita ordered.

  I hurried out, feeling guilty about leaving my little sister alone. That guilt was short lived because I had to walk down the hall to the waiting room and tell the man I loved…the man I married…Cara was going to stay in Waco and raise her child…her daughter…at my parents' house.

  I knew he'd been shopping for baby stuff without telling me. In addition to working at The Rainbow Center, he was tutoring for summer school as well as taking classes. Telling him all of those blankets and toys and baby clothes he'd hidden in the spare room weren't going to be needed was breaking my fucking heart.

  I sat on the floor outside Cara's room for a few minutes trying to get my shit together when suddenly, there was a lot of hustling around inside the room. There was a gurney wheeled into the room, and unexpectedly, people were running and scattering. I grabbed a nurse. "What's going on? That's my sister."

  "Go to the waiting room. Doctor Kirk will be down to brief the family soon," the woman instructed without consideration I was worried right that moment.

  I waited until they brought Cara out, seeing her face was ghostly pale. Her eyes were closed, and she was wearing an oxygen mask. "What's going on?" I asked again. Nobody responded. They ran down the hallway without looking back.

  I hurried to the waiting room to find my family waiting calmly. "Something's wrong. They made me leave the room, and then they wheeled her out. I don't think she was conscious," I explained.

  My mother hopped to her feet and headed out the door, followed by my father. I sat down next to Gray and took his hand in mine. I needed to tell him we wouldn't be helping Cara raise her daughter, but until we knew wh
at was going on with my sister’s health, the news could wait.

  Our prayers were needed down the hall, so I asked every religious entity I could think of…Christian and Cherokee… to look out for my sister and niece. I called on my ancestors to guide her path and keep her and her daughter safely upon it. I asked my dead father if he would look down from the spirit lands to help my sister and her baby.

  I felt Gray wrap his arms around me and hold me as I cried. I didn't want to lose my sister or her baby, and that was the most important thing at the moment. Not losing them.

  Two

  Derek

  Sometime later, I felt Gray shake me. "Baby, wake up. Cara's out of surgery and back in her room," he whispered to me. I didn't realize I'd fallen asleep until I opened my eyes and everything was sideways. I felt the pillow…Gray's thigh under my head…and discovered I was spread out on several of the plastic chairs. My hair was out of the braid because I felt Gray's fingers moving through it as he liked to do, and it was no wonder I'd fallen asleep. His scalp massages were like a sleeping pill to me.

  I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "How are they? Cara and the baby?"

  "Dr. Kirk came in to get Addy and Rick. Cara's fine. Her blood pressure shot up, and they had to perform an emergency C-section. The baby's fine as well. They've got her settled in the nursery. Mom and Dad went down to see the baby, but I waited for you to sleep a little so we can go see that little angel together," Gray explained happily.

  I glanced around to see it was only the two of us in the waiting room, and I knew I had to tell him the truth before we walked down that hall to see our niece. "Come with me to the bathroom, will you?"

  He giggled, which I loved to hear. "Do you need me to hold the fire hose for you?"

  That brought a laugh from me. "Hey, that sounds like a great idea. Come on," I teased as I grabbed his hand and led him down the hall to the men's room.