Page 63 of Isla by Any Other Name

Mitch walked into the cottage, and it was like coming home. It smelled like her, like his Isla. Cinnamon and vanilla. “Marcus Hernandez is dead,” Mitch announced. “It’s over, Kech. Do you think she’ll be happy to see me?”

Kech clapped his hands together and laughed. “Happy to see you? We’ll probably have to scrape her off the floor. Of course she’ll be happy to see you!”

“Where’s Jesse?” Mitch asked. He longed to hold his son.

“I just put him down for his nap. He’ll probably be out for the next two hours.”

Mitch looked over at a baby monitor on the living room coffee table. He could see his son curled up in his bed. “Kech, I’ll never be able to repay you for all that you’ve done for all of us. If it weren’t for you, I’d never have seen my boy or Isla.”

“No need for thanks,” said Kech, waving Mitch away. “Now come into the kitchen. I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Abigail. She was just finishing dinner.”

Mitch followed Kech into the kitchen and was introduced to Abigail as an old friend of Siobhan’s. “It’s nice to meet you, Mitch. Can you stay for dinner?”

Mitch felt butterflies in his stomach at the suggestion—plus he was starving. But he didn’t want to get ahead of himself. “We’ll have to wait and see what Siobhan has to say about that first,” he said. He didn’t want to assume anything till Isla and he talked.

Kech handed him a beer and they waited for Isla. He told them about his flight. But then he heard the door open and shut. Isla called from the living room.

My Isla.

“I couldn’t get the cheese you wanted, so I got asiago. I hope that’s all right,” she said as she walked into the kitchen.

Their eyes met. The bag she was holding fell to the floor. “Mitch,” she said, as if his name weighed a thousand pounds. As if saying it aloud dropped the weight from her shoulders. Her eyes became misty. “Is it really you? What are you doing here? Is it okay?”

Mitch said slowly, “It’s over, Isla. Marcus Hernandez is dead. He’s not a threat to you anymore. He got what he had coming to him. It’s over.”

She looked at him dumbfounded.

“It’s over,” he said. He walked toward her and she threw her arms around his neck. Their lips met. He’d been living off the memory of their last kiss for years. But this—this was the first of many more kisses and many more memories, good memories. “I love you, Isla. I never want to let you go, never again.”

“Oh Mitch,” she breathed. “This isn’t a dream? You’re real, you’re really here—I have so much to tell you.”

She looked over Mitch’s shoulder into the smiling face of her best friend and at the confused face of Abigail as she stood with her mouth open wondering what the heck was going on.

“Abigail, it’s a long story and I’ll tell you all of it soon. But first, can I talk to Mitch in private?”

Kech smiled. “Why don’t the two of you take a ride? We’ll be here when you get back.”

Mitch took Isla’s hand and walked her out the door to his truck. Before he opened the door, he took her in his arms and kissed her like they had been separated for a lifetime. That’s exactly how it felt. It had been a lifetime since he had held her in his arms. His heart pounded, and he could feel hers pounding against his chest. He felt at home in her arms.

Isla took his face between her hands, “Mitch, it’s really you. I’ve dreamed of this moment for three years but never thought it would happen. I’ve got so much to tell you.”

He kissed her lips gently and settled her in the car. “Let’s take a ride and you can tell me everything.”

Isla directed him to a pretty spot that overlooked the big sky Montana landscape. He turned the car off and pulled her against him. “Now, what do you have to tell me?”

“Mitch, after I left…I found out I was pregnant. You have a son,” she said, her voice shaky. “Mitch, he’s beautiful. He looks just like you. If it weren’t for him, I would have never been able to survive these last three years. When you were shot, I was there with you. I was in the operating room and I was there holding your hand in ICU. It was the hardest thing I had ever had to do leaving you there. I sat by your side willing you to open your eyes. I was never so happy as when I knew you were going to be okay.”

“I have a son,” he beamed. “Jesse Mitchell O’Grady, huh? Well that’s going to have to change and soon.”

“How did you know his name was Jesse Mitchell?” she asked as she looked into his eyes.

Mitch knew this was the moment to come clean. He’d never keep anything from Isla ever again. “Kech,” Mitch said.

“Kech?!”

Mitch nodded. “He kept me in the loop. He sent me pictures and videos almost daily. He let me know how the two of you were doing. If it weren’t for him, I would have gone insane. I knew you were there, Isla, in my hospital room. I felt you there. I tried so hard to open my eyes and they just wouldn’t open. When Curt came to visit, I told him you were there. He did some investigating and…when Curt told me about Jesse, you don’t know how badly I wanted to say to hell with it all and come to you. But I knew I had to keep you and Jesse safe. Kech got in touch with me. I remembered him from the hospital. He agreed to keep me updated on you and Jesse. I have so much to thank him for. Because of him, I have my family back.”

Isla was quiet for a moment, putting together a puzzle in her mind. Mitch worried for a moment that she’d be angry with him for going behind her back. That she’d be angry at Kech. But then she said, “Your family…I like the sound of that. Mitch, what are we going to do now?”