Page 106 of Tiger Queen
“Is that a joke?” Jake said.
“No!” I said, horrified. “I’m being serious about us being together. I thought…”
Jake laughed and held me by the shoulders. “I meant the part about us wanting to be with you. Is that a joke? Because I’ve never wanted anything more in the world. I thought it was obvious.”
“I love you,” Anthony blurted out. He glanced around as if surprised that he had said it out loud. “That is to say, I love you, Rachel. I know it’s been less than two months but you’re everything I have ever wanted in a woman.”
I turned to David. I was most afraid of what he would say, since he had a life and businesses up in Richmond he would be giving up. If he didn’t feel the same way…
“Rachel, I can’t imagine living without you,” he said softly. “I’ve been falling in love with you since you walked into the zoo for the job interview, and since I visited your hotel and convinced you to work for us. This past week has been wonderful, but it’s been terrible, too. Terrible because I knew it was going to end and I have been wracking my brain to find a way to make it last longer. I even started researching the Kenya visa process.” He tapped the land title. “But this is much better. Of course my answer is yes.”
He kissed me there in the police station, a kiss of relief and promise and love. Then I embraced Anthony, then finally Jake. Everyone was all smiles.
One of the other US Fish and Wildlife agents was staring at us. “What the fuck?” he muttered.
Mary Beth shot him a look. “Fuck off William. Nobody asked you.”
“Well?” Anthony said as he looked at each of us. “Are we really doing this?”
“It sounds like it,” Jake said with a grin.
“We have a lot of work to do,” I said. “It’s going to take months. Maybe longer. And that’s just to prepare the land and animals. Who knows how long the paperwork will take.”
David took my hand and squeezed it. “Then we’d better get started, shouldn’t we?”
Epilogue
Rachel
One Year Later
We drove the Mule along the outer perimeter fence of the wildlife park, the wind blowing my hair around chaotically. I didn’t mind. It made me feel wild and free, like an animal.
Like our animals, soon enough.
“What are you looking for?” Jake asked while driving.
I shrugged. “Just making one final pass.”
“Everything is good,” he said in a patient voice. “We’ve checked and double-checked. The park is ready, honey.”
“I’m triple-checking, then,” I said curtly. “We can’t be too careful.”
Jake laughed, but instead of arguing further he just said, “Whatever you say.”
Deep down, I knew he was right. The animals were chipped and ready to go. After a year of renovations and construction the Haines Wildlife Park was ready. We had demolished the old sheds and fences on the property and built a larger, sturdier perimeter fence. We had secured the water sources for the animals to drink from. We had installed RFID sensors throughout the park so we could track all the animals wherever they went.
Today was the day we opened the park to the animals. But still, I hesitated.
“Remember Jurassic Park?” I said. “A lot of things can go wrong.”
“Something tells me Dennis Nedry isn’t going to sabotage our park in the middle of a tropical storm. Also—and this is a minor detail—we don’t have dinosaurs here. We have tigers, and lions, and a couple of wolves.”
“A tiger can rip someone’s belly open as easily as a velociraptor,” I said simply.
Jake laughed again. He was used to humoring me when it came to the details of the park. But then he slowed the Mule to a stop and twisted to face me.
“You need to relax.”