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Reese also acknowledged what the teen had just said.Just like the others before memeant they were all gone. Tears overwhelmed Reese.
“I have a blanket in the back of my vehicle,” he said, then went to retrieve it. As he walked away from them, he also communicated on the radio. Reese walked Tandra to the opened passenger door of his SUV.
“Sit inside here,” Reese said, only able to focus on the teen right then. “This will keep you warm.”
The heater was on, and this kiddo desperately needed to warm up.
“Don’t leave,” Tandra said as the sheriff returned.
“I won’t,” Reese promised. “I’m right here until your parents arrive.”
Tandra nodded, then sniffled and wiped tearstained cheeks. “I never should have talked to him at the store.”
“Who?” the sheriff asked.
Tandra gave her statement. By the time she finished, Reese was ready to throw a punch at one of those bastards presently in the back seat of the deputy’s SUV wearing handcuffs. It was probably good that Courtright climbed inside the driver’s seat and then pulled away. Justice would be served when the book was thrown at those jerks.
Darren walked over and stood behind Reese. She leaned back into his chest as he looped his arms around her. His body was all the warmth she needed. And yet, she also realized this was the end of it.
“You came asking questions on your way to the ranch,” he said in her ear. “I overheard Alexander telling the deputy they had to stop you.”
It explained why she’d been abducted and nearly murdered.
“But first, they intended to torture you by showing you where your best friend was buried. They planned to dig a grave next to her,” he said quietly, reverently. “Nothing will ever happen to you on my watch.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks. Tears for Camree Lynn. Tears for Tandra. Tears for the fact it was time to go home to the family ranch and face the music, leaving Darren behind. She would be leaving her heart behind with him.
That was life, though. It was messy and unpredictable, coming so close to giving her everything she could have ever wanted before ripping it all away again.
Walking away from Darren a second time was going to be the second hardest thing she’d ever done.
DARRENWATCHEDASTandra’s parents were reunited with their daughter in the ER. He listened as the fifteen-year-old detailed the Archers’ plan to kill her by Christmas. The horror of what she’d gone through would last a lifetime, but she would sleep in her own bed tonight and that was something to be grateful for.
His cell buzzed, so he immediately answered. “Hello?”
“This is Jeanie,” the familiar voice said. “I just thought you would want to know that Buster is going to be just fine.”
“That’s great news, Jeanie,” he said to Buster’s wife. “Really great news.”
“If not for someone knowing how to administer CPR, then...”
Her voice cracked on the last word.
“I’ll pass along the message,” he said to her. “I’m sorry that I let him come with us.”
“He wouldn’t have taken no for an answer, but his heart isn’t what it used to be,” she explained.
“Then, we’ll figure out a way to force him to rest,” Darren said, realizing that by selling his personal home and moving into the ranch, he could afford to hire another hand to lighten the load. Ever since the twins, he’d been busy with his children and wasn’t pulling his weight on the ranch. “Things are going to change for the better.”
It was a promise he intended to keep.
“Thank you, Darren,” she said. “I know how much you care about him, and he’s such a mule. I’ve been asking him to talk to you for a while now.”
“No need,” he said. “I’m clear with what needs to happen. Plus, he can use a little more desk time. I hate managing the books. I’d much rather be outside more.”
“I don’t know what to say except thank you,” she said.
“Loyalty means everything,” he said to her. “Your husband was loyal to my parents and now to me. I won’t let him down. You two are the only family I have left at the ranch.”
