The Sheriff Catches a Bride (24 page)

“How did it happen?”

“I’m not going to tell you that. It won’t help.”

“Was alcohol involved? Just answer me that. Was it after a night on the town?” The man looked hopeful.

“No,” Cab said quietly. “It was in the middle of the afternoon and we were both sober.”

Jason’s shoulders slumped. “Shit. I lost her. I took her for granted and I lost her.”

Cab had no idea what to say. All his training, all his experience didn’t cover anything remotely like this. “I’m sorry,” he said again.

“You don’t need to be sorry,” Jason said bitterly. “You just need to do her right. Don’t you break her heart.”

Cab met his gaze. “You honestly think I would try? I’ve been waiting for months to see if you’d step away.”

Jason blinked. “You didn’t say nothing.”

“Of course not.”

The other man looked away first. He scratched his neck. “Maybe it’s for the best,” he said slowly. “Maybe it really is.”

“Why?” Cab was cautious. He wasn’t sure where Jason was heading with this.

“I’m not coming back to Chance Creek. There’s too much opportunity out there and I’m just getting started. I’d have to move Rose all over the country if we stayed together, maybe all over the world. There are jobs for guys like me everywhere—South America. The Middle East. She’s never wanted to leave Chance Creek.”

“You think maybe both of you knew a split was coming?” Cab said hopefully. “Maybe that’s why you let yourselves drift apart?”

Jason nodded, still turned away. “Maybe we did. Doesn’t make it easier, though.”

“Probably not.”

Silence reigned a moment or two. Jason straightened up and Cab could tell he was shouldering his new reality. He wasn’t the type to cry over spilt milk. He wasn’t the type to cry, period.

“What about Fila? Where’d she get to?”

Cab blinked. “Fila? Who’s Fila?”

“The girl in the taxi. I was supposed to get her to the Cruz place. Did Alan take her?”

Cab stared at Jason. What was he talking about? Why would he make up a story like that now? Was this a ruse to get out of jail tonight?

Should he even be in jail?

“I didn’t see any girl in the taxi. Never heard of a Fila, either.”

“You wouldn’t have heard of her. She came in from Billings with me. She was looking for Claire and Morgan. Medium height. Brown hair. Blue eyes?”

Cab shook his head. “There wasn’t anyone else in the taxi when Alan left. You sure she was with you when you got to Carl’s?

“Of course I’m sure she was with me. She was sitting right next to me.” His eyes met Cab’s, concerned. “She was upset on the bus ride from North Dakota. She said she’d come a real long way to see Claire and Morgan. She had an accent I couldn’t place and I had the feeling she was in trouble. That’s why I made sure to put her in a taxi straight to the Cruz spread. Then I saw you and Rose and… I kind of lost it. I hopped in, too.”

“Maybe she’s with Rose,” Cab said. “I’ll look into it. She could have even walked the rest of the way to the Cruz ranch; it’s just down the road from Carl’s.”

“Five miles down the road,” Jason said. “Shit, I can’t believe I just forgot about her. Probably scared her to death, too.” He approached the bars again. “Go look for her, Cab. I think she was on the run from something; probably from a man. Our fight…”

“Probably scared the crap out of her,” Cab finished for him. “All right. I’m on it. And I’ll be back in the morning to sort this all out.” He hesitated. Waved a hand at the bars. “Sorry.”

Jason heaved a sigh. “Probably more comfortable than a night at home with Dad. It’s all right. Tell Rose…” he trailed off.

“I’ll tell her everything,” Cab said, and left.

‡
Chapter Thirteen

F
ila ran for her life
through the thick forest. Trees whipped past her. She leaped fallen branches, darted around thickets she couldn’t penetrate, fell, got up and ran some more. To her mind, the sound of her mad dash through the forest echoed as loud as thunder. She knew they’d trace her. Knew they’d find her.

She had to hide.

She spotted the tree house first and nearly tripped in shock at the sight of the high structure. Too exposed to hide in, she thought, but a few moments later she stumbled on something else. A green tarp half-hidden by layers of evergreen branches covered something someone didn’t want people to see. Panting, a stitch in her side making every breath torture, she listened for pursuers, heard none, and lifted the plastic sheet.

Lumber.

Someone was storing lumber out here in the woods. She had a memory—a flash of a childhood visit to a friend of the family just outside Simsbury. Climbing a rope ladder into their tree house. Eating sandwiches and telling stories.

No one who built a tree house could be all bad.

And no one would look for her under a tarp hidden in the woods. She slid underneath the cold, clammy surface and lined up her body parallel to the pile of boards. Pressed up against them, already shivering as the cold, autumn night drew in, she tucked the tarp around herself and tried to erase any signs of her passage under it. Then she lay still and held her breath. She’d wait a few hours, think up a plan, and escape again.

Rose was glad
she’d taken the time to collect a flashlight from Cab’s house before heading into the woods. She hoped the woman hadn’t gotten too far a head start because of it, but she figured two of them plunging headlong into the trees in the dark was most likely to end in the need for two search parties.

All she had to go on was the direction she saw the woman run, but Rose felt certain she knew where she would end up. She wasn’t dressed for racing through the woods, so she’d have to go to ground somewhere. The tree house made a likely place.

Ten minutes later, however, she flashed her light through the small structure and conceded that it was empty. Maybe it seemed too exposed. She climbed down the ladder slowly and ran the light over the surrounding ground. Where would she hide if she didn’t want to be seen?

Anywhere in these woods.

“Hello?” Rose called. “Is anyone here? It’s safe to come out—I’m the only one here.”

She listened, but only heard the rustle of leaves in the chill autumn air. When she let out a breath, the air fogged in front of her. Had the woman been wearing a warm coat? Her head had been bare. Pretty soon she’d be awfully cold.

“I mean it. It’s safe. Their fight had nothing to do with you, anyway. It was about me.” Her voice broke and she lowered the flashlight.

Cab and Jason had fought over her. Cab had shoved her fiancé into his truck and hauled him off to jail.

Jason cared enough about her to come to blows over losing her.

She shut her eyes and took a deep breath to try to calm her pounding heart. She’d been so convinced he didn’t care. She’d moved on from him. She’d given herself to Cab.

Did it make her a bad person that she’d slept with another man so soon after breaking off her engagement? Did she still love Jason?

No.

The answer came loud and clear. Not because he’d done something awful, or cheated on her, or neglected her, but because she’d simply moved on. She was different now than when she’d been eighteen. She was grown up. She wanted different things.

And she knew what she wanted. Art school. Marriage. Children. A job in academia.

Cab.

She wasn’t confused at all about who she was and how she felt about the future. She didn’t need more time to figure things out. It might take practice before she got good at stating specifically what she wanted, or could gainsay Cab when he got too protective, but being with him would give her that practice far faster than staying away from him. She’d think of it as a crash course in setting boundaries.

Smiling just a little, she returned her attention to the dark woods around her. “Hello? Are you there? It’s just me—I’m all alone. I’d love to help you if I can.”

When no answer came, she decided to check near Hannah’s corral. She paced forward carefully, not wanting to trip in the dim light. She saw the green mound that was their unused building supplies. She and Mia had covered them carefully with a tarp and pine boughs earlier in the day.

Now the tarp was exposed in one corner.

Rose halted. The woman was under there. She knew it. How to get her out without scaring her, though…

“Please let me help you,” Rose said quietly. “It will be okay. I promise.”

She held her breath as she watched the tarp. At first nothing happened. Then it rippled, shook and flipped back, revealing a disheveled woman underneath with huge, frightened eyes.

“The men are gone; it’s just me,” Rose said, holding out a hand. She tilted the flashlight away so its beam didn’t blind the woman. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up and warm.”

The woman ignored her hand, pushed up to her knees and stood unsteadily. She patted her clothes into place and lifted a hand to her hair. Finally she spoke. Her voice was low and unsteady, with a trace of an accent Rose couldn’t place.

“Are you Claire Cruz?”

“No. But I’m her friend. Is that who you’re looking for? I can get you to her.”

The woman nodded. “Please.”

Rose ushered her back through the woods. The woman stuck close to her, rigid with tension. She continually scanned the area around them as if convinced Cab and Jason could jump out at them at any moment. Rose understood why the fight between them might have startled her, but her fear seemed to go beyond what the situation called for. She wondered where she came from and why Jason had brought her here.

Was she his new girlfriend?

Then why would he attack Cab?

“Is that yours?” the woman asked when they passed the tree house.

“Yes.”

“It looks… safe.”

Rose nodded. “It’s secret. No one knows about it. At least, no men know about it.”

“No men,” the woman said thoughtfully. “That’s good.”

Twenty minutes later, Claire, Morgan and Autumn stood at Carl’s front door. Rose let them in, saying, “She’s really spooked so go easy on her.”

“Jamie nearly didn’t take no for an answer when we told him he couldn’t come, too,” Claire said. “He was dying to tag along and find out why we were coming over here unexpectedly. Why is she so afraid of men?”

“I don’t know. She hasn’t told me much. Just that she’s come a long way to meet Aria’s daughter.”

“Aria’s daughter?” Claire’s face lost some of its color. “Is that how she put it? She knew my mother?”

“Our mother,” Morgan said softly. The two women glanced at each other, and Rose knew they were remembering the day Morgan had arrived in Chance Creek on a similar mission. Back then Claire didn’t know she had a half-sister. Morgan didn’t know Aria had died. Their first meeting hadn’t gone very well, from what Rose had heard.

Rose nodded and led the way into the living room. Claire and Morgan followed with Autumn trailing behind. Rose was glad Autumn had come as well; she always was a voice of reason when Claire’s hot temper flared.

“Fila, this is Claire Lassiter and Morgan Matheson. Claire and Morgan are both daughters of Aria Cruz. And this is Autumn Cruz. She married Aria’s son, Ethan.”

Fila stood and searched each woman’s face with her worried gaze. “I… Thank you so much. Your mother—she was a wonderful woman. She did so much…”

Rose thought Fila might faint and she hurried to her side and then helped her back to the couch.

“Are you from… Afghanistan?” Morgan said in wonder, moving to sit across from her. “I know my mother did some work there, helping women.”

“Your mother did much work there.” Fila leaned forward earnestly. “Great work. When we heard she died, the mountains themselves cried out with our sorrow.”

Rose couldn’t get over how American Fila looked, but how foreign she sounded.
The mountains cried out?
“You came all the way from Afghanistan? Just to thank Aria’s daughters?”

“No,” Fila looked down at her hands. “I should have; we all should have come just to say thank you, but no—it’s more than that. I… escaped.”

Comprehension dawned on Morgan’s face. “You were to be married? To someone you didn’t choose?” she prompted.

Fila nodded vigorously. “Yes, to a very bad man.”

“And you got away? You escaped all the way here? How is that possible?” Claire’s harsher tones made Rose want to jump in and protect Fila from her. Claire meant well, but she wasn’t always the softest touch.

“I know it sounds unlikely.” Fila looked from one to other. “But it wasn’t all the way here. They brought me to America. To marry a man here.”

“Someone brought you here to get married in America?” Claire sounded like she didn’t believe it.

“To reward him for his patience. For the service he was doing for his country.”

Rose got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Let me get this straight. There was an Afghani man here, being patient, and you were his reward?”

“Yes.” Fila watched her, as if willing her to understand.

“Oh, my God,” Morgan said, turning a stricken gaze toward the rest of them. “A terrorist?” She turned back toward Fila. “Was this man a terrorist?”