Colin walked away, climbed into the cab and started the truck . He didn't move far. He repositioned the truck at one side of the parking lot where he could watch all the vehicles exiting the highway.
It made him visible ,too, so he slipped on his cowboy hat and shades even though the skies were starting to cloud up. He'd rather have Melissa and the baby as much out of sight as possible.
As he walked toward the convenience Mart, Melissa met him halfway.
''Can you sit in the backseat and find her?" He asked.
"Yes",she said . Once the baby was settled In with the bottle , Melissa said "Colin".
There was something in her voice he couldn't quite pinpoint , maybe a warning , that had him thinking her next words weren't going to be the ones that he wanted to hear.
"Yeah", was all he said, resisting the urge to lo
EVERYWHERE MELISSA HAD GONE,Everything she'd done for the past year made her feel like she was the jackrabbit and her husband was the eagle. There was always the thought of him lurking in the back of her mind,ready to swoop down and take Angelina away.Even when he left in business _ and those were trips that had kept her sane _ there was never a feeling that he was ever truly gone. The rest that he'd pop up around every corner had almost driven her beyond the brink. Once the baby had been born, Melissa had kept Angelina within arm's reach at all time.Always aware that Richard could put two and two together at any moment and deliver on his threat to destroy Melissa and everyone she loved if she betrayed him. And now she really was the jackrabbit,seeking shelter,scrambling to get away from the eagle that was circling, ready to pounce the se
How many nights in the past year had she stayed awake,wondering how much he hated het for what she'd done? The mystery was over. It was clear and so hard to see because she never stopped loving him, not even now.Her heart didn't care or seem to want to acknowledge there was no going back. Not with Colin. She'd known that she walked away and yet seeing it written all over his expression and hearing it in his words made it seem so... Final.She'd done what she had to do in order to survive,she reminded herself. Repeating her mantra had gotten her through so many difficult times in her life. Naively, she'd believed that given enough time she'd get over Colin.How young. How silly. Maybe there was one true love in life and if it didn't work out, that was it.She tried not to let the thought deflate her. Besides,Angelina was her
Storm clouds thickened as the day went on. The winds had picked up speed. It was obvious that a storm was brewing.Melissa wondered just how bad it was going to get. Thought of being in a boat during a bad storm weren't exactly warm and fuzzy. Few words passed between Colin and Melissa for the balance of the day. He needed time to think,to process, and she understood that in some level. A bomb had been dropped and he was trying to get his bearings. She'd felt the same way.At first, she'd been shocked. And then, afraid. When it came to Colin, there were worse things he could do besides give her the silent treatment. All things considered,this was good."The cream-colored boat with the blue stripe will work for us", he finally said,motioning toward one of the vessels. The thought of staying on a boat shoot
She thought about all the other times that Richard had said he was leaving for two days and then didn't return for a week or more. Those times were even worse. The persistent feeling that he could show at any second unannounced ensure that she wouldn't rest.She didn't dare pack it try to disappear because he could literally show up in a blink. A year. Twelve months. Every day had felt like a prison sentence,like being locked in solitary confinement. Protecting her father had been her initial marching order. And then Colin's father complicated the situation. Angelina had come along,giving Melissa a reason to live but also a reason to stay.As long as Richard had thought the baby was his,she was given everything she could want. The best doctor in Tyler. The best care . And the best part was that he'd left her alone physically. But if he'd suspected for one minute that Angelina wasn't his...... Melissa couldn
Wind had picked up and the spring Thunderstorms was rolling in as promised. Some of the worst storms came late in the season after a cold winter. And this one had been freezing. Warm air clashed with frigid temperatures,causing all kind of destruction where they met. "She'll have protection around her 24/7", Melissa said as her hair whipped around her face,the intensity of the threatening storm growing."Is she in the family business?" Colin didn't budge.Not even when the first droplets of rain splattered around them. Before Melissa could respond,he launched towards her.Melissa reacted quickly,rolling just out of Colin's reach. Good. "Your reflexes are honed. I don't think I want to know why you automatically flinch when a man comes towards you,but I can work with your instincts", he said,lying chest dow
Colin wasn't normally at a loss of words. Standing there in the kitchen,her body vibrating from anger,he couldn't think of one positive thing to say to calm her down.His own body was chorded with tension,strung so tight he thought his muscles might snap,so he threw all rational to the wind, pulled her into his arms and kissed her.Her muscles tensed against him and he half figured she'd pull away and throw a punch like she had on the shore. Instead, she leaned into him and popped up onto her tiptoes to deepen the kiss. Colin groaned against her mouth and then pulled back. All he'd hoped to do was calm her down,not stir up bc a bunch of......feelings. That kiss was like a shotgun blast to the chest and stirred up an inappropriate reaction down south. He took a step back,put his hands behind him and gripped the edge of the counter to keep from doing any further damage. The thought that both of them were a na
COLIN LAY ON the couch, facing the ceiling. Thunder cracked in the sky overhead and he half expected Melissa to bolt through the door or the baby to wake. Neither budged. He flipped onto his side. The thin blanket covering him slipped off and landed on the floor. He picked up the tan piece of cotton and repositioned,trying to get comfortable. The material wasn't much bigger than the bath towel Melissa had been wearing earlier. Sleep was about as realistic as an ice cream in a Texas summer. He sat up.Something was bothering him and he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. Melissa wasn't telling him everything. It was clear that she was afraid of husband___correction,her soon-to-be ex. And there was something else niggling at the back of his mind.Obviously Rancic was a ruthless criminal. Figuring out how to find him wasn't as cut-and-dried, especially with Angelina in the picture. Taking care of a three-month-old was already a ful
"How come you possibly be smiling?" Melissa asked as she broke into a smile,too,as she helped finish up the bottle. He just shook his head and kept on grinning.Angelina immediately settled down as soon as she started sucking on the nipple and the warm milk passed her lips."Hearing her cry is the worst",Colin said, situating himself on a chair in the kitchen so he could hold his daughter more comfortably without fear of dropping her. "Believe me,I know", She said. "She sounds so pitiful".He nodded. "The first few weeks were awful. She'd cry and I didn't have the first idea how to handle it. I just wanted to comfort her but I felt like I was doing everything wrong. Then,I don't know, I guess I started getting more confident with being a mother", she said.Melissa had been an only child and didn't
"He's asking for you", Philip said, motioning for her to follow him. She glanced at his brothers as she hurried behind Philip. It had to be a good sign that he was talking. She'd take what she could get. Melissa had expected to feel differently as he watched the cruiser pull away with Richard in the back. She'd thought she'd feel lighter somehow. Except that she didn't. Not while Colin lay on a stretcher being worked on by two EMTs. Her life had blown up before her eyes. She knew that Colin could never truely trust her again, but she loved him with all her heart and had to be okay. "You were so cold", she said, her chest squeezing at seeing him on that stretcher,wrapped in thick blankets. "I'll be warmer if you'll slip under the covers with me", he said with that wry grin that was so charming. His gaze fixed on a spot behind her. &nbs
Richard made to knock Colin off him. Colin fisted his hand and belted Richard. His jaw snapped right and he spit blood. Colin could hear footsteps thundering from behind and voices that he recongnized as his brothers'. He listened for the sweet sounds of Melissa's voice and tensed when he didn't hear it. He refused to give Rancic the satisfaction of seeing his fear."You're about to be arrested and face your crimes. Know this. If you or anyone you know ever messes with my family again from either side of the bare that you're about to send a very long time getting to know,there won't be place in Earth you can hide from me". Colin said through clenched teeth. Richard sneered. "We'll see about that".It took pretty much everything Colin had inside him at that moment not to out his hands around that my men's neck a d choke the life out of him for what he'd done to Melissa. He
The ground was cold and hard. Colin's shoulder took the brunt of the fall,and that was going to hurt later. Right now, Colin's adrenaline pumped and all he could think about was stopping Richard.With a couple seconds of a head start , Richard was retreating down the hill by the time Colin got to his feet. There was no use trying to use his backup weapon. There were too many trees in the way to get off a clean shot. So, he started down after Richard . There could be a trap set up, so Colin needed to stop Richard. Now!Anger and rage fueled Colin's movements. Pouring on the speed,Colin dove down the hill , aiming at Richard,who was running at a decent clip. He couldn't outrun Colin. Richard was shot to find that out as Colin made contact just below the men's knees. Richard fell backwards and on top of Colin. The two,connected by momentum,r
SO, rather than risk leaving her vulnerable he would go along with the plan he and his brothers had developed last night. He would stay the course. The plan they'd come up with was the best they had to work with under the circumstances. Austin had set up in an adjacent cabin with his attention directed towards the decoy boy cabin. He was visible enough that Rancic night believe he was there to protect Melissa. Colin's job was to set up at the rifle/sleeping bag location and Tyler was situated under the outdoor pavilion. Again,his attention was set to the cabin. Inside,they'd stuffed blankets on a lower bunk in the corner of the room to make it look like the shape of a woman. In reality,the only woman on the campus was in the souvenir shop ticked behind the counter sleeping. If she could wake and this whole ordeal be over without a scratch on anyone he loved,Colin wouldn't complain.Enough time had most likely passed for Rancic to have
"MELISSA COULDN'T SLEEP. it came as no surprise. As the sun went down,the cold settled in again. She thought about the irony if spring,the clash of cold leftover from winter with the warmth from the promise of summer. She thought about how their interaction caused powerful Stroms___stroms bug enough to produce tornadoes that could devastate an entire town. Richard was cold___ he'd tried to keep her in his icy grip. And Colin was the opposite. The thought of those systems crashing into each other,the fallout that would follow,took her breath away. The more Melissa had listened to plans to take down Richard,the more tension had tightened her shoulder blades. Her life with Richard had been like living in an Arctic cave. Colin was the sun__the promise if warmth and sunshine and better days. The wind beneath her weak wings.Both if those lives were about to clash .The O'Briens had brought plenty of ammunition to the fight. So would
" I REMEMBER THIS PLACE", Joshua said to Colin as he studied the area from the center point, the fire pit. "We were kids the last time we were here", Colin said. "Not too much has changed".Colin hadn't been sure what kind of reaction Melissa would get from his brothers and was grateful they'd welcomed her with open arms. He had a lot of catching up to do with them. Hell,first he needed to figure out his and Melissa's relationship for himself. All he knew was that he wanted her in his life. The details of what that meant would have to come later. "That's a good thing", Joshua said. "We don't have much sun left. I'll want to walk the perimeter before it gets dark". "Someone followed us most of the way here. We let him believe we didn't know". Austin said. "Lost him as we got close by cutting through Denver. Joshua had worked for Denver PD be
"Stay low", Colin said to Melissa as he saw an occasional flash of light as a vehicle twisted and turned along the road leading to the camp. He'd already heard the Jeep's engine as it wound up the road. The horn honked twice. Then, nothing for two beats before a third beep sounded. "They're here". Colin pooped to his feet before offering a hand up to Melissa. She accepted the help and then he held on to one of her hands as they walked to the Jeep.Colin let go long enough to embrace his brothers, Joshua and Austin. "Where's Tyler?"Joshua must've seen the panic in Melissa's eyes because he said, "Angelina is doing great and she's safe on the ranch"."Thank you", Melissa said."As for Tyler, he's hanging around at the camp entrance. Ryder stayed back to care for his pregnant wife and offer reinforcements at the ranch". Joshua help up his cell phone. "We'
WHETHER HE LIKED it or not,Colin had a shadow. Based on the wat he stopped every once in a while to pull her into an embrace or plant a sweet kiss on her lips, Melissa didn't think he minded. Her heart wanted to believe that what was happening between then was real again,that it was something they could build on."You should probably try to get some rest before my brothers arrive", he said. "There's no telling when Richard will show now that my brothers have our out word". "What about law enforcement?" She asked."We'll get all that information when my brothers arrive,which should be soon", he said."It makes me nervous that we haven't been able to make contact with them", she said."They won't find if it's not safe", colin said, setting up a sleeping bag and a rifle in the woods near the campsite. He'd located a spot below the campfire an
COLIN'S BROTHERS WOULD arrive son and there was a lot to do in order to get ready. He'd spent the balance of the day napping are around the cabins as though their live depended on it. They did. He'd returned his steps several times,memorizing every tree,every possible escape route,and every potential hazard. There was a pond on the far Eastside of the site. A creek cut across the property in a bear straight line, running North to south. Just below camp,it pooled into a sizable swimming hole. Colin remembered the bright orange vests counselors had strapped on then before allowing them time in the water. A set of tepees clustered on the west side of camp. The camp was straight forward,a throwback to simpler days. Or maybe it just seemed simple when all Colin had had to think about was keeping the twins out of trouble. The older he got,the more he was beginning to realize that life got a lot more complicated with age. He needed to