by Kim McMahill
“For selfish reasons, I have to admit I’m thrilled you’re staying, but I won’t let you shoulder all the blame alone. We will get through this together.”
“I love you so much.” Grace held back the tears. “You shouldn’t have to drag me out of the depths of despair again. You’ve done it once, and that’s more than any man should ever have to do.”
“You’ve given me more joy and happiness than you can imagine, so I don’t want you to worry about the house or how we’ll get through the trauma. A building is just wood and nails. It’s the people inside that make it a home. You’re all that has ever mattered to me, and I want you to remember that when we talk, which we need to do sooner, rather than later.”
“I’ll try to stay positive and not fret about the future. Take one day at a time is what you’ve always encouraged me to do.”
“That’s my girl.”
Hanging up the phone, she dressed quickly and followed the aromas to the kitchen. All conversation stopped as she entered the room. The Matthews and Johnson clans looked up at her with concern etched on their faces.
Don patted the chair next to him, and Grace obediently sat down. Doris put a hot cinnamon roll and a cup of coffee in front of her and went back to frying bacon.
“Did you call Moss?” Doris asked.
Grace was thankful for the offer of a subject other than the reason behind the killing. Between the confidentiality of her work, the apparent danger in sharing any information, and an ongoing investigation, she doubted she should divulge much.
“Yes. He’s doing much better and is scheduled to be released tomorrow. I warned him the house may be a little dark, but hopefully I can get everything cleaned up enough to bring him home. He’s anxious to sleep in his own bed.”
“I’ll bet. When I had my appendix out a couple years ago, I about went crazy confined to a hospital bed, and that was only a few days,” Don stated.
“I haven’t been in the hospital since I had my babies,” Doris chimed in. “I’ve been blessed with good health and, knock on wood, have avoided accidents.”
“It looks like your cooking for an army. Can I help?” Grace offered.
“Now that you mention it, if you can stir the gravy here, I’ll get the biscuits in the oven. Logan should be here soon, and if he eats like my boys, we’ll need all this food and probably more.”
Just the mention of Logan’s name perked Grace up, and having something to do helped ease the discomfort of all the pitying looks coming from the men at the table.
“If one good thing can come out of whatever happened over there, maybe Moss and Don can bury the hatchet,” Doris whispered.
“I hope so. Sometimes a person forgets how wonderful it is to have good neighbors. I can’t say much, but I believe with all my heart that Don bringing Logan a sled saved my life. I’m sure when Moss learns the truth, all will be forgiven.”
Doris squeezed her arm and smiled warmly at her. “How long will you be staying? I imagine Moss will need quite a bit of time to get back on his feet. We’ll help out where we can, but with calving not too far out and, well, Butch—”
“I’m not leaving.”
“You’re not? Finally, a bright spot to the morning.”
The familiar voice had Grace spinning around, nearly dropping the spoon on the floor. She wanted to run to Logan and throw herself in his arms. She noted all eyes on her, searching for her reaction, so she took a deep breath to calm her nerves.
“Moss is coming home tomorrow, and he needs me.”
“Even more good news,” he replied with a hint of a smile. “Doris, can you spare a cup of coffee? I’m so cold I might never thaw out.”
As Doris bustled around filling coffee cups and dealing out plates, Grace scooped the gravy into a large bowl, pleased by Logan’s positive response to her news she planned on staying. By the time all the plates and cups were filled, conversation had drifted to the weather. In typical fashion, the ranchers discussed when it would break, and how they would deal with calving season if it didn’t.
Grace settled in the chair next to Logan, their thighs touching as they sat side by side at the table. He squeezed her knee, making her look over at him. His smile was warm and comforting. The security she felt by his proximity and the mundane conversation soon lulled Grace into a more positive frame of mind. Instead of focusing on the horrors of the night, she forced her thoughts to remain on bringing Moss home. She also began prioritizing what must be done in order to make him comfortable.
Mentally drafting a list helped her compartmentalize the situation into manageable tasks and goals. She would take Charlotte off the supplements, no matter what the lab work revealed, and treat her symptoms, restore the house to the best of her ability, and bring Moss home.
If the tests verified her suspicions, Dr. Clark would report the finding to Hugh Miller. Hugh would pull the plug on the project once and for all, and Agent Nash assured her the information would be widely disseminated throughout the proper channels in order to end the threat to all involved.
Life would never be the same. Too much tragedy had occurred. But she would be able to begin rebuilding.
Chapter Forty-Six
Grace hadn’t slept in twenty-four hours, but rest would have to wait.
Logan had swept all the glass off the floors while she had tended to Charlotte in the garage. She had almost told him to go to work and she could take care of the cleaning, but reality returned. At the moment, she was still his work. The sheriff and the FBI believed the criminals who had been arrested or killed were just hired guns, so they had no way of knowing if whoever spearheaded the assassination attempts still wanted her dead.
After checking on Charlotte and the rest of the animals around the ranch, Grace decided she couldn’t avoid the inevitable any longer. Moss would come home tomorrow. She had to go in the house sometime and do what she could to make it livable. As she walked up the front porch, she noticed that marks from a sander had removed all the blood stains from the wood. An old door had been installed, likely courtesy of one of her neighbors. It was weathered and marred, but looked sturdier than the one that had been destroyed.
Stepping through the door, her nostrils were assailed by the fresh pine scent of an all-purpose cleaner. The floor looked spotless, though she noticed some of the throw rugs rested in different locations than before. She wouldn’t question why. She would be afraid of the answer.
“I asked you not to leave the garage without me,” Logan stated.
“Surely another wave of bad guys couldn’t be en route this quickly. Besides, I thought there were two officers positioned at the ranch’s turnoff, and traffic leaving town was being monitored by the city police.”
“I don’t want you out of my sight. Until we hear otherwise, we practice extreme caution. These thugs were professionals.”
“Sorry. To be honest, I suppose I was trying to avoid entering the house as long as possible, but you’ve done an amazing job of erasing the evidence. There is no way I can ever thank you enough.”
Grace became lightheaded when a strong knock shook the door. Had someone else already come to finish the job and kill her once and for all? Her pulse raced as she eased back. Logan drew his gun, approaching the door with caution.
“Who is it?” Logan called out.
“Harold and Red,” came the answer.
Logan holstered his gun and opened the door. The two big men entered the dark room, taking off their hats as if paying their respects.
“We’re sure glad you’re okay, Grace.”
“Thank you. Can I offer you a cup of coffee?”
“Maybe later. When Logan called, we came as fast as we could and took measurements. The building supply store in town ain’t got all the windows in stock, but enough to replace the front two, and they got sliding glass doors in their warehouse the same size as your old doors. We ordered a new picture window and the other windows which got broke on the back side of the house, but those will take about two week
s to get here.”
Grace hugged both brothers and placed a kiss on each man’s check. “Getting natural light in here means more to me than you can possibly imagine. I hate the thought of bringing Moss home tomorrow to a dark house. Thank you.”
“Glad to help. We got to get going if we want to have them put in while the sun’s still up.”
By the time the brothers left, the sun had set. Grace and Logan were alone in the house. It still held faint scents of gunpowder and blood despite their attempts to sanitize the rooms. Knowing that officers blocked intruders from reaching the ranch did little to put Grace at ease as she scrounged through the refrigerator, looking for something to cook.
She had no appetite, but Logan had to be hungry. Reaching for the bacon, Grace began frying, satisfied with saturating the room with the smell of something comforting. By the time she had food on the table, Logan returned from doing one last sweep of the perimeter.
“That smells wonderful,” he said as he sat down at the kitchen table just as she placed a plate heaped with scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, and toast in front of him.
“How’s everything look outside?”
“All the livestock and pets are fed, watered, and content, and I found no sign of any new visitors. I also checked in with the officers at the highway, and they said there’s been nothing unusual in town, and the FBI has turned up nothing to indicate anyone is on the move.”
“That’s good news, but I hope Stephen has the test results soon, so we can end this. I can’t imagine Moss will appreciate all the law enforcement hanging around.”
“He’s going to have to get used to seeing at least one deputy on a regular basis.” He smiled.
Grace wanted to know exactly what Logan wanted and expected, but it was pointless to worry about the future when she still wasn’t certain if she’d live to see tomorrow. She had to take one day at a time.
He reached over and took her hand. “Grace, I can’t promise this is over, but at least we have a lot of resources at our disposal now. No matter what the samples reveal, Agents Nash and Melonis assured me they will figure out a way to get your life back. I won’t allow you to remain a target or to live in fear.”
“I want to believe you, but unless the supplements are a total failure, whoever wants them to remain a secret won’t stop.”
“If patents were filed and the product put into production, there would be no point in trying to silence anyone.”
“Even if Charlotte’s health decline isn’t caused by the supplements, we still haven’t had enough time to verify the product’s safety sufficiently for me to feel comfortable going into production, and we’d need to have everything reviewed by Dr. Stenson’s team. They deal strictly with nutritional supplements for humans. My team focuses on animals, so there’s still the transition that would need further study.”
Logan shrugged his shoulders. “All I’m saying is there are ways to stop this, but there is no point speculating until we know more. So for now, let’s enjoy this wonderful evening breakfast you cooked, and then get some rest. We’ll get up early, go get some groceries, and then pick up Moss. We’ll worry about trouble when, and if, it comes.”
Grace nodded her head. Logan was right, and she was exhausted. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to shut out everything running through her mind and actually sleep, but she would try for Logan’s sake if nothing else. She hated seeing the worry etched on his face, knowing she was the cause.
“As soon as you finish eating, go put on something warm and comfortable while I clean up the supper dishes. I’ll pour us a brandy, and stoke the fire and, before you know it, you’ll be out for the night.”
Grace wrinkled her nose. She wasn’t much of a drinker, but figured a few sips of brandy probably would help her sleep. Logan meant well and was just trying to take care of her, so she didn’t argue.
“Are you sure you want me to get comfortable?”
“Yes, why wouldn’t I?”
“Just checking,” Grace replied as she pushed away from the table and headed upstairs.
When Grace finally walked into the living room, the lights were dim, the flames flickered brightly in the fireplace, and Logan sat at the end of the sofa with a snifter in his hand. If the memories of the tragedy weren’t so fresh, and she wasn’t dressed the way she was, it would have been a scene straight out of a romance novel. As it was, she watched the expression on his face transform from mild shock to amusement as his head fell back and he laughed.
“You warned me,” he said as she approached.
“What, you don’t find pink flannel pajamas, bear paw slippers, and my purple fuzzy robe sexy?”
“I find it adorable,” he stated as he reached for her hand and pulled her onto his lap. “Now that you mention it, I do find it a bit sexy.”
For several moments, Grace sat in his warm embrace, wondering how the most horrific episode and best days of her life could be so intertwined. Beginning with the moment Logan had called her while she was at home in Salt Lake until the present, so much tragedy had occurred.
Yet the situation had brought the most caring man she had ever met into her life. He made her feel emotions she’d feared she lacked. She had never experienced such a physical attraction to any man before, which at times had made her question her own femininity. Until Logan, she had never considered having a husband, much less a family, but he made her want it all.
“We will pick up where we left off very soon,” he whispered into her ear as he nibbled on her lobe, “but now you need rest.”
He was right, but that fact did not dim her disappointment as he slid her off his lap, nestled her into the crook of his arm, and handed her a snifter.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Grace didn’t remember falling asleep, but as she slowly awakened to the aroma of coffee, she felt rested. Sometime during the night Logan had put a pillow under her head, covered her with blankets, and left her to sleep on the sofa.
Reluctantly, she crawled out from under the pile of blankets, stretched, and then followed the tempting smells into the kitchen. She stood in the entryway and marveled at the sun shining through the clean glass, wondering how she would ever repay everyone’s kindness.
Logan had thought to call the Hickman brothers, and they had jumped into action and performed a miracle. Some rooms remained darkened behind boarded-up windows, but the rooms which were the hub of the home showed little sign of the deadly destruction.
Without thinking, Grace walked up behind Logan and wrapped her arms around him and laid her cheek on his back. She never dreamed it would feel so good to have someone to wake up to, and she hoped there would be a way to prevent the situation from changing. She had never been good at admitting she needed anyone, but she needed him in her life.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Logan stated as he turned from the sink to face her, while keeping contact. “How are you feeling?”
“Rested, thanks to you, but did you get any sleep?”
“Enough.”
Grace assumed that meant “no,” but he showed no signs of fatigue or any of the stress she had expected to see on his handsome face. Instead, he had clearly been up long enough to shower and shave. His dark hair was still damp and curled up slightly where it brushed his collar. She liked the clean look, but kind of missed the rugged appearance caused by his mussed-up hair and perpetual five o’clock shadow he’d been sporting for the past few days. She would happily take him either way, and she wanted all of him, past demons included.
“You’ve been here for me from the beginning. I’ve leaned heavily on you, but I haven’t forgotten that the night before last probably brought back memories you would have rather not relived, and I’m sorry. If you want to talk about it, or if there is anything I can do, or if you want me to butt out and mind my own business, just let me know.”
Logan turned away from her and poured coffee into two cups. He handed one to her, which she accepted and followed him to the kitchen table. She
said nothing as they sat in silence for a moment, Grace not wanting to push Logan into delving into his painful past.
“When I realized they were coming for you, I confess, the incident on the border ran through my mind. I was terrified I’d be too late. Once I pulled off the highway, everything unfolded so fast I didn’t have time to think about anything but getting to you. I’ll live with the memories of the border failure and loss forever. I also realize what happened, happened. I can’t change history, but I can affect the present and future. We survived, maybe against the odds, but we’re both still here. That’s what we have to focus on, and now we move forward.”
“Is it possible?”
“I don’t know. We have to try, not only for Moss and for each other, but for all your colleagues who were senselessly taken, and for mine who lost their lives on the border.”
Grace tipped the cup to her lips and took a long sip while watching Logan over its rim. He was right. There were only two choices…live with what happened, deal with the guilt, and move forward, or don’t live, which would only hurt those she loved even more.
That left one question in her mind. She couldn’t summon up the courage to ask it yet.
Did he love her?
She knew she was a coward, but bringing Moss home gave her an excuse to postpone the inevitable. Until this was all truly over and Moss was recovered, Grace just couldn’t quite bring herself to even contemplate “happily ever after,” and wondered if she even deserved such a fantasy. She had to take everything one step at a time, which, at the moment, involved eating the meal Logan had prepared for them.
“Thanks for making breakfast. It’ll just take me thirty minutes to get ready, and then we can head out. Once we get to Billings, we can buy a few groceries and then go get Moss. I’m so anxious to bring him home.”
“No hurry. I think I’ve gone through the chores enough times where I can take care of them alone this morning. When I talked to Moss earlier, he didn’t want me to wake you. He just wanted me to get some papers out of his safe, and he said to take our time getting there, though I doubt he really meant the last part,” Logan said as he stood and began putting on his coat.