Blackstone Ranger Hero

by Alicia Montgomery

  “No,” Darcey jumped to her feet. “Please, you can’t …”

  Sarah rushed to put herself between her sister and Mack. Gripping her arms, she shook Darcey gently. “Sweetie, calm down.” Her stomach turned to lead as she saw the change in her sister’s eyes. Red seeped in from the outside like ink, filling up the cornea until it reached her pupils, turning her eyes into bloody wells.

  “It’s my fault,” she cried. “I should have told them. We shouldn’t have hidden what I am.”

  Sarah’s heart plummeted. “It’s not, Darce,” she said. “Please … calm down before you …”

  Mack cleared his throat behind them. “If you need a few minutes …”

  Sarah squared her shoulders. “We’re fine.” She stared at Darcey. “Sweetie, you’re fine. Everything’s going to be just fine. Shh …” She leaned down. “I love you, no matter what. Sisters forever, okay?”

  That seemed to work as Darcey went limp. “I’m … fine,” she whispered. “She’s fine. She’s not going to come out.”

  “Good.” Satisfied, she gently led Darcey back down to her chair, then turned to face Mack. Damned prejudiced sons of bitches, she cursed silently. She’d protected Darcey all these years, and she wasn’t going to stop now. “Now, you were about to explain, Mr. Mack?”

  The loan officer’s nostrils flared. “I was. Take a seat—”

  “Just say what it is that we ‘failed to disclose.’” Let us know what bigots you guys are. “Because as far as I know, there wasn’t a question on your loan application whether we’re human or shifters.”

  Mack’s jaw practically dropped to the ground. “E-excuse me?”

  “That’s what is it, right?” she accused. “You found out Darcey’s a shifter, and you’re denying our loan because of that?”

  “What?” Mack slammed his palms on the desk in indignation. “Ms. Mendez, we at National Bank do not discriminate against shifters. Why, we don’t even ask that in any of our paperwork. The ACLU would have our heads.”

  “Then why did you deny the application?”

  “Because, Ms. Mendez”—he opened the file sitting on top of his desk and flipped it over to her, pointing at the top of the first page—“you wrote here that you were single. But, upon further investigation, we found out that that was simply untrue.”

  “What? Of course it’s true. I think I would remember if I was married,” she scoffed.

  “When our investigators did a search, your name came up in the civil registry.” He rifled through the papers and took out another sheet. “There. See? That’s your name and signature, on this marriage certificate dated three months ago.”

  Her gaze dropped down the paper. Oh. Fuck. There it was. Sarah Mendez of Nevada. And that was definitely her signature at the bottom. “But there has to be—” Fuck! The date on the certificate made her stomach sink. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh no.

  “Sarah?” Darcey asked. “Is it true? Did you get married?”

  “I … uh …” Satan’s balls, what did she get herself into? “I … can explain.” Kind of. “But why does it matter if I’m married? This is a business loan and I’m not asking my—” she gulped, “husband to co-sign. Surely, lots of people who are married get loans by themselves?”

  “Ms. Mendez, Nevada is a community property state. Even if your husband has no plans to co-sign or give you money, or even be involved in your business, you still have to disclose your civil status. Now,” he leaned back in his chair. “Seeing as you seem to be … surprised at this development, and let’s be honest, this is Las Vegas,” he said with a knowing grin, “I won’t recommend pressing charges.”

  “That’s one load off my mind,” she said, plopping back on the chair. “But our loan? What’s going to happen? Can I just resubmit the paperwork?”

  “Not with us, I’m afraid,” he said. “But I could recommend another bank. I have a colleague down by First Federal that could help you. You already have copies of the paperwork, that’ll give you a head start.”

  “Thank you.” It wasn’t what she wanted, but at least all was not lost, except maybe some time.

  “You’re welcome. But, before you do proceed, seeing as I mentioned Nevada being community property, might I suggest a speedy divorce or annulment so you can get things in order? Uncontested, you can have it done in a matter of days.”

  “Sounds good,” she said. Now the only thing she needed to do was figure out who her husband was. “I’ll get on it. Thank you, Mr. Mack. Would you mind if I, uh, borrow this?” He nodded, and she swiped the marriage certificate. “Let’s go, Darcey.”

  Spinning on her heel, she marched out of the office, walking past the tellers and customers, then breezed through the glass doors and headed out into the early morning heat of the desert. Numbness flowed through her, thankfully, as it kept all the emotions she was holding inside at bay.

  “Sarah?” came Darcey’s quiet voice. “Are you okay?”

  Snapping out of her trance, she jerked back. “Yeah. I mean. I guess? Fuck!” she cursed, crumpling the paper in her hand. “Shit. Goddammit!”

  Darcey, bless her heart, placed an arm around her shoulder and hugged her close. “It’ll be all right, Sarah,” she soothed. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. But how are you feeling?”

  And this was the reason why she loved Darcey more than life itself. She never judged, never berated or belittled anyone. Her heart was big enough to contain the world. “I’m … I just …” Tears burned at her throat. She just wanted something to go her way for once, damn it! All she wanted to do was provide a better life for Darcey, Adam, and herself.

  Well, Sarah didn’t know the meaning of giving up. Ever since she’d been abandoned by her parents at the age of four, she’d been fighting for everything she had, and she was damn well going to keep fighting if that’s what it took. “I’ll figure this out, Darce. Don’t you worry.”

  “Mr. Mack said he’d help us and that we could just submit the same paperwork,” Darcey said. “Which means we’re just going to be delayed by a little bit.”

  “A week at most,” Sarah estimated. “Three days if we work our butts off.”

  “Let’s get to work then,” Darcey suggested. “I can reprint the business plan at the library and change the cover page. Let me go and ask Mr. Mack for his friend’s name at First Federal.”

  “Good,” she said, patting her sister on the arm. “You go ahead and I’ll wait here. We’ll go to the library and then pick up Adam at school.”

  Darcey worried her plump lower lip. “What will we tell him?”

  “Er, definitely nothing about … this,” she said, waving the crumpled piece of paper. “We’ll just say that we got a better offer from another bank.”

  “Right.” Her sister gave her the thumbs-up. “Okay, give me a minute, I’ll get that info from Mr. Mack.”

  As she disappeared back into the bank, Sarah’s shoulders sank. God, what the hell did I do?

  “Apparently, I got married,” she said aloud. “Fuck my life.” She leaned her forehead against the cool glass windows of the building. Of course, it happened during the night of the bachelorette party. How trashed was she? Very. So wasted, she didn’t even remember getting married.

  With a sigh, she uncrumpled the paper in her hand, her eyes immediately scanning down to the name next to hers. “Daniel Rogers of Colorado,” she said aloud, as if doing so would conjure him up. If only it did, then this would solve her problems. Divorces and annulments were just as easy to obtain as marriages in Nevada. She bet getting married while drunk was probably grounds for either. This is Vegas, she thought, repeating Harry Mack’s words.

  With a determined grunt, she straightened her spine and stared down at the name again. Finally, she had a name to go with the face. Who are you, Daniel Rogers? Well, she was about to find out.

  They said ending a marriage wasn’t easy, but this was getting ridiculous.

  A week passed since the day at the bank Sarah found out she was married. Being a bro
ke waitress, the first thing she did was turn to the Internet and Google “quickie annulment” and “fast divorce.” The paperwork could be done in minutes and the process finished quickly even without the other party’s signature—if she had the money for an attorney.

  She had no choice but to do it herself which meant wading through the bureaucracy and hoping she could do it all without making any mistakes. Without her “husband’s” signature, the process could take four months. But the fastest way to do it would be to actually have the other party sign and file the paperwork for the uncontested annulment and have everything done in a week.

  So, she thought she’d try to find Daniel Rogers of Colorado by herself, but that was like digging through a haystack for the proverbial needle. Social media was a bust, so she tried one of those people finder websites. There were about eighty-nine people named Daniel Rogers from Colorado, and without a middle name or birthday, she couldn’t narrow it down. Plus she had to pay that website to unlock each name so she could get an address and phone number.

  “I guess I should take out that emergency credit card.” She winced, thinking about what it would cost to get those numbers. What if the right Daniel Rogers turned out to be number eighty-nine? Or what if he put down a fake name and she never found him at all?

  “We’ll find a way,” Darcey assured her. They were sitting at their favorite diner just off The Strip, commiserating over greasy eggs, home fries, and potatoes.”

  “Even if we did find a way, what should I say? Hi, Daniel, did you happen to be in Las Vegas about three months ago and have no memory of getting married? Surprise, I’m your wife.”

  “Cheer up,” Darcey said. “We’ll fix this. You could still file the annulment without his signature, right?”

  “Yeah, but that means spending money we can’t afford on attempting to find him to serve the papers and waiting up to four months for the judgement from family court, which is time we don’t have.”

  “I’m sure the owner of the space we want to lease will give us some time until we get the loan if we ask him,” Darcey suggested.

  Sweet, sweet Darcey. The poor girl could really be naive sometimes, which was why Sarah had to keep looking out for her; lots of people tended to take advantage of her sister. But real estate was at a premium around here, at least good boutique space in a nice area that didn’t cost and arm and a leg and a spleen.

  “Sure, we can try that, but if I can find this guy then all he has to do is sign it, and it’ll all be done in a week. The loan papers are already with Mr. Ross at First Federal, and all we have to do is tell him to put them through.” Meeting with their new loan officer had been the bright spot in their week.

  “Maybe we can dip into our savings, just a little bit. Or I can ask my boss for a loan.” Darcey worked at a children’s clothing boutique in one of the casino shops.

  “I don’t want you owing Agnes anything,” Sarah replied, distaste in her voice. “You know that hag will lord it over you.” If they didn’t need the health insurance so badly, she would have told her sister to quit working for that bitch long ago. Agnes was definitely one of those people who abused Darcey’s good nature, often asking her to work overtime without pay or extra work a manager shouldn’t be doing.

  A hopeless feeling came over Sarah, and she slumped back in her seat. God, awful didn’t even begin to describe how she felt. I’m supposed to take care of them. It was a vow she made long ago. And now, she was letting them down.

  “Don’t worry, Sarah,” Darcey said. “We’ll figure it out. How about—”

  “Hey, turn up the news!” a shout came from behind.

  Sarah frowned as the TV above the counter blasted with the familiar “Breaking News” bumper from the local TV news station. “What the heck is going on?”

  Darcey’s eyes went wide. “Shh, I wanna hear this.”

  “Hear what?” Turning around, she focused on the screen as the anchor came on.

  “And this just in,” the pretty blonde anchor began. “We now have a confirmed identity on the man who foiled the assassination attempt on Vice President Scott Baker this morning as he was making a speech during a campaign stopover in Blackstone, Colorado.”

  “What?” Sarah exclaimed. “Someone tried to kill the Vice President?” After her overnight shift, she’d crashed for a couple of hours at home, then came here to meet Darcey for a late lunch.

  “Yeah, it’s been all over the news this morning,” her sister said. “Look, they’re playing the footage again.”

  A video, obviously taken from a cellphone camera, showed the handsome young VP on a stage delivering a speech from behind a podium. Suddenly, someone from the audience hopped on stage and charged at him with a gun. Before he could reach the VP, a fast-moving brown blur came from out of nowhere, tackling the would-be assassin down to the ground. Screams could be heard from the background as the camera pulled away from the stage, the footage turning into a shaky blend of trees, sky, running people, and then dirt as the phone landed on the ground.

  “Holy shit.” That was intense.

  “The Blackstone Police Department has put out a statement and identified the previously-unknown savior.” The anchor’s face disappeared as the headshot of a man filled the screen. “That man’s name is—”

  “Daniel Rogers,” Sarah said at the same time, her heart slamming into her chest.

  “Sarah?” Darcey asked, her delicate blonde brows snapping together.

  Everything around her seemed to stop as a buzzing sound filled her ears. For a second, she thought she was imagining things, but no. That face … there was no mistaking it. That was definitely the man she woke up next to in that motel three months ago.

  Her husband.

  “It’s him,” she whispered, unable to break her gaze from the screen. Though the image had been replaced with a commercial break, it was still burned into her mind. And those eyes—silvery blue, just as she thought she’d remembered. And then more memories came slamming back into her brain at the same time.

  Strong arms wrapping around her.

  Firm lips on hers.

  The cotton fabric of a shirt, warm from the heat of golden tanned skin.

  You. Only you from now on.

  “Sarah!”

  Fingers snapping in front of her face jerked her out of the memory. “Oh God.”

  “The anchor said his name was … was that him?” Darcey asked, her blue eyes widening. “Your hus—”

  “Yes,” she confirmed, slumping back in her seat. “Oh God.” Her nerve endings felt frazzled, and hot and cold flushes alternated in her system. Somehow, when he was just a faded memory and a name, it was like he was a figment of her imagination. But now, it all came crashing down. The reality of it all, the consequences of her one night of indiscretion. “Fuck my life.”

  “This is great!” Darcey clapped her hands together.

  “Great? What do you mean, great? This whole thing is a disaster.”

  “No, no.” Darcey shook her head, her light blonde curls bouncing against her soft cheeks. “I mean, now you know who he is. Just wait a few minutes and Google his name again. All those news sites will have all his details, and you’ll be able to find him. Then you can go and ask him to sign the papers, and voilà, instant annulment.”

  A strange thrill of excitement coursed through her veins at the thought of going to him. What the hell? Excitement? What was she thinking?

  “Well?” Darcey asked. “Are you going to do it? Seems like it’s the best solution to our problems.”

  And that was how Sarah found herself, days later, driving out to Blackstone Colorado.

  Just as Darcey had predicted, information about Daniel Rogers was splashed all over the Internet the next couple of hours after he was identified. While she thought he was a cop or Secret Service Agent, turns out he was some kind of forest ranger. Pictures of him looking dashing in his khaki uniform were everywhere—from social media sites to local news reports, and she tried her best to ignore t
hat stab of desire in her gut, then told herself it was a blessing, not a disappointment, that she didn’t sleep with him that night. Not that she would have remembered anyway.

  After getting all the necessary papers ready, she set off for Colorado. She left before dawn and arrived eleven hours later. Exhausted from driving nearly non-stop for half a day, she drove into the small Main Street area of the town.

  Blackstone seemed like a lovely place, with its cute little houses and gorgeous mountain scenery now lush and green in the full bloom of summer. But there was no time to be idle and explore; she planned to find Daniel Rogers, have him sign the annulment papers she had in her purse, and then drive back in the morning after getting a couple hours’ sleep at the motel she had booked online.

  As she drove down searching for a place to grab a quick bite to eat and figure out how to find her soon-to-be ex, she saw a place called Rosie’s Bakery and Cafe. It sounded like a good place to stop, so she parked in the lot behind the building, and walked inside.

  Wow. It was only four o’clock, and the place was already busy. The waitress in front informed her it was half an hour’s wait to get a table, but she was so tired, she didn’t want to go anywhere else, so she sat in the waiting area, drinking sips of the free water they offered. Finally, her name was called, and she got up.

  “Sarah, party of one?” the pretty older woman in a retro-style dress asked. The name tag on her chest proclaimed her name as Rosie, which meant she was probably the owner herself. “Sorry for the wait, but it’s high season, and we’ve been getting a record number of visitors.”

  “No worries,” she said. “I’m famished. Just need something to eat and some coffee.”

  “You’ve come to the right place,” she said as she led Sarah to a spacious booth. “Now, we specialize in pies here”—she nodded to the glass display counter that was filled with pies—“so I can have one to you in a jiffy. We have the usual—apple, pecan, sweet potato, peach, blueberry, lemon meringue, chicken or beef pot pie. Our specials for the day are cherry lemon, dragonfruit, and Bear-y Hero pie.”