“He’s out of cell range,” Kade answered.
“I’m sure he’ll be here as soon as he gets the message,” Chloe said.“Travis is on his way, too.”
Having the sheriff involved freaked Cassie.She still hadn’t told Hudson about her son.Could she leave him out of the equation for now?
Might be best.
Owen tensed.“We need to consider carrying emergency phones for situations just like this one.”She remembered that he was the one who’d been caught off guard, abducted, after being mistaken for his twin, Archer.
Beau was an interesting character.Tension radiated off him in palpable waves.He tapped his foot on the floor.He’d shifted his weight at least three times since she’d entered the room, and he had yet to make eye contact.No one sat next to him.Or, it was possible he chose to separate himself from the others.
Isolation, she understood.Being the odd person out, she understood.Being somewhere you wanted to fit in but didn’t, she understood.
Her heart went out to him.
“First of all, I wanted to say that I’m sorry for involving your family in my situation,” she said, half expecting the others to shoot dirty looks at her for dragging them into this mess.“It wasn’t my intention to get anyone else involved in my mistakes.”
“We know.”Chloe reached across the table and patted Cassie’s hand.“And, believe me when I say that we understand.”
Tears pricked the backs of Cassie’s eyes at the warmth and understanding emanating from the room.Could she relax around Hudson and his family?Could she actually open up and let someone in?
Past mistakes made her want to close up.But now that Hudson’s toe was in the door, could she bring herself to push him out?
You’ll have to when the time comes to leave.
Nikki hurriedthrough the back door and into the kitchen as Cassie finished updating the family.Hudson’s newly minted sister-in-law scanned the faces in the room.
“Has anyone heard from Conrad lately?”Nikki asked.Tension sat thickly in the room as heads shook.
“He was supposed to be back to meet me for a doctor’s appointment,” she said.She dropped her gaze.“He wouldn’t miss this.”
“Is everything all right?”Chloe asked, the first one to get the question out as everyone sat a little taller in their seats.There’d been enough drama in the family to fill a lifetime and bad medical news wasn’t something anyone wanted to hear.
“He’s supposed to be my ride,” Nikki said, but the evasive response sent alarm bells off.
“I’m heading into town after this,” Chloe said.“I can take you.”
“No.”Nikki shook her head and twisted her hands together.“It’s okay.I’ll just drive myself.It’ll be fine.It’s just not like Conrad to say he’s going to do something and then not show up.I saw the chatter on the group chat and got worried.”
“It’s understandable with everything going on,” Chloe said, being the level-headed person she’d always been.She might be the youngest, but Hudson figured she was one of the wisest and most practical out of all the siblings.She picked up her cell and fired off a text.“We’ll keep trying to contact him until he gets back in cell range.”Chloe looked at each person in the room.“I think we can all agree that’s the most likely scenario here.”
Cassie tightened her grip on Hudson’s hand.He squeezed hers to offer some reassurance.The idea that Jarek could send someone to the ranch to abduct a family member wasn’t out of the question.She’d been camping on Sturgess property, and he might assume she had some type of deeper connection to the family.But, most likely, Conrad was simply out of cell range.The easy explanation was often the correct one.It might be time to revisit the satellite phone idea as much as he hated the thought.
A new stressor came in the form of worrying about what could be wrong with Nikki—until she dropped her hands and one moved to her belly.The move was most likely subconscious, but it was telling.Was Nikki pregnant?
Nikki glanced at her smart watch.“I can always cancel the appointment so he can be with me.”
“He’ll probably show up any minute,” Chloe reassured her.
Knowing there was a human-hunting mountain lion loose on the property wasn’t exactly reassuring.Conrad would have a weapon on him.Everyone carried when they went out on the ranch.He knew how to protect himself.
Under normal circumstances, Hudson wouldn’t worry about Conrad.These days proved that threats were all around and could sneak up on you when you least expected it.Nikki was right.It wasn’t like Conrad to miss an important doctor’s appointment.Was his brother about to learn that he was going to be a father?
Normally, the thought of pregnancy and babies made Hudson want to loosen his collar.With Cassie sitting next to him, he wondered if parenthood might not be such a horrible thing to consider.
For the first time in years, he thought about his future without the usual onslaught of guilt assaulting him.He didn’t know why life had been cruel enough to take Adina at such a young age and spare him.Living a long lifetime without her had seemed an appropriate punishment for his actions.
Talking about her with Cassie, talking about the past, had eased some of the weight he’d been carrying around all these years.It also made room for some happy memories to surface, like when they’d first met at the lake and he’d been hit with a Mac truck the moment their eyes met.If one of his friends had said those words to him back then, he would’ve laughed in their face.After Adina, he realized there was something special when two kindred souls connected.He’d known Adina would be special to him during their first conversation—a conversation that had gone on for hours.The love they’d shared, young and innocent, had been special.It would always be special.