Brotherhood Protectors_Montana Freedom

by Natasza Waters

  “Have a shower. Put on something other than blue jeans. We’re leaving in thirty minutes.”

  Sam swallowed. “Okay.”

  The first day without Cory was the hardest. Especially, when she laid her head down on the pillow and he wasn’t there. The second day, was the second hardest. And so it went for weeks.

  Near the end of July, the warmth of the sun made everyone thirsty. Red checkered tablecloths lined several tables and the women brought their favorite potluck dishes while the men grouped together with beers, telling jokes they’d told every year for the last twenty.

  The Rock Spring party at the Ackerson Ranch brought everyone from the county. Mack asked her to dance a few times, but she’d politely refused.

  “Still pining for Cory, huh?” he said.

  “No. Just don’t feel like dancing, but this is one of the best parties your momma has ever put on.”

  Mack agreed. Sam had heard, for some unknown reason, he’d settled down and put his focus on making the Ackerson Ranch prosper. Sam saw six cabins in different states of construction not far from the main house. He’d hired a few seasonals and hoped to catch the August tourists.

  He slid in next to her at the picnic table. “Doc Swanson said you’re helping out at the clinic in town one day a week.”

  She shrugged. “He asked. I couldn’t say no. One of his full time RN’s is on maternity leave, and the other needs a day off once in a while.”

  Mack nudged her with his broad shoulder. “Ya know, life can get pretty boring if it’s all work and no play. I’m not asking for your hand in marriage, Sam. I just think we should…”—he looked around and then shrugged—“go for a walk some time.”

  Sam chuckled and gave him a raise of her brow. “You never wanted to hang out with me when you were seventeen. Why now?”

  For the first time she’d known Mack, she watched his cheeks redden and his gaze drop to the table. “We all grow up. Maybe it just took me a little more time to understand things.”

  “Anything in particular?” she urged. “Like maybe one definitive night three months ago.”

  He took a deep swallow of beer while she waited for his answer. “Don’t know for sure. That night, watching Cory work over that guy, impressed and scared the shit out of me. I guess it had to do with why he was doing it. Mainly, for you. He had no other focus but to keep you safe.”

  Sam saw he had more to say, so she waited.

  "At first I thought Cory had lost control, but when I thought about it, I realized he was in control the entire time. This is what he’d been trained to do, among other things. Things—I’m not sure I could have done, even though I love this country as much as the next guy. I looked at myself and asked what I could do. What I was useful for. I know how to ranch.” Mack bobbed his head. “I’m a rancher. It’s an honest living. I have no good reason not to respect that.”

  Sam placed an arm across his shoulder. “You know everything your daddy knew. Probably more, and your ranch did pretty good under his ownership.”

  Mack turned in his seat. His hazel eyes and handsome features not as youthful as they once were, but still attractive.

  “When I was seventeen, I noticed you. I also knew you wouldn’t be interested in a goof-off like me. I might have adopted the role of the town’s bad boy, but I wasn’t. Not really. I was just a stupid kid playing a part. That night in Sol’s parking lot, I acted like a kid.” He shrugged. “When a boy likes a little girl, sometimes he’ll pull her hair instead of bringing her flowers, like he should. When boys grow up, they can do stupid shit like say nasty things to a woman they like, instead of telling her the truth. I’m only thirty-two-years-old. It’s not too late to get my shit together. That’s why I’m hoping you’d wanna take that walk with me sometime.”

  Sam’s heart tightened into a tiny ball. The note Cory had left was the last she’d heard from him. She half expected one day to open a magazine and see his gorgeous smile and cut jaw, staring back at her in a designer suit from the glossy page. He’d no doubt decided on an option, but it wasn’t her, and it wasn’t Montana. Not even Hank had heard from him. At least, he hadn’t mentioned Cory. The thought of becoming the county’s resident cat lady wasn’t really appealing. She knew she should get on with her life, but what she wanted, what she always wanted, was true love.

  For a short time, she had it with Cory.

  Saying yes to Mack’s request would be like slapping a ‘you’ll do’ sticker on his forehead, and that wasn’t fair to him. “I don’t know, Mack.”

  He gave her an honest, heartwarming grin. “I’ll ask again in the fall.” He got up and strolled to a group of guests at the party.

  She chuckled at his comment and her aching heart mended a little. Sam watched the crowd milling about. Tania and Tucker embraced each other near a Ponderosa Pine. They hadn’t looked like this a while ago.

  Two days after Cory left, Tucker showed up at the ranch. Sam had been upstairs cleaning the bathroom when she heard their conversation quickly roll into a knock-down fight. Tucker admitted he’d been unfaithful, but only to a point. He’d admitted he’d taken a woman out on a date. Tania asked why he was telling her this? Why he’d decided to fess up? When Tucker revealed Cory had seen him and his date, Tee flew off the handle. Her first question was whether Tucker would be standing in her kitchen admitting this if Cory hadn’t seen them. She didn’t wait for his answer and told him to get out and that the wedding was off for good.

  Sam had to give Tucker props. He’d stood his ground, then poured out his heart. Confessed he was jealous of the ranch and Tee’s need to keep coming back. He wanted all of her attention. Tucker wanted Tania to be the first thing he saw after a long day at the hospital.

  He’d kept talking, and it got mushier and mushier to the point Sam went back to cleaning the toilet. But after his long dispatch of reasons why he loved her, Tania surprised her because she shouted, “Get out.”

  Tucker complied.

  Sam had dried her hands and went downstairs in case Tee needed a shoulder. She’d found her sister staring out the window and sitting in her favorite chair at the kitchen table.

  Sam joined her. “Are you sure?”

  “Of course, I’m not sure,” Tee said quietly. “Thought I was sure I wanted to marry Tucker. Was sure I loved him. Am I supposed to excuse his actions? Who’s to say he won’t have other reasons after we’re married and screw some woman?”

  “You can’t be a hundred percent sure of anything.”

  Tee turned her gaze from the Crazy Mountains to her. “I’m sure Cory said something to him. Made him scared enough that he thought he’d better tell me in case Cory mentioned something to me.”

  “But Cory didn’t.”

  Tee shook her head. “Actually, he did.” She paused. “He left you and me a note. Mine said, ‘Ask Tucker for the truth.’ I knew instantly what it meant, but I wanted to see whether Tucker would tell me.”

  Cory didn’t only save Sam the last night he was in Eagle Rock. He looked out for her little sister, too. She smiled to herself.

  “Sam, if you can stand on your own two feet, then I can, too. I know you love Cory and I see the hurt in your eyes, but we won’t wither and die without men in our lives.”

  “No, we won’t little sister, but I also know that finding someone who you can truly love is actually pretty rare. Letting love walk out the door for stupid reasons”—she shrugged—“is just stupid.”

  “You let Cory walk away.”

  “No, I didn’t. He chose. Cory isn’t on the stairs with a fistful of flowers asking me to marry him.”

  “Where do you think he is?”

  “On a mission.”

  Tee’s eyes sprung open. “You think he joined Delta Force again?”

  Sam’s gaze trailed across the scenery through the large picture window. “No. At least not yet. He’s hunting Stettler. He won’t stop until he finds him.”

  “And after he does?”

  “If his name doesn’t sh
ow up in a small blurb of an obituary, then he’ll consider his options.” She’d reached across the table and covered Tee’s hand. “I think your options are a lot simpler than his. Give it some time, but if Tucker returns and keeps returning, forgive him. Marry the man. I need plenty of nieces and nephews.”

  “He won’t be back,” she said. “He’ll take this opportunity to walk away.”

  But Tania was wrong. Tucker came back every single day for three weeks straight. He got off work at seven p.m. and drove an hour to Eagle Rock to prove that Tania was it for him. After a week, she stopped slamming the door in his face. They took long walks. They talked. Eventually, Tania slid her engagement ring back on. Sam was happy for her sister.

  Sam followed a groove in the picnic table with her fingernail. Their parents would be home soon to help with the wedding. Sam’s life had found a routine once again. Bluebell Ranch’s deal with the production company proved good for business because two more studios planning on filming in Montana had contacted her.

  The ranch’s summer guests had arrived. Sam brought on a couple more ranch hands for the season. Every day she went full out from sunrise to sundown, but every evening she watched the sunset from the rocking chair on the front porch. Instead of thoughts lingering on warfare and the Middle East, she looked to the horizon and knew that somewhere on the same terra firma she stood on, a man named Cory McGregory existed, and she hoped God looked out for him.

  Sam finished her beer and was about to join the party goers when Hank sat down across from her. “Hey, Sam. How’s it going?”

  “Good.” She’d seen Sadie and their daughter wandering in the crowd earlier.

  Hank forked his fingers and rested them on the table. “I heard from Cory. Thought you’d want to know that Adam Stettler has been arrested on several charges. One of them for hiring the guy who threatened you.”

  Sam cleared her throat before she spoke. Her heart tap danced a familiar step with the mention of Cory’s name. “Thanks for letting me know.”

  Hank’s sincere eyes finally met her gaze. “He was instrumental in helping the FBI bring him down. Guess they offered him a job. Pays a lot better than I can offer.”

  Sam twisted a lock of hair around one finger. “We all have to do what’s best for us.”

  “Yeah, I suppose that’s true.”

  Sam offered a sedate smile. “Don’t look at me that way. All roads don’t lead to Montana. He’s a talented man, and I won’t die without him.”

  Hank’s brow crushed together. “No, but I think he will, without you.”

  ****

  The flashing red lights of police and FBI units bounced against the upscale thirty story high-rise in Seattle. Cory watched as Adam Stettler emerged from the front lobby, hands cuffed behind his back, escorted by FBI officers.

  John Landon, lead agent for Stettler’s take down, stood beside him. Stettler stepped inside the back of a black SUV when John said, “That’s one piece of shit that will never see anything other than the bars of a cell. We’ve got you to thank for that.”

  The FBI had already been watching Stettler but couldn’t catch him. When Cory walked into their offices, thanks to an old Delta Force buddy whose brother-in-law worked in Quantico, and offered what he knew and his co-operation, they brought Cory in on the case.

  After three months of chasing Stettler, watching his movements, then infiltrating his inner circle of confidents, Stettler made the mistake of trying to hire Cory to kill a business associate who stood in Stettler’s way. He would also be charged for hiring Rick Bowman, whose real name was Aarif Bashir. Bashir admitted he’d been hired by Stettler to scare, by whatever means necessary, the owners of the Bluebell Ranch into selling. Stettler wanted the land because of the profitably of natural gas they could pull from the ground. Instead of prison, Bashir agreed to return to Afghanistan for turning over evidence linking Stettler to the crime.

  John cocked a brow at Cory. “Got a lot of unsolved cases on the books.”

  His adrenaline jumped at the offer. Hooked on one finger, Cory slung his leather jacket over his shoulder. “Thanks, John, but I have something I have to do.”

  The savvy FBI agent grinned and nodded his head. “Wouldn’t have anything to do with that woman in Montana you mentioned, would it?”

  “Might,” he said. “Got a long drive ahead of me.”

  John shook his hand. “Door’s always open. Just give me a call.”

  Cory stopped a block down the road and bought a 32 ounce cup of coffee. He’d been up for twenty-four hours already, but he was used to staying awake. He’d spent many nights staring at the ceiling over the last three months.

  Settling the coffee in the truck’s cup holder, he flexed his shoulders and started the engine. He had a ten hour drive ahead of him, eastbound on Highway 90. Stealing a glance at the clock, with a few shorts breaks, his ETA would be around twenty-hundred-hours.

  An incoming text rattled his phone, and he picked it up from the console, hoping for the thousandth time it might be Samantha.

  Dee-Dee, again.

  He chuckled and tossed the phone onto the passenger seat. She’d lined up a pile of modeling jobs for him. He’d never showed for a single one, because he had a single mission. The woman didn’t seem to care and kept texting with promising offers. Although he could focus on many things at one time, he opted to only chase one now that Stettler looked forward to years in prison. The rest would have to wait.

  East of Missoula, Montana, he pulled into a rest stop and got forty winks. His body ached from lack of sleep, and too many thoughts rolled around in his head. The worst being Sam giving up on him. He’d wanted to call her every day, but what could he say? He’d left with her angry words tattooed on his soul, along with his own: Why are you walking away?

  Cory knew why, but if she needed to hear them out loud, he’d tell her in person. But his worst fear was that while he’d been gone, Mack had moved in to convince her she needed to fall in love with him instead of a Delta Force vet.

  The sun hung over the mountain range when he turned into the familiar gravel drive of Bluebell Ranch. He slowed when Rufus and Dolly charged the truck, barking and announcing his arrival. Rounding the house, he stopped and pushed the gearshift into park then stared up at the whitewashed porch. Sam sat in a rocking chair, staring out over hills now brown with the heat of summer. His heart beat hard in his chest.

  She didn’t rise, but the chair stopped its lazy motion.

  With a thousand scrambled thoughts, Cory climbed the stairs and sat in the rocking chair next to her. The sun’s last amber rays lit her beautiful profile. After a few seconds, her chair slowly rocked back and forth again. Sounds of the ranch reached out to him. Birds sang in the trees. A horse whinnied from the pasture. He heard some kids laughing where the rental cabins stood a stone’s throw away from where he and Sam sat in silence.

  After ten minutes, enamored how the warm evening wind played with her hair, he asked, “Are you engaged to Mack, yet?”

  She crossed her arms and continued to rock gently. “No, D-cup, I’m not.”

  A flutter of a smile crossed his lips. “You know, I’ve heard when you meet your forever girl, there’s nothing you can do but promise her that in fifty years you’ll hold her hand on the porch of a big old ranch house, sitting in a couple rocking chairs and reminisce about all the good times.”

  Sam’s breath caught in her throat and a tear glistened on her cheek.

  “Is that so?” she said quietly.

  Slowly, trembling, his hand crossed the small distance between them and covered hers. “It is.” Sam turned her gaze on him. “We’ll never have to spend the rest of our days looking over our shoulders. Your safe, and I can be sure that our family will be safe.”

  Her brow raised. “Family?”

  Cory nodded. “Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “You know, as in you, me, a little girl with beautiful blue eyes and thick brown curls like her mother, and a little boy in suspenders who wants a piggyb
ack on his old man’s shoulders.” Sam bit her bottom lip, her eyes sparkling. “Sweetheart, I had to finish this one last mission.”

  Sam stood up and stepped in front of him, her arms still crossed protecting her heart.

  He held his breath and stopped his knee from jiggling with nerves. For a second, he couldn’t meet her gaze. The answer would be in her eyes. If she believed him, he had a shot at happiness. If she didn’t—she probably didn’t know that his destiny rested in her soft, gentle healing hands. She owned his heart from the moment she’d kissed him. His chest tightened, as did his brow.

  “I love you,” he whispered, staring at the old planks on the porch. “I never stopped. I never will.”

  Her finger tipped his chin so he’d look at her. “I know.”

  He flew out of the chair, gripping Sam’s thighs and heaving her into the air, crushing her against his chest.

  “Whoa, whoa, woo,” she screeched.

  The screen door creaked and Tania stepped out, holding it open.

  “Hey, Tee.”

  Tania grinned. “Hiya, Cory. You remember where your room is. Last door on the right.”

  “I do.” He was across the house and ran up the stairs while Sam laughed.

  “Wait a minute,” she yelled, bouncing in his arms. He kicked open the door and gently laid her on the bed. “All I said, was I know.”

  His fingers coiled in her silky waves of hair. “The rest was in your eyes, sweetheart, and you can give me all the ‘buts’ you want, but only after I kiss you.”

  Sam’s brows quirked and her breathing quickened. “Okay. But—”

  A knock landed on the door.

  “Samantha?” a woman called out.

  “Who’s that?” Cory asked.

  Sam wiggled away from him and sat up with her legs crossed yoga style on the bed. “Come on in, Momma.”

  Momma? Oh, shit. He stepped away from the bed, but a guilty flush heated his face.

  The door opened and a lovely woman who looked a lot like Sam, but in her late fifties, leaned in. “Oh, am I disturbing something?”