Chapter Twenty-One
A strange quiet filled the days after the last of the arrests, Cat thought.
It was spring in Montana, the sunny afternoons causing everything around Fortune Creek to turn green.
The air smelled of new growth as grass emerged and trees sprouted leaves.
The sky even seemed bigger and bluer with each day.
Cat had returned to the office and Helen.
Dylan had done what he could for his nephew, who’d been sent by the court into foster care until the paperwork was completed and he could petition for guardianship and eventually adoption.
Then he’d been forced to go back to Washington, DC, to iron out things in the investigation.
Cat knew that he personally wanted to give the list to someone he trusted.
She wondered where the list of operatives had come from.
She assumed that someone had gotten it to Ginny in the first place.
She hoped Beau hadn’t been in a position that he had access to the list and had foolishly been the one to give it to her, believing she was on the side of good.
But at some point, Beau had learned the truth and hidden the thumb drive in the game he and Dylan liked to play with a note to be careful who he trusted.
That told her Beau was trying to do the right thing and that was what had gotten him killed.
She wanted Beau’s name cleared not just for Dylan but for his son.
The man she’d come to care for had enough betrayal in his life.
Dylan didn’t need more.
He called every night.
She knew he was excited to get back to the ranch.
He was anxious to finally have his nephew under his roof. Cat couldn’t be happier for him, knowing he was going to make a great father. That was what he would eventually become, not an uncle, but a father after the adoption.
She knew how anxious he was for that.
She certainly could understand the feeling.
She knew nothing about becoming a mother.
But like Dylan, she was excited and ready for whatever it brought.
Her daughter seemed to be anxious to make her exit.
Cat felt as if she might burst with the life growing inside her.
Meanwhile, she had her own case to finalize.
She spent a few days writing up her report.
Cat was glad when they got word from Sheriff Parker that he and his bride Molly were returning to town.
Molly was anxious to start her store in one of the old empty buildings in town, Cat heard.
She hadn’t spoken with the sheriff, nor had she met him.
He’d already taken off on his honeymoon when she’d been assigned the job. After everything that had happened, he’d decided it was time to bring his wife home.
Cat had been looking forward to meeting this legend in Fortune Creek almost as much as Helen was looking forward to his return.
They had both been waiting expectantly when he and Molly walked into the office.
Helen had let out a shriek and dropped her knitting to race over to him.
For a moment, Cat thought she was going to throw her arms around the man.
But Helen stopped short and said, “Nice to have you back, Sheriff.”
Then her gaze had taken in Molly, the pretty, dark-haired woman by his side.
“You too,”
Helen said with less warmth.
Molly smiled and said, “Good to see you again, Helen.”
By then the sheriff had spotted Cat in his office.
“Sheriff,”
she said, seeing why he was so popular.
He was handsome and had a great smile.
She awkwardly stood.
“Heard you had your share of trouble, Sheriff.”
She couldn’t help smiling.
“Nothing Helen and I couldn’t handle.”
He grinned at that.
“I can well imagine.”
He motioned her back into her chair.
“I’m just stopping by since I’m not officially back for another few days.
Just wanted to introduce myself to the famous Sheriff Cat Jameson.”
“Acting Sheriff Cat Jameson,”
she said, touched by his kind words.
“And I believe you mean infamous.”
He shook his head.
“My hat’s off to you,”
he said as he touched the brim of his Stetson.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
He stepped toward her, extending his hand.
“Congratulations, Sheriff,”
he said, his grip strong and warm.
“For a job well done.”
Cat chuckled.
“Thanks, but it’s nice to have you back.”
She heard Molly telling Helen about the house Brandt was having built for them.
Apparently, they wouldn’t be staying in the tiny apartment upstairs.
“In the meantime, we’ll be staying at the hotel,”
Brandt told Cat.
“You’re welcome to stay upstairs as long as you like.”
“I’m not sure of my plans,”
she said, her hands going to her evermore protruding belly.
“Except for the birth of my daughter.
That is the only plan I have at the moment.”
As he returned his attention to Molly, he introduced his wife to Cat, then talk turned to Fortune Creek and how nothing ever happened there, followed by laughter.
With that, the two of them said goodbye.
Cat and Helen watched them leave, both looking after him with a little or a lot of awe.
Cat felt relief to have him back since she’d been getting more uncomfortable with her pregnancy the past few days.
Her daughter just seemed hell-bent to get out into the world.
Things in the Fortunate Creek Sheriff’s Office soon returned to normal.
Helen had moved on and was now knitting a huge throw in winter colors.
“It’s a present for a friend,”
Helen said, as if Cat had asked.
“Going to take me a while so I thought I’d start it now.”
Cat realized she was going to miss the office, miss Fortune Creek.
She’d told the sheriff the truth.
She hadn’t let herself think beyond the birth of her daughter.
After that, she’d decide what she wanted to do, where she wanted them to live, what came next.
Life had thrown her too many curveballs to make plans too far into the future.
If she’d learned anything, it was that.
But Fortune Creek had warmed to her—and she to it.
Ash had started coming across the street from the hotel a couple of times a week to bring her lunch courtesy of the local café.
He’d bring a couple of lunch specials and they’d sit in her cramped office visiting.
Cat had looked forward to those visits to break up her day.
Ash told her about the ventriloquist who’d been murdered in his hotel before her time as sheriff.
Since then he’d been trying to learn how to throw his voice, he told her.
He’d practice at night, he said, but hadn’t gotten it down yet.
It was strange, Cat thought.
More people in town said hello to her and Helen was almost downright chatty on occasion.
She realized that she felt more at home here in Fortune Creek.
She’d been contacted with several job offers.
But she was determined not to make any plans until after her daughter was born.
Cat spent the last few days as acting sheriff going through baby names online, trying to find the perfect one.
She was thankful that the office gone back to being a place where nothing ever happened.
Until her water broke.
Dylan couldn’t wait to get back to the ranch—and Cat.
They’d left things up in the air with him needing to go out to DC at the bequest of the prosecutor and Cat needing to tie up the loose ends of her case back in Fortune Creek.
He’d finally gotten the answers he’d desperately needed about his former boss, Allen Zimmerman.
“Turns out that his wife had been sick with cancer for several years,”
Ike told him.
“I guess they didn’t want anyone to know.
But it drained them financially.
Turns out also that Allen was deep in debt and about to lose his house just before his wife died.
I guess he was desperate, and someone found out and took advantage.”
Dylan wished his old boss had come to him.
He would have gladly helped him out.
But he suspected Allen had too much pride, so he’d sold out the men under him and his country.
“Was it suicide?”
Ike nodded.
“I think it was.
He finally realized what he’d done.
But not before he’d contacted your brother Beau.”
Feeling a start, Dylan said, “Why would he do that?”
“It was originally thought that Beau was in on it, acting as an intermediary between the two countries.
We now believe that he had tried to get Beau to get the list back.”
“Why wouldn’t he come to me?”
Dylan demanded.
“Probably because you were married to Ginny Cooper,”
Ike said simply.
He swore and raked a hand through his hair.
“So Beau—”
“Got hold of the thumb drive and left it for you to find because by then he must have known how deep this Russian cell was—or at least suspected as much.
You were the only one he could trust.”
“Is there any chance Ginny—”
Ike was already shaking his head before Dylan could finish.
“When she didn’t get what she wanted, no doubt needed because of the people pulling her strings, she had Beau killed and faked her own death,” Ike said.
Ike would never forgive Ginny for what she’d done.
Ginny coming back from the dead had come as a shock to them both.
Things had gotten ugly and dangerous at the end.
He knew they were both lucky just to be alive.
Ginny had admitted that she was driving the truck the night Cat’s husband was killed.
She and Luca had been hauling a load of stolen catalytic converters up to Canada that night. The sale would help finance more of their plans. It had been Ginny who’d left Taylor Jameson to die in his car beside the road.
Dylan was working on forgiving himself for marrying her, buying the place in Montana and leaving the keys in the old truck in the barn so she could drive it the night Taylor Jameson was killed.
Love was definitely blind since all he’d seen was surface beauty.
If he had looked a little deeper…
He thought of Cat and how she radiated a warmth and compassion that made him want to be a better man.
He ached for her in so many ways.
She’d stolen a chunk of his heart from the very first.
The more he was around her, the more he lost of his heart.
He was totally taken with the woman, having never felt like this before.
He couldn’t imagine his life without her, and that scared him since he had no idea how she felt about him.
Now flying into Kalispell, it surprised him how much he’d missed the state.
Montana had been a place to hide—but only temporarily.
He’d never planned to stay there—not with that large house full of the hopes and dreams he’d had with Ginny, a reminder of everything bad that had happened.
A part of him had always thought he’d go back to DC.
But that had changed when he met Cat.
He realized he had no desire to be anywhere but on the ranch—with her.
The big house was gone, thankfully burned to the ground with everything Ginny had put in it.
He wondered why she’d bothered to decorate it.
Had she hoped they would make a life there—after she finished her mission for her native country?
He thought again of the house, recalling how Ginny had taken the old truck from the barn to make the run to Canada that had killed Cat’s husband.
She’d never planned to live there.
Like everything else, the house had been a means to an end.
Grass would grow on the site and all memory of Ginny and the house would be gone forever, he told himself.
He would have to rebuild.
He’d thought about the house he would want if his dreams came true.
That was up to Cat.
He hated to get his hopes up since he knew he was getting ahead of himself even thinking about them living together with their babies and needing more room than the cottage could accommodate.
He still had to ask Cat to marry him.
Hell, he hadn’t even asked her out on a date.
Also, he still had to get his nephew adopted and the two of them settled in.
But he found himself looking forward to the future full of hope.
Dylan couldn’t believe the twisted path his life with Ginny had taken and how it ended the way it had.
He knew it wasn’t his fault all the terrible things Ginny had done, but if he’d never met her… He would have never met Cat, he told himself.
He was just thankful that out of all the bad, it had brought Cat and her baby into his life.
Soon he would have his brother’s son.
He’d been thinking about names, since it was time Baby Doe had one.
But he wanted to see what Cat thought.
Dylan couldn’t wait to bring his brother’s and Athena’s child home to the ranch.
He was so thankful that Beau’s name had been cleared.
Ginny had used him, threatening the lives of people he cared about to force him to help her.
Beau being Beau had thought she was trying to get away from her birth land and the pressure on her from people who wanted to destroy the US.
But in fact, Ginny had been acting as a double agent the whole time, betraying both countries—and his brother.
He tried to push thoughts of the past away as the plane flew toward Kalispell, Montana.
He had so many plans, all of them involving Cat.
He just hoped she felt the same way about him.
The moment his plane landed, he turned his phone back on and saw that he had a text from a woman named Helen Graves.
Cat is in labor.
She’s gone to Kalispell to the hospital.
Once in his pickup, Dylan drove straight to the hospital.
He hated the thought of Cat having this baby alone even as he questioned if she would want him there.
He hurried into the hospital, went to the desk and asked where the maternity ward was.
“Are you the father?”
the nurse asked.
He smiled, clearly anxious and trying to come up with an answer that would get him in to see Cat.
The nurse took that as a yes.
“Glad you made it.
Come with me.”
She headed down the hall and he followed, wincing at the thought of what would happen when the nurse found out the truth.
That truth could come quickly, he realized as they reached the room, and both stepped inside.
Cat lay on the bed, clearly in labor.
She saw him, her eyes widening as she breathed through a contraction.
“Your husband made it in time,”
the nurse announced.
Cat looked from the nurse to Dylan.
He gave a slight shrug and an embarrassed smile.
She nodded and held out her hand and he stepped to her bedside and took it in his.
She closed her eyes and breathed for a few moments as the contraction passed before another one started.
“I think we’d better have the doctor to take a look,”
the nurse said after checking her.
“What can I do?”
Dylan asked.
She squeezed his hand in answer, so he just held on to her as another contraction began.
A doctor came into the room and moved to the end of the bad.
“Sounds like you’re just about there,”
he said.
“This is your husband?”
Cat didn’t answer as she focused on her breathing.
“Dylan,”
he said, introducing himself to the doctor.
“What can I do to help?”
The doctor laughed.
“Looks like you’re doing it.
Your first, huh? Get ready, you’re about to become a father.”
He swallowed the lump that had risen in his throat and looked at Cat.
Tears burned his eyes, and he squeezed her hand.
Moments later nurses came in and things got hectic.
Dylan kept his eyes on Cat, holding onto her, wishing there was more he could do.
Then he heard the baby suddenly begin to cry loudly.
The doctor said, “Got yourself a healthy baby girl.
Great set of lungs on her too,”
he added chuckling as the nurse cut the cord, took the baby for a few moments then handed her back wrapped in a blanket.
The baby in his arms, the doctor moved to the opposite side of the bed and laid the baby into her mother’s arms.
“Congratulations.
You have a name for her yet?”
Cat shook her head, tears running down her face as she looked at her daughter.
Dylan had to fight his own emotions, a lump so big in his throat that he couldn’t speak if he had to.
Then Cat looked over at him.
“You want to hold her?”
She didn’t wait for an answer as she handed over the tiny bundle.
He couldn’t believe how perfect she was.
“She’s beautiful,”
he breathed.
“Just like her mama.”
Cat woke to find Dylan stretched out asleep on the cot next to her bed.
She noted the stubble that darkened his jaw, his wrinkled shirt, his legs that were almost too long for the makeshift bed that had been brought in.
Between them was the bassinet with her beautiful daughter sleeping soundly.
She wanted to wake her just to hold her, but didn’t, thankful that they’d both gotten some rest.
The past few weeks she’d had a terrible time getting comfortable at night.
As much as she kept telling herself that she couldn’t wait for the baby to be born, she kind of missed having her tucked protectively inside her body.
She missed that closeness, feeling her growing, watching her own body changing as the time came.
Now she would have to watch from the sidelines.
“She’s going to be just like you.”
Cat looked up into Dylan’s face.
“I didn’t know you were awake.”
He lay on his side staring at her—and her daughter.
“Thank you for being here.”
“Thank you for allowing me to.
I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
It was amazing.”
He held her gaze.
“You were amazing.
I was already in awe of you, but now…”
She felt her cheeks heat under his gaze.
“Women give birth every day.”
“You really aren’t good at taking compliments,”
he said, smiling.
“I have such respect for all those women, but especially for you.”
He glanced into the bassinet.
“Have you thought about a name yet?”
“Not yet.
How was DC?”
Dylan kept looking at her daughter.
“I’ll tell you all about it later.
Your sheriff back?”
She nodded.
“I filed all the paperwork to get my nephew.
Now it’s just waiting and reading lots of books about babies and childrearing.
I’m terrified.”
Cat looked at her sleeping daughter.
“Me too.
I thought I was ready, but maybe there is never any way to get ready for your first child.”
“Especially when you never expected it,”
he agreed.
“Especially.
We both were surprised.
At least I had nine months to prepare myself.
You’re going to do great.”
He sat up and she could tell he was going to leave.
“You’re going to do great too.
I heard you’re busting out of here.
If you need a ride, a place to stay…”
“The sheriff has insisted I remain in the apartment over the office for at least a month before I make any big decisions.
He and his wife are building on his ranch outside of town and living at the hotel until the house is finished.”
“You think you’ll stay in law enforcement?”
“Not sure about law enforcement.
I just want to spend time with my daughter for a while before I decide.”
Dylan nodded and slipped off the bed to stand.
“If you need anything, call me.
But I’ll be keeping in touch.
What about a ride tomorrow?”
“Ash from the hotel insisted on picking us up but thank you.
And Dylan, thank you again for being here.
Let me know how it goes with your nephew.”
“Don’t worry, I will.
See you soon.”
She could tell that there was more he wanted to say.
She felt the same way, but right now, it felt too soon, so she let him walk away.