Rescued Hearts (Cowboys of Wild Creek #3)

Prologue

TESS

Eight weeks ago…

Tears of relief rolled down my cheeks as we flew down the interstate. We were finally free. Safe. Every mile passed was one more between Jeremy and us. And I couldn’t get away fast enough.

Luke was asleep beside me, his head tilted against the window, mouth open slightly.

He had his favorite dinosaur hoodie on, even though the AC was out on the bus.

I didn’t have the heart to make him take it off, knowing how much he loved it.

I’d just taken his home away from him; I didn’t want to take anything else.

I shifted in my seat, focusing on the horizon, refusing to look in the back window. If I did, I might’ve seen Corpus Christi fading in the distance, and just the thought of that town and the demons it held made my stomach twist.

Or worse, I might find Jeremy chasing after us after piecing together the lie I had fed him to escape.

“Just a week,” I’d told him with a practiced smile. If I looked even the slightest bit nervous, he would’ve noticed. “My mom’s funeral is tomorrow. I need to be there.”

He hadn’t looked up from his phone when he muttered, “Fine. But one week, Tess. That’s it. There and back.”

“And Luke?” I couldn’t leave without him.

Wouldn’t. It didn’t matter if I took the brunt of Jeremy’s rage; without me around, I knew it was only a matter of time before he turned it on our son.

And over my dead body would I let that happen.

I’d already failed him enough as it was.

But this was my chance at my redemption, our chance for a new life in a place where I knew we’d be safe and loved.

A place I never should’ve left.

Jeremy had sighed. “I guess he can go, too.”

The relief had been crushing, and my smile became genuine as it grew. “Thank you, Jere. My family will be so happy to meet him. This really means a lot that you’re letting me do this,” I’d said, playing into his ego.

But that was the last time I ever would.

“Don’t make me regret it.”

“Of course not,” I’d said, grabbing the bag I’d already packed for Luke.

“And don’t think you’re taking the car.”

I knew he’d do that, so I had prepared. I’d been planning to leave for months already, skimping on groceries and other expenses that Jeremy gave me money for, so I could pocket the extra in a box I buried in the backyard.

I had a thousand dollars. It wasn’t a lot, but enough to get us to Wild Creek, and that was all that mattered.

“That’s fine. Luke will think the bus is fun.” That part hadn’t been a lie.

He thought I’d come back, since I always had before. After every slammed door, every hurled fist, and every excuse, I’d come back to him. But this time, it was different.

This time, I wasn’t going back. Not ever.

The second I got the voicemail that Mama was gone, something inside me snapped clean in half.

Grief cracked me open, making way for my anger.

It was hot and thick, bubbling under the surface like lava.

I hadn’t seen her or any of my family, for that matter, in eight years.

Jeremy hadn’t let me. He called it protecting me from the past. But it was just another excuse to isolate me.

To control what was left of my world. And I let him.

I let him steal those years from me, those final moments with my mother.

They didn’t even know my son existed. But they would. Soon.

Luke stirred, mumbling in his sleep, and I watched with bated breath to see if it was just stirring or the beginnings of a night terror. But his little body curled into the corner of the seat, and he became silent again.

I pulled him into my side despite the heat, my face buried in his wild red curls. “You’re safe now,” I whispered, more to myself than him. “We’re going to be okay.” I’d make sure of it. I hadn’t told Jeremy where we were going. And we switched buses three times to make sure he wasn’t following us.

The sign for Wild Creek appeared just ahead, faded and weather-worn but familiar.

My heart ached. The last time I came down this road, I was eighteen and devastated, running away from the memories of my father, who’d just died unexpectedly.

Now I was twenty-six and terrified with a four-year-old in tow, running away from a life I knew I wouldn’t have survived if I had stayed.

Wild Creek was still the same as we rode through town. It was as if time had stood still. Miss Louise’s diner, which my Gran hung out in every day. The ice cream store that my parents would take my three siblings and me to on the weekends. My high school I graduated from with honors.

This was the town I wanted my son to grow up in. It was safe. Small. Predictable.

We parked at the bus stop, and I jostled Luke gently, waking him up.

“Are we here?” he asked, his voice groggy.

“Yeah, baby. We’re here.” I set him down while I grabbed our bags out of the storage area under the bus. “We have to get a taxi to go to Aunt Claire’s house.” It still felt weird to refer to my childhood home as hers, but with both our parents gone, it technically was.

By the time we pulled up to my childhood home, I was exhausted but simultaneously bursting with adrenaline. Luke slid out of the car behind me, rubbing his eyes and looking around like he didn’t know what to make of the small ranch. “Whose house is this?”

“I grew up here,” I said, taking his hand. “We’re staying here for a little while.”

“For a week?” he asked, repeating what I’d told Jeremy.

I knelt in front of him, brushing his hair off his forehead. “Maybe a little longer,” I said softly. “Would that be okay?”

“Is Daddy coming?”

My body tensed at the mention of Jeremy. I swallowed. “No.” And he never would if I had anything to do with it.

He nodded, like it didn’t matter to him as long as he and I were together.

I could hardly breathe as I stepped onto the porch, inundated by memories that squeezed my chest in a vice grip. I set Luke down, unable to carry his weight and the weight of my anxiety. My siblings didn’t know I was coming, didn’t know about their nephew, didn’t know what we just ran from.

Knowing them, they would have a lot of questions, ones I didn’t know how to answer. Or if I’d ever be ready to.

But I’d come this far, and I refused to go back to the life I was living.

So I knocked.

The door flew open, and my eldest sister, Claire, stared at me like she’d seen a ghost. She looked the same, just slightly older. She had Mama’s curly, dark auburn hair and Daddy’s light green eyes. Looking at her was like a knife to the heart.

“Oh my God,” she blurted.

Another voice came from inside the house. “Who is it?” My sister, Savannah.

I shifted on my feet. “It’s Tess.” Her eyes fell to Luke, and they widened, her lips parting further with shock.

“What?” a man barked, his voice a boom of thunder.

Luke jumped, his hands wrapping around my thigh.

Adrenaline hit my system hard and fast at the stomping footsteps, but it melted away when I saw my big brother, Emmett.

My best friend in the entire world growing up, despite the five years between us.

He looked older, broader. All muscle and ink.

If I hadn’t known him, I might’ve been scared.

“Tessie?” he rasped, his eyes glassy with emotion.

I swallowed past the knot in my throat. If I started crying, I wouldn’t stop. And I wasn’t ready for that, so I forced it back. “Hi, Em.”

“Who’s this?” Claire rasped with barely constrained emotion, looking at her nephew.

“This is Luke.” I took his hand in mine. “My son,” I said, my voice shaking like the rest of me. Like Luke.

Claire blinked, processing. It’d take them a while to wrap their minds around this, and I had braced myself for it. But it still felt surreal to be here. I never thought it would happen, honestly.

Emmett moved Claire out of the doorway. “Well, get in here.”

And just like that, we were home.

Not just for a week. For good.