Chapter Twenty-Five
Max didn’t remember much of the hours that followed. Later he would learn that he’d radioed Rance to get out to the site where the armored car had gone off the road. “Luca Havers and Donovan Cole are there. Better call the coroner to meet you and the state boys.”
He would also learn that Goldie had driven him to the hospital and stayed while he was taken to surgery to remove the bullet in his shoulder and sew up the leg wound since the bullet had gone right through the flesh.
When he awakened in the hospital, it had felt like déjà vu.
He was back where he’d been months ago, waking up to be told that he’d been shot.
Again. And again, Goldie was there by his bedside.
From the expression on her face when he opened his eyes, she’d expected him to turn her away like he had the last time.
“Goldie,” he said and reached for her. He couldn’t remember everything, but he wasn’t turning her away ever again. He hugged her to him as best as he could with his injuries.
She only left his side when the doctor came in, telling her to go home and get some rest.
Max saw her hesitate. “Get some rest. Come back later.”
She nodded and left as Deputy Rance Fletcher came in.
“Keep it short,” the doctor told the deputy. “He needs his rest too.”
“You got them?” Max asked.
“Luca Havers was dead, but Donovan Cole wasn’t there when we arrived.” The state investigators had taken a statement from Goldie. Donovan had been hit and was presumed dead along with Havers when she’d left. Donovan had given her the gun that she’d used to save Max’s life.
“The money?” the sheriff said with a shake of his head.
“Gone with him. He must have only been knocked out because there was no sign of him or his car when we arrived. I put a BOLO out on him. Haven’t heard anything yet, but we’ll find him.”
Max closed his eyes. “Mandeville?”
“He’s here in the hospital with his daughter. She was shot at the hotel during the fireworks display. He’s been with her ever since.”
“He has an alibi for the whole time,” the sheriff said.
“The staties talked to him. He swears he knew nothing about the robbery, that it was all Havers.”
Max nodded, expecting nothing less. “How’s his daughter?”
“She’s going to pull through. She lost the baby though.”
“The baby?” Max said. “Donovan’s?”
Rance shrugged, and this time when Max closed his eyes he slept.
GOLDIE SAT ON her cousin’s front porch facing the main drag of Dry Gulch, her coffee mug cupped in both hands. The beautiful spring Montana day had dawned bright and sunny, the sky a blinding blue, no clouds in sight. But there was a slight chill in the air. Summer was still months out.
Town was quiet this morning, yet she saw people starting to move around.
Several waved as they walked their dogs by.
She waved back, thinking with a heavy heart how she’d thought about leaving here.
No matter what happened with her and Max, she was staying.
Dry Gulch was home. Her recent bad decisions had certainly made her aware of that.
She hadn’t seen Max since he’d been released from the hospital.
At his brother Cordell’s insistence, he’d moved into a room at the hotel until he was healed enough to be on his own.
She’d given Max space, herself some as well.
So much had happened because of her attempt to prove the sheriff loved her.
When she’d heard that Donovan had survived his head wound and was now on the run with the money from the robbery, she had smiled.
He’d saved her life and Max’s. She would never forget that.
She half hoped he wouldn’t be caught and was now on one of those tropical islands he had talked about enjoying himself on.
The repercussions of what she’d done lived on in town though.
Arnie’s had been closed the last few weeks.
She’d heard that business was so bad, he’d locked the place up.
The rumor was that he’d sold the café for half of what he’d paid for it and had moved on.
No one knew who the new owner was, but Penny had made sure everyone knew she wasn’t happy with how things had turned out.
At the sound of a large truck rumbling toward town, Goldie looked up.
The bright sun blinded her a little. She blinked, telling herself she must be seeing things, yet her heart leaped at the sight.
Already on her feet, she watched the truck with its load go past, afraid she might be wrong about where it was headed.
But as her pulse began to pound, she saw that it had stopped in front of the café. A moment later, Max appeared on the sidewalk out front. Goldie couldn’t believe it as the driver and his crew began to take down the Arnie’s sign.
A crowd started to gather on the street. Penny Birch and her posse came out to watch as well. There was cheering, but not as loud as when the men began to unload the Goldie’s sign from the back of the truck.
Goldie tried to swallow around the lump that had risen in her throat as her sign went back up onto the front of the café building.
“What is going on?” She shook her head. Goldie’s was gone, why would anyone—
Max is going to have to make some grand gesture, her friend Josie had said.
At the time, Goldie couldn’t imagine anything he could do that would make her trust her heart to him again.
Even when he’d almost died trying to save her the second time, she’d told herself he’d just been doing his job.
Anyway, she was the one who’d brought Donovan Cole to Dry Gulch.
She felt responsible for everything that had happened after that.
But now… Now she fought tears as the Goldie’s sign was placed atop the café and the truck driver pulled away, taking the Arnie’s sign with him.
She tried to tell herself that, while a grand gesture, it didn’t necessarily mean anything.
Arnie’s was gone. But there was no way the diner could be hers again, could it?
And did she even want to run the café again?
All those thoughts plagued her as she spotted Max coming down the street toward her.
She put down her coffee cup and stood. Her feet were already moving as if having a will of their own.
She went down the porch steps and began to walk toward Max.
The crowd that had gathered to watch the exchange of the signs now began to follow Max as if sensing something was about to happen.
A hush fell over the crowd as she reached the sheriff. She watched him shove back his Stetson and clear his throat, suddenly aware that he looked as nervous as she felt.
“Max?” she asked in a whisper. “What’s going on?” He met her gaze, and she looked into those blue eyes of his and knew, all the hurt aside, she would never love a man the way she loved him.
Without a word, he reached into his pocket and produced what she saw was legal paperwork. “Goldie’s is yours again, if you still want it,” he said. “Arnie was glad for me to take it off his hands cheap. He’s opening a diner down in Laramie with his old boss’s help, I heard.”
Still, she couldn’t imagine how he’d pulled that off nor did she know what to say.
Did she still want the café? Hadn’t it always been Max that had made her life feel magical?
Without him, wouldn’t it just be a café?
“I don’t understand,” she said, her voice breaking as she took the papers and tried to hide her disappointment and confusion.
“Maybe this will help,” Max said and reached into his other pocket before dropping to one knee in the middle of the main drag of Dry Gulch. “I don’t want to live another moment without you, Goldie. I love you. I always have.” He opened the small velvet box. “Marry me.”
She looked at the diamond ring catching the light, then up into his eyes. She saw the man she’d loved since they were teens. The pain and darkness she’d seen in his eyes the past few months was gone. This was the Max she’d been waiting to return to her.
Tears blurred her eyes. She had to swallow around the lump that had formed.
“Say yes!” yelled Penny with others joining in.
Goldie found herself smiling through her tears.
This is all she ever wanted, all of Max for all time.
“Yes,” she cried as he rose to take her into his arms. She leaned into him, breathing in his scent as her heart soared.
She could feel her heart pounding so close to his.
This was where she’d always belonged, in this man’s arms, in his heart.
“Kiss her!” Cordell yelled from the group.
Max pulled back to meet her gaze again. Then he grinned and kissed her to the cheers of the townspeople.
IT HAD BEEN Cordell’s idea, but Josie had loved it and quickly agreed to a double wedding with her best friend and her fiancé’s brother.
They’d been sitting in Goldie’s having breakfast, admiring the new menus and listening to Penny Birch complain that the items on the menu weren’t identical to the old ones.
“It will be nice to have something new to try,” Carla Wilson said. Penny made a rude sound.
“I agree with Carla,” Emily jumped in. “In fact, I’m going to try the South of the Border burrito breakfast special.”
“You’ll have heartburn all day if you do,” Penny predicted, but it didn’t change Emily’s mind as the three turned their discussion to spring flowers and what to plant.
Josie listened to the women bickering and smiled to herself.
Change had come to Dry Gulch, but now everything felt normal again.
She loved that she couldn’t feel anything ominous on the horizon.
Her so-called second sight hadn’t returned after her head injury, and she told herself she was thankful for it.
As Max came in and slid into the booth across from her and Cordell, Goldie emerged from the kitchen and strode toward them. She had a huge smile on her face, her engagement ring sparkling on her left hand as she slid into the booth next to Max.
“Okay, what are you three up to?” Goldie asked after Max gave her a quick kiss.
Her best friend grinned at her. “Cordell wondered if we’d like to have a double wedding.” She quickly added, “If you hate it, just say so.”
Goldie’s face lit up. “Seriously?” She looked from Max to Cordell and then to Josie. Her eyes filled with tears. “I would love that!”
THE MORNING OF her wedding, Goldie received a bouquet of flowers with a postcard and message.
The photo on the card was of a tropical island, turquoise water and white sand.
She turned it over. Neatly printed on the back was a note that read: Heard you’re getting married. Congrats. Be happy. You deserve it. D
She stared at the words, tears filling her eyes, and whispered, “Thank you.”
“You know that’s evidence,” Josie said after her best friend handed her the card to read. “I guess he wasn’t such a bad guy after all.” She put the card back into the bouquet and grinned at Goldie. “You’re like a cat with nine lives.”
She had to laugh, hoping that was true. “I want to spend the next seven as Mrs. Max Lander right here in Dry Gulch.”
Josie hugged her. “Both of our dreams are about to come true. Just think, we’re going to be sisters-in-law.”
Penny Birch stuck her head into the room. “The church is packed, standing-room only. The whole county showed up. Are you two about ready?”
They laughed. “We’re ready,” they said in unison and laughed again. Penny shook her head and closed the door.
“We’re about to marry the men we’ve always loved,” Goldie said.
“Heaven help us,” Josie said with a grin and opened the door. “At least we know what we’re getting ourselves into. After you, my friend.”
Goldie spotted Max the moment she stepped out. Their gazes met and held, and she saw their future. She couldn’t wait for the children they would make or the life they would build together here in Dry Gulch, Montana.
She grinned over at Josie and, taking her hand, they walked up the aisle together into their bright, happy futures with the men they loved.