Page 35 of Waiting in Wyoming

Her friends just kept getting hurt lately. And Charlotte was up here, too far away to help them. Meyra suspected that was driving Charlotte crazy. She wanted to help the people she loved.

“I don’t know what kind of cop Heather is. If she can do anything to keep Powell safe. Or if she’s hurt, or Powell is hurt, or—and Heather is a single mom and has two little girls, and she takes care of her family, and?—”

And Charlotte looked like she was going to cry. Meyra stood. She hugged her cousin. Just for a moment. “I thought the people in Major Crimes were supposed to be the best? They’ll get them back, Char. I just know they will. I don’t think that man Gunnar will stop looking, ever.”

She had met the people in Major Crimes before. When Charlotte had been shot and nearly died. Her entire family had flown down there as fast as they could, to be with Charlotte in the hospital.

Those had been some of the scariest moments of Meyra’s adult life. Waiting to know if Charlotte was going to live had been horrific.

Dylan came in, almost floating. Quade was with her.

Dylan’s expression tightened, when she saw Fletcher. Then there was concern when she looked at Charlotte. “What’s wrong? What’s happened?”

“Charlotte’s friend in Finley Creek was abducted about seven hours ago. We just learned,” Meyra told her. Dylan’s eyes widened. “Powell Barratt and Heather Coleson.”

“Heather?” Quade’s voice almost rose. “The woman that was here? That Heather?”

Meyra nodded.

Charlotte cursed. “Quade?—”

“What happened?” he asked.

Dylan slipped her hand into his. Then Meyra remembered Quade’s secret. “Heather’s your aunt, isn’t she? I’m so sorry, Quade.”

“I only met her for the first time the other night,” Quade said. But Meyra thought she saw fear in his eyes. “What about her girls? Are they okay? What happened?”

“They don’t really know,” Charlotte said. “They were walking together in their neighborhood. And basically just disappeared.”

“Does it have something to do with the case that brought her here?” Quade asked.

“It would make sense, wouldn’t it? I mean, Powell is in love with Gunnar Erickson, right? And Heather works with him, on that drug thing?” Meyra asked.

Charlotte blinked at her. “Powell isn’t in love with Gunnar.”

“Powell is most certainly in love with Gunnar,” Dylan told her. “Everyone can see that, Char.”

Meyra just couldn’t sit still. Brandt had to be terrified right now, he just had to. And Heather’s family—those little girls. They needed their mom. More than anything, they needed their mom.

They were still talking about that—Meyra suspected Dylan was trying to distract Charlotte, even though Charlotte hadn’t quite caught on yet—when the call came.

27

They had beensome of the longest hours of his life, but he had his sister safely tucked in at his cousin Houghton’s mansion. Complete with multiple armed guards around her—and Gunnar Erickson watching every move she made. Powell and Heather were both going to recover, though Heather had taken far worse damage than Powell had. Protecting his sister.

Powell had told his parents she was pregnant days ago.

Powell and herbaby,due around mid-September, were going to be fine. Brandt was still coming to terms that he was going to be an uncle. And that Gunnar and Powell were together now.Ifthey were, no one had really said yet. But Powell was pregnant, his mother was thrilled, and Gunnar was the father.

Life in Finley Creek was going on without him. Brandt still hurt a little that he wasn’t going to be such a big part of his family’s lives any longer. He knew Masterson was the best place forhimto grow in the way he needed to, and Masterson was the best place for Meyra—but he would always miss his family. Being an almost daily part of their world, and them his.

Just how much they meant to him had been reiterated in the hours between his plane landing at the private airstrip at theBarratt Ranch and the moment word had come that Powell had made her own way to the hospital. She had been out there, with monsters. Men who hadn’t cared one damned bit about her, her baby, or Heather and the two little girls who needed Heather most.

Nowhere was truly safe. He had learned that long ago. Every moment with the ones you loved was infinitely precious.

He made it back to the Talley Inn really late.Close to midnight.

He just wanted to find a bed, and in the morning—he wanted to find the woman he loved. He just needed to see her—as soon as he could.