Page 17 of Montana Silence
“Why not?”
Daniel shrugged. “She asked for a few days off, and she never asks for vacation. I think she more than deserved a break.”
“Was this before or after you sent her to town to buy the cameras?”
“What?” He was looking down at his computer screen, not fully focused.
I crossed my arms. “I saw her in town at the hardware store, buying a bunch of security cameras. I assumed you sent her to buy them.”
Daniel blinked and frowned, now focusing on me. “No, I never did that.”
All the instincts I’d been desperately trying to ignore since the wedding came racing to the surface. The way she was terrified and triggered. Then buying security cameras, along with being jumpy? If I was overstepping my boundaries, then I would accept my fate. But I wasn’t just going to sit on the sideline if Mara was in trouble.
I turned, and Daniel’s voice pinned me to the spot. “Is there something I should know, Liam?”
“Is there somethingIshould know?” I challenged him.
The look on his face told me everything. There was something he couldn’t tell me, because it wasn’t his information to give. “You don’t have to tell me to be careful,” I said, leveling my gaze at him. “I will be. But don’t tell me to stay here.”
He nodded. “I won’t. Let me know if you need something.”
I heard the truth of his words. If there was something deeper to this, he needed to know. “Take no chances” had become the motto of the ranch in recent years.
I jumped in my truck and drove to Mara’s house. We all knew where it was, in a corner of the ranch, tucked away. But I’d never been there. As far as I knew, most everyone in our little family hadn’t. We wanted to allow her privacy.
The small cabin was one story, and it was exactly the kind of place I imagined Mara living. I smiled in spite of myself. Given that it was late summer, not many flowers were left, but this place would be beautiful in the spring and early summer.
Ivy and flowering vines crawled up the side of the house, and huge flower beds surrounded all the walls, along with more patches lining the path up to the door. The house being on an angle, I could see a more practical garden in the back.
No truck here. She tended to leave them up at the lodge and walk most of the way. But I hadn’t realized how far away this corner was. If she wanted to use the truck, she could. But Mara never took anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary.
I turned off the truck and stared at the house. My whole body tingled with a strange combination of relief and nerves. Relief from finally following what my instincts had been telling me to do for days, nerves because I didn’t know what I was about to find.
But I couldn’t wait anymore.
The cameras she’d bought were up on the edges of the house. They weren’t secured well. One looked like it was hanging on by a thread. It was clear she’d put them up as quickly as she could before retreating. What I wanted to know waswhy?
I knocked on the door. “Mara?”
It didn’t take long for her to answer. She likely heard the truck pull up and knew someone was here. It also didn’t take long for me to know that somethingwaswrong.
Mara was pale, and she wasn’t looking at me. She wore leggings and a camisole that showed more of her than I’d ever seen, but the way she curled in on herself, hiding… I hated it.
She took a step back and gestured for me to come in without saying anything.
“I’m sorry,” I said after she closed the door, “if I’m interrupting your vacation and you want to be left alone. But I hadn’t seen you, and with the wedding and the cameras, I was worried.”
The inside of her house was sparse but beautiful. Fresh flowers in vases and tastefully chosen art pieces. It was comfortable too. Not something thrown together, it wasintentional. I recognized it, because it was what I’d done with my own home. I’d made it mine, and she’d made hers truly her own.
Mara turned and went to the small kitchen across the space. A kettle steamed, and she pulled down a second mug for me. And suddenly tea was the furthest thing from my fucking mind because Mara waslimping. “Are you okay?” I asked around a lump in my throat. “You’re hurt?”
A tea bag in one mug, then one in the other. Her shoulders curved like she was ashamed of the fact that she was hurt.
“Mara.” I cleared my throat. “Why do you need security cameras? Is there something we need to know? If there is, you know we’ll protect you. You don’t have to be alone, I promise.”
She brought the mugs over to the coffee table and set them down, gently touching the bowl of sugar and the little creamer pitcher she’d set out for herself, offering them to me. Still, she didn’t say anything out loud.
I wasn’t sure if it was simply her normal silence or if she’d been triggered again, but her silence was devastating. It filled up the room, and I couldn’t breathe around it. Mara needed help, and no matter if it was the most painful thing I’d ever do, I would get her help. Even if it wasn’t from me.