Page 133 of The Cowboy's Unshakeable Love

Retta clutched her cheek. “What the …?”

“I followed them. He brought my daughters to see you.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Retta was struggling to process what was going on. Maybe she was still asleep, and this was a dream.

The way Jamie laughed made her think that she might well be out of her mind. “With jealousy? Maybe I am. You see, Marty is mine. He’ll come around – he always does. He says he’s going to leave me, but he comes back to his senses. He’s mine! And you are not going to be the reason that he forgets that.”

“He has no interest in me whatsoever. They stopped to see us for five minutes yesterday, and then they carried on to the park.”

“He’s just trying to throw me off the trail. He suspects that I’m following them.”

Retta just stared at her. The woman was totally unhinged.

“Yes, I’ve been following them since they came here. He doesn’t know that I have access to his email – his passwords are so easy to guess.”

“Well then, I’m sure you can see that he’s not staying anywhere around here.”

“Because he’s trying to throw me off the trail.”

Retta frowned. “That makes no sense – why would he do that if he doesn’t know that you’re following him or that you can read his emails?”

Jamie screamed and slapped her again. “Stop trying to deny it. I know!”

Retta took a few deep breaths, wondering how she was going to get rid of her. When she asked if Jamie was crazy, it had been a figure of speech. Now, she guessed that it might not be far off the mark in a more clinical sense.

“So, what do you want from me?” she asked in a slow, steady voice, hoping that she could at least calm her down some.

“Get up. You’re coming with me.”

“I can’t. I …”

“Get up!” Jamie screamed, and Retta’s heart leaped into her mouth when she pulled a gun out of her purse.

“Okay! I…” She reached for the boot. “I need to …”

“Leave it! Just get up. You’re coming with me.”

Retta struggled to stand, and Jamie waved the gun toward the door. “Go!”

She did her best to hobble without putting too much weight on her left leg, hoping with every step that she wasn’t going to do more damage. She looked over her shoulder – then again, if Jamie intended to shoot her, her leg might be the least of her worries.

She took a deep breath when she reached the front door – Jamie’s white Rav 4 was parked behind her Chevy – she didn’t know if she’d be able to make it that far.

“Hurry up!”

Jamie pushed her, and she fell forward. She managed to get her hands out to break the fall, but when she hit the ground, agonizing pain shot up her leg as Jamie stomped on it – just like she’d done in San Diego. Retta screamed, and Jamie leaneddown toward her. She saw the gun swing through the air. The last thought she had was that at least she was going to hit her with it rather than shoot her. Then, pain exploded in her head, and everything went black.

~ ~ ~

Travis held the ring up to the light and grinned at the thousands of little sparkles it gave off. “This is the one, guys!”

The girl behind the counter smiled happily, and the other guys nodded their agreement. The girl was no doubt pleased about her commission – this ring was the most expensive one she’d shown them. The money didn’t matter, though. What mattered was the ring was beautiful, and he knew that Retta would love it. It was a plain gold band, and the diamond was an oval shape. The girl said it was a brilliant cut, and he didn’t know if that was a technical term or just her opinion – either way, he agreed with the assessment. All the diamonds he’d seen were sparkly, but this one was something special, just like his Retta.

Trip grasped his shoulder. “Good choice, bud. Now, are you going to stand there grinning at it, or are you going to pay for it, so we can leave? Then you can start scheming up when exactly you’re going to give it to her.”

Ace chuckled. “Yeah, I want to know what you’re planning. Knowing you, it’ll be some big, theatrical gesture.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know yet, it might be. If it is, it’ll be with everyone there to see – not for my sake, but so that she knows that she belongs, that she’s one of us now, and … You know.”

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