Page 101 of Christmas with Three Cowboys

“We got Laurel’s confession on tape, enough leads to follow up and make a case before the judge. You’ll be cleared, Melissa. Your conviction will be overturned, and your sentence will be vacated. It’ll be okay,” he replies.

Mitch plants a soft kiss on my cheek. “You should’ve told us you’re pregnant.”

“Oh,” I mumble, my face burning red. “I didn’t know when or how to, given everything that was going on. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Colton says and kisses me on the lips. I welcome the heat; I welcome the love pouring from him like ambrosia from the gods themselves. “In retrospect, I think it was wiser to keep us in the dark. Had we known, we would’ve made ourselves vulnerable, desperate, prone to deadly mistakes.”

I glance back at the window. The Escalades’ red taillights shrink in the depth of the winter night. “I thought I’d lost you. All of you,” I whisper, tears stinging my eyes.

“You’re not going to get rid of us that easily,” Colton chuckles softly.

Lost in their embrace, I find comfort and peace again. This time, however, it feels whole. Permanent. So real I can never deny it.

“Come on, there’s a lot we need to do before dawn,” Mitch says.

Ethan pulls away for a moment and takes out his phone. “I’ll handle the sheriff. We need them at the ranch, too.”

“Oh, God,” I say, tears flowing freely down my cheeks at this point. “Kyle and Jason… Did they really?”

“I’m sorry. There was nothing we could do,” Colton says, then tells me about how everything went down from the moment they learned I’d been taken. “By the time we got to the ranch, they were already dead.”

“That bastard,” I grumble, anger working its way through my heaving chest.

Colton sighs deeply. “We’ll give the boys a proper funeral, help their families. We’ll need some time to recover, to regroup, to figure out what we’re going to do next.”

“We’re going to get Melissa’s name cleared, first and foremost,” Ethan says as he gets off the phone with the sheriff. “Kavanaugh is sending a crime scene unit over to the ranch and two of his deputies over here to draw up an incident report. They’ll take all of our statements first. We’ll head down to the station tomorrow for the full interview and whatnot. He’s already processing Laurel. The DEA is in town. A whole team.”

I shake my head slowly. “I can’t believe this. It really is over.”

“And you’re not going anywhere,” Colton says, then takes me in his arms. “We need to redefine your role on the ranch. Your role in our lives, too.”

I glance at the puddle of blood on the floor, already congealing and darkening into a thick reddish brown. “He nearly ruined my life.”

“He’s gone now,” Ethan says.

“Are you hearing me, Melissa?” Colton interjects.

“Huh?” I give him a curious frown while simultaneously melting in his embrace.

“Okay, let me try that again,” he laughs lightly and gives me another kiss. I feel it differently this time. It’s infinitely more profound, reaching my soul on a deeper level. “I love you, Melissa.Welove you. We love you so much, it almost fucking killed us to lose you, even if it was just for a few hours. And that right there,” he adds, gently placing a hand on my belly, “that’s our child…”

“Children,” I reply.

“Right. ’Cause you had to make it extra challenging,” he jokes, and I giggle. “Our children, Melissa. We’re going to be a family. If you’ll have us, that is.”

“Of course, I’ll have you. I’ll have the three of you for the rest of my life.”

Mitch smiles gently and tucks a lock of hair behind my ear, his touch almost electric, sending pleasant chills down my spine. “Good,” he says.

“We’ll figure the rest out, one day at a time,” Ethan exhales sharply. “Right now, I just want to put this whole fucking nightmare to rest.”

Once we’ve given our statements, the sheriff’s deputies let us go back to the ranch. We arrive at a gloomy scene, somewhere around four in the morning. The CSI van is pulled up outside the house, while two police vehicles are parked next to it. Another deputy guards the main gate, letting us through.

“Sammy and Darla are inside,” Kavanaugh says as he meets us on the front porch. “They’re okay. Shaken aplenty, but the doc checked them out before he helped the coroner with your boys. I’m sorry, fellas. I really am.”

“So am I,” Colton replies, staring at the front door for a moment. “Are they still in there?”

“No, we got their bodies out, but the living room is off limits for a few more hours. The rest of the house is yours, though,” Kavanaugh says. “I’ll have my deputies keep an eye on the place for forty-eight hours. The DEA is already expanding their search for Ramon Esparza and his crew.”

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