Page 78 of Christmas with Three Cowboys

“Truth be told, we’re not poor,” Mitch chuckles dryly.

“Yeah, but you can’t pay off the cartel,” I say, shaking my head in dismay. “We’ve gone over this one too many times. It’s not an option. And it’s not your mess to clean up.”

“And we’ve gone over that, too,” Colton cuts in. “It isn’t your mess either, Melissa. You’re our woman, our partner. We’re not letting you take more of this fall for Jake Miller.”

I take a deep breath, daring to imagine a future where there’s no Jake, no cartel. Just me, holding my baby Wrapped in the arms of my men, thanking God for having brought me this far. It fills me with a sense of hope, an idea slipping into the back of my head—maybe, just maybe, all isn’t lost yet.

“What can I do?” I ask the guys. “How can I help?”

“I’m glad you asked,” Mitch says, a smile blooming across his dark, handsome face. I reach out and run my fingers over his growing stubble, loving the prickly feel against my skin. “We need to take a trip to the past, Melissa. We need to investigate the very incident that got you arrested, starting with the people who testified against you and your old friends from Lincoln.”

“While you do that, Ethan and I will look into Ainsworth PD to see if we can find out who Jake’s inside guy was,” Colton says.

The idea of going back to Lincoln doesn’t thrill me, to be honest. It’s a part of my life I’ve long since said goodbye to. But if I have to do this in order to protect myself, my baby, and preserve what future I have left, then I guess I don’t have a better choice. It’s the right thing to do, especially after everything Colton, Ethan, and Mitch have already done for me.

Besides, my life here on the ranch won’t go any further unless we get the cartel off my back.

It means throwing Jake to the wolves, but… I realize I have zero hesitation in that sense. They’ll kill him. If we get to the truth, if we get the evidence we need against him, not only will my name be cleared and my sentence vacated—it will set Jake on a direct path of Hurricane Esparza. I’ve paid enough for his crimes. It’s time to turn the tables and set things right.

“Okay, we’ll go to Lincoln,” I tell Mitch with a slight nod. “We’ll get to the bottom of this and help the truth come to light. There’s no other way.”

“We’re with you, baby,” he replies and kisses me softly on the lips. “Every step of the way, we’ll be right there with you.”

It’s what gives me the strength to push forward.

“Kyle and Jasonare going to help Sammy with the cooking side of things. Darla’s handling the cleaning,” Mitch reassures me as we head to Lincoln.

We’re using one of the ranch’s older pickup trucks in order to keep a low profile, but I don’t mind as long as I’m with Mitch. Ethan and Colton are headed to Ainsworth, in the meantime, following a similar strategy.

“It feels weird,” I tell Mitch as the road opens ahead, “not being at the ranch.”

“You’ve gotten used to it. Personally, I don’t mind. In fact, I like it. It means you really have become one of us,” he replies, half-smiling.

His phone is mounted on the dashboard, and I catch glimpses of Colton’s updates coming in. They’ll be in Ainsworth by nightfall. They haven’t had any issues so far but the issues will start the minute they walk into the police station and start asking questions. If Mitch’s theory is correct, they’ll ruffle a few feathers and stir up a lot of trouble.

“I can ride a horse, too,” I say with a little giggle, but I don’t feel too peachy.

The pregnancy is taking its toll on me, an added discomfort to the preexisting stress and anxiety. I’m constantly queasy, trying my best to stay hydrated and keep my vitals in the above-average range. I take the prenatal vitamins every day, and I’ve even adjusted the ranch menu to fit my needs without explaining it to anyone. Hell, the guys have actually enjoyed the new recipes and fruit additions.

“Melissa, it’s going to be okay,” Mitch says after a while, noticing my greyish state.

I can’t bring myself to tell him it’s more physical than emotional, so I nod instead. “I know, babe. I trust you and your brothers completely. I just… I just wish we didn’t have to do all this.”

“We kind of do,” he replies. “Yet another thing I don’t mind, to be perfectly honest. You deserve to have your name cleared and your life given back to you in full. There’s no turning the clock back, but we can still try and fix what we can.” He pauses and takes a deep breath as we drive past a sign that says we’re about fifty miles from Lincoln. “Now, tell me about those witnesses Jake found. What were their names again?”

“Laurel and Bruce,” I say, glancing at my notes app on my phone.

“And you said you’d never met them.”

I shake my head. “Laurel sort of looked familiar but I have no idea why. Bruce was a complete stranger to me. When they took the stand and claimed we were all friends, I kind of froze. I just couldn’t believe they would just swear on the Bible and lie through their teeth like that.”

“Did you and Jake have any common friends?”

“There was Lyle, a former foster kid like me. We hung out a lot while I was with Jake. He disappeared for a while,” I say, trying to remember my friend. His shaggy blonde hair and brown freckles come to mind, his wiry frame and crooked smile. He lost a tooth during a bar brawl. I wonder if he ever got around to fixing that. “A good guy, but he didn’t really like Jake.”

“And looking back, why do you think that was?”

I chuckle bitterly. “That’s a good question. Jake used to say it was because Lyle had feelings for me. I always thought Lyle was playing for the other team, though he never… you know, officially came out in that sense. I guess I chose to believe Jake.” I frown and shake my head. “Oh, God, I need to go over every conversation I ever had with Jake and remember how much ofhis crap I actually bought.”

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