Page 76 of Colton Baby Conspiracy (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

Feeling guilty, she said, “Mom, please, calm down. I’m fine, really. There’s no reason for you to cry like that.”

But Genevieve Colton didn’t seem to be able to take any comfort from her daughter’s assurance. For a moment, she couldn’t speak at all. And then, still sobbing, her mother managed to get out a few words.

“Mar...lowe. You...you have...to...come...”

At a loss as how to deal with her mother’s very obvious distress, Marlowe tried to figure out what her mother was trying to tell her.

“All right, Mother, if it means that much to you, I’ll come home to the ranch.”

“No...”

The words her mother was trying to say seemed to get caught in her throat.

That didn’t make any sense to Marlowe. “Wait, you don’t want me to come home?”

“Your father...” Genevieve gasped, trying desperately to catch her breath and be coherent.

Marlowe tried hard to fill in the blanks and guess what her mother was trying to tell her. “My father’s worried about me, too?”

“No!” her mother sobbed, frustrated.

“He’s not worried about me?” Marlowe asked.

None of this made any sense to her. If her mother was this hysterical, she suspected that her father had to be involved in this somehow. Maybe her father had fed her mother details that the chief had given him and that was what had made her mother so beside herself like this.

“What is it?” Marlowe asked, desperately trying to unscramble what her mother was trying to tell her.

“Marlowe...your father... He’s...he’s been...shot,” her mother finally managed to get out.

Marlowe was on her feet instantly, reaching for her scattered clothing, her outstretched hand trembling.

“How?” she demanded. “When? Is he... Is Dad...?” She couldn’t get herself to ask the question, fearing the answer she would hear.

Listening to her end of the conversation, Bowie was already getting into his own clothes, throwing them on while never taking his eyes off Marlowe.

Ace was now on the phone, having taken it from his mother. “Marlowe, it’s Ace. Dad’s at Mustang Valley General Hospital. The police brought him here. The whole family’s here, and we’re not sure if he’s going to pull through,” Ace told her. He sounded totally shaken. “You need to get here as fast as you can.”

“But what happened?” Marlowe cried urgently. “And where were you? When did you—”

Her questions went unanswered. Ace had ended the call.

Chapter 24

Marlowe was trying very hard to keep from being overwhelmed by the shock that vibrated through her. Still, the phone slipped from her fingers.

She looked in Bowie’s direction, hardly seeing him. “My father’s been shot,” she cried, dazed.

Bowie bent down to pick up her phone and handed it back to her.

“I heard,” he said gently. He couldn’t imagine what she was going through right now. “Do they know who did it?”

Numbness all but saturated her, stealing away her very breath. Marlowe shook her head in response to his question. “I don’t know.”

More than anything, he wished he could take her pain away. “But he’s still alive, right?”

He saw Marlowe’s eyes fill up with tears. “For now,” she whispered. Looking around the room, trying to focus, she said, “I’ve got to get to the hospital.”

“Get dressed,” Bowie told her. “I’ll drive you over there.”

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