That was what his parents had done. They had clung to each other even after they passed from the earth into whatever happened next.
“It’s going to be all right, girl. You don’t believe me, but I’ll show you.” He slapped a hand on his brother’s back. “We’ll show you.”
The doors to the station opened, and Nate Wright stood there, an authoritative glare in his eyes. “Max, Rye, we have a missing man.”
Max cursed. “Did he get out the back?”
“He slipped out when Rafe went to his car, so he’s on foot.” Nate looked up and down the street. “I can’t arrest him, but I would like to know where the little fucker is. I’m talking to Atlanta PD right now, but it’s going to take time to get anything going. This was a closed case.”
James took her hand as Max and Rye stepped away from the crowd and started to strategize about how to find the man. James led her up the steps because now that he knew Hope’s husband was on the loose, he wanted to get her inside. He hustled her through the double doors. “You want to tell me what’s going on, Nate? Seems to me you know a hell of a lot about my woman.”
Nate’s eyes rolled. “Well, let me get up to speed because she’s been your woman for like an hour. She’s been my employee for a whole lot longer, and through most of that time, you stayed clear of her.”
“Well he’s not staying clear anymore. Now I can’t keep him off me,” Hope complained.
“Welcome to Bliss, sweetie. Two men means four hands on you almost all the time.” Laura patted Hope on the back. Her face went grim. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault he got away. I was anxious to see what kind of report he had on you, and I watched out the window as Rafe went out to this guy’s car. He slipped out the back.”
“We didn’t have an armed posse guarding the back,” Rafe admitted. There was a thick file on his desk. “Well, we’ll do better next time.”
Noah stepped inside. “Who is this man?”
Hope’s eyes slid to the floor. “His name, if it’s really him, is Christian Grady, though I’m sure that wasn’t his real name.”
“Cam is going to work on finding that out,” Nate said.
“And this Christian guy is your husband?” James forced himself to ask the question in a calm tone. It didn’t matter. She was meant for him and Noah. She was the glue that would hold them together, that would move them all forward. The very fact that this man had run solidified his stance. Whoever this asshole was, he wasn’t getting close to Hope.
“Yes.” The word dripped with shame. Hope’s eyes slid to the floor.
“Not in a legal sense.” Nate stared at James and Noah. “She was seventeen. The age of consent in Georgia is eighteen. She didn’t have her mother’s consent. She lied about her age, and her husband managed to produce a fake birth certificate.”
Excellent. No divorce required. “Good, then he doesn’t have any kind of legal hold on her.”
Laura frowned and tapped the folder on Rafe’s desk. “If he’d brought this paperwork into any of a hundred police stations, he might have been able to walk out of here with Hope.”
“And by walk, Laura means drag you kicking and screaming in a straitjacket. According to all of this paperwork, the state of Georgia had you legally committed to a mental hospital seven years ago. You were given a day pass to go to lunch with him and you escaped,” Rafe explained.
Hope’s face flushed. “All lies.”
“We figured that,” Laura said. “I briefly went through this record, and none of this applies to you. I’ve known you for a year. You’ve never once had a manic episode. I could buy depression, but not bipolar disorder, and certainly not a history of violence. According to this file, you attacked a woman named Elaine Reeves because you thought she was after your husband. You only got off because Elaine Reeves left town.”
“Elaine is dead,” Hope said in a dry monotone.
Fuck, what was Hope involved in? How much danger was she in? Was this man willing to kill her? There was no way his Hope had hurt anyone. If this Elaine had died, it was more than likely Christian Grady’s fault.
“So he’s covering up his crimes?” Cam asked as he walked in, echoing James’s thoughts. He tossed his hat on his desk. “Zane brought me up to speed.”
“He’s in the wind,” Rafe confirmed.
“I want you to take her back to the ranch. It’s the safest place for her. You have everyone watching out for her. Don’t let her leave.” Nate walked up to Hope and put his hands on her shoulders. He looked down at her, his eyes holding hers. “I told Laura and Rafe and Cam the whole story.”
She nodded, tears pooling in her eyes.
“They reacted the same way I did when you told it to me.”
“Honey, we’re going to stand by you. You didn’t do anything wrong,” Laura said.
“Of course she didn’t,” Noah said, reaching for her hand. “She’s the victim.”
“You might not think so when I tell you the whole story,” Hope said.
“I will,” James promised. “I won’t be going anywhere after you tell me the tale so you should get used to the ranch. I know you don’t think much of ranch life, but it’s going to be yours. I promise you that I will try to take you places that don’t involve cows or bulls, but I—we’ll want you with us wherever we go because that’s what marriage is about. Being together. Sharing this life and whatever the hell comes after it. I’m not good with words, baby, that’s Noah’s thing, but I’ll show you.”
Hope’s eyes were wide and filled with tears, and for a moment, he was afraid he’d completely fucked up. “I think you did really well with words, James. Really well.”
“I didn’t get all the brains, brother,” Noah said, a smile of deep approval on his face.
“Take me home.” Hope put her hand in his. “I’ll tell you everything.”
James nodded, emotion threatening to take over. Once he had her home, he would never let her go. Once he had her back on the ranch, he and Noah would show her that she was theirs.
Hope felt sick as the truck rolled up to the main house. Noah and James had been quiet on the trip home.
Home. She shouldn’t think that way, but already the rambling ranch house that had seen better days felt like home. She’d lived in her small apartment for over a year, and not once had it felt like home. She’d never seen the stairs to her apartment and felt tears well at the thought of being inside, safe and warm and happy. But the Circle G felt that way after the briefest of times.
The thought of losing them churned her gut, but it was past time to pay the piper.
She had to hope that one of them would be kind enough to drive her back into Bliss when all of this was over. She knew she really should have done this back at the sheriff’s office, but she’d wanted to be alone. She’d wanted to be here one more time.
“I love this place,” she said, her voice wooden because if she gave way to the emotion inside her, she would never get through the next hour. “No matter what I said to Serena, I love this ranch. I love this life. I wandered for years and never found anything as amazing as this. I would have been happy here.”
Noah groaned. “God, did you know she was this overdramatic?”
James’s lips curved up. “Never. Up until now, she’s been a deeply practical sort of woman. We’re going to have to work on it.”
“You don’t get it.” Frustration was beginning to well. They weren’t listening to her. “You seem to think that I’m going to tell you I was innocent in all of this.”
James opened the truck door and looked back at her, his face so heartbreakingly handsome she caught her breath. “No, I think you’re going to tell me this overwrought story about how you screwed everything up and it’s all your fault.”