“Yes, I understand that they are. I haven’t heard from the police. I’m going to give Officer Lee a call tomorrow.”

“You’ve raised some good points, sweetheart, but why didn’t any of this occur to you before?”

“I think I just didn’t believe in myself enough. I didn’t…” I sighed. “I was programmed from a young age to think of myself as average, no matter my successes. Average body, average mind. In fact, when I first awoke after being taken, I decided to let the chips fall where they may because maybe I deserved it for letting Gina die. But now… I don’t know. Once I was actually in that garage with that running car, things changed. I changed. For the first time, I truly understood the human instinct for survival. I got out of that horrible, frightening mess, Jonah. I got out of it alive by using my wits. Granted, a little bit of luck helped too, but I was determined, and do you know why I was so determined?”

He smiled. “Because you realized you’re brilliant, and you knew you had a good life?”

I laughed, shaking my head. “No. I was determined to get back to you. I had fallen in love with you, and it killed me that I might not ever be able to tell you.”

“Oh, baby.” He pulled me to him and kissed my forehead. “You have no idea how glad I am that you got out of that situation alive. If anything had happened to you…”

I edged back a little. “Nothing happened to me. I’m here, safe, with the man I love. Sure, I have a few scars, and it’s taken a toll on my mental health, but I’ll recover. I know I will now.”

“You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met.” He kissed me on the forehead again. “Every day you amaze me more.”

“I never thought of myself as strong. I never thought of myself as anything other than average in every way.”

“Baby, you are so much more than average.”

I smiled. “I see a little of that now. Don’t worry. I’m not going to get a big head or anything. I won’t be turning into Brooke Bailey anytime soon.”

“Oh, God. Please.”

“That woman has such a big head. I don’t know how she got through Talon’s door. All she talked about today were her glory days of modeling. Oh, and she talked a little bit about you.”

“Me?” Jonah squirmed.

“Does that make you uneasy?”

“No. But she…” He raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m not quite sure how to tell you this.”

“You can tell me anything.”

“I know that. It’s just… Brooke came on to me yesterday.”

I shot up from the bed. “What?”

“Don’t worry. I’m not interested in her.”

“She can keep her mitts off of my man!” And then I laughed in spite of myself. “I can’t believe those words just came out of my mouth.”

He laughed. “You know, you’re cute when you’re jealous.”

“Jealous of that has-been?” Then I frowned. “I didn’t mean that. She’s kind of…sad, really.”

“Brooke Bailey was given the gift of beauty,” Jonah said, “but so were you, Melanie. And you were given so much more than she was. Now that her modeling career is over, all she has left is her vanity. Her past successes. She’s the one who’s jealous of you.”

“Why in the world would she be jealous of me?”

He guffawed. “Because you have me.”

Chapter Twenty–Seven

Jonah

She looked at me and burst out laughing.

“Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for.” I smiled.

“Oh, no, it’s just the way you said it. Poor Brooke.”

“Poor Brooke? How about poor me? She’s been stalking me over my phone.”

Melanie dropped her mouth into an oval. “What?”

“She’s been sending me texts. Saying stuff like she will have me. She wants me. That kind of crap.”

“She can stop that right now,” Melanie said.

“She sent me two this morning while I was sitting in Talon’s kitchen. Didn’t you notice her using her phone?”

Melanie scratched her nose. “I remember her using it once. Honestly, though, she could’ve used it more than once. I stopped paying attention to her after a while.”

“I came out to confront her about it and tell her to stop, but you looked so relieved to see me, I decided to just get you out of there.”

“Yeah, I was certainly ready to leave.”

“I’m sorry to drag you through that.”

“It was my decision. I didn’t want to stay here alone. I’m going to have to be okay with that from now on. I know you can’t be here all the time. You have a ranch to run.”

“Yes, and unfortunately I have to be in the north quadrant at the crack of dawn tomorrow.”

She turned to me, cupping my cheeks. “Look, I really am feeling better. Believe it or not, I think the attack on me jarred me a little. Yes, in a bad way, but also a good way. I was forced to use my brain, to think about things that I normally wouldn’t think about. And it opened my mind to these new things, to look at Gina’s situation and her letter in a different way. To see that maybe Gina wasn’t suicidal.” She shook her head and chuckled. “To think, I almost destroyed that letter.”

“What?”

“I walked into the hardware store in Snow Creek the day I was taken. I bought a document shredder.” She closed her eyes. “That’s the first time I’ve even allowed myself to think the words ‘document shredder.’ I was so freaked that I had bought it, that I was thinking about destroying the letter.”

“Wow.”

“I know. My head was a little screwy that day. It has been since Gina’s death. But no more. I’m going to figure this out.”

“But what if…” I couldn’t finish.

“I’m wrong?” She bit her lip. “I might be. And I’ll deal with that. Every doctor loses patients. It’s a chance you take when you’re a healer.” She sighed. “We’d all like to be able to heal everyone. Every doctor out there. But no one can.”