Page 31 of Engaging the Deputy (Silver Stars of Montana #3)

For weeks, Olivia had stayed close to the rehab center after Jaden had been released from the hospital. They’d spent hours getting to know each other again—and silently coming to terms with what had happened that last night in Starling.

It was something they didn’t talk about, but she suspected he was as haunted by it as she was.

She’d killed Cody, her once neighbor, friend and high school sweetheart.

He’d turned into a man she hadn’t recognized.

A killer. A drug dealer. A drug user. A man who was willing to kill again to save himself from capture.

When she’d told her mother about that night, Sharon Brooks had been shocked.

“Do you realize what would have happened if not for your quick thinking?” she demanded.

Tears had filled her eyes an instant before she’d grabbed her daughter and tugged her into a hug.

“I’ve always thought I wasn’t much of a mother to you.

Better than my own, but that’s not saying much.

” She’d pulled back to look at Olivia as if seeing her for the first time.

“I must have done something right to have such an amazing daughter.”

Now, as Olivia finished packing, she was glad she hadn’t kept anything from her apartment. When she’d quit her job and moved out of her furnished apartment, she’d realized that she hadn’t collected anything. Not even memories she’d wanted to pack.

“Is that it?” her mother asked, glancing around her daughter’s old bedroom. It looked exactly like it had when Olivia had gone away to college all those year ago.

“You’ll come up a few days before the wedding, right?” Her mother nodded. “Jaden has you a room at the hotel there.”

“Where the wedding’s going to be.”

“Yes.” She felt like she should say more. “Thank you for everything.”

“I didn’t do anything,” her mother said with a shrug.

“You did.” She stepped to her and hugged her, realizing how thin her mother seemed.

“You’ll come for dinner so I can fatten you up.

” Sharon huffed but Olivia could tell she liked the idea.

“I’ll come down to visit when I can, but you’ll always be welcome.

Did I tell you that Jaden and I are planning to start a family right away?

” She saw her mother’s eyes light up. “Well, I’d better get going. ”

Picking up her suitcase, she headed for the door.

“I’ve got something cooking on the stove, so I won’t see you out.”

Her mother had never liked goodbyes. “Then I’ll see you before the wedding.” She opened the door, glanced over her shoulder to see her mother in the kitchen, wiping her eyes. “Don’t forget to bring some of your crab apple jelly,” she called back and left.

Olivia felt teary-eyed herself as she walked away from the home where she’d been raised. But it wasn’t goodbye. It was a new beginning. She would bring her children here. Her mother would teach them to cook and fuss over them.

She put her suitcase in the back of the car and climbed in behind the wheel. But she hadn’t gotten very far down the road when she saw a rig coming toward her that she recognized. The vehicle slowed, an arm coming out the window to flag her over.

Slowing, she put down her window and pulled alongside in the middle of the road.

This was rural Montana; there was no traffic.

“Hi, Dean.” She’d wondered how he was doing after all of this.

He’d lost his wife, still hadn’t completely recovered from the injuries he’d sustained during the tornado and seemed a sad figure with so many of his friends gone.

“You all right?” she asked when he said nothing.

“I heard you were leaving for Fortune Creek. The deputy already up there?”

She nodded. “I’m on my way now. Something wrong?”

“I just wanted to offer best wishes on your engagement.”

“Thank you, but won’t I see you at the wedding?” she asked.

“I’ll have to get back to you on that.” He looked down the highway. Still no traffic. “Well, I should get going. You take care of yourself.”

“You too.” He drove off. She watched him go in her side mirror for a moment before putting up her window and continuing along the road toward the turnoff to Fortune Creek.

It wasn’t until she’d made the turn and was headed north on the way to her new home, her new life and her soon-to-be husband that a thought nudged her.

Where had Dean been heading before he’d seen her? This road didn’t really go anywhere except the mountains. Unless he’d been using it as a shortcut to his wife’s barn. Wasn’t that property off-limits until after the trial?