Page 37 of The Last To Know (Hallowed Halls Series #2)
Two days later—near Billings, Montana
F or the first time in a long time there were no more troubled dreams. Hannah believed Brenda was finally at rest. But Hannah was far from it. The peace she’d been searching for here in Montana hadn’t come. Mostly because one person wouldn’t let her go. Cooper.
Outside, the noise of a vehicle traveling down the gravel road near her place caught her attention. Cars were rare in this part of Big Sky Country.
After shooting Luis Noland and working the Embalmer case, Hannah realized her body was worn out. She needed rest. Deep down physical and mental rest. The kind she could get only away from DC. She’d told Jack and Megan she was going away for a while. She’d asked them to keep her abreast of what happened with the case, and they had.
After making sure Cooper would make a full recovery, she’d traveled to Montana to a small rental house in the middle of a thousand-acre ranch. She’d come for peace along with rest. So far, she hadn’t found it.
The vehicle had turned off the county road onto her drive. She had no doubt who had found her. Zeke would have told him where to come.
Outside, a car door opened. Instead of a knock on her door, her old porch swing creaked as if someone sat on it. Just like Cooper .
Hannah stepped outside. Her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. Cooper sat swinging on the rickety porch swing, a big yellow dog at his feet.
She couldn’t move for the longest time. Couldn’t seem to draw in enough air.
Hannah forced down the tiniest bit of hope.
He didn’t seem nearly as rattled by her presence as she was by his.
“Hannah.” His smile was as handsome as she remembered. Infectious. Reminding her of the old Cooper before facing the darkness he’d gone through recently. And her breaking his heart.
Her lips twitched. Unable to fight it, she grinned. “Cooper. This is a surprise.”
He rose and came to her. “Really?” He was close enough for her to smell his aftershave. She wanted to draw him into her arms and never let go, but first she wanted to hear his reasons for coming.
“Really. What brings you to Montana?”
His smile disappeared, and the look he gave her tore at her heart. “You just left. You’re not answering my calls again. I thought we were beyond that.”
It was hard not to lean up and kiss away his worries, throw caution away, but she had questions that required answers. “You know why.”
He slowly nodded without looking away. “And I don’t care.”
With a ragged breath, he drew her into his arms and held her close. “I love you, Hannah, and I want to be with you. I don’t care if it’s a week, a month, a year.” He touched her jaw, her mouth, with his lips confirming those words. “Don’t turn me away, Hannah. Don’t deny you love me too.”
She pulled away, as affected by their kiss as Cooper. She needed to bring things back under control.
“Who’s your friend?” She pointed to the golden retriever who sat watching their exchange with only a mild interest.
“Buster. He’s a rescue dog. He used to work on a ranch, but he hurt his leg so his owner gave him over for adoption. I remembered you told me once that you wanted a yellow dog.”
She smiled and tried not to set her happiness free. “Hello, Buster. Nice to meet you.” She hesitated then said, “I’m glad you came.”
“Thank you. I’m glad I came and that you’re glad I’m here.”
But there were things that needed to be said. “You need to be sure of what you’re getting yourself into, Cooper, because I couldn’t bear it if you change your mind.”
“I won’t change my mind about you or us.” He cupped her face. He was going to kiss her again, but she still had questions. She pulled away.
“I need you to listen. I had a heart transplant. Do you realize what that means?”
“I don’t—not fully, but I also don’t care. Hannah, I love you.”
“I love you too, but I’ll spend the rest of my life taking medicine. Having children is probably too risky . . . and I have no idea how long I’ll live or if I’ll need another heart.” That was the hardest part to say.
She’d finally gotten through to him. “So far, the record is thirty years for a heart recipient. It might be longer with proper care. It might not. I’ve had my heart for nineteen years now.”
Color seeped from his face. He hadn’t considered the consequences. “That doesn’t change my feelings one little bit. I don’t care. I love you, and I’m trusting God with the rest of it. Trust Him with me. None of us can say how long we have on this earth. We should live each day to the fullest. Love the people God has chosen to bless our lives with and trust Him with the rest. I love you. I don’t want to let you go again, and I’m not worried about the future because I believe it will be okay no matter what.”
Tears filled her eyes and spilled over, but she went into his arms and held him tight.
She sensed something was troubling him and asked him what.
He tried to dismiss his misgivings. “ Nothing.”
“No, something’s bothering you. It’s about the case, isn’t it?”
That she’d guessed wasn’t a surprise. She knew him well.
“Not my father’s case, but Brenda’s. I’m sure this is probably the last thing you want to talk about now, but why did she do it?”
Hannah had gone to counselling after the shooting. Still, she struggled since Noland’s death to put aside Brenda’s terrifying memories of that monster. They’d become little more than fragmented pieces that made her think the small part of Brenda that still existed inside her had gone away.
“You mean why’d she kill herself?”
He nodded.
“I think she believed it was her only way out, otherwise he’d kill her. In the end, she took the matter out of his hands. She reclaimed some control over her life.”
Cooper told her there had to be more, surely.
After a moment, Hannah shook her head. “No. By killing herself the way she did, Brenda was certain her death would get blamed on Noland. She’d obviously researched it thoroughly. She’d read all the statistics that say most women never take their lives by violent means. Brenda was smart. Much smarter than her husband gave her credit. She believed Noland was escalating in his violence toward her and she believed he might harm others. Brenda knew he would if he remained free. In her mind, this was the only way to prevent that from happening.”
Hannah inhaled a deep breath. “I don’t agree with what she did—all life is precious and God-given, but I understand how hopeless she felt. She believed if he were in prison somewhere, even though she couldn’t save herself, she would save Noland’s next victim. Or so she thought. I guess the outcome wasn’t as she’d planned.”
Cooper held her tighter. “No one predicted the verdict in finding him mentally incompetent to stand trial. Brenda did her part by planting the seed of abuse in her family’s minds.”
Hannah shivered as some of the vivid images of horror Brenda had endured crept into her thoughts. She closed her eyes and held Cooper closer.
He appeared to hesitate before asking, “Will you stay here or come back to DC? Wherever you are, I want to be.”
“I’m ready to go home. Ready to spend the rest of my life with you, Cooper.” Hannah twisted in his arms to see his face. “But only if you’ll have me.”
“I love you, Hannah,” Cooper said and held her tight in his arms. “I want to be with you. Now, and however long God gives us together.”