Page 52 of Captive at Rescue Ridge

“I’ll see to it personally,” Travis stated.

Annalee’s eyes opened as the EMT worked on her. “Archer.”

“I’m right here,” he said, squeezing her hand. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

Her eyelids fluttered and then closed, causing panic to grip him.

Annalee woke with a start.She sat bolt upright and immediately searched the room.

“You’re okay,” came the deep timbre she wanted to wake up to every day for the rest of her life.

She sought out the voice then exhaled when her gaze found him. Archer. He was right there.

“It’s dark,” she said as he scooted a chair next to the bed and sat down. “You’re alive.”

“I’m good,” he said. “And it’s the middle of the night.”

“That must mean I’ve been out for several hours,” she reasoned.

“You’ve been out for a day and a half,” he said, pressing the nurse’s call button.

“My mother?” she asked as she tried to let the news soak in.

“She’s good,” he said. “They plan to release her from the hospital and into custody tomorrow morning at seven a.m.”

Annalee didn’t know what to say to that.

“For what it’s worth, she says she never meant for any of this to go so far,” he said. “Becca was tricked with the evidence and then was conned into asking for the ransom. The only condition for her going along with the scheme was that no one get hurt.”

“Why fake her own kidnapping?”

“To make the whole scam seem legit to you,” he said. “Russ was always after my family’s money, and your mom knew you’d come to Saddle Junction if you thought I was in trouble.”

“I still can’t believe she would involve your family and put you in harm’s way,” she said with a headshake that hurt like hell.

“She genuinely seems ready to face up to her crimes,” he said. “Believe me, I wasn’t ready to hear it, at first. She asked for paper and pen so she could write letters of apology to myself and Owen. She wrote one to you, too.” He motioned toward a folded-up piece of paper lying on the tray table near her bed.

“I’m not ready to hear an apology just yet,” Annalee said after a thoughtful pause. “I’ll find a way to forgive her someday, but only if she’s serious about seeking help and making real changes in her life. Then she’ll have to stick with them. I’m done bailing her out. This was the last straw.”

“From the sounds of it, she’ll take what she can get from you,” he said.

“She hurt you, Archer.”

“Yes.”

“She was responsible or, at the very least, an accomplice in abducting Owen.”

“Yes.”

“It’s hard to forgive those actions,” she said, figuring she might as well tell him how she felt. “It’ll be hard because she hurt the person I’m madly, deeply, and profoundly in love with. Someone I’ve loved since I was seventeen years old. Someone I know I’ll love until the day I die. And I don’t know how or if you can forgive me for the past, let alone for what my mother has done now. But if you could find it in your heart to give me a second chance, I promise never to hurt you again.”

There. She’d laid her feelings on the line. The ball was in Archer’s court now.

He leaned forward, his expression unreadable.

Then, he reached over for her hand and covered it with his. When he locked gazes with her, the amount of love and understanding in his eyes nearly brought her to tears.

“I never stopped loving you, Annalee.” He kissed the back of her hand. “I’m crazy in love with you. You’re the person I want to wake up to every morning for the rest of my life. You’re the person I want to come home to and talk about my days. You’re the person I want as my best friend and lover. You were my first love and you’ll be my last. And I’d be honored if you would do me the great honor of marrying me.”

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