Out of the Storm (Buckhorn, Montana #1) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,103

and in time...”

She’d nodded, hating to hear that. Time. She’d spent so much time apart from the only man she’d ever truly loved. She desperately wanted him back, not knowing if that would ever happen.

“I’ll never forget everything you did for me, Earl Ray,” she said when they reached the airport high on the rock rims overlooking the largest city in Montana. “How can I ever thank you?” As they stood outside the small airport in the midday sunshine before the next snowstorm, they seemed almost shy with each other after everything they’d been through. She was going to miss Earl Ray.

“Allowing me to be part of this love story was thanks enough,” he said, taking her hand as they stood on the sidewalk outside the terminal. “No matter how it all ends, the two of you have something special. It was like a shooting star, much too quick, I know. But I don’t believe it’s over. Like you, I know Jon is strong. If anyone can pull out of this, it will be him because I believe in my heart that you have always been somewhere in his memory. He won’t want to let go of you anymore than you do him.”

“I have to believe that he’ll come back to me.” She let out a nervous laugh. “I always have.”

“Don’t give up hope.”

“You know I won’t.” Kate leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. “Take care of Bessie. She needs you. And whether you know it or not, you need her...”

“There’s one more thing,” he said as he pulled an envelope from his pocket. “I’m not sure this matters anymore, but still I thought you might want to see it.” He raised his gaze to hers. “I hope I’ve done the right thing. As you know, I was able to get your daughter Danielle free of the man who Collin had holding her as leverage against you. I know I overstepped, but I had some of Danielle’s DNA gathered and some of Jon’s as well...” He held the envelope out to her.

Kate felt her eyes widen. She stared at the stark whiteness of the envelope reminding her of the winter snow around them before she took it. She already knew, but still her fingers shook as she carefully opened it and pulled out the report inside it. Tears blurred the words. She shook her head and turned to Earl Ray. “Please, I can’t read it right now. Tell me.”

“You were right. Jon Harper was once Daniel Jackson.”

She nodded and, wiping her tears, smiled at Earl Ray. “Thank you.” With that she grabbed the handle of her suitcase, turned and walked through the revolving door that would lead her back to Texas.

Once inside the airport terminal, she turned to look back. Earl Ray was gone. So was that moment of sunshine. Snow had begun to fall again.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

JON WOKE FROM what felt like the inside of a coffin. He opened his eyes in confusion and pain, half-believing he had died. He had no idea where he was and little memory of what had happened to him. At first, all he felt was the intense pain. In his head, his face, his side, his entire body.

He started to touch his face but was stopped by a nurse.

“You’re in the hospital,” she reminded him, not for the first time, he could tell. “You’re going to be all right.” When he tried to get up, feeling a need to be somewhere important, she said, “I’ll get the doctor.”

He watched her leave the room before he reached up and felt his face. It seemed to be a patchwork quilt of stitches and bruises and skin. “What happened to me?” he asked as the doctor came in.

“All in good time,” the physician said. “Right now, just be glad you’re alive. Your brain needs to heal. You need to be patient.”

Like the other times, he lay back, feeling weak and hurting as the doctor administered pain medication. He waited to fall back into the black hole he’d only recently climbed out of, knowing at least down there he wouldn’t be alone. There was a beautiful brunette with amazing green eyes who came to sit in his room. Sometimes she would tell him stories about a young married couple and two small children. Other times she would hold his hand and smile down at him. He had no idea who she was.

In one recurring dream, she was holding his hand and crying, begging him to come