abduction sight were sent in for DNA analysis and we finally had confirmation about what had happen to Duke. Chance had killed his father in a fit of rage, then gone on a killing spree against those who knew about the abuse but never rescued him. He killed Frank to cover his tracks and Duke because Frank had called him. He’d burned Duke’s body alongside his father to cover up the murder, rigging the furnace to explode to throw us off his trail. Then he’d driven Duke’s truck and boat to Yellowstone with a motorcycle in the bed of the truck so he could return. Rip died for his sins, and Butch died because of greed. Eleanor and Eloise died because they feared Justice Bear more than they cared about what was happening to Chance.
Chance hadn’t fought any of the charges. He pled guilty with a blank face and was held over for a psychological evaluation before sentencing, after admitting to killing his father, and finding out Justice had lied about our mother. He was ruled mentally unstable and sentenced to Montana State Hospital. He’s been there four months and just recently asked to see me.
The town had been numb when he was first arrested. Some of the older residents had known about Justice Bear’s temper, but none had reported him because Justice owned the local law enforcement. As for blaming my family as I feared, instead of raising pitchforks and running the lot of us out of town for being related to Chance, the good people of Ennis, Montana, circled their wagons around all of us, Kenzie and Chace included. When the media swooped in like the buzzards they were, they barely got close to us. And with Logan at the bar each night, they never made it through the door.
Since Chance was locked up and unable to call in his loan, Kenzie wrote off the debt as his executor for the torment he put my family through. She also paid off all our medical bills as an act of contrition. I argued it was unnecessary, but she went behind my back to the hospital.
Kenzie and Chace took an extended break from Ennis until the media moved on to something new. They were now living at Bear Claw Ranch. Kenzie was in charge of everything until Chace was old enough to run things. She’d turned in her haute couture for jeans, boots, and flannel shirts. I’d forgotten that in her youth she was a barrel racing champion. She could work a horse with the best of them and did daily now. And her men were loyal to the Ennis beauty because she treated them with the respect neither Justice nor Chance ever gave them, Mac Macey said.
Ty and Jamie had been distant ever since my attack. Neither would talk about it, but I suspected Ty had made his intentions known and Jamie turned him down because of me. When she was ready to talk about it, I’d be there to listen. If I’d learned one thing with everything that had happened in the past six months, it was fate was never wrong. If they were meant to be, then it would happen without my help.
Logan appeared behind the bar carrying a keg for the tap. You wouldn’t know to look at him he was the police chief. Instead of sporting the standard issued uniform Duke always wore, Logan stuck to all black. Black boots, black cargo pants, black tee with the town logo on the back. He kept his badge in his back pocket, but his gun rested on his hip at all times. He looked like a SWAT officer or the soldier he’d always be. My soldier. ‘Til death do us part in just a few months. It would be sooner if Logan had his way, but I wanted a big bash outside at The Sarah so the whole town could witness how much I loved him. So we had to wait for warmer weather.
Max trotted around the front of the bar and leaned against my leg.
“You allow dogs in your bar?” John Little asked incredulously.
I turned back from watching Logan and took in the older couple. “He’s my bouncer.”
“What can a dog . . .”
Susie stopped speaking when I gave Max the hand signal for Guard and he stood quickly and lowered his head at the couple, his upper lip quivering so he could bare his teeth as he growled.