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into the softness she saw in his eyes as he gazed at her. “Lock up after me and I’ll see you in the morning.” With another deep sigh, he left the café.
    She locked the door and then shut off the last of the lights in the café. She walked through the kitchen and to a door that led to the area of the building she and her son called home.
    There was a nice-size living room with a bedroom on each side. Matt had the bigger of the two bedrooms and at the moment was sound asleep in his bed.
    She stood in his doorway and watched him, her heart expanding with love. Everything she had done, she’d done for him. Every bad thing she’d ever accomplished, every lie she’d ever told, had all been in an effort to save Matt.
    And she’d succeeded. He was a happy, healthy young boy who had no memory of the first two years of his life. And for that she would forever be grateful. He didn’t suffer the kind of nightmares she did from those years. He slept peacefully, as the young and innocent should sleep.
    She moved from his room across the living room to her smaller bedroom. Lately it seemed that every night her sleep was disturbed by nightmares. And recently she’d been dreaming not only about the crime that had taken place so many years before, but also about Candy’s murder. Now she had Shirley’s terrible death to add to her landscape of nightmares.
    Minutes later, as she slid beneath the sheet and turned off the light next to her bed, she tried to focus on what Cameron had said to her—don’t take it personally.
    She hoped that what people were speculating about Kevin Naperson was true. He’d always been the number one suspect in Candy Bailey’s murder. Maybe he’d killed Shirley to take the heat off himself, to make it look as if there was some crazy serial killer in the town offing waitresses.
    Or perhaps it truly was just a strange coincidence that both murdered women worked at the café. Mary had twelve women working various shifts, both full-time and part-time, at the restaurant. Grady Gulch was a small town where many women didn’t work outside their homes.
    She closed her eyes, determined to get to sleep despite everything that whirled through her head. Her flighty thoughts landed and stayed on Cameron Evans.
    He’d made it clear in all kind of ways that he’d like to pursue something romantic with her. Matt adored the sheriff, and there were times Mary longed for nothing more than his big, strong arms around her, that she would love to invite him into her life, into her heart.
    But the choices she had made long ago would forever keep her alone. And if by some chance Cameron discovered the truth of who she was and what she had done, he wouldn’t love her, he’d arrest her.

Chapter 3
    S he had a child.
    The fact had haunted Nick throughout the night, and when he awakened the next morning it was with the same thought in his mind. Courtney had a baby.
    When had it happened? Did the baby belong to Grant Hubert? Is that why she was living and working in Grady Gulch? So her baby could be close to his father? If that was the case, then why weren’t the two of them already married?
    And just how old was the baby? How quickly did Courtney move on after Nick had left town?
    What he couldn’t understand was why the idea bothered him so much. She’d been right. He had no business asking her questions about the choices she’d made after he’d left here. He’d lost the right to know anything about her personal life when he’d decided to disappear.
    But knowing that didn’t stop the small pang in his heart as he thought of her having a child with another man. He was supposed to have been the father of her children.
    Often when they’d spent time together in the Yates barn they’d talked about their future together. They both wanted children, a little boy first and then a girl. They’d buy a ranch and build a family. That had been their dream, but even as they’d talked about it, deep in his heart Nick had