Taken Bride (The Secret Bride 3)

I stare in disbelief as I watch Papa Rich in handcuffs being escorted by police into a building. His head is up, shoulders proud, and not an ounce of remorse is present in his face. Commentary about capturing the Ghost Town Killer rings in my ear as I watch the man I believed I loved walk toward his end of destruction. No one can die from his hand any longer. No more misery can be cast down upon the poor, unexpected trespassers.

He’ll never get to be a ranger again. Only a prisoner.

They cut away and show Scarecrow in a wheelchair being pushed through a media storm and surrounded by police. He looks pathetic with his one leg. They’ve removed the straw stuffing of his other leg, which I’m sure has him pissed off. They took his identity and his dignity by forcing him to be pushed in a wheelchair by someone else. I feel for the person escorting him. I wonder if he still smells like onions, body odor, and feces.

“Watching them both, so far away, almost seems like being cheated. I didn’t get to see them arrested for myself,” I confess.

“I know,” Christopher says. “It took everything in me to not be up on that mountain waiting for their return. But at the same time, we have to move on. We can’t be held captive by them forever. They aren’t part of our story anymore.”

“This doesn’t seem real,” I say under my breath. “I thought they’d never catch him. Never.”

Christopher walks up behind me and places his comforting hand on my shoulder as we watch together. “Agent Martinez told me that they’re going to want us to testify. I’m going to get an attorney right away to handle everything for us and help guide us through this storm.”

I look up at him, instantly in a panic. “But what about our home? Will the media find us? You said where we’re at is secret. It’s ours. Only ours.”

I love being in our cabin with no reporters waiting outside. Is that all going to change?

“We’re going to stay hidden the best we can. I’ll have our lawyer be our point of contact, and though we may have to travel to testify, we’ll deal with the media and authorities away from our house. Our home will be our sanctuary always.” He leans down and kisses my forehead. “I promise. I like the peace and quiet here just as much as you do.”

Christopher had kept his word the minute we flew off the mountain. We didn’t go back to New York, we had no interaction with his mother, and he found us the cutest cabin in a small mountain town called Pinesville. The town consists of one market, a post office, a pet store, a barbershop, and some other small businesses. It’s quaint, charming, and already feels like home. We’ve met a couple of the people who live in the town, but they all seem to keep to themselves as we do. It’s friendly, but not overly so. And if they know who Christopher and I are due to the media, they aren’t letting on that they do.

Christopher is taking nature pictures and seems to love it. We go on hikes, and he gets lost in snapping one photo after another. We’ve settled into a routine of love, happiness, and contentment that I never thought possible. But I always knew in the back of my mind it was temporary. We were working on borrowed time because Papa Rich would enter my life once again.

And here he is.

On the television, so far from me but also so close.

“I’m not sure I can face him,” I confess, staring at the man who at one time was my only family. The only person in my life who meant anything. The man I believed to be my Papa Rich.

I don’t recognize the man anymore.

And not because he changed. No… he’s the same man. The same evil man.

I just have my eyes open now. I can truly see the truth.

He’s not my Papa Rich anymore.

He’s Richard. He’s the Ghost Town Killer. He’s a bad, bad man and was my kidnapper.

Christopher lets out a deep breath and begins rubbing my back. “I wish I could tell you that you don’t ever have to see him again. But I know you and I will be key witnesses in his trial. He’ll be in the courtroom when you have to take the stand.”

“What about your mother? Will we have to see her?”

He continues to rub small circles on my back. “It’s likely. She’s now a part of this court case as well. There’s no way she’ll be able to walk away from this with her hands clean. No matter how much money and how many fancy lawyers she throws at this, she aided a wanted felon. It’s a crime, and I don’t see her not having to pay for what she did to you. But my mother is no longer my concern. She gets to deal with her legal issues on her own.”