But then … He'd kissed her.
Cade had said old habits died hard. Old feelings died hard, too, she realized.
She loved him. Always had. Always would.
And the result would be the same … a broken heart.
He was an outlaw. Yet he'd said this was his first crime. Could that be true?
How much had he changed over the years? The Cade Morgan she knew as a child was gentle, sweet, and made her insides sing. He couldn't have changed that much. The more she thought about it, the more convinced she was that even if Cade seemed different, harder, on the surface, deep inside, he was the same boy he'd always been.
Fatigue washed over her, a heavy weight that made it impossible to think straight. Surely things would make more sense in the morning.
The sound of Cade's voice carried through the closed door, startling Bella from a fitful sleep. Sometime during the night, she'd curled into a ball on the bed, and someone had wrapped a blanket around her.
"I can't tell her what happened," he said. "She won't believe me anyway. Nobody did."
Bella threw the blanket aside and climbed out of bed. What was he talking about, and why wouldn't she believe him?
"We believed you." Zane and Trey spoke in unison.
"You're family."
"Doesn't matter," Trey insisted.
Zane's deep voice filled the silence. "You didn't give Bella a chance to tell you if she believed you or not."
"She knows I want to stop her from marrying Dobson."
"Did you tell her why?" Trey asked.
Cade's voice became clipped, haggard. "You think I should have told her he was a cold-blooded murderer?"
Bella's heart thumped in her chest. Murderer? Edward had murdered someone?
"Damn right you should have. You should have told her back then and likely none of this would be happening now."
"I didn't really get the chance," Cade retorted. "You know how quick I got sent out of town."
"That's true," Zane admitted. "But you've got the chance now."
Bella straightened, ran her hands down the creases in her skirt and tucked her wayward hair behind her ears. Zane was right! Cade had the chance now to tell her what he'd been hiding from her, and she was determined to find out exactly what that was.
With a deep calming breath, she threw open the door and marched into the room. All three men looked up in surprise as she came to a stop within a few inches of Cade.
"Tell me. Now."
The squeak of the rocking chair ceased. Zane and Trey didn't move, didn't speak.
Bella glared at Cade. She deserved to know; she needed to know. "What happened? Why are you calling Edward a murderer? And why did you have to get out of town?"
In unison, Zane and Trey headed to the door. "We're just going to get some fresh air," Zane said a moment before both men disappeared into the night. The door slammed shut behind them.
Cade's face was flushed, the muscle in his jaw tense. He was angry. But so was she. She wanted answers, and she wasn't going to let him rest until she got them. "Well?"
"You really don't know what happened?"
She threw up her hands. "If I knew, I wouldn't be asking. All I know is that your mother died, and the next day, you were gone."