Love and Memories - Signed Paperback

She has secrets, but she can’t remember what they are.Paramedic Travis Monroe has honed his emotional shield when it comes to trauma, but when a terrified and injured woman clings to him after a devastating accident, her touch threatens to break through his carefully constructed defenses. She’s scared and alone, and she can’t remember anything.Unable to remember half of her life, Isabella Young latches onto the kind EMT whose patience becomes her solace as she struggles to put the pieces of her life together. As each day passes, Travis is becoming more than just her caretaker—he’s becoming her fiercest advocate in a world that suddenly makes no sense.As Travis arranges for Isabella to stay with his friend and helps her get back on her feet, fragments of her past begin to surface, and the truth is far from pretty, threatening to entangle them both.When the ugly truth begins to push them apart, Isabella must decide if she will confront the darkness of her past or continue running from it. When law enforcement issues a public warrant for her arrest, time and options quickly run out.Now, Travis must decide how far he will go to protect a woman he barely knows but can’t bear to lose. Can he save Isabella from the sins of her forgotten past, or will the long arm of the law tear them apart forever?If you loved the Blackwater Ranch series and the Wolf Creek Ranch series, get ready to fall in love all over again in Blackwater, Wyoming.

Isabella stared at the dim orange sun cresting the horizon in the side mirror. It was fitting that the sky would burn this morning. The cab had been quiet for hours, but even the peaceful silence couldn’t ease her racing heart. 

Bill kept his attention focused on the road ahead where darkness still welcomed them into the unknown. The older man’s shoulders sagged as he gripped the wheel. He’d been driving all night and probably needed sleep worse than she did.

“Thank you for this,” Isabella whispered. The simple words would never be enough, but she didn’t have anything to give him for basically saving her life. 

For now. She was alive for now, but how long would that last? Her days were numbered. She might only have hours. 

Bill nodded once, acknowledging her appreciation without turning his attention from the task at hand. 

The nausea gripped her stomach again. She couldn’t go back–couldn’t change things or fix what she’d done. 

Did she want to? 

The adrenaline amped back up as she remembered, and her shoulders started to shake again. She wrapped her arms around her middle to stop the tremors. 

“You’re gonna be okay,” Bill said. His raspy voice was low but sure. “Just keep your head down.”

That was as much of a pep talk as she could hope for from the stoic man who’d put his life on the line to help her last night. 

He’d warned her. Months ago. Bill had predicted this long before she’d known to look for the signs.

“Are we getting close?” Bill asked. 

Isabella unfolded the map and checked the mile marker that zipped past their speeding car. She’d been planning this trip for weeks. She’d never been to Blackwater. She’d never set foot in Wyoming, but she knew these roads like the back of her hand. 

“Another mile or so to the town limits,” Isabella said before an unforgiving yawn took control of her body. 

Exhaustion settled over her shoulders like a heavy blanket. The throbbing in her eye and shoulder was a steady reminder that this was her life and not some nightmare. 

Isabella studied the worn map. It was the only thing she had left besides the clothes on her back. Circles and dots marked safe places throughout the town, but Blackwater Hope House was her destination. 

The home page of the shelter’s website was stamped in Isabella’s memory. The photo of two women had captured her attention amidst all the uproar threatening to tear her apart. 

Camille and Laney. She’d repeated those names over and over. Their stories were so different from hers, yet she had some unexplainable assurance they would accept her. Hopefully, the women would be there when Isabella arrived, and she could tell them how far she’d traveled–how she’d risked her life to find them.

Both of the women wore genuine smiles in the photo. The joy in their expressions didn’t match the harrowing stories detailed below their likenesses. 

Camille was an attorney, and she was well versed in family and civil law though she didn’t shy away from criminal cases. If Isabella could ever gather the nerve to share the truth with Camille, maybe the woman could help her. 

Laney’s smile was even brighter than Camille’s, but her testimony told of a time past when she’d been trapped in an abusive relationship, only to be saved by a family of kind strangers. 

She glanced up from the map to the unfamiliar mountains and trees. Isabella needed saving. She’d never been so lost in her life, but hopefully she was headed in the right direction. 

Isabella searched around her seat for her purse before remembering she’d thrown it over a bridge and into a river a few hours back. Starting over had to be a clean break. Anything that would link her to what she’d done was dangerous. She kept what few dollars she’d had and got rid of the rest. 

That river could have her past. It could have her mistakes and weaknesses. She had to push it away to remember the woman she used to be before a man took her hope and happiness. 

No. She would be better. She could be the best version of herself. No one knew her here. 

The two women on the Blackwater Hope House website had plenty of hope and happiness. She could see it in their eyes. She recognized the remnants of her old joy that life had crushed a long time ago, and she wanted it back. 

Camille and Laney looked kind, and that was what had convinced Isabella to make a run for it. It was a gut feeling, but it was all she had to go on.

An old diner came into view, and Isabella held her breath as Bill turned into the lot. He parked beside a row of worn pickup trucks and killed the engine. 

“You want some breakfast?” he asked. 

Just the thought of food had bile rising in her throat. How could she sit down for a meal at a time like this? When was the last time she’d eaten? The gnawing in her gut wasn’t hunger, it was agony. 

“Thanks, but I think I need to get going.”

Bill scratched the gray scruff on his cheek. “Can I talk you into having a cup of coffee?”

Isabella glanced at the diner. The Deano’s sign was at least fifty years old, but the tables she could see through the large windows were filled with people enjoying breakfast and friendly conversation. 

“No, but thanks for the offer.” Coffee wouldn’t mix well with the adrenaline coursing through her system. 

Bill slapped a heavy hand on her shoulder. “You take care of yourself.”

“I will.” The lie almost clogged her throat on its way out. She’d done a poor job of taking care of herself up to this point, and she was worse off than ever. 

Maybe that was the problem. She’d trusted others to take care of her, and they’d only hurt her. Her parents, her so-called friends, the man who’d promised to protect her–they’d stomped all over her and left her broken in the end. 

Isabella’s new goal was to be her own savior. She couldn’t trust anyone. She’d been burned too many times. 

Bill got out of the car, and Isabella did the same, leaving the map on the seat. She didn’t need it anymore. The whole town was blazed into her memory. 

When she met him behind the vehicle, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a few dollars. “Take this.”

Isabella shook her head. “I can’t do that. You’ve already done too much.”

Bill grabbed her hand and shoved the money into it. “Take it. Just remember what I told you.”

“Don’t go back,” Isabella whispered, repeating his words from the previous night. 

Bill nodded once and walked away. He disappeared into the diner, shutting the door on the last piece of her old life. 

Isabella shook out her tingling fingers and headed for the road. The crunch of gravel beneath her feet was the only sound of the morning. 

When she reached the road, she glanced at the rising sun before turning her back to it and heading west. According to the map in her back pocket, Blackwater Hope House was three miles away. 

What would she say when she arrived? How much was safe to tell them? Would they even take her in? 

Possibilities and options raced through her mind as her feet pushed through the thick grass lining the side of the road. How far had she walked? Resisting the urge to check the map, she kept going. She didn’t need the worn paper anymore, but it had become a crutch on the long drive from Omaha. 

The quiet hum of an approaching vehicle rose behind her, and she fought the urge to turn around. How long would she be looking over her shoulder just waiting for the past to catch up with her? 

The engine revved, and she turned–instinct jerking her around. An old black truck raced toward her, and fear raked its claws down her gut. They’d found her, and the worst one of them all had come to shut her up forever. 

The truck swerved toward where she stood on the side of the road, and the will to survive flared hot and bold in her middle. Isabella dove for the ditch, but she was too late. She hadn’t been careful enough–hadn’t kept her guard up as she ran. 

A jolt of heat hit her side as the world around her tumbled and plunged into darkness.