She gave her daughter a shake. "Honey, wake up if you want to go to the zoo."
Londyn stirred and pushed her hand away.
"There might be elephants."
Her eyes popped open and she sat straight up. "Really?"
Valerie laughed and stretched. "Maybe. I don't know. But if we don't get going, we won't find out."
As it turned out, they got to the zoo an hour before it closed. The lady at the window was ready to close up shop when they approached.
"You won't have much time to see anything."
"But we--"
"I need to see the elephants. If I don't, they'll be so sad," Londyn interrupted. "You have to understand."
The lady sighed. "Hold on a minute." She picked up her phone and made a call. A few minutes later, a woman walked out to them. "Are you the elephant people?"
Londyn raised her hand. "I am."
"I'm Sheila. I'm the elephant keeper. Come on, and I'll introduce you."
Valerie mouthed a thank you to the ticket lady who just winked. They followed Sheila to a barn. "Now this is the behind the scenes that most people don't get to see, but since you said the elephants would be sad if they didn't see you, I wanted to be sure to keep them happy."
For the next hour, Sheila pointed out the various elephants under her care. Once again, the irony of the situation working out so perfectly was not lost on her. The last time she had been to the zoo, Tyson had kissed her right in front of the elephant exhibit. She found herself staring at the little bridge on the general public walkway that she could see in the distance.
By the time they were done, Valerie knew that she was never going to hear the end of the elephants. Sheila walked them back out and grabbed a stuffed elephant from the gift shop that they had to pass through. "Here. Here's a memento for your room."
Londyn threw her arms around Sheila. "Thank you, and tell my elephants that I'll be back to see them. Maybe I can even work here and take care of them every day."
Sheila glanced at Valerie and smiled. "Talk to your mom about that, but if you ever have any questions, you call me. We love to nurture our young wildlife enthusiasts as much as we can."
They stopped for pizza on the way back to the hotel, and Londyn was sleeping on her feet by the time they reached their room. After a quick bath, Valerie tucked her in, complete with her arms around Elfred, her new best friend. Valerie stroked her hair as she fell asleep. Her heart was twisted with worry, but she knew deep in her soul that she had done the only thing she could to keep the both of them safe. She knew her ordeal was far from over, but for the moment, she had to focus on the here and now.
Randall was a dangerous man, and she just hoped that she knew him well enough to stay one step ahead of him.
Chapter Four: Escaping the Past
Tyson “Ty” Hale
Tyson rode his horse, Legacy, hard as they galloped along the ridge trail trying to outrun the past. Memories whirled in his head, and his heart felt like someone reached in his chest and squeezed it like a stress ball. He had thought about Valerie every day for years, but seeing her name on the reservation screen and knowing that she was going to be in front of him all of a sudden had knocked him for a loop.
He remembered the day like it was yesterday. He'd been right here at the ranch.
Tyson tucked his cell phone back in his pocket. "That's weird. Val must have forgotten to pay her cell phone bill."
Colton had teased him. "Maybe she thought you were going to pay it for her since you're getting hitched. It'll be your job to pay all of her bills from now on. Might as well start now."
"Very funny. She'll figure out it's off and pay it and then hope that I hadn't noticed."
"Maybe she just hit a dead spot between here and Denver. That happens sometimes."
"Maybe." Something had niggled at Tyson, but he had dismissed it and distracted himself. "I hate her working up there, but I don't want to say anything because I know she loves her job."
"When you have a kid, she'll forget all about her job," Colton had concluded.
But she hadn't forgotten to pay her phone bill. When he still hadn't heard from her by the next day, Tyson went to her apartment after she should have been home from work. He had told his mother that maybe Val was just mad at him about something that he hadn't figured out yet.
