She licked her lips. “Delicious.”
He simply nodded and popped a cookie into his mouth. After he’d washed it down with the coffee, he said, “What about the investigation?”
“I’m not sure how, because I heard this via my mom, but it seems that Fern’s abductors might have be responsible for taking Annie Ross as well. There are details that match between Fern’s abduction and the abduction of a friend of Annie’s. She heard this from my brother, who is a firefighter and was the one to rescue Fern.”
That was a solid lead. He’d had plans to stop by the Dark Canyon police office while he was in town, but maybe he should speak to Ryan Colton as well. “That is interesting. Any more details on Annie Ross? Was she found near a cabin as well?”
“No. Not at all. She was just dumped in the wilderness and left to die from exposure. When she was found she had extreme hypothermia and died as a result.”
“Had she been drugged like Fern?”
“I really don’t know,” Ava said, taking another cookie. “I think my cousin Jacob Colton with the National Parks ISB is conducting the investigation because of where Annie was discovered.”
“I’ll get in touch with him. Thanks for this,” he said.
“No problem. Mom called to warn me to be extra safe.”
“Why?”
“Three women have been taken.”
“I get that. I wondered if there was something particular that made her concerned for you?” he asked.
She took a deep breath, looking down at her coffee mug. It was a while before she shrugged. “I had a stalker back in college…I think all these young women being taken reminded her of that.”
Her words were even, almost nonchalant, but her hands were white where she gripped the coffee mug, giving away herunease. Reaching over, he put his hand on hers and squeezed. Of course he wanted to tell her she’d be fine, but he couldn’t guarantee that. No one could. He hoped she would be. Chances were a woman as connected to Dark Canyon and a Colton to boot wasn’t going to be taken, but there was no promise of that.
Gracie let out a loud yell. Ava pulled her hand from his and dashed down the hallway, calling over her shoulder that she’d be right back.
She’d left the monitor so he watched her talking softly to the baby as she got her out of bed and changed her diaper. They both came back into the room a few minutes later. Gracie saw him and threw her entire body forward he reached up to take her from Ava.
“Told ya she missed you.”
He laughed as the baby girl’s hand wrapped around his finger. Her eyes were big and brown, and as he looked down on her rounded face, he felt something tug deep inside of him. She looked like his people. The DNA had already proved that she was one-quarter Diné and shared genetic markers with him.
Could she be the child of a half brother he’d never met? As always when it came to his mom he had more question than he’d ever get answers for. It would be easy to just write it off because she was dead, but the truth was even when his mom had been alive she’d been elusive. He had never known her, not really. And he’d wanted that. Wanted to know the only parent that had been alive when he’d been a kid.
That strengthened his resolve to find a good family for Gracie on the Navajo reservation. To ensure that she grew up close to her relatives so she’d know where she came from. His grandmother had been a strong figure and raised him to know his past and directed him to find his own path to the future. Something he truly respected and appreciated. There was no one he loved as much as he loved her.
But that didn’t mean he hadn’t still missed out on having his mom.
Watching Chay hold Gracie made Ava feel warm all over. She took another of the blue corn cookies to distract herself from the domestic scene. It wasn’t like she wanted to date a guy who wanted kids. The world they lived in made her think twice about wanting to bring children into it. But there was something about Chay that was changing her mind.
He’d be such a good father. She doubted he even saw that in himself. Though she was still getting to know him, it was easy to see that he projected himself as a loner. Yet he’d brought her cookies his grandmother had made. He was determined to find out who had kidnapped Fern and keep the Navajo Nation safe as well as the town of Dark Canyon.
He cared. Way more than she suspected he wanted the world to know. Maybe it was the fact that she was a psychiatrist that gave her insight. But she didn’t believe that. Chay was gruff at times, but there was also that way that he smiled, joked and looked after others.
When he’d put her hand over hers, not saying words that she would struggle to believe, like promising her safety, she’d known that the like that had been slowly blooming within her was starting to grow. She’d struggled to explain to her parents and younger brother that nothing anyone could say or do would ever make her feel safe again.
Something that she might need to share with Fern to help in the other woman’s recovery. Ava really liked to keep her past in the past. But her mom’s call had stirred up those old feelings, and there was no shaking it.
The deep breathing had helped, and having Chay here was going a long way to reminding her of all the good men therewere in the world. Watching him hold and play with Gracie made her smile.
She shoved aside her own feelings. “Has Marg reached out to you yet?”
“Marg?”
“From Family and Child Services?” Ava asked, getting up to refill both of their coffee cups. She’d been talking to the other woman about Gracie’s DNA results and trying to find her biological father.
