1 month later*

The silence of the hospital gave Krisa a sudden eerie feeling. She'd been in a coma for a month now and she had finally woken up a few hours ago. The doctor had explained everything when she had woken up alone. She remembered the accident and being on the phone with Cordell when it had happened. Cordell hadn't left herside for longer than an hour according to the nurse . He'd been by her side the whole time. So the nurse would call him. Krisa felt a strange rush of relief rush over her. Only to feel her anxiety level go up. Suddenly a dark thought crossed her mind. What if Matthew had planned this as she planned this as her punishment? Was her dad safe? Was Cordell safe? As all these thoughts ran through Krisa's mind the hospital room door opened to reveal Cordell.

"Hey there's my cowboy." Krisa greeted him with a smile.

Relife was written all over Cordell's face. When he entered the room holding her favorite flowers and sweets. HE sat them down without a word and walked over wrapping Krisa in his arms. THe two didn't say a word. Krisa just sighed into Cordell's embrace as she breathed in his cologne. Stills wears the small one he did when we were growing up she thought.

"Thank god you came back to me." Cordell whispered into her hair.

Krisa smiled softly and gently kissed his shoulder. She never though he would say that to her after everything.

"I'm so sorry Cowboy." Krisa whispered.

Cordell pulled back looking her straight in the eyes. His normal green eyes turned slightly forest dark green as Krisa noticed the confused look on his face.

"What are you sorry for? Krissy this wasn't your fault. None of this was."

"Cordell listen please.." Krisa begged as she grabbed his hand. "I'm sorry I left the way I did. I'm sorry we got into a fight. . I just couldn't put you, Stella, Auggie, Abby , Bo or my dad in danger for my choice. And I know you would have gone and protected me. Cowboy but I wasn't gonna let Matthew harm anyone this all on me."

"No"

"What?"

"No, it wasn't your fault. Matthew Starson caused all this. He caused all this. He almost cost me you." Cordell said reaching up he cupped Krisa's cheek with a small smile.

"Cordi…"

"Listen, I sat here for over a month and I… I hoped you prayed that you would just wake up and smile at me again. I spent twenty years almost without you. I can't…. I can't do that again."

"Cordell , I left so you could be happy with Emily. I wanted you to have a happy life. And it seems like you did. You have a great life and two beautiful children with Emily. I never intended to come back here and disrupt that life."

"And you didn't. Krisa you have never disrupted my life."

Krisa was just about to say something when there was a knock on the door and Beau Arlen popped his head into the room.

"I'm interrupting a lover's moment?" Beau jocked having yet to step into the room.

"No, no come in." Cordell said, looking up at the other man.

"You sure I can come back" Beau joked yet again.

"No, please come in. Krisa this is Beau Arlen his been helping us with trying to figure out what Starson has been up to." Cordell introduced the two.

"Nice to finally meet you Krisa. Cordell here hasn't stopped talking about you since I got here." Beau said as he shook hands with Krisa.

"I've heard about you Sheriff up in Montana right?" Krisa said, returning the hand shake.

"Yeah, Well I was back in Houston for the moment. I've been trying to nail down Ted Starson and his son for a while now." Beau explained.

"Did you follow up on that lead?" Cordell asked, his eyes going dark forest green once again . Krisa noticed this right off the bat and grabbed his hand to calm him down. Cordell just smiled and rubbed her hand in thanks.

"Yeah it turns out your gut was right. Starson wanted to get his hands on Tommy's place to use for his drug connections." Beau said

"Wait drug connections?" Krisa asked, confused by the statement.

"Krisa, we found out the day of your accident that Starson had connections to the cartel. He was gonna use your dad's house as a cover for them. That case Matthew had here in Austin was to get one of his guys out of jail. That's why he wanted you to move Tommy to Houston so badly." Cordell explained.

"Also I hate to ask this Krisa because I know you just woke up. But did you ever hear Matthew talk of a woman named Clara?" Beau asked

"Yeah…. Once I heard him talking about Clara on the phone one night. When I asked he said she was just a woman he'd known before he met me."

"Well…. It turns out Clara was Matthew's ex wife. She died three years before you met him."

Krisa's eyes went big when she heard this news. Then she had a look of recognition across her face. Which confused both Cordell and Beau. Neither man spoke and waited for Krisa to answer they're unspoken question .

"This explains the strange phone calls Matthew used to get late at night."

"What do you mean Kris?" Cordell asked

"So not long after I moved in with Matthew he used to get these late night phone calls. I got up one night to grab a drink and I heard him talking about Clara. He told someone that he could make me disappear as easily as he did her if I crossed the line or didn't mind my own business."

"When was this?" Beau asked.

"I don't know, maybe six months into our relationship. It was before he proposed so probably about a year or so ago."

Cordell's eyes went from forest dark green to storm green. Krisa noticed this all too quickly and again she grabbed his hand and tried to sooth the storm in eyes only she could tell that this time he wasn't going to be calmed down by her just holding his hand.

"Krisa when did you meet Matthew Startson" Beau asked, watching Cordell close he could tell his friend's reaction.

"About four years ago. We met at a Christmas party for a friend of mine."

"When did you officially start dating?" Beau asked again watching Cordell

"Uhh, February that next year."

"When did you move in with him?" Cordell has his jaw clenched tight.

"That following summer. We had gone on a vacation to San An and he asked me to move in with him. Which I thought was a little fast. We'd hardly been dating and he had been distant through the whole vacation with work and then suddenly he wanted me to move in with him."

Beau and Cordell looked at each other having a silent conversation only nodding at each other in answer. Krisa noticed that the two seemed almost like they had known each for a long time the way they were having the silent conversation. She couldn't help but giggle and the two men looked at her.

"What's so funny Krissy?" Cordell asked.

"You and Beau are having a silent conversation. It was almost like you two were reading each other's minds or knew what the other was thinking and you didn't want me to know. Which is rare for you Cowboy."

"Why do you call him Cowboy?" Beau asked with a chuckle.

"Oh because when we were kids. Cowboy here loved the Dallas Cowboys football team and the Texas Rangers baseball team. Not to mention since he lived on the ranch. I just thought he was a Cowboy so I started him when we were kids."

"So you two go way back huh?" Beau asked again with a chuckle.

"Our folks were good friends. Well I should say our dads are like brothers." Krisa said.

"The Walkers and Chesters go way back. Both of our families came from the same town. Our great great grandfathers both served together in World War 2." Cordell said with a smile.

"So what happened between you two?" Beau asked.

Cordell and Krisa both just kinda looked down. Looks of sadness crossed they're faces as they both looked at each other, both of them not really wanting to tell that story but Krisa thought it wasn't important to talk they're past. Only she had the feeling that it might help Beau to understand why Matthew and his dad wanted to get to her.

"We were teenagers, we grew apart. Cordell found his happiness in Emily and I didn't want to come between that. I'd been crushing on him for years. So just before senior year I left to go live with my grandparents in Houston because I was a heartbroken teenage girl who realized her best friend was in love with someone else and I didn't think he had room for me in his life anymore." Krisa explained.

Cordell didn't say anything, he just took her hand in his and rubbed it gently. When suddenly a thought crossed his mind and he once again looked at Beau and they had another silent conversation.

"Can you two not do that? It is just too weird." Krisa said laughing.

"Krissy, how did Starson know I was a ranger?" Cordell asked.

"My dad I guess. When you got sworn in my dad wrote me a letter and sent me pictures of the day you got your badge. I put the letter in a drawer and never looked at it again." Krisa explained.

"Could Starson have put two and two together?" Beau asked.

"I doubt it. One thing about Matthew was he didn't ask anything about my past. He didn't even ask anything about my dad until just after he asked me to marry him. Then he suddenly wanted to know everything about my family and life back in Austin."

"You think?" Cordell asked Beau.

"It would fit the timeline of when it happened."

"It doesn't make sense though." Cordell said.

"No but it would explain why he suddenly wanted to get Tommy out of Austin."

"Guys care to fill me in here? Or are you two just gonna keep going back and forth and leave me in the dark here."

"Krissy, when Tad called you about that dinner. DId he say who it was with?" Cordell asked.

"He just said it was a business dinner and he wanted me to attend with him and Matthew. It was a big deal for me to be there because he wanted to introduce me as Matthew's fiance. " Krisa said.

Beau suddenly excused himself and stepped outside pulling out his cell phone. Krisa looked at Cordell in confusion. She didn't understand what was going on. The two men seem to know something they weren't telling her.

"Cowboy, what's going on?"

Cordell just smiled. " Don't worry about Krissy. Beau, Caption James, Liam and I will handle this alright."

"Cordell cut the bull you know I hate when you do that. So tell me."

"We got a lead earlier today that there might be a cartel here in Austin and that Starson might be working with them. We aren't sure."

"Okay now to get to the nit grit. Why did Matthew try to have me killed?"

Cordell once again looked down at they're intertwined hands. It had happened somehow suddenly. Neither of them had noticed they were two busy talking to Beau and about other things. Krisa hated when Cordell avoided a subject and she wanted to know if he knew the reason she had almost been killed trying to keep him and others safe.

"It was because you didn't keep his timeline." Cordell answered softly.

"Because I didn't get daddy to move to Houston."

"Right."

Krisa sighed. So this was my punishment for not doing what he wanted me to do. Instead of going after the people I love he wanted to make sure I'd never talk so he took me out. Too bad for him I don't go down that easy.

"Krissy…."

"I need to talk to Caption James."

"Why?"

"It's time I told you everything Cordi.. I'm not going to stand by and let Matthew Starson hurt anyone else. He already tried to take my life and my family from me. Now I'm gonna make sure he loses everything and goes behind bars."

--_--

hey yall so sorry this update is late and been a while ive had writers block on this for a bit.