She only hoped that one day Sara and Gabriel would forgive her. She went back to work on other stories, mostly political ones, and hoped that she’d never be in a position again where she’d have to sell out her nearest and dearest for a job. Not that she ever would. Nor would she have done it, if she’d had any idea who Gabriel really was.

Michelle had thought about asking Minette for a job again. She wasn’t really happy living in the city and she cringed every time someone mentioned her name in connection with the past big news story.

She still hadn’t heard from Gabriel or Sara. She didn’t expect to. She’d hoped that they might contact her. But that was wishful thinking.

She now owned the home where her father and, before him, her grandparents had lived in Comanche Wells. She couldn’t bear to drive the Jaguar that Gabriel and Sara had given her...driving it made her too sad. So she parked it at Gabriel’s house and put the key in the mail slot. One day, she assumed, he’d return and see it. She bought a cute little VW bug, with which she could commute from Jacobsville to work in San Antonio. She moved back home.

At first, people were understandably a little stand-offish. She was an outsider, even though she was born in Jacobs County. Perhaps they thought she was going to go all big-city on them and start poking her nose into local politics.

When she didn’t do that, the tension began to ease a little. When she went into Barbara’s Café to have lunch on Saturdays, people began to nod and smile at her. When she went grocery shopping in the local supermarket, the cashier actually talked to her. When she got gas at the local station, the attendant finally stopped asking for identification when she presented her credit card. Little by little, she was becoming part of Jacobs County again.

Carlie came to visit occasionally. She was happily married, and expecting her first child. They weren’t as close as they had been, but it made Michelle feel good to know that her friend was settled and secure.

She only wished that she could be, settled and secure. But as months went by with no word of or from the Brandons, she gave up all hope that she might one day be forgiven for the things she’d written.

She knew that Sara had a whole new life in Wyoming from the cashier at the grocery store who had known her. Michelle didn’t blame her for not wanting to come back to Texas. After all, she’d only lived in Comanche Wells as a favor to Gabriel, so that he could be Michelle’s guardian.