Mitch hopped into his truck and raced to Jess' place, not caring about stop signs, thankful for the lack of traffic. He wondered what she meant, no one in Dry Valley would enter someone's home in the middle of the night, residents of Dry Valley just were not like that.
When he was finally able to calm Jessica's nerves, it only served to raise his anger beyond belief. God help the person who had entered her home he told himself, his rage about to explode. What else had this person done while here, what else was the lunatic capable of doing? He admitted to himself that someone had in fact entered her home, someone had violated her privacy and he made a pact to himself that it was the last time it would happen. Jess belonged to him now, it was his duty to protect her and he would do that even if it meant his life. Mitch made Jess vow that every night from here on out would be spent in each other's arms.
Mitch headed back to his ranch to begin his day. This intruder was really playing havoc with his head. He sat and thought about what had already transpired, about the day before all this had happened. The big Wednesday night dinner at the O'Grady's had been just twenty four hours earlier. Both were excited to share their proposed marriage with family and friends. They discussed on the way over how Wednesday night dinners use to be a weekly exchange and agreed, once they were married, they would continue the tradition, inviting everyone over to their place.
Dinner was served later than planned; the news of both pending marriages seemed to be more important than dinner this evening. For the Walker's, it meant their sons would finally be happy, finally settle down, and hopefully, they would see grandchildren running around soon. The O'Grady's were thrilled to finally see their niece come out of her shell to become the beautiful person they knew she was. Not only that, but a girl certainly couldn't do much better in Dry Valley than to take a Walker boy as her husband.
When the ladies had finished cleaning up after the dinner, Jessica stepped out onto the porch, taking Mitch's hand and tugging at him to follow her. She led him out back near the creek before saying anything. She knew something was bothering him and had a pretty good idea what it was. She placed her fingers against his lips as she began speaking in a soft, calming voice.
"It's okay Mitch, that your brother has news as exciting as ours. You should be happy for him, not angry. All that really matters is that we will be spending our life together."
