Page 94 of Native Hawk
“And he will soon be mine,” she argued. “I’m glad to go.”
“But it’s the middle o’ the night, Cat. You can’t go alone.”
“I’ll go with her,” Miss Hattie offered.
Drew looked at them both, rubbing the back of his neck, and then nodded. “All right. Fine. Tell him…tell him our grandmother’s spirit will help Claire.” He pulled the covers back up. “And you ladies be careful out there.”
Claire would be very careful. She wasn’t terribly afraid of the wild animals. But she’d seen enough of the wild California men to know they were a dangerous breed.
She was no fool. After quickly dressing in her cocoa-and-cream dress and jacket, she returned to Drew’s room. As she gave him a tender kiss on the brow, she reached for the nightstand and slipped his pistol into her purse.
Nothing could prepare Catalina for the grim sight of the Parker barn. Like the cast-off gown of some daughter of Satan, the structure slumped haphazardly in shades of burnt black and scorched gray, trimmed in shimmering coals of devilish red.
Men still doused the timbers with buckets of water to knock down the embers. Every splash sent up a hiss, like the sound of an iron on wet cloth.
Catalina held her sleeve across her face, wincing at the stench of smoke that permeated the air.
When they approached the ranch house, Miss Hattie hung back. She didn’t want the presence of the town madam to stain the upstanding Parker name.
Though this saddened Catalina, she understood. She’d felt the same way when she’d started working at The Parlor. She couldn’t have her reputation tarnished by her association with such an establishment. Yet how quickly her opinion had changed once she got to know the women there. Miss Hattie might be the proprietress of abordello,but her heart was in the right place.
Though Claire’s weary-eyed father, Samuel Parker, willingly let Catalina in to Claire’s bedroom, she felt like an intruder on the intimate scene.
A candle flickered beside the bed. Chase sat beside Claire, cradling her hand. His black hair was full of ash, his eyes were bleary, and there were smudges of soot on his skin and clothing.
“How is she?” Catalina ventured.
Chase’s lips tightened. It was clear he didn’t want to get his hopes up. But he was also determined to do everything in his power to save the woman he loved. “She’ll live.” It sounded more like a vow than a prediction.
Though he didn’t invite Catalina closer, she drew near, gazing down at Claire. The frail blonde woman looked even more like a child. It was clear Chase had painstakingly washed her face, but charcoal dust still clung to her hair and powdered the pillow.
Moved to pity, Catalina reached out and gently took Claire’s other hand. It felt small and limp, like one of the baby bunnies her brothers had killed.
“Is there anything I can do?” she murmured.
“Not much.”
She nodded. “Oh,” she remembered, “Drew asked me to tell you that your grandmother’s spirit will help.”
He gave her a half-smile. “You can tell him our grandmother’s spirit has already helped.”
Catalina didn’t ask what he meant by that. She’d learned that, unlike Drew, Chase was a man of few words, most of them cryptic. So when he started talking again, half to her, half to himself, she was astonished.
“You know, you and Drew ought to get hitched…right away.”
She waited.
“When something like this happens…” He swallowed. “It shows you what’s important. I was wrong, thinking I could avenge my grandmother’s death. There was nothing to avenge. All along, she was where she was supposed to be.”
Catalina nodded.
He shook his head. “And Claire, trying so hard to make her father happy…she never should have taken up with that no-count Frank.”
Claire’s hand twitched in Catalina’s hand. But when Catalina looked at her, she was fast asleep, probably dreaming. Catalina hoped she wasn’t having nightmares about what had happened.
“What I’m trying to say is…” he said, scowling. “Strike while the iron is hot.” Before she could decipher what Drew’s blacksmith brother meant, he added, “Don’t wait until it’s too late, until you almost lose…” He stopped as emotion choked him.
Catalina’s eyes filled with tears. She knew how he felt. She’d felt that way when Drew had been shot—as if her heart had been crushed by a great fist. That first night, she would have made a deal with the devil to get rid of the pain.
Chase loved Claire so much. Just as he’d pulled Claire from the inferno, Catalina was sure that if the worst happened, if somehow Claire was taken from him, he’d follow her into the very fires of hell and drag her back.
Love was all-powerful, she realized. And time was precious. In the blink of an eye, life could be snatched away.
Claire was probably going to live. She and Chase would wed, make a home, fill it with children.
But what if it hadn’t gone that way?
She bit her lip, watching as a rogue tear dropped from Chase’s cheek onto Claire’s hand.
Chase was right. She had to seize the day.
