Journey of the Heart (36 page)

* * * *

Sadie and Gabe had reached an uneasy truce, and aside from commonplaces, hadn’t done much talking after Juan’s last visit. He hadn’t told her directly of Cait’s gift, nor whether he’d approached Cait again. And, tell the truth, Sadie, she told herself one morning, you don’t care. Let her brother take care of his own problems. Why should I try to help him understand himself or Cait if he won’t try to understand me!

All the same, she was glad that Gabe was out riding fence when Juan Chavez rode up a few days after their buggy ride.

“
Buenos tardes, señorita
.”

“
Buenos tardes,
Señor Chavez. No buggy today?” she said with a teasing smile.

“I thought you might like to go for a ride this afternoon instead.”

“I would love it. Just let me go in and change.”

Juan dismounted and sat down on the porch steps. To his right was Mrs. Burke’s flower garden, in front of him, the corral. It was a small but well-taken-care-of ranching operation that Burke had here and every time he saw it he was impressed. There was a palpable difference between the Burkes’ small enterprise and Mackie’s spread and it was the feeling that the Burkes had created something out of their care for each other and the land.

Sadie was down in a few minutes and they walked over to the corral together where Snowflake was tied. “Mrs. Burke said I could take the mare,” said Sadie. “She was ridden this morning, but only for a short while.” Sadie started to lift the saddle from the corral fence and Juan intervened. “I will do it for you,
señorita
.”

They rode out and turned east toward the mountains. Sadie wondered if they were headed up into the foothills. Did Juan want her again? And more importantly, did she want to give herself? That first time had seemed inevitable and uncontrollable. But was it wise to risk heartbreak, and even more important, a child, with a man she hardly knew?

Evidently he was more interested in riding than kissing, however, for they didn’t turn off south toward the mountains but kept on going. There was no easy chatter as there would be with Cait or Gabe. Not that she’d expected it with him. But aside from the joy of a few gallops, the ride was an uncomfortable one and Sadie was almost glad when they turned back to the ranch.

“When will you be going back to Texas, Miss Sadie?” Juan asked, finally breaking their silence. Sadie wondered if this was his prelude to saying goodbye to her.

“Oh, most likely pretty soon, before the weather changes.”

“You’ll turn into a school teacher again?”

“In January. That will give me enough time to rescue the house from whatever disaster it has suffered since I’ve been gone. My brothers are not exactly expert housekeepers,” she added with a grin.

“I am sure the Burkes will miss you.”

“I will miss them,” said Sadie.
But will you miss me?
she wondered, hurt more than she would have thought possible by his casual discussion of her departure.

When they reached the ranch, Chavez noticed that Gabe’s paint was tied in front of the house. Good, Hart was back, he thought. After he unsaddled Snowflake and released her into the corral, he turned to Sadie. “I am thirsty,
querida,
but I am not comfortable where I am not welcome. Is there an outside pump?”

“Behind the barn, Juan.”

“
Bueno
,” he said, looking at her with such intensity that she grew hot all over. When he took her hand in his, she followed without thinking.

They each took a few swallows from the ladle, and then, without any preliminaries, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her against the barn. She was both frightened and thrilled by the hard grasp of his hands, and when he let go, she was almost disappointed. But then he ran both his hands through her hair, cradling her head and tilting it back. When his mouth came down on hers, it was in a bruising kiss, one that took her breath away.

When he finally pulled away, she looked up at him pleadingly, as though for an explanation.

“Oh,
mi corazon,
” he whispered, drawing his finger down her cheek. He did love her, she thought, and in an instant realized that he indeed had her heart. “Oh, Juan,” she said softly.

“It is so cruel that you are leaving,
querida
.” He was fumbling with the buttons of her blouse and he gave a satisfied sigh when his hand was finally able to feel her breast. “Your heart is beating like a frightened bird’s,” he whispered. “Don’t worry,
querida
,” he said, as he started to unfasten her skirt.

“Juan, we
can’t,
not here,” she whispered, wanting him terribly but hurt at the same time that he was thinking about taking her up against the barn. Her skirt fell and she stood there in her drawers and he rubbed against her, letting her feel his hardness.

“Juan,
no
,” she said a little louder as his hand slipped down her drawers, exploring her moistness. “Someone might come.”

“Yes, I think so,” he said with a smile, as he continued to stroke her.

There was something driven about it all, and instead of being able to relax, Sadie pushed him away, saying again, “No, Juan, not here.” Then she gasped with horror, not pleasure as she saw Gabe coming around the back of the barn.

Her brother stopped dead and then ran forward, hauling Juan off of Sadie. “Take your filthy hands off my sister, Chavez!”

Sadie’s hands were shaking as she tried to button her blouse. Dear God, here she was standing in her drawers. “Gabe,” she protested weakly.

“I’ll talk to you later, Sarah Ellen.” Gabe looked coldly at her and then lowered his eyes to the ground where her skirt was laying around her feet. She bent over and pulled it up, fastening it as quickly as she could. “Gabe, it isn’t what you think,” she protested as he pushed against Juan’s chest, sending him stumbling to his knees.

“Get up, you dirty little murderer. I’m going to kill you for trying to rape my sister so I want you standing.”

Chavez got up and moved back, right hand crooked, ready to draw. Sadie wanted to scream, but she felt she was in one of those nightmares where you try to cry and no sound comes out. She started toward her brother, but he just pushed her back and moved out to face Chavez, his left hand hovering.

It happened so quickly that afterward, Sadie wondered if she’d even seen their hands move. Gabe was standing there, blood dripping down his arm, his gun fallen out of paralyzed fingers. She was afraid to look at Juan, but when she turned, there he was, standing there unhurt, staring down at the smoking barrel of his gun as though he’d never seen it before.

Gabe leaned down as though he was going to pick up his gun and Juan said coldly, “Don’t even think about it,
señor
.”

Sadie gave him an agonized glance, but Chavez’s eyes were now the opaque green of
El Lobo
’s. “
Adios, querida
,” he said softly and walked by them without a backward look.

Gabe had sunk to the ground and Sadie realized that he was losing blood fast. “I’ll be right back, Gabe,” she said and she ran into the barn to grab a linen sack off the shelf in the tack room, which she tore into strips. Gabe had gotten himself up on the bench and Sadie sat herself next to him, tying the strips around his upper arm to stop the bleeding. Thank God, it did not seem to be a severed artery, she thought. Once the bleeding had finally slowed, she pulled off his shirt and wetting it at the pump, began to clean off the blood.

“Oh, Gabe, I am so sorry, but why did you force him to draw?”

Gabe, who had been leaning back against the barn, eyes closed, sat up and looked at her. “You got it wrong, Sadie. Any man who came upon his sister backed up against the side of a barn would have done the same thing. Chavez was counting on that,” he continued bitterly. “Now can’t you see that he’s been using you?”

“I don’t see anything but that you’ve got a hole in your arm and I don’t know if the bullet is still in there or not. We’ve got to get you to the doctor,” she said anxiously. “Can you ride? Elizabeth and Cait took the wagon to town.”

“I can ride,” Gabe said stoutly. He struggled to his feet, but sank right back down on the bench. “I guess I can’t,” he told her with a weak smile. “Then I’ll have to ride in for the doctor. Will you be all right if I leave you?”

“Just get me into the tack room and I’ll stretch out on the cot.” Gabe put his arm around her and leaned heavily as she walked him into the barn.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can, Gabe,” she said anxiously.

“Don’t you worry, Sarah Ellen, I’ll be here when you get back,” he replied with a grin.

“Snowflake, I know you’ve been ridden hard today, but if you have anything left, please give it to me, girl,” Sadie pleaded as she kicked the mare into a gallop. Halfway to town, she met Elizabeth and Cait on their way back to the ranch and pulled the mare up.

“Gabe’s been shot, Mrs. Burke. I’m going to town for the doctor.”

“How bad is it?” Elizabeth asked calmly.

“He’s lost a lot of blood, but he’s still conscious.”

“You go on, Sadie, and we’ll take good care of him till you bring the doctor back,” Elizabeth replied reassuringly.

“Thank you, ma’am,” said Sadie as she clapped her heels to Snowflake’s sides.

“Hold on, Cait,” Elizabeth told her daughter and slapping the reins on the horses’ backs, sent them into a run. Cait gripped the seat tightly and felt she was holding on to more than the wagon. She wanted to jump down and run after Sadie and scream: “What happened?” She wished she’d just taken Snowflake away, so that she could get to the ranch, get to Gabe, pull him in her arms and tell him that she loved him, for God’s sake, that he couldn’t leave her now, not this way.

Please, God, don’t let him die, she prayed over and over to herself as her mother guided the team, expertly avoiding every rut and rock. They reached the ranch just as Michael was tying his horse in front of the house.

“What’s happened, Elizabeth?” he cried, running over to lift her down. “Was it Mackie? I’ll kill the
gobshite
if he hurt you in any way.”

“No, no, Michael, it’s Gabe. We met Sadie on our way back from town. He’s been shot and she’s gone for the doctor.”

“Where is he,
a ghra
?”

“In the barn.”

Cait was frozen in place and it wasn’t until her father started pulling the barn door open that she was able to move. She climbed down from the wagon on shaking legs and followed her parents.

“It looks like it was only his arm, Michael,” Elizabeth was saying as she knelt down next to Gabe. He groaned in pain as Elizabeth loosened the strips Sadie had tied around his upper arm. When he tried to pull himself up, Michael pushed him down gently. “No, no, boyo, you just stay there till the doctor comes.” He turned to his daughter, who was standing in the doorway of the tack room. “Cait, get some water.”

“Yes, Da.”

Cait almost slipped in the pool of Gabe’s blood as she ran to the pump and she felt faint at the thought of him losing so much. But she filled the dipper and brought it back to the tack room.

“I think the bullet must have gone straight through, Gabe,” Elizabeth was saying reassuringly when Cait returned. “Though I don’t know what kind of damage it caused.”

“I can’t seem to move my fingers much, Mrs. Burke,” said Gabe, grimacing in pain as he tried to make a fist.

“It’s probably just temporary, Gabe,” Michael reassured him.

“Here, Ma,” said Cait, holding the dipper out.

“Can you sit up if Michael helps, Gabe?”

Gabe pulled himself up and leaned against the wall.

“Hold it for him, Cait, and make sure he sips it slowly. I’m going to get some old sheets and put them on the sofa so we can move him inside.”

“No, no, Mrs. Burke, I don’t want you messing up your house.”

“Whist,
boyo,” said Michael, “and get some water down yer throat before ye dehydrate. Can ye sit alone?”

Gabe nodded.

“Then I’ll be going in to help yer mother, Cait.”

“Yes, Da.”

Cait sat down on the edge of the cot and lifted the dipper to Gabe’s mouth. He automatically started to lift his left hand up to take it from her and almost fainted from the pain. “Are you all right, Gabe?” Cait asked, forcing herself not to cry out when he went white.

He nodded, his eyes closed. “Stupid,” he groaned. “Tried to lift my arm.”

Cait sat closer and said: “Just open your mouth, Gabe, and I’ll make sure it doesn’t spill.” She made sure he took slow sips and was so intent on her task that she didn’t notice at first when his right hand covered hers. When she finally became conscious of his touch, she looked up into his eyes, which were shadowed by pain and something else entirely.

“Oh, Gabe,” she whispered. Cait didn’t know what more she might have said had her father not come in to support Gabe into the house.

“The doctor and Sadie are here,” called Elizabeth from the porch.

“Thank God,” Cait whispered, and then later wondered if Gabe was feeling thankful when the doctor probed his arm.

“You are very lucky, Mr. Hart. The bullet went right through. It did chip the bone and tear some muscle and nerve tissue, however,” he added. “You won’t be drawing a gun for some time.”

Gabe was so pale that he almost matched the sheet Elizabeth had spread on the sofa. “I can’t move my hand real well, Doc,” he said weakly.

“Nerve damage, Mr. Hart. It will be awhile before we know if it is permanent. But aside from that and barring infection, you should be well on your way to recovery in a few days. Just make sure you drink lots of liquids.”

After a cup of coffee and three pieces of corn bread, the doctor headed back to town and Michael pulled a chair up next to the sofa. “Are ye up to tellin’ me what happened, Gabe?”

“I’ll tell you, Mr. Burke,” said Sadie who had just come in after thanking the doctor and seeing him off. “Señor Chavez called for me today. When we got back from our ride, we were thirsty. For each other’s kisses, as well as water, I guess,” Sadie added laconically. “Gabe came around the barn just as I was telling Juan I didn’t want to be doing anything more than kissing…. He…I mean Gabe…misunderstood the situation and forced a fight.”