Something Blue

Chapter 36

Gabe

It was as if he had traveled through time, with no dreams or sensations to mark the passage. In one second he was trying to make sense of Caro's halo and the watery quality of the ground beneath his feet. In the next he was blinking at a familiar ceiling. His bedroom. His bed, firm but comfortable against his aching back. He'd have bolted upright in confusion, but for the small, warm weight against his side and the accompanying instinct holding him in place. He lifted his head and saw Isobel there, curled against him with her own head on his shoulder, damp hair seeping moisture into the fabric of his shirt.

Movement caught his eye, and he looked up to see Caroline sitting at a chair at his rickety little table, nursing a cup of coffee. She stood when their eyes met and came to sit on the edge of the bed.

"How long?" he asked, dreading the answer.

"Not even an hour," she said quietly, and a stab of relief had him collapsing back to the pillow. "But you need to rest longer. You bled a lot. We sent a rider to the Tuckers' like you said. You need to let Mel take a look at you."

He needed no such thing. Someone had bandaged up his arm, and his back was a persistent ache but no longer bleeding. The pain in his head was more pounding than piercing. With a cup of coffee and a bite to eat, he'd been fine.

Katherine would not.

As slowly as possible, he sat. Isobel whimpered and clutched at him but subsided back into sleep when he resettled her on the pillow and tugged the blankets over her. At some point in the darkness, he'd traded his muddy clothes for clean ones. Plucking at the shirt, he raised a questioning glance to Caro. She shrugged.

"You were filthy," she said. "Mel says cleanliness is key to healing. And it's not as if any of us are strangers to the male form, you know. There's no need to be scandalized."

He glowered at her but couldn't muster the heat to make it effective. Nothing mattered but Katherine. Even his pride could wait.

"I need food," he said. "Is there any more coffee?"

Caroline nodded and stood. "Just sit for a minute until I get back. You scared the hell out of us, going down like that. Wait until you've got some food in you before you go charging all over town."

He would have liked to do exactly the opposite of what she asked, but the sad truth was that if he stood up now, he'd go right back down and time travel another hour, or maybe two. And only God and the bastard reverend knew what Katherine would have to endure during that delay. Caroline was right. He needed food. Then he would go for her.

Caroline returned quickly, trailed by Tiff and Lindy who carried a plate of food and a pot of coffee respectively. Under their annoyingly watchful eye, he made his unsteady way from the bed to the table and sat, letting them arrange the food in front of him and doctor the coffee until he wouldn't have called it 'coffee' so much as coffee-tinged sugared cream.

He devoured the eggs and the toast, and the coffee went down easily enough. He'd no sooner opened his mouth to ask for water when a tall ceramic cup appeared at his hand. He guzzled it, and another appeared in its place. While he ate, and the food and coffee cleared away the fog in his mind, he began to plan.

He'd have preferred to go after her with a posse of Josh's men behind him, but he couldn't wait that long. A rider would take at least two hours to reach the ranch. Add in another hour to muster a group of willing fighters, then another two hours back. He didn't have that kind of time. God only knew what the reverend would do to her. Was already doing to her.

He glanced at Isobel, who slept soundly in his bed, before speaking.

"He'll take her to the church," he said. "He's lost his goddamned mind over this. He's not rational. He'll have his men guarding the place, but he wants me as badly as he wants her. I'll keep him busy. Away from Katherine. Once Josh and his men get here, send them after us in case I can't handle it myself."