Rocky Mountain Match (18 page)

“Joseph, stop! He’s not worth it.” Zach grabbed Joseph’s arms, pulling him back.

He wrenched from Zach’s hold and sprang to his feet. “She fell somewhere over this way,” he breathed, panting hard as he moved in the direction he’d last heard her. “Can you see her?”

“Who?” Zach asked.

“Zach, he shot her. He shot Katie.”

“It doesn’t look good.” Ben’s voice was low and grave, renewing the ominous sense of dread that darkened the night. “The bullet lodged just above Katie’s heart and she’s lost a lot of blood.”

“What can you do? Is there anything?” Joseph pulled a painfully bruised and battered hand over his face as Zach grasped his shoulder.

Katie’s Aunt Marta sniffed quietly. “Oh dear. My poor, poor Katie-did.”

“Vhat else is der to do?” Sven echoed, his quivering voice belying his hulking size. “Der must be someting.”

Ben’s feet shifted heavily on the wood floor. “If she has any hope at all, I need to operate and remove the bullet—repair what I can. But as weak as she is right now, I’m afraid I’d lose her on the table.”

Joseph trained an ear to the other room where Katie lay. “What are her chances otherwise?”

“Dis should not be,” Marta whispered harshly. “Vhat kind of evil man vould do dis? Shoot our Katie like dis?”

“I don’t know. I’ve tried asking her a few questions,” Ben added in a hushed tone. “But I don’t want to upset her.”

“If’n Miss Ellickson ’members anything,” Sheriff Goodwin offered, his gravely voice contrasting sharply with the hushed atmosphere, “it’d be a might helpful, seein’ as how that varmint somehow slipped through our hands.”

Joseph jammed his hands into his pockets, his jaw muscle tensing. He recalled how Zach had pried him off the man. Since Katie’s attacker posed no threat being unconscious, they’d immediately tended to Katie. By the time the sheriff came along, the man had come to and had almost reached his gun. No doubt he would’ve used it.

But the sheriff put a bullet into him first.

Had the shot been as accurate as the one that took down Katie, the man would either be dead or in custody. Instead, the man had howled, but doggedly plowed on, managing to escape by stealing a tethered horse not far from the site.

“Seein’s how she ain’t in any condition to talk, I gotta git back to the jail. The deputy’s gatherin’ a party to track ’im down.” The sheriff hacked loudly, then scuffed across
the wood floor toward the front door. “Don’ you worry none, folks. We’ll git ’im.”

When the door closed solidly behind the sheriff, Joseph felt the old familiar taunts snaking through his head…. He wasn’t whole. Couldn’t see danger if it stared him in the face. That he’d never be a protector. What if the man came back and tried to finish the job? Would Katie ever be safe?

“All I can say is…pray.” Ben’s admonition broke through the terrifying questions playing through Joseph’s mind. “Pray like you’ve never prayed before.”

While Sven began talking to God, his low Swedish timbre hanging in the room like some comforting blanket, Joseph felt his way back to the adjoining room. He stood next to Katie’s bed and lowered his head, settling a kiss on her clammy brow.

“I’m going to die, aren’t I?” she whispered, her weak, sweet voice barely audible.

“You can pull through this, Katie.” Hunkering down, he trailed his fingers lightly down her right arm and found her delicate hand, grasping it in his. “You’ve got to.”

“Did they catch—him?” Her voice caught with pain.

Joseph shook his head, wishing he’d finished off the guy when he’d had a chance. “Not yet. But they will.”

Katie suddenly squeezed his hand tight and tensed in pain, making his heart ache for her. After a few moments she relaxed her grip, but his concern wouldn’t be relieved.

“The whiskey should start working soon,” came Ben’s whisper next to Joseph’s ear. “It’ll help make her more comfortable.”

Joseph nodded once in acknowledgment, then focused his sightless gaze on Katie. He smoothed a hand over
hers, desperate to ease her suffering. “Just hang on, Katie. You’re strong. You’re going to make it.”

“You’re so good, Joseph.” She slid her hand from his and set quivering fingers to his early morning shadow of a beard. “Such a good man.”

He folded her hand in his and swallowed hard. “Not half the person you are.”

“I hoped…I hoped that you and I—”

“That you and I what, Katie?” Joseph pulled her slender fingers to his lips and kissed them.

When he caught a whiff of the unmistakable metallic smell of blood, icy dread blew through him like a silent omen. He could almost feel the warmth of life slowly ebbing from her.

Sitting here feeling so helpless to change the course of things, he couldn’t imagine how hard it had been for Aaron seeing Ellie struggle as she had. Finding her lifeless body, the warmth and cheer that Ellie emanated, gone.

Joseph may not have known Katie for long, but already he felt sick at the thought of not having her in his life.

Swallowing hard, he blinked back tears, determined to stay strong for her. He’d do anything to ease her pain. Anything to make her smile. Anything to make her last moments here on earth as meaningful as possible.

“Whatever you want, darlin’, I’ll do it for you,” Joseph murmured softly, the endearment easy on his lips.

“I hoped that we’d—” She coughed suddenly, tensing again.

He eased her hand open and threaded his fingers through hers. Gave her hand a gentle squeeze, wishing he could somehow give her his strength. “Katie?”

Fear gripped hard. Trembling, he set his hand to her chest and felt the faint rise and fall there.

Joseph exhaled slowly, unspeakably grateful that she was still alive. And seething mad at the man who’d done this.

“The pain…it’s not so bad now,” she finally said. “It’s that medicine.” Her weak voice was almost childlike, and with the way he felt her relax, he figured the laudanum and whiskey was finally working. “What a good doctor. I like Ben.”

“I like Ben, too,” he agreed, his throat tight. “He’s doing what he can to make you comfortable, darlin’.” Closing his eyes, he hoped, prayed that she’d live through this. “What is it you hope for? Just ask me. Please.”

She pulled in a shallow breath. “Mmm…it’s nice having you here, Joseph. So handsome. So beautiful. I was smitten with you…from the moment I saw you.” Her voice was wistful, dreamy. Her words slow on the tongue.

They stirred Joseph to the depths of his soul. She was smitten with him? Surely the whiskey and laudanum were having an effect on her.

“I dreamed of marrying you….” Her words trailed off like some long-forgotten love letter floating on the breeze.

Joseph’s heart clenched tight inside his chest at the sentiment. His pulse thrummed loud in his ears. He lowered his forehead to her hand. Brushed it lightly over her fingers.

His throat constricted at the thought that Katie might not make it through the night. She had so much life yet to live, so much to give. She’d selflessly lavished her knowledge and patience on him these past few weeks—and he hadn’t even begun to thank her. Until tonight when they’d danced, he’d fought off the growing feelings for
her, but now he was certain he’d crossed over from deep fondness to love. So if marriage to him was her wish—very possibly her last wish—he’d do anything in his power to grant her that.

“Zach,” he called over his shoulder.

Joseph pressed a gentle kiss into her palm, praying that she could hold on to his deep love. He leaned over and whispered next to her ear. “Katie, will you be my bride?” He swallowed hard. “Will you marry me?”

She gave a small gasp. “That’s so sweet, Joseph.” Her words were thick on the tongue. “Just what I wanted.”

“What do you need?” Zach spoke low next to him.

“Go get Reverend Nichols.” He smoothed a hand over hers. “If Katie wants a wedding, she’s going to have one.”

“I
do,” Katie whispered, blinking against the tears burning her eyes. She gazed up at Joseph, trying to focus on him, but she had a hard time fixing on anything for longer than a moment. “I do,” she repeated.

This certainly wasn’t what she’d dreamed of for her wedding day—lying in a doctor’s office, her vision and mind fogged by remedies to help ease her pain, and a gunshot that had stopped her cold.

Katie didn’t want to knock at death’s door, even though she felt herself moving closer and closer toward that timeless passage. Even though she had an assurance that God was with her every step of the way, she wanted to live, but with each second that passed, she felt life slowly draining from her body.

It was peaceful, really. And Joseph was here. Her sweet Joseph. He’d been so kind to give her this last wish.

He was such a contrast to Frank Fowler. The thought of the evil man sent an icy chill through her and made her throat constrict with suffocating force. She couldn’t think of him—she wouldn’t think of him. This was her wedding day.

Joseph gently squeezed her hand, staring down at her with those beautiful, deep amber-colored eyes.

Willing her focus there, she tried to gather strength from him. She wanted to curl completely into the warm security of his embrace, lose herself in his tender strength. But weakness had swallowed her body and she couldn’t lift her arm on her own.

Instead she eased her tongue across her dry lips, trying to remain fixed on Joseph. On staying alive.

“Reverend Nichols, please make this quick,” came Ben’s admonition from down by her feet. “I need to do surgery as soon as possible.”

“Of course, of course,” the reverend agreed. “So then, Joseph Drake, do you take Katherine Ellickson to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold—”

“I do. I do to all of those things.” Joseph’s voice was laced with urgency as he set a trembling hand to her forehead.

“Oh my, let’s see now…where were we? For richer, poorer, sickness, health, ’til death—”

“I said, I do,” Joseph spoke again, more forcefully.

“Oh my, my, my.” Reverend Nichols leafed through his Bible. “Well, then, I—I pronounce you man and wife.”

Joseph leaned over her and pressed his mouth, feather-light, on hers. He lingered there for several moments before he drew back slightly. “Hello, there, Mrs. Drake,” he whispered.

His sweet words and warm breath whiffed softly over her face, sending a slow, invigorating tremor through her. She was heady with the aftermath of his kiss and the medicine that was fast taking over her ability to stay awake.

“All right, folks. The wedding’s over.” Ben sounded
unusually short-tempered. “I need to see to her now. You’re going to have to leave.”

Katie blinked several times, trying to focus on each person as they briefly stopped at her side. Her Aunt Marta’s pinched features and Uncle Sven’s red-rimmed eyes made her heart hurt.

“Love you,” Katie murmured, struggling to form the two words as they each bent to place a kiss on her brow.

Sleepy. She was so sleepy. Her eyelids drooped. Weighed down by a force she could no longer deny, she shut her eyes, listening as Ben ushered the small gathering from the room.

“I’m not going anywhere, Katie,” Joseph spoke close to her ear, his low, mellow voice lulling her further.

She tried to lift her hand to touch him, but her arm…it was so heavy.

“I don’t usually allow others in here with me when I perform surgery, Joseph,” came Ben’s voice. “You know that.”

“Yes, I know. But you’re going to have to bend the rules this time, because I’m not leaving her side.”

“Joseph, you should at least go in the back room and lay down for a while.” Ben’s voice sounded rough and weary from the grueling night. “Get some sleep if you can.”

“No, thanks.” He rolled his head from one side to another. Sitting up a little straighter in the wood chair, he smoothed his hand over Katie’s. “I’ll stay right here beside Katie.”

Ben exhaled. “It’s six-thirty in the morning and you’ve been here since midnight. I’m watching her closely. I promise I’ll call for you if it looks like she—”

“I said I’m not going anywhere.” He pulled his swollen, stiff hands over his face, the scruff of new growth meeting his touch. He tried to ignore the way his knuckles throbbed, painfully aware of how heavily he relied on touch now.

For a brief moment he thought about the shop and the unfinished order that was screaming for time and attention. But it’d have to wait. He wasn’t about to leave Katie’s side now.

“If you say so.” Ben came around the bed to stand next to him. “At least let me take a look at your hands now that we have a quiet moment. They’re a mess, Joseph.”

He shook his head. “I’ll be fine.”

“Maybe. But it won’t do you or Katie a bit of good if you’re fighting an infection.” He lightly grasped Joseph’s right hand and turned it over, palm side then knuckle side up.

“Listen, I don’t want you wasting time on me when Katie needs you. This can wait,” he said, drawing his hand back.

“It won’t take me but a few minutes to get those cuts cleaned, medicated and bandaged.” Ben crossed over to the cupboard in the corner of the room and quietly rustled around, lifting metal lids that clanked softly against glass jars. “Someday, maybe, I’ll hire an assistant to help out here—goodness knows I needed one last night. You could’ve done with a few stitches when you first came in, but it’s too late now. Your hands should heal fine, it just might take a little longer and it won’t look as pretty.”

“That’s fine by me. I won’t be able to see them, anyway.”

A deep sense of gratitude welled inside Joseph as his brother began smooth and efficient ministrations. This, after he’d performed a three-hour, tedious operation to
remove the bullet and patch up Katie as best he could. Then a quiet vigil spent by her bedside, taking her pulse regularly and monitoring every little nuance.

“I’m glad Katie’s in your care.” Joseph swallowed hard.

“I hope I can help her,” Ben said, his hands stilled against Joseph’s. “I couldn’t seem to help Ellie or the baby. That does something to a man who’s supposed to bring healing.”

“You’re a good doctor, Ben,” Joseph responded, knowing that often his brother carried a heavy weight of responsibility when a patient died. “Sometimes, it’s just the way of things—and you’re fighting against God as much as you are death.”

“Yeah, well, I promise I’ll do everything I can for Katie.”

“Do you think she’s going to pull through?” Joseph trained an ear and listened once again to the shallow, thin breathing coming from Katie—his wife.

His wife. The thought tumbled through his mind like a tender acorn looking for fertile soil to settle in and grow. He was a married man now. In spite of the vow he’d made after finding out he was blind, he’d jumped headlong into matrimony. And whether he was blessed to be Katie’s husband for a few hours or days, he was going to do the best he could to love her.

“I wish I had an answer for you, but it’s too early to tell.” Ben began wrapping bandages around Joseph’s knuckles. “Having almost lost her twice in the last two hours isn’t a good sign. But both times she came around—which shows that she’s still fighting for her life.”

“Katie’s strong,” Joseph whispered, silently pleading with God to let her live.

He closed his eyes as different moments from the past
hours swirled through his mind like a cluster of dust devils in the summer. He didn’t know if he’d ever forget her panicked scream that had stopped him cold or the heart-wrenching sound of her whimper when she was downed by the bullet. And he knew for certain he’d never forget the way she’d lovingly touched his cheek or the way she’d so innocently expressed her secret desire to be his bride. Each memory made him yearn to hold her tight and never let her go.

“It’s a noble thing you did, marrying her.” Ben spoke low, his voice sounding thick with emotion.

There was nothing heroic in what he’d done. He’d done what was right, and given Katie his life in hopes that she’d have joy for however long she might live—minutes, hours, maybe longer. She’d selflessly given hers these last weeks to offer him comfort and confidence for the rest of his life.

Joseph swallowed hard. “Nothing noble about it. I’m sure you’d do the same.”

On a sigh, Ben wrapped the last of Joseph’s battered knuckles. “Well, you didn’t have to do that for her as a kind of last wish. But you did and it meant the world to her.”

Joseph blinked back the tears burning his eyes. He raised a bandaged hand and sought out hers. “She deserves a lot more than that.”

Ben’s hand came to rest on Joseph’s shoulder. “I may have been eager to move the ceremony along so I could tend to her gunshot, but honestly, I didn’t want it to end. I believe I witnessed a beautiful act of love here last night.”

Joseph wrapped his warm hand around hers, praying. Praying that it’d be enough to pull Katie through.

“Cain’t say as we have any leads yet.” Sheriff Goodwin’s boots clomped loudly over the floor toward Joseph.

“How can that be?” Joseph furrowed his brow, unable to mask his aggravation.

“Wish I could tell ya.”

Steadying his temper, Joseph slid his hand to Katie’s shoulder. Deep concern for her weighed down every heartbeat and thought. She’d not regained consciousness, but seemed to be growing restless. Given her weakened condition, if infection had come calling, her slim chance for survival could diminish to nothing. Even though he’d been married to her for barely a day, he couldn’t imagine life without her.

“What are your plans to catch him?” he finally asked.

“We been workin’ on this since one o’clock this mornin’.” The sheriff puffed a mouthful of stale coffee breath in Joseph’s direction. “Got half’ a Boulder scouring the countryside.”

“And you don’t have a single lead?”

“Well, this mornin’, ’round nine, we thought we had ourselves a trail headin’ west’a here, but the thing went cold on us.” Goodwin hacked, sending an abrasive sound echoing through the room.

Clenching his jaw in irritation, Joseph moved down to the foot of her bed, hoping the sheriff would follow suit.

“Most’a the boys don’ know what he looks like, but I told ’em he shouldn’t be hard to spot with the way you laid into ’im. Not many men walkin’ ’ound with their faces rearranged. We’re lookin’ everywhere. He cain’t git too far head’a us. I’d say by noon tomorrow we’ll have ’im.”

“I hope you’re right.”

He curled his fists tight around the footboard, ignoring the pain in his knuckles as he wrestled with the sense of helplessness assaulting him. If he could see, he’d ride out with the rest of the party. Push day and night. Because each minute that man remained out there untouched by the law, the more Joseph’s apprehension grew regarding Katie’s safety.

“I think that it’d be a good idea to have someone guarding this building round the clock—until you apprehend him.”

“That ain’t necessary,” the sheriff said.

“It sure is necessary!” Joseph retorted in a harsh whisper. “The man could come back to finish the job.”

“Hey, there, now. Simmer down.” Sheriff Goodwin braced his hand against Joseph’s chest. “All I was sayin’ is…Aaron’s out there doin’ the job. That boy’s been standin’ guard since the search party formed. Ain’t no one gonna git by him.”

Joseph whipped his head around at Ben’s familiar footsteps entering the room. “Aaron’s out there?”

“I just found out myself.” When Ben moved to Katie’s bedside, Joseph felt a measure of relief that his brother was back tending to her once again. “We’ve been so busy watching Katie all night long that I hadn’t stepped outside until just a few minutes ago.”

Joseph raked his fingers through his hair, his knuckles bound with bandages. “I need to talk with him.”

“Take your time,” Ben responded.

“I won’t be long.” He felt as though he had to sever life and limb to leave the room. Stopping next to Ben, he said, “Her skin seems hot to the touch and she’s been restless.”

Ben groaned. “I’ll check her over.”

Emotion constricted Joseph’s throat as he slid his hand
over the bed to Katie’s head. He smoothed wisps of silky hair from her hot, damp forehead and placed a kiss there. “Don’t give up, darlin’,” he whispered. “You can make it.”

Weariness creaked through his bones as he walked out of the room, feeling his way along the hallway toward the front door. He opened it and stepped out onto the porch, pulling in a slow breath of fresh air.

“How’s Katie?” came Aaron’s voice in front of him.

Joseph shook his head and took two more steps until he was standing beside his brother. “I don’t know what to tell you. It’s not good. She’s not good.”

Aaron cleared his throat. “Sorry I haven’t been inside to see her, or you. I’ve thought about you both plenty and prayed a lot, but I just don’t think I can see her like this yet.” He coughed. “With Ellie and the baby passin’ away, I just—”

“You don’t have to explain.” Joseph placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder and felt a slight shudder. “I understand.”

When a wagon rolled at a leisurely pace past the office, he could hear the faint sound of a conversation. People were probably well aware of what had transpired last night—the shooting, the operation, the wedding. Information like that just didn’t stay concealed long in a town like Boulder.

“It’s all too fresh in my mind, you know?” Aaron said. “But when I heard about Katie, I wanted to help.”

“It means a lot that you’re here. I know she’ll be safe.”

“I hope she pulls through, Joseph. I’m prayin’ for her—for you. A person doesn’t have to look long to see that you two are meant for each other. Ellie said so from the get-go.”

Joseph gave a reminiscent smile. “She told me.”

“And don’t worry about the order in the shop. When I’m not here keepin’ watch, I’ll be workin’ at it. Sven and some of the other men are helpin’ out, too.”

“I’ll be back when I can, but right now—”

“Right now you need to be with Katie…your wife.”

“My wife,” he repeated. “That has a nice ring to it.”

The door opened suddenly behind him. “Joseph, she’s taking a turn for the worse. I don’t think she has much time left.”