by Pamela Clare
There were smiles and muttered "your welcomes."
Marc ducked down and kissed her cheek. "What are friends for?"
Friends.
And it struck her that she had finally found her place--here in Denver. Though the ragged buttes, sandy washes, and wide-open spaces of K'ai'bii'to would always be her homeland, Denver was now her home. The thought put a lump in her throat.
Then the nurse poked her head through the door. "Ms. James? Mr. Rossiter is out of surgery, and the doctor says it's all right with him if you sit with him in recovery. He's not fully conscious yet, but he's been saying your name."
CHAPTER 32
GABE OPENED HIS eyes, and she was there, sitting beside him, wrapped in a hospital blanket, her hair tousled. "Kat."
He didn't think he'd ever seen a more beautiful sight. Her cheek was bruised, her face lined with exhaustion, her wrist in a cast, but she was here, safe and precious beside him. She stroked his cheek, smiled down at him, her smile not quite hiding the worry in her eyes. "How do you feel?"
Even on a morphine pump, he hurt like hell. "Did the doctor tell you?"
She nodded, her eyes filling with tears that she tried valiantly to blink away. "He said that your right leg should heal just fine, but... that they'd had to amputate your left leg just below the knee. I'm so sorry, Gabe."
"Don't be, honey." He reached up to cup her cheek. "I expected to wake up dead today. I got my entire life back--except for part of one leg. Seems like a bargain to me."
Not that he hadn't had a dark moment when they'd revived him in the operating room long enough to tell him what they had to do. The loss of a limb was no small thing, but compared to what Gabe had almost lost...
He'd almost lost his life. He'd almost lost Kat.
She looked down at him, her gaze steady and strong. "Whatever it takes, whatever you need, I'm going to be there for you, Gabe. You're not alone."
"I'm a lucky man." And a tension he hadn't realized he was carrying left him.
She still loves you, Rossiter, you lucky bastard.
"How's your wrist?"
She looked at the cast as if she hadn't quite realized it was there, then shrugged, the blanket slipping, revealing red marks on her arm that could only be Taser burns. "It hurts a little, but it's fine."
He was willing to bet it hurt more than a little.
She met his gaze for a moment, then slowly her face crumpled, tears spilling onto her cheeks. "Oh, Gabe! I-I thought ... I thought I'd lost you!"
He slipped his hand behind her nape and drew her against his chest, holding her while she cried it out, her tears seeming somehow to wash away last night's horror for him, too, the feel of her in his arms more soothing than any narcotic. "It's okay, honey. We're both safe. It's over."
She pressed her cheek into his chest, words pouring out of her. "I-I tried to hold on! I tried, but I couldn't keep myself from slipping. And then I felt little tugs on the rope, and I remembered you had the knife. I begged you not to do it, but you didn't listen. And then you were just... gone."
He kissed the silk of her hair, breathing in her scent. "It was the only way to get you out of there alive. There was no way in hell I was going to drag you over the edge with me and let you die, too."
"I-I called for you. After you fell, I called for you."
"I heard you, but I didn't have the strength to shout back. I'm sorry."
She lifted her head and met his gaze, her cheeks wet. "For a while, I couldn't move. It felt... like a part of me had died with you. I didn't want to turn away from the cliff because it felt like I was abandoning you."
Something twisted in his chest to think of her up there, alone and hypothermic, trying to watch over his dead body. "But you did it. You got up. You called for help. You went on without me. You did the right thing."
"It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do." The despair in her eyes told Gabe she wasn't exaggerating. "B-but I realized the only way to honor what you'd done for me was to survive, to go on and... I-I'm sorry. I have so much to be grateful for. I promised myself I'd be strong for you and here I am crying like a child."
"You have no reason to be sorry." He wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumb. "You've been strong long enough, Kat."
A look of anguish came over her face. "When I think about what you've lost!"
He knew she wasn't just talking about his leg, but also everything she thought he'd lost with it--rock climbing, ice climbing, skiing. "I haven't lost anything. I'll climb again. I'll show off for you on skis. We'll make more snow angels. I promise."
She sniffed, gave him a tremulous smile, laughed.
"You know what the worst part of this was for me? It wasn't falling or thinking I was going to die, and it sure as hell wasn't losing my leg. It was being able to hear you, to hear that Webb was hurting you, and being too drugged to do a damned thing about it. I tried, Kat. God knows I tried to snap out of it. I can't tell you how many times I thought I'd kicked his ass and freed us both only to realize I was hallucinating and he was still dragging you up the mountain like a dog."
For as long as he lived he would never forget the sound of her screams.
"So you could hear what was happening?" Kat hadn't known that.
"Some of it, and it's the closest to hell I ever hope to come." He stroked her hair, his words slightly slurred from the morphine. "I wasn't able to stop him from hurting you while I was drugged, but hanging from the side of the cliff, feeling that rope slip inch by inch, I knew exactly what I had to do."
She couldn't imagine it. "Weren't you afraid?"
He shook his head. "The moment I realized I had to cut the rope, I felt a sense of calm. It dawned on me how often I had risked my life for nothing. Three years wasted on crazy climbing and meaningless sex, trying so hard to forget. Life meant nothing to me beyond the next punch of adrenaline."
"You were hurt. You weren't in harmony with--"
He shook his head. "I was selfish. I let what happened with Jill change me. I became like her--I only thought about myself."
"That's not true! When I fell in the rockslide, you were there for me, and you didn't even know who I was."
"Sweet Kat." He gave her a weak smile. "Do you remember what you said to me after the inipi? You told me that a man who only cared about sex wouldn't have stopped. You were right. You saw things in me I couldn't see and forced me to take a good, hard look at myself. You filled places inside me I didn't even know were empty. You really did save me. If I had to die so that you could live, then I was happy to die. At least that way my death would mean something."
"Oh, Gabe!" Kat couldn't stop the tears that filled her eyes.
And for a moment neither of them spoke.
"When they were loading me into the chopper, I promised myself that if I lived through this, I wouldn't waste another day." He drew a deep breath, cupped her cheek and looked into her eyes. "I have my life back, and I want to share it with you. I love you, Katherine James. Marry me."
Kat stared at him, her pulse thrumming.
Had he just said what she thought he'd said?
"We'll have as many babies as you want--ten if that's what it takes. We'll visit your grandmother as often as you like. I'll eat bowl after bowl of her mutton stew, and I won't complain about the heat or the lack of privacy."
Kat's own words came back to her.
I've never been with a man, and I won't be until I find the one who wants to be a part of my life and isn't just looking for a one-night stand. So unless you want lots of children, love mutton stew, and enjoy spending your summer vacations in one-hundred-fourteen-degree heat in a two-room hogaan without electricity or running water, we shouldn't even start down that road.
And she realized that Gabe was answering the challenge she'd given him that day in the restaurant. Tears spilled down her cheeks, only this time they were tears of happiness. "I thought you didn't believe in fairy tales."
His gaze held hers unwavering. "I believe in us."
<
br /> Kat stroked his cheek. "Yes, I'll marry you. There's nothing in the world I'd rather do than marry you. In my heart, you've been my half-side since the day I realized the wind knows you."
"The wind... huh?" He frowned, looking like a confused little boy.
"The wind knows you. You're a man of this land, of the earth."
"And what's a 'half-side'?"
"My mate--my perfect matching male half."
His lips curved in a sleepy but sexy grin. "I do fit inside you rather nicely, don't I? Hey, don't look shocked. They took my leg, not my libido."
Kat couldn't help but laugh, but she knew she'd already kept him awake too long. He might not complain, but she could tell he was tired and in pain. She pushed the button on the morphine pump, and watched the lines on his face ease as another dose slid into his bloodstream.
Then she leaned down and kissed him, her hand taking hold of his. "Shut your eyes, Gabe. Rest. I'll stay right here beside you. Sleep."
And he did.
GABE STEADIED HIMSELF on the crutches, his right leg in a walking cast, the left leg of his black Armani tux pinned out of the way. "Hey, Hunter, can you check my tie?"
Hunter moved to stand in front of him, grabbed the silver-and-black-striped tie, and fiddled with the knot for a moment. "Tie looks great. Flower thingy looks great."
Darcangelo leaned in. "It's called a boutonniere, idiot."
"And the ring?" Gabe couldn't wait to slide it onto her finger.
"That's quite a ring," Darcangelo said. "It must've cost you an arm and a leg."
"You like it, Dickangelo?" Hunter asked. "I didn't think it was your style, but I guess you never know. Just remember I did all the legwork for it."
"You know, when I'm back on my feet, I'm going to kick both your asses." Gabe fought back a grin. Hey, he could tell leg jokes, too. He turned to Reece. "The ring?"
"It's safely in the keeping of the ring bearer," Reece answered. "Connor knows his entire future on planet Earth depends on getting the rings up the aisle to you."
"Relax, Rossiter!" Hunter chuckled. "Everything's under control."
"I just want this to be perfect for her."
Gabe glanced around the little hospital chapel, feeling strangely nervous. A week had passed since he'd lost his leg and regained his life--and it was a week he'd tried to live well. It had been a tough week and painful, but he was recovering more quickly than the doctors had anticipated. Rather than dwelling on his injury and the uphill battles that awaited him, he'd focused on putting together a wedding worthy of the woman who'd given him her virginity and her heart.
Her friends--now his friends--had helped, handling most of the arrangements so that he and Kat could heal. Darcangelo had handled the tux rentals. Hunter had gone out with Gabe's credit card--and very specific instructions--to get Kat's ring. Sophie and Holly had taken Kat shopping for her wedding gown, which Gabe hadn't yet seen, while Kara and Tessa had handled the flowers, the cake, and the invitations.
Uncle Allen, who, as a medicine man, was licensed to perform weddings in Colorado, had agreed to perform the ceremony and had met with Kat and Gabe privately to talk about what would happen. He'd also gone with Nathan down to K'ai'bii'to and brought Alice James, Kat's grandmother, back with them to Denver to be a part of her granddaughter's wedding. Of course, Grandma had been shocked to learn that there was a wedding, but not as shocked as she'd been when she'd heard what had happened in Kat's life over the past three weeks.
She'd brought her brother, Ray, the hataathlii, so that he could sing the right songs and hold the right ceremonies before the wedding. And although the fact that it wasn't a traditional Navajo wedding clearly bothered her, she had embraced Gabe as a grandson when she'd heard that he'd saved Kat's life.
"Blue-eyed Navajo" she called him in heavily accented English.
She sat in the front left pew, wearing her best red velvet skirt and shirt, her gray hair in a bun and hidden beneath a red silk scarf, a squash blossom necklace of silver and turquoise around her neck. She glanced over at Gabe and gave him a slight smile. He winked. Her smile broadened, revealing a few missing teeth.
The pews were full. Some of the faces Gabe recognized--Kat's colleagues from the newspaper, Dave Hatfield, Rick Sutherland, hospital personnel. But other faces were new to him--Kat's Native friends from Denver. One of them--Gabe thought her name was Pauline--watched him and his groomsmen discreetly. He caught her gaze and smiled. She turned beet red, covered her face with her hands, and giggled.
Teenage girls.
Ray and Nathan entered, Nathan sitting behind the altar with his drum, Ray standing beside him. And then with the beating of Nathan's drum and Ray singing in his native tongue, it began.
Ten-year-old Connor, Kara and Reece's son, was the first to enter, carrying the rings with such stiff solemnity that he drew quiet laughter from the adults. Behind him came his five-year-old sister Caitlyn, who looked so adorable in her little black dress, and bobbing brown curls, that the audience let out a collective "aw." She looked to Kara for reassurance that she was doing it the right way, then, having had enough, tossed her petals and ran to climb in her mother's lap.
Holly entered next, holding a bouquet of roses and pine sprigs and wearing a sleek strapless black dress that probably didn't belong in a hospital, much less a chapel. She walked down the aisle with a smile on her lips, her gaze on Nathan.
"Uh-oh," Hunter muttered beneath his breath.
Tessa came next and after her Sophie, both wearing black, Sophie definitely looking pregnant now. The women stood across from their husbands, exchanging glances with Darcangelo and Hunter that Gabe interpreted only too easily.
And then Kat stood in the doorway.
Dressed in a simple gown of virginal white, her hair coiled on top her head and spilling in waves down her back, a wreath of roses and pine sprigs sitting on her head like a crown, she quite literally took his breath away.
The wedding guests rose to their feet as one.
"You okay, buddy?" Hunter whispered in his ear.
Gabe drew a breath to steady himself. "Yeah."
KAT WALKED FORWARD to the sound of Uncle Ray's singing, her heart beating faster than Nathan's drum, her gaze fixed on the man she loved. He was the most beautiful man she'd ever seen, his dark hair and tanned skin stunning against his black tux. And he was standing--using crutches, but standing nonetheless.
He met her gaze, smiled at her, his smile making her belly flutter.
Holding on to the love she saw in his eyes, she walked forward, so happy that she felt like she was floating. She reached his side and waited for him to turn himself toward the altar, then slipped her hand inside his and faced Uncle Allen.
An eagle feather in his hair and wearing a suit, Uncle Allen spoke Lakota words of blessing for the crowd that had gathered, then spoke in English.
"We are all friends here. We are all relatives. And that's the meaning behind 'Mitakuye Oyasin.' All my relations. We are all related--men and women, Indian and non-Indian, the two-leggeds and the four-leggeds and the winged ones. And today we've come together to witness the marriage of our brother Gabriel Rossiter and our sister Katherine James."
Then he told Gabe what would be expected of him as a husband, instructing Gabe to love Kat and be faithful to her, to keep her warm and sheltered and fed, and to be a good father to any children she gave him. "I say this, and yet I don't think there is much I can teach you about the ways of a husband. You have already shown that you are willing to give your life for the woman you love."
"Aho!" came the response from the Indian men in the chapel.
Then Uncle Allen turned to Kat and told her to love Gabe and be faithful to him, to take care of him, and to nurture and cherish any children he might give her. His eyes shimmered with tears. "My dear Kimimila, I tell you these things, but what can I teach you about being a wife when you have already shown your love by fighting like a warrior for this man?"
"Aho!"
"I
believe the two of you were husband and wife in your hearts before you even met--each of you the true half-side of the other."
At the word "half-side," Gabe met Kat's gaze and smiled that sexy smile of his--and Kat felt herself blush.
Then Uncle Allen urged Connor forward with the rings. Kat took the ring she'd gotten for Gabe--a white gold band with Boulder's mountain skyline inset in yellow gold all the way around it--and slid it on to his finger, promising to be a good wife to him. He looked down at the ring, then up at her, surprise on his face, clearly recognizing the outline of the mountains.
"I love you," she mouthed.
Then Gabe took the ring he'd gotten for her and cradling her cast in his hand, slid it over her finger, promising to be a good husband to her. Kat stared at the most beautiful ring she'd ever seen--diamonds circling an oval-shaped stone of polished turquoise in robin's egg blue, all set in antique white gold.
"I love you," he mouthed.
And she saw in his eyes that he did.
WHAT PEOPLE TALKED about for days after the wedding wasn't the bride's gown or the mix of cultures in the ceremony or the unique circumstances, but the way the groom had kissed the bride, drawing her against him, holding her as if she were the most precious thing in his world, and kissing her slow and deep and long.
It was true love, they said.
It was the stuff of fairy tales and happily-ever-afters.
EPILOGUE
Ten months later
K'ai'bii'to, Navajoland, Northern Arizona
"I THINK GRANDMA knows we've been having sex." Kat rested her head on Gabe's right arm and snuggled backward into him, her heart and body replete, the heat of lovemaking cooling into a feeling of deep contentment.
They lay spooned together on a mattress in the bed of her pickup truck looking up at the night sky, a woolen blanket covering them both, as much to lend them a modicum of privacy as to ward off the September chill.
"Mmm, really?" He nuzzled her hair. "Why do you say that?"
Kat smiled. "She called us 'busy bunnies."'