Chase the Wind (61 page)

If only life would stop now,
Jenny thought.
If this moment would
last forever, if I didn’t have to face him, if only he didn’t have to see.

“Ready for me to do your hair?” Chase asked softly against her
forehead. “I’d hate to get Grace mad at me for disobeying her or
ders.”

Jenny did not want to move, but she also did not want to protest,
so she let him slide her into the seat beside him and pull the towel away from her hair. She threw an arm over the back of the swing as he turned around and braced his outside leg against the end,
giving her a barrier that would keep her from tumbling out. Chase
took the brush and began with the ends, taking handfuls of hair up and brushing out the tangles until he had worked his way up
her back to the base of her neck. Each little motion of the brush pulled her head back until the rhythm of the swing and the brush were in sync. When he got up to her scalp, the gentle massaging
sent shivers down her back.

“Are you cold?” he asked as he stopped to pull the quilt up around her shoulders again.

“No, it just feels good.”

Jenny’s hair was dry now, the golden ends softly curling under, the new short growth around her hairline flying up and floating gently around her face. Her eyes were half closed in cat-like contentment and had a dreamy glow to them which Chase could not see from behind. He dropped the brush and began to massage her shoulders, moving his long fingers up and down her upper arms until she was sure she would be unable to hold a spoon if she had to.

Jenny was soon put to the test. Grace came out with a tray holding a steaming bowl of soup and several biscuits. Jenny’s mouth began to water as Grace placed the tray on a small table.

“I can’t even remember the last time I ate.”

“Well, don’t overdo it, or you’ll lose it,” Grace cautioned as Jenny

picked up a biscuit and pulled the flaky layers apart. Just as she it into it, Jamie came riding up to the porch, a wide grin on his face.

“Hey, you’re alive!” He helped himself to a biscuit as he stepped up on the porch.

“Barely,” Jenny said around her own biscuit. Chase was smiling broadly behind her as he recognized the easy banter that passed between the two.

Jamie swung a straight-backed chair over and straddled it on the other side of the small table that held Jenny’s dinner. “I think you need some help with this, sis.” He took the spoon and began stirring it through the soup, one russet eyebrow cocked up at Chase as if he was seeking permission.

“Bring that spoon out of that bowl and you’ll wish you hadn’t,” Jenny said confidently from her seat in the swing. Jamie leaned back in the chair and looked at her. She had been at death’s door, that much was evident from her pale looks and the great circles under her eyes, but there she sat, wrapped in their mother’s quilt, the ruffle of a snow-white gown gracing her slender neck, her hair hanging long and framing her face, and her sapphire-blue eyes once again dancing with life. She did not have the strength to swat a fly, but she was sassing him, and Jamie’s heart did a somersault in his chest.

Chase’s hand came around her shoulder and gave her arm a gentle squeeze.
One day at a time,
Jenny told herself.
Maybe we can get through this.

Chapter Thirty-one

Day by day Jenny grew stronger until she was able to make her
way around, limping on the sprained ankle but managing on her own. She helped Grace out where she could, sitting at the table
peeling potatoes or working on the never-ending pile of mending,
but would then have to take a nap in the afternoon, her strength
drained by the simple chores. Grace watched her carefully, marking the days but never mentioning why. Chase went back to work and
spent what time he could repairing the cabin, replacing broken
windows, nailing down new boards, fixing things that were broken.
He wanted desperately to bring her to the cabin and make Jenny his wife, but he had decided that once again he needed to be patient, letting Jenny come around to the realization that they be
longed together, and he waited, knowing that when she was ready,
she would let him know.

Early one Saturday Jamie showed up at the door to Grace’s cabin with Jenny’s horse. “Let’s go for a ride,” he said to Jenny. Grace handed her a sack of food so Jenny knew there had been a conspiracy of some sort, but she went along, expecting to find Chase involved somehow. He was working on the cabin when they rode
by. He stood and waved at them, sweat glistening on his bare chest
from the surprisingly warm day.

“You haven’t even been in there yet,” Jamie commented as they
rode by.

“I thought I’d wait until he was done.”

“Uh-huh.” They rode on in silence, letting the horses make their
way. The days of rest had done Jenny a lot of good. She had started
to fill out again, losing the hard angles that had been hers after the illness. She had picked up some color also, and the morning in the
sun had turned her nose a soft pink. “So what are your plans?”
Jamie asked as the horses plodded along.

“Plans?”

“Yeah, you know, your plans. What are you going to do now?”

Jenny looked at him in surprise and then turned quickly away.
Jamie reached out and grabbed her reins, pulling her horse to a stop. He pulled his hat off and raked his hand through his hair, then turned the hat around in his hands, searching for the right angle to replace it on his head. He finally got it situated the way
he wanted and put it back, arranging his hair before he placed the hat firmly on. Jenny waited, knowing he was searching for words,
but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear them.

“I never told you how much
...
I know that, damn
...”

“Jamie, what is it?”

“You saved my life. You saved both of our lives actually, but at
the time I didn’t want to see that. I just want you to know that I
wish it hadn’t happened. I wish there was something I could have done to stop it. I’m sorry for what happened to you. . . .” His voice
trailed off as Jenny reached out for his arm.

“You are my brother. I love you, that’s all there is to it. I know
you would have done the same for me if it came down to it.”

Jamie nodded in agreement as he looked off at the mountains in the distance. “It just seems like you’ve made all the sacrifices
and I’ve always let you down. Even back at the mission, I wouldn’t
leave when you wanted to, and—”

“Jamie, we’ve just had incredibly bad luck. We just happened to get in the way of some bad people. It’s not your fault, it’s not mine,
and it certainly wasn’t Dad and Momma’s. Sometimes bad things
happen to good people, that’s all.”

  
“But maybe things could have been different if—”

   
“But they aren’t, so lets not dwell on it. Let’s look at what we do have and be grateful for it.”

“Okay,” Jamie agreed after he had thought about it for a minute. “So what do you have to be grateful for?”

“I don’t know. A home, friends, a big oaf of a brother.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“What about Chase?” Jamie asked, looking sideways at his sister.

“What about Chase?” Jenny began to feel uncomfortable, as if walls were closing in on her. Her horse felt her tense up and took a few steps to the side. Jamie dismounted and reached up to pull Jenny down beside him. They dropped the reins to let the horse browse and made their way to a boulder that stuck up among the coarse grass.

“Chase loves you,” Jamie said when they had settled on the boulder.

“I know,” Jenny sighed. She pulled her knees up under her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs.

“So what are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are you scared?” Jamie tossed a pebble into the sea of grass. “What happened was awful, but it won’t be like that with Chase, I promise.”

“I know, I know he wouldn’t hurt me, but. ..”

“He wouldn’t mind the brand, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Jamie said without looking at her.

Jenny’s head flew up in shock, and she looked at Jamie with worried eyes. “How do you know about the brand?”

“I saw it. When Jason set your arm, we all saw it.”

“Who saw?”

“Me, Jason, Cat, Ty, then Grace and the doctor of course.”

“Does Chase know?”

“I haven’t told him. I don’t think anyone else would tell him, either. That’s something that’s personal between you and him.” Jenny laid her forehead down on her knees. “It won’t matter to him.”

“But it matters to me.”

Jamie reached out and pulled her next to him, wrapping his long arms around her in a circle that held her tightly.

“Jenny, if you let this keep the two of you apart, then Mason has
won, and I won’t let what you did to save me ruin the rest of your
life. I’m not worth it.”

“Don’t say that.”

“I mean it, because if you are not going to marry Chase, then I
wish you had just let them burn me that day, because I love the two of you more than anything in this world, and I want you to be happy. How could I live knowing that because of me, you
aren’t?”

“But it’s not because of you. It’s because of Mason.” Jenny’s voice
began to tighten as she tried not to cry.

“So you’re going to let him win. I can’t believe that you, of all people, would let him beat you like that. What happened to my incredibly stubborn sister who wouldn’t give up, no matter what?”

Jenny pushed away from his embrace. “I’m not going to win this
argument, am I?”

“No.” Jamie grinned at her. “Both of your answers are wrong.
I’m right, and if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll enjoy being right for
a while.” Jenny wiped some tears away, then smacked his arm.
Jamie tugged on her braid, then pulled her back again for a hug. “So let’s see what kind of food Grace put in that sack and then
we’ll go back and check out the cabin, okay?” Jenny nodded and
Jamie whistled his horse over to grab the sack looped over the
saddle horn. They snacked on cornbread and apples and enjoyed
the warmth of the day for a while.

“So what about you and Grace?” Jenny asked when they were
on their way back.

“There isn’t a me and Grace anymore.”

“Since when?”

“Since I broke my leg. It kind of changed things between us. It
just wasn’t right after that.”

“Oh.” Jenny looked over at his handsome face, the scar white
against the bronze of his skin.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll find someone.” Jamie grinned at her.
“Zane said he’ll fix me up.”

Jenny rolled her eyes. “I’m sure he knows some wonderful la
dies.”

“Ladies of the evening, you mean.”

“I’m not sure you could actually call them ladies.”

“I don’t think they care what you call them, as long as you pay
them.” They erupted into laughter that carried them the rest of the
way back.

Jamie stopped his horse in front of the cabin, grinning encouragingly at Jenny as she reined in beside him. They heard voices
inside and stepped through the door to find Jason talking with
Chase about the changes in the cabin. Chase was leaning against a
wall, with his thumbs hooked into the top of his pants. There was
a wide streak of dirt across his bare chest and down one cheek. He
looked up when Jamie’s frame filled the door of the one-room cabin, then a smile lit his face as Jenny stepped in behind him.
Jason turned and lifted an eyebrow in surprise as Jenny shyly stood
in the doorway.

“I was just telling Chase that the place hasn’t looked this good
in the past thirty years.” Jason motioned towards the stone fireplace that filled one wall. “You’ll never lack for warmth when you have
this going. I remember my first winter here—I thought I would freeze to death, but I stayed very warm in here, even brought my
horse in to stay with me.”

“Looks like it would have been a bit crowded for that,” Jamie
commented.

“Jason’s horse probably wasn’t much bigger than you.” Jenny jabbed an elbow in his side to move him out of her way. Chase’s eyes began to glow like coals as she came into the center of the room, while Jamie pretended to be sorely injured from Jenny’s
elbow.

“Well,” Jason began, “I haven’t had a look at those mares lately.
How ‘bout we go check them out, Jamie?”