Diablo (45 page)

Kane's suspicious mind started working again. “What do you want now?”

“Well, I was hoping to pay back a debt, but now I think I owe you again. No other lawman's ever gotten a bag full of desperadoes this easily. Good way to end my career.”

Despite the rather flippant words, something dark suddenly flitted over his face, and Kane wondered about it. “You said I had to go back.”

“In the meantime, I fixed it so you wouldn't,” Masters said. “You and I need to take a trip to the capital for an official pardon, but that's it.”

“Davy?”

“He gets one, too.”

Kane didn't trust himself to speak, felt a little like he'd stepped into a dream.

Masters hesitated a moment, his somber gaze resting on both Nicky and Kane as they stood together, then his lips cracked into a faint smile. “I think the reward money due on this lot of thieves and murderers will give you both a good start.”

“I don't want blood money,” Kane said, still thinking about Thompson up in the rocks.

Masters shook his head. “Someone's gonna get it. I don't think you want me to be the one.”

Kane looked at Nicky and Robin. Both shook their heads.

Masters suddenly looked impatient. “You claim the government took your friend's land … and some other folks', too. I don't disagree with that. This gives you a chance to take honestly from the government what you were taking dishonestly. Hell, give it to your neighbors if you want.”

Kane hesitated. Maybe he
could
right some wrongs. There was certain poetic justice in it. “We won't take any for the two men up in those rocks,” he said.

Masters nodded.

“No one gets money for them,” Kane insisted.

Masters nodded again.

Kane turned to Nicky. “Is that all right with you and Robin?”

Nicky nodded and squeezed his hand tightly, her eyes glinting with tears. “I think Uncle Nat would approve.” She looked up into his eyes. “Can we bury them here? I don't think they would want to go back to Sanctuary.”

Kane looked at Masters, who shrugged his consent. “I'll get some men to help.”

“No,” Robin said. “Kane and I will do it.” There was a new quality to his voice, a sureness that hadn't been there before.

“The three of us,” Nicky added, leaning into Kane's arms.

Kane felt his throat choking up.
The three of us.
It sounded fine.

Masters moved back, as if respecting their grief. “I'll round up the others on the other side of the hill. I'm sure someone has a shovel. I'll send the prisoners ahead with most of the deputies. I want to see Sanctuary. Then we'll go to Austin, get your pardon arranged.” He walked away without waiting for an answer.

Kane looked at both Nicky and Robin, still uncertain as to whether they could, would, forgive his part in this.

Robin returned his glance with sudden understanding. “You have to let go,” he said. “I know why Uncle Nat brought you along. He knew you would look after me and Nicky.” He held out his hand. “Looks like you're stuck with us.”

With one arm around Nicky, Kane closed his long fingers around Robin's hand. He couldn't say anything. He couldn't believe what was happening. He couldn't believe he was going to live—he
and
Davy—and that he finally was going to have a family of his own.

He couldn't believe any of it.

But then Nicky reached up, and her lips touched his, and he knew it was real.

“I love you, Kane O'Brien,” she said.

“But not Diablo?” he asked softly.

“My devil?” she said. “I think he was always a bit of a fraud.”

He tensed slightly.

“I mean, what devil always looks after everyone but himself?” she asked with a wickedly teasing smile. “I think you should put him away for good before you ruin his reputation, or,” she added wryly, “you get yourself killed.” She looked at him with such tenderness that for the first time in his life, he felt truly wanted, truly worthy of love.

You have to let go.
His very name had always symbolized unworthiness to him. So had the one he'd taken: Diablo. But because Nicky loved him, he could let go of his past, of the pain of his father's hate and his lifelong feeling of being an outcast.

His heart seemed to burst with the realization. With hope he'd never known, with love he'd feared even to dream existed.

The feeling gave him the courage to turn her to him. “Will you marry me?” he asked. “I know that it's too soon … and that I don't have much to offer, or …” He kept rushing his words, afraid to stop, to hear the answer that would shatter the illusion.

She put her fingers to his lips. “Of course I will,” she said with a glorious smile.

He turned to Robin, one eyebrow raised in query.

Robin grinned. “I approve.”

By unspoken but what seemed common consent they all turned and looked up at the rocks, where Nat Thompson lay. The sun had dipped below the horizon, and the sky was a brilliant gold. The rocks were tinged with it.

“I think he's smiling,” Nicky said, her voice a little unsteady.

Kane hoped that was true. “I think so, too, love,” he said, and as he said that last word, he knew wherever he went now, he had a home. He belonged.

The most unlikely people had given this miracle to him: a marshal and an outlaw.

He held Nicky next to him, sharing her feelings—a bittersweet mixture of grief and hope, of love lost and love found, of betrayal felt and forgiven—and looked toward the setting sun. But it wasn't setting at all, not for him. In the golden haze of evening, Kane saw, instead, a glorious dawn, and a succession of dawns.

He felt Nicky's hand grip his harder; Robin had left and gone to the basket on his horse. They watched together as the boy took the hawk out, then raised his arm. The hawk hesitated a moment, then spread its wings and flew into the sky, circling several times. There was a cry, and the three of them saw another hawk rise from the craggy pile of rocks.

Diablo circled once more and then headed toward the other hawk.

Robin moved closer to Kane and his sister, and Kane put his hand on the boy's shoulder as they watched the two birds circle warily, then head to the other side of rock formation. They disappeared for several moments, then one of the hawks reappeared and flew back down to Robin's arm, screeching plaintively.

“Go,” Robin said, and Kane heard the gentle harshness in it. “It's time to go to your own home.”

The hawk screeched again and lifted off, circling one last time before disappearing.

Kane looked down at Nicky and Robin and saw their smiles, Nicky's tear-tinged, Robin's proud.

A time for good-byes.

A time for beginnings.

Epilogue

Nicky and Kane exchanged their vows before the same federal judge who handed Kane his pardon.

They had five witnesses: Davy Carson and his wife and son, Ben Masters, and Robin. Robin gave away the bride, and Davy was Kane's best man.

Davy had been in Austin with his wife when Kane, Nicky, and Robin arrived with Ben Masters. He had been released as soon as the governor had received the telegram about the destruction of Sanctuary.

Nicky could hardly believe the past week, the hard riding, the return to a burned-out Sanctuary. She'd thought she would feel some sadness, seeing her home in ruins, but she hadn't. She had looked at the rubble and felt nothing. Her grief was for the two men buried in the shadow of rocks some fifty miles away.

The subsequent ride to Austin had been exhausting. There had only been six of them: the marshal and two deputies, Kane, Robin and herself. Ben Masters had driven them relentlessly. He had business back in north Texas, he said. A debt to pay.

“Another one?” Kane had asked, wondering aloud what hell Masters was going to put that person through. It was obvious to Nicky he hadn't forgiven the man who had sent him to Sanctuary. But Ben, as he insisted Nicky call him, had just clamped his lips together and ignored the question.

Nicky had come to like the taciturn lawman during the long ride and thus had asked Ben to the wedding when Kane had not. It was obvious Kane had felt used and manipulated, and, though he'd won his freedom, he hadn't liked the way it had been done one bit. No amount of persuasion on her part had dented his resentment.

In Austin, Nicky had watched as Kane greeted the man for whom he'd been ready to sacrifice everything. She had stood back shyly while the two men clasped each other's shoulders and exchanged wry smiles, as she'd discovered men do when they feel deep emotion and don't know how to express it.

Davy had been the first to speak. “Thank you,” he'd said, and Kane had grinned and shrugged off the gratitude before turning to the woman who stood next to him. “Still as pretty as ever,” he'd said, and Nicky felt a moment of jealousy. Then he had turned to her, and she'd seen the love that he still had difficulty in expressing.

Martha Carson had helped her select a dress for the wedding. Nicky hadn't wanted white. She was used to being careful with money and wanted something she could wear again. So they found a simple but lovely green dress that complemented her coloring, and Martha helped curl her hair and thread flowers through it.

“You're lovely,” Martha said.

“Am I?” Nicky said doubtfully as she looked at her short hair.

“Your husband-to-be certainly thinks so. He can't take his eyes off you.” Martha chuckled. “I've never seen Kane O'Brien befuddled before, but you sure have him tied in knots.”

Nicky smiled and in the mirror she saw a new Nicole Thompson stare back at her. There was a glow about her face, and she
did
look pretty. She turned around and hugged Martha. “Thank you.”

“Thank you,” Martha said softly. “Thank you for making Kane happy. I was afraid he never would be. He always joked a lot, but he was so lonely. We tried hard to make him feel part of the family, but we knew he never did. He always held back.…”

“He told me a little about his father,” Nicky said.

“Probably only a little of it,” Martha said. “That man almost destroyed Kane. I'll never understand how he survived and became the man he is. He always considered himself worthless, no-account, despite the fact he was the best friend anyone could have, the most loyal …”

Nicky's happiness dimmed as she considered Kane's background and the terrible decisions he'd had to make during the past few months. Her heart swelled with pride, and she was determined that he would know that same pride in himself.

And then they were in front of the judge, and she watched Kane intently as the vows were exchanged. His eyes were a bit uncertain, and she felt his nervousness, realizing it came from that feeling deep inside that he was unworthy of her, unworthy of anyone. Her hand reached out and clasped his, threading her fingers through his in complete trust.

His stern expression melted into a smile.

“Do you take this woman, Nicole Thompson, as your lawful wife?” The judge's words barely penetrated the communion suddenly flowing between them.

His response was soft but sure, and then his lips were on hers and there was no hesitancy at all as his eyes smiled down on her.

There was a dinner after the ceremony. Ben Masters was quiet, preoccupied, reserved. He had, in fact, refused the invitation, and only Nicky's cajoling changed his mind. He was obviously uncomfortable, though, and Kane all but ignored him. But Nicky felt she owned Ben. So did Kane, if only he would admit it.

They were midway through their wedding dinner when Nicky put her fork down and looked over at Ben. The man's slate blue eyes were fixed on his plate. “Thank you,” she said suddenly. “Thank you for everything you've done for Kane.”

Ben looked over at Kane's face, which had suddenly gone still. “It was my job,” he said.

“It was more than that,” she said. “And I'll always be grateful.”

A muscle in Kane's cheek twitched. His lips flattened slightly, and she could almost tell what he was thinking. He hadn't really forgiven himself for the manner of Nat Thompson's death, which was why he hadn't been able to forgive Ben. But it was time, she knew. It was time to put all the bitterness to rest, and no better day than today.

Nicky refused to drop her gaze, willing him to forgive both himself and Ben. Suddenly, Kane's face seemed to relax and the last of the haunted look left his eyes.

“Maybe it's just as well I made that mistake four years ago,” he conceded.

Nicky wasn't sure what he meant, but Ben Masters apparently did. He grinned, held out his hand, and Kane took it.

“What are you going to do now?” Kane asked. “More … outlaws?”

Ben shook his head. “There's a little girl, waiting on me. I'm a lawyer by training. I think it's time to return to a different kind of law.”

Kane hesitated. “I never did say thanks.”

“Neither did I,” Ben said. Nicky still didn't entirely understand the exchange, but she knew something important was going on. A friendship was being forged, and Kane was learning to let go of hurts. Slowly, but surely.

Hours later, Ben left, heading for the livery stable, and Davy and his family started back toward San Antonio. With Kane's reward money, Davy was going to try to get his ranch back, his and the others. Kane would follow in another week, with Robin and Nicky, to look for a ranch of their own.

But now the time was theirs—hers and Kane's. Robin had gone to his own room in the hotel, and Nicky intended a very private celebration.

Once inside their room, Kane turned to her. “Thank you,” he whispered.

She grinned happily. All the shadows were gone from his eyes, all the ghosts. Maybe they would return on nocturnal visits occasionally, but they were no longer constant companions.

“I love you,” she said. “I love you so much I want to burst with it.”