Terri turned to face her daughter. “Come out here.” She motioned to the kitchen.
Trystan leaned against the kitchen counter with her arms folded.
Terri whispered, “There is a man on the reservation who was out at the accident site this morning. We moved Alexa for her safety.”
“Do you know that this man is bad? Maybe he’s a friend out looking for her.”
Terri twisted her hands nervously. “Perhaps. But we don’t know that.” She gestured toward the guest room and her patient. “We know nothing about Alexa except that someone wants her dead. This man could tell us anything to convince us he’s got her best interests at heart and we’d have no way of knowing if it was the truth. We can’t risk it.
She’s been through too much already.”
Trystan’s face registered surprise. “You’re really attached to this woman, aren’t you?”
“She’s lost and alone. She needs someone to care.” Terri shrugged.
“Why shouldn’t I be that person?”
“Okay, I’m sold.”
After a moment’s silence, Terri asked, “Can you feel the gentleness of her spirit?”
“Oh, yes. I certainly can.”
“It’s as though it radiates off her.”
“She’s definitely something special.”
And someone I’d like to get to
know much better,
Trystan added silently, smiling as she took her mother’s hand. “She couldn’t have a better advocate. You want me to stay with her for a while?”
“That would be great,” Terri sighed, clearly relieved. “I need to go back to the clinic and put things in order in case this man comes by.”
“Amá?” Trystan waited until Terri turned around. “Be careful.”
“I will. And, Acheehen?”
“Yes?”
“I saw the way you looked at Alexa. Remember that she has a life somewhere that we know nothing about.” She said softly, “I don’t want you to get your heart broken, Acheehen. I’m much too fond of it just the way it is.”
To herself, Trystan muttered, “It may already be too late for that.”
She watched her mother cross the street to the clinic, then turned back to
Lynn Ames
the bed, pulling a chair close. Tentatively, she reached out and stroked the back of Alexa’s hand with her fingertips.
So soft.
Alexa whimpered in her sleep.
Trystan cooed, “Shh, it’s okay, baby. I’m here. You’re safe now. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”
Peter blew out a frustrated breath. So far, he had spent two hours in Chinle on the Navajo reservation, interviewing tribal elders and assorted others; he’d come up completely empty. No sign of Jay and no indication that anyone had seen the accident. Several people admitted to hearing about it—after all, a crash that spectacular was big news in this small community. But beyond that, the reservation was a dead end. There was only one more stop to make—the clinic.
He examined the building critically. It was a hogan, round in shape and made of adobe. Stepping across the threshold, he was surprised at how modern and clean it looked on the inside.
“Hello? Is anyone here?”
“Hello, I’m in here,” Terri called from one of the inner rooms. She wiped her damp palms on her pants.
“I’m Peter Enright.” He shook the petite woman’s hand as she emerged. She was very attractive—about his age or a little older, he suspected, with luxuriant reddish-brown skin and rich, dark eyes.
“I’m Terri Lightfoot, the tribe’s resident healer. How can I help you?”
She appraised him openly. He was good-looking—his face was handsome in a rugged sort of way; he was lean and hard, like someone who spent little time behind a desk. His strength was palpable, but she didn’t feel threatened by him. Still her instincts told her he was someone who walked with danger. “You look pretty healthy to me.”
Peter laughed. “So far, anyway. Actually, I’d like to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind.”
“About what?”
“I’m interested in a woman you may have seen. She was in a very bad car accident last week not far from here.”
“That’s awful.”
He looked at her, gauging her reaction. Either she didn’t know anything about Jay or she was a great poker player. “Yes, it is. I was wondering if you’d seen her—perhaps treated her.”
“It’s been a very slow week here. Nothing more than a stubbed toe and a rattlesnake bite, and both of those were boys I’ve known since they were born.”
“Are you sure?” He waited to see if her body language would signal discomfort. She stood completely at ease.
The Value of Valor
Her voice registered amusement. “I’m pretty sure I’d know the difference between a boy with a stubbed toe and a woman with injuries from a bad car accident.”
“I’m sure you would.” Peter, still focused on finding Jay, was nevertheless taken by this woman. “Your clinic is in a traditional hogan, yet I see many signs of Western influence in here, as well. How is that?”
“Ah, you are a perceptive man. I am one hundred percent Navajo, born and raised on this reservation.”
“But?”
Terri shrugged. “But as a young woman interested in medicine and trained by the tribe’s healers, I felt there was so much more to learn. So I left for a time and went to college and medical school at Cornell University.”
Peter looked around, intrigued. “Your wall is missing a diploma or two.”
Terri let out a heartfelt laugh. “Here there is no need for that sort of pretentiousness.”
“Do you call Western medical techniques pretentious then?”
She looked Peter directly in the eye. “No. I wouldn’t have spent so many hard years in school if I thought that. I believe in mixing the best of the West with the power of the Navajo healing traditions.”
“How does that work?”
“Well, depending on the illness, I might treat it with antibiotics and fluids while at the same time supervising a ceremonial song or the creation of a sand painting to speed the healing process.”
“I see. So your patients get all their bases covered.”
“Something like that.”
“Okay, well, I’ll leave you alone then. You’ve been very kind to answer my questions. I’m sorry to have bothered you.”
“No bother at all.”
He nodded and pushed open the door, walking out into the twilight.
Terri watched him go, waiting until he was long out of sight, then called her house.
“Yes?”
“Trystan? How is Alexa?”
She’s beautiful, and her hair feels like silk as it runs through my
fingers.
“She’s still asleep.”
“Good.”
“Are you all right, Amá?”
“Yes, fine. He’s gone now, but I don’t want to take any chances.
Let’s keep Alexa right where she is in case he gets the urge to come back. I’ll just gather some supplies and be over in a little while. Will you be okay until then?”
Lynn Ames
“Of course.”
Peter picked up the phone, something he’d been avoiding for the past hour.
“Kate?”
“Peter?”
He winced. Her voice sounded so hopeful. “Yeah, it’s me.”
“Did you find anything? Did you find Jay?”
“I wish I could say that I did, my friend.”
“Oh.”
He closed his eyes against her pain. “Kate? Do you remember what Jay was wearing when she left that morning?”
She swallowed audibly. “Sh-she was wearing jeans and a maroon button-down shirt.”
“Did she have on a jacket?”
“Yes, why?”
“Describe it.”
“Why is that important?”
“Just answer me first, okay?”
“She had on a lightweight, navy blue insulated nylon ski jacket.”
Peter was caught off balance by the impact of the words. He wiped at a tear and tried hard to compose himself. After all, he was a professional.
“Peter?”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“What is it? Please, tell me.”
“I found a little piece of material buried under some rocks and dirt today. It matches the description you just gave me of Jay’s jacket.” He could hear Kate sit down heavily, followed by the sound of muffled sobs.
“Kate, honey?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“Shh, Kate.”
“Is—is there any chance, Peter, any chance at all? Maybe—maybe she took the jacket off before the accident. Or maybe—maybe it got caught on something when she was getting herself to safety…”
“I don’t know, Kate. I’d like to think so, too. But it’s looking less and less likely. I don’t think she could have gotten out of there by herself, and I can’t find anyone who says they saw the crash or her. I struck out today.”
The line was silent for a long time, and Peter wondered if Kate had put the phone down.
“Where do we go from here?” she asked finally.
The Value of Valor
“I’m going to go to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, and see if there’s anything to indicate anyone else was in or near the car. It’s a long shot, but if she did get out with help, maybe I can find evidence of that.”
“You sound like you’re reaching.”
The dejection in her voice cut through him like a knife. “Yes. I promised you I wouldn’t lie to you. I’m grasping at straws at this point.”
“I appreciate everything you’re doing, Peter. You’re a good friend.
The best.”
“I love you, Kate. I’ll call you when I know something, but it may be a few days or a few weeks, depending on how backed up the lab is.”
“I understand. I’ll talk to you soon,” Kate said.
“Bye. Take care of yourself and give Fred a hug for me.”
Kate sat in the dark on the floor in her bedroom—their bedroom—for a long time without moving. She wanted to hold on to hope, but it seemed to be slipping through her fingers like fine grains of sand. From that very first awful phone call, she had willed Jay to be alive.
In the past when there had been trouble, she’d been able to “feel”
Jay’s distress. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Nothing happened.
Her lower lip trembled and tears threatened once more. When Peter spoke about her in the present tense at the service, Kate was convinced that Jay had somehow survived. At the moment, however, there remained precious little to suggest any reason for optimism.
Kate rose wearily to her feet and glanced at the bedside clock—3:23
a.m.; she had come to dread the nighttime most of all. She stripped out of her turtleneck and jeans, tossed aside her undergarments, and crawled under the covers.
She turned on her side, her arms automatically reaching out for the warmth and comfort of Jay’s body—a warmth and comfort she most likely would never know again.
Her breasts ached with want, craving her lover’s tender ministrations.
Slowly, reluctantly, Kate brushed her fingers across her belly and upward, her palm cupping the weight of her left breast. She sobbed when her thumb and forefinger found her nipple and squeezed.
“God, I can’t,” she cried brokenly, even as the sensitive tip hardened painfully. She turned over onto her stomach, trapping her hands underneath her torso. Her body was thrumming with desire, even as her mind rebelled.
“Damn you. Damn you, Jamison Parker, for going away like that.”
Her tears were hot and hopeless. “I need you, baby. My body needs you.”
The insistent, pounding pulse between her legs would not abate, no matter how she willed it to stop. Finally, in an act of desperation, Kate reached down and began stroking her swollen clitoris. As the pressure
Lynn Ames
built to a crescendo, she buried her head in Jay’s pillow, breathing in her dead lover’s scent. “I will always love you, Jay. Forever.”
The Value of Valor
CHAPTER FOUR
rystan loved the early morning; it was her favorite time of day.
T This day in particular, she felt euphoric. Her mother had run into town and asked her to keep Alexa company.
The patient had been progressing slowly; her injuries were extensive and as a result took time to heal. Each day was a little better than the last, however, and Terri had finally declared that Trystan could take Alexa for a short walk.
While they hadn’t gotten to spend any time alone together since the day that stranger had come, Trystan had stopped by whenever possible to visit. She, her mother, and Alexa had spent hours playing card games and gossiping about the news on the reservation. Trystan admitted to herself that she was becoming more and more attracted to this woman and not just sexually—Alexa had a gentle, intelligent way about her that was irresistible.
Trystan lay in bed thinking about where they would go. She decided on a romantic stroll down by the water.
Alexa blew out a frustrated breath. It had been nearly a month by her calculation since she’d been rescued from the car accident. Despite her best efforts, she still couldn’t recall anything preceding the day she woke up in Terri’s clinic. Her head continued to throb painfully when she turned it too quickly, she couldn’t raise her arms over her head without feeling as though she’d been kicked in the ribs, and it was impossible to dress herself with her shoulder aching the way it did.
“I am so over this.”
“I can see that,” Trystan said.
Alexa gasped in surprise and covered her breasts. She was still unable to wear a bra because the pressure of the garment was too painful with her broken ribs. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
Trystan shoved off from the doorway where she’d been watching with a mixture of desire and amusement as Alexa fought a losing battle with one of her own long-sleeved shirts. Despite Trystan’s best intentions, being in this woman’s presence evoked powerful sexual urges in her. “I’m sorry, I should have knocked.”
Lynn Ames
“Yes, you should have.” Alexa was both embarrassed and furious.
Trystan tried her best to look contrite, but she was too turned on by the sight of those perfect, creamy breasts and the sweet blush that turned Alexa’s cheeks an appealing shade of red. “Um, can I help you?”
Alexa wanted to say no but knew she stood no chance of getting the shirt on by herself. “Please.”
Trystan’s fingers trembled slightly as she reached out to take the shirt from Alexa and slip her injured arm through the sleeve. “It’s been a while since I dressed a woman; normally, I prefer to undress them.”