Blood Blade Sisters Series (14 page)

“That’s enough, Frank!” Leo’s anger boiled over until he couldn’t contain it anymore. “Unless you plan on fighting through me to get to them, you aren’t taking anyone tonight.”

“You’ll have to fight through me too,” Miguel said, materializing from the far side of the bunkhouse, a shotgun in his hands. He wasn’t pointing the muzzle at Frank, but near enough. Carmen came to stand on the porch. She’d obviously been listening to the entire exchange from inside the house. Her hand dangled by her side, a pistol held tight in its grip. Cilla fingered the gun at her own waist.

Frank’s eyes darted around, taking everyone, and their weapons, in. He took a step back. “I’ll be back for you,” he said to Cilla.

“I’ll be waiting,” she said. The resigned but determined tone of her voice pierced through Leo’s anger, and a brief glimpse of what life might be like without her wormed its way into his head and sent a spear of pain to his heart.

Once Frank and his men had left, Miguel nodded at Leo and went back to the barn where he had been building a hasty coffin for Jake’s remains. Carmen went back inside, leaving Leo alone on the porch with Cilla.

He pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and reached out to wipe the blood from her face. She stopped him, taking the cloth from him and mopping at her face herself.

“You saw the ring,” she said.

Leo nodded.

“Now do you finally believe I had nothing to do with Jake’s disappearance?”

Leo flinched at the accusation in her voice. “I never believed—”

“Yes, you did,” Cilla said, throwing his handkerchief back at him. “I saw your face when we found his body. I saw what you were thinking.”

“Cilla, even if I did, it was only for a second.”

“That’s long enough,” she said, and for the first time he saw a crack in her carefully crafted demeanor.

“Cilla,” he said, grabbing her arm to keep her from leaving.

“No,” she said, wrenching out of his grasp. “This isn’t some misunderstanding. How could you still think, after all this time, after that night…after everything… It was still the first thought that crossed your mind.”

“It wasn’t…”

“Don’t lie to me! I was looking right into your eyes. I could see what you were thinking!”

He tried to reach for her again, but before either of them could say anything else, Lucy’s panicked voice called to them.

They ran inside, only to stop in horror.

Brynne lay on the bed in a pool of blood, her hands grasping at her belly as she writhed in pain.

“Get the midwife,” Cilla said to Leo.

He turned and ran, the terror in Cilla’s eyes spurring him into action and erasing everything else from his mind.

Dear God,
he prayed.
Don’t take them too.

Chapter Fifteen

Cilla propped another pillow behind Brynne’s head, murmuring soothing words to her sister while inwardly she screamed in panic. The baby was several weeks too early, and Brynne was physically and mentally drained.

“Where is Leo?” she whispered, sending Lucy back into the kitchen to heat more water. If he didn’t hurry, they were going to have to deliver the baby themselves. The thought filled Cilla with a near-paralyzing dread.

She lived on a ranch, so she knew the basics. But helping a cow give birth was a lot different than helping her sister.

Brynne cried out again, and Cilla could see the muscles rippling across her belly. It wouldn’t be long now.

Where was he?

As if she’d summoned him, the door opened and Leo rushed in. Alone. Cilla left Brynne and hurried over to him.

“Where is the midwife?” she whispered.

He took her arm and pulled her out onto the porch. “She wouldn’t come.”

“What?”

Leo shushed her and glanced into the house where Brynne was wailing, in the grip of yet another contraction.

“She refused to come.”

“But we need her. Brynne needs her. What does she want? More money? I’ll get it. However much she wants.”

Leo shook his head. “It won’t matter. I begged her, bribed her, and when that failed, God forgive me, I even threatened her. Nothing worked. She’s afraid, Cilla. Said anyone associated with the three of you ends up dead and she didn’t want to be next.”

Ice ran through Cilla’s blood. She wasn’t sure which was stronger, her fear for her sister or her fear of what the midwife’s refusal meant to them all.

“She doesn’t believe that we are responsible for all the deaths, does she?”

Leo shook his head. “I don’t think so. But it doesn’t matter. Whether it’s Blood Blade or Frank behind the murders, people close to you are ending up dead. And no one is willing to risk being the next body found in your backyard.”

Carmen came out onto the porch. “Is the midwife coming?”

“No,” Cilla said, her voice hardly more than a whisper.

Carmen swore under her breath. “We’ll just have to bring this baby into the world ourselves. You,” she said to Leo, “get more wood, stack it on the porch. Get Miguel to help you.”

Brynne screamed, and the sound tore right through Cilla’s chest. She ran into the bunkhouse, everything else forgotten for the moment. Carmen was close on her heels.

Brynne writhed on the bed. Lucy sat beside her, clutching her hand, her face a mask of horror and fear.

Leo tried to follow them, but Carmen stopped him.

“There’s nothing more you can do right now,
mijo
. Go find Miguel.”

She pushed him gently out the door and closed it in his face.

…

Leo stared at the closed door, unsure of what to do. Another scream came from within and Leo reached out to open the door. He didn’t know what he could do to help, but there had to be
something
. The look on Cilla’s face stuck in his mind, haunting him. She was afraid, unsure. And it wasn’t the nerves he’d caught a glimpse of before a raid or the anxiety she felt for the people she tried to help. It was pure, honest-to-goodness terror for her sister. Leo had never felt so helpless in his life.

He reached out to grasp the doorknob, but Miguel stopped him.

“Come, let’s get some wood like
mi
esposa
asked.”

Leo still hesitated, torn between wanting to go in and wanting to run as far and as fast as he could.

Miguel just smiled and clapped a hand on his back. “Come on,
vamos
. We’ll only be in the way in there.”

Leo supposed that made sense. And though the thought brought a wheelbarrow filled with guilt, he was relieved that his presence wasn’t required in the birthing chamber. He’d never seen a woman give birth before and judging from the sounds coming out of the bunkhouse, that was probably a good thing.

He sent up a quick, silent prayer for his brother’s wife and soon-to-be born child and followed Miguel.

Leo spent a restless night in Carmen and Miguel’s cottage. Around dawn, he finally gave up trying to sleep and made his way back to the bunkhouse. He sat on the steps and waited for what seemed like an eternity, though when Carmen finally opened the door, the sun hadn’t yet fully risen.

Leo jumped up and Carmen gave him a tired smile. The tightly wound coil of tension in his gut eased a bit at that smile.

“Come in,
mijo
,” she said.

Leo took off his hat and stepped inside, pausing for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the light. When he could focus, the sight that met him made his heart clench. Cilla sat in the corner near the fireplace, crooning to a tiny bundle in her arms. She looked up at him and her smile was like a ray of sunshine, warming him inside and out.

He looked over at Brynne, who lay sleeping in the bed. Lucy was curled up fast asleep by her side. Brynne was pale, her face nearly as white as the linens she lay under. But her chest rose with a steady rhythm. He sat on a chair next to the bed and reached over to take her hand.

“Is she okay?” he whispered.

Carmen smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “She needs lots of rest and good food. It was difficult for her. But she will be fine.”

Leo nodded, not quite convinced, but he admittedly knew little of such matters.

Cilla stood and came to him, the bundle in her arms squirming a little as she held it out. Leo tried to protest, but Cilla thrust the baby at him before he could say anything. The baby settled into his arms and he froze, afraid of making any movements that might hurt the tiny thing. He’d ever held a baby before.

He drew his finger across the fine down on its head and along its cheek. His heart twisted all over again when the infant opened its little mouth and turned toward his finger as if it were going to suckle it. He tucked his finger into the baby’s grasping hand, in awe of its perfectly formed little fingers.

“Boy or girl?” he asked.

“You have a daughter,” Cilla answered.

Leo’s head jerked up at that. He started to shake his head. This child was his brother’s offspring, not his.

Cilla gave him a smile, though her eyes were filled with pain. And resignation.

“Jake is gone, Leo. Now more than ever, Brynne is going to need a good, strong man at her side. And Coraline needs a father.”

“Brynne named her after my mother?” Leo was touched. And he did feel a strong sense of responsibility for the tiny life in his arms. And for her mother. He would care for them. Protect them, make sure they wanted for nothing. But he could do all that as the baby’s uncle, as Brynne’s brother-in-law. Surely even Brynne would agree. She wouldn’t want to spend her life married to a man she didn’t love, even for the sake of her baby. Would she?

It was clear by the look on Cilla’s face that she seemed to think so.

“Cilla,” he began, but she held up a hand to stop him.

“You are already her husband, Leo. We may have intended for the union to be temporary, but in light of all that’s happened…”

A twinge of panic began to make its way through Leo’s heart. He was going to lose her. She was going to try and do the noble thing yet again and sacrifice her own happiness for what she felt was best for someone else. And he very much doubted she’d listen to any argument against it. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try.

“Cilla,” he said, but this time he was interrupted by a tiny squeak from the little one in his arms.

Leo looked down in alarm. Had he hurt her? What was wrong? He looked between Cilla and Carmen in panic. Cilla smiled and Carmen took the baby from him. “She’s just hungry,” she said, chuckling.

He relinquished the baby. Carmen roused Brynne and settled the baby in her arms. Leo quickly stood and headed for the door to give her some privacy while she nursed her child. He grabbed Cilla’s hand and drew her out with him. They needed to talk.

She only half-heartedly resisted, which he took as a bad sign. That probably meant she knew what he wanted to discuss and had already made up her mind that he wouldn’t change hers. Still, he was going to try to get through her thick skull.

Cilla closed the door behind them and rounded on him before he could get a word out.

“I know what you are going to say, but…”

“Then would you please give me the courtesy of allowing me to say it?”

Cilla opened her mouth and then snapped it shut again. “Fine, but not here.”

She stomped off the porch and headed for the barn.

Leo kept right on her heels and the second they were inside, he spoke. “It will always be my highest priority to ensure the safety and well-being of my brother’s wife and child, but seeing to their care does not necessitate me becoming Brynne’s husband.”

“Becoming her husband? You already
are
her husband, Leo. There is no proof she and Jake were ever married, but there sure as hell is proof
you
are married to her. We made sure of that.”

Leo wanted to take a step back under her vehemence but held his ground.

“Technically, Brynne and I are married, but it was never supposed to be a permanent arrangement, remember?”

“That was before! Jake is gone, Leo. He’s never coming back. So what’s your plan? Are you going to divorce her now? Walk away from a woman whose husband has just been found murdered, leave her alone to raise her child, all because this wasn’t supposed to be permanent?”

“No! I told you, I will always be around to make sure they are taken care of. But I can do that without being her husband. Surely, she doesn’t want to spend the rest of her life with a man she doesn’t love. Have you even asked her what she wants? Or are you too busy dictating everyone else’s lives to bother giving them a choice?”

Cilla took a step closer to him, so fuming mad her cheeks were lit up like a bonfire. Damn, but she was beautiful when she was angry.

“This is about that helpless little baby in there. This is about what is best for her. Do you really think that growing up with a murdered father and an unmarried mother is what is best for her? Do you have any idea what people will say? How they’ll treat her? Even if you were to convince the preacher that your marriage was never consummated after the little scene he witnessed, where does that leave Coraline? If she isn’t your daughter, she’ll be branded a bastard. Do you want her to go through life with that?
That
is what this is about now. Not about what Brynne or you or I want.”

Leo reached out and cupped Cilla’s face. “What
do
you want, Cilla?”

She leaned into his hand for just a moment. “It doesn’t matter,” she whispered. When she pulled away, her eyes were filled with the same pain that was searing through his chest.

How could he let her go? How could he not? Leo knew she was right. He knew that people could be cruel, knew that his presence would go a long way toward shielding that tiny, fragile little creature he’d held in his arms from the injustices of the world.

But at what cost?

Cilla turned to leave the barn, but he caught her arm and drew her to him. “Just once more, Priscilla. Let me hold you, just once more.”

Cilla hesitated and then moved stiffly into his arms. He wrapped himself about her, trying to bring her in as close as he could. She held herself aloof for a moment, and then sank into his embrace. He wanted to remember every line of her, every sensation. The smell of her hair, the way it felt beneath his cheek. The way her breath hitched as his lips trailed down her forehead, across her jaw line. The velvety softness of her lips as he pressed his own to them.

He drank her in, molding their bodies together. For one brief moment, his world was complete and he finally understood the meaning of pure joy.

And then it was gone.

Cilla pulled away and ran out the door, leaving him standing in the cool morning air, a gaping hole where his heart used to be.