Love in the Shadows (16 page)

Derek kissed her lightly and watched as
she closed her eyes and her breathing slowed. He continued to hold
her hand and sat back down at her side. He leaned his head against
the edge of the bed and let the tears flow. Each drop of moisture
that rolled down his face carried his fear.

“Derek, Raven wants to know if you’d
like to watch the interrogation.” Joe Running Bear stood at the
door. “How is she?” Joe stepped up to the end of the
bed.

“She’ll be fine when she wakes up.”
Derek rubbed a hand over his eyes. “I can’t leave her, Joe. The
criminal almost took her from me today. He has to pay. I want him
to pay. I want to be there and see his face ... I can’t leave
her.”

“Then, you should stay. I
would stay if it was
my
mate lying there. You don’t have to worry about
this guy. Raven and I will take care of it.”

“Quiet Thunder warned me that I could
no longer be the warrior and also be the shaman, He said that
instead of fighting, I would need to care for my patients. I never
thought the lesson would be so drastic or personal. But, as much as
I want to beat that guy to a pulp, I want to be right here by
Katherine’s side more than anything.”

“Being the shaman doesn’t mean you
won’t have battles to win. It means you will have battles of the
heart, fighting illness and death to protect those you love. You
are one of the strongest men I know. You will be a good shaman for
the tribe. I’ll make sure not to get sick or hurt in the future.”
Joe grinned and winked.

“Thanks, Joe.” Derek
chuckled.

“No problem, Red Hawk.” Joe cracked his
knuckles. “Now, to the interrogation room.”

“Make sure you get the whole story, and
find out if there are any other threats out there.”

Joe waved in response as he sauntered
out of the room.

“His name is Tom Kincaid,” Raven said
later that evening. “He was Amanda Patterson’s step-brother. We
didn’t catch the relationship because they weren’t blood
relations.”

“So it
was
about Derek shooting Amanda,”
Katherine said.

“Not at first. At first, Kinkaid
thought Derek cheated on Amanda,” Raven said. “Kincaid worked in
the motor pool. He admitted to knowing Derek left gifts for you,
Katherine. I guess Derek had one in the car, and Kincaid saw it.
Later, he heard that you received a gift from your secret admirer,
and after pumping Nurse Eschback for information, put it
together.”

Katherine sat up in the hospital bed.
Derek squeezed her hand in reassurance. Raven stood next to Cara
who sat in the chair near the door. Joe leaned against the
doorframe, while Hugh and Stacey stood on the other side of the
bed.

“
What now?” Derek
asked.

“We hand him over to the police. We
have footage of him carrying Katherine’s body down in the canvas
tarp and putting her in the trunk of the car,” Joe said.

“I don’t want Katie to have to
testify.” Derek squeezed her hand again.

“I don’t think she will,” Joe said,
straightening. “I removed his memories from the time Amanda was
shot until he was riding up the elevator. He has no recollection
why he wanted to kidnap Katherine. He already admitted to the
kidnapping. We have his taped confession. I assume he will be put
in an institution.”

“Is he the one who broke into my
apartment?” Katherine’s voice quavered. Derek got off the chair and
sat on the edge of the bed, gathering her into his arms.

“Yes.” Joe sent an apologetic look to
Derek before turning back to Katherine. “He was enraged that Derek
had not been assassinated or caught in the car bomb. He ran out of
resources, which is why he kidnapped you, Katherine. The
information that you were leaving for the weekend sent him over the
edge. I’m sorry I didn’t see that possibility. I thought we were
working with a professional.”

“Well, the general will be relieved to
know it had nothing to do with Derek’s spying. I guess I can get
back to the Pentagon.” Stacey headed for the door.

“Stacey, wait. We need to talk.” Hugh
hurried after her.

“Don’t forget to come back for the
wedding,” Cara called after the couple.

“If you people will please remove
yourselves, Mrs. Sloane needs to be resting.” Nurse Eschback
entered and started shooing everyone from the room.

Derek gathered Katherine closer in his
arms and shadow-walked to their cabin in Montana. He smiled,
thinking of Nurse Eschback’s face when she turned around and they
were gone. Quickly opening a door onto the Earth plane, he walked
into the master suite and carried Katherine to the bed.

“That wasn’t nice, you know. She’s just
doing her job.”

“She’s a pain in the ass. She did help
save your life, so I won’t say anything further.” Derek pulled back
the covers and lay Katherine in the bed. He tucked her in and
kissed her on the nose. “Can I get you anything?”

“Just you. I need to feel you inside
me, connecting us heart, body, and soul. I need to feel
alive.”

“Honey, you almost died this
morning.”

“All the more reason you should make
love to me tonight.”

§

Derek’s lovemaking had an edge of
desperation to it, and Katherine realized he had been deeply
traumatized by the day’s events. He lay sleeping, wrapped around
her, holding her close to his heart.

She had been surprised to find him next
to her, holding her hand every time she woke up in the hospital
today. Not once did he leave her. Normally, he would have been in
the thick of things, helping to interrogate the
prisoner.

Not today. Today, he acted like she was
all that mattered. Today, he put her first. That’s what she wanted,
someone to put her first. So why did she feel guilty?

The next morning the sun rose over the
lake and filled the bedroom with a warm glow. Katherine woke up and
stretched. She ached in a few places, which probably should be
expected after yesterday. She smelled the wonderful aroma of coffee
coming from downstairs. Derek was so good to her. She slipped on a
robe and slippers and headed for the kitchen. Coming down the back
stairs, she saw Derek standing in front of the stove. A pile of
moving boxes stood next to the back door.

“What are these?” she asked.

“Your grandmother’s china and your
jewelry box. They arrived by truck a few minutes ago.”

“Thank you. You and the guys are so
wonderful. I used to find their attitudes demeaning and sexist. Now
I see they are just trying to take care of the people they care
about.”

“I know we can be irritating, Kate.”
Derek laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“I wondered how you were going to react
when I asked you to have children with me. You know, barefoot and
pregnant?”

“I have slippers on.”

“True, it wouldn’t be hard to take them
off.”

“Don’t start. You’ll burn the
bacon.”

“Okay, okay. Raven said to take the day
off. We could go look at baby furniture.”

“You’re really serious aren’t you? What
about your job with the company? You haven’t been back to work
since being shot.”

“I have a new job, taking care of you
and our future little ones. Plus, being shaman to the tribe if they
need me. I won’t really take over as shaman until Quiet Thunder
passes on. I know how much you love your job. I’d hate to ask you
to quit.”

“Wait, you’re going to be a
stay-at-home dad?”

“Why not? Honey, I own part of the
company. I don’t have to work. I would love to be a stay-at home
dad.”

“I think I need to sit
down.”

“Good because breakfast is ready. Grab
the orange juice.”

Katherine obediently went to the
refrigerator and fetched two glasses from the cupboard before
returning to sit at the table. Derek set a plate of bacon and eggs
in front of her.

Children. She’d always wanted children.
Her first husband was never home, and what kind of life was that
for a child. Then, she was alone again. Now she had Derek.
Children, an adorable little boy with his father’s good looks and a
little girl with her eyes. She could have everything she ever
wanted with this man. All she needed to do was reach out and take
it.

“Okay, baby furniture it
is.”

§

“Kathy, you’re glowing,” Gwen Quiet
Thunder said as she pulled Katherine into a hug. “How are you
feeling?”

Katherine led Gwen and her sister Lindy
into the living room of her home in Montana. “Now that we are past
the first trimester of the pregnancy, I feel a hundred-percent
better. That morning sickness was a real killer. Derek was so
wonderful, holding me while I was sick.”

“Where is Derek? He isn’t going to try
and butt into our girls’ night, is he?” Lindy asked as she sat
down. Gwen joined her on the couch.

“No, he and Raven went out to dinner.
They were complaining about Cara and me leaving them alone, so I
suggested they go out together. You should have seen their faces.”
Katherine laughed as she sat down. You would think that she told
them to dance naked in the moonlight. After a few minutes, they
agreed it was a good idea. Not that they wouldn’t occasionally
check in telepathically. The two brothers were over-protective to
the extreme.

“Where is Cara?” Gwen asked.

“She’s making some snacks in the
kitchen. Is Tatiana going to make it tonight?” Katherine
asked.

“I’m afraid not. She’s in China right
now and couldn’t get away,” Gwen said.

“Darn it. I’d hoped she would give me
another lesson in knife throwing. I still can’t hit anything half
the time,” Katherine complained. “Now that I’m pregnant, Derek
won’t let me practice my shadow-walking. He doesn’t want the baby
exposed to the cold, so the only time we go in Shadow is on the way
to the clinic.”

“Yeah, he made it perfectly clear that
we were to come to you tonight and to make sure you didn’t overdo.
You have him wrapped around your little finger. Who would have
thought that the playboy of Isanti, Inc., would fall so hard?”
Lindy laughed. “Remember, Sally Black Feather? She was Derek’s
first crush. I think they were eight at the time.”

“Oh, yes. Derek was so shy back then,”
Gwen said. “He could hardly speak to her. He agonized for weeks on
what to get her for Valentine’s Day.”

“She broke his heart when he gave her
his valentine, and she promptly threw it in the trash,” Lindy
added.

“But she didn’t leave behind the candy
he gave her. Unbeknownst to Derek, Lindy laced the chocolate with
chili powder. We were always pulling pranks like that.” Gwen shook
her head.

“Hey, I knew Sally would hurt him. She
thought she was too good for an orphaned boy.” Lindy shook her
head. “Derek came home so broken-hearted. When he heard about the
chili powder, though, he laughed until he cried.”

“We never did find out if Sally tried
the candy or not. But she never did look at Derek or the rest of us
the same way after that.” Gwen shrugged.

“You all must have run Quiet Thunder
ragged.” Katherine lovingly rubbed her stomach. She loved her child
so much and couldn’t wait to see what kind of mischief he would get
into.

Cara ran into the room, her face pale.
“It’s Isanti. He’s had a heart attack. Raven and Derek took him to
the hospital.”

§

“How is he, Dr. Rick?” Derek asked when
Rick walked out of the treatment room. Raven stopped pacing and
joined the group.

“He’s stable. It’s a good thing you and
Raven were nearby and got him here so quickly. What made you decide
to visit him?”

“I wanted to ask him to design a
wedding band for Katherine. He made Raven’s wedding ring.” Derek
ran his hand through his hair. Thank goodness he had asked Raven to
join him on a little side trip before dinner. They had planned to
shadow-walk to a little place in northern Idaho called the Wolf’s
Den.

“Is he going to be all right?” Raven
asked, his gaze worried.

“Oh, yes, though we’ll need to monitor
him. He needs to stop eating so much salt. Some changes in diet and
medication should take care of it, for now.” Dr. Rick gripped
Raven’s arm.

“For now? What do you mean?” Derek
asked.

“I can’t stop the aging process. Do
either of you know how old Quiet Thunder is?”

“No, he’s always looked the same to me.
His hair was silver when we came to live with him twenty five years
ago.” Derek looked at Raven.

“He’s never told us his age,” Raven
agreed. “When we asked as kids, he would say something like as old
as the oak tree in the yard, or something like that.”

“Isanti will be turning 100 in a few
months. He’s lived a long and full life. I’m not saying he’s going
to die tomorrow. However, he is reaching an age when the body wears
out.”