Chapter 27
Crash.
"Oomph--Arrgh." Thud.
"Next damn time, Turner," Perk cursed, "pick a smoother place to land."
Aaron grinned because her clear words showed that transferring defeated drugs. He flexed his shoulders experimentally and found that they moved quite freely. That meant he did not have a hole blown in his spine.
What an absolutely wonderful thing.
"Miss Perkins, there will be no future landings." He flicked on his pocket flash. The lower cellar was a shambles and not much else. Perk lay on the floor, a tipped over reclining chair across her legs. Her arm was caught in the drawer from the waterbed pedestal. Cursing again, she plucked the dart out of her trapped arm and tossed it away.
"Aaron, get off your lazy ass and get me out of here!"
After carefully picking his way slowly over to her, Aaron bent to lift the chair up. "Two mistakes in that sentence. First names are not used except under special conditions. Between men and women it means they are related, married or are considering marriage." He tried to open the drawer, only to find that it was jammed against her body. "Help me out here. Scoot over a few inches."
She managed to gain him enough room to open the drawer two full inches. He pulled her arm free and helped her stand.
"Second mistake is your use of profanity. That is considered very improper in this world. In fact, it's extremely rude. I've even seen one instance where it caused a duel with knives."
She looked shocked. "For swearing!"
Aaron guided her to the ladder. "This particular incident referred to a young woman's sexual practices. She took offense and declared a challenge. Fortunately, neither woman knew how to use weapons so both of them escaped with only a couple minor cuts. Up you go."
With the agility of good health and youth Perk quickly climbed the ladder, opened the trap door and was gone. Half-crippled, Aaron struggled against his slowly straightening arm as he reached for a rung, grimacing when the pain shot through his arm and shoulder. Since he would never go to Jefferson again, this was the absolute last time he would have to go through this ordeal.
By the time he climbed to the ice room, Perk had already made her way to the back room. "Somebody's out there."
Light flickered under the door to the main store.
Aaron shrugged. "Nothing to worry about. This is an honest town." He opened the door. Maybe Cathy and Sarah were waiting out there. God, he missed them both.
Kit sat on a chair beside the counter. A lantern flickered beside her, and one of Aaron's shotguns lay across her lap. When the door opened, she jerked her head around and grinned.
"Thank the Lord and the Lady. We thought you were going to stay forever." She peered behind him. "Miss Perkins, is that you?"
Perk pushed past Aaron. "Sure it is. I had to see what a real world looked like."
"Sarah said you were coming over, especially after some of the stuff we hauled out of there yesterday. Aaron, Sarah won't be around until tomorrow. The council has her pretty busy right now. A lot has happened while we were away, and we need to talk about Miss Ba--"
She rose as Aaron moved past her when he heard noise coming from Bayne's Reading Emporium. Smiling, he felt warmth run through him because Cathy was in there. She waited for him, and he no longer entertained doubts. He loved her. He really did love her. Their time apart had proven that.
"Aaron, wait a minute. There's something you need to--"
Quietly opening the connecting door, he saw Cathy kneeling on the floor, a box of books beside her. She was putting an armful of them on the shelf.
Aaron stood there for a moment, taking in the sight of her. She looked so damn good it made his gut ache. Young, fresh, vibrant, hair pulled back, baring her face. Never a classic beauty, she appeared striking in her blue and green dress. Eyes large with surprise, her full lips parted slightly when she saw him. Awkwardly dropping the books she held, Cathy turned more fully to him, clenched hands rising to press against her breast.
Gods, it was good to be home. She looked so damn lovely. Emotion filled him, rushed through him. Love. He wanted to weep for the joy of it. This woman standing before him was his girl, his woman child, his beloved. He did love her, and he wanted her, and he wanted to cherish her for the rest of his life.
Slowly drawing in a shaky breath, Cathy released it with a shudder when Aaron dropped to his knees beside her. He pulled her to him and reached hungrily for her lips, touched them--for one brief moment he pressed his lips to the softness of hers.
And then Cathy jerked away.
She leaped out of his arms and stood with her back against the shelves, chest heaving, hands held protectively in front of her. Tears trickled from her eyes.
"Mister Turner--p--p--please I--don't. I--I'm so sorry. I can't--I can't love you. I've--somebody else."
Crying, she rushed to the front door, fumbled a moment at the lock, and ran into the night.
Stunned, Aaron remained on his knees. His stomach churned. His chest ached, and his face hardened into a mask.
The front door swung slowly closed on its hinges, clunked into the doorframe, and then gently swung back open.
Standing carefully, Aaron tottered woodenly to the door, pulled it to him. latched it shut.
Kit stood in the open connecting door. She looked stricken.
"Miss Hawks," he said with slow deliberation, "would you be so kind as to visit Steven Knight in the morning and inform him that our truce is ended? I will call him out within the next day or two."
She shook her head. "Mister Knight has nothing to do with this. Mistress Halfax told me that he tried to protect your interests while you were away. According to her, he tried to interfere and talk sense into Miss Bayne for several days. Mister Turner, what are you going to do?"
Watching Kit, Aaron felt totally lost and bemused. He looked slowly around the Emporium. The shelves were filled. The room was crowded with tables and chairs and carpets covered more than half the floor and woven baskets decorated the newly painted walls. He walked slowly to the table where two kerosene lanterns burned, blew one out, then the other. Turning in the suddenly dim room, he looked at Kit standing in the doorway.
"Could you take Miss Perkins to the Traveler's Rest, Miss Hawks? I am going to bed now."
Not waiting for her answer, he pushed past her and walked to the ladder of his loft. He climbed the ladder, found his bed and lay down while the sound of footsteps and the soft thunk of a closing door echoed beneath him.
Hours passed. He counted ten thousand sheep. After a long while he threw away the sheep and counted grains of sand, but he still could not sleep for the racing of his brain. His mind ran circles and more circles, and then he remembered turning circles to the sound of distant music, remembered the feel of Cathy in his arms while they did slow circles around the floor Cathy's voice murmuring "And one, and two." He remembered, and he hurt, and he remembered until his confused mind refused to remember any more, and then there was nothing left but restless sleep where he dreamed of heartache and betrayal until the wounded parts of him wanted to curl up like a salt covered slug.