Catch a Shooting Star jd edit 03 12 2012 html (32 page)

“Absolutely,” his friend said without a pause of contemplation.  “That man has terrorized my family and so many others from the top of Texas to the tip of the southern continent.  If I don’t get the pleasure of bringing him down, or help you have that pleasure, I’d be proud to die trying, right beside you, my friend.”

Travis nodded his agreement, switching his gaze to the man who had promised him long ago that he would be there to catch a bullet for him if Travis promised to do the same for him.  And that promise, shared between the two men before Tito had been affected by El Diablo’s torturous deeds, was as genuine as a pledge between brothers.  Now that Tito’s family had been involved in the torment, he and Travis had that in common.  Thus, their sealed covenant made years ago would resonate more true to their hearts than ever before. 

He clapped his friend on the shoulder and pulled the larger man into his side, shaking Tito in a jovial one-armed hug that made them both burst out in laughter.  When they heard Savannah clear her throat as if to remind them that she was still annoyed, they parted and sat upon rocks next to the fire, reliving the days when they had ridden together, ridding the country of mongrels like El Diablo.

When their stories were depleted, Travis fell silent.  He looked toward Savannah, whose mood during their conversation had changed from anger to interest and then anger again at their daring escapades.  But her warm smile conveyed to him that she had forgiven him, so he grinned in return.

Taking the opportunity to declare his need to feed, Tito stood up to rub his large belly and declare, “I’m hungry.  Let’s rustle up some grub.”

Travis looked back at Savannah, who shrugged her shoulders, for both of them knew that they had exhausted their food stores.  Then, seeing their exchange, Tito clapped his hands together and announced, “There’s a deer slung across my pack horse just waitin’ to be skinned.  Travis, you want to help me?”

Both Travis and Savannah smiled at the thought of meat in their stomachs and he nodded to his friend while she hurried to fish out the frying pan.  When the meat had been carved into steaks and handed over to her, she seared it in the pan while the men continued to separate meat from bone and then wrap it in burlap.  They began filling a hole in the cool ground with the bundles to keep the predators from getting at it.  They covered the meat with heavy rocks, knowing that the cold night air would keep it fresh until morning when they can cut it up into strips to dry in the sun.

With the dishes cleaned and packed away again, the three of them sat around the campfire, talking more and Savannah learning more about Tito than she cared to.  The only thing that interested her was the fact that this man had given up his quest to kill himself while chasing criminals in order to start a family, a revelation that she admired in him and one that she wished his friend would undertake. 

When the conversation turned to the life of the man in question, she perked up and listened intently.  In the discussion, she learned that he had survived many life-threatening missions and had luckily escaped death each time.  She gasped at his impetuous courage that had been revealed in the stories of his past and in her enlightenment, it was confirmed that this was not a man to give her heart to.  Sadly, she conceded to that fact and let her mind drift away from their excited voices.

In her imagination, she concocted a life with him where he continued his dangerous lifestyle while she worried painfully at home.  She shuttered at the thought of loving him so much and then losing him to his duty.  Inside, she cursed his bravery, his insolent self-importance, his confounded devotion to the country that she found unlikely to ever bring her joy.  With a sigh, she wondered what his almighty country would do without him.  She was certain that it would find another fool to take his place.  Rising to her feet, she told the two good-night before crawling into her bedroll.

Morning brought with it a silent reminder that another day had brought them closer to their ultimate destiny, whether it was victory or defeat.  The three of them sat around a newly restored fire and sipped hot coffee while contemplating the day’s objective.  Finally, Travis reiterated his plan to Tito, who agreed with him that it was the best way to get the outcome that they desired, to Savannah’s chagrin.

There were two more days until Cinco de Mayo and they all knew that they were that close to realizing their goal.  Today, while Travis and Tito went to the ridge and set up their munitions store, Savannah was to stay behind and tend the jerky strips.  Soon, they would begin their task of eliminating the deadly El Diablo once and for all and that knowledge sent all of them into a glorious fury to get what needed to be done in order to minimize the hours that they had to wait for that ultimate prize.

Although Savannah was adamant about not wanting Travis to go alone to her former home, she realized that that was the right thing for him to do and that he was not as foolish as she had believed him to be.  And when it was time for him to leave them, she pulled him aside and whispered, “Please be careful.”

“Don’t worry about me,” he assured her with a peck on her forehead.  “It’ll take more than a mangy Mexican to bring me down.”

“He’s a madman,” she reminded him with a hand on his arm.  “He won’t hesitate to take your life and I couldn’t bear that.”

Seeing her violet eyes well up with tears, Travis drew her into his arms and held her, chasing away the fears that she fought in her heart.  He whispered words of encouragement while he kissed the top of her head and laid his cheek there to seal the promise that he would come back to her.

Savannah clung to him, afraid for him, afraid for herself if something did happen to him.  The thought of never seeing him again stripped her of any dignity, any pride that she might have let grow inside her heart at the idea of him risking his life for people who neither knew him nor appreciated his efforts to ensure the freedom that they so enjoyed.  She shivered with that dreadful thought and he tightened his embrace, pressing his head upon her raven curls.

In his heart, Travis knew what she was feeling and he wanted so much to reassure her, to show her that he needed her as much as she needed him.  But the only way that he could show her at that moment was to hold her next to his body and let his heart say what he yearned to tell her.  And with Tito just a few yards away from them, he could not demonstrate exactly what his heart yeaned to make her know, so he had to be content to just hold her in his arms and hope that she understood how he felt deep inside.

He pulled her slightly away and lifted her chin.  Looking into her forlorn eyes, he said tenderly as a father would say to a child, “Dear Savannah, there’s so much I want to tell you.  But, right now all I want to do is hold you.  When this is over, I’ll feel better about it and you’ll know how I feel about you.  I just can’t take the chance that I might not come back to you, as you said.  So, what I am feeling inside will have to wait until I can tell you all of it, show you all of it.”

She pulled away to read his face, but Travis thrust her back to his chest, breathing, “I’ll come back.  I promise I will.”

Savannah clung to him with all her might, with all her heart and soul as the morning drifted by in slow motion.  Time’s gift of standing still was their sign to stand together, motionless, with the love that passed between them, while life around them waited until they had sealed their unspoken promise to each other.   

She knew that he was putting off saying what he felt in his heart because of the danger that he was about to put himself into.  And if he told her now that he loved her and was killed, she would mourn for that lost love and what could have been if he had survived.  But by not telling her, she would be left with only an idea that he might love her and ideas fade quickly but reality burns deep into one’s heart and soul.

Travis looked down at her and let out a sigh of sadness at having to leave her in this state, but he knew that she understood his reason for not revealing his true feelings for her and the light in her violet eyes told him of her true feelings for him.  That knowledge gave him the perseverance that he knew would carry him through this task and bring him back safely to her awaiting arms.

He lowered his head and enveloped her lips with his, conveying his innermost feelings with the power of his kiss and telling her with that gentle gesture that their love for each other was unwavering, undaunted by the fear of losing one another, for it showed her that even in death, they would carry that love through eternity.

Savannah searched his face, memorizing each nuance, each crevasse so that she would have that picture in her mind forever if something dreadful were to happen to him.  Then, she raised her chin courageously and said, “I’ll see you off.”

“You don’t have to,” he told her with a squeeze of his arms. 

“I want to,” she argued without anger, but graciousness.  She lifted her hands to encircle his neck and she pulled him down for one last kiss and with this love-filled intimation, she released him, leaving him with a longing for more.

Travis turned and with his arm around her shoulder, he led her to the Palomino, where he bent toward her for one last kiss, one last chance to utter the words that he wanted so much to tell her.  But, with a playful wink, he removed his arms from her body and lifted them towards the saddle and mounted.  One final glance at her, and he spurred Blazer into a trot that took him to the home of the deadly El Diablo and, quite possibly, certain death.

Chapter Eighteen

Travis Corbett pushed his mount into a gallop, putting distance between him and the woman who had made him feel the way that he had fought against for too many years.  After his beloved Melody had been killed, he’d sworn never to let another woman into his heart.  But this little slip of a woman was a powerful contender to a heart that had borne nothing but bitterness and hate, for she had somehow, lifted that veil of hatred and had replaced it with emotion, with sentimentality and with tenderness.  And Savannah made him want to cleave to her for all time, basking in those feelings and transferring them back to her.

But he knew in his heart that the very achievement of his mission to bring justice to the man who had mangled the lives of so many people would be the death of his relationship with her because she feared for his life and she had made it all too clear to him that she did not want him to go there alone.  He knew too, that if he did not undertake this dangerous obligation, he would hate himself for canceling it and he would hate her for asking him to.    

So pushing aside his alliance to her, he pushed the Palomino forward, onward to Casa de Flores, onward to El Diablo and his minions.  And onward to his destiny and a conclusion to the torment that he had wrestled with these past years.  His heart and Savannah’s desire to keep him safe would have to wait.  He had waited much too long for the sweet taste of revenge to give in to the persistent craving for her delectable kisses.   

He reached the ridge where he was to meet Tito and Savannah the next day and he looked around.  No guards awaited him at the top of the ridge or hiding in the bushes and boulders.  He reined Blazer toward a path that led to a crevasse in the rocks that Tito had told him would be a good site for their camp.  He looked it over and, deciding that his friend had been correct, he urged the horse over the ridge toward the little village that would either put an end to this nightmare that he had been living since losing his wife and rid the world of the man who took her from him or put an end to his own life, taking his misery with him.

Savannah sat beside the dying fire and stared into the cup as if it held the answers to her prayers.  She wished that she had talked Travis into staying or at least taking Tito with him to the village, but he had reminded her that if Diego saw them together, he would suspect something, for El Diablo knew Tito and anyone associating with him would be fair game for the madman.  So, it was Tito’s mission to take all of the guns and ammunition to the ridge while Savannah stayed behind to watch the jerky cure.

It was a solemn undertaking for her, for she was not involved in something that would take her mind off of her worries.  She put off cutting the meat into strips, instead, opting to sit beside the fire and pray that Travis would come back to her.

“You gonna drink that or wait ‘til it turns to mud?” Tito’s voice broke her concentration.

She looked up at him and smiled, shaking her head and then tipping the cup over the coals.  The sizzle of liquid upon heat was barely audible in the dry air as she rose to her feet and placed the cup into the pile of dirty dishes that she had also put off doing.  She sighed while she filled a pan with hot water from the coffee pot that she had put on to boil earlier. 

As she ran a cloth over the dishes, she watched Tito gather the munitions and anything that she did not need at camp while he was gone.  And as she watched him, she wondered if his wife hated his job as much as she hated what Travis was doing.  When Tito leaned down to pick up a sack of food that he had removed from his pack horse last night, she asked him, “How does your wife do it?”

Tito shot her a questioning glance, then dropped the bag and put his hands on his hips to ask, “Do what?”

“Let you go off to God knows where and risk your life, knowing that you may never come back home,” she blurted out without remorse.

The tall and bulky half-Mexican man stepped closer to her and towered over her as he said, “I have a good wife.  She knows that I have a dangerous job and that I may never come back to her and the young’uns.  And she knows that I love her with all my heart and I wouldn’t jeopardize my life.  She realizes that if I know that the situation would cause me harm, I will step back and analyze the situation until I know that it will come out in my favor.”