Whispers of the Heart (14 page)

“If my muscles tire, I’ll roll away,” Dalian said, bending at the elbow and lowering slowly. He stopped a mere inch from her mouth and grinned before dropping the rest of the way and placing a thorough kiss on her lips. “One,” he said, when he raised himself.

Kat laughed breathlessly. “How many pushups do you do a day?”

“At least fifty,” he said, lowering himself again. “Two,” he counted, after another searing
kiss; however, instead of extending his arms again, he collapsed – pinning her helplessly beneath his weight against the bed of straw.

All of Kat’s senses were on high alert. She heard the muted thump, saw an indistinguishable figure scurry away, and smelled the concentrated aroma of fuel as it started to permeate the air. Although fear bounded about in her mind, seemingly out of control, her greatest urgency was that a one-hundred-eighty-five pound man lie unconscious atop her, restricting her breathing. No matter how hard she tried, she didn’t have the ability to draw air into her compressed lungs. She tried not to panic; tried to form a rational thought as her brain began misfiring from lack of oxygen. Soon, spots began to cloud her vision.

She turned her head to peer beneath the wall of her stall when the horses began whinnying in terror within their confines, her eyes widening in renewed alarm. All attempts to remain calm fled, when she saw the smoke and flames consuming the hay in a stall nearest the doors.

She struggled mightily, managing to free her arms from beneath Dalian’s inert body. Her body was weakening fast, and the spots before her eyes were increasing in number as her oxygen-deprived mind continued shutting down. She pushed against his shoulders, but as she’d joked with Dalian less than ten minutes prior, she simply did not have the upper body strength to move one-hundred-eighty pounds of dead weight. She felt the tears well in her eyes as dizziness invaded her head; and numbness crept into her limbs. She was rapidly swimming towards unconsciousness.

“Help,” she breathed, wondering if anyone would ever hear such a pitiable cry. The alarm bells ringing in her head, as she saw the flames consume the first stall and move to the next, slowly diminished; and then the darkness overtook her brain and her eyes drifted closed. Her last conscious thought was that she was going to die beneath a man in a blaze of searing heat.

Dalian moaned, but she could no longer lift her arms, could no longer breathe the words that he might hear. Her body went limp, a lone tear the only escapee from the approaching conflagration. The nerve endings in her brain were firing faster, as if arguing with her lungs to do something before it shut down all together, but there was no answer forthcoming, and soon she felt herself floating away from her body, sadness enshrouding her spirit.

“Breathe, damn you!” Dalian breathed another round of oxygen into Kat’s unresponsive lungs. “Breathe,” he yelled when he came up for air.

“I still don’t have a pulse, Dalian,” Chloe exclaimed softly, her fingers frantically roaming around Kat’s wrist, trying to find any sign of life.

Dalian pushed his rigid arms up and down on Kat’s chest, keeping a steady pace, a steady count. When he reached thirty, he shifted position, lifted her neck, pinched her nose, and breathed into her mouth, twice in rapid succession
[1]
. He couldn’t really remember if he had the count right, but he didn’t care. His only concern was to keep trying until the medics arrived. His head pounded; the ache so strong that his vision blurred from the intensity of trying to revive Kat, but he pushed aside his own discomfort and all offers of help from those standing around.

“Breathe baby, breathe,” He whispered, moving his ear beneath her nose. Nothing. He looked at Chloe who was keeping vigil on Kat’s other side. “Anything?” He asked, and Chloe quickly felt along Kat’s wrist again. She shook her head, tears streaming slowly down her face. “Don’t cry,” Dalian whispered harshly. “Crying means we’ve given up.” He moved back to start compressions on Kat’s chest again. “We can’t give up. Don’t give up, darling,” he pleaded with Kat’s inert form. “Please don’t give up.”

“Dalian,” Chloe whispered.

“No!” Dalian refused to accept what everyone standing around felt was inevitable.
“Breathe, Kat. If not for your own sake, then selfishly for mine,” he cried, each word punctuated in time with the compressions.

One of the cowhands walked up, “All the horses are safe, rounded up into the exercise corral. How is she?”

“Not so good,” Mrs. Guthrie whispered. “We’ve never had such a horrible accident happen to one of our guests before,” she continued, wringing her hands in her nightgown. “It’s a sad day.”

“I have a pulse,” Chloe exclaimed, and then her brow knitted in confusion. “I think. I’m not sure. It’s so faint.”

Dalian grabbed Kat’s wrist away from Chloe, his calloused hand searching, his eyes closed in supplication, “Please be there,” he whispered. “Please.” When he felt nothing, he laid her arm on his lap and leaned across it, his eyes tightly closed against the pain pounding in his head, and his heart. He placed his fingers on her wrist where a pulse should be, and for the first time, since his wife died, began to pray, “Please, Lord, don’t take her away. Let her stay with me. Please. I promise to love her and protect her forever, just please let her stay.”

A barely perceptible thump tapped against his fingertips, then increased in rhythm and strength, until he felt a steady pulse. His eyes flew open, tears blurring his vision, “She’s alive,” he whispered, gathering Kat into his embrace. “She’s alive,” he laughed.

Mrs. Guthrie clasped her hands together, “Thank the good Lord above,” she exclaimed.

Chloe closed her own eyes and breathed a sigh of relief, her own tears quickly turning into full-fledged blubbering. She clasped Kat’s other hand and kissed her knuckles. “I’m so glad
you’re going to be okay,” she whispered. “You’re the last person that should be taken off this earth.”

Just then, the sound of approaching sirens reached their ears. “Chloe?” Dalian whispered.

“Yes, Dalian,” Chloe sniffled loudly, wiping her arms across her eyes.

“Could you ride with Kat to the hospital?” He asked, reluctant to release Kat into the care of anyone. “I’ve got to stay and talk to the sheriff.”

“I’ll make certain that
no one
gets near her,” Chloe said. “You have my word.”

Dalian nodded. He leaned down and placed a kiss on Kat’s immobile lips. Kat’s eyes fluttered open, startling him.

“Kat?”

“Dalian,” she breathed, barely audible. “I can’t breathe.”

“You can now, sweetheart,” Dalian whispered, placing another kiss on her forehead. He stroked her hair, “How are you feeling?”

“Squashed.”

Dalian groaned, pulling her against him, “I’m so sorry, baby. I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I’d never hurt you.”

“Dalian,” Kat whispered. “Someone hit you on the head.”

“I know, baby,” Dalian said, kissing her again. “I’ve got a rather large goose egg.”

“Why?”

“Because someone hit me on the head,” Dalian answered.

“Why would someone want us dead?” Kat whispered.

“I don’t know, darling,” Dalian replied, “but I plan on finding out.”

The ambulance pulled to a stop in front of the barn and two paramedics leapt out. “Step aside, please, folks,” the elder of the two said, pushing his way toward Kat. Chloe stood and moved aside, making room for him to kneel at Kat’s side.

“How are we, little lady?” He asked, noticing Kat staring at him.

Kat shook her head, barely perceptible.

“What happened here?” He asked, taking Kat’s vital signs.

“There was an accident,” Chloe answered, pointing toward the burnt-out shell of the barn.

The paramedic looked up and nodded. He pulled his stethoscope and placed it on Kat’s chest. “Can you take a deep breath for me, please?”

Kat complied, but it pained her and she coughed.

“Okay. Peter, let’s get her loaded into the ambulance.”

“Sure thing, Jake.”

“Anyone else hurt?” Jake asked, looking around.

“Dalian was clobbered upside the head,” Mrs. Guthrie answered, when it didn’t look as if
Dalian would.

Jake nodded, turning his attention to the ranch’s owner, “Let’s have a look-see.”

“I’m fine,” Dalian protested, his gaze following Kat, as she was loaded into the back of the ambulance. “Just take care of her.”

“We’ll see to it that the lady gets to the hospital safely, but I need to make sure you don’t need to join her,” Jake said, pulling a flashlight from his belt. “Now look at me. Peter’s taking real good care of your woman,” he added when Dalian didn’t immediately comply.

“Do what he says, Dalian,” Sheriff Jonathan Masters said, stepping from his patrol car, “and if you have to go to the hospital, I’ll be right behind you.”

Dalian did as he requested, silently willing him to hurry. He felt fine, but he knew how quickly concussion could knock a man down, so he didn’t argue. He winced when the paramedic felt along the back of his head, encountering the knot forming.

“You’re going to have a headache for a few days, but I don’t see any signs of concussion. Put some ice on that bump as soon as you possibly can.”

“I’ve got it,” Mrs. Guthrie said, scurrying toward the back of the house.

Jake continued, “And if that bump hasn’t receded in a few days, you’re to take yourself on down to the hospital and have a doctor check you out. Understand?”

“Yeah.” Dalian nodded. “Chloe’s going to ride with Kat, okay? She needs someone with her.”

“Sure,” Jake said, and then turned to make his way back to the ambulance. “They’re all yours, Sheriff.”

“Thanks, Jake.”

“No problem.”

“Oh, I’d say we have a pretty big problem,” the Sheriff said. “A familiar problem. Isn’t that right, Dalian?”

“Why don’t we go onto the porch and have a seat,” the sheriff said, reaching down a hand to help pull Dalian to his feet. “Think you’re up to getting there?” He asked, when Dalian swayed slightly. Dalian nodded and together they slowly walked the lengthy distance from burnt-out barn to front porch. They’d barely settled onto the front steps, when the sheriff launched into his investigation. “What do you think happened here, Dalian?”

“Someone conked me on the head and tried to burn the barn down around mine and Kat’s head, that’s what happened here, Jonathan,” Dalian snapped.

“And do you think it’s going to help to take
my
head off?” The sheriff asked, pulling a pad and pen from his coat pocket.

“Sorry, Jonathan,” Dalian said, taking a seat on the front porch swing. “It just makes me so damned angry that someone would deliberately try to take my life and harm an innocent woman in the process.”

“How did Kat get hurt? Did someone conk her on the head too?” The Sheriff asked, “And what were you two doing in the barn in the middle of the night?”

Dalian chewed on his bottom lip and didn’t answer immediately. By the look on the sheriff’s face, he didn’t need to.

“Okay, so let’s just say that you and the lady were seeing each other socially,” the sheriff said tactfully.

“Thanks, Jonathan.”

“I
am
a man you know,” the sheriff said by way of explanation. “So, who do you think did this, because I’m pretty certain I’m not going to be investigating this as an accident?”

“Damn straight it wasn’t,” Dalian said, “unless someone just happened to place a shovel above my head and it accidentally fell on it.”

“The sarcasm isn’t going to get us anywhere, Dalian,” the sheriff sighed. “I know you’re angry, but try to work with me okay?”

“Sorry, Jonathan, I’ll try to curb my tongue,” Dalian sighed again.

“Well, my next question isn’t going to help your disposition any, that’s for damned sure, but I got to ask it just the same,” the sheriff said, pushing his hat up and rubbing the back of his hand against his forehead.

“What do you want to know, Jonathan?” Dalian asked, rubbing the sweat and grime from his own brow.

“Do you think this could be related to your wife’s death?” the sheriff asked softly.

Dalian clenched his eyes closed, as memories flooded his brain of that horrifying night two years ago; the night fate snatched away his wife and unborn baby boy.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Two years prior

“Carolyn?” Dalian called. “Are you out here?”

“I’m over here by the corral, darling,” Carolyn called.

Dalian leapt off the front porch and sprinted across the grass. He slowed when he spotted his wife of two years standing against the fence, her light-brown hair reflecting the moonlight. She looked huge in her maternity dress, which made him grin. She always complained about looking like a beached whale, and although he couldn’t quite agree with her description, she’d definitely gained a few pounds over the last eight months. Not that he minded. To him, she was the most beautiful woman in the world. More so, now that she carried his child. He glanced down at the enormous mound protruding below her enlarged breasts. Only three more weeks until he could hold his newborn baby boy in his arms.