Clint had spent Tuesday night drifting in between pain and sleep, waking many times to see both Katrine and Alice dozing on chairs in the infirmary. Most things were hazy, but he knew he was home. Well, close to home, if everyone would just stop their fussing and let him get on back to his quiet cabin.
Nothing doing. By midday Alice had poked at his wound too many times and an endless stream of nosy visitors came to wish him well. Each time he thought he’d gotten a chance at a few moments alone with Katrine, Alice would return with new torments.
“You’ll have a nasty scar,” she tsked as she dabbed anew at his wound with something that smelled awful and stung worse.
“Won’t be the first,” he said through gritted teeth. This morning, Clint felt as if he’d been hurriedly stuffed into someone else’s body—one that was tight, battered and tossed downstream. He’d spent so many hours giving recounts of yesterday’s battle that he felt more like the town storyteller than the town sheriff. He flexed his arm despite the jolt of pain, just to show Alice that it was working fine and needed no more of whatever that vile bottle held. “I’m fine.”
She narrowed one eye. “So you keep saying. You’re still staying here.”
“Lije?” Clint appealed to his brother when he appeared with lunch. “Call her off. Aren’t you the head of this household?”
Elijah laughed and tossed his head in the direction of his cabin. “I am the head of that household. She is the head of this infirmary. If she says you stay another day, I’ll sit on you myself if required.”
“Where’s Gideon? He’ll spring me.”
“Only for an hour,” came his middle brother’s voice from behind Alice. “I have some important business with the sheriff.”
“Anything to get me away from this.” Clint reached for Katrine’s hand, though, just to let Gideon know he wasn’t quite ready to let Katrine out of his sight.
“You will have to come back,” Katrine chided. “Today you can only go out for a short visit.”
“Anywhere but here,” Clint grumbled, then added, “No offense,” when Alice raised her eyebrow.
“It won’t be all that bad.” Gideon laughed. “I’ve borrowed a carriage for the occasion. Less bumpy.”
Once out in the sunshine, Clint felt some of his energy return. He was tired, but one look at the blue of Katrine’s eyes seemed to pull his spirits back to life. Would it always be that way, or was that just the wonder of new love?
He stared at her the whole carriage ride, not caring the destination, only glad to be nearly alone with her someplace halfway quiet. I love her. The thought settled in his chest with ease as he watched the breeze lift tendrils of her blond hair. I’ve loved her for a while. “Tak Gud,” he whispered into her ear as she sat next to him on the carriage seat.
“Yes,” she whispered back but then pointed through the carriage window, “but thank them, as well.”
Clint hadn’t bothered to notice where the carriage had brought them. Before his eyes stood Katrine’s cabin, finished right down to the blue gingham curtains fluttering in its double windows. Evelyn and Walt were standing on the grass outside the cabin, as were Elijah and Alice and a host of other Brave Rock citizens.
Clint tried to form a word—any word—but ended up with his mouth just hanging open in shock. Every ounce of pain and fatigue left his body, along with all the air in his lungs. If he’d have been standing, Clint couldn’t rightly say he wouldn’t have fallen over.
“Welcome home, brother,” Gideon’s voice called from the front of the carriage. Walt broke free from his mother’s hand and rushed up to the carriage, jumping up a few times to catch the door latch and swing it open.
“Uncle Clint! Uncle Clint!”
This time the words did not sting at all. They felt warm and welcoming. “Hi there, Walt.”
“Uncle Clint? Will you be the baby’s goodfather?”
Clint’s head started to spin. “The what?”
Gideon’s sheepish face peered around the carriage door. “Walt, you were supposed to wait on that.”
“Wait on what?” Clint grabbed Gideon’s arm as he eased himself down out of the carriage. He did not let go of his brother. “Wait on what, exactly?”
Evelyn came up to take Walt’s arm. “Walt was supposed to ask you if you would be the baby’s godfather. Tomorrow.”
Clint tightened his grip on Gideon. “Do you mean...?”
Gideon grinned. “Just after Christmas, near as we can tell.”
Katrine threw her arms around Evelyn. “A baby! Tillykke! Congratulations! Oh, you must have been so worried before!”
Evelyn’s hand went to her waist. “Yes, I was very frightened. But I am fine. And all this was supposed to be for tomorrow, not today.” She gestured toward the cabin behind her. “Today was for you.”
Clint shook Gideon’s hand heartily, amazed at how easy it was to be happy for his brother. “That’s wonderful. Really.”
“I didn’t want to steal your day, brother, but we could hardly wait to tell you.”
“Of course I’ll be the baby’s ‘goodfather.’” Clint winked at Gideon and ruffled Walt’s hair.
“Come take a look.” Gideon gestured toward the tidy homestead. “Everyone pitched in, just like they did for me.”
Clint walked toward the completed cabin, taking in the thousand tiny details people had managed to finish. “It’s done.”
“Well, mostly.” Gideon shrugged. “There’s a bit more to do before you can move in. But we ought to be done by the time Alice lets you out of her clutches.”
“Which isn’t for another day yet,” Alice cut in, her sharp orders undone by her wide smile. He hadn’t even noticed that she and Lije had come up behind him.
Clint gaped at Katrine. “This is where you live.”
“No,” Katrine said, “this is where we will live.”
That was the way he’d always seen it, hadn’t he? The notion that wouldn’t leave his heart no matter how he lectured himself on the impossibility?
Katrine squeezed his hand. “We will get married and live here, ja?”
Clint was pretty sure the ground just lurched under his feet. “Aren’t...” He blinked, trying to make his tongue work properly. “Aren’t I supposed to ask you proper first?”
Katrine began to laugh. “You did. Four times last night. I do not know about the proper, but I did say yes every time.”
“I heard it,” Alice offered. “Well, one of them, at least. I was worried you were going to send me off to fetch my husband to do the honors right there and then.”
“You’ll marry me?” Clint could hardly believe the words were coming from his mouth. He didn’t think there was this much happiness in the whole world, much less one piece of Oklahoma.
“Very much so. And we will live here. With two windows—one for each of us.”
Clint wrapped his arms around his soon-to-be bride. “One for each of us.” He rested his forehead against hers. “That will be enough?”
She nodded, tightening her hands around his neck. “It is more than enough.”
He kissed her, right there and then, right long and hard, not minding who saw or who cared. “I love you.”
She smiled against his cheek, laughing softly. “You said that many times, too. But I do not think I will ever tire of hearing it.”
He already knew the answer. “Did you say it back?”
“Every time. But here is one more just so you are sure. Jeg elsker dig. I love you.”
Clint kissed her again. “Tak Gud.”