Page 70 of Stolen Time
“It’s all right,” he said. “We’ll get you to Helen.”
Could Helen cure a gunshot wound to the stomach? She was very talented, but the men of the McAllister clan did their best to avoid confrontations such as this, and that meant Seth didn’tknow for sure whether their healer ever been called upon to perform that kind of advanced care.
Devynn’s lashes fluttered. “I’m so sorry,” she murmured. “This is all my fault.”
He held her tighter, not wanting to notice how her breathing had already grown more labored, how blood now stained most of her skirt as well.
How could she possibly survive the rough ride down the hill, with the truck bouncing and jouncing her the whole way?
Dimly, he realized that Charles had knocked Lionel Allenby out cold, for the older man was now slumped against the rocky soil, eyes shut. Panting a little, Charles came over to them where they rested on the ground, his face now pale.
“Is she…?”
“She’s going to make it,” Seth said, his voice sharp. Maybe that was a lie, a pretty fiction his mind had invented because he didn’t want to face the truth, but he feared if he spoke the other words out loud, the ones that truly described Devynn’s situation, then he would make it all a terrible reality, one he couldn’t hide from.
Apparently, his brother understood this was not a point to argue over. Instead, he pulled off his jacket and handed it over, saying, “Hold this against her wound. It might help. And I’ll get the truck started.”
Yes, the important thing was to get Devynn down the hill and to Helen’s house. Perhaps in that time, Lionel Allenby would wake up and flee the scene, but they could deal with him later. Just because the McAllister clan preferred not to resort to violence, it didn’t mean they couldn’t take care of a troublesome situation when it arose…even if it involved a more permanent solution to a problem than they generally cared to utilize.
Charles hurried over to the truck, and Devynn’s eyes fluttered open, fixing on Seth’s with an intensity he wouldn’t have thought possible in her current condition.
“I wanted….” The words trailed off there, and she pulled in a ragged breath. “I wanted…to tell you….”
“It’s all right,” he said, and even though he knew it wasn’t his gift, he willed with every cell in his body all his strength and his health to her, just so she’d be able to hold on for a few minutes more. Ten minutes, and they would be at Helen’s house, and then Devynn would be safe.
A gasp, and this time, there was a terrible rattle to the sound. He’d never heard it before, but he knew what it meant.
Death was coming for the woman he loved, implacable and unmoving as the lengthening shadows that loomed over them as they sat there on the stony ground.
“Kiss me, Seth,” she whispered. “Kiss me before I go.”
This couldn’t be happening. Dimly, as if from another world, he heard the sound of the truck’s engine starting, a rumble that might have reassured him if he hadn’t known it was already too late.
What could he do except as she asked?
He bent and pressed his lips against hers, lips that still were warm and soft.
The world spun around him, whirling faster and faster into a terrible darkness deeper and blacker than anything he’d ever known. He clung to Devynn, wondering if this was death approaching, not knowing what he could possibly do to hold back the embrace of the Grim Reaper…except, perhaps, to continue to cling to her as tightly as he could and never let go.
A bump, and the darkness receded, leaving them in a place Seth knew he had never seen before. Gone were the rocky hillsides and the dry yellow grass and the indistinct, oddly shaped shadows of nearby agave plants. Instead, he stood ona neat little flagstone path in front of an imposing Victorian house, bigger than even Mabel’s near-mansion on Paradise Lane, painted a pale sage color with blood-red and darker green accents on its shutters and cornices. The wind that blew past his cheek was chilly, a far cry from the warm, summery air that had surrounded them on Mingus Mountain.
What was this place?
He staggered a step forward, noting as he did so that this appeared to be a street of similarly handsome houses, although the one in front of him was definitely the biggest of the lot, with substantial columns and stained-glass windows flanking the front door and accenting the third story of the house, right under its peaked gable. The trees planted here were young, not much taller than he, and already blazing in shades of orange and yellow and red.
Autumn, then…wherever he was.
In his arms, Devynn shifted, although her eyes were shut, and her breathing had become even more labored. Her blood had drenched his shirt front, horribly warm, and he knew he didn’t have much time now.
But how could he get her help when he had no idea where they even were?
An odd clopping sound came to his ears, and he looked over his shoulder to see a horse-drawn carriage moving slowly down the street past them. The driver didn’t seem to have noticed Seth or the woman he carried, because he didn’t pause to ask them if they needed any help.
A carriage? Sure, they still used teams of horses or mules at the mine for situations when it made more sense to have them draw a wagon than load up multiple trucks with ore and tailings or such, but Seth couldn’t remember the last time he’d ever seen someone using one as a regular daily conveyance.
Not that it mattered right now. What mattered was going up to the door of the house in front of him and knocking and begging for help. Maybe there wasn’t anyone at home who could offer assistance, but he had to at least try. Surely whoever lived there would take pity on the dying woman in his arms and send for a doctor.
Possibly too little, too late, but in the absence of his clan’s healer, Seth couldn’t think of any other options. He still had no idea precisely where he was, but he knew it had to be far, far away from Jerome. His mind didn’t quite want to grasp the significance of the autumn color on the trees and the chill in the air, not when it was so obviously summer where they’d come from, so he put that foreboding little detail aside to worry about later.