“Katherine…” Her name came weakly from his lips. Then in Gaelic, he whispered his last words to her, “Dree yer ain wierd.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Garth!” Katherine fell to her knees and pulled him into her arms.
“Get the doctor!” Constable Reed ordered, and one of his men ran up the stairs.
Worried hands pulled at Katherine as she cradled Garth close to her. But none could tear her free from him. Turning his ashen face up to hers, blood trickling from the wounds, he shuttered for a final time.
“Oh, no!” she cried, pressing him closer. She nestled her cheek into the soft waves of his dark hair and wept. Blinded by tears, she couldn’t see his gray eyes close, but she did feel the inevitable release of life as his hand slid from her arm.
Suddenly David was by her side. He knelt next to her and placed his arm around her. “I’m so sorry, Katherine,” he whispered.
Tears cascading over her cheeks, she looked at him.
“Oh, David, he did it to save me!”
“I know,” he uttered looking at Garth’s crumbled form. “I know.”
The doctor came running down the stairs but slowed as he saw Constable Reed shake his head. He understood then that his services would be of no use now to either form that lay upon the hall floor.
Unbeknownst to Katherine, who was lost in moments of grief and not aware of anyone but Garth, the constable then had his men remove Selina’s body from the hall. They stood back and waited for Katherine to release her hold on Garth. When it didn’t look as if she would ever let him go, Alex approached David.
“Vicar,” he began quietly, motioning to Katherine, “The men want…”
“Yes, of course.” David moved to stand. “Katherine,” he said gently. When it appeared that she hadn’t heard him, he repeated, “Katherine, let the constable have him now.”
Dazed with grief, she nodded and slowly released her hold on Garth. The men lifted him from her lap. Assisting her to her feet, David guided her away from the scene and into the drawing room.
“I’ve only really known him a short time, but he wasn’t at all what they accused him of being,” she sobbed.
“I know,” David replied, holding her closer. “And he performed a heroic and noble act in saving you.”
The vicar’s soothing voice and gentle manner was a comfort and, although her tears flowed freely, her trembling ceased. No one had ever done for her what Garth had done. He had awakened love and affection in her and, even though she knew she could never return that love to him, it opened her heart that had been closed to any other emotion but hate. Of that she would be ever grateful to him.
David led her to the settee. “Can I get you anything?”
She shook her head. “No, but I think I would rather be alone, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course not. I’ll be just in the hall if you need anything.”
She nodded and watched him leave. Now alone, Katherine let all the anguish and pain, not only of the last few days but of a life spent without love, pour forth in a torrent of tears.
“Oh, Garth!” she cried. Her heart ached more at that moment than at any other moment in her life, including at the time of her mother’s death. For she had been younger when her mother died, and the young don’t understand completely the separation of death. Katherine’s thoughts moved to the past when she lived with her mother at the bottom of Wistmere. Then suddenly in all those remembrances came an unclaimed recollection of Garth from her youth. Katherine sat up in surprise as this memory unfolded.
She might have been seven at the time. She had been sitting on the stone wall that divided her small yard from the fields when a group of village boys started throwing sticks and clumps of grass at her. One hit her and knocked her from the wall. Too proud to cry in front of them, she turned her back to them and their verbal taunts. Suddenly a black pony raced down upon the scene and, with a whip in hand, the rider, a husky lad with a grim expression, chased the boys away. Katherine looked up at the boy as he turned his pony and came back to her. His stormy grey eyes bore into hers with seemingly great understanding. Then he grinned and, as quickly as he came, he turned and wordlessly raced off across the moor.
Strange that she just now recalled that incident. Then she wondered if that brief encounter had set Garth so permanently in her mind that when they met again, that kinship was born anew. They shared only moments together but he would forever be closed in that secluded chamber of her heart where pain and love often co-exist.
* * *
Upon hearing of Garth’s death, May-Jewel knew that it would be a long time before Katherine would be able to hear his name without tearing up. But May-Jewel also knew that with her and Vicar Hawes’ help and attentiveness, the day would arrive when the horror of what her sister experienced would lessen and only the revered memories of Garth would remain. Time alone would heal that wound.
May-Jewel’s wounds, however, were healing, and she felt strong enough to confront Alex and his part in all that had transpired. Hadn’t he led her to believe that he had known her mother, implying that their acquaintance was much more than casual? And hadn’t he tried to steal the emeralds and take Wistmere away from her? There are many wrongs for which he had to ask forgiveness.
When he was summoned at last to May-Jewel’s side, Alex’s hand shook as he placed it on the door latch
