Something Blue

Chapter 36

Caro's eyes widened, and in his periphery Gabe saw Lindy and Tiff shaking their heads.

"Gabe, that's ridiculous. You can't just walk into a trap. Use your head."

"I am using my head," he growled, shoving his chair back and pushing to his feet. To his relief, the ground stayed steady beneath him.

"You are not," Caroline hissed, rising and circling the table to stand before him, chin up and arms crossed over her chest. "You're listening to your heart, and your heart is stupid. Think, Gabriel. He wants to hurt her. He wants to hurt you. He knows the best way to do that is to use you against each other."

She was right, damn her. But...

"Right now he thinks he's got the better of me," he growled low, casting another glance at Isobel, who had curled into a tight ball beneath the quilt. "Once he finds out his men don't have me, he'll get scared. He'll lash out at her. The only advantage I have right now is that he's not expecting me to show up of my own volition. He'll have his guard down. I need to go. Now."

With that, he turned his back on Caroline and went to the bed. His muddy boots sat on the rag rug by the fire, and his gun belt hung over one of the posts. With a sigh, he picked up the belt and slung it around his hips. Tiff wordlessly left the room and came back with a box of bullets just as he was finished shoving his feet into the fire-heated, damp leather of his boots. With a nod of thanks, he sank into a chair at the kitchen table, filling the empty chambers of the revolver and restocking the belt with spare rounds.

Caroline sat across from him, hands clenched tight on the tabletop. With a look, she dismissed Lindy and Tiff. When the door closed behind them, she shook her head. "I hate this Gabe," she said quietly, her voice trembling. "It isn't like you to be rash."

"I don't have a choice," he said, reaching across the table to lay his hand over hers. "You know that."

"I know..." Her gaze dropped to their hands and she turned hers over, clasping his fingers. "You need to go. As soon as help arrives we'll come."

Gabe stood and went to the bed, staring down at his daughter. She slept so peacefully, he didn't want to wake her. But what if he was riding to his death? He couldn't just leave her...

"Izzy," he murmured, sinking onto the edge of the bed as Caroline slipped from the room in a whisper of skirts. "Iz, wake up, honey."

Isobel stirred and her eyelids fluttered. With a sigh, she rolled onto her back and pressed her fists up over head in a sleep-muddled stretch. "Pa?"

"Yeah, honey. I gotta talk to you real quick and then you can go back to sleep, okay?"

She blinked up at him, scrubbing at her eyes with the heels of her hands. "You're awake? Aunt Caroline said you were really sleepy and I was s'posed to be quiet."

"I was and you were," he said, his heart clawing at the walls of his chest. "But I had a good nap and I gotta go get your mama, now."

With a frown, Isobel sat up. "The bad men took her."

"I know, honey." He bit back a curse as he hefted her up and placed her on his lap, dragging the quilt around her shoulders to protect against the bite of cold that lingered in the air. "That's why I have to go get her."

Isobel studied her lap, small fingers toying with the hem of the quilt. Then, with a sigh, she leaned against him, her damp hair tickling his chin as tiny arms wrapped around his waist and squeezed as tight as she could manage. "When will you be back?" she mumbled into his shirt.

"Soon." I hope. "Probably by nighttime. But Miss Amelia and Miss Melissa are going to be here, soon. And Aunt Caroline and the others will take good care of you until they arrive. So if I'm not back by bedtime you'll be okay."