Heart Healer Page 4

  “Good morning,” she finally said.

  Christopher turned around and seemed to be under the same spell she was under, because he quickly shook his head trying to focus on what Catherine was saying.

  “Good morning, Catherine. This is my son, Ryan.” He reached out his arm and pointed to a little boy sitting at the bar.

  Loving the way he said her name, she quickly turned her attention to Ryan who seemed to be concentrating on what he was drawing.

  “Hello, Ryan. I am Catherine.”

  Ryan looked up at her but he didn’t say a word.

  “He’s not speaking much right now,” Christopher whispered.

  “That is all right. He doesn’t have to speak. What are you drawing, Ryan? May I see?”

  Ryan didn’t say anything, but he smiled and handed Catherine the picture.

  “Ryan, that is very good. Is that you and your daddy riding?”

  Ryan smiled and went into the living room to play with some toys.

  “You are the first person he has interacted with in almost a year, since his mom left us. He really hasn’t spoken since then.” He paused as if trying to gather his thoughts.

  “Well, he is a very sweet little boy.”

  “Yes, he is.”

  “He has not spoken at all?” Catherine asked.

  “No. Not since that night.”

  Catherine’s heart felt as though it would break as she watched Ryan play with his toys. Not knowing what to say, she took Christopher’s hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

  “I will do whatever I can to help him.”

  “Thank you,” he whispered, but he looked completely lost.

  “You are most welcome,” Catherine whispered back, unable to hide the worry and the fear she was feeling. They stood there together for a long time watching Ryan, at a loss for what to do or say next.

  “What on earth is this about?”

  She and Christopher both turned their heads and saw Emma standing in the doorway with a big smile on her face. Christopher quickly let go of Catherine’s hand.

  “Hey, Emma,” he said nervously.

  “Hey yourself, Christopher. And how are you feeling, Catherine?”

  “Hello, Emma. Much better thank you.”

  “That’s good. I’m glad to hear that you’re feeling better. I see you’re still charming the ladies, Christopher.”

  Christopher shook his head smiling. Catherine was completely shocked, but Emma just laughed.

  “Catherine, I know that you are feeling better, but I would like to examine you to make sure your ribs are healing.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “And I have brought you some clothes.”

  “Oh, thank you, Emma. You both have been so kind to me,” she said, looking at Christopher once more before going up the stairs.

  ****

  Catherine stood in front of the mirror wearing a shirt and what Emma called jeans. A knock on the door made her jump. She opened it and Emma walked into the room.

  “Oh, those clothes look great on you. They are the perfect fit.” Emma checked Catherine’s ribs. They were still very tender.

  “So, I have never seen Christopher so nervous around me before. He must really like you.”

  “How do you know Christopher?” Catherine asked trying to change the subject.

  “Oh, he and I grew up together. He has always been like a brother to me. I’ve been so worried about him since his wife left. He just sort of withdrew from the world. But I can sense a connection between the two of you.”

  “There is nothing going on between Christopher and me.”

  “Really? Well it didn’t look like nothing to me.”

  “All you saw was me getting to know the man who saved my life and his son.”

  “Really? That’s all it was…just getting to know Christopher and Ryan?” Emma questioned.

  “Yes.”

  “Is that why you two couldn’t take your eyes off each other?”

  Catherine couldn’t form an answer because she knew Emma was right. It was more than just getting to know them. But no matter the connection she felt toward Christopher, nothing could happen between them, no matter how much they both wanted it.

  Chapter Nine

  Blake

  As the sun rose higher, Blake sat in front of Rose’s grave. He knew he had to leave before the slaves came up from the fields. He had to keep up pretenses so no one would see him showing weakness. If there was one thing he hated more than anything else, it was weakness. But he could not move. Rose had been gone a week.

  Blake thought he had done things differently with Rose this time, but in the end, nothing had helped, and he knew he was to blame. When Rose came back, he would get on his knees and beg for her forgiveness.

  Blake shuddered. He was becoming weak, and he had to drive the weakness out of himself as his father had taught him to do. He went into the house, poured a glass of whiskey, and tossed it back. He knew he had driven the weakness out and Rose would forgive him for being weak just as he had forgiven her. She would walk through that door, and they would make love and he would hold her in his arms, knowing how lucky he was.

  Blake poured another drink before he sat down at his desk. He could hear the birds chirping. Rose loved bird watching. They spent hours talking as they watched the birds. Things had been good then, until the night Rose found him in a slave woman’s bed. But it was her fault because Rose had not given him a son and he needed an heir. Rose ran from him but Blake caught her. He punched her and dragged her back by her hair and made her watch him with the slave. It was all so confusing now. He did not remember why he was so angry with her for not giving him a son, yet they had just returned from their honeymoon. He justified that she was weak and had to be punished. Just then Nicholas stormed into the office.

  “Father, how could you? I thought you had changed!” Nicholas yelled.

  “How could I do what, Nicholas?” Blake said, keeping his expression neutral.

  “Beat Jessica because Catherine disappeared!”

  “Jessica is my slave and I will do what I want with her. She was to watch Catherine and she did not. She needed to be punished for it.”

  “Why would you need Jessica to watch over Catherine? Was she being held here against her will? Is she your wife or a prisoner?”

  Blake was getting angry, wondering why Nicholas kept asking questions.

  “I don’t see why that is any of your concern. You have not been here a week and you have already begun with that abolitionist talk. ‘Everyone is equal: black, white, men, and women.’ ”

  “Yes, Father, I believe all people are created equal. Uncle Charles was right in helping to free the slaves all those years ago when you threw him and Aunt Colleen out after mother died. And he’s right now. You have no right to keep Jessica against her will!”

  “I have every right to keep Jessica here. She is a slave and Catherine would have been my servant, working off the debt her father owed me, if I had not married her.”

  “It is not Catherine who owes you money; it is her father. He should be doing something to pay you back, not Catherine.”

  “That is the arrangement Catherine’s father and I made. Catherine was supposed to work here for the next five years. But then I fell in love with her and married her. I gave her everything and how does Catherine repay me? She leaves! She is weak, just like your mother!” Blake yelled, pouring himself another glass of whiskey.

  “Father, there is something truly wrong with you. I thought when I saw you and Catherine at the wedding that she had changed you for the better. Now I see how wrong I was. Thank God Uncle Charles and Aunt Colleen raised me and not you,” Nicholas said, turning away.

  “Why do you care what happens to Catherine and Jessica?”

  “Because Father, I am in love with Jessica, and I know that Uncle Charles would be more than happy to represent her.”

  “Represent her in what, Nicholas?” Blake asked.

  “To wi
n her freedom back, since you are so unwilling to give it to her. I’m going to Charleston to visit Aunt Colleen and Uncle Charles for Christmas and Jessica has agreed to accompany me. I just pray that Catherine has found someone else. She is a decent person and she deserves to be happy,” Nicholas said before turning and walking out of the house.

  ****

  In a fit of rage, Blake ran and got his gun from the case. He stormed out of the house.

  “Nicholas!” Blake yelled, pointing the gun at Nicholas. Shock crossed Nicholas’s face but he did not get a chance to say anything. “Thank you for reminding me that the weak need to be punished,” he said before shooting his son in the heart.

  Blake had his men drag Jessica into the house. Her piercing screams filled the room.

  “Enough!” Blake yelled, slapping her across the face. “Nicholas deserved to die. He was weak and weakness must be punished! Do you know what I could do to you just for touching my son?”

  “Please, Master Blake, I have three children to think about! I will do anything!”

  “Anything?”

  “Anything, Master Blake!”

  Blake smiled an evil smile “Do exactly what I say, and I will not kill your children while you watch.”

  “Thank you, Master Blake.”

  “Now get into my bed.”

  As Blake walked upstairs, he thought that Catherine better not be with another man or they would both be sorry.

  Chapter Ten

  Catherine

  Catherine stood on the top of the stairs as Emma was saying goodbye to Christopher and Ryan. She noticed again how handsome Christopher was but she quickly pushed that thought out of her head. Catherine turned away from Christopher. She noticed how different Ryan was acting after Emma left. He seemed very nervous. She went over to him, but Ryan took a step backward.

  “What is it, Ryan?” Christopher asked. “It’s Catherine. Remember? She is a friend of mine.”

  As Catherine watched Christopher comfort Ryan, she thought she was truly seeing Christopher for the first time. While so many parents didn’t care about what happened to their children, he seemed like he would walk through fire for his son. Seeing this made Catherine’s feelings for Christopher stronger. That made all this so much harder, because they could never be together.

  She couldn’t put her guard up when she realized everything that Christopher was doing to try and comfort Ryan was not working.

  “Ryan, do you remember the picture you were working on?” Catherine asked him.

  To Christopher’s amazement, Ryan nodded.

  “Why don’t you, your daddy, and I go draw together?”

  That seemed to help Ryan, because he took her hand and led her to the kitchen table. As they drew, she couldn’t help but feel like a family with Christopher and Ryan. The boy seemed to come out of his shell with her. Catherine knew if she continued down this path there was no turning back, but there was more to it than that. The more important question was did she want to continue down this path, even though she was married and belonged to Blake? She looked over at Christopher and Ryan and knew she could not walk away from them, even if she wanted to. Ryan looked up and saw the front door was still open. He became very upset and clung to Christopher.

  “Daddy, please don’t leave me!” Ryan cried.

  Catherine gasped. Ryan had spoken, but there was fear in his voice—a fear that she knew all too well. Christopher slipped an arm around his son.

  “I am not going anywhere, Ryan,” he said.

  “Yes, you are! You are only pretending that you are going to stay, but then you will walk out that door and leave just like Mommy!”

  Christopher put his face into his hands, at a complete loss for what to say to Ryan.

  “Ryan, sweetheart, your daddy is not going anywhere. He loves you very much,” she said, hoping to reassure Ryan.

  “You promise you will not leave like Mommy did?”

  Christopher raised his fingers. “Scout’s honor. I am not going anywhere.”

  Ryan laughed. “I know that you are telling the truth. You never break your scout’s honor.”

  “No, I don’t, Sport.”

  Ryan hugged Christopher tightly. Christopher whispered “thank you” to Catherine. She smiled.

  ****

  For the rest of the day she, Christopher, and Ryan walked around Beaufort together. She felt bewildered. There were things she recognized, but mostly everything was strange and foreign to her. Here there were places called grocery stores where you bought food and places to buy clothes called department stores. People didn’t use carriages anymore. They rode in things called cars. It was a lot for Catherine to process. As the sun sank lower in sky, it made an orange glow on the harbor. They got ice cream. She and Christopher kept catching each other’s eye. He was so kind and loving and an amazing father. He was so different from any other man she had ever met. He made her heart go crazy whenever she saw him, and it was easy for Christopher to make her smile.

  Chapter Eleven

  Christopher

  In the coming days, Christopher looked forward to seeing Catherine. She’d given him his little boy back by helping him to make Ryan understand that he was never going to leave like Chelsea did. Ryan had changed so much in recent days. He had become Christopher’s little chatter box again. He had even been asking to have a play date with Emma and Tyler’s son David. Christopher was in the living room drinking some coffee when Ryan and Catherine came into the room. He noticed again how beautiful she was. She was wearing jeans and a blouse. Nothing too fancy, but today it was her smile that gave him this fluttering feeling. She looked more relaxed and at ease today. She was slowly letting her guard down, and Christopher was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t hear Ryan.

  “Daddy,” Ryan said, pulling on Christopher’s arm.

  “I am sorry, Sport. What did you say?”

  “Can we show Catherine around outside?”

  “I would like that, Ryan,” Catherine said beaming at Christopher.

  God love you, Ryan!

  ****

  Catherine

  Ryan took Catherine’s hand and she, Christopher, and Ryan went outside. She took it all in: the lush pasture with horses grazing, the barn beyond and the mill next to it that Christopher used for his work. There were tall trees towering over a small lake that opened to a garden.

  “It’s so beautiful here.”

  “Thank you. It’s been in my family for over a hundred years,” Christopher said as they walked to the mill. Ryan ran up to the barn loft where Christopher had set up a tire swing and started spinning on it. Standing in the barn with Catherine, Christopher nervously shifted from one foot to the other before meeting her eyes. Catherine noticed the dining room table he was working on. She ran her hand over the smooth oak.

  “This is amazing,” she said, holding his gaze.

  “Thank you.”

  “So, you said this plantation has been in your family for over a hundred years?”

  “Yes. I was born and raised here.”

  “Do your parents still live near here?”

  Christopher’s smile faded from his face. “My mom passed away when I was a boy and my dad passed away a year ago.”

  “I am so sorry, Christopher.”

  “Thank you, but what about you?”

  “My mother passed away nine years ago in my time and my father…” She hesitated for a moment. “My father sold me to Blake Von-Clyer to pay off the taxes he owed Blake.”

  “Your father must not have had a soul,” he whispered, so quietly that she almost didn’t hear him.

  “Why do you say that?” she asked.

  “Any man who could sell a daughter as sweet and beautiful as you are must not have a soul.”

  “Thank you, Christopher, but if I had been a boy none of it would have happened.”

  He walked over to her and gently put his hand on her cheek.

  “Catherine, none of this is your fault. Your father should be pr
oud to have a daughter as loving and caring as you are. You barely know my son, but you put him at ease that I will never leave him like his mother did.”

  “Thank you, Christopher. That is very kind of you to say.”

  “I’m not just being kind. It’s the truth.”

  He looked from her eyes to her lips, silently asking for permission to kiss her.

  “Yes,” she whispered and closed her eyes in anticipation for his lips to press against hers.

  Suddenly they heard a car coming up the driveway. Catherine jumped back.

  “I should…” he said nervously, pointing to the door.

  “Yes, you must.”

  Ryan came down from the loft.

  “Aunt Emma and Uncle Tyler are here,” Ryan said happily.

  ****

  Christopher

  Christopher and Ryan walked toward the house, but Catherine walked a few feet behind them. Tyler Coleman stepped out of the car with Emma and their two boys.

  Christopher was surprised to see his friend, but then again, he knew that Emma had seen the connection between him and Catherine the other day.

  He, Tyler, and Emma had grown up together so it wasn’t exactly a surprise that Tyler was there.

  “So, is Emma trying to get you in on her matchmaking scheme?”

  “You know Emma. Once she gets an idea in her head there’s no stopping her,” Tyler answered, kissing Emma on the cheek.

  Tyler was shorter than Christopher and had lost all his hair years ago. Tyler looked like he worked in the corporate world but he actually worked with the Beaufort Fire Department. The couple had been childhood sweethearts. They’d been married for ten years and had two boys. Christopher was the best man at their wedding, and he thought Tyler loved Emma more now than he did when they walked down the aisle. Christopher hoped to one day find that kind of love.

  “Hey! I am only here to see if Catherine would like to come shopping. What you guys talk about while you watch the boys is between the two of you,” Emma said in mock outrage. “Catherine, would you like to go shopping?”