Celtic Cross by Tammy Doherty

Author:Tammy Doherty
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, faith, christian romance, western romance, romance historical, western action, romance adventure cowboy romance, inspirational american historical fiction, tammy doherty

SIXTEEN

The ride to church was long and miserable. Neither Matt nor Cristeen spoke. Today they rode together with Katie and Paul. Naturally Katie sat beside Paul, Cristeen directly across from them. Matt drove, a duty which allowed him to keep his back to Cristeen. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to look at her, speak to her. She had made it clear she had nothing to say to him. And he certainly wasn’t going to force her to speak, especially under Katie’s watchful eye.

If Katie noticed the tension between the two, she said nothing. When Matt stopped the carriage, Paul jumped down and turned to help Katie down. As Matt always assisted Cristeen, Paul took Katie’s hand and strolled towards the church building. Cristeen sat still, staring back up the road they had just come down. She felt the carriage dip as Matt stepped inside. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him sit on the seat Katie had recently vacated.

“Cristeen,” Matt spoke softly. “I don’t know what I said or did that upset you so much, but I beg you to please forgive me.”

She clenched her jaw. It had been a very long night, made longer as she discovered an apparent inability to cry. Her chest felt like knife had been plunged into it, and now and again the blade twisted as if searching for her heart and the fatal blow. At times breathing became difficult. Sheer exhaustion finally did what nothing else could—she slept dreamless.

The stabbing pain returned. This wall her mind was trying to build kept crumbling. She did not want to get hurt again, and experience said it was only a matter of time. Matt wouldn’t do it purposely, of that Cristeen felt sure. Something would turn him away, whether it was her history or her peculiar talent. Maybe he would stick by her until she finally remembered how she got shot. One way or another, his friendship would be withdrawn.

She squeezed her eyes in pain. Trust him, her heart repeated again and again. Not everyone turns away, sometimes it is you that turns your back. Was she so wrong to cut the ties before they ripped her heart out?

The buggy rocked as Matt moved again, this time sitting beside her. Cristeen so desperately wanted to trust Matt, to let go her fears and lean on someone else. All her life she was the strong one, burying all her emotions. It was good protection against her father’s drunken rages and depressed ridicule. She stayed calm, and even managed to appear happy, all to keep her sister from becoming discouraged. When she was unsure, she bluffed her way through. She pretended to know what she was doing until people started to believe her.

It was a lonely way to live that made her tired through to the bone. There had been times she wanted to simply give up. Let everyone be damned. If her sister became hardened and bitter, so what? When she sank to the bottom of her despair, occasionally wishing she were dead, her ornery streak would reassert itself.

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