The Sparrow by Kristy McCaffrey

Author:Kristy McCaffrey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, grand canyon, texas ranger, historical western romance, colorado river, arizona territory, old west romance, kristy mccaffrey, wings of the west series, the sparrow
Publisher: Kristy McCaffrey

Chapter Eighteen

Upon returning to the dory, they proceeded down river, riding four more rapids. Nathan felt his confidence rising, the whitewater and river running becoming second-nature with each passing day. It was also due to the fact that the more they moved during the day, the further they got from Diamond and the Baxter brothers. It seemed unlikely the men would follow. But the situation was unusual enough that Nathan would never put complete stock in that assumption.

His goal was to protect Emma, but he also thoroughly enjoyed the river. This journey was the completion of something in him that had been cut short a long time ago, cut short by the death of his pa.

That night at camp, Emma looked drained.

“You should get some rest,” he said to her.

Despite the fatigue in his muscles from constantly being on the river, Nathan didn’t feel tired. Thoughts of his pa hovered in his mind.

Emma nodded and wrapped a blanket around her but didn’t lie down, just sat and stared into the fire. “It’s hard to remember what civilization is like anymore,” she said. “It feels like we’ve been down here forever. There are times I’m weary of it, but then, in the next moment, I never want to leave.”

“It does grow on you after a while.”

“Do you think we’re being followed?” Worry crept into her voice.

He didn’t want to scare her, but he wanted her alert to the dangers. “It’s always possible. I don’t think you should ever put it out of your mind.”

She paused. “Well, thanks for making me feel better.”

A half-smile crossed his lips at the tone of her voice. “Did you always have the soul of an adventurer?”

Her brows furrowed, then she shrugged. “I don’t know. How do you explain the unexplainable?”

The world stopped in a rush for Nathan, his mind pulled back to a life long ago, with his pa and his sister and his ma. He stared at Emma, a charge of awareness and fear pricking his entire body. “My ma used to say that.” He looked into the fire and rubbed his jaw.

“Why don’t you like to talk about her?”

“I don’t believe in that stuff. You know, the kind of stuff she did.” His eyes met hers, and he sensed her withdrawal from him. “Emma, all I can say is that I don’t know a whole lot about anything, except fighting and trying to stay alive for another day.”

“Haven’t you ever wondered why?”

“Why what?”

“Why the sky is blue, why men turn bad, why God would make a canyon like this?”

“I guess I’ve always focused on the more practical aspects of life,” he replied. “My ma would talk of things, of mysteries and faith and God, but I didn’t like it. Most of the time, what she did just plain scared me.”

“Why?”

Although he was now a grown man, he could still feel the helpless child-like fear of his mother’s chosen profession. “Most of the time, when people would come to the house, my sister and I were sent to another room.

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