“Does Jason feel the same about you?”
“I’m not sure. I know he cares about me. He said so, and he’s proven that. But he’s also made it clear that he won’t leave Arizona.”
“I’m sorry. That’s hard.”
“How did you and Gabe work it out?”
“You really can’t compare our situation to yours. I was working at the paper in Denver when we met. No one had to give up anything or move for us to be together. We visit Kaibito for a couple of months every year to see my grandma and teach our kids about their Diné heritage. I gave birth to my two older children there. But when Grandma Alice passes, I’m not sure we’ll be able to maintain that connection.”
Winona and Jason’s circumstances were completely different. She lived here. He lived in Sells. Neither of them had a career that enabled them to take long vacations to visit the other. She’d only met him because he’d been placed on administrative leave.
Kat took her hand. “Life has a way of working these things out. That probably sounds hopelessly optimistic, but I believe it’s true.”
Winona wasn’t so sure.
“When Gabe cut that rope, I watched him fall. I knew he was gone. My heart truly seemed to break. I lay there shouting for him for maybe an hour. I don’t know for sure. I was injured and hypothermic. My memory is foggy.”
“I can’t imagine how horrible that was.”
“When I was in the helicopter on my way to the hospital, the rescuers got word that Gabe was seriously injured but alive. He’d fallen more than three hundred feet, and he was still alive. It felt like a miracle. After that, no obstacle we’ve faced has seemed insurmountable.”
Winona could understand that. “What he did was incredibly brave and unselfish.”
“He loved me. He was willing to die to save me.”
Winona remembered Jason taking her hand and warning her when they first encountered Graham. He’d shielded her body with his when they’d hurried inside the cabin from the hot tub at the Cimarron. He’d fought to save her life and had done all he could to comfort her after she stepped into the bear trap.
Maybe hedidlove her.
“You need to focus on getting better. Try not to waste your strength worrying about what comes next.” Kat smiled. “If Jason truly is your half-side, then nothing will keep you apart for long.”
* * *
Jason drovethrough heavy traffic on I-25 toward the hospital, Grandpa Belcourt’s words still running through his mind.
A promise is a sacred thing. So is the love of one’s half-side.
It could be that it’s time for you to break free of your anger toward your sisters so you can consider your path in a new light. Be certain you’re not making decisions out of resentment toward them.
Still, Jason was no closer to having an answer.
He’d spent these past five days driving back and forth between the hospital and the clinic, working with the installers to get Winona’s security system in place, checking in with Dr. Keene and Lexi about the animals at the clinic, and doing his best to keep Winona’s spirits up. But today, after six days in the hospital, Win was coming home.
He parked at the hospital and made his way upstairs to her room, where he found her ready to go. “Someone is eager to get out of here.”
“That someone is me.” She sat in the chair, dressed in a white T-shirt and a purple broomstick skirt he’d brought from home, her leg elevated, her belongings in a plastic hospital bag on the bed. “I’m just waiting for my discharge papers.”
He walked over to her, kissed her, then pulled up another chair to wait with her. “Lexi says hello. That woman could command an army. She gets things done. She had Megs cleaning up fox poop this morning.”
Until Winona’s incisions had healed, she was still vulnerable to infection, so Lexi had made a schedule covering the next six weeks. She had even called the university and asked for an intern or vet to give Dr. Keene a break.
“Megs?” Winona laughed. “I wish I had seen that.”
“I knew you’d say that.” Jason pulled out his cell phone, opened his photo library, and turned the phone so that Winona could see.
She smiled at the image of a glowering Megs with the poop scooper. “Wow. I’m touched. Everyone has been so helpful and kind.”
“The people of Scarlet love you. I’ve seen that for myself.” Jason couldn’t wait for her to see the welcome the town had set up for her.