DRAGONJULS Storybook
Disclaimer and Acknowledgements: See Part One
Part 6
Chapter Ten
Colin received the call from Catherine that she would need picking up in about an hour, and that he would need to advise Judy that she would require something light to eat when she got there. He was pleased for her and Jace, for some reason he felt that the new baby would be the binding force in their relationship, not that in the last three months they hadn't been close but it always helped that added responsibility, he thought anyway. Colin was using Catherine's office when her phone rang, it was her private line and he knew it was only ever used for important calls and only close business associates or Grace had the number. Hesitating a moment just on the off chance that it might be Grace, hell he had more guts than that didn't he? He picked up the receiver. "Destiny ranch can I help you?"
"Is Catherine Devonshire available please it's important." The female voice asked, her voice sounded as if she's been crying hard.
Colin had to think twice before he realised whom the woman had wanted. Catherine was Warriorson not Devonshire to him. "She's at the hospital but due home shortly, can I take a message and get her to call you back?" He asked quietly, not wanting to distress the woman any further at the end of the phone.
"How long is shortly?" the woman asked earnestly.
"Within a couple of hours, may I ask whose calling?"
"My name is Clare Fallon, can you get her to call her New York office immediately when she returns. When I say immediately I mean that!" the woman reiterated.
"Sure, I'm going to collect her from the hospital now, I'll tell her it's urgent, do you want me to tell her anything else." He asked, knowing his boss wouldn't like the cryptic message.
"Tell her.......it's so tragic! It shouldn't have happened but it did!" The woman broke down in tears and Colin's heart went out to her in her anguish.
"I will tell her to call you, will you be okay?" Colin asked his voice low and compassionate.
"Yes, yes I will when she gets here." The woman disconnected the line.
'When she gets here? I don't think so, not with Jace in the hospital and the new baby not a day old.' Colin thought as he made his way to the kitchen to talk to Judy.
It was a frustrating wait for Catherine as the nurses fussed around Jace and the doctor made notes on her chart and then finally the baby was placed in the new mothers arms and Catherine heard Jace suck in a deep breath as she held her new born to her. In Catherine's mind that was the picture she could see, it was a mixture of her own experience when Lucas had been placed in her arms for the first time, and her sense of Jace and the expression she was sure would be on her face. It would be awe struck, how could it not be, when you brought a new life into the world.
The doctor came to Catherine's side and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I think we'll leave you alone for a little while. When I come back I suggest you go home and get some rest and then come back later to see your new family, what do you think?" The doctor had noticed Catherine's pallor, she was after all recuperating from her own injuries, and he was astute enough to have noticed the recent surgery. The excitement of the day was wearing on everyone, but to be in the room and not able to see what was going on must have been even more nerve wracking than being able to watch.
Catherine heard the sincerity in the doctor's voice and knew that she was now on reserves of energy, which could give out at any time. "Good idea doctor, and thanks for all you have done today." She gravely responded.
"My pleasure." He left the room to the three of them.
Catherine sat silently in her chair next to Jace, for some reason she was unsure of what to say or what to do.
"Aren't you going to come sit on the bed and talk to your daughter?" Jace had looked over and seen the indecision in Catherine's face.
Catherine beamed at the word daughter and swiftly placed her self on the edge of the bed and reached out a hand for Jace to take. "I love you!" Catherine said from the heart.
"I sure hope so. She's so beautiful Catherine!" Jace's voice was husky with her emotions.
Catherine laughed softly and heard the faint gurgle from the baby, having been placed, on her mother's right side from what she could sense with Jace's positioning on the bed. "What does she look like?"
Jace took her time to answer and moved the baby to the centre of her chest and brought Catherine's large hand gently to the top of the baby's head. "How about you feel for yourself."
Catherine choked back a sob as she touched the baby's downy head and asked the colour of the fair "It's dark like yours." Catherine nodded and touched the face with a featherlight touch, it appeared to be scrunched up and a little puckered. Her blue eyes turned towards Jace in question. "She's fine, a little pink and maybe petulant like a certain party I know but she will be fine." Her large hand trailed down the small body and caressed each hand and checked that all the fingers were there, it made her smile as the baby clutched onto her hand on instinct. "She likes you!" Jace laughed happily as she saw her daughter clutch the larger hand.
"I certainly hope so!" Catherine replied with mock indignation. Her hand moved down to the legs and they appeared strong and sturdy and kicked at her touch. "Maybe she's ticklish like her Mum?"
"Who you calling ticklish?" Jace replied her heart brimming over with happiness at the sight in front of her, if only Catherine could see it too.
Catherine removed her hand from the baby and placed it on Jace's cheek, Jace leaned into it and kissed the outstretched palm. Gently placing the hand on her chin she tilted Jace's head and slowly moved her head until their breathing mingled and lips touched lips in a gentle affirmation of the love they had for each other and now for the baby that they had agreed to share a life with.
"I feel wonderful." Jace said after they settled the baby in the crook of her right arm and Catherine sat as close as possible to Jace on the bed.
"That's not what you said an hour ago." Catherine gently reminded her.
"Ah, well that was before this little miracle was put in my arms. Now I could go through it all again." Jace replied a teasing tilt to her voice.
"No, no, no! I will not allow it!" Catherine gave a mock angry reply.
"Oh Catherine, you chicken you!" Jace teased her lover.
"Yeah, that's me the ultimate chicken, so what you going to do about it?"
"I've got time, you offered me all your tomorrow's remember."
"Yes I do, and I will fulfil my end of the bargain if you will fulfil yours?"
Jace quirked an eyebrow forgetting for a moment that Catherine couldn't see anything. "And that would be?"
"Keep loving me every tomorrow?"
"I will. Do you need to ask?" Jace responded huskily.
"Good," hearing Jace yawn and sensing that the child was asleep, "I think you should rest Jace."
"Yes, I need some sleep, guess we didn't get much yesterday did we?"
"No we didn't, but she is worth it, don't you think?"
"Yes, she is! I love you Catherine." Jace slurred the words as her eyes shut in exhausted sleep, the baby cradled securely in her arms.
"I know you do Jace, I know you do." She gently moved from the bed and sat back down in the chair, holding onto one of Jace's hands and kissed each knuckle in tender regard.
The doctor arrived back some ten minutes later and she reluctantly left the room, collected Rio and they walked around the grounds of the hospital until Colin came to collect them.
Colin saw the beaming smile from his boss and he knew that telling her about the phone call on the journey back to the ranch was futile, there was nothing she could do until she got there anyway. So he left that snippet of information until closer to home.
"Is she like her Mom?" Colin asked the excited woman seated in the front with him, Rio was sat snugly on the back seat, disregarding his human buddies.
"Well, Jace says she's got dark hair like me, but she scrunches up her face like Jace that's for sure." Catherine laughed as she recalled the features to her touch.
"How much does she weigh?" Colin smiled, Jace had nearly eaten Catherine out of house and home so it must be a big baby.
"She weighed in at 7lb 6 ounces, a tiny baby but she's perfect in every way." Catherine grinned at her ranch foreman.
"Hey, I thought she would be bigger, with all the food Jace consumed over the last couple of months." He chuckled as he manoeuvred the car closer to the main track that led to the ranch property.
Laughing at Colin's quip she had to agree with that one, Jace had certainly eaten well. "Going to have to put Jace on a diet then if she doesn't loose that belly of hers now aren't I?" She teased the man beside her.
"Yep, that you will, but I'll not tell her you said that." Colin laughed along with his boss, this surely was a grand day and he was loath to spoil it with the strange message he had received, but it had sounded urgent.
Turning into the gates that announced the 'Destiny' property, Colin cleared his voice to speak. "I don't want to put a dampener on your happiness Catherine but you got a call after you called me to collect you, it was a woman she sounded distressed in some way."
Catherine turned her head in his direction and her ice blue eyes looked at him in an unfocused stare. "Go on." She said calmly.
"Some one called Clare Fallon wants you to call New York immediately, she didn't say much else but she was upset. Said something about being tragic, she was crying." He finished lamely.
"Thanks Colin, I'll make the call as soon as we get in." She said absently, her mind digesting what he'd told her. 'Something must be wrong in a big way if the New York VP's PA contacted her and on her personal line too, why not Paul or Constance?'
Minutes later they were pulling into the drive close to the house and Rio was hopping out of the back, after Colin opened the door for him. Catherine got out of the front passenger seat slowly her body was ready for some much needed sleep.
"Thanks for coming over to get me Colin, why don't you join me for something to eat, I bet you haven't slept much in the past twenty-four hours either." Catherine softly approached him.
"Well, not much I agree, but the horses need some attention and I will sleep later, let the boys do some of my work for a change." He put a light hand on her shoulder and squeezed in appreciation of her concern. Catherine accepted the gesture and put her own hand on his and squeezed briefly back.
Going inside the house, she trudged towards the kitchen and briefly a wave of nostalgia and longing came over her, she did so want Grace to be there and see her smile as she entered the room they had called the heart of the house. 'Well, Grace had been the heart of the house and it was sorely missing her influence.' Shrugging the weary thought away she entered the kitchen. Judy scraped back a chair as she saw her new boss enter the room and quickly went over to the counter to make the head of the household some tea.
"Good evening Judy." Catherine sat heavily down on the nearest chair she could find.
"Good evening Ma'am, I've got some light snacks for you and tea will be a couple of ticks." Judy said quickly, she noticed the pallor of the older woman and knew that she was on the verge of exhaustion.
"Thanks, I have to make an urgent call, so when the tea's ready will you bring it to me in the study?" Catherine managed to say wearily.
"Certainly, do you want the snacks in the study too?" Judy noticed that the woman could barely function.
"I guess so, I'll go then." Catherine went towards the door.
"Ma'am, did Ms Bardley have a girl or a boy?"
Catherine shook off her fatigue as the adrenaline rush overtook her at the mention of the child. "We've got a girl, she's beautiful too, just like her mother." With that Catherine left the room and went to her study.
Judy smiled; a baby was always a blessing.
Clare waited by the phone in her boss's office, it was over two hours since she'd made the call, and surely the man had given the message? She was almost ready to drop herself from the trauma of the day her own emotional situation was far from ideal. The paramedics had wanted her to go to the hospital or at the very least go home, she was in shock, but she couldn't, she had calls to make and only she could do them, it was important.
Resting her head on the oak desk and smelling the perfume of her boss she couldn't help the tears that fell in profusion down her cheeks. The ringing of the private line in the office finally got her attention she answered it. "Ms Waverly's office."
"This is Catherine Devonshire, I need to speak to......." Catherine was stopped when a voice shouted her name at the other end of the line.
"Ms Devonshire we have a crisis, they're dead!" The young woman was distraught but Catherine now realised that her message had indeed been critical.
"Okay, is that Clare?" Catherine asked gently.
"Yes." A whispered reply came back over the line.
"Clare, I'm here now, can you tell me what's going on?"
"There was a man with a gun, he started shooting, and he killed people." Clare said in a faint voice.
"Clare, I know your hurting and it's difficult to talk but is Paul on his way over to help you?" Obviously the VP was either dead or injured in the shooting incident, but she was concerned that Paul hadn't contacted her.
The girl sobbed quietly as she tried to answer. "Take your time Clare, I can wait." Catherine heard the catch in the younger woman's voice. That moment Judy walked in and placed the mug of tea on her right side, the snacks in front of her and turned round to walk out of the room. "Judy?" She turned and looked at Catherine. "Get hold of Colin, tell him to come over immediately, if necessary tell him to hell with the horses!" Turning her attention back to the person on the other line.
"No problem." Judy looked at the now grey-faced woman, something was certainly wrong here.
"Come on Clare, tell me is Paul on his way to New York?" Catherine tried to coax the woman into giving the information.
"No!" More sobs and little coherence.
'Why the hell not!' she thought testily. "Where is he Clare? Have you talked to him about this?" Catherine was puzzled.
"I can't!" A small voice barely audible answered.
Catherine was quickly losing her patience and biting her lip to keep back an angry retort. "Why?"
"He's dead! Celeste is dead, Constance is barely alive, we have no one here!" The desperate woman pleaded.
Catherine slumped in her chair she had not expected that! "No!" She answered almost automatically. 'He can't be dead! It's a joke right? Someone is playing with me! I know, they don't like the fact I'm happy for once, so they throw a spanner in the works, but it's a nightmare, I'm going to wake up from surely?'
"It's true, I need to check up on Constance, they don't think she will make it, but I know she will!" Clare spoke with a strength that defied her state of mind.
"Clare, how many more are dead or injured?" Catherine held her breath.
"Ten are dead, three are injured." Clare spoke in a detached voice.
"Clare I'll be with you sometime in the next twenty-four hours okay, go see Constance and then get some sleep." Catherine didn't know what else to say.
"Yes I will, thanks for coming." The younger woman disconnected the line. Catherine placed her head in her hands on the desk and cried for her friend, he hadn't deserved that, none of them had. The question that floated in her mind as she succumbed to her grief was, 'Why?'
************
Chapter Eleven
Colin entered the study, he had been surprised at the summons from his employer, she'd seemed exhausted when he'd dropped her off at the house, now she wanted to see him and Judy had indicated it was urgent.
He was motioned to sit down as Catherine said something to someone at the other end of the line, then she pressed the disconnect and pressed a speed dial number and held the receiver to her right ear as she waited for it to be answered.
"Sorry Colin, I will be with you in a few minutes, at least when you hear this conversation to Grace you will know what's going on." She missed his reaction as she mentioned Grace, her mind to preoccupied with the events enfolding before her.
He merely nodded his head forgetting she couldn't see it, his mind preoccupied with the statement she made and sat at the chair nearest her desk, to hear the conversation fully.
"Hello, is Grace Thornton available please?" Catherine asked as the call was picked up a strange voice.
"Who's calling?" The voice asked. It was to Catherine a familiar yet not familiar voice? Her frown was pronounced on her forehead as she considered the problem.
"Catherine Warriorson!"
"Oh, I will get her immediately Mrs Warriorson." The voice at the other end sounded flustered. 'Must be her mother.' Catherine thought, pleased with her deduction.
Catherine heard someone walking quickly in the background and the receiver being picked up caused some static build up, must be the weather?
"Hi Catherine, what news have you got for me?" Grace asked her voice jovial.
"Grace, I need you home!" The words came out as a demand before she had time to think about how it would sound.
"You do, do you? Well, I'm happy here Catherine thanks." Grace said in a peeved tone.
"No, no you don't understand Grace, I need you to come home because I have to go to New York." Catherine replied, her mind in turmoil and unable to clearly state her case.
"Just because you need to go away doesn't mean I have to come running to you now does it? What about Jace, she going with you, is that the reason?" Grace was amazed at the woman's demands; she didn't work for her anymore.
"Grace, look can we start again? Please?" Catherine pleaded her head aching from the lack of sleep and the prospects waiting for her in New York.
"Sure, but if it means coming back to 'Destiny' the answers no!" Grace said adamantly.
"Grace, Paul is dead, there was a shooting in New York, I have to go, the VP is also critical and god knows what else is wrong. Please Grace, I need you for the kids and I need you to be here for Jace." Catherine didn't have the energy left to say more.
"Oh my god Paul is dead? I'm sorry, so very sorry Catherine." Grace whispered to her friend, the news shocking and totally unexpected.
"Thanks, so will you come home?" Catherine asked her wearily.
"Yes! I'll look after Jace until she has the baby and hopefully you will be back for the birth." Grace wanted to make up for her previous assumptions.
"Oh that's okay Grace, she's had the baby, this should have been the call to tell you that, rather than what I have to say now. We have a daughter, she's beautiful, like her mother." Catherine sounded wistful.
"I'm coming, don't worry Catherine, I'd said I would come home when she had the baby so I will! I'm sorry you have to leave so soon after the birth my friend." Grace replied solemnly.
"I knew I could count on you, if you need to get more help around the place do it, I don't want you to do anything in the house Grace, you're my friend and my guest. Colin is with me at the moment so he now knows the score; I need to rely on you both to protect my family until I know what the hell has gone wrong in New York. Enemies are a bitch, you know." Catherine said almost absently.
Catherine heard Grace talking softly to her mother, the answers she couldn't make out. "Catherine, would you mind if my Mom comes too? She gets a little lonely here and Ali is away for two more months."
"Fine, the more the merrier and it will help with Jace I think to have a mother figure with her in the early days." Catherine smiled at the thought of her lover attempting the first few weeks without guidance.
"When are you leaving?" Grace asked.
"I have called the airport and there's a plane to LA from Christchurch at two a.m., my personal helicopter will get me there on time and then I'm going to send him for you, don't pack many things, leave them behind you can get new stuff when you get here. So if you can be ready for eight a.m. Frank will be in Auckland for you okay?"
"Yeah, we can do that. The kids will miss you." Grace knew the children would be very upset.
"I know I will miss them, where are they by the way?"
"Arguing about what to watch on TV, do you want me to get them for you?" Grace asked her tentatively, she could hear the strain in Catherine's voice.
"I........I really should go and see Jace and tell her......Oh sure go get them." Catherine put her head on the palm of her left hand and cradled her head as she waited. Colin was watching the play of emotions on the woman's face and it was crystal clear that she really did care for the children.
Moments later she could hear the running of feet against a non carpeted floor the sound echoing off the walls in the house that the children were in. "Catherine?" from the bubbly voice of her 'daughter' Lisa.
"Hello Princess. Have you been good for aunt Grace?" Catherine smirked at the reference.
The little girl chuckled and said something she couldn't hear to the others at her end of the line. "Yeah, I have, and have you been good too?" the child responded.
"Mmmmmm depends if you call staying up all night until Jace had her baby, but sure otherwise." Catherine threw in for good measure.
"Catherine have we got a baby brother or sister?" The child was excited at the other end.
"Sister, she looks like Jace." Catherine could picture the smile on the child's face it made her smile slightly at the thought.
"How would you know, you can't see her," the child said logically.
"I can feel her though and her mother told me so!" Catherine smiled wryly at this child who had no pretensions, she was just Lisa.
"Right Lisa, let me speak to Jake before I go okay?"
"Okay, I love you Catherine, will you give Jace and the baby a big kiss from me when you see them?"
Catherine almost nodded her head in affirmation, before she realised that the child wasn't in the same room, she had appeared so close, it soothed some of the hurt she felt at the simple act of speaking to the child, just as it had when she was 'banished' to Rio.
"Hello Catherine." The male voice said self-consciously.
"Hello Jake, I see Lisa hogged the conversation as usual. You're going to have to subject her to an hour of soccer for the privilege I guess." Catherine could picture the serious expression on the boy's face and it eased her heart once again from the hurt of the past hour.
"Yeah, and she's going to let me Catherine! You know what's she's like, she's like Jace, they twist us round their little fingers!" The boy said in all seriousness.
Catherine grinned at 'her' boy's almost adult understanding of relationships, maybe he knew too much too early? No! "Put like that, maybe you're right Jake. Look I need to tell you that I'm going away for a few days, maybe a week. Grace is going to bring you home to be with Jace and the baby. I need for you to look out for them with Colin, will you do that?" Catherine decided that approaching the boy on the adult plain might alleviate the anguish both children would suffer at her leaving, they always hated the thought of her going of the ranch especially after the accident.
There was silence for a few minutes and then he responded. "Yes I will do that for you. You will take care though won't you?" She heard his tentative question and the anguish behind the words.
"Of Course, we have things to plan for don't we? And I want to show you two the Glaciers full of snow, or at least more snow than they already have." Catherine said confidently.
"Okay, I will see you soon then." Jake gave the receiver to Grace and placed his hand in Lisa's and took her to the lounge and the TV.
"Hi Catherine, they look okay with that." Grace knew her friend would be worried about the effect of her going away would cause with the two children, but in particular Jake.
"Thanks Grace, now to do the same with Jace, hopes she takes it equally as well." Catherine sighed heavily.
"She's going to be upset, but she liked Paul and she will be upset for James his partner more. It will be okay." Grace told her sincerely.
"I know she will, but I don't want to burden her with this so soon after the birth." Catherine was wondering if there could be a better way of approaching this.
"It's not your fault Catherine, just do what you have to do and then come home safe to us okay?" Grace told her practically.
"I have to go Grace, take care of everything, I trust you with my family. I love you too my friend." Catherine answered her voice husky with emotion.
"I love you also my friend, take care of yourself." Grace had a tear welling up in her left eye as she put the phone down and contemplated her return to 'Destiny'.
Catherine eyed her ranch foreman over the length of her desk. "So you know what the problem is, I have to leave shortly, can you take care of extra security and the well being of my family and friends, I'm counting on you?" Catherine spoke with complete trust in him.
"You can count on me Catherine and no one, no one will touch a hair of your family and friends, leave it with me." He was proud that she trusted him with this task.
"You're my friend too Colin, so make sure you keep your head down to if necessary!" Catherine gave him a wry smile and got up from the desk, she needed to get some clothes together and then go and see Jace before she went to the local airport to pick up the chopper. 'God I feel so tired!' She thought as she trudged to her empty room, knowing it could be some time before she would be sleeping in her bed again and with the woman who held her heart.
Catherine walked silently into the private room that Jace had been given, it was quiet and to Catherine all she could hear was the combined breathing of mother and child. To her it was a wonderful sound, her sleeping beauties. She almost laughed at the power of those wistful thoughts. 'How I've changed in such a short space of time, and now I have to change back to the old Catherine, not this new Catherine that Jace had managed to sculpt out of the stone that had once been her life.'
She carefully manoeuvred around the furniture in the room and hoping against hope that she didn't fall into something and wake Jace up un-necessarily. Making her way to the baby's crib, the nurses had previously instructed her on its position, she felt gently inside the crib to determine if the baby was inside. She was!
Tenderly touching the soft head at her fingertips she felt tears slowly slip down onto her cheeks, suddenly the momentous events of the last twenty-four hours surfaced. Gradually she moved her fingers over the small face and a smile of wonder crossed her own face as she felt the soft puckered skin and the features they held. "You know you have your mothers nose little one, and a fine feature it is too. But when you're all grown up I hope you don't wrinkle it at me quite as often as your mother." Catherine gravely spoke inconsequentially to her daughter.
Slowly she lowered her head inside the crib and placed a tender kiss on the head of her 'daughter' and a lone tear splashed onto the child's cheek. Catherine self-consciously wiped it away and stood up to her full height. "I love you little one, I wonder what your mother will call you? Funny it's something we never discussed." Catherine spoke softly to the child and as she turned towards the bed of her lover she heard a voice answer her question.
"She's going to be called Elena, I hope you don't mind?" Jace told her tall lover, not sure of her reaction.
Catherine stiffened and Jace saw the uncertainty and thought that she had made a mistake. "I was going to ask you when she was born, but you have kind of pre-empted it."
Catherine walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge as close as she could get to Jace without touching her. " I suppose I have, is that really what you want to call her?"
"Yes, I hoped you wouldn't mind?" Jace said hopefully, watching the slow smile radiate from her friend.
"How could I mind Jace, I'm honoured that you want to call your daughter after my mother, she would be too!" Catherine replied huskily, her voice raw with emotion.
"I'm glad, I want you to accept her as your daughter and I thought it would help if she bore your mothers name, I kind of know how much your mother meant to you." Jace touched the hands that had been clasped together and brought them to her lips to kiss each of them in turn.
"What did I do to deserve you Jace Bardley?" Catherine almost didn't get the words out as she succumbed to the tears that had been hiding for the past couple of hours.
Jace saw the play of emotion on Catherine's face and knew it wasn't the conversation that they were having that was creating the emotional overload; there was something else. "Tell me what's wrong Catherine?" She held Catherine's head to her breast in comfort.
Catherine welcomed the comfort that Jace offered, at no time in her life had she ever felt this secure, no matter the things that happened on the outside of this embrace. Jace was her haven she could come here and leave the rest of the world behind. The horrors of tomorrow receding into the background in this woman's arms, she had only to ask. "I love you." Was all she could say for the moment.
"Well, that's a start. I love you too!" Jace smiled over the top of the dark head.
Catherine gradually gained some of her composure but Jace noticed the shadows under her eyes and the tears she had just shed didn't help the matter any. "Have you slept at all Catherine?"
"No!" Catherine's voice strained.
"Why not? That's the reason you left, was it because I wasn't there with you?" Jace smiled as she thought of Catherine alone in the bed and knew it would be difficult for her to sleep. From the day they began sleeping together Catherine wouldn't accept her anywhere else. Even when the unborn child had disturbed Catherine's sleep numerous times in the night, she would always just shrug her broad shoulders and smile and wait until Jace snuggled back down into her shoulder, then she would sleep.
"I wish it was as simple as that!" Catherine replied sadly.
"Then tell me Catherine, why are you back so soon and why are you so sad?" Jace prompted her, hoping it didn't have anything to do with the children or Grace.
"I had a call to make to New York when I got home.... It wasn't good news, there was a shooting, and some people are dead! I need to leave immediately to find out what went on." Catherine almost stated it as if she was announcing a particularly tedious newscast.
"I'm sorry, is it anyone you know?" Jace asked her compassionately.
"Yes it is. Paul....Paul Strong was one of the people and Celeste Johnson his ex-PA in New York, and the VP for New York is in a critical condition and others are dead." Catherine informed her friend bleakly.
Jace clutched at Catherine and held her close again, it wasn't possible that Paul was dead; he shouldn't have even been in New York should he? "Paul's dead?" Jace said in disbelief. 'Oh god's, what condition will James be in?' her thoughts compassionately going to Paul's partner.
"Yes. I can't believe it myself, I'm leaving shortly to get to Christchurch and the plane to LA, the Xianthos jet will be ready for me in LA to go on directly to New York." Catherine replied emotionlessly.
"Tonight? You're going tonight?" Jace sounded shocked, Catherine didn't look capable of travelling the distance in her current condition.
"I have to Jace, the sooner I know the facts the sooner I will know if there is a security problem here for my family and friends." Catherine informed her quietly.
Jace considered what Catherine said and realised she didn't know if it was a random shooting or aimed to bring about her personal attendance. "I understand, but are you going on your own?"
"No! Actually I asked Danni if she could be my eyes for a week or so, I have to take Rio too of course." Catherine couldn't see he spark of jealousy that the mention of Danni brought to Jace's face.
"Couldn't you get Grace to go with you?" Jace asked her desperately. It was okay to put up with the constant irritation of Danni hen she had Catherine at home, but to have Danni alone with Catherine in another country, was quite a different matter ltogether.
"I asked Grace to come home and look after the children, you and the baby. I thought you would like a friendly face so soon after the birth. If you can't have me, why not our greatest friend?" Catherine tried to smile but failed as she felt the tremors from her lover's body. "If there was any other way, I would do it Jace! I don't want to go and leave you now believe me on that one, please!" Catherine pleaded desperately.
"I know, I know, but I'll miss you and I want to be with you so much." Jace placed her lips on Catherine's left temple her mouth skimming the greying hair at the side.
"I would rather have you by my side than anyone else, but it's impossible and we both know that. All I will say is that as soon as I know what the problem is I will fly home." Catherine said earnestly.
"Will you promise me?" Jace asked her seriously.
"I will promise you anything!" Catherine replied with conviction.
Jace pulled Catherine's face to hers and gave her a passionate kiss that ignited a flame in both their hearts; it had the intensity to consume them whole.
A small wail from the crib announced their new arrival, effectively dousing the passion that had arisen between them. Catherine stroked a lock of Jace's hair from her eyes and closed her own as if to saviour the moment. "I think our daughter needs to be fed, how about I wait for you both to settle down again and then I'll leave."
"Oh Catherine your going to be exhausted, go and get some sleep before you leave please?" Jace gently reprimanded her lover.
"Hey Jace, being here with you and the baby is......well, let's just say it's like resting in heaven. I'm happy here with you, and you know you were right first time; I can't sleep properly without you in my arms now anyway. So come on let's feed Elena, if she's anything like her mother, she will be very hungry." Catherine gently pulled the crib closer for Jace to retrieve their child and nurse her for the first time
As Jace did so and muttered at the pull on her nipple from her apparently ferociously hungry child, Catherine sat on the bed, cradling both mother and daughter and smiling at her good fortune, others that day hadn't been so lucky. Catherine sent up a silent pray to whichever god was listening, 'Please keep my family safe, it doesn't matter about me, but it matters so much about them! I will do anything, anything to see them safe.'
Continued In Part 7
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