“Of course—Catherine Inca Houston.”
Mike reached out and gripped Inca’s hand as if to tell her to let the slight go, that he and Ann loved her and that was all that mattered. Adaire, as spiritually advanced as he was, was not perfect. Inca was still his open wound, one that he had not been able to heal within himself. Mike fervently prayed that someday these two would make their peace with one another.
“Catherine Inca Houston,” Adaire intoned gravely as he held her, “you will become a light among lights. A woman of great and balanced power who will help our mother, the earth, and bring two-leggeds in harmony with all our relations.”
Leaning down, Adaire kissed her brow. “The Great Goddess blesses you, little one. Go in peace, in step with her heart, for you are made in divine image of her.”
Gently, Adaire handed Catherine toward Ann.
“Please, allow Inca to hold her,” Ann murmured.
Instantly, Inca gasped and recoiled. She released Mike’s hand. “But—”
“Hold her,” Mike ordered quietly. “You’re her godmother now. More than an aunt, you know.” He saw Adaire’s scowl, but the elder controlled his reaction and managed to tame whatever feelings he had toward Inca as he limped around the bed to stand before the woman warrior.
Ann smiled through her tears. Mike gripped her hand gently and they watched Adaire set Catherine into Inca’s arms. Maybe, just maybe, this little innocent baby could help begin to heal the rift, the chasm between them. Ann knew Inca never wanted to be touched by Adaire. But now, as they carefully passed the baby between them, they had direct contact. She hoped the baby would become a bridge and connection between them.
Inca’s face changed instantly as she cradled Catherine very carefully in her arms. All the anger, the distrust, melted away. As she held Catherine, she bowed her head, her black hair falling across her shoulders and acting as a shining curtain, hiding her face.
Adaire moved away, but there was a kinder expression on his face as he watched Inca’s unexpected reaction. It was as if he was surprised but pleased by her acceptance of the baby.
Ann felt a tremendous unleashing of emotions from Inca. There was no need to see her features; Ann felt her tears. Catherine started to move very actively in Inca’s arms, her tiny hands flexing, as if to reach up and touch her face.
“Kiss her,” Ann urged brokenly. “She wants you to kiss her….”
Inca slowly raised her chin. Tears were streaming down her taut face. “N-no…I cannot…. I do not deserve such a gift—”
“Nonsense,” Ann whispered. She gestured firmly toward her child. “She wants you to kiss her. You’re her aunt. Her godmother. If anyone should be holding her and kissing her and loving her, it’s you.”
Inca’s shoulders sank. She struggled hard not to sob as Ann reached out to her, heart-to-heart. “You do not realize all I have done—how bad I really am—”
Mike sighed raggedly. “Listen to us, Inca,” he said in a low, emotional tone. “Ann and I don’t care what you’ve done. We don’t stand in judgment of you or what’s happened in your past. Our daughter wouldn’t be alive today—” he looked tenderly down at Ann “—nor would my wife, if you hadn’t been there…if you hadn’t helped to save their lives by protecting them against Escovar and his men. This isn’t about karmic payback or balancing things out among the four of us. Two people are alive here today because of your courage and bravery. Catherine belongs to you as much as she does to us. You’re her family now, you know. You’re not an orphan anymore, Inca.”
Inca winced, shutting her eyes tightly for a moment, then carefully lifted Catherine so that she could look at the baby’s face and waving, active arms. “She is so precious. So clean and innocent…without sin….”
“We were all like her once,” Mike reminded Inca gently. “Life changes us, but somewhere in your heart there’s light, Inca, or our baby daughter wouldn’t be happy to be in your arms, and you know that. Babies sense who’s good or bad. If Catherine didn’t want to be with you, she’d be screaming her head off.” He grinned a little down at Ann.
Ann agreed. “We love you, Inca, sins and all. We aren’t perfect, either.”
Inca cast her a tear-filled look. “You are not anything like me. You know nothing of the blood that stains my hands or what I have done…. I am not a good person like you. I have acted in revenge, which is against clan code, and I have not yet learned my lesson—”
“Tell that to the baby in your hands,” Adaire rumbled warningly, scowling at Inca. “Can you not allow the purity of a baby, newly born, to wash away some of that eternal darkness that stalks your soul?”
Shaken, Inca refused to look up at Adaire. Lowering her head, she pressed a hesitant kiss against her soft, ruddy cheek.
Ann watched as something magical occurred when Inca allowed herself to kiss Catherine. She felt a shift, a dramatic one, in the room. Whatever demons, guilt or darkness Inca was fighting dissolved within that moment. Ann was mesmerized as Inca’s drawn, pain-filled expression disappeared. And for a second time that day, Ann felt the shield completely fall away from her friend. Ann wasn’t sure what had happened, but she understood that something very powerful and healing had taken place between Inca and Catherine. Her daughter cooed and waved her arms, as if excited by the touch of Inca’s lips upon her cheek.
Inca smiled brokenly as she brought the baby to rest against her breast. In a tender motion, she wrapped her arms around little Catherine, closed her eyes and rocked her gently.
Mike shared another tender look with Ann. Then he turned to Inca and saw huge tears squeezing from beneath her thick, black lashes, her lower lip trembling with a sob that desperately wanted to be released. He watched Inca fight against being human and vulnerable. He knew it was because Grandfather Adaire was in the room that she wouldn’t cry, wouldn’t allow her feelings to be displayed. Mike looked up to see the expression on the elder’s face. No longer was Adaire scowling. No, the old one was staring at Inca with such compassion and love that it shook Mike. Wave after wave of emotion emanated from Inca. It was as if she could no longer control them, and on some level, Mike understood that this was good because Inca rarely released her feelings freely. But this innocent little baby did. Babies were pure love, as far as Mike was concerned. Pure, radiating love, so clean and innocent in this insane world they lived in. And only something as pure as Catherine would be able in some unfathomable way to reach effortlessly into Inca’s dark, wounded heart, and help release her past.
Mike felt Ann press her cheek against his chest. Leaning down, he threaded his fingers through her clean hair and gently held her against him. Yes, whatever they were sharing in this miraculous moment, it was a powerful healing for Inca, made possible by the daughter whom she had saved. Kissing his wife’s hair, Mike lifted her chin a little and met her widening blue-gray eyes. There was such love burning in them for him…for her new, extended family. Mike smiled brokenly as he caressed Ann’s pale cheek. He couldn’t wait until he was within the sanctuary, the serenity of the village with his family.
“Look at her,” Mike said with a chuckle, “she’s a hungry little jaguar today.” He sat with his back against the huge silk cotton tree, the long, thin gray roots surrounding them like protective arms. Ann was curled up between his legs, resting contentedly against him. Catherine lay suckling noisily from her left breast. Mike’s arm was positioned below Ann’s to help hold their daughter in place as she fed.
Dappled sunlight filtered down through the leaves, dancing around them like gold, glittering coins. Mike listened to his daughter’s noisy, happy sounds. He grinned down at Ann. Her face mirrored her happiness, her absolute contentment. Watching Catherine suckle, Ann softly caressed her daughter’s curling black hair. “She is hungry,” she said with a laugh. “Every day since we’ve been here Catherine gets stronger, hungrier and more active.”
Mike agreed. He moved his hand in a caressing motion across Ann’s sable hair, the reddish gold highlights gleamin
g in the sun. “One more week,” he said with a sigh, “and then we have to leave.”
“I know…” Ann tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice. She looked out across the wildflower-strewn meadow. There were red, purple and white flowers mixed with the verdant green of the grass. This was their favorite place to come, besides the pool of life. Mike had surprised her earlier by making a picnic lunch over at Grandfather Adaire’s hut before picking her and Catherine up and bringing them here to the ancient tree they enjoyed so much.
“I think Grandmother Alaria is sad that we’re going to have to leave,” Ann whispered. “She is so taken with Catherine.” Without fail, the elder would walk over to their hut mid-morning shortly after Catherine’s feeding, to sit with Catherine in the hand-hewn rocker outside the hut and rock her in her arms for an hour. Inevitably, all six elders would come over, touch, hold and love Catherine. It seemed the child had several doting grandparents.
“Alaria might be the leader,” Mike said, “but she’s lonely, too. I think, with us, she can be more herself—just another human being.”
“Yes,” Ann said softly, gazing out across the meadow. It was near eighty degrees, the sky a deep, cloudless blue. To the north, she saw that white roll of clouds hanging against the grayish blue snow-covered Andes. The day was perfect. Everything was perfect. “Members of the Jaguar Clan come and go from here constantly. She is their leader,” Ann noted, “and she has that role to fulfill for them.”
“Not with us, though,” Mike whispered, and leaned over and kissed Ann’s brow.
Closing her eyes, she nestled her face against the curve of his neck and hard jaw. “I don’t care where we go when we leave here, Mike. I just want to be with you.”
The trembling in her voice touched him deeply. Easing his arm around her, Mike held Ann tightly against him. Catherine continued to suckle noisily, her small arms waving every now and again, as if cheering for that rich, nutritious milk she was gobbling down.
“Yesterday, I left the village and met Pablo down below the bridge,” he confessed in a low voice.
Ann opened her eyes. “So that’s where you went. I wondered….”
Chuckling, Mike slid his fingers along the smooth curve of her cheek. He ached to make love with Ann, but the time wasn’t right yet. She was recovering from the birth and her ribs were mending nicely, but she needed to recuperate fully, first.
“So what were you conspiring with Pablo about?” she demanded wryly. Gently she moved Catherine to her other breast to continue feeding. Mike drew the edge of Ann’s blouse away to expose her other breast and helped position the baby against her. Just having his strength, his support and assistance meant the world to Ann. He’d helped deliver so many babies over the years in the villages of the highlands that he knew a lot more about them than she did. However, the women of the village, many of them mothers many times over, had also helped her pick up the necessary mothering skills, and Ann was more than grateful for their knowledge and guidance.
“I know you’re worried that when we leave here, we’ll be in the same danger as before,” Mike began quietly. He watched Catherine’s little mouth suckle strongly. Smiling, he felt his daughter’s strength, her determination to latch on to that nipple and feed. A drop of milk formed at the corner of her mouth, and with his finger, he rescued the bubble. In one motion, he placed the milk onto his tongue. He heard Ann chuckle.
“Two hungry jaguars here,” she teased, smiling up at him.
He grinned. “I’m hungry, all right, but it’s not the same hunger little Cat here has,” he growled darkly.
Blushing fiercely, Ann held his burning blue gaze and knew exactly what Mike meant. She felt her lower body respond to his look. How badly she wanted to love him! Waiting was necessary, but it was a special, unfulfilled agony. With a frustrated sigh, Ann muttered, “Let’s talk about the future, shall we?”
Laughing deeply, Mike cradled his wife and child more securely against him. “Okay, okay….” Then he sobered. “I’ve been talking to Morgan off and on. He’s made us an offer we can’t refuse.”
Ann felt her heart squeeze a bit in terror. “What do you mean, Mike?”
“I told Morgan I’d talk to you about his proposal first. And then, when we decided, I’d get back with him with a firm answer one way or another.”
“This had better be good, Mike,” she warned.
He grinned a little sheepishly and caressed her flaming cheek. “Oh,” he whispered conspiratorially, “I think you’ll like his offer….”
Ann relaxed in Mike’s arms. Happiness continued to flow through her. What else was there besides lying against the man who loved her with a fierceness that defied description, while holding the child created out of that love in her arms? “Okay, what did he offer you?”
“Us,” Mike corrected. “Morgan knows the score down here. He’s had mercenaries working with all the governments in South America for some time now. He has a plan—a big one—to go after all the drug kingpins at once in one massive concerted effort. To do so he needs people like myself, who have been in the field for a long time and know the score, to help develop tactics and strategies that will break the grip of the drug lords once and for all.”
“That means he want you to help him come up with a battle plan.”
“Yes,” Houston murmured, “but not like you think.” He smiled a little. “Morgan has got the guarantee of the U.S. government to form a top-secret department under the code name Jaguar.”
Ann gave him a significant look. “Now, I wonder who came up with that name?”
“Hey, I’m innocent—for once,” he said. “Morgan came up with this all on his own.”
“Does he know about you…the Jaguar Clan?”
“No. He might have an inkling about us, but as an outsider, no, he doesn’t have much information.”
“I see….”
“He wants to move us to Montana, where he lives, near Philipsburg, a small town deep in the Rocky Mountains. He has key government officials from ten countries coming there, with their families. This is so damn secret that only the president and two members of his cabinet know about this plan, Ann. And it’s going to be kept that way. We’ll work at an office in Philipsburg during the day, forming plans, and we’ll be staying in contact with each of these governments at the highest of levels. This minimizes possible leaks to spies who are moles for the drug lords.”
Ann considered his plan. “Montana?” She looked around. “A far cry from the humid jungle, isn’t it?”
He nodded. “Yes, it is.”
“Will you miss it? This?”
Shaking his head, Mike placed a kiss on her wrinkled brow. “No. I have exactly what I want in my arms right now,” he whispered huskily. “As long as I’m with you, I don’t care where I live, mi querida. Do you?”
Ann closed her eyes and rested against him. “No,” she whispered softly, “I don’t care either, Mike. I just want our baby—and you and I—safe, that’s all.”
Sighing, Mike nodded and held her gently. “I know,” he said heavily. “Going north will be safer for us. If word ever gets out about the organization we’re planning, it won’t matter where we live, we’ll be in maximum danger. Escovar is dead, but someone will take his place. It’s only a matter of time. The difference is my death spiral dance is over. If we continued to live in Lima, you and Cat would be exposed to the same dangers. Drug lords go after family members of people like myself. I want you out of that danger as much as possible. By moving to Montana, we’ll have a modicum of safety and a chance at a peaceful life.”
“I know….” Ann raised her head. “But we have an advantage, Mike, and you know it.”
His mouth drew into a slight smile. “It might be hell sometimes, being a member of the Jaguar Clan, but in some ways it’s a blessing, too.”
“Your guardian will tell us if trouble is coming. That can be an early warning system for all of us—even for Morgan and his family.”
“Yes, bu
t they’ll never know that we’re operating on a different, invisible plane.”
Ann shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll be able to tell them if our cover is blown. Then we can still get out in time and keep our families safe.”
Mike nuzzled her cheek. “Well? Want to move to Montana, Mrs. Houston?”
“Yes,” Ann whispered, her voice emotional. She gazed down at Catherine, who had stopped suckling and was now asleep in her arms. “I want as normal a life as we can have for her, Mike. And for ourselves…”
“Well…” He sighed, smiling against her cheek. “Being a member of the Jaguar Clan isn’t going to guarantee total normality, but for the most part, we can have it.”
Lifting her head, she met and drowned in his deep blue gaze. A fierce sense of love overwhelmed her. “Kiss me?”
“Any chance I get….”
As she met his descending mouth, felt the power of his lips upon hers, she gave herself completely to Mike in every way. When they gently drew apart, he began rummaging in the loosely woven sack that he’d brought the lunch along in.
“I have something for you,” he murmured, and he withdrew a red-and-yellow orchid from the sack.
Gasping, Ann eyed the blossom. “Mike, that’s the same kind of orchid you gave me in Lima!”
He grinned and pinned it in her hair. “Yep, the same one you saw in your dreams a long time ago. Remember that?” He carefully affixed the flower so that it rested against her left ear. The vanilla scent enveloped them.
“Yes, the same one you gave me when you first came to my apartment in Lima.”
Chuckling indulgently, he said, “You were mine then and you didn’t even realize you’d been caught.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Very pleased with himself, Mike said, “You don’t know the story of this particular orchid yet, do you?”
“No, but you’re going to tell me, aren’t you?” Ann flashed him a smile. His eyes danced with a mischievous glint in their depths.
“It’s called the marriage orchid,” he told her, his smile widening. “A man who wants a woman to marry him will bring her this orchid. It’s a proposal. If she accepts the orchid, well, it’s a done deal—she has, in effect, agreed to marry the poor slob.”
Morgan’s Mercenaries: Heart of the Jaguar Page 32
