Midsummer Sweetheart (32 page)

Erik turned just in time to grab Wade’s wrist, struggling for a moment before bending it backwards with a revolting snap. The knife fell to the floor once again, while Wade’s wrist hung limply at an unnatural angle. Erik kicked the knife away and pushed Wade into the wall where he slumped slowly to the ground, curling up in a ball, cradling his wrist and sobbing.

“But I love her…I love her…I love her…”

Erik squatted down in front of Wade, taking his chin roughly and making Wade look at him. “Well, she
doesn’t
love you. It’s
over
. Do you understand me? Over. And here’s the only warning you’re ever going to get: If you
ever
come near her again, I will
kill
you.”

Katrin heard the sirens in the distance as Erik crossed the room in giant strides. She stood up weakly, but Erik scooped her up into his arms, cradling her gently. Without looking back, he headed out the door, down the stairs, leaving a crumpled Wade behind.

***

Erik looked down at Katrin’s hand in his, stroking it gently as he sat beside her on the short ambulance ride to the hospital. He couldn’t bear to look at her face, the blood and bruises reminding him that he had failed her.

There was so much he wanted to say—
I’m sorry I left you, I’m sorry I was late, I’m sorry I didn’t protect you, I’d rather die than lose you
—but he didn’t trust himself to speak. He didn’t trust himself to form the words without trembling, or worse, sobbing, with latent fear and guilt and fury. So he stared at her small, pale hand, holding it gently but firmly in his, too overwhelmed to say anything at all.

“Do you want the doctors to check that bruise on your face?”

The medic repeated himself twice before Erik realized that she was speaking to him. “N-no. Worry about her. I’m fine.”
I didn’t get there in time. I didn’t get there in time.

“When we get there, they’ll need to check her out in one of the examination rooms. You won’t be able to go with her, Mr. Lindstrom, but we’ll come find you once the doctor gives us the okay,” the medic said as they pulled up in front of the hospital.

Erik flinched, hating that he was going to have to let her out of his sight even for a moment. Panic rose up in him as he looked down at her face.

Her worried blue eyes, one swollen nearly all the way shut, looked up to capture his and her thumb dusted his palm soothingly. “I’ll be okay. Don’t worry. It’s okay now.”

As they opened the back doors of the ambulance, he touched his lips to her left cheek gently and whispered, “I love you.”

She had tried to smile back at him, but winced with the pain in her face, managing a soft “I love you, too,” before they pulled the stretcher out of the vehicle and hurried her away.

Feeling dazed and distraught, he watched as the sliding glass doors closed behind her before jumping down out of the ambulance. As he approached the front doors of the emergency room, Kristian came striding out, followed by Katrin’s mother, Ingrid, Sam, Jenny, his brothers and father. Kristian threw his arms around Erik, embracing him in a giant bear hug.

“You saved her.”

“I was late.”
I was late. I was late and Wade hurt her.

“No, man. You got there in time. That’s all that matters. I saw her when they wheeled her in. She’ll heal. At least she’s still in one piece. I owe you, Erik. Thank God you made it there in time.”

Lisabet was next, hugging Erik then patting his cheek with her hand, repeating the words Ingrid had said to him weeks ago as he drive away with her daughter. “You rescued her, Erik. How will we ever thank you? How?”

“I’m so sorry I didn’t get there on time,” he murmured, wincing. “I can’t believe he almost—I love your daughter, Mrs. Svenson.”

“Lisabet,” she smiled gently at him. “And I know you do.”

His head started to clear and he thought about telling her about the postcard the police had found in Wade’s back pocket—the one addressed to Lisabet, sent from Katrin and intercepted by Wade. After he was handcuffed, he admitted he’d seen Katrin and Erik in the parking lot at Flathead Lake and had keyed Erik’s car. He also admitted to stealing the postcard out of Lisabet’s mail and driving up to Skidoo to try to convince Katrin to give him another chance. When Erik had turned up at the same time to pick up Katrin for their date, Wade had freaked out, thrust the flowers at his rival and driven home.

Erik decided not to worry her further and kept all the information to himself, leaning down to accept her kiss on his cheek.

Kristian put his arm around his mother’s shoulders and Jenny stepped up quickly to examine Erik’s face, grimacing at the developing bruises. “If anything had happened to you…”

“Nothing did, Jen. I’m fine. But Kat…”

“She’ll be fine, Erik. She’s just a little banged up.”

Nils and Lars clapped him on the back and he accepted his brother’s congratulations then turned to his father.

Erik looked at him through new eyes. His weathered face, his once-blond, now-white hair, his eyes that had been forbidden to watch his wife die. He had always seemed larger than life to young Erik, but Erik could see that his father was aging, and he didn’t want to waste another moment feeling angry with him.

“Pappa.”

“Erik. You okay, son?”

“I am.”

“How’s your girl?”

“She’s…She’s…” He thought about his father slipping into his mother’s bedroom to hold her as she was dying. He’d never let anyone hurt Katrin again. Not as long as he lived. He’d keep her safe. She’d know that she was loved. “I think she’ll be okay. She’ll probably be shaken up for a while. Possible broken arm. I was so scared I would lose her—I didn’t get there in time, I was so scared—”

“Takes a brave man to love a woman that much, son.”

Erik looked up and his eyes seized his fathers, so similar to his own. “You would know, Pappa.”

His father’s light blue eyes looked squarely into Erik’s and he nodded. “I guess I would, at that,
Minste
.”

Erik impulsively clasped his arms around his father for the first time since his mother’s death. He felt his father’s burly arms encircling him, hesitantly at first, and then with a firm and forgiving strength.

Erik opened his eyes to see Jenny over his father’s shoulder. She wiped a tear away and gave Erik a small smile, nodding at him like he finally understood.

And he did. A massive weight on Erik’s heart lifted, and he heard his mother’s voice in his head. The same hopeful question she would ask Erik’s father after their dreaded excursions; “And my
Minste
?”

He felt the answer in his heart before he heard it in his head.
He’s going to be fine now, Mamma. We’re all going to be just fine.

***

As Katrin lay in the hospital bed, increasingly dreamy and drowsy from the painkillers, the events of the morning lost their sharp edges, but she couldn’t help but imagine what could have happened if Erik hadn’t come to save her
.
She shuddered lightly, fending off the increasing need for sleep.

Erik. Erik. Thank God for Erik.

She wanted Erik. She needed to see him, thank him, touch his face and tell him how much she loved him. Now. Before she fell asleep.

The nurse asked her if she needed anything. “All set now, honey?”

“How long do I need to stay?”

“Well, you got lucky with your arm. It’s just badly bruised, not broken, but you took a couple of bad blows to the head. I think they want to rule out a concussion. My guess is that you’ll go home tomorrow morning.”

“Can you, um…can you ask my boyfriend to come in?”

“Why don’t you just rest now?”

“I want to see him. His name is Erik. Erik Lindstrom. He’s tall and blond and he’s probably very worried.”

“Doctor told the family you’re going to be just fine. I’m sure they’ll let him know.”

Katrin thought of Erik’s bleak eyes in the ambulance. She reached out and took the nurse’s wrist with her uninjured hand. “I’m a nurse too. I used to work here in this hospital. Maternity. I know you’re not supposed to let anyone back yet. I’m asking you to make an exception.”

“I could get in trouble.”

“No one will know. Except me. Please.”

The young nurse took a deep breath, and nodded once. “I’ll get him. Five minutes, okay? Don’t get me in trouble.”

Katrin tried to smile back, but winced for her efforts. Better not to move those facial muscles until the painkillers had kicked in all the way.

A moment later the nurse peeked her head back into Katrin’s room. “Your description wasn’t very helpful. About five men out there are tall and blond. Hope I got the right one.”

She moved to the side, and Erik stepped through the doorway. Impossibly big. Heartbreakingly beautiful. Tears slid out of her eyes, and she reached her undamaged hand out to him.

He sat down in the chair beside her, pulling her hand to his lips, resting it there, closing his eyes. She saw a tear make its way down his face, but he didn’t feel it or he ignored it, because he didn’t move. He kept his head bent over her hand.

“Erik?” she whispered.

He looked up and she saw the agony in his eyes as he searched her face. “What did he do to you? Oh, Kat. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I left you alone. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there in time. You were all alone with him, Kat. I’m so sorry…”

His voice trailed off as he released her hand, clasping his own together helplessly.

“Erik. Look at me.” She put her fingers under his chin until he raised his head and looked at her with watery eyes. “You saved my life.”

He shook his head, trying to look down, but she lifted his chin again, seizing his eyes with hers. “Erik, you saved my life. Stop shaking your head at me. You did. You saved me.”

“I was so scared, Kat. Kristian called me, and I knew you were in danger, and I had to get to you, I had to— When I saw him with that knife over your head, I don’t even know what happened. I snapped. I started choking him. I wanted to kill him.”

She moved her fingers to his cheek, cupping it with her palm. “I’m glad you didn’t. I’m glad you don’t have that burden on your heart.”

He reached up and covered her hand with his, inspecting her face. She hadn’t asked for a mirror yet, but aside from the way she felt, she could tell from the way Erik looked at her that she probably looked pretty bad.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“My arm hurts.”

“It’s not broken.”

“I know. My face hurts.”

“Nothing’s broken there either.”

“I know. My heart—”

“Hurts? Well, you were with him for a long time. Tough to see—”

“—is yours. Erik the Blond, my Viking King
. Min Älskling. Min Kärlek.
I was sure he was going to kill me. So I closed my eyes. And all I could see was you. Your face, your voice, your words. You loving me. All I wanted was you. And then…there you were.”

“I’ll never forgive myself for not getting there in time. Do you know I’d do anything for you? Do you know that? Anything. Anything to keep you safe. Anything to make you happy.
I’m
not safe unless
you’re
safe.
I’m
not happy unless
you’re
happy. My life doesn’t belong to me anymore. It’s yours because without you, it’s nothing.”

She closed her eyes against more tears springing from the sweetness of his words, feeling overwhelmed by the extent of his feelings and the strength and depth of her own. The threat of Wade was gone, and Katrin belonged to Erik as irrevocably as Erik belonged to her. He leaned over to touch her lips with his, then sat back down, laying his head gently on the bed beside her, and with the peace that comes from knowing you are loved with the same measure and force that you love, she gently stroked his hair until her hand stilled and she was asleep.

CHAPTER 19

Katrin pushed back and forth on the swing with the tip of her sneaker, enjoying one of the last warm days of summer. Warm being a relative term. Lately the winds coming down from the north were cooler and most nights didn’t get much above fifty degrees. She pulled her cardigan more tightly around her, checking her watch: 5:30 p.m. Erik would be home soon.

Home was another relative word lately. Erik claimed that home was wherever Katrin was, and true to his word, he hadn’t spent more than a night or two away from her since they returned from
Midsommardagen
two months ago. For a week they had shared her ridiculously small twin bed like sardines. The following weekend, he’d brought the mattress and box spring from his full-sized bed down from Kalispell. Little by little all of Erik’s things had ended up at her little apartment in Skidoo Bay, although they agreed that it was just about time to find a more suitable home for co-habitation.

Erik had to wake up very early every morning to get to work on time, but he didn’t seem to mind, and Katrin loved waking up beside him every day. She couldn’t remember a time in her life when she’d ever been happier.

Speaking of happiness, the same weekend that Katrin and Erik had made their relationship official over
Midsommardagen
, José and Gabrielle had rekindled theirs. Although Katrin feared she would never find out the story of what happened between them in Germany, she sensed the shift between them as soon as she returned from Choteau that Tuesday. Gabrielle started spending her nights in José’s rented apartment down the street, affording each of the young couples a little more privacy.

Over crepes one Sunday afternoon, about two weeks after Midsummer, Katrin had pumped Gabrielle for information.

“What
happened
between you two?”

“What should happen years ago, Tiki. We just a little late getting it along.”

“Well, I knew something was there. Between you two. History.”

Gabrielle had smiled, winking at Katrin. “And de a-go-nee, Tiki? I see it all over you naughty face.”

Katrin had raised her eyebrows, trying not to smile. “Agony, all right.”

“I guess we
both
in agony now!” And then she had laughed out loud, holding Katrin’s good hand across the table.