Give My Heart to Kaitlyn (2nd in Outlaw Series)

Chapter Three

"We're only human baby, we walk on broken ground. We lose our way, we come unwound. We're turnin' circles baby, we're never satisfied. We fall from grace. Forget we can fly. But through all the tears that we cry, we'll survive. Cuz when we're torn apart, shattered and scarred, love as the grace to save us. We're just two tarnished hearts, but in each others arms, we become saints and angels." Sara Evans 'Saints and Angels'

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Kaitlyn was awakened the next morning by her little sister's sing song voice as she jumped up and down on the foot of her bed. "Wake up, Kaitlyn. We got more snow! Mama said we can go play in it!" Lucy exclaimed. Kaitlyn moaned and tried to bury her face back into her pillow but Lucy laughed and grabbed Kaitlyn's hand in one of her pudgy five year old ones.

"C'mon!" she grunted as she tugged on Kaitlyn as hard as she could. Kaitlyn laughed loudly and flipped over onto her back.

"Okay. Okay. What's for breakfast though because I'm hungry." she said as she took in her younger sisters angelic features. Lucy had been born with red hair it had become dark brown like Marston's as she'd gotten older, though she had kept Rose's curls. Her eyes were deep blue like Rose's and freckles littered her face. She had gotten Marston's dark complexion and his impatient temper.

"I don't know." Lucy grumbled in a very Marston-like manner. "I didn't ask, I just want to go play in the snow."

"Yes, well breakfast first, then chores, then playing." Kaitlyn said with a smile as she poked her sister's tiny nose. Lucy scrunched her face up and giggled.

"Don't poke my nose." she squealed. "And pa said he'd take care of the chores today so we could play!" Kaitlyn couldn't help but laugh at the way Lucy was all but bursting with excitement.

"Okay. Let me get dressed and I'll be down." she replied and Lucy squealed and ran from the room.

Kaitlyn didn't move right away. She was still exhausted from her nearly sleepless night and she stared up at her smooth ceiling thinking about the dreams that had plagued her. She had never told anyone but the same dreams that often had her ma rising from bed with screams and walking to the kitchen in the middle of the night; also barely went a night without coming to Kaitlyn.

They had come last night and she had awaken sweaty and tangled up in her sheets. Memories of the way those men had touched her and violated her body. She never complained about her nightmares or talked about her time with Gilliam because she knew that Rose had had it so much worse. Rose had been there for years and years being used as a whore, Kaitlyn had only been with him for a year. And she also knew that bringing it up would only anger Marston and cause him to feel guilty( though Kaitlyn had no idea why the man felt guilty when none of it was his fault) and she didn't want to hurt her pa; her rescuer.

Kaitlyn's dreams hadn't been all bad though. After she had awoken from the nightmares she had drifted back to sleep and dreamt of the mystery man at the doc's. His fingertips had once again been stroking her face and his fevered, delirious brown eyes had been looking deep into hers. Those dreams had frightened her worse than the nightmares had. The nightmares she was used to, but these dreams and the feelings that came with them frightened her. She wanted to see the mystery man again even though she knew she shouldn't.

She rose from her bed and wrapped her quilt around her shoulders as she made her way across the room. The fire in her small fireplace had died down in the night and her bare feet were chilled quickly on the cold hardwood floor. She pulled back her curtains and looked through her frost covered window to see that more snow had indeed fallen. Not enough to make getting to town impossible but enough to ensure that Marston would not take her to town in the cart today.