Reclaimed Love: Banished Saga, Book Two (14 page)

“She sent me a pair of socks she knitted herself. And a sweater that she bought.”

“Those socks will be mighty welcome as winter drags on,” Ronan said as he reached out to tighten Mathew’s scarf, nearly choking him in the process.

“You would think. Clarissa’s not the most talented woman when it comes to the domestic arts. They look more like mittens, and my feet won’t fit into shoes when I have them on.”

“Consider them slippers then,” Liam said with a wink.

“I’d be thankful she didn’t decide to knit you a sweater. You might have ended up with three sleeves,” Ronan joked.

“I was very happy to see she purchased the sweater.”

“And she wrote you a lovely letter,” Amelia murmured.

Gabriel flushed. “Yes.”

“Nicholas, you must change. Now. We have to go to Mass, and then we can return for the meal.” She stood leading Nicholas away from the room. “This won’t take long. Start bundling up for the walk.” They nodded, stood and donned their coats and other winter wear to withstand the cold for the walk to church.

***

“GABE, YOU AWAKE?” Matthew mumbled.

“Yeah.”

“It was a good day. I didn’t miss home as much as I had thought.”

“Nor did I,” Gabriel admitted. “It helped to be with all of you. Did you hear from your family?”

“No, none of ’em can read or write. I knew when I left I wouldn’t hear from them again.”

“You could still write them, Matthew. Tell them how you are.”

“I do. About once a month. And I hope they find someone to read it to them. What did your lovely lady have to tell you, Gabe?”

“She missed me and wished me home.”

“But you aren’t going back,” Matthew said on a loud yawn.

“No, I’m not. Somehow I have to explain that to her.”

“She’ll grow to like Butte.”

“Maybe. But she’ll like all of you,” Gabriel said with warm affection in his voice.

“Without a doubt. Night, Gabe,” Matthew said.

A few moments later, Gabriel heard a soft snoring. Gabriel lay on his cot rereading Clarissa’s recent letter.

December 17, 1900

My darling Gabriel,

Merry Christmas, dearest! I wish you were here to celebrate the holiday with me. We could go for long walks, warm up with hot chocolate and finish the perfect day of my imaginings with a kiss (or two!) under the mistletoe. Know that you are never far from my thoughts.

We have begun to decorate the house. There is beautiful holly this year, and I have placed it in lovely vases throughout the family parlor. I have also strung boughs of evergreen around the fireplace. The stockings have been hung, and we now await the arrival of St. Nicholas. The decorations are rather simple, but I enjoy them.

My baby sister, Melinda, will be one month old on Christmas day and gives us something more to celebrate. It is a marvel to watch her grow and change every day.

Thank you for your letters. I would be lost without them. Never fear that the sweet talkings of those present would ever cause me to forget you. I simply act as I know is expected of me, smile when I should, think my own thoughts and dream of you.

Enclosed you will find something that I labored to make for you. Hopefully you will find it useful during the next few months. My darling Gabriel, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May this be the last holiday that we spend apart.

Your Clarissa

CHAPTER 10

I FROWNED AT THE DOOR at the gentle, insistent tapping that intruded upon my quietude as I rocked in my chair overlooking the back garden.

“Rissa,” Colin called out. When I didn’t answer, he poked his head in, rolling his eyes to see my distant gaze. “Daydreaming again?”

I raised my eyebrows at him by way of answer, waiting for him to speak.

“Richard’s here with a surprise.”

I bolted up, breathless.

“Rissa, don’t,” Colin warned. “It’s not what you think.”

I nodded. “Of course. How silly of me,” I choked out.

Colin moved toward me, taking my face in his hands. His thumbs rubbed my cheeks, forcing my eyes open. “Rissa, it’s acceptable to miss him. To wish him here. If I had ever loved like that, I’d cling to it. Fight for it.”

“Let’s go see Richard,” I said, attempting to fake a smile.

“Someday I’d like to see that smile reach your eyes.”

I shrugged as I shook myself free of his hold, brushing past him and making my way downstairs.

“Richard!” I called out as I entered the parlor. I stopped short as two tall, dark-haired, broad-shouldered men turned toward me. The man beside Richard watched me with piercing green eyes and his black hair gleamed in the lamplight. He leaned on a cane held in his left hand and reached up with his free hand to swipe away at a fine bead of perspiration from his brow. He grimaced at the slight movement.

“Miss Sullivan,” Richard said with a beaming smile. “May I present my brother, Jeremy?”

“Jeremy!” I exclaimed, reaching out to clasp his arm that felt almost skeletal. In my exuberance, I nearly missed his cringe at my touch. “I beg your pardon,” I said, moving away and feeling chastised. I saw Richard watching Jeremy but sensed more concern than annoyance.

I motioned to the chairs and settee nearer to the piano and fire, and farther from Da and Mrs. Smythe who sat near the door this evening. Colin joined us sitting next to me on the medallion sofa covered in a pale gray damask, the sofa named for the three circular pieces framing its back. Richard sat on a chair next to Colin. Jeremy limped and leaned heavily on his cane as he moved toward Da’s red velvet gentleman’s chair near the fire and next to Richard. After a few moments, the tightness around his mouth eased as he relaxed into the comfortable seat.

“Tell me about your homecoming,” I said after I settled the skirts of my dusted-rose wool dress.

Jeremy just shook his head, refusing to speak. He closed his eyes for a moment, like a cat basking in the warmth and glow of the fire. The tension continued to seep out of him, and he appeared more and more relaxed with each passing moment.

“I was working at the smithy yesterday when Tommy said someone was looking for me. I thought it was ol’ Cousin Henry, but, when I turned away from the forge, I saw Jer,” Richard said with a big smile and a catch in his voice. “I…” He shook his head, unable to say more.

“I think he was disappointed I wasn’t Gabe,” Jeremy said in a deeper voice than either Richard or Gabriel. His black hair, cut in a short military style, showed signs of slowly growing out. He made fleeting eye contact with deep green eyes.

“Never,” Richard said. “All that matters is that you are home. Safe, healthy and whole.”

“Well, I’m safe at least,” Jeremy said with a lopsided smile.

“I hope you soon find the health and happiness you don’t already have,” I said.

“From your mouth to God’s ear,” Jeremy replied, reminding me of Gabriel.

“What do you plan on doing, Jeremy?” Colin asked.

“I’m not sure. I just arrived and I have few … skills.” He ruefully shook his head. “I am really not prepared for much of anything useful other than…” Another shake of his head came as he stopped speaking.

“Gabriel will be very excited,” I said in a gentle tone, sensing a deep emotion. “I hope you have written him.” At his small nod, I beamed at him. “He will be saddened that he was not here to welcome you home. To have the three of you together again.”

“He wrote me about you, Miss Sullivan,” Jeremy said. “It’s nice to see you are as kind as he described.”

“Thank you.”

“Is Gabriel’s workshop let?” Colin mused aloud as he lounged on the settee next to me with his long legs stretched in front of him.

“No, no one has been interested in it. And if I’m truthful, I haven’t wanted to take the time to clear out all the tools he left behind,” Richard said.

“You could always work there. Try your hand at building something,” Colin said, watching Jeremy’s reaction. “And I imagine a little solitude would be welcome.”

“I could. If you don’t mind, Rich.”

“Not at all.”

“Richard,” I said as the conversation lulled. “How is Florence?”

“She is fine. Still a bit prickly, but enjoying our sojourns, as she calls them. I’ll wear her down.”

“Good,” I said.

“Florence sure misses you at school,” Richard said.

“And I miss her. She doesn’t visit nearly enough. Though, if I know she is busy with you, that helps.” I smiled at him. “Oh, it is so good to have you both here. I just wish…”

“We do too, Miss Sullivan,” Jeremy murmured.

“And with that, we should go,” Richard said. “Lest I forget, here is a letter for you,” he said with a wink as he handed me an envelope with Gabriel’s bold handwriting.

“Thank you, Richard,” I whispered.

“You are very welcome, Miss Sullivan,” he murmured, grasping my shoulder as he passed to leave the room.

I sat next to Colin in silent wonder. Finally, I spoke. “Can you believe it?” I whispered. “Jeremy is home, and Gabriel’s not here.”

“It’s a terrific irony,” Colin agreed.

“I wonder if this will convince him to return.”

“Clarissa,” Colin said, gripping my hand, “at some point you may have to accept that he’s never coming back.” At my deep inhalation, he murmured, “Which doesn’t mean you won’t be together again.”

***

“YOU ARE THE INFAMOUS McLeod brothers,” Sophronia said. “Although it appears the most important one is absent.”

We sat in our parlor a few weeks later at an impromptu soiree of sorts. The furniture had been rearranged to accommodate everyone as we sat in one large group.

Da sat to one side whispering in Mrs. Smythe’s ear. She sat with her body vibrating with anger at Da’s harsh words. I could hear some of them as he grew excited. “Bar that man … not allowed … against my wishes.” Through it all, Mrs. Smythe maintained a brittle smile as she watched the room from her seat. Although she sat near the edge of the group, she managed to listen and see everyone in the room. A flush from her chin down to the scalloped neckline of her pink satin evening dress was the only sign of distress at Da’s words.

“I am thankful to have been allowed admittance,” Cameron said with a small nod toward Mrs. Smythe. “There are those among us who would have preferred my absence.” He sat next to me on an increasingly shrinking settee.

Sophronia sat in my once-comfortable chair to my right while Colin lounged to her right. Richard and Jeremy, in rough wool pants and jackets, were ensconced in older gentlemen’s chairs set higher off the ground with sturdy arms, high backs and light-blue velvet upholstery. Their dull blue shirts showed evidence of many washings, and Richard needed a patch on the right elbow of his jacket. I glanced toward Cameron, noting the sparkle from his diamond cravat pin. I edged further away from him, leaning toward Sophronia.

“Depends on who you speak with, ma’am,” Jeremy said with a quirk of his eyebrow, ignoring Cameron.

“I beg your pardon?” Sophie asked. Her eyes flashed, their aquamarine color enhanced by her irritation.

“Florence might disagree that the most important one is missing,” Richard murmured with a quick smile.

“At any rate…” Cameron said.

“Harrumph,” Sophie said, interrupting Cameron. She grumbled a moment before a chuckle escaped. “You’re Jeremy,” she said with a pointed glance at his cane.

“Yes.”

“You must feel tremendous pride in having fought in such an important war. Bringing Christianity to those poor heathens and ensuring their continued safety from despotic rulers. Such a valiant endeavor.”

“If you weren’t there, ma’am, I wouldn’t assume anything about the war.”

“As Elizabeth Cady Stanton said, ‘I have no sympathy with all the pessimistic twaddle about the Philippines.’”

“Again, ma’am, not wishing to be rude, but I wouldn’t presume to know what it was like or whether the battles were glorious without having been there.”

“Surely, man, you must take pride in quelling their uncalled-for rebellion? As if those savages would ever know how to rule themselves,” Cameron said with a quick shake of his head.

Sophie glared at Cameron for a moment. “I hate to say that I agree with anything Mr. Wright says, and yet I must at this time. I admit myself confused, young man. I should think you would feel honor for having fought for your country,” she said addressing Jeremy.

“Then you would presume wrong,” Jeremy said as he rose and limped toward the door, leaning on his cane. He nodded toward me, and paused for Richard to join him.

“Miss Sullivan,” Richard said as he strode after Jeremy.

Cameron reached for my hand, clasping it tightly before I could evade him. “Be thankful you are no longer aligned with that family, Clarissa. He is clearly unhinged, and I can’t imagine any woman wanting to bind herself to a man whose brother is mad.”

I tried to pull my hand away, but he kept a firm hold on it.

“I think…”

“I am thankful that I am once again in your life, Clarissa. When I realize now what type of life you might have had to live if I hadn’t returned, it is unbearable. I know you, too, realize your good fortune.”

“Yes, a life lacking purpose and full of indolence is the life I have always imagined for my girl,” Sophie said.

“Oh, a life with one such as me will have meaning, Mrs. Chickering,” Cameron countered. “She will need to spend more time at the shops for her wardrobe is shabby. She will spend her afternoons at important teas with the opportunity of joining committees acceptable to a woman of her standing in my world. She will have my home to run, my children to rear. I see that as a life of tremendous purpose.”

“That sounds more like a gilded cage than a life for a free-spirited woman,” Sophie said.

“Isn’t it just the sort of cage that you yourself entered?” Mrs. Smythe asked with a bite to her tone.

“No, Mrs. Sullivan. I entered no cage, as I have always had a purpose to my life. I married for love, had children with a man I loved and now have the freedom to pursue the interests that are important to me.”