Reclaimed Love: Banished Saga, Book Two (30 page)

“Let’s talk at the hotel,” Gabriel said, holding out his elbow so I could loop my arm through his. “It is just a short walk.”

At first glance Missoula was very different from Butte. There were no smokestacks pumping ash into the sky and no piles of tailings strewn about. Missoula did not seem to be as advanced as Butte, as I saw no electric streetcars, only horse-drawn ones.

“Where are you staying, Gabriel?” I asked. “I should like to stay near you.”

“I have a small workspace with a loft overhead that I live in,” he said. “It’s down Main Street, not far from the Florence. But don’t worry, everything’s pretty close here in Missoula.” After a short stroll down a boardwalk, we entered the hotel.

The Florence Hotel was an impressive three-story building that filled half a city block. The lobby had numerous seating areas near a large fireplace. Off the lobby area I heard the click of pool cues and the muffled low tones of male voices. The wood floors, covered in thick red rugs, did not creak with our steps. The chandeliers glittered, and the pale gold wallpaper highlighted the lush red fabrics, drapes and floor coverings.

“Gabriel, this seems a bit grand,” I whispered. I edged away from him as I turned to study the room. I stilled as he touched my shoulder and flinched when he stroked a hand down my arm. He grasped my clammy hand, and I blushed.

“Clarissa, are you all right?”

I met his worried gaze with a stiff smile. “Of course. I still can’t believe I’m here with you after all this time.” I glanced toward Colin and the man at the desk. “And I’m concerned this hotel is too fancy for us. We stayed at the McDermott in Butte, and I worry about a similar expense here.”

“For a night or two, it should be fine,” he murmured as he tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. I jumped at his touch. “Besides, my uncle is staying here too.” He watched me for a moment as though contemplating my reactions.

“Your uncle is here?” I asked.

“Yes, he arrived last week,” Gabriel said with a broad smile. “He will be delighted to see you again.”

A man at the front desk interrupted our discussion. The area to register consisted of an imposing mahogany desk with key boxes nearby. A short, wiry man stood behind it perusing a newspaper, muttering to himself as he read, although looking up frequently to keep an eye on the lobby area. “Hello, Mr. McLeod,” he said with a broad smile.

“Hello, Tommy. Do you have rooms for my friends who just arrived?”

His alert glance stole over Colin and me, taking in our appearance from our shoes up to our hats. He must have assessed that we were acceptable patrons, as he set aside his newspaper and grinned. “Of course, Mr. McLeod,” he said. “Would be a pleasure. And a good thing you came now as we’re almost filled up.”

He pulled out a form and asked Colin questions. “Well, I say. You must be from wherever Mr. McLeod is from,” Tommy said with a chuckle after he listened to Colin speak.

“We are all from Boston,” Colin said with a grin.

“Imagine! Boston,” Tommy said as he grabbed two keys out of the wooden key boxes behind the desk. He began an impromptu tour. “There’s a pool room with billiards and a bar, both for the gents,” he said waving in their direction, “and a reading and writing room on the first floor. Those are acceptable for the ladies.” He nodded in my direction.

He cleared his throat loudly as he continued. “Upstairs”—with this word he waved over his head—“there are parlors, the dining room and the guest rooms. There is electricity for the hotel from a plant in the basement, and, if you stay so long as to need it, we even have steam heat,” he finished with a smile. He walked us upstairs to our rooms. “When your trunks arrive, I’ll have them brought up.”

“Thank you, Tommy, that is most kind,” Colin said.

After Tommy left, we moved to a small parlor. Colin closed the door for privacy. As I entered the room, I became increasingly nervous to be with Gabriel after wishing to be with him for so long. I paced toward the window, looking down onto busy Higgins Street.

“Colin, do you think I could have a few moments with Clarissa?” Gabriel asked.

I tensed. I turned to watch them, attempting to appear calm and collected. Colin studied me before replying. “No, I’m afraid that won’t be possible, Gabriel. Not until I understand why that porter mentioned polygamy to you.”

“It’s because of Amelia.”

“Amelia?” I asked, my voice cracking.

“Amelia Egan. She’s a very good friend of mine who…”

“A good friend? How good a friend, Gabe?” Colin demanded.

“Now calm down, Colin. Let me explain,” Gabriel said on a long sigh as he reached to massage his neck. He paced the small room. “I wrote you about my mining friends.” At my quick nod, he continued. “Well, two of them died last month.” He paused for a moment as though collecting his thoughts. “Since then I’ve been trying to help one man’s widow, Amelia.”

“Aid her how, Gabriel?” Colin asked.

“I help her with her children, with the bills. Spend time with her when she is lonely.”

“Have you married her?” I choked out.

“No, no, not at all,” Gabriel said, a flush spreading up his neck. “I’ve always made it clear that I would wait for you, Clarissa.”

I shared a long, intense glance with Gabriel.

“Others in the community must think you are working your way toward marriage to make jokes about polygamy or to call you a ladies’ man,” Colin said, interrupting our long silent exchange.

“I know. It’s part of the reason we left Butte.”

“What?” I gasped. “You left Butte to avoid rumors about the two of you?”

“Listen, please, I’m not explaining myself well at all,” Gabriel said, turning toward me, begging me with sincere eyes to understand. “Amelia and I have been friends almost since I arrived in Butte. Her husband, Liam, Matthew’s partner in the mine, became a close friend too.” He closed his eyes a moment. “She reminded me so much of you, Clarissa.”

“How?”

“She was a teacher before she married. She loved books. And I saw in her marriage with Liam a parallel to my relationship with you. She was more educated, better than he was in social standing, and yet they married and had a successful life. I hoped for the same for us.” He watched me with intense blue eyes.

“Why would others think you were interested in her?”

“Not everyone is charitable. And when I spent more and more time at her house after Liam died, helping with little Nicholas or doing chores, people began to talk.”

“Isn’t running away with her proof of what they accused you of?” Colin asked.

“Well, I knew I wanted to try a new place to live. A place where I didn’t have a memory of my dead friends around every corner. And I imagined it was much the same for Amelia. So I invited her to come with me. She and the children and our crippled friend Ronan, who said he wouldn’t be left behind.”

“Quite a menagerie you have collected, Gabriel,” Colin said with a hint of a smile.

“I’m afraid our arrival hasn’t gone as unnoticed as I had hoped. I realize now that people love to gossip everywhere, and I have garnered the attention of this town’s worst. You met her nephew today,” Gabriel said.

“You knew I was coming to you,” I whispered. “Why didn’t you write me to tell me you had moved?”

“I did write, when I knew I was to leave Butte. You’re the one who didn’t write me.”

“I never received your letter. We spent days in Butte looking for you,” I said. I shared a long look with Colin. “It must have arrived after I traveled for my convention. We left earlier than had been planned to spend time in Chicago.”

“And Richard must have kept it for your return,” Colin murmured. “He wouldn’t have known to give it to me.”

Gabriel moved toward me, framing my face with his palms. I tensed but soon relaxed under his gentle touch. “There has not been a single day since I left you that I have not dreamt of you,” he declared, staring into my eyes.

I nodded, crying as I leaned into him. I could no longer fight my tears and sobbed as he held me tenderly against his chest. “I have missed you, missed you so much, Gabriel.”

“Shh … we are together again,” he whispered into my ear. “There’s nothing that can keep us apart now.”

CHAPTER 28

“AFTER WE FINISH BREAKFAST,” Colin said, “why don’t we walk around Missoula? I’d like to have a better sense of this small town, especially if we’re to settle here.” The tip of Colin’s auburn hair remained wet from his recent bath, and he appeared relaxed and invigorated. He wore casual black pants with a matching jacket and a white shirt, having foregone the formality of a waistcoat and tie on the hot summer day.

“I’d like that, although I want to see Gabriel too.”

“Of course, Rissa,” Colin said with a smile.

After we finished our hearty meal, we walked through Missoula, a neat little town laid out in a grid pattern. The locals casually referred to the main thoroughfare through town as Higgins.

“Colin, look at that building,” I said as I marveled at the beautiful Higgins Bank building. “Mr. Higgins must be someone important.”

“It is nice to find beautiful buildings in this town, although they don’t rival Butte,” he said as he looked at the bank with its corner entrance and granite columns supporting a gracefully curved two-story cylindrical tower and cupola. “The granite and brick buildings give the town a sense of permanence, don’t you think?”

I nodded in agreement, my spirit lightening as we walked.

We continued our stroll down Higgins Street, passing many small stores including drug stores, grocery stores, barbershops, bakeries and even a bicycle repair shop. The awnings over the boardwalk provided shade for passersby. I looked toward the unpaved streets and shivered at the thought of the mud when it rained or snowed. Men rode by sedately on horses, a few carriages passed, and numerous men on bicycles weaved in and out of the horse traffic causing a few of the animals to start.

As we meandered down Higgins, and then onto a few of the side streets called Cedar and Pine, I glanced toward Colin, trying to gauge his mood. “Any thoughts?”

“I think it’s a glorious place,” he said, smiling. “Look at the mountains. And the river is quite beautiful. The bridge is impressive. I wouldn’t have thought they’d have a bridge. It’s a place of great industry.” He sighed with contentment as he turned a slow circle, studying everything around us. “A man could really make something of himself here.”

“Colin,” I said, unable to hide the concern in my voice. “What are we going to do for work? We can’t continue to live off of my savings or the money Aunt Betsy gave us.”

“Don’t worry, Rissa,” he reassured me with a wink. “It will sort itself out. There are at least two forges here, and I’m sure I’ll be able to find employment.”

“What should I do?”

“Teach, of course,” he replied with supreme confidence. “You have great training. They’ll get no better here.”

I shook my head. “I doubt they want a woman teacher. Maybe they’ll need help at the new University of Montana here in Missoula.” I found myself dreaming.

“That’s it, Rissa!” Colin said. “Let’s see Gabe and hear what he thinks.” He turned us down Main Street and toward Gabriel’s workshop. “I think this is it,” Colin said as he peered up at a small sign hanging over a doorway. He poked his head through the open door into the workspace. “Gabe!”

“Hi, Colin,” Gabriel said.

I heard a
thunk
as though Gabriel had dropped a tool and then footsteps as he moved toward us. I squinted as I tried to adjust to the darkened interior of the room.

“Clarissa,” Gabriel murmured as he stopped in front of me.

I looked up to find him standing a few feet in front of me, my eyesight suddenly crystal clear. I studied him with a hungry gaze. He wore his jet-black hair longer than in Boston, just past collar length. His work clothes were similar, though more casual, and his beautiful blue eyes watched me warmly.

I continued to stare at him, cataloging minute changes. He seemed thinner, taller, simply
more
than I had remembered. I searched for an aspect of him that had not changed and focused on his eyes. Oh, his eyes! They had not altered. His intense blue eyes with the studying looks. I found myself the subject of the same perusal, the same intense logging of changes. However, Gabriel seemed to look for the changes in me, not physically, but through my gaze. We continued to stare at each other for extended moments, until Colin cleared his throat again.

“Yes, of course,” Gabriel murmured to us. “Welcome.” He flashed a mocking half smile as he turned toward someone else in his workspace. “Uncle, Clarissa and Colin Sullivan whom you met in Boston.”

“Miss Sullivan, it’s wonderful to see you again,” Aidan said as he rushed toward me to give me a warm embrace.

A faint hint of his cologne wafted about me, and I paled as I smelled a hint of bay rum.

As he released me, his blue eyes remained lit with joy as he turned toward Colin and clasped his hand. “I never would have imagined we would meet again in Montana.” While he spoke with Colin, I studied him for a moment. He had a bit more salt in his salt-and-pepper hair, but, other than that, he did not appear to have changed much from when I had first met him. Even on this warm day he wore a full suit, his cream-colored shirt enhancing the deep navy of his waistcoat and suit.

“Nor I, sir,” Colin said.

I nodded, unable to say anything but gripped Colin’s arm as I became momentarily overwhelmed by emotions.

“How long have you been here, sir?” Colin asked Aidan.

“A little over a week. And I am able to stay as long as I want. Though I plan to leave before the weather changes,” he said with a smile. “Winter in San Francisco is much more appealing than winter in the mountains.”

“We’ll have to see if we can convince you to stay,” Gabriel said. “I don’t like talking about any leave-takings, especially when you’ve all just arrived.” He looked toward me with tenderness.

“How is your family, Miss Sullivan?” Aidan asked.

“I believe they are well,” I said. “I have been away from them for a while. I attended a convention in Minneapolis recently.”