by Jane Peart
Jeremy never failed to close his letters without reminding her of the answer she had promised to give him the next time he came to Virginia.
Garnet spent much prayerful time thinking about the answer she knew Jeremy wanted. Over and over she asked herself the important question she knew she must answer for herself before she answered Jeremy's. Garnet admired Jeremy, had come to appreciate his intelligence, sensitivity, and strength—but did she love him?
Garnet understood so much more now about the real meaning of love; the kind of love a lifetime of devotion demanded. Was she capable of that kind of love for Jeremy? Garnet did not want to make the mistake, a second time, of marrying unless her love was as Paul defined it in 1 Corinthians.
Those last weeks as Bryce's wife, as he lay dying, Garnet had determined to become the wife he deserved, if he survived. But she had not had that chance.
Somehow, Garnet felt when she saw Jeremy again she would know what her answer should be. In the meantime, she read his letters, feeling both humble and thankful that such a fine man loved her.
Then at last, winter disappeared. In mid-March, almost overnight, spring came to Montclair. Pink and white dogwoods spread their lace over bare branches, and in the yard around the house suddenly were carpets of yellow daffodils.
One balmy, springlike day, Garnet gathered armfuls of the flowers and brought them into the house. She was in the pantry arranging them into bouquets to take up to Sara's room when she heard footsteps along the hall. She paused in her task for a moment and looked up just as a man's figure filled the doorway from the dining room. The flowers she was holding dropped from her numb hands even as he spoke her name.
"Garnet!"
Her heart sprang up like a wild thing, fluttering in her breast, choking off her breath. She felt faint and weak for a moment, then he spoke again in that old teasing manner she recognized instantly.
"You look like you've seen a ghost! It's just me, Garnet. I've come home."
At last she found her voice. "Malcolm! Malcolm, it really is you!"
As he took a step toward her, she rushed from around the table and flung herself into his outstretched arms, crying out, "Oh, Malcolm! I can hardly believe it!"
He caught her up and swung her around in his arms, hugging her tightly. She kept saying his name again and again, laughing and half-crying. It wasn't until he finally set her back down on her feet, his hands still on her waist, that she saw behind him, framed in the doorway, a stunningly beautiful young woman.
Garnet stared at her, then looked at Malcolm in bewilderment.
He swept off his hat with a flourish, made a short bow, and said,
"Garnet, may I present my wife, Blythe." To the girl he said, "This is my sister-in-law, Garnet—Cameron Montrose."
When Garnet tried to piece together the scene that followed, it all came in a jumble of impressions heightened by her exploding emotions, her struggle to contain the mixture of unbelief, shock, dismay, and finally, acceptance of the unacceptable.
Malcolm had come home. But he was married. For the second time, he had brought an unexpected bride to Montclair.
Garnet's relief at his return, the hopes she had clung to that once he came back Malcolm would take over the management, that he would share the burdens and responsibilities that she had shouldered so long, were smashed.
At his introduction to Blythe, Garnet felt dizzy but managed to make some kind of greeting while she absorbed the reality of the word wife.
The "new" Mrs. Montrose was as astonishingly attired as she was extraordinarily lovely. Her slim-waisted, full-breasted figure was clothed in a travel-stained violet suit with deep purple lapels and cuffs. The bonnet, from which red curls straggled, looked as if it had sustained irreparable damage. But even though her outfit was peculiar, her face was perfection—wide dark eyes, pink and porcelain complexion, full, rosy mouth.
The girl advanced into the room after glancing at Malcolm, as if for permission, held out her hand to Garnet, and said shyly, "I'm very pleased to meet you."
Garnet swallowed and murmured something, but it was Malcolm to whom she spoke in a voice that sounded harsh even to herself as she demanded,
"But why did you never write? Why didn't you let us know?"
Malcolm shrugged. "Too much happened. It was hard to explain, difficult to try to write. Where I was I didn't know even if any letters would get to you. Then, too much time went by and I—" He halted and asked abruptly, "How is my mother?"
Garnet bit her lip in frustration. Indignation at Malcolm's indifference to what she might have been feeling all this time, what she had been through because of him boiled up in her. But she managed to restrain the words her anger prompted her to say. She left unsaid that he had let them all worry and wonder whether he was alive or dead. That he had let her take on the care of his son, his mother, his ancestral home, expending all her strength and energy here, putting aside her own needs, her desires, delaying getting on with her own life—
The truth, Garnet knew, was that underneath it all, she had been waiting for him to come home—possibly to her! It had never crossed her mind that Malcolm might again choose another bride instead of her.
Suddenly Garnet felt as if she were smothering. Turning quickly to Malcolm, she said, "Malcolm, I'd best go prepare your mother—otherwise, the shock might be too much for her. If you'll excuse me—" she nodded her head briefly to Blythe, then brushing by her, Garnet made her escape and walked out of the kitchen into the hall. At the foot of the staircase she leaned on it for a moment, her breath coming shallowly. Praying for strength and with a valiant calling up of willpower, she mounted the steps. She held herself tightly, thin shoulders straight, until she reached the second balcony. Then she lifted her skirts and ran down the hall to her room.
There she flung herself upon her knees beside her bed, pleading for help.
"God! My God!" was all she could utter as anguish flooded over her. Malcolm was home—and he had brought a bride—again! All the old pain of that long-ago day when he had brought Rose to Montclair assailed her, and yet—it was not the same.
Gradually Garnet stopped shaking. She became very still as if listening. In a few minutes a calm, almost a peace began to steal over her. What was it Tilda had said when she left Montclair to find a new life? She had repeated something learned from Rose:
"Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."
Garnet struggled with the truth. Malcolm had never loved her the way she wanted him to—she would have to finally accept that. Now he was forever out of reach. It was so final that she could feel the raw hurt of it.
The shock of Malcolm's homecoming, the fact that he had brought home a bride, was devastating. But with it there was also a feeling of relinquishment that was almost good, peaceful.
She could leave Montclair now. There would be a new mistress here and Malcolm would take over the care of his parents, the responsibilities that were now his.
Garnet could leave with no recriminations, no regrets. There was a future to think about. A future, perhaps, with Jeremy Devlin. At any rate, she could go freely, leaving the past behind.
Garnet gathered her pride around her like a ragged cloak, and got up from her knees. She would tell Sara of Malcolm's return, then she would go downstairs and welcome the new mistress properly.
chapter
38
THREE MONTHS HAD passed since Malcolm returned to Montclair with his new bride. Within days of their arrival, Garnet left Montclair and came back to Cameron Hall. It had been over ten years since she had left her home to become Bryce Montrose's bride. She felt she had come full circle. It was now June and she was back in her girlhood room waiting for the arrival of a "suitor."
Upon his arrival in New York from England, Jeremy Devlin had written that after he completed his business there he would be on his way to Mayfield. Needless to say, he was coming for the answer Garnet had promised to give him.
In his last letter Jeremy told her
that the publishing company for which he worked wanted him to divide his time between their New York and London offices, spending six months a year in England. Garnet read this information, knowing Jeremy meant her to consider that if she married him, they would be living part of the year a long way from her native Virginia. The idea both excited and frightened her. Of course, the first decision she had to make was whether she would accept Jeremy's proposal of marriage.
The day he was coming, Garnet felt as nervous as a young girl preparing for her first party. She did her hair at least three times, changed dresses twice, fretting about how her appearance might compare to the fashionable women Jeremy associated with at London gatherings. But by the time she heard the sound of carriage wheels coming up the drive, Garnet was too eager to see him to worry about how she looked.
As she started downstairs, her heart was beating so hard that she had to pause at the landing to draw a deep breath. From there Garnet could see into the drawing room, and Jeremy standing in front of the fireplace. He was turned away from her, looking out the French windows toward the garden. It was not until she reached the last few steps that he happened to glance into the mirror above the mantel and see her reflection in it.
Their eyes met in the mirror, and for an endless moment they looked at each other. Then Jeremy slowly turned around. Holding her breath, Garnet hesitated. Jeremy took one tentative step toward her. Then she moved swiftly across the hall. A few feet from him she halted.
"Well?" Jeremy asked.
Garnet looked up into the face regarding her so hopefully, into eyes gazing at her with infinite tenderness and love. At once all her doubts, her old sorrows, disappointments vanished. She felt young again and deliriously happy, and she knew what her answer would be.
"Yes!" she whispered huskily.
"Yes?" he repeated as if he had not quite heard correctly. "Yes, you will marry me?"
Garnet nodded solemnly. "Yes, Jeremy."
"Oh, my darling Garnet. . . I'm so . . ." for once the articulate, suave Jeremy seemed at a loss for words. Instead he opened his arms and Garnet walked into them. As they closed around her, Garnet felt serenely happy, sheltered, and at peace.
She heard him murmur her name and she sighed contentedly. The icy hardness that had formed around her heart to ward off hurt suddenly melted and she was flooded with joy.
For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come. . . .
Epilogue
The huge steamship moved slowly out of New York Harbor. Standing at its rail, a graceful woman in an amethyst velvet traveling suit and mink capelet turned and smiled at the tall, dark-haired man at her side.
"I can hardly believe it! It's like a fairytale. I'm really on my way to England!"
"And Paris! Then Italy and Switzerland!" The look he gave her was so tender and loving it made her feel undeserving. "I want to take you everywhere, show you everything!" He took her hand in his and asked her earnestly, "Did I tell you how enormously happy you've made me?"
Jeremy raised her hand to his lips, singling out the third finger of her left hand where beside the gold wedding band was the cluster of garnets and diamonds he had brought her from Austria for her engagement ring.
Garnet did not say anything, but the light in those beautiful amber eyes spoke volumes, expressing to Jeremy how much she loved him.
Garnet, thinking she would never know happiness, had decided if she could find contentment, that would be enough. She had never expected to know the thrilling sweetness of desire, the response to passion, or the fulfillment of complete love. But she had found them all in Jeremy.
Garnet, who thought she had lost everything, had been given her heart's desire, just as the prophet Joel had predicted: "I will restore the years the locusts have eaten."
They stood together watching the shoreline grow dimmer and more distant. Virginia, Montclair seemed very far away now. But Garnet knew a new life waited for her just beyond that far horizon.
"Come, darling, it's getting cold," Jeremy whispered. "Let's go in."
Garnet slipped her hand into his and they walked toward the opening door ahead.
Family Tree
In Scotland
Brothers GAVIN and ROWAN MONTROSE, descendants of the chieftan of the Clan Graham, came to Virginia to build on an original King's Grant of two thousand acres along the James River. They began to clear, plant, and build upon it.
In 1722 , GAVIN'S son, KENNETH MONTROSE, brought his bride, CLAIR FRASER, from Scotland, and they settled in Williamsburg while their plantation house—"Montclair"—was being planned and built. They had three children: sons KENNETH and DUNCAN, and daughter JANET.
In England
The Barnwell Family.
GEORGE BARNWELL first married WINIFRED AINSELY, and they had two sons: GEORGE and WILLIAM. BARNWELL later married a widow, ALICE CARY, who had a daughter, ELEANORA.
ELEANORA married NORBERT MARSH (widower with son, SIMON), and they had a daughter, NORAMARY.
In Virginia
Since the oldest son inherits, GEORGE BARNWELL'S younger son, WILLIAM, came to Virginia, settled in Williamsburg, and started a shipping and importing business.
WILLIAM married ELIZABETH DEAN, and they had four daughters: WINNIE, LAURA, KATE, and SALLY. WILLIAM and ELIZABETH adopted NORAMARY when she was sent to Virginia at twelve years of age.
KENNETH MONTROSE married CLAIR FRASER. They had three children: KENNETH, JANET, and DUNCAN.
DUNCAN married NORAMARY MARSH, and they had three children: CAMERON, ROWAN, and ALAN.
CAMERON MONTROSE married LORABETH WHITAKER, and they had one son, GRAHAM. Later CAMERON married ARDEN SHERWOOD, and they remained childless.
After the death of his first wife, LUELLE HAYES, GRAHAM MONTROSE married AVRIL DUMONT. Although they had no children of their own, they adopted his nephew, CLAYBORN MONTROSE.
The Montrose Family
CLAYBORN MONTROSE married SARA LEIGHTON, and they had three sons:
MALCOLM, who married ROSE MEREDITH; BRYSON, who married GARNET CAMERON; and LEIGHTON (LEE), who married DOVE ARUNDELL.
The Cameron Family
DOUGLAS CAMERON married KATHERINE MAITLAND . They had twin sons,
RODERICK and STEWART, and one daughter, GARNET.
The Saga Continues!
Be sure to read all of the "Brides of Montclair" books, available from your local bookstore:
1. Valiant Bride
To prevent social embarrassment after their daughter's elopement, a wealthy Virginia couple forces their ward, Noramary Marsh, to marry Duncan Montrose. Already in love with another, Noramary anguishes over submitting to an arranged marriage.
2 . Ransomed Bride
After fleeing an arranged marriage in England, Lorabeth Whitaker met Cameron Montrose, a Virginia planter. His impending marriage to someone else is already taken for granted. A story of love, conscience, and conflict.
3. Fortune's Bride
The story of Avril Dumont, a wealthy young heiress and orphan, who gradually comes to terms with her lonely adolescence. Romance and heartbreak ensue from her seemingly unreturned but undiscourageable love for her widowed guardian, Graham Montrose.
4. Folly's Bride
Spoiled and willful Sara Leighton, born with high expectations, encounters personal conflicts with those closest to her. Set in the decades before the War Between the States, the story follows Sara as she comes under the influence of Clayborn Montrose, scion of the Montrose family and Master of Montclair.
5. Yankee Bride/Rebel Bride: Montclair Divided
In this stunning epic Civil War novel, Rose Meredith and Garnet Cameron mirror the raging conflict of a hopelessly divided nation. Their lives become forever entwined in the challenges they face, characterized by the drama of the men they marry and the sides they choose.
6. Gallant Bride
In 1870, Blythe Dorman
falls in love with a mysterious stranger, Malcolm Montrose, who has come to the California gold fieldsin the hope of recouping his family fortune. As part of a secret agreement with her dying father, Malcolm takes Blythe back to his ancestral Virginia home and to searing tests of her faith and loyalty.
More books in this series due soon! Look for Lost Bride and Destiny's Bride in 1991.
About the Author
Jane Peart, award-winning novelist and short story writer, grew up in North Carolina and was educated in New England. Although she now lives in northern California, her heart has remained in her native South—its people, its history, and its traditions. With more than 20 novels and 250 short stories to her credit, Jane likes to emphasize in her writing the timeless and recurring themes of family, traditional values, and a sense of place.
Ten years in the writing, the Brides of Montclair series is a historical, family saga of enduring beauty. In each new book, another generation comes into its own at the beautiful Montclair estate, near Williamsburg, Virginia. These compelling, dramatic stories reaffirm the importance of committed love, loyalty, courage, strength of character, and abiding faith in times of triumph and tragedy, sorrow and joy.
About the Publisher
Founded in 1931, Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Zondervan, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers, is the leading international Christian communications company, producing best-selling Bibles, books, new media products, a growing line of gift products and award-winning children’s products. The world’s largest Bible publisher, Zondervan (www.zondervan.com) holds exclusive publishing rights to the New International Version of the Bible and has distributed more than 150 million copies worldwide. It is also one of the top Christian publishers in the world, selling its award-winning books through Christian retailers, general market bookstores, mass merchandisers, specialty retailers, and the Internet. Zondervan has received a total of 68 Gold Medallion awards for its books, more than any other publisher.