“That is just ludicrous,” Kaylena remarked. “How could you...how could any of us have known?”
“For once in my life, I tend to agree with Kaylena,” Lucinda added.
“As do I,” he agreed.
Sunny’s voice was resigned. “You can all believe what you will, but I know this is all my doings. Gabriel stayed in England because of me.”
He stood and made his way to where his sister sat. The remorse, etched so intensely upon her face, almost gave her a deathly pallor. Taking her hands, Gabriel spoke softly. “Listen to me well, dayden. You had no fault in my decision. It was my own fears that kept me here. I was haunted by a past tragedy. I was so frightened it would happen again, that my judgment was clouded. And I allowed that fear to eat at me clear through to my bones. But now I see through the fog of terror that surrounded me, thanks to the love of my wife, and I will not make the same mistake again. In the future, if I have uncertainties or I am fearful, I will be courageous enough to meet the situation head on.”
Sunny glanced past him to Riley. “I am sorry, my new sister, that this sorrow has daunted your spirit, come at a time when you both should be having nothing but happy thoughts.”
“You are my family now,” Riley said. “I only wish to be of some comfort.”
Sunny looked back at Gabriel. “You need to go on with your plans; take Riley to Limerick to meet her kin. We have been blessed to know our relatives. We know from what proud blood we are born. Riley has a right to know hers. And you must bring Raven the news of father’s death. She will need your strong shoulders to cry upon, as I did. You, Raven, Mother, and I are the only four people in this whole world who understand completely what Father’s passing means.”
He nodded, forcing a smile. “You sound just like Mother.” He turned his attention to Josh, addressing him directly. “Holy man, if I am to spend three weeks in Ireland, I will need your help.”
Josh arched a brow. “Now you sound just like your father.”
“Before we speak further, I think Sunny needs to be taken upstairs to rest,” Lucinda suggested.
“No, I do not want to rest,” Sunny protested.
“Please, Sunny Beth,” Rafe pleaded. “It is the best thing for you now.”
“But I will not be able to sleep a wink with this headache,” she complained, rubbing her temples with the tips of her fingers. “Nor do I want to be alone.”
Rafe pushed aside a golden curl. “I promise not to leave your side.”
“Rafe, once you two are upstairs, call for my maid, Clara,” Kaylena chimed in. “She knows where I keep a bit of Laudanum for an occasional headache of my own. Right now, a small dose will help Sunny’s pain as well and allow her to rest.”
“Aye, thank you, my lady,” Rafe said, escorting Sunny from the parlor.
Josh folded his arms across his chest. “I have a good idea what you are about to ask of me, Gabriel, and I believe I am way ahead of you.”
Gabriel made his way to the window. The sun, by now, sat further down in the sky. He reached for the latch and opened one pane a crack. Cool air touched his forehead. “When do you leave for America?”
“In four days,” Josh said.
“And what of your duties in Brighton?” Kaylena inquired.
“I will turn them over to Reverend Daniel Kane,” he said.
Kaylena frowned. “And who is this Reverend Kane?”
“He is Lord and Lady Abbott’s son-in-law, their daughter, Annabella’s husband. The couple and their two-year-old son, Thomas, have returned to England just before Christmas. Daniel was doing missionary work in Texas.”
Gabriel remembered Lady Abbott telling him and Sunny about Annabella and her family when they were traveling to England onboard the Entrenous.
“Daniel is an ordained minister anxious to settle down and lead a congregation, especially now that Annabella is expecting their second child in a matter of months,” Josh continued. “So, I have been counseling him in such matters. I figured he’d be my ideal replacement so I might retire. He’s caught on to the dealings quite fast. He’s the reason I am able to be in London now. And the parsonage is just big enough to house his little family quite comfortably.” Josh arched a brow. “So you have nay a reason for alarm, Kaylena. All will be just as it was for Brighton’s chapel, and I can leave in four days for America.”
He turned from the window to face the other man. “You have been waiting for this moment for a long time.”
Josh appeared momentarily startled by the remark. “I beg your pardon?”
“Gabriel, don’t,” Riley warned, coming to stand by her husband. Placing a hand upon his arm, she looked deep into his eyes. “Don’t let your grief make you say something you might regret.”
“Listen to your wife, Gabriel,” Lucinda added.
Josh held up a hand. “It’s all right, my lady. I have nothing to be ashamed of.” He looked over at Gabriel. “Speak your mind.”
He moved to stand in front of a nearby table. Leaning over it, he rested his weight on his hands. With brows heavily drawn and lips curved into a scowl, his anger exploded. “It is no secret how you have felt...how you continue to feel about my mother. I would say my father’s death has made everything very convenient for you.”
Kaylena gasped. “Gabriel, this is entirely not necessary.”
“I agree,” Lucinda said.
He smirked to himself. In the past Kaylena and Lucinda never got along. How miraculous is it now that they both agree at his expense.
Josh’s expression was rigid, his hands curling into white-knuckled fists by his side, yet he spoke calmly. “You are no longer a boy that needs to be shielded from certain facts in life, so I will not deny to you my feelings for Amanda. But by no means have I ever wished for any ill will to befall Proud Eagle. Believe it or not, your father was my friend as well, and his death brings me great sorrow. Though we did not see eye to eye on many things, we respected each other. We agreed a long time ago that we had a common bond, that being your mother. Together we worked to keep her safe and well cared for. That was and still is the main reason for everything said and done between us. And after all these years, your father still held true to this reasoning.” He pulled from his pocket a letter and offered it to Gabriel. “Read Benjamin’s words yourself, and you will learn that before your father died, he asked for last rites. Then he made Reverend Newcomb promise to contact me. He asked that I return to Arizona and care for Amanda.”
He straightened his stand, reached for the letter, and read it for himself. Though he desired to contradict Josh, he truthfully could not. Proof of what he claimed was clearly collaborated in Reverend Newcomb’s words.
“I am sorry,” he said, placing the letter aside and wearily taking a seat. Riley came to stand behind his chair and very gently lowered her hands to rest on his shoulders. He reached for one of her hands, brought it up to his lips, and kissed the scar etched there. In that instant he realized he would not only protect her, but she would be there for him too. His new wife would be his rock, the foundation he needed to stay sane, focused, and anchored.
“There’s something else I need to show you,” Josh said, reaching into his vest pocket to retrieve another piece of paper. “This document is the deed to your grandfather, Ethan Gregory’s farm.”
He frowned. “Why do you have it?”
“Your mother gave it to me after she married your father,” Josh explained. “She knew Proud Eagle would never leave the tribe, and she’d never return to the property without him. But she didn’t want poachers to set up quarters there either.”
His frown deepened. “I have heard her talk of the farm she grew up on, but she never told me you held the deed.”
Josh shrugged. “I don’t know why your mother withheld that bit of information from you.” He smirked. “Amanda is a strong-willed woman who has a way of getting what she wants, when she wants it. Only the good Lord knows the reasons behind the things she does.”
“Amen to that
,” Kaylena ratified.
He nodded. “I know what you mean.”
“It is prime property, fifty-seven acres in all,” Josh went on. “The soil is rich for farming, and there’s a stream and hunting grounds nearby.” Josh took a moment before continuing. “It’s been my project all these years to preserve the land. Months before I left America, I hired a young chap to keep the grounds for me. His name is Vernon Washburn. My deal with him was that I pay for a cottage in the woods to be built for him, his wife, and two sons, as well as allow him half of the profits the farm produces and a monthly stipend. He’s done a remarkable job. Now upon the land there is a barn housing chickens and two cows, plus the stable has a few horses. Washburn also maintains the family burial plot, where your grandparents, Amelia and Ethan Gregory rest in peace. Sadly, Mrs. Washburn passed away about five years ago, and both the sons live in Boston. But Vernon remains steadfast, and I’m sure he would welcome company.”
Gabriel’s hopes soared. “Are you suggesting what I think you are?”
“Aye,” Josh said. “All of these acres have the potential to serve as a new village for you and Riley, your mother, and the tribe’s people remaining. Houses can be placed a good distance apart to afford each dweller their privacy.”
“And do you wish to remain permanently there as well, Reverend?” Riley asked softly.
“Aye, if Gabriel doesn’t hate the idea so much,” he said.
Gabriel arched a brow. “In truth, the land is yours. I have no right to keep you from living on your own property.”
Josh handed him the deed. “Nay, the land is now yours. I have signed the deed over to you.”
He frowned, taking the aged document. “Why would you do this?”
“By all that’s holy and right, this is a legacy left by your grandfather.” Josh smiled warmly. “You can now lead your people as a chief must do.”
“That’s right, Gabriel. Now you are the chief,” Riley said.
“But I take no happiness in the title, as it comes with a great price.”
“I have something for you as well, Gabriel,” Kaylena added. “I have set up an account in your mother’s name and deposited her share of the inheritance from the Bentley fortune. My barrister has also set up an account for you, whereby the monthly stipend you receive from your own inheritance, plus whatever share of the profits you get from Bentwood’s health resort business, will be deposited for your use.”
“And a monthly stipend from the Collins fortune will be added into that account as well,” Lucinda added. “I’ve also set up a separate account for Riley so she can continue to receive her own monthly stipend.” She smiled. “You will have plenty of capital to support your endeavors, and there is nay a thing the white agents can ever do to your people again.”
His heart was overwhelmed with love and respect for all those in the room who stood up to help his people. “I cannot thank you all enough.”
“It’s what family does for each other,” Lucinda said.
“I did not want to come to England, grumbled about being the one chosen to escort my sisters across the sea,” he explained. “But my father pointed out my duty to their safety and ignored my arguments. Then my mother spoke, her large, kind eyes seeking mine, and she made me realize the second importance of my travels. She spoke of the financial means, afforded by my inheritance, and what it could accomplish for the Apache people. In truth, she had a vision, over two years ago, of what would transpire here today.”
“Your mother is a wise woman,” Josh beamed.
“Yes, she is,” he said softly.
“And what will become of the current Apache land?” Riley inquired.
“It is no longer Apache ground,” he said. “It has not been since the first white agent set foot upon it.”
“They can never again set foot on this land, Gabriel,” Josh said.
In spite of the sorrow for the loss of his father, he smiled. “No, never again.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Dinner was a quiet meal. Everyone who sat around the table was lost in thought. Sunny and Rafe took their meal in the chamber they occupied. Before he joined Riley in their own chamber, he stopped to comfort his sister again, tell her about their grandfather’s land, and the real hope of saving what was left of the tribe.
His words seemed to appease her somewhat, though she would miss him terribly. And come the morning, he would be bound for Ireland, whereby he would break the sad news to another sister.
Once in bed, he pulled Riley close to him and kissed her forehead.
She snuggled beneath his arm, resting a hand upon his chest. “I understand now the grief you must have felt for your first wife, Gabriel, and empathy for your mother as well. If I ever lost you, I couldn’t go on.”
“The heart is resilient, shi’aad,” he whispered. “If it was not, I could not have married you. I will always remember Fire Star. But just because I still hold a measure of love for her, it does not mean I love you any less.”
“Do you think your mother’s heart, in time, will be resilient?”
He frowned. “Are you thinking one day she and the reverend...”
“I am thinking she has the right to do as you have done. Life without someone to love can be so lonely.”
“You speak the truth, and since it was by my father’s last wish that the holy man return to Willow Creek, there is not much I can say on the matter. Whatever the outcome, the decision must be hers.”
“Do you realize you are now a landowner, and soon you will have tenants living on that land? Here in England, you would be considered a lord. And in America you are a chief.” She pulled back to look at him. “I love you, my lord and chief.”
“I love you as well, Riley Redbird Eagle,” he whispered. Then capturing her full lips with his, he decided to show her just how much.
A word about the author...
Roberta C. M. DeCaprio is a freelance writer of romance and woman’s mainstream fiction. A prior “sexuality” columnist for A.B.L.E.D. Women magazine, and former Assistant Editor for Independence Today newspaper, (both publications dedicated to the needs and rights of the disabled), Roberta has insight into the problems other physically challenged people face due to living herself with a walking impairment.
She is the author of Once Upon a Sonnet, and has won awards for her poetry, becoming published in several anthologies. Her first paranormal, Coma Coast was published in 2006 by Wings Press. Its sequel, The Vanity, followed in 2007. A River of Orange was published by The Wild Rose Press in 2008, as well as Roberta's historical romance, The Golden Lady, (Book One in the Between The Rifle and The Spear series) in 2009. Book Two, One Perfect Flower, was released in 2010, and Book Three, A Rose In Amber, in 2011. Her latest paranormal, Altered Journey, was released into second edition printing also in 2010 from The Z Group/ZLS Publishers.
Roberta is a graduate of the Writer’s Digest School and Cornell Cooperative Extension. During the years she was a member of the Romance Writers of America, she held office as newsletter editor for her local chapter's monthly publication, interviewing such published authors as Elaine Raco-Chase, Sue-Ellen Welfonder, and the late Kathleen E. Woodiwiss.
A mother and grandmother of two, Roberta shares her upstate NY home with many dearly loved pets and her artist husband.
To view Roberta’s backlist and read excerpts from her books log on to: www.robertadecaprio.com.
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