Ashes in the Wind

by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

  After supper the two travelers retired to their rooms relatively early, leaving Cole and Alaina to wend a leisured way, arm in arm, to their own bedroom. The house was quiet, except for the usual squeaks, thumps, and groans, sounds that Alaina had come to grudgingly accept. After moving into Cole’s room and farther down the hall from Roberta’s, she had not been disturbed by the noises in the night, and for the summer, Soldier was often left out at night to range where he would. Thus, if there were any sounds emitting from the red room, she was not made aware of it.

  As Cole was more fascinated in observing his wife’s disrobing and toilette, Alaina was in bed and waiting while he was still tugging his shirttail loose from his pants. Unbuttoning his shirt, he considered the soft, radiant beauty of his wife as she sat propped against the pillows combing her long hair into a shining mane. The soft light of the oil lamp gave her a glowing halo, and Cole smiled as he admitted to himself that she was indeed quite angelic after all.

  He dropped the shirt into a chair and began to free his pants when a soft knocking on the door made him cease and reach for his robe. When he opened the door, he found Leala standing in the dark hallway, twisting her hands in nervous embarrassment.

  “Leala! Is something wrong? Can I help you?”

  “I didn’t mean to disturb you and Alaina, Cole, but I wonder if I could come in and talk with you for just a few moments.” Her voice was unsure and hesitant.

  “Of course!” He stood aside as Alaina donned her slippers and shrugged into her robe that she had left on the foot of the bed. She swung around her own favorite rocking chair for Leala and, once her aunt was comfortable, went to pour a small sherry from the crystal decanter that sat on a table in the room.

  “I seem to remember your preference for a glass of wine, Aunt Leala.” She smiled softly as she offered the glass.

  “Oh, Alaina child, you will never know how much of a start you gave me that evening you came to New Orleans. Those filthy clothes! Your beautiful hair all chopped off! And with a bold Yankee officer in my own parlor!” Leala smiled and laid a hand on Cole’s arm in gentle apology. “It was purely scandalous. But you seem to have tamed the Yankee, your hair is more beautiful than ever, and you have learned to garb yourself in a better manner. I would say you won your portion of the war.”

  “You’re kind, Aunt Leala,” Alaina leaned against her husband’s chest. “But I’m afraid Cole has done most of it. Why, he got them to drop all the charges against Alaina MacGaren, and we even own Briar Hill now. We’ll be going down late this autumn to look over everything, and Cole has even suggested that we build a house where we can spend some of our winter months. He’s brought my life together again, Aunt Leala.”

  Cole slipped an arm about his wife’s no-longer-slim waist. “I say it was your own spirit that refused to admit defeat, my love, and—”

  “Enough!” Leala laughed and held up her hands in mock dismay. “I had trouble believing Tally when she said you were both madly in love with each other, but I can see she spoke aright. Heaven forbid that I should cause you to argue over your respective virtues. It is enough for me, Alaina child.” She reached out to take the young woman’s hand warmly. “If it is all right with both of you, Tally and I would like to stay, until after the baby is born. Perhaps you would even forgive a doting old woman if she looks upon your baby as her own grandchild.”

  Tears came to Leala’s eyes as Alaina assured her that her suggestion would not be taken amiss and that they were, welcome to stay until the spirit moved them. She heaved a tremulous sigh.

  “I fear that Angus might have had something to do with that awful arrangement. Am I correct?”

  “Neither Alaina nor I wanted it,” Cole conceded slowly, wanting to spare Leala the distress she was apparently suffering.

  “I’m sorry for what my family did to you, Cole,” she apologized disconcertedly. “And I beg you to forgive Angus and perhaps Roberta—if you can.”

  “Alaina and I are together now, and that’s all that matters to me. Everything else is past and forgotten,” he replied kindly.

  “Thank you, Cole.” She smiled uncertainly. “Had my daughter been less concerned about her own wants and desires, she might have been able to realize how fine a man she married.”

  Leala became nervous again. “But this is not why I came to you tonight. I have a chore which has chafed me much.” Her hands trembled, and after trying to continue, she lifted the glass of sherry and drained it, coughing as if the mild wine seared her throat. “Sacré bleu!” she wheezed. “Oh, my!”

  When she regained her breath, Leala clasped her hands tightly in her lap, sat up stiffly, drew a deep breath, and began resolutely.

  “Several weeks ago I grew lonely in the house and decided to help at the store. Lord knows the place needed a good cleaning, and I was sorting out some old tin boxes that Angus had collected beneath his desk when I came across one that had something in it. I opened it and found this.”

  She fumbled beneath the folds of her robe and produced a fat brown packet which she handed to Cole. He opened it and looked within, then went to shake the contents out on the bed. Fresh, new bank notes fluttered out, making a small heap of green on the sheet.

  Cole’s voice was filled with amazement as he stated, “There must be better than ten, or maybe fifteen thousand dollars here.”

  “Nearly twenty,” Leala corrected. “I found the bills in a bundle of letters Roberta had sent to Angus at the store. She bade her father hold the money for her and to secure it in some private place, not in a bank, against her return. She said that she had earned every cent of it, and that it was hers for when she came back to New Orleans. I confronted Angus, and we had a terrible argument. He kept raving and accusing you of being some kind of thief and saying that Roberta had every right to whatever she had taken from you. He swore he was going to use the money to avenge her death somehow. I never did understand just what he was talking about.” Leala stared down at her clasped hands in embarrassment. “Later I packed my bags, took some money from the store and this bundle, and went to Tally’s. I had to return this to you, Cole. I just couldn’t bear the thought of Roberta being a thief and stealing from her own husband. I know she wasn’t what you had hoped for, Cole, but she was my baby, and I can’t help blaming myself for all the trouble she caused for both of you.”

  As Leala dissolved into sobs, Alaina knelt beside her, placing an arm across the woman’s shoulders as tears swam in her own eyes.

  “Aunt Leala,” Alaina murmured softly, “you mustn’t blame yourself too much. The war did many cruel things to many people. Roberta was caught in the flower of her youth when she was expecting better things. She just wasn’t able to deal with it.”

  Leala raised her tearful gaze to Alaina’s face, then lifted a hand to fondly caress the other’s cheek. “Thank you, Alaina. I won’t call you child anymore. You’re so much more than that now.”

  Leala drew out a kerchief, plied it, and drew a deep breath. “This has been such a burden.” She smiled at Alaina and straightened her shoulders. “But I feel so much better now. I think I shall have a very good night’s sleep.”

  Alaina went to the door with her aunt who paused halfway through the portal.

  “Good-night, my dear.” She kissed Alaina’s cheek. “I shall make a special prayer of many blessings for you and yours.” Then she was gone.

  Alaina returned to the bed to find Cole staring at the money with a heavy frown. He rubbed his chin with the back of his hand.

  “I can’t imagine Roberta taking this much and my not knowing it!” He shuffled some into a stack and riffled it. “This money is crisp, new. I haven’t seen money this fresh since—” He paused, a look of sudden dawning coming over his face. He tossed the money with the rest and strode from the bedroom, leaving a puzzled Alaina to slip into bed alone. She heard his feet on the stairs, then the squeak of the study door. In a moment he was back to display for her three ten-dollar notes.

  “These are fr
om the gardener,” he stated and placed the bills near his pillow. Drawing up a footstool, he sat on it and proceeded to arrange the money neatly in rows on the bed and rearranging them as if to match some mysterious order. He formed them into stacks and each bundle was stiff and new, all but the last one which sagged sharply as if it had been folded in half. He showed it to her.

  “This money was folded and perhaps stuffed in a pocket or purse. You see the bent edges?” Cole glanced up to receive her nod, though bemusement was still rampant in her eyes. “Now look.” He lifted the three tens and placed them with that same stack. They bent alike. “Also, the serial numbers of these three match the rest. They are all in sequence.”

  “But what does it mean, Cole?”

  “It means that probably both Roberta and the gardener had their hands on this money.”

  “But where did they get it if it was not from you?”

  “That, madam, is a question I can only wonder about, or, at best, make wild conjectures as to where it came from.”

  He gathered all the money as he rose and laid it on the hearth. He doffed his garments, then flopped down on the bed, clasping his hands behind his head and staring thoughtfully into the shadows of the ceiling.

  “Martin said the man came from Missouri,” he mused aloud. “If he were a member of one of those gangs down there that are robbing trains and such, he might have brought some of the loot with him.”

  “But how did Roberta manage to get it away from him? Do you suppose he was her lover?”

  “I cannot imagine Roberta stooping to entertain the family gardener. Besides, he was filthy, old and haggard, certainly not the sort she would have even flirted with. She hated the man!”

  A warm form snuggled against his side, and a small, finely boned hand rubbed his chest and belly.

  “Milord Yankee?” Her breath tickled his shoulder. “Are you going to think about Roberta and that money all night? Or are you going to set my jealousy to rest and hold and kiss me and assure me that even with a fat stomach, I’m the light and love of your life?”

  Cole chuckled and brought the lamp close to blow it out, then rolled back into her embrace. He kissed her pert nose. “You’re my everything, Alaina MacGaren Latimer, and just to prove that I think you’re beautiful when you’re carrying my child, I will keep your belly filled with many more for years to come.”

  Alaina leaned her head back and peered up at him with bright, twinkling eyes. “Every year, milord Yankee?”

  Cole pondered the question a moment, then smiled down into the visage he loved so well. “Well, almost every.”

  Early the next morning Cole took the money to the sheriff and offered his theory to Martin. The bank notes only became another piece in the puzzle and lent no more to a solution than any other of the all-too-meager clues. The memory of it dimmed, and the end of June flowed past like a dream for Alaina. Mrs. Hawthorne and Leala were with her constantly, and no action could she take without coming under their stern scrutiny and guidance as to what was best for the babe.

  Her burden lowered, and her pace became labored and clumsy. She awaited her time with a growing expectation and daily inspected the nursery that all might be in readiness. Cole had set the men cleaning out the overgrown yard of the cottage and began to see patients in his father’s old office. Braegar visited to complain that some of his patients were seeing Cole now and, after a cursory conference, agreed that Alaina was progressing as she should. He totally captivated the elder ladies with his brash rhetoric and his unpolished political opinions.

  It was a pleasurable time for Alaina, and she lived every day fully with her unquenchable zest and enthusiasm. The Prochavski family came to stay on a brief sojourn from the north woods. When all the figures were in, the logging operation proved a profitable venture, and plans were made to continue it the next winter.

  The Darveys were invited for an evening meal and graciously accepted the chance for a repast with the Southern visitors. After weeks of a closer seating order, Cole had escorted Alaina to her end of the table and reluctantly had taken his own chair at the far end. At least from there he had admitted that he had the best view of her, and for once, Braegar had chosen a place to Cole’s right.

  Carolyn left that evening, much amazed by the realization that Cole had changed. He was the man of old again, easy mannered, relaxed, gracious, and yet something more. His concern and care for Alaina was readily apparent even to a casual eye, and still, that was not the key. It was more that he was a man, whole, unhampered, self-assured, confident, made complete by the beautiful woman who now shared his life. He was no longer irascible and curt because, all of a sudden, life pleased him and wonderfully so. He did not doubt Alaina because Alaina left him no room for doubt. He was once again a most handsome man in every way, and at his side, Alaina, even with her hour near, was a woman in the finest and fullest interpretation of the title.

  It was during the next evening’s meal that a low growl echoed in the room, and all eyes turned to Soldier who had been dozing just inside the dining room doorway. Now he raised his head, and his ears stood alertly erect.

  “Someone’s coming,” Cole observed.

  A moment later the rapid approach of horse’s hooves confirmed his statement and brought the Latimers and their two guests to a waiting silence. Heavy footsteps trod across the porch, and a loud pounding sounded upon the door. When Miles answered the demanding knock, Angus Craighugh pushed his way through with a gruff announcement. “I was directed here and informed that this is where Major Latimer resides. Is that true?”

  “Doctor and Mrs. Latimer live here, sir.” Miles looked the rumpled, red-faced man over with some distaste. One who intruded into his employer’s house with such callousness was certainly no gentleman. “Is it your desire to see Doctor Latimer?”

  Leala had come to her feet in surprise when her husband entered the house, and now she sank back into .her chair and sat with her hands folded as she stared down at them. Sensing her aunt’s dismay, Alaina quickly rose from her seat and hurried to the wide doors of the dining room.

  “Uncle Angus?” she questioned softly, amazed by his disheveled appearance. He was thinner than she had ever known him to be, and he looked haggard and tired. He had obviously been traveling long and hard. His hair was mussed and unkempt, as if it had not been combed for some time, and there was no sign of a hat on his person. For a usually neatly dressed man, he was a terrible sight. His cravat hung loose about the open collar of his shirt, and his shoes were scuffed and dirty.

  At the sound of her voice, he turned, and then stared much agog, his gaze lowering to her rounded belly. His face reddened, and his eyes seemed to protrude forth as he glared. Taking several halting steps toward her, he made an effort to speak through the grinding sneer that twisted his lips. He was almost on her when the words broke through with pure rage.

  “You filthy little trollop! It didn’t take you long to fall into his bed, did it?”

  Incensed, he was oblivious to the horrified gasps he drew from the table, but as he pulled back his arm to avenge his sense of outraged justice upon the girl, quick footsteps sounded behind him, and he was seized by two very capable hands and hauled backward away from Alaina. He was spun about to face blazing blue eyes that bore into him mercilessly.

  “Be careful that you never raise your hand to my wife again.” Cole ground out the warning. “And if you were anything besides the besotted fool you are, I’d have it out with you here and now. You have abused the privileges of a guest, which you may deem a fair turnabout, but I decry the fact, for the one abused in your house was not the one who claimed it. In my befogged stupor, I allowed you to commit an act of which all of us have been acutely rueful. I warn you now, sir, for the good of all those present, that henceforth when you enter this house or tread upon any of my lands, you strive most heartily to be gentle of tongue and mild of manner—and most respectful to my wife.”

  “I will not be respectful of a harlot and a thief!” Angus r
ailed.

  Cole’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Be careful, man. You slander what I hold most precious to me. She was a virgin when I took her, and she’s never taken a cent that was not hers!”

  “You are the thief!” Angus glowered.

  “Oh, Angus, give it up!” Leala wrung her hands and wailed. “It was Roberta who was the thief. She stole the money from Cole!”

  “It was stolen money long before that! It was part of the Yankee payroll money that was taken from the riverboat in New Orleans. Did you not hear me?”

  “I think we had better discuss this at some length, Angus,” Cole said and reached out to take the man’s arm.

  “Stay away from me!” Angus bawled as he clawed for the small revolver tucked into his waistband. Just as quickly Cole caught the hand that grasped the weapon and forced the older man’s arm upward until the weapon was pointed toward the ceiling. He seized the man’s lapel in his other hand.

  “Angus! Listen to me!” he barked. “There was another time when you waved a gun at me, and I have suffered much chagrin because I did not take it from you and seek the truth then. You must understand that the money Roberta sent to you was not mine. We found a dead man buried in the rose garden this spring, and he had some of the same bills on him. I suspect that Roberta got the money from him, but I didn’t know where he had gotten it.”

  Angus’s bitterness remained unchecked as his sneer betrayed. “Now a blemish is put on my daughter’s name.”

  “You have had your time of blustering, Angus, and I will tolerate no more.” Cole dragged the pistol from the man’s hand and placed it on the mantel as Leala came out of her chair.

  “And I will tolerate no more!” She was furious as she stepped around the table to face her husband. Angus sagged into an empty seat near the door, his face crumpling, his ire dwindling into defeat. “You followed me the depth of the country, outraged because I had taken money you had planned to use against Cole. You came here athundering on your horse in the night with your all-vengeful manhood astir and dare attack Alaina because she had not held herself from a man she loves. Roberta was my baby, too, Angus, and she was so pretty and so fine. But, Angus, you have to realize that she was not a nice person. All our high-minded thoughts about our daughter were not valid. She tricked Cole. She tricked and used Alaina. She tricked and used us. Now you come here with a violent intent and claim to be my husband. Have I had a husband this last year? A man who winds his way home trekking from one tavern to another and on the way sampling from any handy bottle? Was it my husband who stumbled into our bedroom most every night with the reek of whiskey heavy on his breath? I think not.” She shook her head slowly. “It was some stranger whom I saw but knew not.”