Lynette Vinet - Emerald Trilogy 02

by Emerald Enchantment

Daniel rose formally from his chair, his stance stiff and quite unlike him. “Congratulations on the birth of your children. I knew Allison was an unusual woman.”

  “You of all people don’t have to remind me of that.” Paul crossed the room and poured a brandy from the decanter which rested on a sideboard.

  Dera’s face tightened at the cool tones of her sons and knew a fight would likely ensue. They had been so close as children, now they seemed to hate each other. “Don’t start trouble, either of you. I won’t tolerate it.”

  Paul downed his drink and refilled his glass. “Mother, I have no intention of being unpleasant to Daniel. He is my brother, and I’m glad he feels he can just drop all of his artistic endeavors and pay us a visit. How long do you intend to stay?”

  “As long as it takes for Allison to recuperate. Then I’ll take her and the children away from here—away from you.”

  “Allison and the children are mine. You can’t actually think I’ll allow you to spirit them away and live life like gypsies while you try to make a living painting. Allison loves me, and I love her. You’re daydreaming again, Dan. She’ll always belong to me.”

  At that point, Paul’s cockiness undid Daniel who bolted forward until he was inches from his brother’s face. “If she loves you so much, why did she write to me to come and fetch her? Why did she tell me she was miserable with you?”

  Daniel triumphantly pulled her letter from the pocket of his jacket and handed it to Paul. A grimness settled over Paul’s countenance as he read of her need to leave him, her desperate unhappiness. He handed it back to Daniel and masked his hurt with a blank look. “I still won’t allow her to leave.”

  Dera sensed Paul’s shakiness and read the inner turmoil behind his eyes. She loved both of her sons, but she knew that of the two of them, Paul was the more sensitive yet most unable to show his true feelings. She was about to intervene when Quint rushed into the room.

  “Paul, Dr. Curry wants you! Allison is very ill.”

  Taking the stairs two at a time, Paul rushed into the room to find the doctor administering cold cloths to Allison’s forehead.

  “She’s running a high fever.” He spoke abruptly as he went about his ministrations. “Some sort of infection has set in.”

  “But she was fine just a short while ago.”

  “She’s extremely ill now, so we’ll have to do the best we can.”

  Paul took her hand and gently placed it to his lips. The heat from her fingers seemed to scorch his mouth. When Doctor Curry told him he should leave, he shook his head. “I’ll stay until she’s out of danger.”

  “Son, she may not make it if her fever keeps climbing.”

  He ignored the doctor’s pessimism. She would make it, he told himself. She had to!

  ~

  Paul sat by her bedside for hours. Dera would look in and help bathe her forehead, but still the fever climbed. More than once Dera watched as Paul took some small dried leaves from a pouch, decorated with brightly colored beads, that he’d withdrawn from his valise in the bottom of the wardrobe. He mixed the leaves into a glass of water and somehow managed to gently pour drops of it down Allison’s throat. When Dera asked him what it was, Paul replied that it was a “remedy”. Dera didn’t know what kind of remedy and didn’t ask any more questions. She could tell that her son was frantic with worry.

  Allison’s face was a mottled shade of red, and realizing that the remedy he fed her wasn’t working, Paul prayed for the first time in years and struck a bargain with God. If she lived, he would give her her freedom. Once he had loved a woman and had tried to hold onto her even as death wove its insidious claws around their love and tore them apart. That was when he decided never to love again—not until he reluctantly fell in love with Allison. He loved his wife enough to free her rather than risk losing her to the cold earth, if only God would grant his plea.

  When Dera entered the room later that evening, she bore a tray of strong tea and freshly baked bread. She stood still in the doorway and watched Paul as he chanted strange words over his wife in a singsong voice. It sounded almost heathenish. “I’ve brought you something to eat. I’ll bathe her brow.”

  He stood up from his hunched position by the bed and looked from his wife to his mother. Only minutes before Allison had been writhing upon the sheets, her fever so high that he felt the heat radiating from her body. Now she lay still, mumbling unintelligibly. “She must come back to me,” he told Dera.

  Dera put down the tray and dipped the cloth in the bowl of cool water. “Doctor Curry doesn’t seem very optimistic. Perhaps you should prepare yourself for the worst,” she said slowly.

  “She will live! I told the old fool to go home. I shall take care of her.”

  “Paul, you don’t know how to care for her!”

  I know that if her fever breaks, she has a chance. And that’s what I intend to make happen.”

  He raced out of the room into the snowy afternoon like a mad-man and barked orders to some of the help. Then he rushed back upstairs and threw the covers off Allison. Dera was about to protest, but the determined jut of his jaw stopped her.

  Daniel raced into the room just as two servants pulled a heavy wooden tub into the middle of Allison’s bedroom. “What the hell are you doing?” he shouted, as three more servants entered with pails of chopped ice taken from the frozen Shannon.

  Paul ignored Daniel and lined the bottom of the tub with a blanket. Then he went to Allison and ripped off her nightgown. Daniel tried to stop him, but Paul pushed him aside. Quint, who had heard the disturbance, had to bodily drag Daniel from the room.

  “Get the pillow for her head,” Paul ordered Dera who instantly did so, placing it over the tub’s rim. Paul laid Allison gently on the blanket. Then he took the ice and began to layer small chunks of ice across the length of Allison’s body until she was covered in it. After the ice was in place, he knelt beside the tub and bathed her fevered brow with the icy water. Finally he hummed over her, chanting the same strange words Dera had heard earlier.

  After many moments had passed, he instructed Dera to make a pallet on the floor beside the fireplace. When she had done so, he drew Allison from the tub. She was so still that Dera wondered if she were still alive. Placing Allison on the makeshift bed, he then covered her with heavy blankets. Though it was cold outside, the room was unbearably hot, and Dera could stand no more. She left Allison in Paul’s embrace as he curled beside her next to the fireplace.

  “Come back, come back,” he crooned.

  28

  Allison drifted, feeling lighter and more peaceful than a soaring dove. Dimly she felt the freezing ice upon her body, vaguely aware of the strange unintelligible sounds close to her ears. Soon she no longer felt the cold sting of the ice or heard the chanting. She was high above, among the clouds, floating away. Then she felt her mother beside her, and a feeling of love encapsulated her. “Mama,” she called. “It’s been such a long time.”

  “Are you ready to come?” She heard her mother’s voice, filled with love and felt her presence though she couldn’t see her.

  “Yes,” Allison readily agreed, but when she tried to move toward her unknown destination, she couldn’t. Something was holding her back; someone was calling her. “I can’t go now, Mother. It isn’t time yet. “

  “I know, darling. That is the choice only you can make.” For a moment Allison imagined she felt the soft brush of a kiss upon her cheek, then she opened her eyes to find Paul, bending over her.

  She slowly realized she was on the floor of her bedroom covered with many blankets. She knew she had been ill, near death, and Paul had been responsible for bringing her back. “I couldn’t leave just yet,” she found herself saying, barely able to form the words.

  Without further comment, he gave her a sip of water to relieve her parched throat. It’s almost as if he knows where I’ve been, she thought. Then he picked her up and tenderly placed her in her bed, covering her with a heavy blanket. Her eyes never left his face, and
it was as if she saw him for the first time, He looked so weary and vulnerable that her heart went out to him. He carefully tucked the blanket around her and pushed a stray lock of hair from her eyes. “Rest now, Allison. Regain your strength. Tomorrow a new life begins for us.”

  “Yes,” she agreed. On the morrow, when she felt stronger, she’d tell him she loved him and that his love had brought her back. Now that they were parents, she needed him so very much. Bending down, he brushed her lips with his. She barely felt his mouth but it shook her to her very soul. Drifting into peaceful sleep, she knew nothing mattered but their love.

  ~

  Paul hurriedly threw his clothes in a valise, not bothering to shave or wash. He had sent for Daniel, and when his brother arrived, he waved him to a seat. “Allison will be all right in a few days. I expect you to look after her, protect her and the babies.”

  “Going away on a trip so soon is just like you. You’re a cad.”

  Paul grimaced. “Perhaps I was, but no longer. I know what must be done, and I intend to do it. Tell Mother and Father good bye for me. I won’t be returning.”

  “You’re leaving for good? I don’t believe you,”

  “You want to believe the worst of me, so do so. Yes, I’m leaving and I’m not coming back. Allison sent for you because she loves you, and I’ve never been one to stand in the way of true love.”

  For a second Daniel looked quite helpless, causing Paul to remember him as a little boy, the younger brother he had always protected. However, Paul knew Daniel loved Allison with unselfish devotion and would take care of her. He had grown into a fine young man. The problem was that Paul loved her, too. And though Daniel wouldn’t have understood such a love, Paul was leaving to set her free, to protect her from himself and the deception which had almost ruined her life. He had to honor the promise he’d made when she’d been ill.

  “No matter what has happened, I love you, Dan. Take care of my family for me.” Without further comment, he took one more glance at his children and hurriedly departed, leaving the house he once had desperately wanted to fulfill his father’s dream. Going to the stables, he mounted his horse and rode in the direction of Ballysheen Hall.

  29

  After a month had passed and Paul hadn’t returned, Allison accepted his departure as final. In fact Howard had been the one to bring her the news that Paul and Constance had left for Canada. At first, she hadn’t believed it though she had long known of his infatuation for that woman. But to abandon her like this, so soon after giving birth to his children, brought her hours of tears and bitterness.

  Surprisingly, it was Quint who offered sympathy. Daniel was always nearby and provided a ready shoulder, but her father-in-law began to see her in a different light after the twins’ births. One afternoon, as she sat in the drawing room, embroidering Kathleen’s initials on a blanket, he entered unexpectedly. She first thought he was going to turn and leave. However, he sat across from her and actually smiled.

  “You’re a fine mother.”

  His compliment caught her unawares, and she dropped her needle which he quickly retrieved from the carpet. “Thank you,” she said softly.

  “I’ve misjudged you, Allison. I’d like you to forgive me.”

  “Why do you feel differently? Because I’ve born the Flannery heirs? I’m still a Fairfax, and my blood has driven my husband away.”

  “Aye, you shall always be a Fairfax and proud you should be of your ancestors. ‘Tis a noble lineage. My quarrel was with your uncle, not you, and now I see my error. But don’t blame your blood for driving Paul away.” He suddenly looked sheepish. “The lad takes after me in too many ways, I fear.”

  “Yes,” she quickly agreed. “Your obsession with this house was partly to blame for Paul’s leaving. If he had loved me for myself, things would be different. He wasn’t able to look beyond my name—though at one point I thought he had come to love me.” She broke off and looked away, remembering how close she felt to him during her illness. Looking back at Quint, she smiled. “But if he had never come to Ireland, I’d not have his children. No matter what he has done, I love him for them.”

  “And that is why you must follow him and bring him home. He has responsibilities now and mustn’t shirk his duty to you and the babes. I’ve done many horrible things in my life, Allison, things of which I’m ashamed, yet I never knowingly abandoned Dera or my children when they needed me. Paul is my son, and I know him well. There is a reason he left and I don’t think it’s because he doesn’t love you. He can’t show his feelings sometimes.” Quint ran his hand through his silver mane of hair. “In that respect, he is very much my son.”

  She stared at him, dumbfounded by his words. He expected her to travel to Canada, a country of heathens, to find Paul! “How do you propose I wrest Paul from the arms of Constance Granger?” she asked after a few moments. “They did run off together.”

  He stood up, a smile streaking across his face. “Allison, if I must instruct you in that area than you are less the woman I thought.” With that terse rejoinder, he left the room.

  For the rest of the day Allison wondered if he could be right. Perhaps Paul truly did love her; but why did he leave? Daniel had told her how Paul had handed her over to him like so much chattel. Of course the letter she had written Daniel must have angered and hurt Paul. But he had willingly left with Constance, of all people!

  She mulled over Quint’s last remark. Was she woman enough to take her husband from the hussy? And if she succeeded, was she woman enough to keep him?

  ~

  Shortly after Allison had nursed the twins and put them to bed for the night, Beth surprised her in the hallway as she left the nursery. Beth had grown more lovely in the first bloom of her pregnancy, and Allison envied her her happiness. Patrick was a fine man and would never hurt Beth as she had been hurt by Paul. But the urgency in Beth’s face alarmed her.

  “Whatever is the matter?” Allison asked.

  “I’ve just come from old Mag. She’s asked to see you, said it was urgent that you come. She’s ailing and I don’t think she’ll live out the night.”

  “I’ll follow you,” Allison said.

  They hurried to Mag’s cottage, and when they arrived, a solemn cluster of neighbors silently parted as Allison rushed to Mag’s side.

  Allison knelt upon the rushes and immediately knew Mag was dying. Her eyes were lifeless, her body so shriveled that the outline of her legs beneath the blanket was barely visible. She hadn’t known Mag had been ill. In fact she hadn’t wished to visit her since that last time when she told Allison that her home would revert to the former owners. She bent forward to listen as Mag struggled to speak.

  Mag took Allison’s hand. “You must go,” came the words, halting at first. “Search for your Paul.”

  Allison had no idea that Mag knew Paul had left. “He doesn’t love me,” she whispered.

  “Nay, he does. Find him, bring him home.” Mag looked exhausted and Allison thought that was all she had to say, but as she started to get up, Mag’s hand held tightly. “A stranger will claim your heart, Miss. He is your … true love.”

  Just then a spell of coughing wracked her, and Allison left her to the ministrations of the neighbors, not wanting to drain what little remained of Mag’s strength.

  “What do you make of it?” Beth asked as they walked across the fields.

  “Delirium, I suppose.”

  “Nay, Mag is sick but not out of her head. She’s always known things. Will you be searching for Paul as she bid?’

  Allison halted, considering. “She did tell me that I would meet Paul and marry him. Everything she ever told me has come true.”

  “What do you make of her talking of a stranger?”

  Allison sighed and walked on. “I suppose Mag’s mind was drifting in the past.” She didn’t dwell upon Mag’s comments. What worried her was Daniel’s reaction when she informed him that she had decided to leave for Canada and find her husband.

  ~
>
  Dera looked crestfallen when Allison informed her and Quint that she had decided to leave. Though Dera wanted Allison to find Paul, she had very nearly convinced Quint that they should return home, knowing his attitude towards Allison had softened and his vengeance had been dissipated. Now, she had no alternative but to stay in Ireland, watching Quint put an arm around Allison and telling her to bring his son home. “Dera and I shall stay on and take care of the babes. Besides, I will be glad of the time to better know my Beth.”

  “Thank you both. I know my children and the estate will be well looked after.”

  “Have you told Daniel yet?” Dera asked, all hopes sinking.

  “No, but I’ve asked him to meet me in the gazebo. I just wanted to speak with you first, to know that you’ll stay on.”

  “Put your mind at ease. Dera and I will be happy to help. Just convince our son that he needs you and the children.”

  “I shall.” Love and appreciation glowed on Allison’s face for Quint and Dera. “Daniel is waiting for me.”

  “She will break Daniel’s heart,” Dera mused aloud after Allison had left the room to meet Daniel at the gazebo.

  Quint took her in his arms, holding her close. “Aye, but she is Paul’s wife, and Daniel must accept that.”

  Dera emitted a long sigh as Quint tilted her chin, gazing into her eyes. “I know you wanted to return home, but we must stay here. Sometimes fate intervenes, my love.”

  She laid her face on his chest, wishing to weep but restraining herself. Suddenly she felt powerless, their destiny already decided. Peg McConnell was trying to lure Quint from her with Beth, and though he wasn’t interested in Peg, he did love his daughter. And a child could bind a father to the mother. Yet, there was something so maniacal about Peg that Dera doubted she cared about Quint romantically. Could vengeance be the sole motive? Had she never forgiven Quint for abandoning her those many years ago?

  Dera ached to caution Quint. Their life together was about to change, and she had no idea how to set things right. Instead she threw her arms about his neck and kissed him long and hard. “Take me upstairs, Quint. Make love to me,” she whispered urgently.