Allison quickly ran to Paul, and Paul took his sword from the outstretched hand of Howard’s killer.
“You can’t be dead already,” Constance hissed at Howard, bending over him. “I wanted you to know it was I who did the deed. Me! Your sister!” But Howard only stared upward with unseeing eyes. “Do you think he knew it was me?” she asked Paul.
Paul nodded before he led her through the veranda doors, followed by a distraught Sir Lester. “I think he knew.”
Much shaken, Allison followed, and the rest of the guests hurriedly left the room. Some were in shock, others openly cried. One person remained and slowly walked over to Howard’s body and closed his eyes.
Before she left him, Beth plucked one of the roses from her bouquet and placed it on Howard’s chest.
“From our child,” she said.
45
Paul placed an arm around his mother’s waist and helped her up the hillside, their happy reunion weeks earlier was overshadowed by news of his father’s death. They both placed fresh flowers on Quint’s grave and looked down upon the ocher-colored meadow.
She pointed to the spot where Quint had first kissed her thirty years earlier. “It was so long ago, but it seems like yesterday.” She tenderly touched her lips with her fingertips. “I can still feel his kiss. But I don’t grieve for him as much now. I know he’s happy here with his people on this hillside, overlooking the land he loved, the land he fought so long to have. “
Her hair was grayer than he remembered, but to Paul, Dera was still beautiful and the kindest woman he’d ever known. He thanked the fates she was his mother. “Father appeared to me one night in Canada. He smiled and seemed very happy.”
This news didn’t startle her. “He probably appeared to you at the time of his death. Your father loved you and Daniel a great deal. You were his ‘Irish rowdies’—he called you that when you were little boys.”
Taking her by the arm, he guided her down the hill to the meadow. For a moment she stopped by the spot where everything had begun all those years ago. “I’m going home to Louisiana. Green Meadows is my home, not Fairfax Manor.”
“Flannery Hall,” he corrected her and smiled, but seeing that she meant to leave, his smile faded. “Please stay. Allison loves you, and I’d like our children to know their grandmother.”
Dera patted his arm in a maternal gesture. “I must leave this place. Can’t you understand? Each time I look out of the window, I see where your father was struck down. I need to get on with my life, a life without my Quint.”
Paul did understand, but how he would miss her! He embraced her, wanting to keep her near but knowing he must let her go. “I love you, Mother.”
Her violet eyes misted like the sky above the hills. “I love you, my little Paul.”
Allison arrived then and Dera gave her a warm hug. “Take care of my boy for me,” she told Allison, then she walked away. They watched as Dera trod across the meadow, seeming to savor the look and smell of it, trying to retain the good memories she’d shared with Quint for the rest of her life.
“She’ll never return to Ireland again,” Paul said.
“I know, but her love will remain forever with us.” Allison leaned against him and tenderly kissed him. “What’s wrong, or need I ask?”
Paul sighed. “Too much has happened, and most of it was my fault. If I hadn’t been so greedy to fulfill my father’s dream, he’d still be alive. I killed him, Allison.”
“No, my love,” she said soothingly and stroked his cheek. “You’re a Flannery by birth, in your heart and soul. There was nothing else you could do. You mustn’t blame yourself.”
Still he wasn’t comforted, and he held her tight against him. A cool breeze caressed them. “But how do we prevent such a tragedy from befalling our own children?”
The pain on his face for their offspring and for the future tore at her soul. She knew it would be awhile before Paul came to terms with the past, but she remembered other problems which had seemed insurmountable and this brought a smile to her lips.
Allison wrapped her arms around his neck. “We must rely on our love, my darling,” she whispered. “Only love.”
And they did just that.
Books 1 and 2 in the Emerald Trilogy are available now. Find them and other of Lynette’s books at:
http://www.amazon.com/Lynette-Vinet/e/B001JSBEHA
Book 3, Emerald Ecstasy, will be released in Kindle format by Sept 26, 2013.
Sign up for Fresh Leaves, the SMP monthly newsletter, to find out when it and other new books are released, most at special introductory prices:
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(You can also subscribe from the Steel Magnolia Press website.)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lynette Vinet is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and a member of Romance Writers of America and Creative Minds Writers. She has always been intrigued by the history of her native city and the South, as well as Colonial America and the British Isles, probably because her ancestors were born there. An avid genealogist, she is also a member of the Genealogical Research Society of New Orleans. Over the last two decades she has published eleven historical romances as well as a number of genealogical articles. She is a wife, mother and doting grandmother.
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Ebooks by Lynette Vinet available now or coming soon to Amazon (from Steel Magnolia Press)
Historical Romances
Pirate’s Bride, Book 1 in the Liberty’s Ladies Collection
Savage Deception, Book 2 in the Liberty’s Ladies Collection
Wicked, Wild Eden
Knight’s Caress
Midnight Flame
Emerald Desire, Book 1 of the Emerald Series
Emerald Enchantment, Book 2 of the Emerald Series
Emerald Ecstasy, Book 3 of the Emerald Series
Love’s Golden Promise
Rapture in His Arms
Passion’s Deep Spell
Find Lynette’s Books On Amazon
Contents
PROLOGUE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lynette Vinet - Emerald Trilogy 02 Page 30
