“Alright Charlie,” Paul grinned. “Let’s go get Miss Elroy.” Paul pulled the buggy up to the train depot and hitched his tea to the rail before walking to the dock where the train would stop. An hour later he heard the distinctive whistle and smiled, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited. Passengers who knew what they were about, poured off the train. They greeted loved ones or headed for a number of different venues to eat or entertain themselves. Then Paul saw a stunning Indian woman step off the train, her dark eyes looking everywhere to take in her surroundings.
Suddenly Paul realized that his mouth was dry and he swallowed a few times to wet it. Moving forward he stepped closer to her, enjoying the way her twilight dark hair glistened in the sunlight. “Excuse me,” he said. Those dark eyes turned his way and the smile she gave reached right up to them.
“You must be Mr. Broche,” Elena grinned. “I’m Elena Elroy.”
Paul shook her hand and then tucked it into his elbow. “I’ll grab your luggage if you’ll point it out for me.”
“It’s the blue trunk. I have my travel bag already.”
Paul toted her trunk to his buggy and placed it in the back. “Are you hungry or would you rather just head to the boarding house?”
“I never turn down a good meal,” Elena smiled. “However, can we drop my things off first? I’d like a look at the place before I’m too tired to care. I tend to sleep walk and moving around an unfamiliar place might be treacherous.”
“True,” Paul laughed. He noted her height and physique, her petite frame sitting about three inches shorter than him when they say side by side. She wore a high-necked dress with long sleeves. She’d left her hair uncovered though and Paul was glad for her hair was lovely. “So, tell me how it felt to learn about your heritage.”
“I always knew I was different,” Elena sighed. “My sisters are pale skinned with freckles and light hair. Being darker skinned with jet black hair sort of gives away the secret. I suppose I was lucky, however. My parents never treated me different. I’m sorry I can’t say the same for society. The only reason I believe my parents allowed me to take this trip is because I am nearly thirty with no prospects of being married. I watched my sister’s debutante balls and saw the suitors who attended to them. Then there were the men who were forced to pair off with me. It was practically all they could do to keep their composure. It seemed they either wanted to snicker behind their hands or lose their lunch at the mere thought of an arranged marriage to someone like me.”
“I’m sorry you were hurt because of short-sighted people,” Paul said, touching her hand briefly before pulling back as if he’d been electrocuted. He saw in her eyes that he wasn’t the only one who’d felt that instant connection. The pretty blush across her cheeks only added to her allure.
“Thank you,” Elena finally said as they pulled up to Cecilia’s Boarding House. “This place is beautiful.” Paul watched Elena take in the pretty butter yellow color of the outside with its robin’s egg blue shutters and pretty flower boxes. The huge red door was a shock, although she didn’t say so. Her eyes got huge in her pretty face and Paul found himself drawn to this beautiful woman. Hiding a grin, Paul knocked on the door and greeted Cecilia Rogers with the same gusto with which she greeted him.
“Is this your lady friend?” the Italian woman asked.
“Mrs. Cecilia Rogers, this is Miss Elena Elroy. She hails from the pretty state of Maine which is now lacking because she’s no longer there.”
“Miss Elroy it’s lovely to meet you. I'll be at your disposal should you be in need of anything. I’m as Italian as they come which means the only food I know how to cook is also Italian. If you have an aversion to spices you should tell me now, otherwise your meals are included in the price Paul already took care of. Breakfast is served from six to eight AM as I’m not a stickler for schedules. Lunch is from noon to two and is usually a soup, salad and roll of some type. Dinner is from five to seven. If you’re going to be out for dinner, especially, please let me know. Other than that I can show you to your room.”
***
“My mother would love this place,” Elena smiled as she followed the eccentric Cecilia upstairs. “The pretty cream colored walls are enough to have her swooning. Not to mention that beautiful mahogany banister. Does anyone ever slide down it?”
“Oh my yes,” the woman laughed. Her dark hair bobbed up and down and a few loose curls sprang free. For a woman in her forties, Cecelia Rogers had enough energy for two women half her age. “Especially the little men. I can’t seem to stop them and part of me is glad to see them being boys in an age when parents always want their children to grow up.”
Elena stopped and stared at the room she was given. Its large four-poster bed looked big enough to swallow her up. It had an antique armoire, nightstand and dresser. Looking into the mirror, she saw that she looked rather affright. Her hair, while still up, was starting to come loose around her face, hanging in wispy strands. Her shirt and skirt were darkened by dirt from the road and her skin was covered in a layer of it as well.
“Will you please tell Paul that I need a minute to freshen up?”
“Certainly doll. If I know Paul, he’s used to waiting. His wife used to take forever to get ready…poor thing.”
“Paul’s married?”
“He was,” Cecelia sighed. “His wife died giving birth to their son. The baby died shortly afterward.”
Elena’s heart twisted in her chest. Here she was moping about her plight and Paul was standing downstairs a widower who’d also lost his only child. Hurrying Elena rushed downstairs, stumbling on the last step and falling against Paul as he stood waiting for her. His arms instantly wrapped around her waist in an attempt to steady her as he chuckled, his warm breath tickling her cheek. “Easy there,” he said, a smile still in his voice.
“I’m sorry,” she blushed. Heat suffused her whole body, rushing into her cheeks as she looked up into breath capturing blue eyes. She could admit within herself that she’d noticed just how handsome Paul was when he’d met her at the train station. Being this close to him now though, made her chest tight and her heart beat faster inside her. Once she was steady on her feet again, she quickly noticed the absence of his closeness and sorely wished for him to embrace her again. “Can you tell me about my fam…brother and sister?”
Chapter Three: Family
“Sure,” Paul smiled. He took out two positive prints of photographs he’d had taken. These were taken a couple of weeks ago when I first met with your siblings. Your brother, Bennett Duboise, was born, He Who Fights, because he liked to argue and fight a lot as a youngster. Your sister Deborah Duboise was born, She Who Smiles. Apparently she smiled from birth and did so often enough that your parents would rarely argue or discipline her because she was always happy.”
“What do they think of me?”
“They’re excited to see you, of course. Your sister cried when I told her you were alive. If you’re up to it, I can drive you over tomorrow morning.”
“Okay,” Elena said excitedly, her smile brightening up the room. Paul found himself reluctant to leave and indeed stayed for supper. Cecelia had given them a snack of leftover rolls warmed up with butter to take the edge off Elena’s hunger. She used what they didn’t eat to go with a stew she’d made fresh that afternoon.
“I suppose I should say goodnight,” Paul smiled. He brought Elena’s hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles lightly. “I’ll see you after breakfast.”
“Goodnight Mr. Broche,” Elena said, blushing.
“Paul,” he replied. “Goodnight Elena.”
Paul headed home with a familiar flutter in his gut. He’d only felt that sort of reaction for one other woman and she’d lost her life bringing their son into the world. Melancholy rode hard alongside the good feeling. He’d struggled in those first years after Cassie’s death. So much so that he’d sworn never to go down that road again. He wouldn’t risk another woman’s life for his own selfish needs. He was
finding that oath hard to stick by when his mind wandered to Elena.
“Please God help me. I swore I’d never take another woman as my wife. I can’t, won’t risk another woman. I don’t pretend to know every reason you brought Elena Elroy into my life. I know she needs answers that I can help her find. I also know she can further the cause to get the land her people once had back into their hands, but this man finds it difficult not to dwell on the other aspects of her arrival. She’s stunning Lord and I am a simple and weak man.”
Paul prayed all the way home over Elena. He prayed for the meeting with her siblings to go well, he prayed for her presence and testimony to go well and to further the case that he’d present to the Supreme Court, and then he prayed that God would help him resist the temptation to ask for permission to court her. Of all three, the latter was the hardest to squeak out as he didn’t want to pray it. It was a plea of desperation. Desperate times, desperate measures.
***
The next morning Paul picked Elena up just after nine o’clock. She’d been raring to go since six and Cecelia had laughingly told him to hitch her to the wagon and she’d get them there faster, such was her intense energy level. Paul had chuckled, but hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off the young woman who was now sitting beside him. “You look lovely today.”
“Thank you,” she returned, obviously nervous by the way she folded and unfolded the napkin in her hands. Paul reached over and gave her hands a gentle squeeze.
“They’re going to love you,” he smiled. The ride went smoothly as Paul and Elena talked, learning more about each other’s pasts. Paul opened up to Elena about losing his wife and son.
“It crushed me for a long, long time. I went through a million emotions and still didn’t feel better about it. I denied it, then I loathed the loss and my own lack of ability to save them. I hated God for so, so long afterward. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around a deity who’d proclaim to love His children and then let terrible things like death and disease rob me of my happiness. One day the preacher came to see me and asked if we could take a walk. During that time with him I realized that God was grieving my loss as well, because it was just as much His loss. While I’d lost my wife and son, He’d lost two of His children and that wasn’t His fault. It was the fault of mankind because we chose a sinful nature over our relationship with God. In the Garden of Eden, it was sin that Adam and Even chose when they ate the apple. They were given a test and they failed miserably. Now we pay the consequences of that sinful choice.”
“I understand your doubt,” Elena grinned. “I too have questioned God’s love for me. I wondered often how a God who loves me could leave me without a husband and family of my own when I so wanted that path. I watched my younger sisters wed and raise their families while those in my parent’s society looked at me with disgust. Hiding behind their fans as if I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Some women even had to audacity to question whether or not I could even understand them. I had to bite my tongue to keep from telling then what I thought about their facades. Part of the reason I was able to come out here is because God hasn’t brought my husband and subsequent family to me as of yet. So now I can sit back and marvel at the workings of His hands and how wonderfully He’s ordered my steps. I can meet my brother and sister, because He saw fit to keep me single thus far.”
Paul felt as if someone had punched him in the gut. Here was a stunningly gorgeous woman who fit the path of his life perfectly and he’d sworn not to court or marry again. Was God truly that interested in seeing him settle down and raise a family? Thankfully Paul didn’t have time to dwell on the subject as he pulled up to the border of the Choctaw Indian Reservation.
“Who is she?” a tall Choctaw warrior asked nodding his head at Elena.
“Her name is Elena Elroy. She’s here to see Bennet and Deborah Duboise. She’s there sister and was born, The One Who Turns.”
Recognition flashed in the man’s eyes before he smiled. Saying something in the language of their people he grinned. “Come with me,” he said, holding out an arm for Elena. When she looked back at him Paul nodded slightly before slowly following them. He knew that the warrior liked women and would see Elena as a prize to tote on his arm. Paul only hoped that he could spare her from the man’s heartless activities before she fell prey to his charms.
A man and woman stepped out of their home as Elena approached and Paul watched as three siblings, one who was presumed dead, greeted each other with tears and words of love. “You are once again alive my sister,” Deborah said, tears flowing down her cheeks. To stand the two women next to each other, Paul couldn’t believe the similarity. About the same height, with Elena being only slightly taller, the women shared an almost exact coloring. Their hair was done in nearly the same style and both wore a smile that must have belonged to one of their parents. Bennett, while decidedly taller and masculine, still resembled his sisters and Pauls’ heart swelled at their reunion.
When the warrior who had greeted them at the entrance turned to Paul to dismiss him, Elena stepped over to him. “I’d like him to stay please,” she said, her brown eyes warm when they met his. “He is the sole reason I even knew about my siblings. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have even known my heritage or that I had a brother and sister who were still alive.”
“Very well,” the warrior said. “You must know that now you are part of the Choctaw Nation again. You must become familiar with our customs and things that are forbidden among our people.”
“Such as?” Elena asked, her eyes going dark with a fierce determination.
“Such as the right of a warrior to claim a single Choctaw woman as his bride. The laws which govern our people are written for the advancement of our people. We will welcome you with open arms One Who Turns.”
Elena didn’t waste a breath before she rebuffed this warrior’s obvious interest. “You’ll have to give me time to learn these customs and you’ll also have to understand that while I am immensely pleased with my Choctaw heritage, I am also an Elroy and I won’t bow down to any law that dictates how my life should be. God gave me breath in my lungs and a mind to think with. He guides me and I will always follow Him. If a warrior wants to take me as his wife, then I would suggest he take it up with the Almighty.”
***
Elena heard Paul’s sorry attempt to squelch a chuckle and turned back to her siblings. “Is there somewhere we can go and talk? I have so many questions, so many things I need to know.”
“We can talk here,” Bennett said, helping both Elena and their sister up the steps. Paul sat back, giving respect to Bennett as the sole male heir of their family. “Tell us of your life in Maine.”
Elena went into an animated and lively tale of growing up with the Elroys. She explained when she knew things were different between her and her family. “It doesn’t take long for a child to realize when they’re being ridiculed. My parent’s tried to shelter me, but I realized early on that the only thing they did was keep me from knowing the truth. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that I am not in any way physically like my sisters. Then we grew older and debutante season came for them. They were quickly paired off and now each has children whom I miss dearly. I was given a much smaller debutante season, which I dreaded. When it became apparent that I would have no suitors ask for permission to court me, I found myself increasingly reclusive, refusing to attend events with my parents. Try as they might, they couldn’t fix the color of my skin and hair, or the culture I came from. That’s about the time I made Paul’s acquaintance through my local newspaper. I wrote him and told him of my birth and subsequent adoption. He found our parent’s names and then found you two. When I told my parents what I wanted to do, they agreed, knowing that I needed to find my past. I can say with a whole heart that I am eternally grateful I came here.”
“You look so much like mother,” Bennett said, a note of sadness in his voice. As the oldest Duboise child, he remembered their parents the most. �
��She would have raved over you and Deborah.” I’m assuming you take more after our father?”
“I believe so, yes.”
“He was a handsome man,” Elena said, sharing a smile with her siblings. “What can you tell me about them and that time in all of our lives?”
“Mother used to carry you everywhere as you were so little. You came early, that much I remember,” Bennet started. “I remember looking at you with your big eyes and easy smile. Mother said she named you One Who Turns, because you didn’t like to sit still, even in her womb. You were constantly moving and I think, especially when you came early, she wanted a reminder of that time. When we were forced to leave, Mother strapped you to her chest with a long wrap. She alternated between carrying Deborah and letting her walk. Dad carried me on his shoulders and would alternate with Deborah as well. At first they tried to make it a game, something fun that we were doing as a family. Before long though, I knew things were bad. My feet ached so badly that I couldn’t walk. Dad and mother were alternating between carrying all three of us and it was taking a huge toll. Mother was still nursing you and I could tell she wasn’t getting enough for you. You’d cry almost constantly, even after eating. We reached the Mississippi River before things got terrible. Father was hanging on, but mother was extremely sick. On the ferry boat ride across the river, mother passed away. Father was so bad that when we reached the other shore they separated us. Deborah and I were shuffled along with the rest of our people and thankfully a couple took us in. We never saw you again.”
“I never stopped thinking about you,” Deborah said. She was smaller than both Elena and Bennett, with a smaller, much more feminine voice. In the looks department though, she and Elena were nearly identical. Elena stayed with her siblings into the night, enjoying getting to know these two wonderful additions to her life.
“We need to head back if we’re going to make your curfew,” Paul said, hating to interrupt their reunion.
“Can we come back tomorrow?”
[2015] A Love Miracle Page 2
