Madame Porée hurried to one of the windows and opened it, peering out.
“Victory! Victory!”
Everyone inside could hear the words shouted at the top of the young Creole’s lungs. With a glad cry, Madame Porée flung the window open wide now, and other women hurried to follow suit. Shouts and joyous cries filled the air as the news spread swiftly through the city. Women hugged each other and cried together. Suzette and Gabrielle hurried out into the street, eager for more news. They could see the first stream of men returning from the battlefield, waving their hats high in the air and shouldering their guns proudly despite their fatigue.
“We routed the whole lot of them,” one of the soldiers cried in answer to Suzette’s question. “Hurrah for General Jackson!”
The cry was taken up everywhere as the men trooped back into the city. Wine flowed, and women laughed through their tears.
Once their safety was assured, Suzette ordered her carriage and, along with many of the other women, drove at once to the battlefield, laden with bandages and bedding for the wounded.
Seated beside her, Gabrielle knew a moment of uncertainty. What if she should find Rafe on that battlefield, his blood seeping slowly into the greedy earth? She quickly brushed the thought from her mind.
She and Suzette descended from the carriage and walked among the wounded, strewn helter-skelter in the grass. Many—far more than the Americans—were British, and Gabrielle felt a well of relief rise up in her. She set to work with Suzette on her errand of mercy, and, when the bandages they had brought were exhausted, she tore her petticoats to make more. Many of the women worked far into the night, tirelessly bringing comfort to those who had not escaped from injury.
It was almost dawn when Gabrielle rose from her crouched position over a dying British soldier and glanced behind her.
He leaned forward on his horse, his green eyes reflecting the joy in her own, and his mouth curved into that exasperating lazy grin. They stood looking at each other, and she felt her heart leap at the tenderness in his expression.
She would have gone on staring at him forever, if his voice, slightly mocking, shaded with pride, hadn’t asked lovingly, “Madame, is that how you would greet your husband, home from battle?”
Was she dreaming the same dream over again, she thought happily, or was this truly real now? She stood in a white dress, waiting for him by the river, sheltered from prying eyes by a copse of old, gnarled oaks. Her heart quickened as she heard the hooves of his horse galloping towards her, and in another minute he would walk through the trees and take her in his arms. She shook back her hair in the morning sunlight, and it caught and held the reflected glory in golden tresses. Her perfect mouth was smiling, showing the single dimple in her cheek, and her eyes were filled with love and a tiny secret that was hers alone for the moment.
She heard his boots crunching the twigs under foot, and then his tall, strong figure was coming towards her. The green eyes flashed for a moment with the intensity of his love, then twinkled into amusement.
“The majordomo told me I could find you here, kitten,” he said. “I’ve got news for you! Official word has just reached New Orleans that the war is over. The peace treaty was signed two months ago!”
Gabrielle laughed in delight. “That is wonderful news, darling.” And I have news even more wonderful for you, she thought—but not yet, my dearest. Her hand patted her stomach contentedly where a new life had already begun.
“You look like the cat with her cream,” he teased her.
Then his arms went around her, and he was holding her close against him so that she could feel the pounding of his heart in rhythm with hers. Her eyes were incredibly clear as they gazed into his, and he felt a stirring within him at her nearness.
Gently, he lowered her to the ground, which would serve as their bed, its spring-green grass as soft to her as any silken cushion. Their kiss was long and deep as each questioned the other and knew the answer to their newfound love.
Gabrielle sighed deeply, feeling the response to him begin to fill her with a delicious anticipation as he began to caress her.
“Oh, Rafe!” she whispered suddenly, “think of all the time we wasted.”
He smiled at her and planted a kiss on the tip of her nose. “I shall endeavor, madame, to make up for all lost time.” He sensed her complete abandon and traced a finger over her lips. “I’m a stubborn male, aren’t I, darling? But once I’ve been made to see the light, there’s no turning back.”
His green eyes deepened, and she thought she could drown in their depths.
“I love you, kitten,” he whispered tenderly.
She laughed with an overwhelming happiness, her arms wrapped tightly about his neck, knowing they had the rest of their lives together.
Gabrielle Page 52
