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  Riley was so much more suited to his spirit and his traditions then he ever dreamed she could be, and it thrilled him. In a true sense, she risked social disapproval by showing her intentions toward him first, much like a maiden would do a man in his tribe. An Apache woman did not stand on the same protocol as English-born women and made the first move in the courting ritual by taking part in the marriage dance.

  A maiden would dance around the circle made up of unmarried women and men, and then stop in front of the warrior she loved. With a slight slap upon his cheek, she would make her preference clear. If he accepted, he would set himself back from the circle. Within a week’s time, he would structure a path of stones for her to walk down in an area she frequented most, like the place she went to wash her clothes. Then he would hide. When she used the path, he would jump from his hiding place and take her to his wickiup.

  At that point she would cook for him, saddle his horse for him, and share his home, but not his bed. Only after her parents accepted his gifts of beads, blankets, and other trinkets he brought them would she be his wife.

  Just as he contemplated how and where he would construct a path of stones for Riley, a commotion could be heard downstairs. Reluctantly, he rose from his bed and made his way to the lower floor.

  In the foyer he found Addie hugging, kissing, and making an all-around fuss over Oliver. Leah stood quietly beside him, her eyes brimming with tears as she witnessed the family reunion taking place.

  He held out a hand in greeting to the younger man. “Good to see you made it home.”

  Oliver beamed, returning the gesture. “Aye, finally we are ’ere.”

  “And ye must be Leah that we’ve ’eard so much about,” Addie said, reaching out to take the younger woman’s hand. “I thank ye for ’elping save Miss Riley’s life.”

  Leah blushed, wiping a tear with the back of her free hand. “Ye are most welcome, Mum.”

  “If yer going to be livin’ ’ear, mite, then ye must learn to call me, Addie,” the older woman advised.

  “Or perhaps I could call ye Auntie,” Leah shyly suggested.

  Addie giggled. “I can’t see the ’arm in it.”

  “Well, in a sense ye’re ’er auntie, now.”

  Addie’s smile faded. “What are ye tryin’ to tell me?”

  “I married ’er on the way ’ome,” Oliver blurted out, his own face beaming.

  With mouth agape, Addie’s face paled. It was the first time Gabriel ever witnessed the elderly woman stuck for words, and it worried him.

  “I am ’onered to be a part of yer fine family, Mum,” Leah quickly added, looking concerned for Addie’s silence as well.

  Addie’s shocked gasp and wavering balance brought Gabriel closer.

  “Aren’t ye going to congratulate us, Auntie?” Oliver continued, “I’m a married man now.”

  Bracing himself, Gabriel reached around behind Addie and caught her just before she hit the floor. “Ah, yes, I had a feeling this was coming.”

  Leah’s hand went to her throat. “Oh, mercy, Oliver, what ’ave ye done to the poor woman?”

  Gabriel gathered Addie’s limp, plump form into his arms. “I would say, Oliver, you might have finally found a way to get out of a beating.”

  “Or get us both one,” Leah groaned, as she and Oliver followed Gabriel to the library.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Riley watched Tom’s coffin being lowered into the grave. With the slight breeze of the cool autumn day veering her way, she caught the scent of the white carnations placed around the site. Up until now she hadn’t cried. Tom would not have liked her to grieve for him in such a way. And so her heart ached with the pain of unshed tears.

  Reverend Holmes traveled from Brighton to give a final blessing, his words comforting. Tom was a good and decent man, loving and kind. She had nay a doubt in her mind his soul would find it difficult to enter heaven, a much happier home than he ever had on earth.

  Oliver, standing to her right with an arm around his new bride, was the only other person who knew Top Hat as she did. The two were good friends, and the pain on Oliver’s face proved just how much Tom would be missed.

  Gabriel stood to her left, his warm, muscular arm drawing her close. She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. A clean, citrus scent crept from the folds of his shirt, engulfing her senses. Her thoughts swirled with excitement, as though a tempest had gone through it. In spite of her heart grieving for the death of Tom, it was also very much aware of the living, breathing man standing beside her. She squeezed shut her eyes to clear her head of anything other than the situation at hand.

  I must stop being so selfishly oblivious to what matters now.

  “Riley, did you wish to say a few words?” Reverend Holmes inquired, interrupting her thoughts.

  She opened her eyes to find Oliver, Leah, Addie, Jane, and Charles staring her way. All of them waited for her to speak.

  She raised her head from Gabriel’s solid, brawny shoulder and glanced down at the casket that held her friend’s remains. Tom’s death was her fault. Had she not tried to meet the man claiming to be her father, none of what happened would have taken place. Naomi would still be alive as well. Those unshed tears now trickled down her wind-chilled cheeks, trailing a hot path into her flesh.

  “I am sure Tom will understand if it pains you too much to speak,” Gabriel whispered.

  She gazed up into the sapphire blue of his eyes. “Nay, I need...I want to say something.”

  He nodded in agreement.

  Glancing back at the grave, she began, “It is with a heavy heart I say farewell to a dear and loyal friend. If it weren’t for his bravery, I would not be here today with my friends and family. Neither would Lady Wellington or Leah. It is only because Tom fought death long enough to send help our way that we were all saved. And yet, it pains me greatly to realize I am the cause for his demise. If it weren’t for my foolish notion,”—her voice caught on a sob—“the hope that I would finally meet my father, Tom would still be here with us.”

  “Nay, ’e would never blame ye,” Oliver said softly, reaching out to briefly grip her arm.

  “Ye ’ad nay a way o’ knowin’, Miss Riley,” Leah added, tears streaking down her pale, thin face.

  Riley pulled a hanky from the cuff of her sleeve and dabbed at her eyes with it. “I am so very sorry, Tom. I ask for your forgiveness and pray you rest happily at the bosom of the Lord.”

  “Amen,” Reverend Holmes said.

  “Amen,” the others repeated simultaneously.

  Riley bent to retrieve two carnations from the bouquet nearest her. She tossed the first flower into Tom’s grave and placed the other beside Anita’s headstone.

  “Amen,” she whispered, as she glanced down at the resting places where the only parents she’d ever known would sleep for eternity.

  ****

  Gabriel found Joshua Holmes, alone, standing at the library’s hearth and warming himself by the fire. He turned to face Gabriel, upon hearing his approach, and smiled. “There’s nothing like the heat of a fire to bring comfort to the bones.”

  He nodded and took a seat nearby. “The fire pit at home is a welcomed place.”

  “I remember it well.” Josh claimed a seat. “You must miss its warmth.”

  He nodded again. “I do, and all those who sit around it.”

  “I am no stranger to knowing how it feels to be so far from home,” Josh empathized. “At least you have your sister with you.” He smiled. “And a niece and nephew as well.”

  “Sunny and Rafe have a beautiful family, as do Raven and Lord Shannon.” Gabriel sat back in the chair. “I expect any day to receive word of their new babe.”

  “Aye, Proud Eagle and Amanda’s family is growing,” Josh reflected.

  “At least by way of Raven and Sunny.”

  The reverend searched his face. “I am sorry for your loss, for all you endured. I have never been blessed with a wife and children, but if I had, and then
lost them...”

  “It is a sorrow, a pain no one can begin to imagine unless he has lived through it.”

  “I don’t doubt that for a moment,” Josh agreed. “Forgive me if it sounded as though I was making light of the situation.”

  A stony silence enveloped the room as Gabriel gathered his thoughts. “I have deliberately sought you out today because I need your counsel. There is an answer to a question I believe only a man of your calling can supply.”

  Josh crossed his arms over his chest. “I will give it my best try.”

  “I am very happy for my sisters and the love they have found. I know well how wonderful it is to have your heart swell with such feelings for another.” He leaned forward in his seat. “I experienced those same feelings once, and when it was gone, I thought I would never find it again.”

  “And were you ready to settle for never finding love again?” Josh probed.

  “I believe I was, at first, because no woman could ever be to me as my wife was,” he explained. “No one could ever replace her.”

  The reverend took an audible breath. “I understand your feelings completely.”

  “And then I felt falling in love again was dishonorable, a disloyal thing to do,” he went on. “But life is...”

  “Too long and too lonesome to live it alone.” Josh’s empathy obviously stemmed from a similar experience.

  Gabriel hesitated before speaking further, remembering the reverend once loved Golden Lady.

  Or did he still?

  Many times he and Sunny discussed the matter, as the holy man’s past affections for their mother was not a secret. His sister believed Josh’s love had never died, and that he still carried Golden Lady in his heart. Gabriel refused to entertain such notion at the time, and now that prospect caused him to shift uneasily in his seat. His mother belonged to his father, and that fact was a solid conclusion that would never change. Knowing another man loved her as well was disturbing.

  “What was the question you thought I could answer?” Josh asked, bringing Gabriel from his thoughts.

  He stifled the bothersome feelings he conjured within and cleared his throat. “My mother often read to us before bed from the holy book, so we were well schooled in her beliefs as well as the traditional Apache spiritualisms. She painted a very clear picture of heaven for us; one whereby we fully understood how our spirit would live on after it left our body. And we marveled over the thought that we would be able to see again all those souls that had departed from this plain, to live eternally with them in the afterlife.”

  “Aye, that is the way of it,” Josh agreed.

  “Then, I will one day meet up with my wife and son?”

  “Well, it is a bit more complicated, I’m afraid.”

  He frowned. “What complicates it?”

  “Obviously, to enter Christ’s Kingdom, you must believe in Christ and that He is the Son of God sent to die for our sins,” Josh enlightened. “Otherwise, what would be the point of you being in heaven?”

  “My wife did believe in my mother’s God. She was baptized by Reverend Ben six months before she gave birth to our child. And before my son died, the holy man baptized him as well,” he said.

  “Then both of them wait now for the day when you will join them. They’ve gone on ahead to make a place for you in Paradise,” the reverend explained with a happy assurance.

  Gabriel’s frown deepened. “But what if I should at some point in my life decide to remarry and have children?”

  “If your new family believes in Christ, they will also follow you into Paradise,” Josh said.

  Gabriel arched a brow. “Oh, I cannot imagine my afterlife being much of a Paradise, then.”

  Josh cocked his head sideways. “Why is that?”

  “If you knew my wife, you would not need to ask. She would never share me with another woman.”

  The reverend threw his head back and burst into hardy laughter.

  Agitated, Gabriel combed his fingers through his hair. “I see nothing amusing about this, Reverend.”

  “On the contrary, this is the best laugh I’ve had in quite some time,” Josh relayed through his mirth.

  He stood and paced the room, his brow creasing in a thunderous frown. “That is because you will not be the one standing between two angry women.”

  Josh pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and struggled to speak the words, “Neither will you,” while he wiped the tears of hilarity streaming down his cheeks.

  He stopped pacing and gazed at the reverend quizzically. “What...you think my soul too sullied to make it into Paradise?”

  Josh struggled a moment for composure. “I haven’t a clue as to how sullied your soul is. And whether or not you enter into heaven is between you and your Maker. But the fact that the Lord’s Kingdom is referred to as Paradise, don’t you think all will be fine once you’re there...whether with two wives or not?”

  “You are the expert in this matter, so you tell me,” he relied curtly.

  “Dwelling in heaven will not be like life here on earth,” Josh explained. “There will be no jealousy, hate, vengeance, or anger. Affairs with other souls will be different than the ones we have with each other now.”

  “Are you saying we will all get along?” he said.

  “Aye, that we will,” Josh concurred. “Like one big, happy family, our mission only to love Christ and share the many rooms of His home.”

  Gabriel smiled, relieved. “Then I do not have to remain alone forever.”

  “Nay, you are free to love again, thus why the marriage vow only binds until death doth do part the couple wed,” the reverend expounded. “So you’d better not tarry any longer in asking the lady to marry you.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “And what lady do you speak of, Reverend?”

  Josh stifled a smile. “Why, Miss Riley Flanders, of course.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The last month found Collins Stead anything but in its normal, tranquil state. Where before, the halls of the old mansion were quiet and calm; now they bustled with constant activity. And it seemed all the visitors were of one family circle.

  There was Lady Kaylena Bentley-Wade, Gabriel and Sunny’s aunt, who came by at least three times to see her new great-great niece and nephew. Along with Kaylena came her husband, Lord Morgan Wade, who was Fiona Cavendish’s father. So, their visit was two-fold, as they also made a stop at Collins Stead’s smaller mansion, where Lord Wade’s daughter and family now lived.

  Rafe’s parents, Jerome and Marietta Cavendish, couldn’t be outdone. As new grandparents, they too stopped by frequently to enjoy the two tiny additions to their family. And since their eldest son, Simon and his family, also dwelled on the estate, they’d pay a visit to them as well.

  Reverend Joshua Holmes, brother to Marietta, uncle to Simon and Rafe, and an old friend of Sunny and Gabriel’s family, came to perform Top Hat Tom’s burial, and stayed on for a few days in case an emergency baptism needed to be performed. Though the infants were of low birth weight, which was not unusual for twins, they remained in good health and survived the first crucial weeks of their lives. Therefore, a baptismal ceremony would be officially performed, with family present and a large dinner to follow, in a month.

  And then there was Lord and Lady Abbott. The Abbots were friends of Sunny and Gabriel. All four met while traveling aboard the ship bound to England from America. Lady Eugenia Abbott was also Lord Morgan Wade’s sister.

  Nay, life was certainly not as it usually was at Collins Stead. With all the company, and the servants they brought along to tend them, the mansion’s staff was pulled quite thin with their new duties.

  Thus the very reason Riley took to dressing herself and doing up her own hair, since Jane was busy most mornings with other responsibilities. It wasn’t really an issue, as she’d not been brought up in the genteel manner and could tend to her own needs sufficiently. She did what she could to help lighten the load for others as well.

&nb
sp; On this bright morning, Riley quickly performed her usual toilet so she could spend the early hours, as she’d done every morning for several weeks, helping a very frustrated Sunny with the newborn twins.

  Sunny had griped, only after the third day of her labors, about remaining in bed. “I do not understand the sense of staying bed-bound for this amount of time. An Apache woman never lingers this long. The next day she is up and about, taking her duties lightly, but nevertheless, not confined to bed.”

  “Where I grew up women were up and about shortly after giving birth as well,” she’d confided. “But it is the fashion of the wealthy to remain at rest for a number of days, sometimes longer.”

  Sunny’s lower lip protruded out into a pout. “Well, I am perfectly fine and do not want to be bathed, fed, and use a basin to relieve myself, all while lying in bed.” She took an audible breath. “Though I love being at Collins Stead and appreciate the kind and caring hospitality my family has been shown, I want to be in my own home, be able to put my babies to bed in the room that awaits them there, and start living life again.”

  Riley couldn’t blame her friend and sympathized with her predicament. “I understand your feelings, but a few more days will only benefit your health as well as the infant’s, which will allow all of you to travel much better.” She smiled. “Besides, I love holding them.”

  It was the truth. Every time she held little Peter or Amelia, her heart was filled with such a loving warmth, she was sure she’d burst with joy. And when she’d place one in Sunny’s arms to feed, she yearned for a child of her own to suckle at her breasts.

  Bringing her thoughts back to the present, she finished buttoning her blouse and tackled the tangled mess of her wild, ginger-colored hair. As her reflection peered back at her from her vanity mirror, she couldn’t help but think how much she wanted Gabriel’s child.

  And, oh that he would look upon me while I nursed his babe with the same admiration and love that Rafe holds in his eyes, when he gazes upon Sunny.