Alana (37 page)

Rafe nodded his head. “Alana–”

“No,” Alana said quickly. “Please, Rafe, leave it alone. I understand how you feel, and I accept it.”

“Do you?” he asked, riveting her with his gaze.

“Yes,” she whispered truthfully. “It hurts, Rafe, it hurts very badly, but I understand.” With her eyes misting, she started away.

Before she could get very far, he caught up with her and took her arm. “Why, Alana?”

Alana didn’t look at him, she just shook her head. “Because he was kind and good and helped me when no one else would. Because I realized that after your death, I could love another man–not the way I loved you, but with another kind of love. I will never deny, nor will I be ashamed of loving him, as I was never ashamed of loving you.”

“I’m not talking about Parkins,” Rafe said in a low voice. His hand tightened on her arm when he spoke again. “I’m talking about you. Why are you being so damned understanding?”

Alana couldn’t help smiling at Rafe’s complaint, but one look at his face indicated he was serious. “Don’t you know, Rafe?”

“No,” he replied.

“Because I love you,” she told him simply. Then she pulled her arm free and left the deck.

In her cabin, she continued to battle against her tears as she undressed and prepared for bed. When she damped the oil lamp and lay in the bunk, she tried to make believe she had not seen or spoken to him on the deck, or felt his fingers on her arm.

A half hour later, Alana finally fell into an exhausted and dreamless sleep

Rafe stayed on deck for hours after Alana had gone, his mind battling with his heart. He had almost come to terms with what had happened to Alana while he was imprisoned. The one thing that still bothered him was Alana’s behavior.

The fiery spark of life that had always been in her eyes was gone, and that bothered Rafe terribly. Yet he had glimpsed her passionate nature when she’d spoken just now of Edward Parkins.

Her voice had grown stronger, firmer, and after she’d left him, he had thought about what she said. Slowly the dawning comprehension that she had done only what she felt right had begun to grow in his mind as well as his heart.

The high-spirited woman he had fallen in love with five years before was on this ship with him now. And he was being a fool.

Rafe left the deck and went to Alana’s cabin. Inside, he lit the oil lamp and studied her features as she slept. Emotions rushed madly through him, and he slowly sat on the side of the bunk.

~~~~~

Even in her sleep, Alana felt someone sit on the bunk and, rising through the myriad layers of sleep and fatigue that tried to imprison her, she opened her eyes.

“Rafe,” she whispered. Sitting up, she blinked the sleep from her eyes. “Why are you here?”

“Because I love you, Alana.”

“Do you, Rafe?” she asked, suddenly awake and alert. “Do you love me or the woman you fell in love with five years ago? I’m not that Alana any longer. I’ve changed. I’ve lived through too many things,” she told him honestly. “I’m not the naive woman you found at Riverbend. I never will be again.” She paused for a moment to look into his face.

“I’ve always loved you, Rafael, and I always will. There has never been another like you, and never will be. But I will not have my life questioned anymore. What I’ve done, when I have been away from you, is as much a part of my life as you have been and always will be.”

“I know that, Alana.”

“Do you?” she asked, sitting straighter. “Is that why you’ve barely spoken to me in the last three days? Is that how you show your love and understanding?  Or does your hurt masculine pride, the knowledge that another man has known my love, prevent you from loving me again?”

She glared at him, anger flashing on her face. Her eyes turned a dark sapphire as she fixed him with an unyielding stare.

“I never stopped loving you, Rafe. I learned a great deal from Jason and Edward about love, and about life itself. Love is something given to another–given, not taken by force. I will not force you to love me any longer, Rafe.”

Rafe stood slowly and, towering high above her, looked down at her, his face a tense, angry mask. “Do you have anything else to say, or are you quite finished?” he asked in a stiff voice. “Because if you are, then perhaps I can get a word in edgewise.”

Alana raised her eyebrows but said nothing.

“I came to tell you I have come to terms with what you have done.”

“What in the hell is that supposed to mean?” she asked sharply.

Rafe sighed. “You’re not making this easy for me.”

“Really? Forgive me, Rafe, but I don’t find this situation easy. Everything I’ve done in the past two years has been in an effort to free you. Now you are on this ship, rather than standing in some dark mine shaft, and I’m being told you’ve come to terms with what I’ve done! Well thank you so much for your understanding,” she finished bitterly.

Rafe bent and glared down at her. “Damn it all, Alana, listen to me and stop putting words in my mouth! I love you more than anything or anyone on the face of this earth.”

Alana said nothing this time, because she could not. All she could do was pray she did not faint.

Rafe mistook her silence for more anger and stepped back. “I’m sorry, Alana. I won’t bother you anymore.”

He turned and went to the door. When his hand reached the knob, Alana moved; the sound of material whispered in the air. “Don’t you dare walk out on me, Rafael Montgomery!”

Rafe whirled to stare at her in challenge. But his challenge fled as he took in Alana’s naked body glistening in the light of the lantern. All of the old feelings of desire, admiration, and love came suddenly freed within him.

He returned to her and drew her into his arms. His eyes caressed her face even as his mouth descended, but before their lips met, he held himself back and spoke in a low voice. “The last time I held you, you promised to marry me the next day,” he reminded her.

Alana said nothing; she simply smiled, raised her hand until it was at the back of his head, and pulled his mouth to hers.

As the well-remembered flames of their passion burst forth, Alana willed her mouth from his to look into the endless depths of his eyes. “Are you sure?” she whispered.

“Alana,” he said, making her name sound like a warm caress, “I am more certain of my love for you than of anything else in creation.”

“Can you wait until everything is settled before we marry?”

Rafe’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean by ‘everything’?”

“Devreeling’s confession. I want to be able to marry you and not fear that when I awaken the next morning you will be gone again,” she said truthfully. “I could not bear it.”

“I will not be gone, my love,” he kissed her deeply and lifted her off her feet.

A moment later, entwined on the narrow bunk, Alana held Rafe to her, and when he swiftly entered her, she cried out in welcome, knowing that they were finally together and that nothing would ever again come between them.

At
six thirty on the morning of May 7, 1869, an hour before the Harmony was to depart Port Elizaberth, Johann Devreeling sat in the small dayroom where he always ate breakfast. He was spreading jam on a thick slice of bread, and a steaming cup of coffee scented the room.

Devreeling was certain that everything was going according to plan. In another two days, Rankin would rid the world of Rafael Montgomery. Tremain would supposedly be released, and the Parkins woman would not be able to substantiate her claim.

Devreeling smiled as he reached for the cup of coffee. Before he could pick it up, he heard the stifled scream of the cook, and half a dozen men broke into the room.

Devreeling stared wide-eyed at them, fear rising in the back of his throat. “What do you want?” he asked in a low voice, willing himself to appear strong in the face of this danger. “Do you know who I am?” he asked, louder.

“Most definitely,” said a woman who stepped to the front of the intruders. Her silver-blond hair framed a beautiful face.

“Who are you?” Devreeling asked.

Crystal smiled. “Elizabeth Montgomery,” she stated.

Devreeling’s face drained of blood. He stared at her. “Wh-who?” he whispered.

Instead of replying, Elizabeth motioned the men forward. Moving quickly, the men of the Harmony caught Devreeling neatly between them, tied his hands behind him, and gagged him.

Less than a minute later, Devreeling was inside a Maklin-Parkins coach heading toward the waterfront. A half hour after that, he was sitting in a small cabin on the Harmony wondering what was going to happen to him. For the first time, he realized that there was a very good chance that he would die in this spot.

He remained locked in the cabin throughout the long day, and only when the aftgernoon was fading into night, did two sailors come for him. They unbound him, took off his gag, and supporting him between them, took him to the master’s cabin and pushed him roughly into a chair.

One lantern burned, but its light allowed him to see only within a small circle. Shadows danced at its periphery. He counted three faces, but he could not see them clearly.

Pain in his arms, from the returning circulation, attacked him. Before he could recover, a woman stepped into the light, and he recognized Alana Parkins.

“Magistrate Devreeling,” Alana said in a level voice, “do you know who I am?”

“Of course! And you won’t get away with this!” he bluffed. Alana ignored his threat and continued to speak in a calm voice. “I would like a signed confession about your part in Rafael Montgomery’s imprisonment.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never heard of a man named Montgomery.”

“Then,” Crystal said as she too stepped forward, “you shall go to your grave an innocent man.”

“You can’t kill me! I’m a magistrate of the court!”

“You’re a minion of James Allison and a deceitful, ambitious man,” Alana stated, slowly raising her revolver until it pointed directly at Devreeling’s head.

“I swear I know nothing about Montgomery.”

Alana cocked the hammer.

“Please,” Devreeling whispered.

“Are you so afraid of Allison that you won’t speak?” Crystal asked. “Because if you are, then you also know if you fail him, he will do much worse than we could ever do.”

“I–you won’t kill me,” Devreeling said suddenly. His voice steadied, and he smiled at them. “You’re not murderers,” he said confidently.

“No, they aren’t,” Rafe said as he too stepped into the light. “But after living through two years in the shaft of the Bristol, I could kill you easily.”

Devreeling’s jaw dropped. “You–you’re dead.”

Rafe walked very close to Devreeling and bent down until his narrowed eyes were but inches from the man’s face. “Am I, now?” he hissed.

Devreeling’s shoulders slumped and his features sagged. Soon the knowledge that he was beaten appeared on his face. “Are you going to kill me?” he asked, his hands trembling visibly.

“Give us a confession naming everyone who took part in Rafe’s abduction and imprisonment,” Alana said authoritatively. “Everyone!”

“What’s to stop you from killing roe afterward?” Devreeling asked again. Both naked hope and open fear showed in his eyes.

“Only your own belief that we’re not like you and Allison,” Rafe said in a low voice. “But if you don’t sign the confession, you can rest assured you will die.”

Devreeling looked from Rafe’s set face to Alana’s furious gaze to Crystal’s flat stare. Slowly he nodded his head.

~~~~

On the morning of May 8, shrtly after the Harmony docked again in Port Elizabeth, and without an appointment, Alana, Rafe, and Crystal, pushing Johann Devreeling ahead of them, burst into the governor’s private office. Before the governor had a chance to speak, Rafe put Devreeling’s confession on the ornate brass and teak desk and spoke.

“My name, Governor White, is Rafael Montgomery. For the past two years I have been illegally imprisoned at the Bristol mine, on Johann Devreeling’s orders.”

The governor rose and stared at Rafe. “If you don’t leave this minute and present your case properly, I shall have you jailed.”

“And I,” Alana retorted, “shall see to it that all my wealth and all the powers of the Maklin-Parkins company are used to ruin you completely if you do not sit back down and listen to what we have to say.”

The acting governor stared silently at Alana, all the while knowing she had the power to destroy him because of what her husband had left her. Slowly he sat.

“This man,” Rafe began again, “has signed a statement, confessing his part in the crimes committed against myself and…Lady Parkins. It details everything that happened and also states other crimes of which Devreeling is guilty.”

The governor looked from Rafe to Devreeling, but Devreeling turned his face away. Then the governor lifted the confession and read it slowly in silence. When he was finished, he looked at Devreeling.

“Is this true, Johann?”

Devreeling closed his eyes and nodded his head.

“Why?” Samuel White asked.

Suddenly Devreeling’s eyes snapped open; hatred blazed outward. “Why?” he asked. “Look around you. My family came to Cape Town a hundred and fifty years ago. We were wealthy, respected people. When the mighty British Empire came, you took everything from us. You people forced us Dutch to give up everything and move to the interior. My family lost its fortune, and took what should have been mine. Does it surprise you so very much that I should turn against you and all you represent?”

“We took nothing from you or your family, Johann. Your people chose to join the rest of the Boers in the interior. Your so-called vast wealth was nothing in comparison to what we brought. What your family lost was the will to compete against others. Direct your hate and anger at your own people for not staying to maintain what they created.

“Yet,” the governor continued in a level voice, “you, Johann, chose to live with us and to become a part of us. In that, you deceived us terribly, and you have made me ashamed that I appointed you to your position. I will see you tried and convicted for your crimes, Johann Devreeling.”

Then the governor turned to Rafe. “Mr. Montgomery, I have wronged you in many ways, and I cannot even think of how to make amends for that. All I can do is ask you to accept my apology. And Lady Parkins, I must ask for your forgiveness. I was wrong,” he said honestly.

Alana’s nostrils flared. “Wrong about what, Governor?” she baited him.

“Alana,” Crystal whispered, but Alana was oblivious.

The governor met Alana’s open stare for a drawn out moment before rising from behind his desk to stand and face her. “Edward was my friend, and I could never understand why he married you. He told me he loved you, and that you were a special woman. I tried to talk him out of this marriage, but he wouldn't listen. ‘When you get to know her, Samuel, you will understand why I love her,’ he told me. But I never got to know you, until now.” Alana tried to comprehend what he was saying, but she was almost afraid to believe he was apologizing.

“I knew about your love for Mr. Montgomery because Edward told me everything about it. After I made my investigation, I believed you had concocted this outrageous story as part of a scheme to get Edward to marry you. I have ample evidence of the truth now, and can only admit I was wrong and that Edward was correct.”

“Thank you,” Alana said.

“I will see to it that Johann’s trial is brought about swiftly. I do hope that you will testify at that trial, Mr. Montgomery.”

“Oh, I shall,” Rafe said with a smile.

Two nights later, Rafe, Alana, and Crystal were in the Parkins house arguing fiercely.

“You will stay here!” Rafe shouted angrily, his face red as he confronted his sister.

“You’re my brother, not my father!” Crystal spat back. Alana sat silently, watching the war of wills between the two people she loved most. She wanted to say something to help, but she knew she could not.

“I won’t have you going back into Allison’s bed. No more!”

“I have to, Rafe. Don’t you understand? I can finish him. I can bring down his empire.”

“Or he can kill you.”

“Perhaps, but it’s a chance I must take.”

“Then I will go with you,” Rafe stated.

“Rafael No!” Alana cried, speaking for the first time in a half hour. “You decided–we decided–you promised we would stay together. We agreed to use all our financial resources to bring Allison down.” She continued, “I don’t like to put Crystal in danger, either. But we must attack him on both a professional and a personal level. He will soon know you’re alive and out of the mine. He’ll be waiting for you to come after him.”

“But I won’t let Elizabeth risk her life again,” Rafe spat angrily. “She doesn’t have to any longer.”

Crystal took a deep breath and then took Rafe’s hand in hers. “But I do, Rafael, I do. Please, I will be even more careful than I was before. I will run the Maklin-Parkins office in New York through our attorneys. No one will know I have anything to do with you and Alana. As Allison’s mistress, I can learn his every move, and we can destroy him, Rafe, as he tried to destroy us.”

“I don’t care about Allison anymore, Elizabeth! I learned a great deal in that mine. I realized how I let Allison govern my life instead of living for myself. I’m not afraid of the man; I’m just ready to go on with my life. I want the same for you.”

“When my time comes, Rafe, I will live my life also, but until that time I will live up to the name I gave myself–Revanche. I will have my revenge on James Allison.”

With that, Crystal turned and walked regally out of the salon. A moment later, as her footsteps echoed from the stairway, Alana looked at Rafe.

“And where does this leave us?” she asked, her eyes flickering across his features. The gauntness was almost gone from his face now, replaced by a healthier glow.

“My life is with you,” Rafe replied calmly, “whether here or in America. But that does not stop me from being afraid for Elizabeth.”

Alana suddenly became terrified that Rafe would insist on accompanying his sister on her dangerous mission, leaving Alana alone–again. After all, she had been through with Rafe, this idea was enough to make her practically hysterical. Leaping from her seat, she cried, “I want you with me, Rafe. I want your children. I want a life that is peaceful and filled with love. I can’t bear the idea of waking up and finding you gone. I can’t make you want to stay with me. If you want to chase all over the world, I won’t keep you. Go with Crystal! But I’ll be damned if I’ll wait for you or look for you ever again.” With a sharp intake of breath, Alana unclenched her fists and slowly dropped her arms to her side. “I think you understand how I feel now,” she finished, her words choked with emotion.

Rafe nodded. “Absolutely. I only have one question.”

“Ask it, then!”

“Do you like the name Rachel for a girl?”

Her stomach fluttered, and her heart melted again. “That was my mother’s name,” she whispered.

“I know. But if it’s a boy, I want to name him after my father,” Rafe told her, the corners of his mouth turning up in a smile for Alana.

Alana’s heart almost burst with her love. “Oh, Rafe, I want your child, I want a lot of children.”

“Then can we stop this pointless merry-go-round of words?”

“You really are staying,” Alana said as the tears spilled from her eyes.

“I could never leave you again, my love.”

Then he drew her into his arms and kissed her deeply, emphasizing just how true his words were. Before the kiss ended, Rafe had swept Alana from her feet and carried her to the staircase. With seemingly little effort, he climbed the stairs and went directly to the guest room.

Inside, he lowered Alana to her feet and gazed deeply into her eyes as he reached around her and began to undo her bodice. “Which should be first, a boy or a girl?”

With her eyes dancing merrily, and a smile now permanently affixed to her face, Alana said nothing; rather, her hands went to his shirt, and as he undressed her, she did the same for him.

Finally, when they were both naked, Alana spoke. “Either. Both. Whatever. But we will raise our children together, and watch them grow to become everything we want, and be proud of everything they achieve.”