Harnessed Passions (10 page)

"I surrender!" Jeremy shouted, putting a
stop to Louise's tales of perverted gossip. "I'll bring Malinda out
for your personal inspection in a few weeks. Will that keep you two
off my back?"

"It will do for the time being," Louise
nodded gently.

"You're a fine piece of help, Julia
Dennese," Jeremy's use of his sister's full name, brought a snarl
to her delicate features and a choke from Daniel, who had been
trying to consume his coffee in silence.

"Your name is Julia Dennese?" he asked, with
a wide grin as he wiped up the coffee he'd spilled on the table in
front of him. Julia narrowed her stare at her brother who looked
triumphant.

"What's wrong with my name?" she turned to
Daniel, her eyes sparkling visual daggers.

"Oh nothing, I suppose; you just don't look
like a Dennese. Myrtle or Gertrude, perhaps."

“
It’s better than that,”
Jeremy added with a large grin as he nudged the man’s elbow.
“Dennese is actually a combination of seven names. Our parents
couldn’t decide on a middle name, so rather than name her a
multitude of names, they chose the first initials of everyone they
wanted her named after.”

“
What were the seven
names?” Daniel asked, smiling brighter as he began to imagine the
worse.

“
The D is for Dorothy, who
was our maternal grandmother,” Jeremy continued, watching the color
grow darker on his sister’s already irritated face. “The E is for
our other grandmother, Edith. The two N’s are for our great
grandmothers, Nancy and Nellie, the second E is for Evelyn, who was
mom’s best friend growing up. The S is for Savannah, who was dad’s
cousin; she died when she was four and the last E was for Emma, who
was an old slave dad had for years. She was the first slave he
freed after the Civil War. Emma helped birth Julia and stayed here
until she died just after I was born. So you have it.
D-E-N-N-E-S-E. Dennese.”

“
And I thought we British
had a lot of names,” Daniel laughed, glancing back to the woman
across from him.

"I suppose your name suits you better than
mine suits me?" Julia asked with an angry frown.

"Not really," he commented, smiling at her
irritation.

"What is it? No let me guess; Rudolph, or
how about Hampton? I know it's Mortimer, right?" It was Daniel's
turn to growl as Julia nearly choked on her laughter.

"If you must know, I too have several names
as well. I was born after my father and grandfathers as well;
Daniel Underwood Charles Kent."

"DUCK?" she barked in a hooting laughter.
“Funny, you don’t look like a duck to me; perhaps more of goose or
a donkey.”

Daniel's wicked smile caressed the woman, a
seductive gleam in his turquoise eyes twinkled back at her so
intent, that she felt as though she were suddenly rendered naked in
front of him. He was surprised at how much pleasure he derived from
her teasing, just like old friends - or hopeful lovers.

"At least it's better
than,
Mr. Browning
."

The remainder of the meal was spent with
Louise reluctantly telling of the arrangements for the funeral
services and the luncheon afterwards. Victor had wanted a very
simple event with little fuss. A viewing was held last night for
business associates, while the service today remained exclusively
for close friends and family members only. A wake would be offered
at the stables afterward with Daniel's partner, Harold Leonard
reading the will in a few days when things settled down.

The room had taken on a depressed feeling by
the time the older woman had finished speaking. The urgency to
recapture the old air of contentment seemed to be an all-consuming
task. Jeremy looked across the large oak table to his sister, who
had pushed her plate aside during the course of the conversation;
her meal barely touched and only half her glass of milk drank.

"Are you planning on going back to Boston
soon, Julia?" he asked, hoping to change the subject as far from
their father as possible. Julia frowned slightly and tried to keep
her voice level.

"I did plan on returning next week, but
things have sort of changed since then."

"You're not seriously going to consider
father's request and stay on here, are you? I thought you were
going to sell this monster and get on with your own life."

"Jeremy, please," Julia insisted, her tone
firm and filled with warning. "I've made up my mind and I've given
my word. I don't want to hear anything further on the subject."
Jeremy grunted his disapproval, but agreed to keep quiet - at least
for now.

Daniel continued to watch
Julia after that. He knew, once she heard her father's will her
attitude would change toward him; he was certain she would try and
sell her half of the stables and leave Kentucky. This fact was very
unsettling to him. A few weeks ago, he would have willingly jumped
at the chance to get rid of the
Turner
Brats
as he had grown to call them, but now
he couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing the dark haired beauty
every day.

He didn't want her to leave, but the reason
why exactly, he couldn't even begin to understand. He didn't know
what was happening to him or how this young woman had turned his
life so completely inside out, but he was determined to use
whatever measures he found necessary to keep her in Kentucky.

The funeral service was simple, just as
Louise had promised. There were around a hundred or so aunts,
uncles and assorted cousins in attendance and nearly as many
friends, all of whom had been made over the length of a lifetime.
The small town church was crowded to the seams; the pews were
filled to capacity and anointed by tears, sobs and hopes of a place
in Victor Turner’s will.

Since Victor was never much on
weekly church services, insisting that the ranch couldn’t survive a
day without him, the minister was in his everyday clothes rather
than his Sunday attire; a request from the deceased himself. There
were none of the normal,
he was a good
man
, or
he'll be
deeply missed
dialogue, as with most of the
funerals Julia remembered. Instead, the minister said a prayer for
the family to have strength and comfort along with a few words
about death being the beginning and not the end, and then afterward
he gave the mourners a few minutes to reflect on Victor in their
own way.

Several told amusing stories of the man as a young
boy, while others mentioned the regret they would live with for not
making amends with him over something that had happened long ago.
Memories were shared from an elderly uncle about the seven-year-old
boy who had climbed on top of the roof of the hen house and jumped
off in an attempt to teach the chickens to fly, breaking a leg and
wrist in the process.

Julia and Jeremy listened, laughed when appropriate
and wiped away several stray tears from their eyes, while Louise
held a sculptured expression on her aging face, a black veil hiding
dark circled eyes from many long tear filled nights. She sat
between her two children, while Daniel sat next to Julia.
Occasionally he would place a warm hand on top of hers only to have
her move away, but it didn’t stop him from offering his support
when he felt it necessary. A few times, it would take several
seconds before Julia moved her hand away, offering him the briefest
hope of friendship with the woman, though very brief it was. He
could only sit and wait, anticipating the events he knew would pull
her completely from his life once the contents of the will were
revealed.

The service was concluded with another prayer, again
for strength and comfort, asking God to accept Victor into his
kingdom and forgive him of any past sins, and then they were asked
to adjourn to the cemetery.

Julia watched quietly as the poll bearers
lowered Victor's casket into the open ground. It was at that moment
she realized how complete and final her father's life was. So much
time wasted, so many lost dreams and regrets made her feel
sorrowful and empty deep inside. She really didn’t want to be his
grave mate as Jeremy had termed it.

A warm hand on the small of her back brought
her back to the moment and she realized the minister was asking her
to lay a rose in the grave with Victor, as a token of his family’s
love. She was the eldest child and therefore traditionally
responsible to represent her mother.

Glancing up, Julia searched the mourners for
courage and found only a river of tears. Her mother wiped the
moisture from her eyes, while Jeremy lowered his head hiding the
tears threatening his own composure. She felt guilty for not
crying, but she was certain she had no tears left to offer. She had
shed so many of them over the past few days while she fought to
keep control over the arrangements.

Julia felt suddenly dizzy as she looked at
the rose the minister handed to her, realizing it was Daniel who
had taken the flower from the clergyman. His arm gently supported
her as she moved closer to the grave’s hole, her legs shaking
beneath her. Her finger pricked on a thorn from the flower’s stem
as Daniel handed it off to her and she looked down at the casket as
a drop of blood fell to the closed lid. It was morbidly ironic; she
was his grave mate after all.

Daniel's arm remained around her slender
waist, supporting her with the warmth and comfort of his strength,
and somehow she felt protected. Julia gently tossed the red rose in
on the brown top of the sealed coffin, watching it land next to the
dried blood. She stared down in the grave and found the tears she
swore she no longer had, flooding her eyes. She drew a deep breath
to steady her anguish, but felt the lump in her throat constricting
with unshed sobs.

"Good-bye daddy," she whispered against the
pain in her heart and burning in her throat. The little girl inside
her bid her farewells to a man whom she had grown to worship and
admire; the man who taught her to ride her first horse and to love
life for all it was worth, was taken away in a breath of time,
leaving only the memories behind to offer as comfort. Her voice
caught in her throat and her stomach knotted with grief.

"It’s alright?" Daniel whispered near her
ear.

A few moments later Julia found a line of
mourners gathered in front of her bidding her farewell, asking how
she was holding up and wishing her their best. Nobody seemed to
notice that Daniel still had his arm wrapped around her waist, but
she didn’t bother to discourage him either. Right now his embrace
was exactly what she needed to hold herself together, as she nodded
at those passing in front of her.

"I'll see to the carriage," Jeremy
whispered. She blinked slowly, bringing herself out of her oblivion
and a little closer to Earth. Another blink and she could make out
the woman standing in front of her. Two more tight blinks of her
eyes and Julia could even respond without sounding like a babbling
idiot.

“
We'd better get back to
the ranch," Daniel suggested gently. "You're expecting an awful lot
of people this afternoon."

Julia nodded, falling into step beside him,
his arm wrapping securely around her shoulders. She looked across
the head stones as they walked toward the waiting carriage. So many
graves in the small cemetery, some she recognized, while others she
had only heard of over the years. Her grandparents were buried
here, so were two of her uncles and even Heather Farnsworth, her
best friend from childhood. So many lives taken with no more than a
whispered memory of what once was, and a prayer to guide them
through the next life.

She looked up at the dirt road beyond the
worn picket fence and could see the carriages filled with mourners,
slowly pulling away from the cemetery gates. She glanced back to
her father's grave; life suddenly became painfully clear. From
birth to life, from life to death, with nothing more to show for
what had existed than a name on a headstone. She felt the urge to
escape the realization shining down on her; she wanted to run and
hide so far away from all of this that she would never be found
again.

Julia continued to walk, fighting her legs
with every step. She could see her mother, climbing into her Uncle
Roger's carriage, Jeremy standing beside it speaking quietly with
her. The dark blue curtains drew closed as Jeremy shut the door
securely, stepping back as it drove away.

There were two men in black and the
minister, all walking toward their own carriages and a woman
standing away from the rest of the mourners, as though she hadn't
really been a part of the service. Her black dress made Julia think
she had been there for the funeral, yet she stood alone like an
outcast at a society ball. Julia frowned as she focused on the
woman, her face well hidden beneath a dark veil. Somehow she felt
certain the woman was watching her; not the departing mourners, but
her in specific. She stopped abruptly, her gaze fixed on the woman
in black, unable to pry her eyes away. Daniel came to halt next to
her and glanced in the direction of Julia's interest.

"Who's that? Do you know her?" he asked,
glancing back to the brunette beside him. Julia shook her head.
Without seeing her face, she couldn't tell for certain whom it was,
yet she was positive they knew each other. If only she could
see...the woman turned and walked away at a slow, steady pace
disappearing between the rows of buggies.

"Julia?" Daniel asked, bringing her
attention back to him. "I think we should get you home. You can
rest before the wake." She nodded lightly and turned back to their
original course. A nap sounded good; a long restful sleep with no
thoughts, no worries, no dreams or fears for the future.