Love and Dreams: The Coltrane Saga, Book 6 (20 page)

“Over there”—he pointed—“is Staten Island.”

Jade could see cliffs and rocky ledges dusted with snow. She shivered, despite the floor-length mink cape she wore. It was nearly December, and the cruise from Bermuda had been uneventful, but each time she’d ventured up on deck, the wind had been frigid, biting. She’d spent most of her time below but refused to miss the experience of witnessing their entrance to the famous great city of the western world.

The yacht moved closer to shore, and voices could be heard carrying across the water. Steamers and small boats were traveling back and forth between the larger anchored ships. Merchants and peddlers were aboard these small craft, hawking their wares of clothes, bread, milk, and fruit.

Bryan continued to tell her of everything he thought might interest her as they passed, but she hardly heard a word he spoke. She was far too dazzled by the sights and sounds and smells to communicate. So many thoughts were spinning around in her head, but the one that screamed to be heard above all the others was the question of whether Colt was somewhere out there in that crowded place.

Bryan had explained to her earlier that she would have to go through Immigration, and since there might be a problem because she had no papers or identification, it would be best to let him do the talking.

They anchored at a pier, and then Bryan guided her into the crowded area beyond. Jade asked why they even had to go through such a formality. “It seems to me we could just keep on walking—who’d notice in all this mad rush of people?”

Bryan laughed. “That would be nice if we could get away with it, but the truth is, we’re on an island, and there are guards about. We won’t be allowed to leave until we go through that building over there.” He indicated a large, flat-roofed structure directly ahead.

Jade groaned. There were three long lines with probably a hundred or more people standing, in each. They looked tired, weary, their bags and suitcases piled around them, which had to be moved each time they inched forward in line. The women wore ragged shawls or shabby coats, and the children were in tattered clothing, most crying and whining. The men, in caps and worn jackets, tried to stand proud and tall as they led their families to a new life. “It’s so sad,” Jade murmured compassionately.

Bryan nodded, regretfully told her she’d see many such sights. “Most of these people, unfortunately, are destitute, and they’re pouring in from all over the world in hopes of finding happiness in the land of milk and honey. I’m afraid most will be very disillusioned in a short while. The country is in a state of depression, and people are starving. Immigration should shut the gates till things improve, but they won’t.”

He led her past the bedraggled people and then turned and went around the side of the building to a door marked
Employees Only. Do Not Enter.
Without hesitation, he walked in.

Jade expected that at any moment someone would yell at them to get out, get in line, but instead, everyone they passed smiled and waved and called Bryan by name—and with respect, she noted.

They walked upstairs to the third floor and went to a door with a
Private
sign posted. This time Bryan knocked, but was promptly greeted by a pleasant-faced woman wearing a white shirtwaist and a paisley bell skirt. Jade noted her tiny waist, knew she was strapped into a miserably tight corset since it was the current custom for women to do so, regardless of the discomfort. She was glad she had a naturally small waist and did not have to resort to such torture to be stylish.

The woman seemed genuinely happy to see Bryan. “Oh, Mr. Stevens, it’s wonderful to have you back. We’ve missed you…” Her voice trailed off and she dropped her gaze for an instant as she murmured, “I didn’t have a chance to tell you how sorry I was to hear of your loss.”

Bryan smoothly said, “That’s in the past, Miss Stallings. Life goes on.” He gestured to Jade. “I’d like you to meet Miss Jade O’Bannon.” To Jade he made the introduction, “My dear, meet Miss Vanessa Stallings, secretary to the chief immigration officer. We’re old, old friends.”

Jade listened with a straight face as Bryan told his story, but all the while she was swallowing against a gasp of astonishment. He was smoothly relating how Jade was a distant cousin of Marnia’s, and he’d traveled from Bermuda to Ireland to bring her to America to live. On the voyage home they’d been in a bit of a blow at sea, and she’d lost her purse with all her personal papers inside. “I’m afraid,” he said, gesturing helplessly, “that if Ben doesn’t give her some kind of special dispensation, she’s going to be placed in a detention center for a long, long time until all the legal loopholes can be worked out.”

Miss Stallings was gracious and sympathetic. “Well, we can’t have that,” she said and walked across the room to a glass-paned door. “I’ll see if Mr. Roberts is busy.”

While she was in the other room, Jade whispered, “I can’t believe how easily you lie. I’ll never believe anything you tell me.”

His eyes were twinkling as he countered, “Then I can say anything I want, can’t I? Like how I’m going to make mad, passionate love to you as soon as I get you to myself.”

“That I believe,” she wryly assured him.

Miss Stallings returned to promptly usher them into Mr. Ben Roberts’ office. Jade at once felt at ease with the pleasant, rotund little man. He had nice brown eyes, a pencil-thin mustache that curled at the corners, and she liked the gay blazer he wore.

He grasped Bryan’s hand to pump it up and down in warm greeting. “Welcome home! It’s been too long. We’ve missed you at the Yacht Club. Had a big dinner the other night and heard your name mentioned several times. Lots of folks wondering when you’d be back.” He turned to Jade and his grin grew broader. “So this is Marnia’s cousin. I can see the family resemblance. Welcome to America, young lady. My, my, you’re as beautiful as your cousin.”

Jade demurely thanked him; then Bryan fluidly proceeded to repeat their predicament, finally requesting, “So if you could see fit to give her some kind of papers placing her in my care, so to speak, we can go.”

Jade held her breath, felt Bryan tense beside her. Ben Roberts looked her up and down, pursed his lips thoughtfully, then shrugged and said, “Oh, why not? What’s authority good for if you can’t use it once in a while, eh?” He winked, patted Bryan’s shoulder, then called to Miss Stallings to bring in the necessary forms to be filled out.

As the paperwork was being done, listing Jade as an unmarried Irish immigrant, Ben informed Bryan that the Sherman Silver Purchase Act had just been repealed after a bitter congressional fight. “Gold reserves are still falling though,” he said worriedly. “We’re in a depression for sure.”

When they left, Jade could not help regarding Bryan with awe. “If you hadn’t been able to do that, I’d have been on Ellis Island for months.”

He winked, gave her a quick hug. “I keep telling you how wonderful I am, but you just won’t listen!”

She had to laugh, despite herself. If their search confirmed Colt was dead, as she secretly believed it would, and she were to eventually marry Bryan, she knew they would share many good times. In fact, she could recall no time spent with him that was not enjoyable. He was witty, possessed a wonderful sense of humor as well as a bright and easygoing personality.

After Bryan gave instructions to his crew to service the yacht before going home, he rented a hackney cab and they were taken to the train depot. From there they left for the Stevens estate, situated north of Manhattan along the Hudson River.

Jade hungrily drank in the sights and smells of the city as they passed, enjoying the excitement of seeing America for the first time. Bryan noted it was certainly different from Russia, and she nodded in agreement. He then settled back with a newspaper to catch up on all that had taken place while he’d been away, leaving Jade to be captivated by the scenery.

She marveled at the countryside, the sleepy dark blue Hudson River winding its way through its carved path in the craggy mountains that were upper New York State. Bryan said she should see it all in the spring, for now the trees were bare, the landscape brown, dull. She still found it quite beautiful; it was new, different…and a part of the dream she and Colt had once shared.

From the train station in Newburgh, another hackney cab took them a few miles farther out into the country where, at last, it turned up a cinder-paved drive. The Stevens mansion sat on a high bluff overlooking the river and was quite impressive. It was three stories tall, of painted white brick. A wide porch skirted three sides of the first floor, and several upstairs rooms opened onto balconies with ornate railings and shingled, cone-shaped roofs. Shrubs and trees were carefully placed, but with the onset of winter, the grass was a sleeping color of brown, and all the trees were bare and reaching toward the sky with skeletal fingers, save for the evergreens, a splotch of color on the landscape.

Bryan paid the driver, who placed their few pieces of luggage on the front porch; then he turned to Jade and somberly declared, “This is your new home. You are mistress of this house for as long as you like, which I hope will be forever.”

He stepped ahead of her and reached to open the door, then paused to apologize. “I’m afraid it’s going to be very cold and dusty. I told the staff to just close it up, and that was months ago, so—”

He was abruptly interrupted as the door swung open, and a plump, smiling woman burst onto the porch with arms outstretched in greeting. “Mister Bryan! Praise the Lord, you’re back. Welcome!”

She hugged him effusively, and Bryan graciously returned her embrace but asked, bewildered, “Mina, what’re you doing here? I told you to close the place up, find another job.”

She stood back to smugly shake her head. Placing hands on fleshy hips, she challenged, “Did you think I’d do that after working for your family so many years? No, sir! You were very generous, paid me more than my wages due, and I’ve been able to keep the place running, the fires burning, and you’re going to find everything just like you left it, because I knew one day you’d come home.” Suddenly she noticed Jade for the first time, and she was washed with embarrassment.

“Oh, sir, I—I’m sorry,” she quickly stammered. “I was so happy to see you, I didn’t notice you had a guest.”

Bryan introduced Jade to Miss Mina Dobbins and said she’d been his family’s head housekeeper for longer than he could remember. “Miss O’Bannon,” he pleasantly related to Mina, “will be our house guest for as long as she wishes, and she will be considered the mistress of this house as long as she is here. Is that understood?”

Mina gave a small curtsy, then stepped aside so they could enter. “Of course. Anything you need, Miss O’Bannon, you just ask.”

Bryan affectionately took Jade’s hand and led her to the curving gold-carpeted stairway. “I’ll give you a grand tour later, but right now you’d probably like to freshen up, rest a bit. I’ll have Mina bring you a pot of tea and a sandwich.”

Jade fleetingly glimpsed the lavish furnishings, knew that everything was a touch of Marnia’s, and was not unaware of a twinge of jealousy of her own. If she stayed, if they married, then she’d no doubt be given free rein to redecorate to her own taste…which was just what she would insist upon.

Bryan led her down a long, mahogany-paneled hallway to double doors at one end. They entered a large parlor. There was a divan and two comfortable-looking chairs before a white marbled-framed fireplace. Tables held lovely bric-a-brac. The color scheme was pink and white, like a huge birthday cake, Jade noted. Another touch of Marnia. Bryan gestured toward doors on one side and said that was his bedroom. “Yours is opposite.” He led the way.

Again Jade was assailed by the feeling she’d been trapped inside a bowl of ice cream and strawberries as she looked about the room done in various shades of pink. The wallpaper was of pink silk with tiny white clovers and pale green vines intertwining. Draperies of pink satin hung at each of the four French doors leading onto a sweeping balcony with a breathtaking view of the Hudson River. The canopied bed dominated the room. The floor was covered in a rug of pink and white roses. It was lovely, no doubt about that. But Jade also found it smothering in its fluff and froth.

Bryan sensed her tension. “Marnia never slept here, you know,” he explained. “It was while the redecorating was being done that she was killed.” He surprised even himself by being able to speak of it without emotion.

Unable to control her overwhelming revulsion of the decor, Jade blurted, “Why so much pink? I’m sorry, Bryan, but it makes me feel nauseous, like I’ve eaten too much candy or something.”

He nodded with understanding. “I know. I felt the same way when I saw the final results. It was almost finished when the fire happened, and I didn’t care one way or the other and just let the workmen go ahead and finish it the way Marnia had wanted.

“She said,” he went on self-consciously, “that maybe so much pink would bring us luck, help us have a daughter. She wanted another child, and—”

“I won’t sleep in here!” Jade abruptly turned and walked out of the room.

Bryan followed after her to protest, “But it’s right across the parlor from my room, and we’ll be close.”

She whirled about to face him defiantly, jade eyes sparking with resolution. “You have guest quarters, don’t you? I’ll stay there or move to a hotel. It might come as a shock to you, Bryan, but I’m about as tired of living with Marnia’s ghost as you are with Colt’s.” She paused to suck in her breath raggedly, then rushed on without giving him a chance to respond. “I came to New York to put Colt’s ghost to rest once and for all, but I’ll be damned if I’m moving in and sharing a room with Marnia’s.”