Love's Battle (True Blue Trilogy) (22 page)

Estevan pines for you daily. He can nowadays be found buried nose deep in a tome in the library. I believe we have a scholar on our hands. He is certainly smart enough.

Mateo will be acquiring his first tooth soon. He is drooling over everything and is growing so fast I fear you won’t be able to recognize him when you return.

Your father sends his love and prayers as do I. He sorely misses your morning breakfast talks over the paper Godspeed my son, I am so proud of you.

Your loving mother,

Adabella Chavez

“I signed the letter with more flourish than I felt, hurried to brush the tears from my eyes before they could stain the parchment and run the ink. Telling of a mother’s pain was hard enough without her child seeing the proof of those statements. But sadly, the worst pain was yet to come.”

“Senora.”

I swallowed hard to relieve the constriction the held my throat so I could answer. “Si, Rosa.”

“The baby is awake.”

“Ah, and hungry no doubt.”

“Si.”

“Very well.” Heating the tube of wax in the flame at my elbow I pressed a furuncle of it against the center flap. Efficiently sealing the letter I engraved the red melted wax with the crested family ring I wore.

“Could you have this posted today?” I asked, blowing out the waiting flame.

“A letter for senor Jorrin?”

“Si.”

“I watched our housekeeper placed the letter in her pocket as we left the downstairs study headed for the carpeted stairs. My mind was on Mateo and the dinner menu. I wanted cook to prepare Reyna‘s favorite since she was visiting. It was the twins who alerted me something was wrong.”

“ Mama, mama.” Zale and Ziven called from the second floor landing. Worry

written across their pale faces as they hurried down the main flight of steps.

“Mama, mama. Riders are coming.”

“They’re from the king.”

“From the …” I couldn’t bring myself to complete the sentence.

My hands tightening on the baluster as terror gathered in the pit of my stomach. “Fetch your father, quickly, quickly.” I begged the twins, tears already in my eyes. I could hear Mateo’s hungry cries drifting down from the nursery above, but he would have to wait. I turned from him, a plea to God on my lips. “Jorrin.”

“Gathering my skirts I flung open the heavy doors and ran down the lane to meet the coming soldiers that brought word of my son.”

Unseen behind them under the copse of trees stood a young girl brushing her blonde white hair with a silver comb.

“Senora Chavez?” The leader asked.

“Si.” The word burst from my throat.

“Dimly I could hear Rodolfo, a look of terror on his face, calling my name as he ran down the garden path to join us. His fear like mine was rampant in the air.

“Our deepest apologies Senora as well as those of our King. Your son has served his country faithfully.”

“I looked upon the gloved hand that held out the royal missive as one would a poisonous snake.”

A sob escaped my lips as Rodolfo snatched the offered dispatch, breaking the seal as the soldiers, pity rampart in their eyes took their leave. Scanning the contents he threw his arms around me, his tears already falling as he called for the son I knew we would never see again. All feeling left my legs as I slumped to the ground.

“I didn’t need to read the letter to know that it told me my son was dead. The riders with their presence had done that efficiently enough.”

“My son, my son.” I cried, a feral howl of anguish ripping from my soul. “No, no no.” I screamed my denial. This couldn’t be happening. Oh my God, my Jorrin was dead.

Coming back I focused again on Danton’s unemotional face, recognized the stirrings of sadness in his eyes as I told him of my son death.

“My agony only increased when I learned that my son’s body was buried at sea. I would not find the comfort that the closure of a funeral offered. The chance to see his body one last time and know without a shadow of a doubt that he would not be coming back to me. In my head I knew my son was gone, but my heart, oh it held out the smallest shred of hope that he might one day come home. I waited every afternoon on the front steps, after lunch and until tea.

“When Jorrin came back to me I wanted to be the first to lay eyes on his angel face. For nearly forty years I stood and waited,” My only company a white crow. “He never came home.”

Chapter 44

Danton

Love had gone somewhere I couldn’t, deep into her mind where she kept her past. I watched her eyes go dreamy, saw her happiness as she looked at the portrait, and I found myself envious of Rodolfo for putting such joy there.

In her remembering I saw her pain. Like a phantom it had taken over her mind, controlling her in a way that made me feel helpless. There was no denying the over whelming grief in her eyes and speech that bordered on madness. In her story there was an authenticity I could no longer deny.

Losing a child, no matter how many times, had to take a toll on a person’s soul. I didn’t want to give Love my pity. It wouldn’t help her, but I couldn’t stop myself.

“I’m sorry Love.” I said tenderly, sadness filling my voice at the pain I saw reflected in the dual pools of her eyes. Closing them she fought to keep the forming tears at bay.

“It’s okay.”

With a negligent shrug to her shoulders I watched as she put on a brave face, pushing back the recollection of centuries past and the ache they caused, wrapping herself in triviality.

“He wasn’t the only child I buried too soon. Today’s medical advances were hardly a thought when I delivered three stillborn babies, buried two of them before the age of ten, and lost four to the ravages of war. They’ve long been in a better place and I’ve long since shed tears of grief for their passing.”

“It still hurts.” I observed. She wasn’t fooling me for a second. No one could turn emotions that intense on and off like a light switch. Not even an Oscar winning actress. There were some things that couldn’t be faked.

“Constantly. Life isn’t always happy Danton no matter how many times you get to live.”

“Yet you stand here trying to act as if it doesn’t affect you.”

“And that bothers you?” She questioned. “You perceive my lack of true emotion to be crass and heartless. I see it as a way to preserve my sanity. I remember every day of every life. Nothing is forgotten. I’ve given birth to forty children, all of whom I’ve loved with every fiber of my being, just as I did their fathers. All are dead, buried, and gone to ash, as are countless family and friends. No one remembers them like my sisters and I do.”

I let the statement hang between us, not unmoved. I realized that the grief Love felt was still strong, regardless of her attempts at bravado as she continued, the sheen of tears in her eyes threatening to fall at any second.

“No one knows the way they laughed, the way they cried, or the way they smelled. No one can recall the children’s first steps, their first words, the way they looked in the candle light as they slept, or the cold paleness of their skin when life had left their bodies. No one remembers but me. I remember it all!”

“I’m sorry.” I apologize helplessly. I never dreamed Love paid such a high price for her existence, couldn‘t fathom how she continued to live through it again, and again.

“I’m not. They knew I loved them. I find peace in that.”

I nodded my understanding as she continued, her voice once again strong, no longer morose.

“One high spot many years earlier was the marriage my sisters and I were able to arrange between Maria Analia of Saxony and Charles of Bourbon in seventeen- thirty eight. Charles would become Spain’s king twenty years later and I would go on to die July tenth at the age of seventy-nine from tuberculosis. Dreadful condition.”

Eyes on mine, Love’s penetrating gaze was questioning as if she was trying to determine whether or not I could take anymore. It didn’t matter to me if I could handle it or not. I needed to know more and this was only brushing the surface.

“What life was that?”

“The ninth,” Moving to the door she held it open, mischief back in her eyes “Come with me, I’ll give you another life you can add to your list of things to research.”

Chapter 45

Avast Ye Hardies!

Love

Danton followed me from my office to the historical art display. No longer spine stiff, his once blank face was now full of sympathy; dawning with what I hoped was acceptance. I appreciated his understanding of a mother’s loss, even if he couldn’t understand the mother.

“Raphael’s Three Graces.” I began, stopping in front of the framed and captioned imitation piece. “Painted in the year fifteen hundred by the master himself. Of course this is only a reproduction, the original hangs in Musee Conde in France.

“Is that? Are you telling me that’s you?” Danton asked in a surprised whisper, cautious of the people milling around us. His eyes went wide as he took in the painted bodies of the two nude and third semi-nude women.

“And my sisters.” I answered, tongue in cheek as I looked fondly on myself. “That’s me on the right. You’ll have to wonder which ones are Faith and Hope, I’m not telling.”

“Exhibitionist!” He laughed, relaxing for the first time. It was a sound that warmed my heart.

“Just a little,” I blushed.

Turning we walked around to the historical maritime display. “Times were tough. We were sixteen when we posed for Raphael. Though our time together was short I admired his talent greatly.”

“You didn’t marry him did you?”

“No,” I laughed. “Raphael was only a dear friend who helped us during a time of great need. The Italian Wars had been ravaging Italy for six years by this point. There was no love to be brought together for a long time. Our mother died giving birth to us and our father who raised us was killed in the line of duty a few weeks before the painting was created. With no end to the fighting in sight we left home.

“It was as we were traveling south that we came across Raphael. The small payment for services rendered coupled with the severance bestowed on us following our father’s death allowed us to buy passage aboard a ship that was traveling to Sicily. We were in search of a new beginning. One without the threat of bloodshed or war.”

I stopped in front of the display that proudly offered an array of miniature replicas of nautical vessels. Paintings featuring larger ships, as well as various mannequins exhibiting pirate dress dating back from the twenty-first century to the time of the Vikings.

“Our captain was in a hurry to unload his cargo and instead of hugging the coast and keeping close to the safety the inland waters provided, he decided to brave the open waters in favor of a shorter route. Side note, Sicily is less than a hundred miles from Tunisia’s farthest tip.”

“Not a great decision on our captains part.”

“It certainly wasn’t and thanks to his lack of patience our ship was attacked by privateers intent on looting and enslaving their new captives.”

I smiled as Danton’s jaw dropped in shock. Clearly this was a story he wasn’t expecting.

“Luck was in our favor as Faith’s, or Euphrosyne as she was known then, future husband, was the one who kidnapped us. His name was Kalei Ruzgar. Hope, Veda, married Kalei’s brother. I, Cerys, married his uncle, Aslan Niamon.

“Aslan’s first wife had died several years earlier leaving him the full responsibility of raising their two children Jessenia and Jabari on his own. At nine and five, after having accompanied Aslan in his privateering for those several years, the children were in possession of deplorable manners and a mighty wicked sense of humor.

“They took great delight in torturing me. Until I’d finally had enough, I was continuously assailed by the disgusting odor of decomposing fish wafting up from the depths of my closet where they lay buried among my under things and hidden in the toes of my slippers.” I could practically smell the stench of rotting fish my memory was so vivid. Once again I was taken back in time to a ships cramped hold.

“That day I followed the tell-tale sounds of hushed giggling that filtered through the walls from neighboring cabin. The surprise on their small faces when I found them in their hiding spot was priceless.

“From the moment I laid eyes on Aslan’s children with their pitch black hair and large doe eyes they’d yet to grow into, they were mine. I loved them with all my heart. Jessenia taught me how to fight with a sword so I could defend myself since we all lived the privateer life until I became pregnant. The daggers in my living room were a present from Aslan when I gifted him with our first son, Danil.”

“What was written on them?”

I was surprised Danton had taken a close enough look to see the Arabic scroll carved along the undulating blade. He’d gotten a better look at them than I realized.

“An inside joke, the front translates to, ‘Siren of the Sea’. The back to, ‘My heart sings for you’.” Showing off a little I repeated the loving endearments in Arabic.

“The first time I laid eyes on Aslan, he was fishing me from the ocean. I had lost my footing on the pier and couldn’t swim.”

From our post on the main deck we watched our new home come into view.

The energy level on board was high, the deck hands eager to be home and begin lining their pockets with gold from their share of the latest gathering.

In preparation for docking, Euphrosyne, Veda, and I had been brought up from below deck and tied to the front mast. Kalei Ruzgar, Cinaed’s newest body was still not convinced of who we said he was. That was okay, it had been less than a weeks time and Euphrosyne would eventually bring him around. In the meantime Veda and I worried what our future held.

As the ship docked, the plank was let down and people began to rush here and there unloading cargo.

“Good day, Kalei.” A large man greeted. Shaking the pirates hand he looked at us with unabashed interest. “I see your trip was profitable.”

“That it was.” Kalei laughed.

“A shame I didn’t go with you!”

“Fear not brother, I brought you a gift.”

Leaning past Euphrosyne to cut our ties, she whispered a single word in his ear.

“You are still unmarried Malik, are you not?”