She slipped the brooch into her pocket. “Almost. Give me a couple more minutes. I’ll see you downstairs.”
Braham came to the door and said to Jack, “We’ll be down in a wee bit.” He entered the room, closed the door behind him, and leaned against it. “Have ye ever been to Napa during the harvest?”
She leaned forward in the chair, studying his face. His brow was furrowed, and he looked tight-lipped and pale. Was his heart breaking as much as hers? “I’ve been to Napa, but never in the fall.”
He came farther into the room and stopped when he reached the table with her medical bag. He fiddled with the handle. “During the harvest, thousands of grapes are picked. The grapevines covering acres of undulating landscape begin to go dormant and the leaves turn bright red and gold.” He turned to look at her, his eyes glistening. “The land smells fresh with the aroma of fermenting wine. Ye wake up before sunrise when the air is cool and crisp, and the scent of wine hits yer face. It’s the most beautiful and exciting place I’ve ever been.”
He ran his hand over the smooth leather of the case. “I want to take ye there, Charlotte. I want to wake up with ye and hold ye and smell the grapes. I want to make love to ye under the vines in the moonlight. Come with me. Let’s put the war and the trial…” His voice broke, and he breathed haltingly through his nose. After a moment, he began again. “Let’s put all this behind us. Come with me. If we leave now, we could be at my winery before the harvest begins.”
She jumped up and ran to him, and they held each other. “I can’t go with you. Jack and David are ready to go, and I have to return to my medical practice. Come with us.”
His body quivered against hers. “I can’t leave. Not now. I need…I need the land, Charlotte. I need to put my hands in the soil and prepare the earth for new growth in the spring. I need to find myself again. If I go with ye, I’ll be running away. This war has taken my soul. I’ve spent the last few years lying and cheating. We even broke the law to win Jack’s freedom. I’m not sure what’s right and wrong anymore. I have to find my way back to the person I was.”
“I’ll wait for you.” The words didn’t catch in her throat. She was saying she would wait for the rest of her life.
“No, ye mustn’t do it. Ye have to make a life for yerself. Find a man who will love ye and give ye children.”
His words were like a cold wind blowing through holes in her heart. “I don’t want another man. I want you.”
“Ye can’t spend the rest of yer life waiting for me. Promise me ye won’t.”
“I can’t promise.”
“Ye have to. Ye have to let me go.”
She gazed into his eyes, and what she saw there broke her heart. She had to tell him what he wanted to hear, even if her own heart knew it was lie. “I’ll let you go, but only if I find someone I love more.”
“I want ye to be happy.”
“How can I be happy without you?”
“I’m broken, Charlotte. My bones ache with every move I make. Ye deserve a man who can give all of himself. I can’t do that. Not right now.”
“I’ll help you find your way back. There are doctors—”
He covered her mouth with his, murmuring, “I have to love ye once more.” He carried her to the bed, lifted her skirts and petticoats, and took her. It wasn’t lovemaking. It was possession. And when it was over, he kissed her softly, brushing his lips across her face as if memorizing with his lips the contours of cheekbone and brow, of lips and chin, seeking to know her mind and spirit and the heart beating beneath his hand.
She looked away and breathed in and out slowly to keep her composure, because looking into his eyes was like looking into the night sky and watching the stars burn out one by one, until only infinite darkness remained. “I have to go.”
He held her close one last time, his heart pounding against her cheek. Finally, his arms relaxed. She disentangled herself and straightened her clothes, his seed warm inside her.
“Good-bye, Braham. I’ll always love you.”
She hurried from the room with her knitting basket and traveling bag and went downstairs where David, Cullen, and Jack were waiting in the parlor. When David saw her, he picked up his bags and hoisted one over each shoulder.
“I don’t look forward to the train ride back to Kentucky. It’s long, hot, and crowded,” he said.
“We don’t have to worry about going back to Kentucky, because look what I found.” She held up the sapphire brooch.
Jack gasped, clearly shocked. “Where’d you find it?”
She held up the basket, shrugging as if the answer was obvious. “When you tossed it toward the window, I guess it bounced in here.”
David’s face split into a huge grin. “Great.” He handed the ruby brooch to Cullen, placing it in his palm with a slight smack. “Will ye return this to Sean with our thanks?”
Cullen squeezed his shoulder. “I’ll be glad to. I’ll also tell Kit about yer books. I know she’ll be happy about yer publishing success.”
Charlotte gave Cullen a hug. “I’m so glad I met you. Meredith will be envious. Kit’s a very lucky woman.”
Unable to see through the tears, Charlotte fumbled with the tweezers until David took them from her hand and opened the brooch’s clasp. She didn’t glance back up the stairs. Instead, she steadied herself, laced arms with Jack and David, and spoke the Gaelic incantation for the last time.
Part Four
“Every man’s happiness is his own responsibility.”
—Abraham Lincoln
94
Mallory Plantation, Richmond, Virginia, Months Later
Charlotte sat in her
