Since her return, Gabriel’s life had felt full. He had not gambled, or gone drinking, or shared time in the company of less desirables one time and, oddly enough, he did not miss these activities.
Scarlet was alive. His hope was alive.
And dammit if he didn’t want to make the source of his hope happy.
“What?” Scarlet said with a glare as he smiled at her.
“If you continue to contort your face into that hideous scowl you will soon look like an old witch.”
“I am not scowling.”
“You are. And it’s adorable. But only in small doses.”
“Well, we cannot all be ridiculously jolly like you.”
“Ah, but we should.” He leaned over and became serious for a moment. “You are alive, Scarlet. Right here, in this moment, you are living. Stop being ungrateful for the breath you have. Smile for once.”
She stared at him.
Gabriel looked out the window. He fiddled with the sleeve of his shirt. He whistled. But he would not apologize for his words. She’d been holding onto her misery for too long.
“You’re right,” she said. “I will try to be better company.”
He smiled.
They went to town where he showed her new inventions and made her try new foods and afterward, Jensen drove them to the edge of Gabriel’s property.
Gabriel took Scarlet by the hand and led her through the wooded area behind his home.
“Where are we going?”
“I want to show you why I bought this particular property.” He squeezed her hand as they arrived at their destination.
Scarlet gasped. “It’s beautiful.”
They stood on a grassy knoll at the edge of a large, serene lake. Lowering himself to the ground, Gabriel laid flat on his back and gestured for Scarlet to do the same. She laid down beside him, her dark hair fanning out along the grass in between them, as they stared up at the happy sky.
Wind rustled through nearby tress and the peaceful sound matched the easy breaths in Gabriel’s chest.
“Thank you,” she said after a few minutes of silence.
“For what?”
“For bringing me here. Letting me see this.”
“Yes. Well, I ran out of chocolate, so…”
She smiled.
“I saw this lake on the property and knew I had to build a home here. It reminds me of home.”
He saw Scarlet nod from the corner of his eye. “Home seems like a long time ago.”
Birds chirped and the fluffy afternoon clouds began to thin as the sun lowered in the sky.
Scarlet let out a sigh.
“I wish I could take it from you,” Gabriel said, hating that her heart was so heavy. “The hurt. The loss.”
Scarlet stared at the sky. “Why must he stay hidden from me? I find the entire notion preposterous.”
“He is trying to protect you.”
“He is breaking my heart.”
Gabriel nodded. “Sometimes love makes hard decisions for the sake of what needs protecting.”
“But love should fight.”
He nodded slowly. “Yes, love should fight. But there is a difference between a valiant fight and a selfish fight. And love is not selfish.”
She turned to look at him across the grass. “For someone who is cursed to be without love you are quite wise on matters of the heart.” Sorrow filled her eyes. “I’m sorry for your curse.”
He shrugged. “It could be worse. I could be cursed to an eternity of pain or a life without chocolate.”
She didn’t laugh.
“It’s different when you’re alive,” he said softly, wishing to undo the distress on her face. He looked back at the clouds. “When you’re alive there is almost no emptiness inside me and I’m inexplicably happy at all times.” He smiled. “That sounds ridiculous, I’m sure.”
“Not at all.”
He could tell she was still looking at him but Gabriel kept his eyes above. “When you are alive, I am not cursed at all.”
She stared at him until he turned to look at her. “I’ve missed you,” she said.
His heart contracted as he stared at the girl who’d become his closest friend in his darkest times and his only cure to a hopeless heart.
He smiled. “I‘ve missed you too.”
Charleston 1791
Scarlet laughed into the sky as she leaned out of the window of Gabriel’s carriage. “These carriages are amazing!”
She heard the smile in Gabriel’s voice. “Why are you hanging out of the window, woman?”
She looked back at him, her entire torso stretched out across the dirt road as it sped beneath them. “Because when the horse goes fast like this it feels like I’m flying.”
Gabriel laughed. “You wish to fly, do you?”
“Fly. Swim. Dance. I wish for it all.” A stinging pang shot through her heart at the thought of any of those things without Tristan and Scarlet hurried to rectify the sorrow closing in on her happy mood.
Tristan was gone and he was not coming back—a fact she was slowly beginning to accept. With gritted teeth and clenched fists, perhaps, but accepting all the same.
He had not returned for her as she had hoped. Perhaps he did not miss her, or perhaps his life was better without her. Either way, she no longer had her Hunter.
So she tried to live her life as though he did not exist. It was easier that way. Less painful.
She climbed back into the carriage and smiled at Gabriel.
He made it impossible for her to feel anything other than contentment and joy in his presence and she was increasingly grateful for his company each day. She hadn’t wanted to cry or break anything in ages and she had actually quit complaining about getting dressed every morning.
“So what shall we do today?” she said.
“Fly, of course,” Gabriel responded. He leaned his body out of his own window and called, “Faster, Jensen!”
The carriage picked up speed as they both extended their bodies from the carriage windows and let the air sweep around them. As the wind whipped her hair, Scarlet looked across the carriage at the boy who had become her very best friend and—as she so often did in his company—forgot she had a broken heart.
***************
Through the constant ache he hated but was still thankful for, Tristan pulled back and aimed his arrow at his target board in the distance. He released the arrow and watched it sail to the center of the target.
Archery was the only comfort he’d been able to find over the past year. Something about the forest, the trees, the weapons in his hand…something made him feel centered. And with the scoring pain that lived in his body in Scarlet’s absence, being centered was what Tristan sought.