CHAINS TO FREEDOM.✔

Chaper Fifty-Four

The hulks stood tall and dark, their moist timber hulls hummed and sang with many secrets, of uncertain futures and pasts.

Gabrielle looked to the sea; she felt the stickiness of salt crystals that had settled on her skin. Clouds had gathered, heavy and grey. Suffocating. She wiped tears from her eyes as the wind pressed hard against her, pulling at her clothes, caressing her body with the roughness of its hands. She stood huddled against its intrusion, refusing to succumb to its bitterness, and want for her to walk away. Gabrielle wrapped her shawl tighter around her body and waited for the gates to open and allow her refuge from the wind.

As the wagon came to the crest of the hill, Gabrielle saw the house, cradled in the valley and held in the arms of a thicket of trees. Glass windows sparkled in the sun's rays. Her stomach fluttered and danced with anticipation. George did not know she was coming. Would he want her now that almost ten years had robbed her of her beauty? She was no longer twenty-two. What of their son?

Louis had told her of his leg. Gabrielle was afraid George would reject her because of new scars he carried. She knew the scars of his past and had loved him in spite of them, loved him still.

"It's not much further, perhaps half an hour," Louis said. He could see she was anxious. He glanced over his shoulder to check on the boy. He was sleeping. Louis smiled as he said, "He looks very much like his father as I remember him when he was a boxer."

"He has the same gentleness too." Gabrielle smiled, and then sat silent in thought for a moment. She said, "Has he ever spoken of us?"

"No," Louis glanced at her as he shook his head and flicked the cart horse's reins. "For many of them to think of the past is more painful than the sting of the whip."

"Oh," Gabrielle wiped away a tear with the back of her hand and nodded her understanding. "It must be terrible to be taken away from all you know and sent to a land you do not recognize. It's bad enough for loved ones who are left behind." She gasped in a short quick breath. "I...I...have found it very painful."

He held her hands through the grid that kept him from her. "You must not come here, there is too much sickness."

Gabrielle listened to coughs and spluttering of people she could not see. It was dark, cold and wet. "I will come, George. You can't stop me. I love you."

He squeezed her hands. "Please...you mustn't, Gabrielle. You are with child. It is better to keep away."

At the sound of the wagon's wheels on the cobblestones, Aiden opened the door and called over his shoulder, "It's Master Louis!"

Jessica rushed to the door with the others. Elation fluttered in her chest. He was home.

"It looks as if he has a guest!" Aiden screwed up his face as he said, "A woman!"

"Oh." Jessica stopped in her tracks. "A woman. Is it Mrs. Templeton?"

"No. It can't be," Mary grumbled. "There's a child in the wagon. A boy! Mrs. Templeton has no child that I know of."

Elation's flame flickered. Jessica sighed with relief. Not Rachel Templeton.

Louis was helping Gabrielle from the wagon when George hobbled from the barn. She stood and watched his slow process, knowing he didn't recognize her. As he got closer she slid the bonnet from her head. Her soft brown hair fell in gentle waves and bounced on her shoulders. Gabrielle stepped toward him. He stopped. She beckoned her son to follow her, took him by the hand and stepped forward once more.

George fell to his knees. He hung his head and felt the pain which was buried deep in his heart, surface and explode from his chest. When he looked up, she had come closer. He held his hands out to her. "Gabrielle...!"

She stood there crying, holding the  baby boy in her arms. Tears ran down her cheeks, and spilled over onto the rug that protected the infant from the scorch of the wind.

George could not reach her. She was buried in the depth of the crowd. As the wagon pulled away from the hulks, George held his hands out toward her and cried, "Gabrielle...!"

Gabrielle cradled his head against her stomach as he cried. She knelt in front of him and wiped his tears away with her thumbs. To her he was still the man she loved.

"Oh...Gabrielle how I have missed you." George touched her face unable to believe she was real. He kissed her amber eyes, her nose and mouth. "Gabrielle..."

She smiled through her tears, "And I you, George. There has not been a day go by that I haven't missed you." Gabrielle ran her hands through his hair. She put her lips to his and whispered. "I want you to meet your son."

George raised his head and smiled as he looked up into his own eyes. "My son..."

It was evening when George came to Louis's study. "How can I thank you, Master?"

Louis lifted the document from his desk. "There is no need for thanks, George. Having known you and seen you box, is enough."

"You have seen me box, Sir?"

Louis laughed. "Yes and placed wagers on you and won!"

George tilted his head and smiled forlornly. "I am no longer that man, Sir."

"I know, George. I know." Louis stood and took him by the hand. He opened George's palm and placed upon it, the envelope.

"What is this, Master?"

"Your freedom, George. Your freedom."

"Oh I can't George, I can't!" But the smile on Gabrielle's face told George she could. He bent his head to hers and kissed her mouth.

"You can!" He pulled her onto the ice.

She laughed as she wobbled on her skates. "Don't you let me fall now?"

George pretended to let go of her hands. She squealed. "George Withers if you dare I'll..."

He pretended to let go of her again. "You'll what my lovely?"

She smiled sweetly at him. "I'll never allow you to share my bed again."

George laughed out loud. "Please, Miss never that, never that." He took her in his arms and held her close.

Gabrielle looked up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Then you must promise to never let me go."

"I promise, Gabrielle. I'll never let you go."

Copyright © 2019 Donna Fieldhouse. All rights reserved.  

Remember italics is in the past.

I hope you are all as happy as I am that George has his family with him again. ♥♥♥