Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (24 page)

James turned to Ian who using his best and
thickest German accent said “Vell, I sink zat it vas Hessians,
don’t you James?” To which James bobbed his head in a very German
way and replied “Yah, yah. It vas Hessians all right, Herr Hancock.
Who else vould have done zat?

Melissa threw back her head and began to
laugh raucously. Ian then said “Ze poor colonists always get ze
blame for zeez tings. Vass it not savages who tossed all of zat
British tea into ze Harbor in ’74?”

James said “Yah, yah! Zat iss right! Und yet
King Georgie blamed ze colonists for zat too.” The four men sat
wide-eyed but withholding their laughter until the exchange was
finished. Then Hancock and Revere exploded with laughter. Roaring
and slapping the table Hancock said “Oh that is choice! I have not
laughed so since this war started!” Benjamin Rush laughed almost as
hard and even the more reserved puritan Samuel Adams laughed at the
two and shook his head.

Ian stood then and said “We have promised
these ladies some dancing tonight, so we are off to Faneuil Hall.
Please join us there later if you can.” He and James shook hands
with the four men and then took their leave, leaving them to debate
whether those two had really had anything to do with the robbery.
In the end they laughingly concluded that there was no way they
could have engineered that and been with Henry Knox bringing cannon
to Boston.

The four enjoyed a happy night of dancing
then and both James and Ian volunteered to provide some music when
the musicians were taking a rest. Dropping Melissa and James off at
her apartment, Moon Owl and Ian returned to their house. She was
animated and so happy now that neither man had to be gone to the
frontier any longer.

After replenishing the two stoves and the
fireplace, Ian and Moon Owl made love in front of the hearth and
she fell asleep there. Ian thought about getting ready to take her
to her people. He was anxious to see the country beyond the
Adirondacks, but at the same time he was sobered by the fact that
he would be leaving her there.

Pondering that, he stared into the fire
we could just buy a home for both Moon Owl and Melissa, and put
it in their names. That way we could come see them as time and
events permit. Moon Owl could keep the place up and Melissa could
keep her job at the tavern. She would be free of paying rent and
Moon Owl could do the gardening and cooking too. The two of them do
get along very well.

Realizing that he wanted to be able to see
her whenever he could he felt guilty at even having the idea.
I
will put it to her after I speak to James and Melissa about it and
let her decide. I hope she will agree to stay here, but even so, we
cannot say where we will be from time to time. I need to return to
New York and see if it is safe for me to open the Bank there. Then
there will be a bank later to open where? Boston or Philadelphia?
And what of the war? Who knows where that will turn and which way
events will lead us?

Yvonne and Stefan had overseen the
imprinting
of eight vampires over the winter. They had taken
four men and four women. Yvonne had been careful to select only
single people as victims being that there was less likelihood of
them being declared to be missing. So many people were flocking
into New York for the winter anyway that the pickings were easy.
For the men, Yvonne simply charmed them and affected an interview
of sorts that way. For the women, it took longer as the two of them
had to try to learn what they could about a female candidate before
taking her.

All of them were poor people, with little to
lose and after a time, most came to accept their new life, liking
the physical powers they had gained more than what they had lost.
There was one female named Priscilla that never seemed to embrace
her new life, but she did as told and all of them became
Adepts
of sorts. None did a blood fast because both Yvonne
and Stefan never bothered with it. Of course they never learned to
eat a wide variety of human food either or to tolerate much
daylight and none could tolerate sunlight even for a few seconds.
They never trained with weapons nor learned to be ambidextrous
because again, neither Stefan nor Yvonne knew about how important
that was to do while imprinting.

Confined to Long Island, they were only
allowed out at night to hunt game. With so many to watch over
Stefan and Yvonne took turns going into New York City. One day
Yvonne hit on the idea of returning to Government House in the hope
of finding someone there who she had missed before. So it was that
she was waiting outside of the office of Captain Jonathan Siebert
that day.

After introducing herself using her real
name, she asked about locating Ian McCloud. Siebert replied “We
have not seen him or James Barrows since last fall.”

Smiling sweetly and looking coyly at
Siebert, Yvonne lowered her eyes and raised them several times as
if she was shy and submissive. Then she said in a timid voice “I
have some business I need to complete with him. It involves
investing my late grandmother’s estate, which Ian promised me he
would handle. I do not know who else to turn to for that, being as
I am new here. I do so hate to deal with complete strangers. Have
you nothing more that can help me, Captain Siebert?”

Siebert thought
I will wager that McCloud
doesn’t think about investments when you are around!
He said
“Colonel Grundy started a vendetta with McCloud. I think that he
and a friend of his fled for fear of being thrown into prison for
sedition.”

“Sedition?”

“Well, it was a trumped up charge because
Colonel Grundy was jealous of McCloud for taking Colonel Davis’
daughter to a gala one evening. That is what led to the duel in
which McCloud humiliated Grundy and that began his effort at
exacting revenge. It ruined his career too.”

“Can you tell me where I might find this
daughter of Colonel Davis?”

Taking a piece of paper, Siebert wrote an
address on it and handed it to Yvonne, saying “Rebecca lives with
her father there.”

Taking her leave, Yvonne was elated as she
returned to her rented carriage. She thought
at last, a lead I
can follow. This is turning out to be a good day.

***

Rebecca answered the door to find a
red-haired lady with green eyes standing there, smiling in a
friendly way. “Hello. I am Yvonne Devrie and I have come here
hoping to find Ian McCloud.”

“Please come in, Miss Devrie.”

“Thank you, Miss Davis; it is Miss Davis
isn’t it?”

Rebecca nodded, closing the door. She turned
then and looked expectantly at Yvonne, who said “I am
Mrs
.
Yvonne Devrie.” Judging by her reaction she liked it that Yvonne
was married.
Interesting indeed
thought Yvonne.
She has
feelings for McCloud then. This is going well.

“I have urgent personal business with Mr.
McCloud, Miss Davis. Do you know how I can reach him?”

Wide eyed and very frank, Rebecca said “Why
no, Mrs. Devrie. Ian and his companion left New York City in quite
a hurry for fear of being tossed into prison.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. It was my fault for trapping Mr.
McCloud really. I wanted to attend a gala and I asked Mr. McCloud
in public to take me. Really he had no choice being that there were
three people there at the time and he would have looked bad had he
refused. That made a British officer very angry and that is how it
all started.”

Yvonne only looked at her with an
inquisitive smile, but thinking
you wanted more than a dance,
Rebecca!
But she said “How unfortunate!”

“Would you like to leave an address with me?
I will be happy to pass it along to Mr. McCloud when he returns. Or
you might try leaving a message for him at the bank they had built
or at Government House.”

Yvonne left her the address of the place
they were leasing. McCloud would not come there, but she might send
a letter in the mail to them if he did come back. She thought of
just returning that night and abducting her but considered it then
I don’t dare kidnap a British Colonel’s daughter and cause that
type of turmoil. That is something we do not need. Why take care of
a human when McCloud is on the run hiding in this country?
Smiling pleasantly she took her leave.

As the door closed Rebecca thought
and
who are you really, Yvonne? A Tory spy perhaps? There is something
strange about you. Your skin almost glows and your eyes
are….different.
She thought about it a bit and then she thought
of her feline grace and thought
my God! She has a way about her
similar to Cosette regarding her grace and the way her skin seems
to have a glow, but her eyes do not have the warmth that Cosette’s
do. She has an exotic beauty like Cosette, but she is different
too. I don’t like her. But what is it that makes me think of
Cosette when I think about this one?

“Did you talk to Louis about crossing over,
Celeste?”

“Yes. We can proceed with that soon” she
said as she fastened her gaze on Marie.

Marie nodded and came to Celeste to hug her.
“Celine is a rare jewel, and a sweetheart. You are blessed, and all
of us are by the three of you being in our family. What is
troubling you?”

Leaning back to lock her eyes on Marie’s,
while still holding on to her, Celeste said “Ian is becoming
attached to a native American Indian girl.”

Marie gazed intently at her then as the wind
whistled past the dormer in that room. The grandfather clock in the
foyer began to chime the hour then as she said “Have you told
anyone else?”

“Only Liri. Oh Marie, he left here so
broken-hearted and he is nearly alone on a strange continent in a
different world that is at war. He thinks that both of his wives
are dead, and maybe he even blames himself for that. I
understand…..really I do. But this will hurt Cosette terribly,
Marie.”

Marie pulled her close gently then, saying
“not if she does not know of it. And even if she learns of it,
Cosette is a remarkable woman, and has a great capacity for
compassion.”

Celeste leaned away again, sighed deeply,
her doe eyes looking sad as she nodded agreement. Marie went on
then “Her love for Ian will overcome anything, even something like
this. Trust me on this, Celeste. I know them both, even better than
you do.”

Celeste embraced Marie again, laying her
head on her shoulder as Marie stroked her hair and continued “Our
part is to keep quiet about this and to be supportive of both of
them. We can do no more.” Gently taking hold of both of Celeste’s
shoulders she brought her to where the two were eye to eye as she
said “I want your opinion of an idea I have had for a little while
now.”

Celeste raised her eyebrows questioningly as
Marie continued “I think I know of a way that we can teach Celine
who Ian is and maybe that way we can help her to bond to him.”

Celeste looked at her wide eyed then,
holding her breath for several seconds as that sunk in. “What do we
do then?”

“Aimee is with Celine right now. Come let me
show you.”

As they entered Aimee’s room, they saw Aimee
playing with Celine and came to the pair smiling. Little Aimee
beamed up at them as she said “She will be ready for a nap soon. I
saw her yawn twice.”

Celeste bent and picked Celine up and walked
to a love seat and sat with her on her lap as Marie opened her arms
to Aimee. Aimee leapt effortlessly to her arms and Marie carried
her to the love seat also, sitting beside Celeste and Celine with
Aimee facing the infant.

Marie spoke to Celeste then, saying “Now
tell Celine that we are going to see Ian. Turning to Aimee she
smiled radiantly and said “Aimee, I want you to hold Celine close
and think only of Ian and of all the things you have done with him
and how you love him.”

Celeste handed Celine to Aimee who held her
to her breast and began to say “Celine see Ian” as she took one of
Celine’s little hands and placed it upon her cheek. She smiled
sweetly at Celine as she began to think of the time that Ian took
her to the swimming hole and taught her to swim, and of their times
frolicking in the water together and riding horseback, with her
riding on Ian’s lap around the estate. She kept saying “Ian. Ian,
Celine. This is Ian.”

Celine’s little mouth drew up in a sweet
little smile as she said “Ian. Celine sees Ian.” Suddenly Aimee’s
eyes took on a distant look as little Celine looked earnestly at
her, placing her other hand on Aimee’s other cheek. There was
complete silence for maybe two minutes and then Aimee’s eyes seemed
to focus again as Celine said “Ian.”

The two women looked at Aimee expectantly as
Aimee looked at the two wide-eyed, whispering “Celine just went…she
just took a walk through… through my memories.”

***

Loading the last of the new tools into the
wagon, Ian turned to Moon Owl with a broad smile. “We are ready
now” he said. Moon Owl looked about the place as if she was taking
it in for the last time. It was a place of wonderful memories even
though she had shared it with this remarkable man for only a few
months.

Ian had offered to buy both her and Melissa
a house to share while he and James were gone, and at first Moon
Owl was enthusiastic until she learned that Ian would be gone so
much of the time. Then too, the war was raging even more now with
no end in sight. She had declined the offer and decided to go to
live with her people. Ian assured her that she could return to
Boston or New York or wherever else he was living if she wanted to.
He promised to visit her and she knew now just how fast he and
James could travel if need be.

About then James rounded the corner with two
saddled horses, a grin on his face. He had spent his last night
with Melissa and had told her about returning Moon Owl to her
people, which had surprised Melissa. She had no idea that her new
friend was one-fourth Seneca Indian, but she understood that she
would want to be with her people.