Finding Gabriel by Rachel L. Demeter

Author:Rachel L. Demeter [Demeter, Rachel L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781760300456
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Published: 2015-08-27T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Frantic sobbing jolted Ariah awake. The candlestick had burnt out hours ago, sentencing the room to an impenetrable pitch-black. Panic hummed through her body. Beyond the walls, the wind howled a grim melody and rattled the nude trees. Branches clawed against the wooden panels and sent tremors racing down her spine. As the crying loudened, she threw the coverlet aside and battled to focus her eyes.

The darkness prevailed.

“Emmaline! Emmaline – what is it? Are you all right? Answer me! Answer me this instant!” She reached for the opposite side of the bed and raked a hand over the mattress. The covers were empty. Cold.

With rising panic, Ariah lurched from the bed and searched the small room. A damp chill penetrated her skin as she shuffled across the worn floorboards. Her bare feet whispered against the panels and grew numb from the biting cold. Mind reeling, she crinkled her toes in an attempt to nurse them back to life. “Emmaline? Dieu. I can hear you – where are you?” The frantic sobbing gradually tempered to a chorus of sniffles.

“I’m over here, Maman.”

Ariah followed after the sorrowful voice.

“Oh, darling! Whatever are you doing? What happ – ” Ariah’s eyes came into focus, and the words died on her tongue. In the same breath, Miriam tore inside the room. Standing by her side, she grasped onto Ariah’s forearm as they took in the tragic sight.

Both of Emmaline’s legs were pulled against her chest. She embraced them with her arms, while her tear-stained face hid below a fortress of upright knees. Oliver lay beside her, still and silent. No characteristic snoring. No twitching paws or those beastly grunts they’d come to adore so much. Ariah felt her heart plummet. She crouched in front of the creature’s motionless form. Then she spread a shaky palm over his coat, smoothing it down his sides in repetitive motions – but his body remained mute and motionless. Ariah’s eyes fluttered shut as she bowed her head in despair.

He’d been much more than a lovable, oversized mutt. He’d been her daughter’s companion. The loss would be deep and profound – something that could take years to heal while derailing Emmaline’s fragile health in the meantime.

The entire situation was tragic; Ariah inwardly chastened herself for not preparing much sooner.

“Poor boy,” Ariah whispered, her voice strangled with emotion. She laid her head across Oliver’s ragged coat and inhaled his scent. A thousand memories raced through her mind: Oliver quivering and half-starved in the sewer, Oliver roughhousing with Emmaline, Emmaline and Oliver sleeping side by side … Oliver speaking his mind and urinating on Madame Lupont’s front door.

The last thought brought a sad smile to her lips. Shaking her head, she massaged Oliver’s unsightly ears in the way he’d so often loved.

Only the moaning wind and Emmaline’s crying fractured the quiet.

•

For over a decade, Colonel Gabriel de Laurent had breathed death and decay – and yet, nothing could have prepared him for this moment. At a loss for words, he stood beneath the archway and clasped onto the doorjamb.

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