Read Online The Diamond of the Rockies [03] The Tender Vine by Kristen Heitzmann - Free Book Online Page A

how you are. Mae and Èmie told me what happened, but I want to know what’s happening here.” He touched his chest over his heart.
    Unexpectedly, tears sprang to her eyes. Why now, when she was so content? “Do you know about the baby?” She glanced briefly at Èmie, then back to the priest.
    He nodded.
    She pressed her own heart. “Then you know how I am here. But God gives me strength.”
    “And Quillan?”
    She sank back with a soft laugh. “Quillan is healing, too.” She suddenly sprang up. “Father, you must see something!”
    “What?”
    Carina glanced at Èmie.
    Èmie said, “Do you want me to leave?”
    Carina searched her friend’s face, such a dear face, so trusted. “No. But I don’t want anyone else to know.” She turned to the priest. “For Wolf ’s sake.” If anyone cared about safeguarding Wolf ’s memory, it was Father Antoine.
    He wrinkled his brow. “What is it, Carina?”
    “A cave. Under the shaft in the Rose Legacy. Wolf painted it all, Father. His whole life. It’s very sad, but also . . . triumphant. I don’t know. I think seeing it helped Quillan, though it must have been terrible, too. I want you to see it, Father. You cared so.”
    The priest fingered the heavy cross that hung at his waist. “A painted cave.” He smiled slowly. “That would be Wolf.”
    “But you understand why no one else can know? It’s very ugly, some of it. It could easily be mistaken.”
    “No one will know from me.”
    “Nor me,” Èmie murmured. “Though I wondered what you and Alex Makepeace had found up there.”
    “Alex Makepeace?” The priest looked from one to the other.
    Realizing Father Antoine had been gone most of the time since her marriage, Carina said, “He is Quillan’s mine engineer. And my friend.” She chose her words carefully. “We found the cave together.”
    “That explains your grim faces.” Èmie folded her hands. “I did wonder.”
    “Do you think others did as well?”
    Èmie shrugged.
    Carina turned to the priest. “I think it should be sealed off after Quillan and I leave.”
    “And where are you going?”
    “He’s taking me home, Father.” She couldn’t hide the emotion in that thought.
    “To your family.”
    “Yes.” Her voice lost some of its strength.
    “And they know? About your marriage?”
    She opened her mouth to answer, then closed it and shook her head. “I tried so many times to write, to tell them everything. Now I think it best I just go to them.”
    He cocked his head. “I’ve never taken you for a coward, Carina.”
    “You don’t know Mamma.”
    “I’ll pray for you and Quillan both.” He smoothed his cassock. “And now I must let you sleep.”
    “Will you see the cave?”
    The priest nodded. “I’ll see it.” He stopped at the door and moved his hand in blessing. “Good night, Carina.”
    Èmie stood, too, but Carina called her back. “Will you stay a moment?”
    Èmie took her uncle’s chair beside the bed. “So you really are leaving?”
    “I have to, Èmie.”
    Èmie sighed. “I thought you and Quillan could be happy here. I guess this was too much for you.” She reached out and touched the paling bruise on Carina’s wrist.
    “Even without this, Èmie, I need to see my family. I need to be near them. I was crazy to think otherwise. I love you and Mae, but . . .”
    Èmie squeezed her hand. “I understand.”
    Covering Èmie’s hand with her own, Carina drew her closer. “I want you to have the restaurant.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean this, all of this.” Carina waved her hand to indicate the extent of her property.
    “But, Carina . . .” Èmie shook her head, overwhelmed.
    Carina shook her. “You don’t want it? After all you’ve learned and mastered?”
    “I . . . of course, but . . .”
    “Is it Robert? Won’t he want you to continue? At least until he’s successful?”
    “It won’t be the same without you, Carina. I can’t be you.”
    Carina spread her hands. “It will be yours.