Love and Dreams: The Coltrane Saga, Book 6 (2 page)

“So young to be so diplomatic.” Marie could not help smiling as she blinked away her tears. “It’s truly a shame the Imperial Court won’t have the benefit of all your many talents, my daughter. For the first time in my life, I envy America.”

“You’ll come to visit us.”

“Of course.”

“And we’ll return to visit here.”

“Of course.”

They each knew the promise would, most likely, never be kept, for the years, and the great span of ocean separating them, would make it difficult. Yet it was easier and less painful to pretend otherwise.

One last hug, and Marie said she should return to greet guests, as royalty and dignitaries from all over Europe were arriving to attend the wedding. In a, gesture of conviviality, meant to dissipate any tension resulting from having mentioned Jade’s mother’s past disfavor, she commented, “Even though you’re marrying a commoner, I must say he’s a noble commoner. The groom’s guest list reads like one for a coronation!”

“Of course,” Jade was quick to agree. “The Coltranes are one of the most respected families in Europe. Travis Coltrane is legend. Colt says President Cleveland still relies on him for his opinion on important matters of state and has even offered him a cabinet post, which he turned down because he says he prefers to live in France.”

“I’ve heard his health is also a factor,” Marie regretted having to point out. “He’s in his sixties now, isn’t he?”

Jade nodded. “But that isn’t the reason for his failing health. Colt says he was wounded several times in that terrible Civil War they had in America some time ago, and in the last couple of years he’s started having trouble with those old injuries. The doctors say there might be some shell fragments left inside his body that are beginning to move about.” She sighed. “At any rate, Travis Coltrane is truly a great man, worthy of the respect he receives.”

Marie moved toward the door. “That reminds me. I know you said you wanted to be alone for prayer and meditation in these last moments, but I saw
Madame
Kitty Coltrane downstairs, and she said if you had time, she’d like to speak with you.”

Jade instantly brightened. “Of course. Send her up, please.”

Alone for the moment, Jade went to the window to gaze out at the lovely August day. She and Colt had both wished to have a summer wedding, for the season in St. Petersburg was a joy to behold. Darkness came only two hours each day, when, at eleven in the evening, a milky haze of pearl and silver coaxed away the shimmering day. Then, after midnight, the horizon was pink and peach and coral, and soon the night slipped away once again.

Originally, they had planned their honeymoon to be the journey to America, where they would make their new home, their new life, together. Then her distant cousin by blood, and Czar Alexander’s eldest son and heir to the throne, Nicholas, gifted them with the use of one of the royal yachts. Provided with a full crew and staff, they would enjoy a month-long cruise, sailing all the way into the shimmering blue Mediterranean before being taken to Cherbourg, France. They would then go on to Paris for a farewell visit with Colt’s family before sailing for America.

Jade hugged herself with delight. Dear Lord, if she were any happier, her heart might burst. What a wonderful life! But the most wonderful of all was the man who was to be her husband, her life’s mate. Colt was everything she could want in a man, and she thrilled to every breath he drew. Handsome, tall, with a marvelous physique, he had the dark coloring of his French Creole father. His hair was as black as the raven’s wing, and his eyes were a smoldering silver gray. Gifted with sharp wit, keen intelligence, he was as natural a leader as his father, and that opinion had been shared by Cornelius Vanderbilt, grandson of the famed Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. While visiting Travis in Paris the year before, the reigning power of the vast Vanderbilt empire had been so impressed with Colt that he had offered him a job working with William Kissam Vanderbilt in his yachting and horse racing ventures, should he wish to return to America. At the time, Colt hadn’t paid much attention, for he was too busy enjoying life in France and courting Jade in Russia to worry about a career. After all, he already had more money than he could probably ever spend, so long as he was careful with his investments…as did Jade, due to an inheritance bestowed upon her by her adoptive Romanov family.

At the time Colt proposed, there had been a period when both were too mesmerized by the official acknowledgment of their love to think about the future. Then, while they were visiting his family in Paris in the spring, Mr. Coltrane had voiced his fears over growing economic panic in the United States. Beginning with the February bankruptcy of the Philadelphia and Reading railroads, stocks had begun to fall, trusts had collapsed, and thousands of farm mortgages had been foreclosed. In April, the gold reserve had fallen below the magic $100 million mark, firing greater runs on the Federal Treasury.

Travis had predicted that disaster loomed and called for a conference with his son and daughter, Colt and Dani. He advised them to sell their interest in the silver mine in Nevada he’d gifted them with. He told them the Sherman Silver Purchase Act would no doubt be repealed by Congress, and they’d get a better price for the mine if they sold before that happened. As it was, they’d be taking a loss, but not of significant consequence.

Colt and Dani followed their father’s advice just in time. The New York stock market crashed in June that year, 1893.

It hadn’t really mattered to Dani when Colt also wanted to sell their ranch near the mine. After all, she had no plans to return to America, and she and her husband, Drakar, were in the process of building a huge château just outside Paris. France was now her home, but Colt had always considered America his. Selling the ranch reminded him of his transient state since meeting Jade, and this awareness birthed the idea that they would return to the United States after their marriage and he would accept Cornelius Vanderbilt’s offer. Even though they had wealth to last a lifetime and beyond, it was boring not having any responsibilities. Further, it was being said that New York, in the 1890s, was the most exciting place in the world to be. The depression would ultimately end, and it really did not touch the lives of the Coltranes, anyway.

Jade was at once entranced with the idea of moving to America, especially when Colt pointed out that ballet was just being introduced there and how she could open her own studio and teach. From then on, she was filled with enthusiasm.

How much more wonderful could life be?

There was a soft tap on the door, and she warmly called out to Colt’s mother to please come in.

The two women embraced, and Jade marveled, as always, how kind time had been to Kitty Wright Coltrane. If she had been prettier in her youth, then she must have been absolutely stunning, Jade reasoned, for she was still a beauty to behold. Her hair, golden-red and piled high and held atop her head by emerald combs, had only begun to fade from the color of a brilliant sunrise to the last rays of a burnished sunset. Her skin was smooth, unblemished, and the few lines and wrinkles touching her face merely served to lend a sophisticated air. Her eyes, a strange shade of lavender, glowed with mysterious fires, as though the passion within burned as brightly as ever. She was dressed in a stunning but simple gown of mocha satin, her only adornment earbobs of emerald to match her combs, for she had not wished to take any attention from the bride.

Kitty’s eyes shone with love and pride as her gaze swept over Jade, and she proclaimed, “I just know there’s never been a lovelier bride, except perhaps for my Dani! My son is a lucky, lucky young man.”

Jade returned her smile. “I’d have been only a shadow compared to the day you married
Monsieur
Coltrane, I’m sure.”

Kitty laughed. “Someday I’ll tell you all about our wedding—me in simple muslin, Travis in a battered old Yankee uniform, and Colt crying to be fed.”

Jade was not shocked. She’d heard the story before. Once, it had probably evoked much pain for Kitty and Travis to remember or talk about, but history had a way of becoming factual without emotion. When Travis rode away with General Sherman in the waning days of the terrible War Between the States, he’d not known Kitty was carrying his child. Neither had he known about Corey McRae and his hellish scheme to make Kitty his wife, how he’d intercepted Travis’s letters to her, causing him to be angry and bitter not to hear from her after they’d pledged undying love to each other. Finally returning to North Carolina after the war, Travis had believed the gossip about Kitty’s marrying the rich, powerful carpetbagger to keep from losing her precious family land…just as he’d believed the son she’d given birth to was Corey McRae’s. How was he to know the baby was his? Eventually, he learned the truth, and after the death of McRae in a land war, he and Kitty found each other again.

“It wouldn’t have mattered if you got married in sackcloth or satin. I’ll bet your eyes shone like your earbobs,” Jade said.

“Probably,” Kitty conceded with a warm rush of remembered love for the man she’d adored so long.

“But,” she went on, “I didn’t come here to reminisce about my wedding day, Jade, or to merely compliment you on how pretty you are on yours. I came to tell you how happy Travis and I are that you’re marrying our son. We want you to know that it’s our prayer you’ll both have a long, long life of happiness, and that you’ll love as we have loved.”

Jade wondered how many times on this momentous day she would have to blink away spontaneous tears of joy to keep them from dancing down her cheeks. “Thank you,” she whispered, “and I want you, and Colt’s father, to know that I’ll do everything I can to make him happy.”

Kitty went on to express Dani’s regrets over not being able to attend her brother’s wedding. “You’ll remember I told you Dani’s mother, Marilee, died giving birth to her, and the doctors are cautious about Dani, especially since she miscarried just a few months after she and Drakar got married. They’re being even more cautious this time, and they’ve ordered her to bed for the rest of her pregnancy. Poor child,” she said, sighing with pity, “she’s only into her third month, so that leaves a long time to do nothing but lie in bed. I feel so sorry for her, but she wants a baby so badly she’s willing to do everything she can to keep from losing this one.

“And Travis,” she continued gravely, “is the one I’m really worried about. Of course he wants a grandchild, but he’s more concerned about Dani, because he remembers how it was with her mother, and he just doesn’t need the added stress and strain right now.”

Jade understood. “Is he truly all right, Kitty? I’ve noticed the two of you have left the socials quite early, and Colt and I have been worried that all the goings-on were just too much for his father.”

Kitty nodded quickly. “They certainly are, but he’s not about to miss anything. He says he’s only going to have one chance to see his son marry a princess, so he’s going to enjoy every minute.”

She rushed on to attempt to dispel Jade’s fears and concerns, not wanting her to worry about anything on her wedding day. “Don’t think about Travis. He’s strong as a mule and three times as stubborn, and you’ll say the same about his son in years to come. Now, there’s another reason I came to see you.”

Kitty removed the pearl and emerald ring she always wore on the third finger of her right hand. Blinking away her own tears, she stared down at the sentimental piece. “Travis gave this to me on our tenth anniversary,” she said softly. “He said it was not only to celebrate our years of marriage but was a gesture of goodbye to the poverty of the past and a welcome to the wealth of the future. He said it was the beginning of many, many expensive pieces of jewelry he wanted to give me through the years. He was right. But none of the treasures since have meant as much as this.”

She held out the ring to Jade. “I want you to have it.”

Jade was momentarily speechless. The gift of such a precious piece was overwhelming. “I…I don’t know what to say,” she murmured, taking the ring with trembling fingers. “You’ve given me so much already.”

Kitty raised a questioning eyebrow. “What do you mean, dear? We haven’t even given you and Colt your wedding present yet. We’re waiting till you come to Paris, and—”

Jade laughed, a bit nervously. “Colt,” she informed her. “You’ve given me Colt.”

Kitty also laughed, shaking her head from side to side as she denied, “Oh, no, I haven’t. I’ll never give away that part of him that is a son, just as you’ll never give to me that part of him which is a husband. We’ll each have him in a different way, Jade, and that’s the way it’s meant to be. We’ll be good friends to each other through the years because we’ll respect each other’s place in his heart. Agreed?”

Jade hugged her, grateful for her wisdom. “I will always treasure this ring, as I’ll always treasure your son.”

Just then there was a tap on the door, and the Grand Duchess Marie softly called, “Jade, darling, it’s time. Are you ready?”

The mother and the soon-to-be wife of Colt Coltrane looked at each other, their hearts reaching out to touch in spirit.

“Go,” Kitty whispered, giving her a gentle shove. “Go and marry my son and be happy, my child.”

Jade turned toward the door…and her future…and took one more step to fulfilling her love and dreams.

Chapter Two

Marie placed the nuptial crown of sparkling diamonds on Jade’s head; then they made their way to a grand stairway and began their descent.