Love and Fury: The Coltrane Saga, Book 4 (38 page)

The antiquated lock on the iron gates offered no resistance to the butt of Colt’s gun. The iron entranceway opened, grating and squeaking. Colt stepped into the courtyard, motioning to Branch and Briana to follow him.

As though waiting for their entrance, a plump woman appeared suddenly, from around the corner of the chapel. She wore flowing white nun’s garb. Not a wisp of hair showed from under her wimple. The starched white cloth was pulled tight across her forehead, and the top peaked tall and pointed. A short white train hung to her shoulders.

As she drew closer, the three visitors discerned that a gracious welcome was not in store. Her eyes, behind thick spectacles, were cold. Her lips were tight, and she walked with long, purposeful, angry strides.

She addressed them in French. “What do you want here?”

In the calmest voice he could muster, Colt explained, “I’m looking for my sister, Daniella Coltrane. She’s a nun here.”

Briana was quick to clarify, “A
novice,
Sister.”

The nun’s eyes swept over Briana, first with curiosity, then with contempt. Briana felt most uncomfortable in the trousers Branch had given her.

“My sister,” Colt prompted. “I wish to speak with her.”

The nun glared at him. “I know nothing about this. Did you write to the Mother Superior and tell her you were coming?”

Briana whispered, “She probably isn’t allowed to tell you even that Dani is here. Dani will have a new name now, taken from a saint. Her worldly name wouldn’t even be known.”

Colt nodded solemnly, then addressed the nun. “I want to see my sister, and I’m going to see her even if I have to take this place apart stone by stone.”

The nun’s eyes widened, and she stepped back. No one had ever challenged her authority in the forty-two years she had been at the Convent of the Blessed Virgin. The convent tradition was to give any visitor as good a meal as possible, and then send him on his way. That was all any visitor could expect. It was, she knew, a five-hundred-year-old tradition.

Sister Marie walked to the gate and pointed at the twining road leading down Jaune Mountain. “Go in peace, my son.” She made her voice gentle. “What is done is done. There is no one here who can call you her brother anymore.”

Colt muttered an oath. Enough was enough. He pushed by her and headed straight for the chapel.

Sister Marie was right behind him, crying, “No, no! You must leave at once. People of the outer world cannot come in here.” Her voice cracked. Why wouldn’t he listen? Nuns in this convent renounced the world, all of it, including their families. Christ became their family—their only family. The family each nun left behind had to understand this, hard though it was.

Colt kept on walking toward the chapel, and Sister Marie wrung her hands in frustration. “Why won’t you listen to me?” she called to him, and he turned and looked at her. “She cannot speak with you, for to do so would be to break her vows. It is forbidden. You’ll be causing her harm if you…”

Colt continued his march, and in a moment he reached the wooden double doors of the chapel. He opened them and stepped inside.

Heads turned at the sound of intrusion, and forty pairs of eyes were on him. He couldn’t help but be impressed by the hallowed aura of-the chapel. Shafts of rainbow light shone delicately through the stained-glass windows, spilling across forty women in white. The nuns were on their knees, hands clasped beneath their chins.

At the front of the chapel were statues of the Virgin Mary and three other saints. Hanging above the altar was a silver Christ on a mahogany cross. The nuns were a sea of white as they continued fingering their rosary beads while staring at Colt.

Colt saw so many faces, knew that he would never recognize Dani. He walked to the front of the chapel, turned, and said quietly, “I apologize for interrupting, but I must talk to my sister, Daniella Coltrane.” He searched the curious, frightened eyes, then urged softly, “Where are you, Dani? I need you. Please.”

No one spoke.

From the rear, Sister Marie cried, “She cannot answer you. She has taken vows, and she cannot speak with you.”

“She owes me something, Sister,” he called to her. “I’m her brother, and I
need
her. I figure that’s as important as honoring a vow.”

The nuns gasped, and there was the faint sound of whispering. Colt looked to his left as a nun stood up and moved toward him.

A ripple went through the chapel.

Cinnamon eyes gazed up at Colt. A voice as soft as a summer breeze said quietly, “Yes, John Travis. How may I serve you?”

Colt stared down at his sister.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The bitterness of Dani’s estrangement from the Coltranes, cobwebbed memories of fighting…all these vanished as brother and sister embraced in the shadows of the chapel.

For long moments, they clung together.

Then the magic ended as Sister Marie reached them. “You have committed a sacrilege,” she hissed at Dani, “by disrupting this service and communicating with an outsider.”

Dani knew she was right. Still, the mission, the duty, of their order was to pray perpetually for the peace of the world and for the salvation of souls in purgatory. Was there not a similar need here? Before her stood her brother in obvious torment. Should she not minister to her own brother?

Sister Marie clutched Dani’s shoulders. “Heed me and obey.” She gave her a gentle shake. “Turn your back on him, my child, just as you have turned your back on all worldly things.”

Dani looked from her to Colt, saw the terrible need in his eyes. Only something vitally important would have brought him here. Beyond him, she saw Briana. Yes, something was very wrong, and she could not refuse to help her friend and her brother.

Dani touched the nun’s hands on her shoulders. “I must do what my conscience tells me to do, Sister. I cannot expect you to understand, but I will answer my brother’s call.” She held out her hand to Colt. “Come with me.”

Colt motioned to branch and Briana to come with them, and Dani led him out of the chapel as the nuns resumed their service.

They entered the courtyard, then walked to a small garden behind the convent. There were marble benches situated around a tiny fish pond, and after embracing Briana, Dani gestured to the three to sit. “Now tell me why you have come,” she said. “I know it is terribly serious.”

Colt started at the very beginning. When he explained Briana’s deception, Dani held up a hand for silence. “You did such a thing?” she quietly demanded. “You went to claim
my
inheritance? And why was I not told of the letter from my father? The first in fourteen years!”

Briana was about to attempt an explanation when Colt quickly interrupted to say that there had been other letters over the years. “He wrote to you regularly, Dani. You never answered.”

Dani stared down at her tightly clasped hands. “I never received them,” she whispered. “I never knew. I always wondered why he did not respond to
my
letters.”

Colt suddenly realized what had happened. His eyes met Dani’s, and Colt murmured, “Alaina. She made sure the two of you were never in touch with each other.”

Dani sighed. “She has done a terrible thing.”

Then she looked at Briana again. “But why did you agree to help with the deception? You were my
friend.
I thought I knew you.”

Briana had only to say one word: “Charles.”

Dani looked at her carefully, then nodded. “I see. Where is he now?”

Briana explained about the orphanage, and told her
briefly
about the operation.

“Then some good has come of all this,” Dani said, smiling, and Briana was glad to see a flash of the old Dani in this solemnly garbed woman.

Colt cut in to state, “She told me about a sick brother, but I didn’t believe any of it.”

Dani assured him that indeed the story was true. “Forgive her for the deception,” she said. “I would have done the same for you.”

That surprised him. “I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive any of this,” he murmured.

“You must.” She leaned over and surprised him further with a kiss on the cheek. “It is the only way we can know peace in this life, by being able to forget wrongs committed against us.” She paused, then went on, “I came here to find peace, and I have.”

Colt looked at the dreary surroundings. He knew it wasn’t his right to judge, but what a terrible place to live. He’d never claimed to be religious. He figured that if there was a Supreme Being he would worry about it later. If Dani felt otherwise, then so be it. But did she have to live in such bleakness? He supposed it wasn’t important that he understand. It was her life, not his. “I suppose I’ve ruined this for you. That nun was pretty angry with you.”

Dani didn’t look at all concerned. “God’s will be done. God brought you here, so He meant for me to help you. Now, tell me what you want me to do.”

“Nothing, I guess,” Colt told her. “I just had to see you and talk to you and—forgive me, but I had to make sure you had nothing to do with any of this. I’ll go back to Monaco now and get the gold. I’ll deposit your share in a bank for you, if that’s what you want me to do.”

Dani’s eyes widened. “No. It is not necessary that my share go to the church immediately. Take my share back with you and buy back the ranch and the mine. Protect my interest as you do your own, and one day, my share will go to the church. Maybe this way I can make up, somehow, for all that’s happened to you. My share should be aiding the Coltrane family.”

“You don’t have to make up for anything,” he told her firmly. “None of this was your fault.”

She clasped his hand and gave him a sad smile. “Maybe it was, in a way. Had I been stronger, more like Kitty, Alaina might not have been able to turn my head and take me away from my family. Let me make restitution in some way. Take my share back with you, John Travis.”

Branch could remain silent no longer. “That will be a help, miss.”

Colt glared at him, and Branch shrugged apologetically.

Briana offered shyly, “Don’t worry, Dani. I’ll do everything I can to help, too.”

Colt stiffened, and Dani asked, “Why were you persuaded to sign over your interest to her? I know you thought she was your sister, but why would you want to give away everything that was yours?”

Branch glanced away uncomfortably. He had pretty well figured out what had gone on between the two. Now, from the way Colt was looking and the way Briana was looking, it didn’t take much to figure his suspicions were right.

Dani had spent most of her life around Alaina, and she began to realize why Briana and her brother looked so uncomfortable. She paled.

For a brief instant, Briana almost exploded with the need to tell Colt the truth. But would it make things worse for Colt to find out he had been doubly swindled? She didn’t know anymore. She was so confused. Why make him hate her even more? If she told him the truth, she couldn’t do so in front of other people.

They all remained silent until suddenly Dani inquired shyly, “Would you like to send for Father? He should know about this. And you might need his help in getting the gold back from Gavin. I know how treacherous Gavin is, and I don’t want you hurt, John Travis.”

Colt laughed shortly, brittlely. “I’m not scared of Gavin Mason. And the last thing I want is for our father to hear about this before I’ve settled the score. Allow me that much dignity, please, Dani.”

Dani could understand that easily enough.

The four lapsed into silence again, each lost in thought. Dani felt more pain than ever before. All those years, her father had tried to get in touch with her and Alaina had kept them apart. All those wasted years. All that suffering for the whole family. She would pray for Alaina’s soul, but she wondered how even God could forgive Alaina for all she’d done.

Branch felt terrible for all of them. He looked from one to the other and longed for this encounter to end so they could be on their way. Get the gold. Head for home. One day, Colt would be just fine again. It wouldn’t hurt anymore. He was sure of that. They had to be on their way, though.

Colt stared at the ground, knowing they should leave. By now Alaina would have been discovered. Mason would probably take the gold and run, and they would have to chase him. But Colt couldn’t bring himself to walk away, not yet. Here was his sister, and when would he ever see her again? She would never leave the convent, and he would never visit with her again. He wanted to be with her for a little while longer, to drink in the sight of her lovely face, and have something of her to remember.

As Colt sat beside Dani, he was struck by the realization that he would never have been drawn to her
that way,
lovely though she was. There was feeling between them, but that feeling had nothing to do with desire and he was certain it never could.

The feelings he’d had for Briana had been different from the start. Deep down, he had always wanted Briana as a man wants a woman. This realization made him feel much, much better.

Suddenly Dani withdrew her hands from Colt’s, stiffening as she looked beyond him. Walking purposefully toward them were two nuns. Colt recognized Sister Marie. The other, he supposed, was the Mother Superior. Her mouth was turned down in a disapproving grimace. He doubted the corners ever moved in the opposite direction. As she drew closer, he could see the pinched lines of her face. The woman doubtless had a sour personality to match her expression.