Free Silver Moon by Monica Barrie Page B

the horror of her dream.
    Elyse left the bed and paced aimlessly about the room, questioning this strange dream without finding any answers.
    Knowing that sleep would not come for some time, Elyse left her room, went downstairs, and into her father’s office. She lit several candles before sitting down at his desk and looking around.
    Her gaze fell upon the portrait of her mother and her eyes misted. She had never known Katherine Louden; she wished she had.
    Standing again, Elyse snuffed out the candles and left the house. She stood on the front veranda and stared at the stars. The moon was absent tonight, but the proliferation of stars created an endless shimmer.
    Sighing at the beauty above, Elyse went down the steps, unconscious of the breeze tugging at her nightdress and pressing it against her body.
    She walked for several minutes without paying any attention to where her feet carried her, until she found herself standing before the gazebo in the center of the garden.
    There, Elyse breathed deeply the heavily scented air. The night orchids had opened, sending their perfume afloat. Insects chirped in approval and small green frogs gave off cries. In all, Elyse felt as though she were in a place where no other person had been before.
    Then she stepped into the gazebo and the illusion was broken, yet the magnificence of the night stayed with her while she sat on the bench swing and moved back and forth.
    *****
    Brace tried to sleep, but his mind refused him that escape. Restless, he lit a lamp on his writing table and poured a glass of rum. He drank it in one swallow, exhaled, and closed his eyes.
    Six years ago, he had been happy and looking forward to a future that promised much. Today, all he had was a past. Six years ago, he had completed his studies at the University of Massachusetts. He was mulling over an attractive offer of employment when he received the fateful letter from his father reminding him of the obligation that must be repaid before he could consider another path for his future.
    He did not like what his father had written, but after three drunken nights, he came to understand the necessity of what he must do. Harlan Louden had been good to him and to his family. It was Harlan who insisted that young Brace, at the age of twelve, be sent to America for his education.
    Harlan Louden paid for it all. When he died, after Brace had begun his studies, he left instructions with his estate that Brace’s education be paid for completely.
    Brace knew there were no strings attached; that had he refused his father’s wishes, nothing more would have been said, but his sense of responsibility had always been strong. After sobering up from his rampage, and paying the fines that went along with it, Brace returned to Jamaica, and to Devonairre, to fulfill his responsibilities.
    His father was getting older, and could no longer endure the daily toll that overseeing and managing a plantation the size of Devonairre required.
    “Until she returns,” he told his father upon agreeing to take on the job of overseer. “When she comes back, then I leave to start my own life in America!”
    His parents said nothing. That was six years ago, on the anniversary of his twenty-first birthday. Six long years of waiting for Elyse Louden to return, wondering if she ever would. Brace knew that those six years had indeed filled him with an anger, the extent of which was just now coming to the surface.
    His thoughts went to Elyse. The child he had known was an unspoiled, eager, wonderful little person. The woman who returned seemed the personification of all that he despised. She had learned much in England, he believed, and above all, what her position entailed. She was Lady Louden and no longer the wide-eyed, five-year-old who knew nothing of the real world.
    Shaking his head, Brace poured another drink and lifted it, but before it reached his lips, he stopped and stared at the glass and knew that no matter how much he might drink, it