The Tender Vine (Diamond of the Rockies #3)(18)

“I’ve been a hermit.”

“Truly?”

He nodded.

“And you won’t get any more from him than that.” èmie pulled a chair from the table and placed it near the bed for her uncle, then took the second for herself.

“I may need the seclusion again someday, and I don’t want well-meaning people stomping up to find me.” He said it with a mischievous grin. He had lost weight, a substantial amount, though he had little extra to lose. Where his muscles before had been those of a vigorous man, he was now lean, almost gaunt. Yet he didn’t seem diminished in vigor.

“Well, sit and tell me everything else.” Carina’s joy in seeing him washed away all of Dr. Felden’s advice. Besides, she’d slept enough these last days to make the very thought tedious.

Father Antoine spread his hands. “What’s there to tell? I questioned my purpose, and God, in His mercy, restored my vision.”

“How?”

“Prayer and silence.”

Had he said that a few days ago, she would have scoffed, but her own spirit had been quickened lately by those very things, though not to the degree he must have practiced. He’d been gone months alone somewhere with God. On the mountain, surely. He’d given that much away with his “stomping up” comment. His only appearance had been to perform èmie and Robert’s wedding, and then he had vanished again. And that must prove èmie knew where to find him. But Carina understood her silence.

“And peace?” she asked softly. “Have you found peace about Henri?”

His smile gentled. There was sadness, yes, but not despair. “I believe he is with God. Beyond that?” He shrugged. “Now tell me 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.