Unrelenting Love: Banished Saga, Book Five Read online

  Unrelenting Love

  Banished Saga, Book Five

  Ramona Flightner

  Grizzly Damsel Publishing

  Contents

  Copyright

  Cast Of Characters

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Historical Note

  Author’s Notes

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2017 by Ramona Flightner. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  Ramona Flightner/Grizzly Damsel Publishing P.O. Box 1795 Missoula, MT 59806 www.ramonaflightner.com

  Cover design by Jennifer Quinlan

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Ordering Information: Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the “Special Sales Department” at the address above.

  Tenacious Love/ Ramona Flightner. — 1st ed.

  ISBN 978-1-945609-03-9

  DB,

  Your insight, your enthusiasm,

  And your unwavering belief

  In my writing are priceless.

  Thank you.

  Cast Of Characters

  BOSTON:

  Zylphia McLeod- daughter to Delia and Aidan, suffragist and painter

  Aidan McLeod-uncle to the McLeod boys, married to Delia, father to Zylphia, excellent businessman.

  Delia McLeod- married to Aidan, mother to Zylphia, still aids the orphanage

  Parthena Tyler- Zylphia’s friend; excellent pianist, fellow suffragist

  Genevieve Tyler- Parthena’s second sister, plays the violin

  Eudora Tyler- Parthena’s third sister

  Isabel Tyler- Parthena’s youngest sister

  Morgan Wheeler- Parthena’s nemesis, successful Boston businessman.

  Lucas Russell: world-renowned pianist, brother to Savannah, cousin to Clarissa and Colin

  Matilda Russell: mother to Lucas and Savannah, aunt to Clarissa, interested in social appearances

  Martin Russell: Lucas and Savannah’s father, married to Matilda, owns a fine linen shop, Russell’s in the South End.

  Richard McLeod- brother to Gabriel, married to Florence, blacksmith

  Florence Butler – married to Richard, used to teach with Clarissa

  Sophronia Chickering- suffragist, mentor to the McLeod women

  Theodore Goff- Zylphia’s beloved, missing in the Great War

  Rowena Clement- Zylphia’s friend, helps teach her social norms. Suffragist

  Owen Hubbard: successful Boston businessman; Zylphia’s nemesis since she spurned him

  Eugenie Abingdon- Teddy’s cousin, a suffragette in England

  MONTANA:

  Gabriel McLeod- cabinetmaker, married to Clarissa

  Clarissa Sullivan McLeod- married to Gabriel, used to work as a teacher and a librarian, suffragist

  Jeremy McLeod- cabinetmaker, works with his brother Gabriel at his shop, married to Savannah

  Savannah Russell McLeod- married to Jeremy,

  Melinda Sullivan McLeod- Savannah and Jeremy’s adopted daughter, Colin/ Clarissa/ Patrick’s much younger sister

  Colin Sullivan-Clarissa and Patrick’s brother, blacksmith

  Araminta- friend to the McLeods, helps care for their children and clean their homes

  Hester Loken- new librarian in town, championed by Mr. Pickens

  1

  Boston, May 1915

  The teacups rattled, and the silverware jumped as his fist slammed the tabletop. “Dammit, I forbid you to travel there.”

  “What makes you think I have to listen to you? I’m an adult. I have free will. I can do as I please.”

  “When you have your own money, you can do as you please.”

  “I can’t believe you’d hold your fortune over my head, forcing me to remain here against my will.”

  “Zylphia, Aidan, enough,” Delia hissed as she entered the dining room, closing the door behind her to prevent the servants from listening further. “You’re only speaking to harm each other, not to communicate.”

  “I have to try to find him. I can’t keep waiting,” Zylphia said, her voice faltering as she fought tears.

  “Do you think your Teddy would exult at you traversing the perils of the Atlantic, the very Atlantic where ships are sunk weekly by the Germans?” Aidan held up the morning newspaper with its headlines of war and mayhem in France and shook it in Zylphia’s direction. “Do you think he’d then relish the thought of you traveling across the channel to France, traipsing from one makeshift hospital to the next, looking for him?” her father demanded, his deep voice filled with desperation.

  “I have to do something,” Zylphia said, her voice stronger as she thought of her alternate plan.

  “So you think to travel from one field hospital to the next, examining each soldier who’s unknown, to determine if he’s your Teddy? Don’t you realize, if he’s still alive, what helps him face each day is the knowledge you’re far away from the destruction being wrought in those trenches in France? That he doesn’t have to worry about you suffering the same fate as those poor wretches on the Lusitania?” Aidan demanded. He slammed his hand down again, shaking off Delia’s soothing caress of his shoulder.

  Zylphia stiffened, her brilliant blue eyes defiant and angry, shrouding her agony. “Fine. If you won’t allow me to travel to Europe, I’m still leaving. I’m going to Washington, DC. To work with Alice Paul.”

  “That’s a fine way to show loyalty to the women of Massachusetts,” Aidan snapped. “Abandon them when they’re in the throes of their campaign for the vote.”

  Zylphia glared at him. “I hate you,” she yelled before she rose, storming from the room.

  Aidan slumped into his chair, resting his head in his palms for a moment. His broad shoulders heaved as he took a deep breath, and he ran a hand over his head, disheveling his salt-and-pepper hair, before reaching back to rub at a sore spot on his shoulder.

  “That was well done,” Delia said as she fixed herself a cup of tea, having settled in a chair to Aidan’s right.

  “Don’t start.”

  “I’m not. You’re the one who engaged her in this battle of wills. You know as well as I do that she wouldn’t travel to Europe.” Delia buttered a piece of cold toast, setting it aside as she reached for Aidan’s hand.

  After a long moment, he clasped her fingers. “The problem is, I don’t know that. She’s desperate enough right now, engulfed in her grief over he
r Teddy, that she’s unpredictable. I can’t say with any certainty what she’d do.” Aidan released Delia’s hand and scrubbed at his face. “And it terrifies me.”

  “She’d never sail to Europe,” Delia said with a wry smile. “She doesn’t have a passport.”

  “If you think that’s what’s preventing her from traveling, you’re delusional. She’s intrepid enough to find a way.” Aidan frowned. “Nearly 1,200 died when the Lusitania sank last week, including over 100 Americans. I can’t let the same happen to Zee.”

  “She doesn’t really hate you,” Delia murmured.

  “I know. But it hurts all the same to have her scream that at me.” He rubbed at his chest. “I can’t bear the thought of any harm coming to her.”

  “Every day she doesn’t know what’s happened to Theodore Goff is one where she’s being harmed. A part of her exuberance dies.” Delia blinked away tears, and Aidan brushed his fingers over her cheek. “There’s nothing worse than to see her this sad and to know I can do nothing to help her.”

  “I feel the same,” Aidan whispered. “All I seem to do is make her angrier.”

  Delia smiled at him. “I’m not sure that’s such an awful thing. If she’s angry, at least she’s still feeling. I’d hate for our Zee to become an emotionless woman.”

  Aidan’s shoulders slumped. “If she doesn’t hear anything about Goff soon, I fear what will happen to her.”

  Zylphia sat on a comfortable camelback settee in her friend Parthena Tyler’s private sitting room. Bright light shone through two tall windows, and the cream-colored curtains rippled occasionally with the day’s gentle breeze. She waited for Parthena to finish playing the piece by Mozart, barely clapping when she finished. Zylphia rose, wandering the room as her agitation mounted.

  “Zee, why are you here today?” Parthena asked as she continued to tinker at the piano.

  “I had another argument with my father.” She stood in front of a painting of a river valley lit at dawn. She calmed as she lost herself in the brilliant colors and strong brushstrokes, imagining how the artist created such a work.

  “You know he only acts as he does because he cares for you,” Parthena said, interrupting Zylphia’s reverie as she studied the painting.

  “He’s forbidden me to travel to Europe.”

  “Thank God. You know it was a crack-brained idea. I’d hate for harm to befall you. Or for you to become stranded over there until the end of this wretched conflict.” Parthena began to play a soothing song, much like a lullaby.

  Zylphia approached the piano bench and sat on a chair next to it. “I can’t handle doing nothing. I have to do something. Teddy’s somewhere over there, missing. Most likely wounded. Why can’t my father understand that I must …”

  Parthena waited a moment, pausing in playing the piano for a moment, widening her eyes as though coaxing Zee to say more. As only silence ensued, Parthena said, “Even you can’t finish that sentence because it’s ludicrous. You won’t find him if the British Army hasn’t. You’ll only bring yourself more grief.” She reached forward and clasped Zylphia’s hand. “Now, what we can do is focus on how to ensure that the women of Massachusetts have success in their goal for enfranchisement, just like the women of Montana last year.”

  Zylphia half smiled. “If there’s one thing I learned in Montana, it was that the women canvassed every household. No distance was too great.”

  “Can you imagine visiting every home in Boston?”

  Zylphia groaned as she collapsed against the back of her chair. “No, I can’t. But that’s what we must do to win. We must show all women that they are important, that their voices matter. And we need to show their husbands the same.”

  “The next meeting is a few weeks from now. We should discuss this plan with the members of the committee.”

  Zylphia shook her head in frustration. “I’ve already spoken with many of them privately, and they think it’s not necessary.” She stared at the painting on the wall again. “When I asked them why they’d sent me to Montana to learn how to be successful if they wouldn’t listen to my advice, they admitted it was simply to keep Sophronia happy.”

  “Do you mean that they never intended to heed your suggestions?” Parthena slammed her hands onto the piano keys, making a jarring noise.

  “Yes. One member even said nothing was to be learned from such a backwater state and that I insulted her and the committee in thinking I could teach them anything.”

  Parthena gasped.

  “When I confronted Sophie, she admitted she knew it would be a struggle to have them listen to my suggestions, but she’d hoped they’d change their opinion.” Zylphia sighed. “I’d always thought I was tricking the NAWSA members here in Massachusetts by being in Montana when I really supported Alice Paul and her nonviolent tactics. I guess the joke was on me because they never wanted my input.” Zylphia’s shoulders slumped as she thought about the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

  Parthena squinted. “And I’m sure they were only too glad when your father footed the bill.”

  Zylphia nodded her head in agreement. “He considered it a worthwhile donation and he was delighted I could visit my family there.” She sobered further. “I hurt him, P.T.” She paused as she thought through her conversation with her father. “I told him that I hated him.”

  “Zee, you never did.” Parthena turned to face Zylphia.

  She nodded. “I wanted to hurt him as much as I was hurting. I’m so accustomed to him granting me my every wish that, when he doesn’t, I act like a petulant child.”

  “Even though he’s protecting you from yourself.”

  “Oh, P.T., what am I going to do? There are no words for how I ache to see Teddy again. I dream of him speaking to me. I hear his voice in my dreams, and I don’t want to wake because I know, when I do, he’ll be gone.” She shared a forlorn smile with her friend. “Thank you for listening. I can’t imagine it’s been much fun, hearing me moan about Teddy these last months.”

  “I look forward to the day when you can rejoice over him. I refuse to give up hope until we know for certain what’s happened.”

  Zylphia nodded. “I try to remain hopeful, but it’s difficult with all the horrible news coming from France.”

  “I’d tell you not to read the papers, but I know you wouldn’t listen to me.” P.T. sobered. “Are you attending the Wheeler soiree tomorrow?”

  Zylphia frowned. “I’d thought to send my regrets. Why?”

  “I need you there, Zee.” Parthena’s hazel eyes clouded with trepidation. “There’s to be some sort of announcement, and I’m nervous.”

  Zylphia crept into her father’s study. Bookcases lined two walls, and the third held a painting of the Boston Harbor at dawn she’d painted for him a few years ago. A large clipper ship, partially obscured by the dawn’s mist, approached its dock, while smaller vessels floated on the calm waters. Her throat tightened as she recalled how he always showed her painting to all guests to his library, as though she were a great master of the craft.

  She paused, watching her father. He sat behind his large mahogany desk with his shoulders stooped and his head in his hands. After a moment, he slammed his hand onto his desk and reared his head back to stare at the ceiling.

  “I’m sorry, Father,” Zylphia whispered.

  His head whipped toward her voice, his face filled with anguish.

  She eased the heavy door shut behind her.

  “What are you sorry for, Zee?”

  “I don’t hate you. I could never hate you.” Her whispered voice was tinged with embarrassment.

  He held out a hand to her as he rose. She approached him, and he pulled her into his strong arms, cradling her against his shoulder as she fought her battle against her rising sobs. “I know you don’t, my darling daughter. But thank you.”

  “I hurt, more than I knew I could hurt,” Zee stuttered out around her sobs. “I wanted you to hurt too.”

  “I know.” He kissed her head. “I�
��ve done the same.” He sighed. “I’m sorry to be at odds with you, but I can’t support you traveling to Europe. Not now.”

  Zylphia eased away, moving toward one of the comfortable chairs in front of his desk, but not sitting. Aidan followed her and leaned against his desk, watching her with concern. “I know. I realized how foolish I was being when I spoke with P.T. today.”

  Aidan smiled, relief shining in his blue eyes. “Thank God she was able to help you see sense where I failed.”

  “I wouldn’t have been so angry with you if I hadn’t known you were right.”

  Aidan chuckled. “I’m a McLeod too. I know how hard it can be to admit when I’m wrong.” He sobered. “I know you miss your Teddy. That you are worried about him. I would do anything to ease you of this torment, Zee.”

  She nodded, brushing at her cheeks as a few more tears escaped. “Thank you.” She took a deep breath. “For now I realize you are correct. I must focus on the battle for the vote here in Massachusetts. It is a worthwhile cause and will aid in distracting me.”

  “You also have your marvelous painting talent,” he said with pride shining in his eyes.

  Zylphia flushed. “I’m finding it difficult to paint anything right now. It’s as though all my artistic inclination has disappeared.”

  “I know it will return. You’re too talented to never paint again. Be patient, and be willing to spend hours in your studio when your muse returns.”

  She leaned into his embrace a moment. “Thank you, Father. Thank you for supporting me in all I do, especially my suffragist pursuits.”

  “I hope it will provide some sort of solace as your work intensifies while you struggle toward your goal here.” He clasped her hand. “I know what it is to be separated from the one I love, Zee. I pray you will be reunited soon.”

  2

  Dear Miss McLeod,