River

Gregor’s

“Ben and Samuel have found your gift, beloved,” I whisper to him, as he lies still in bed with his arms held around his slumbering wife.

“That’s nice,” he thinks to me. “I hope they don’t think I am being far too nosy and interfering.”

I pause for a moment, evaluating. “No indeed. They find it charming. In fact they find it comforting, to know that there is one other person who knows of, and supports, their love for each other.”

He smiles and continues lying contentedly at Rosalind’s side, remembering their activities of the last evening. When they got to bed, she had assumed that his injuries would prevent him from participating in any sexual congress, and did not plan to mention it. However, she was astonished to enter the bedroom and find him already lying across the bed, nude, waiting for her, his hands lifted and grasping the bars of the headboard in their newest favorite position. He was wearing nothing but for an enormous grin and the equally enormous evidence of his arousal. He had even taken the bandages off of his mostly-healed hand.

She burst out laughing. “What is this, Gregor? Look at you - you’re covered with bruises!”

To be fair, although his broken rib had mended itself, it had left behind a huge and deeply livid bruise along his side. It looked dreadful.

“Please?” he wheedled. “It doesn’t hurt at all, I promise.”

“Well, I wouldn’t believe you,” she said, sitting down next to him and stroking her hand along the bruised skin of his torso, causing him to inhale with anticipation. “But I’ve seen how fast you can heal. Give me your hand.”

He released the headboard and thrust out his injured hand, the cuts now reduced to red lines, angry but no longer bleeding. “See?” he said triumphantly.

She laughed, holding his hand in hers, tracing the lines with her fingers. “How do you do it?” she asked him, looking seriously into his eyes.

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “I really don’t. I’ve always been this way.”

She nodded, kissed his palm, and released his hand. “Put your hand back where it belongs,” she commanded him, and he eagerly complied.

I settled across the room, keeping my wolf form dormant during their joy, and spent the rest of the night conversing with Ayola’s Guardian, my friend Misty, about the various events of the day.

Now, looking at Gregor holding his wife, full of contentment, I am filled with joy of my own.

Pittsburgh

October 15, 1811

Lydia

It is a fabulous success, exactly as I knew it would be. Nicholas is excited to be the captain of a vessel which is finally cast off from the dock, to have a real journey. A short one, but real.

The pilot easily navigates the Monongahela River to the east, then reverses course, loops around the confluence at the start of the Ohio, and heads up the Allegheny river.

The citizens of Pittsburgh line the shore, and stand upon the hillsides overlooking the water, cheering and applauding as the New Orleans glides past, steam and smoke belching from its pipes, the noisy engine clattering as the piston pumps up and down, the crossbeams driving the paddlewheels, the water being lifted and dumped constantly as the wheels drive the boat forward.

It works exactly as we predicted, and the entire town witnesses our demonstration.

As we return back down the Allegheny and round the bend of the confluence to return to our shipyard, Nicholas stands with me at the bow, watching our home come back into view.

We have lived here, overlooking the shipyard on the river, for most of Rosetta’s life. Building the boat, realizing our dream.

We will be leaving soon, in just a few days. We will leave Pittsburgh behind. We do not intend to return here. We no longer need the shipyard, our project is complete. After we make our way to New Orleans, we will likely return to live in New York.

I look forward to this next phase of our lives. Nicholas wraps his hands around my bulging belly. This little person will be coming to us soon as well, and that phase of our life, of being the parents of two, will also be starting very soon.

Nicholas leaves me as the steamboat returns to the shipyard, to supervise the men as they dock the ship.

The next time we leave here on this boat, in five days, will be the last time.

We are ready to start our journey.

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END OF BOOK 5 OF GUARDIANS