Secrets Revealed
Ginger had returned to the gypsy camp, the key on its silver chain that Erik had given her, was around her neck, where it blended with the protective charms she wore. She felt both elated at the prospect of her surprising good fortune and guilty at keeping it a secret from her husband, Wolf, and her friends at the camp. These people took her in when she was a runaway orphan and though times were hard, she never had to undergo the punishing rules and regulations of being a poor orphan in a supposed charitable institution.
She shivered at the memories of washing in cold water, the meager oatmeal breakfasts and the donated scraps from the kitchens of the wealthy that made up their other meals. Donations that allowed these aristocrats to sleep with a clear conscience, while their pigs and dogs ate better than the orphans at the city facility.
Wolf and the others were gathered around a fire over which one of the men turned a spit with a lamb roasting on it. Some of the women were cooking vegetables in an iron pot slung over another smaller fire. "Off seeing the sights of Paris?" Marlena, one of her closest friends, asked her. She was a young woman just a year older than she was and the mother of three adorable children, two boys and a girl.
Ginger was 24. Men were always kidding Wolf about his lack of heirs and whether he was man enough to sire any. When they sat around at night, often after a successful stay at a fair or town, once in a while a man would get drunk enough to joke and offer to stand in for Wolf. Any other man in the camp might have cut the speaker's throat for such an insult. Wolf had only to glare at them and they soon went back to other camp gossip.
It was known in the camp that before Ginger, Wolf had another wife. Raven. Beautiful and wild. She died in childbirth as did the new born. It was a great tragedy. One he thought he would never get over. And then the little red haired orphan slipped into camp and begged to stay. It was love at first sight. He asked for her hand when she was 16 and she agreed, though he knew she had consented to be his partly for protection at the time. But, over the years they became closer. When they lay together at night, Wolf could swear he felt love radiate back at him from his pretty wife. But he never asked her about her feelings for him. That wasn't their way. He had to assume she loved him or she would have disappeared into the city long ago, seeking the adventure her restless spirit seemed to crave.
Sitting beside Marlena and gathering Lash, Marlena's youngest onto her lap, she stroked his curly black hair and though he struggled to escape and run off to seek mischief, Ginger held him still and gave him a charm from around her neck to keep him occupied. He played with it, placing it around his own neck and glancing up at Ginger to see her reaction, and she laughed and ruffled his hair. "Keep it, little one. It will keep the evil spirits from invading your dreams." At this he held it up for a closer look. And Ginger set him down, where he plunked down on the blanket beside her.
It was then Ginger knew. This unexpected gift from Erik could change her life for the better… or, it could change the lives of her friends in such a variety of ways. It was a great fortune that had been put aside for her. She had felt undeserving of this bequest. What had she done? Looked after a little boy, something anyone would do?
She had thought about owning her own fashion house in the heart of Paris. She would design and have seamstresses sewing her creations. Her clientele would be rich and famous. But… in her heart of hearts, she knew that, really, she did not want to serve the very people that had looked down on her and her friends and family in the camp, and even before, at the orphan home. She detested their ways and their attitudes. And realizing this, a great weight seemed to lift off her shoulders. She laughed out loud.
Marlena looked askance at her friend. Had madness finally overtaken her dear Ginger? A couple of children would get those wild spirits out of her body and mind. She prayed for her friend, sometimes. Asking she be blessed with at least one child. Women were meant to be mothers, after all.
It was all Ginger could do to contain her delight at her decision. She could still design and sew clothes and sell them at the fairs. She would be able to afford beautiful fabrics now. One of the men announced the meat was ready and everyone rose, young and old, gathered their plates and utensils and made their way to where the meat was being carved and served and then to the vegetable stew and then each returned to their previous spot to enjoy their meal. Red wine was passed around.
"Is this seat taken?" Wolf laughingly asked Ginger before seating himself on a small wooden stool beside her. Briar lay down to enjoy the bone Wolf had saved for him, with enough meat on it to keep him happy. Ginger smiled up at him, which took Wolf's breath away for a moment. She had gone from the scruffy orphan to this beautiful woman in no time at all.
Later, that evening, as the women did the washing in a number of tin wash basins, Ginger came to another decision. She would stop taking the herb that Alamina, the old gypsy healer woman of the camp, had been secretly supplying her with for much of the time she was with Wolf. The herb that prevented pregnancy. She would give Wolf not only the gift of fortune for the camp, but a son or daughter, the gift from her heart and her body, for the man she now realized, even this late in their relationship, that she could not live without.
And, back in Bon Chance, at the home of Erik, Christine, and Rafe, Christine was puzzling about something. She gazed at the mirror and saw her radiant reflection looking back. Somehow, she had never felt so beautiful. Then she came to a realization. She understood exactly why she hadn't been feeling well these last few mornings. She was going to have Erik's child. She knew it for certain. Just as she knew, absolutely, somehow, that she was going to give him the gift of a daughter.
She finished dressing, and then, excitedly, made her way down the stairs to the music room.
"Erik, Rafe… I have something to tell you." She beamed at them both. Erik and Rafe looked at each other. Then, Erik put down the violin he'd been playing and Rafe stood from the piano bench. They each smiled in return. They both knew, without Christine saying a word, that their little family was about to expand.