Rayne Ch. 12

Gabriella seemed to be more at peace since coming to the island, even though she spent most of her time sleeping, the rest starring unseeingly into space. She didn't seem to respond to any external stimulus, not even Rayne or Maria. Navia was an extremely talented cook and prepared many dishes that Maria could get down her in her comatose state. Rayne had broken away from sitting with Gabriella to explain to Navia the situation.

"Navia, I should have warned you that I was bringing Gabriella here. We met in England and then she was abducted and my sole focus was on finding her before she was harmed."

Rayne hung his head, clearly upset that he had not found her before the damage had been done. Navia had loved Rayne more than she ever thought possible to love a man, but she had always known while Rayne was fond of her, she knew she never had held his heart. She had hoped this day would never come, but knew it had been inevitable.

After a long breath, she began to speak in that beautiful melodic island accent she had, "Rayne, you have been so good to me. You have always given me the choice to be here in your beautiful home, allowed me to run it as if it were my own. You owe me no explanations. I will help you care for this woman Gabriella, for it is clear to see that you love her and only her as a man should love the woman he wants to spend his life with. For you to love her, I know she has a good heart, and as long as she does nothing to hurt you, I can be happy."

Rayne listened to her words incredulously. He had expected a tirade of furious words, as would have been her right, as he probably would have if the tables were turned. Navia was truly an amazing woman, and he had never been more grateful to have her at his side. He reached out to her and drew her close to him, thanking her for taking Gabriella into not only the house that she called home, but into her heart. Navia brushed his thanks away and walked from the room to go see if Maria needed anything. Maria assured her there was nothing that she had not already seen to, so Navia took her basket and left to wander to the market place for fresh vegetables and goods for the following days meals.

Maria marveled at the home where Rayne had brought them to. The sound of the ocean so soothing and close, the warm breezes kissed Gabriella's face where she lay in an over-sized bed which was dressed in the softest of linens. Navia had brought in several camisole type night dresses that had fit Gabriella perfectly. Navia had blushed profusely when Rayne had been the one to place Gabriella into the slipper tub filled with warm water and scented with tropical flower oil Navia had provided. Between Maria and herself, they had scrubbed as gently as possible, Gabriella and managed to get all the tangles and matts from the months of neglect and abuse out of her hair. When she was dressed and her hair had dried, it spread out across the pillows in a billowing black cloud of beautiful tresses. Navia stood gazing at her for a long moment, thinking how beautiful and yet fragile she looked. She could only imaging the abuse this poor girl had suffered from all the scars, bruises still bluish green and healing wounds on her body. She never asked that had happened, she felt it was too painful and harsh, and she wasn't sure she even wanted to know. She was a constant guest in Gabriella's room and Maria slowly relaxed, confident that Navia meant only to help, and that she held no malice for the woman that had captured Rayne's heart.

Rayne slept in Gabriella's room each night, his overly large frame draped into a small lounger near to her bed. He didn't want his love to awaken in the middle of the night and be frightened. He was afraid she would awaken and fear she was still in Torquemada's cruel grip. He spent as much time as was humanly possible with her, refusing to leave the room at all for weeks. Maria forced him to return to running his businesses, attending to correspondence, but even with that he was in her room by her side more than he was not. Eventually life settled into a routine and he would awake and then go bath and change into clean clothes, return to her room for breakfast, which sometime he could coax her to eat, sometimes it was Maria that got food into her. After that he would read to her and then he was off to attend to his shipping business, answer correspondence and he had sent letters to Javonnie to have him attend to anything that was pressing back in England. He had explained all that had happened and described Gabriella's condition to his friend. He knew it would be a long time before those letters reached him, but he knew eventually there would be a response. Perhaps Javonnie could offer some assistance, something that might help break the daze she appeared to exist in.

Navia was very concerned as the days turned to weeks and then months and there was no response from Gabriella. No spark of recognition to the two people that should have been able to pull her back from the black abyss that the torture had pushed her into. She searched through herbal remedies, looking for something that might help pull her back. Finally she made the long trek to the other side of the island to see the medicine woman. She spoke of Gabriella and that she had endured incredible pain, abuse and torture. The medicine woman nodded knowingly and shuffled through her hut reaching for first one herb and then another. She placed them into the small wooden bowl she used to mix herbs and began to crush them with a pedestal like an apothecary would. Slowly the leaves and twigs turned to a course powder. The old woman slowly rose from her chair her bent and crooked old frame slow to move and mumbling in her quiet incessant ramblings she shuffled over to a row of jars with covers. She picked up several and put them down before she put two in her apron and then turned to a cabinet with some small branches with berries that she had hanging there from their drying. She made her way back to the table and put a couple of pinches from the jars and then the leaves and berries into the small bowl. She resumed her mumbling and mixing. After much mumbling and mixing she reached for a small vial and carefully put the mixture in it and handed it to Navia.

"Put a dash into a drink or any food you can get down her. It may take many weeks for this to begin to work. If she can be brought back from the land of the living dead, this will work. Should you need more, come back."

With that said, she turned and shuffled off to the back of the house and Navia was left to see herself out. But she was used to this routine, it was just the way the medicine woman was. She didn't waste breath or a lot of words, she put more stock in actions than words, and she always had. Navia made the long trek back to the house. She was undecided if she wanted to tell Rayne what she wanted to do with the powders she had in her basket. She didn't know how he would react to the medicine woman's herbal powders. Nothing else seemed to be helping the woman Gabriella, what was there to lose? Over the time that she had been there, Navia had spent a lot of time helping Maria care for her and somehow she had formed a deep attachment to this beautiful silent woman. As she brushed Gabriella's hair she wondered what it would look like put up in ringlets and pretty hair combs. Her skin, you could tell, had once been flawless and even with the marks still visible, she was a strikingly beautiful woman. She could tell just by the way Rayne cared for her, spoke to her and handled her that he loved her deeply. This knowledge actually brought her comfort to know that he had finally met his soul mate. She had always known she was not that woman, but she was grateful for the time she had gotten to be in his life. She would always be grateful for his kindness to her and her family. The all had decent tasks to perform for him that enabled them to live more comfortably than some on the other islands. They were all well cared for, Rayne was a decent man and honorable.

Once she arrived back at the house she squeezed the fresh oranges and mangos along with the juice from fresh pineapple and made a refreshing drink for Gabriella. She started to add the powder, but hesitated, perhaps she should at least let Maria know and make the decision as to whether or not she felt it was worth the chance. She didn't want to upset anyone unnecessarily. She carried the glass of juice and slipped the vial of powders in her apron pocket. She entered Gabriella's room and she and Maria were sitting on the balcony enjoying the sea breezes. At least Maria was enjoying it, Gabriella as usual, showed no sign of being aware of anything around her.

"Miss Maria?" she spoke softly to Maria.

"Si, Navia, what is it my child?"

"I have brought Miss Gabriella some fresh juice."

"That is nice of you Navia; I know she appreciates all that you do for her. Perhaps one day soon she will be able to thank you herself."

"I was hoping that soon she will open her eyes and really see. I have done something that I hope you won't be angry about." Navia hedged, unsure how what she had to say would be received.

Maria looked sharply at her, finding it hard to imagine her doing anything that would harm Gabriella. "What is it Navia?"

"I went to see the island medicine woman; she is very old and very knowledgeable of herbs and medicines. I told her of some of what Miss Gabriella had been through and how she seemed to be awake and asleep at the same time. About how she doesn't seem to recognize the people she should. I have some powders that the medicine woman mixed for her and she said to put them into her food and drink. But I didn't want to do this without your permission."

Maria studied the young woman in admiration. She was trying desperately to help Gabriella; most women in her position would be doing the opposite.

"I am sure you meant well, and little one, I don't see how it could hurt! Have you told Rayne about this?"

"No, I didn't want to get his hopes up in case it didn't work."

Maria shook her head in agreement and held out her hand for the vial. She opened it and put a little of the powder into her palm and studied it, and smelled it. It was a pungent smell and some of the herbs she recognized by their smell and the colors in the powder. She shook the powder into the drink and began to spoon feed it to Gabriella. Between the two women they got almost all of the juice down her. In the weeks that followed Maria and Navia kept their secret and when Maria told her the vial was almost empty Navia said she would return for more. Maria asked to go see this woman with her. Navia hesitated only momentarily, seeming to know that the medicine woman wouldn't mind. Maria had a way about her that she knew the two women had a lot in common and could learn from each other. So together they made the trek and as she had anticipated, the two women immediately took to one another, discussing herbs and remedies, learning from one another. After that initial visit, about once a week Maria would make the trek to visit her new friend and discuss possible herbs to help Gabriella.

It was well into the second month of the powders being put into Gabriella's food and drink that Maria sat talking to her and for the first time since finding her above Torquemada's ship there was a slight twitch of her lip, almost a smile, albeit it was fleeting. Maria could have jumped for joy. But she said nothing to Rayne, it was too soon and too small of an improvement to get his hopes built upon. But she told Navia immediately and she too was overjoyed. When Maria made her weekly visit to her new friend, Navia kept Gabriella company. She rubbed lotion into her hands and arms, feet and legs, talking to her all the while in her lilting native voice.

"This will help keep your skin soft and help vanish the scars. Not that it matters, you are so beautiful. When we finish with your lotion, I am going to brush your hair for you and if you're not tired, I will arrange it for you, I am not very good at that, but it will be a change for you."

Navia was busy rubbing in the lotion and there was a touch on her hair. Her eyes flew up looking up into Gabriella's face. Her eyes weren't blank, there was life there and Navia was suddenly shy. She was unsure what she should say, she didn't want to say anything to upset her. She continued to look in surprise at the woman she had spent so many hours with, and Gabriella looked at her tanned face in curiosity. She didn't know who this woman was, but she recognized the voice that had come to her when she floated in dreams, it had soothed her and the hand on her arms and feet had been gentle, and as she had brushed her hair, she had been gentle as well.

Just these thoughts and concentrating on looking at her had left her exhausted, she simply said "thank you" and drifted back into sleep.

Navia could hardly wait for Maria to return! When she did Navia was waiting for her at the gate.

"Miss Maria...she spoke! Her eyes were alive!"

Maria hurried as fast as her bent frame would allow to Gabriella's room, but she slept deeply. But this sleep was a different sleep than that which she had been lost in. It was, for the first time, a natural sleep.