Desire's Embrace

Untitled Part 1

1872

Chapter 1 - With Purpose

"It's mine!"

"Give it back!"

"No, get your own!"

"Children." As Morgan Latimar entered the kitchen, he admonished his quarreling children for the noise. It did not matter that their escalating argument was over who got the last piece of bacon. The scene was the third such episode in a week. Tensions were running high in his household. The situation needed a resolution. This morning, Morgan was on a mission that would cure their unruliness. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he told Ruby, the housekeeper. Not breaking his stride as he scooped up the last piece of bacon, Morgan divided it into two portions and presented it to Sara and Jacob. Then he exited the kitchen door. Hearing their laughter, he hoped the peace would last, yet knew it would not.

As the screen door smacked shut a second time, Bertrand, his manservant spoke up. "That solution will last about five minutes."

Morgan did not respond. Instead, he decided not to glance back at the small disturbance mounting as Ruby tried to establish order in the kitchen with her demand for quiet. His manservant was right. Lately nothing had calmed his children. They were out of control. It was past time he found a nanny for them, someone who could give them the loving, yet strong hand of a guiding force in their lives.

The temptation to shift into a wolf and bound off into the woods sounded better and better these days. Coming to a stop just shy of the barn doors as he waited for Bertrand, Morgan realized he desperately wanted to run. However, the reason was not the children. He loved his son of seven years and his daughter of five. Jacob and Sara meant more to him than life itself. His desire to run lay in the loss of their mother and his soul mate. Diana, the only woman in the world he had ever loved, was lost to him now. Sara's birth had taken her five years ago despite everything they had tried to do for his beloved wife. And yet, it felt like it was only yesterday on a morning like this. Sometimes he could hear her calling to him from the fields, or he would see her standing on the ridge of the mountains beyond his family's land. She waited for him in the cool of the evening breeze as the sun settled quietly over the horizon. He yearned to race with her once more over the fields and through the woods of Bay Ridge. His family's sugar plantation held nothing except memories now. The discomfort in his leg spiked. Morgan sighed as he propped open the barn door and adjusted the mechanized brace holding his useless limb upright. The old war injury plagued him daily. Life had changed.

Diana had died early on a June morning as the world started to stir. Perfection - no one expected anything less of Sara's birth. Diana's pregnancy had been a normal occurrence. She was healthy throughout the months as they awaited the arrival of their second child. Something had gone dreadfully wrong, and Diana had slipped away from him as he held her in his arms. Time passed, as time always does, and Morgan forced the daily responsibilities to consume him. A way to survive he supposed. After all, there were the children to consider.

"Where are you going?" His brother, David's voice held concern.

"This morning I'm going to meet The Creole Belle, a paddle-wheeler out of Memphis. The children need more than Ruby, the housekeeper or me or even your dear wife Jacquie can give them. They need supervision from a dedicated caregiver. Not to say Ruby and Jacquie haven't done all they can to help with the children." He slowed, shaking his head. "No, they'd been wonderful since Diana's death." Glancing out at the tree lined boundary, a pang of longing shot through him.

The overwhelming urge to race through the fields would simply have to wait. There was trouble brewing. Morgan did not fully understand how he knew this, yet things were not right.