Page 67 of Once an Angel
A sad smile played around his lips. He drew a line in the sand with his toe. "Perhaps you are no wiser than we Maori. Seekingutu, your own personal revenge, for every slight."
"He slighted my whole life!" she cried.
Emily realized then that it wasn't about the gold. It never had been. She couldn't forgive him for breaking the heart of a child who had believed in him. And she couldn't afford to find out if he would do it again. Time had robbed her of her defenses. Her woman's heart wasn't as resilient as the child's had been. Another blow would surely shatter it. She felt the warning prick of tears behind her eyes. She blinked them away, not wanting Trini to see her cry. Not wanting anyone to ever see her cry again.
"It reminds me of something the Pakeha's mighty God once said—'Vengeance is mine.' "
"Not this time, Trini." She stabbed her chest with her finger, tapping the locket. "This time vengeance
ismine." His solemn brown eyes surveyed her with maddening wisdom. She turned away with a dismissive wave. "How can I expect you to understand?"
"Perhaps I understand better than you know . . . Claire."
Emily froze in mid-stride, flinching as the name sounded like a slap across her face. She turned slowly, remembering all the times she had seen him entranced by the shiny watch case. "How?"
Trini pointed. For the first time, Emily saw the children scattered among the dunes, their normal
jubilance muted to pensive quiet.
"Dani," he said. "She recognized you from the watch. She told me you were the Pakeha's lost angel
freed at last from a terrible spell."
Dani was wrong, Emily thought. She had only fallen under a more deadly spell. She opened the watch case with a trembling hand. The case was empty, the photograph gone. Once again Justin had taken
the best part of her with him.
She cast Trini a pleading glance. "How could he not have known?"
The native's lips quirked in an enigmatic smile. "The Pakeha sees only what he chooses to see. It is his way."
As Emily stared blindly into the locket, a low chant rose from the dunes. The children were repeating
one word over and over.Claire, They pelted out of the dunes, surrounding her. She sank to her knees, wrapping Dani's warm little body in her arms. She pressed her eyes shut, imagining how it would have
felt to hold the child she would never have. She could almost see him—his silky dark hair falling in his eyes as he bent over the piano.
She opened her eyes. Trini helped her to her feet, his tattooed brow furrowed in a frown. "How will
you go from here? You have no money, no means."
Her eyes burned with a fierce light. "Oh, yes, I do. Gold brought me here, and gold will take me away."
A yelp of dismay escaped him as she held the watch aloft and twisted, shattering the last chain that
bound her to Justin Connor.
Part II
Now cracks a noble heart. Good
night, sweet prince:
And flights of angels sing thee to
thy rest!
Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell.
