**Story titled in honor of Bliss and Minako, who have done remarkable work on their Silver Memories site, which sprang up when GL went done. Please visit the archives and submit! Silver Memories
Chapter 1
Reiliana Bliss, the oldest of four sisters, was considered one of the most beautiful girls in their bustling town. Her only other serious competitor in looks was her youngest sister, Minalia. While Amiliana and Litalia were remarkably pretty in their own right, their oldest and youngest sisters' had flashier beauty. Because Minalia was younger than her by four years, Reiliana had been the Bliss girl to catch the eye of almost every single young man in town. She had scorned all of their attentions except one–and that one had been her best friend.
When she had finally decided to accept a rich young bachelor's suit, Janus Aureole had begged her to reconsider. The very morning of her wedding day, he had told her loved her and even dared to kiss her. No one else knew the exact words that had passed between them, but her sisters–especially perceptive and very inquisitive Minalia–had guessed when Janus, who had grown up as one of them, nearly the son their parents had never had, left abruptly before the ceremony. Had he stayed, he would have stood as Chad's best man and friend.
Recently widowed, when Chad had been crushed under the wheels of a carriage in a terrible accident, Reiliana had taken up her maiden name and returned to the tavern her father had opened. Two of her sisters, Lita and Mina, were both unmarried and still worked there. Ami, whom Rei was closest to in age and friendship, was away from home more often. She was apprenticed to the town's doctor. He was an old man, a longtime friend of their father's, and thus willing to take on a female student when others would have scorned her.
Things were difficult for the once-prosperous Bliss family: Master Bliss had lost his love for everything in life after his wife died. The tavern had quickly become ill-reputed when all sorts of people traveling through chose the place as a handy location to do business of all kinds.
Rei herself had a son around three years old to think of. He had a sunny disposition, slightly-curling blond hair, and her own purple-blue eyes. She had been surprised when Alexander had been born with blond hair. Neither she nor Chad were light-haired, but Minalia was. This indirect passing of genes might also account for his even temper–Rei had long admitted to herself that she was a spitfire when her temper lashed out, and Alexander was amazingly good-natured.
Hopefully, she thought to herself, hopefully things would get better soon. While neither Lita nor Mina were planning to marry soon, Ami had a beau by the name of Gregory. Rei had only met him once and thought him rather shifty but attributed it to his nervousness at meeting the family. Whenever Ami was home, she spouted all sorts of nonsense about how sweet he was. While the other two sisters teased her mercilessly, Rei had smiled sadly and looked away. She had never felt this enamored of Chad, and it made her feel slightly guilty.
In a way, she had married him for his money, but she had truly thought herself to be fond of him. Now she was old enough and honest enough to admit that she had deluded herself into feeling that way and could not help but be grateful she was no longer trapped in the marriage, despite the sad end Chad had met. He had been a good husband to her and a nice enough man, and he hadn't deserved the death he had.
What Rei had left was their son, her family, and very little of his money–his family had looked down upon her from the start and stolen everything away the minute he had died. She was frightened that they would reclaim Alexander from her, but she had to remain at the inn with her father and her sisters. There was nowhere else she could go.
Making her way over to Lita, she smiled wryly when she noticed her man-hating sister chatting pleasantly with a brown-haired stranger. Upon seeing her, he smiled charmingly but fled as she approached. Setting down her tray, the raven-haired woman brushed her hands briskly and said in a disgruntled tone, "Well." Giving Lita a sharp glance with her exquisite purple eyes, she asked, "And what was that all about?"
"I...nothing." The brunette blushed becomingly as she turned back to cooking.
"I don't call you actually carrying on a conversation with a man that didn't end with your first in his face or his behind in the dirt–or both–‘nothing,'" Rei commented, smirking slightly as she tied back her long, nearly hip-length tresses.
Lita's hair was already in a high ponytail to keep it out of the way of the grease from the frying pan, and she ignored her sister with practiced ease. "Xander just nodded off around ten minutes ago."
"Good. I had such a hard time getting him to take a nap in the afternoon." Brushing off her hands as she opened a keg of liquor and wrinkled her nose at the sour odor, she asked, "Who was that man, anyway? You seemed very familiar with him."
"Oh, do you mean Lita's beau? His name is Nestor Siriale."
"Mina!"
While Lita glared accusingly at their younger sister, Rei smiled. It was just like Mina the gossip monger to know everything.
"And he's been coming around for months! Well, maybe only about six or seven times, but it took forever for Lita to talk to him. Poor man, he used to sit here for hours watching her hopefully, but she ignored him! His efforts were all in vain!" Minalia added cheerfully, tying on an apron and brushing back her wind-tossed hair.
"Mina..."
At her warning tone, the blonde jumped up and went to wait on the customers, giving an indignant sniff as she went. However, her posture and freely-bouncing hair suggested that she wasn't the least bit perturbed.
Watching her, Rei said, "If he's been sticking around for so long, he must be extremely patient. Why didn't you tell me you had an admirer?"
Lita flushed darkly and began slamming pots around darkly. "Because I don't. Have one, I mean. He's merely an annoyance. Besides, I think he's a little scared of you. He always seems to come by every time you have a day to yourself."
She blushed scarlet. "I'm not really that intimidating, am I?"
"You are when you're trying to protect us," her sister drawled, green eyes sparkling with mischief.
"Well, then, should I go exercise some restraint and leave him alone, or should I be the one to introduce him to how a man treats the Bliss girls?"
"No; he's only a temporary suitor anyway," she replied jokingly. "Besides, as Mina so kindly told you, he stops by here maybe once or twice a month, if he's lucky. He comes from a merchant family."
"You seem to know a lot about him."
Litalia blushed again, and the rose color in her cheeks was very becoming–as Nestor Siriale seemed to notice, for he was watching her wistfully from the corner. "I felt bad for him after he kept coming back and looking at me like some scolded puppy. Now go tell Mina it's time for her ‘appointment.'"
She made a face at that. The tax collector was making a nuisance of himself, and Minalia was the only one in the family with enough patience to talk for more than ten seconds with the man. "All right. But I'll be asking about that Nestor person again, though, so don't think the subject's closed." As Rei threaded her way through the thickening crowd, her sister banged her pans around again and muttered darkly to herself.
******************************************************************************
A few hours later, golden hair spilling over her shoulders in a river of pure gold, Mina made her way through the darkening streets unhappily. Her normally cheerful expression was absent–the meeting with the tax collector had not gone to either of their likings. Trying to keep her chin up resolutely, she thought, ‘We'll be able to raise the money, somehow. Papa will figure something out; he always does. Except...he hasn't done anything at all since Mama died.'
Her delicate, rosy mouth trembled as she thought about the seeing-off she'd been given from the tavern directly before dusk. They had all believed in her: her father, Lita, Rei, Ami, and even herself. They had never doubted that she could fail at something so important, because she had never failed them before. Even the townspeople thought so: she had always been known as Minalia Bliss, the youngest but most beautiful of the Bliss sisters, who had everyone and everything wrapped around her pretty little finger. Lita had promised a triumphal dinner when she got back, Rei, her amethyst eyes shining in with confidence, had given her a rare hug and smile, and Ami had said she would meet her on her way back from the doctor's office.
Where was the quite, shy sister who had promised to meet her afterwards? Frowning, Minalia changed her course and promptly bumped into something very solid and hard. Looking up into smoky gray eyes, she caught her breath as he caught her in mid-stumble.
"Your pardon, miss." When she continued staring at him, unnerved, Kunshan Bayonne shifted nervously. The beautiful but clumsy girl was still in his arms, gaping at him as if he were a monster. Freeing a hand, he touched his face carefully–nothing seemed out of the ordinary there. "Miss? Are you alright?"
She blushed hotly. "Y-yes. I'm sorry." Suddenly, Mina realized that she was still in his arms and pulled away nervously. They stood looking at each other with mild discomfort until she held out her hand directly and declared, "You must be new here; I don't think I've ever seen you around. My name is Mina, Mina Bliss."
It was a few seconds before the silver-haired man regained his ability to talk. "I'‘m Kunshan Bayonne, Miss Bliss. And you're right, I am a newcomer here. Today is my last day of my stay."
Glancing down at the outstretched hand, he grasped it, lifted it to his lips, and kissed it instead of shaking it, as was expected.
The feeling of his lips upon her skin lingered long after she had snatched her hand back, and her face flushed even more darkly.
"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Bliss," Kunshan said, smiling at her. When she nodded slowly, still half-stunned, he continued, "I'm afraid I'll have to be on my way now. Weren't you going somewhere in a rush, as well?"
Ami and the affairs of the tavern rushed back to Minalia in an instant, and she exclaimed, "Oh no, I'll be so late! It was nice to meet you too, Master Bayonne. If you have time, come have a quick meal or a drink at Bliss's Tavern; my father is the owner. Good bye!"
He watched in amusement as she dashed off once more. Shaking his head, he continued along the street, thinking, ‘What an enchanting girl...but she's too young for you, Kunshan. And I'm not old enough yet to be Master Bayonne! Imagine what Janus and Nestor would say about me being called that–they'd laugh themselves silly.' Casting another glance at her retreating back and bouncing blond hair, he murmured, "Still, she is rather attractive. And young. Bliss's Tavern, eh? Little girls do grow up sometime. Perhaps I'll pay her a visit then."
******************************************************************************
Ami stared at him in total incomprehension, sapphire blue eyes large and frightened. "Greg, I don't understand. Why are you–why are you leaving?"
Scowling darkly, the brunet man ran a hand through his hair in impatience as he put another crate on the half-loaded wagon. "I told you, Ami, that I never liked this town. I hated it. My luck's run out, and I'm leaving."
Feeling as if he had punched her in the stomach, she whispered, "I thought...I thought..."
Gregory smiled sardonically. "You thought I was going to marry you, didn't you, Amiliana? Let me tell you something, Ami. You're a sweet kid, but that's just what you were to me–a kid. I'm too old for you, and I should never have gotten mixed up with you. I knew I was going to leave and break your heart sooner or later, and it wasn't even serious. I made some mistakes, okay?"
She gasped, tears pricking her eyes. "But you can't leave!"
"Why not?" he snapped, out of patience.
Amiliana looked down at her scuffed shoes, covered with dust from the street. In a small voice, wishing she could sink into the dirt and die, she said, "I'm pregnant."
"What?!" he exclaimed in disbelief. "With..._my_ child?"
She drew herself up, eyes shining dangerously with unshed tears. "Yes, Greg, _your_ child. I don't play around with people like you do. I thought you were honorable."
Staring down at her, he remarked, "You're just a whore, aren't you? You and your three sisters, no wonder you work that tavern. Kid, I'm sorry, but I'm going, and nothing's going to stop me. There's no one that will say that child is mine except you, and you can't prove it, can you? Can you?"
He taunted her cruelly, and Amiliana let the unquenchable tears flow down. Her voice choked, she hissed, "You bastard."
Gregory shrugged dispassionately and climbed onto the seat of the wagon. Looking down at her, he replied caustically, "I guess that's one thing I did right, then. Unless you find some other man who'll stay with a slut like you, that child _will_ be a bastard."
"You..."
"Watch your mouth, Amiliana." Still alternating between scorn and pity, he sighed and shook his head. "Why don't you just get rid of the child? If things are really that desperate with your family, I'll pay for it. Come with me now, and we can catch the doctor before he leaves. No one else will have to know."
The dark-haired girl stared up at him in shock, her delicate mouth forming an "o." Turning away, she declared forcefully, "I'm not going anywhere with you."
"It's your choice. So long then, Ami. I really am sorry this happened. I didn't mean for it to, but I guess it did anyway. Good bye."
As the wagon trundled off, its wheels creaking, she looked after him with blurred vision until she sighed softly to herself and sagged against the hard wall. Lowering herself to the ground, she hugged her knees and let the tears fall as she wondered how this could have happened. Gregory had always seemed to be the perfect gentleman, treating her like a lady and being courteous to her sisters...until that horrible night two months ago when he had been drunk. Amiliana covered her face when the terrible memory of that night resurfaced.
A gentle hand on her shoulder shook herself out of the memory. "Ami. Ami! Ami, what's wrong?"
She looked up dully into the concerned blue eyes of her sister. "Mina...he...left." ‘I can't tell her,' she remembered dimly, blinking into the surrounding night, a mesh of people, horses, and carts, ‘there's enough to worry about. I'll just have to do as he suggested after all...'
"He? He who?...oh no...Ami...I'm so sorry." Flinging herself down on the ground beside her, the blond-haired girl took her in her arms and held her. "Why?" The story spilled out of her lips, excepting the fact that she was carrying his child, and Minalia's eyes darkened several shades until they were nearly the same color as Ami's eyes. "That... Forget him, Ami. He obviously was just a horrible person who didn't deserve you. I'm glad you didn't marry him."
Nodding slowly as they stood up and brushed off their skirts, Amiliana murmured, "Let's go home. I almost forgot...how was the meeting?"
"Not good," the blonde replied grimly, "I guess both of us had run-ins with absolute morons tonight. Are there no decent men in this part of the country?" Kunshan Bayonne, who had saved her face from meeting the street, conveniently slipped her mind. She had yet to find out that his face was an important one, one that she would see again, and one that would be forever imprinted in her memory.
******************************************************************************
Back at the tavern, the local law enforcer sat hunched over a jug of whiskey. Once, during his long wait in the tavern, he had swirled his finger inside it meditatively, then tasted it cautiously. With a wince, he had shaken his head and pushed it to the center of the empty table, never taking his eyes off the suspected criminals. No, he thought to himself, they weren't suspected, he definitely knew they were up to no good.
It was a pity, the sheriff mused to himself, that the well-known Bliss girls of the town would not be spared of witnessing their father's demise. He pitied the man. Business was by no means bad, but as taxes rose and the interest on loans and mortgage followed suit, Master Bliss was in danger of losing everything he had–not that he had much left to lose. Zoite cast a surreptitious look at his disgusting mug of alcohol, proof of the bar's suffering status.
It wasn't like him to drink on the job, but he had needed a cover when Rei had asked him for his order. It was a small town, and almost everyone knew each other. Of course, there was always the large number of strangers passing through on the way to a nearby port, but no one who didn't belong there lingered without good reason. Realizing suddenly that he was staring at the three men and Master Bliss, he quickly averted his gaze.
Unknown to him, two people were watching him. "Who is he looking at?"
"What? Who?"
"Sheriff Skylab."
Lita smiled. "Really, Rei, you can call him Zoite. We've known each other forever."
As a burly man caught her eye, the raven-haired woman sighed and walked off to see what he wanted. When she returned, she asked, "What is he doing here? He's spent the entire night staring at Papa."
Shrugging, she replied, "Maybe he wants to talk to him; you know, men business." Her eyes lit up suddenly, like candles. "Or maybe he's looking for Ami!"
She gave her a skeptical look and shook her head. "Too many romance novels," Rei muttered under her breath.
"No, I'm serious! He blushes whenever she looks at him or talks to him. Don't you notice?"
"No," she retorted impatiently, wiping her floury hands off, "I don't. You're just making a big deal out of nothing, Lita. He blushes whenever any of us speak to him. He's just shy."
"But he's always eager to talk to Ami."
Giving her another exasperated look, Rei snapped, "Stop jumping to conclusions. The entire town is expecting Gregory to propose to her any day now. Zoite has no reason to be thinking of her in a romantic light. Besides, Greg has a prosperous job, and no sensible woman wants to marry a sheriff–of all the respectable occupations a man could be, that is possibly the most unfortunate one. He could get his head shot off any day, at any given minute."
Litalia shuddered. "That's terrible, Reiliana Bliss. You ought to be ashamed of yourself! The town loves Zoite."
"Yeah, well, the town loved Mama, and she died anyway!" With that parting shot, the amethyst-eyed beauty stormed off to wait on yet another table. A small voice in her doubting mind added, ‘Everyone loved Chad...and it also loved Janus. Both of them left me, like Mama.'
About to call after her, the brunette sighed and shook her head, changing her mind. Just then, she felt a gentle hand on her elbow. Whirling around, she met the familiar eyes of... "Nestor! I mean, Master Siriale," she corrected, lowering her own green eyes modestly.
He smiled a handsome grin that sent her heart and mind spinning. "Please, won't you call me Nestor?"
"O-okay," she whispered shyly. Then she frowned. She was _never_ shy around men, but she felt as though she was acting like some skittish colt. Litalia loved horses, and she remembered a conversation she had had with him about them. It seemed that he shared her admiration for the beautiful animals, and he got to see them much more often than she did.
When she had been a child, the family had been rich enough to afford wonderful thoroughbred horses. She remembered her riding lessons well. Unfortunately, she had neither the time nor money now. "Would you like something to drink? Or eat?" she inquired, recalling that she was supposed to serve her customers instead of reminiscing.
"No, thank you. I was wondering, could you spare a minute?" Nestor inquired nervously, fighting the urge to shift from one booted foot to the other. His heart leapt as she flushed prettily and nodded.
"Since almost everyone's gone, I guess it would be all right." About the only people left that late night were her father, the trio of men he was talking with, and Zoite Skylab. She took the offered elbow after removing her apron, rather mortified at her disheveled appearance. He didn't seem to notice, however.
After a few minutes of silence, Litalia fidgeted nervously. He was the one who had asked for her time, and he was keeping silent. To make conversation, she asked abruptly, "What are you doing here?"
He grinned at her, his teeth flashing white in the dusky light. "My, you're very curious tonight, Miss Litalia." When she looked down and stammered a denial, he said, "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to poke fun. Actually, I've been given a break from business, and a few of my old friends should be in town. I'm hoping that they'll be here tomorrow morning." Nestor hoped she would forgive him for lying if she ever found out. He had seen and nodded to Zoite from across the room, but the blond-haired man had barely acknowledged him. He was pretty sure the sheriff was there on dangerous business and hoped he would be all right alone. Perhaps he should have stayed...after all, even Zoite needed help at times.
Sudden gunshots shattered the peaceful night, and it came from the direction of the tavern. A loud, shrill shriek pierced the air, seeming to go on and on, a note of fright and discord that ended shortly. They ran back to the tavern, and when she would have entered first, he held her back. "No. Stay here, Lita."
"But–my father, and Rei..."
"If they were hurt, I don't want you to be next."
She looked up at him, her emerald eyes alarmingly wide, and he felt his heart nearly skip a beat until he recovered his senses and stepped in cautiously.
******************************************************************************
Zoite cursed his ill luck furiously, straining to keep the unconscious girl in his arms. His green eyes widened impossibly when he realized blood was running over his hands...but from whom? His heart nearly stopped when he saw that it was Ami's. He frowned: she hadn't been hit by the gunman's bullets...but he had other things to concentrate on.
One of the three men had acted unpredictably and caught Zoite completely off-guard. They had been arguing with Master Bliss with venom apparent on their faces, and when the argument had reached a climax, the gunman had shot Master Bliss without a second's pause. Reiliana, who had been outside (looking surreptitiously after Lita and Nestor), had rushed in before he could stop her and nearly been killed as well. The only thing that had prevented her death was the sudden arrival of Ami and Mina. The former had screamed and fainted, and it had been another misfortune that his reflexes had made him catch her before she hit the ground instead of going after the men. Placing her on a nearby table, Zoite glanced at the barkeeper's body and shook his head: with a shot at such close range, his death had been inevitable. He retrieved his own gun and collided into Nestor Siriale on his way out.
"Zoite! What happened?"
"Master Bliss was killed by those thugs. I'm told they had some bad business deals going on, and I think he may have tried to get out of them. Come with me–we have to catch them–"
"But...Lita, and her sisters, and..."
"Damn it, Nestor. We need to catch them, _now_. The girls are in no danger, at least not if we can lock them up. Are you coming or not?"
He looked back and met Litalia's tear-filled green eyes. "Yes."
******************************************************************************
AN: This takes place around the time of Westward Expansion in U.S. history, when everyone was all excited over the idea of Manifest Destiny and, of course, moving west. Usagi and Mamoru, unfortunately, are _not_ in this fic.
The gals are Litalia, Reiliana, Amiliana, and Minalia. I hope we figured out who everyone was. ^^;; The guys are Nestor Siriale, Janus Aureole, Zoite Skylab, and Kunshan Bayonne. I pulled Siriale out of my head, Zoite was originally Zoete in the thesaurus of my word processor, but I changed it to suit my SM, and Skylab, Kunshan, and Bayonne are all from the wonderfully helpful thesaurus as well. Aureole is meant to be a synonym of "corona."
~Ice
The House of Bliss
