Reclaimed Love: Banished Saga, Book Two Read Online Free Page B

walk the city streets, I realize how extraordinary it is. I never thought to see blocks filled with brick buildings, theaters, banks and stores in a city so far from anywhere. And the streetcars. I can’t believe there are electric streetcars here! Or that you made us climb the hill the day we arrived.”
    Ronan laughed and slapped Gabriel’s back.
    “Have either of you been into Hennessy’s?” Gabriel asked.
    Ronan and Matthew shook their heads.
    “It’s a beautiful brick building on the corner of Main and Granite with prism glass that causes the sunlight from outside to sparkle and spread inside the first floor. It’s so fancy that I didn’t know if they’d let me in, but I went in anyway. As I entered, I realized it’s a store that sells anything you could imagine wanting. And things you didn’t even know you wanted or needed. They have a Moorish room that made me imagine what a sultan’s room would look like from when I read The Arabian Nights . And the woodwork is extraordinary. The staircase and the displays…” He shook his head in wonder. “It rivals anything I saw in Boston.”
    “So are you saying that you are beginning to like it here?” Ronan asked with a hint of a smile.
    “Yes,” Gabriel admitted.
    “Have you been to a Finnish steam room yet?” Ronan asked as he scratched his thick beard. He leaned back in his chair, stretching his short legs in front of him and crossing his feet at the ankles.
    “No, though I haven’t been working so I’ve no real need of one.”
    “It’s almost worth living in Finntown just to be able to board at a place where you could get good food and a steam in the price of boarding,” Ronan said. He closed his sherry-colored eyes as though imagining the relaxing heat from the steam rooms.
    “But it would be too far from the mine,” Matthew argued.
    “Yes, it would, especially in the winter. I’d hate to have to walk any farther in the cold than is necessary,” Ronan said, opening his eyes again. “As for you, Gabriel, you might look for another place to board that’s not so full of miners, and where you can have your own room.”
    “I don’t mind sharing with Matthew,” Gabriel said. “I’m used to sharing space with my brother.”
    “Well, when that lovely lady of yours comes here, that will have to change,” Matthew said.
    “Yes, when she joins me, all will be different,” Gabriel murmured attempting to envision Clarissa living in Butte.

CHAPTER 3
    GABRIEL ENTERED THE DOORWAY to the imposing five-story red-bricked building with black wrought-iron balconies that stood diagonally across the street from the McDermott Hotel on Broadway. Hammering, sawing and a good deal of swearing were heard as he walked into the main floor work space. Rough wooden planks covered the floors and clusters of workbenches and carpenters were scattered around the room. Frames for smaller rooms were slowly being raised or created, breaking up the cavernous space. Gabriel asked for the foreman and then scanned the room, searching for him.
    “Excuse me,” Gabriel said as he stopped next to the man. The foreman turned toward Gabriel with inquisitive, piercing blue eyes. His rail-thin frame seemed barely strong enough to allow him to stand, and yet he met Gabriel’s look with frank interest.
    Gabriel doffed his hat and stood tall as he met the foreman’s eyes. “Hello, sir. My name is Gabriel McLeod, and I am looking for work. A Mr. Cassidy told me that you are the man I should speak with.”
    “You don’t sound like an immigrant,” he drawled. “Are you one of them Irish? No, your last name don’t sound right.”
    “Of Irish heritage, but from Boston.”
    “Hmm … wonder what you’re running from out there,” he said as he spat a wad of chewing tobacco into a nearby spittoon.
    Gabriel raised his eyebrows in surprise at the man’s perfect aim. “Nothing, sir. I just dream of a better life. I heard you had work here.”
    “Well, there’s plenty of