{"id":1198,"date":"2019-02-14T12:43:52","date_gmt":"2019-02-14T17:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/read.whitefire-publishing.com\/?p=1198"},"modified":"2020-07-28T17:46:53","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T21:46:53","slug":"captured-by-moonlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whitefire-publishing.com\/read\/captured-by-moonlight\/","title":{"rendered":"Captured by Moonlight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Captured by Moonlight<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

by Christine Lindsay<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prisoners to their own broken dreams\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a daring rescue goes awry, Laine Harkness and her friend Eshana flee to the tropical south of India\u2026and headlong into their respective pasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laine takes a nursing position at a plantation in the jungle, only to discover that her former fianc\u00e9 is the owner\u2026but fun-loving Laine refuses to let Adam crush her heart like he had years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eshana, captured by her traditional uncle and forced once more into the harsh Hindu customs of mourning, doubts freedom will ever be hers again, much less the forbidden love that had begun to flower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amid cyclones, epidemics, and clashing faiths, will the love of the True Master give hope to these searching hearts?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t

Chapter 1<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Amritsar, Northern India, Late October, 1921<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the head woman from the temple looked in her direction,\nLaine Harkness wouldn\u2019t give two squashed mangoes for her life, or Eshana\u2019s.\nLaine could never be confused for an Indian, but with the tail end of this\ncotton sari covering half her face, and her brown eyes peeking over, she simply\nhad to blend in. Still, any minute now that hatchet-faced female standing guard\nto the girls\u2019 quarters could let out a pulse-freezing yell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sudden blare of a conch shell from within the Hindu\ntemple stretched Laine\u2019s nerves. She and Eshana must be mad to risk this\nexploit again. The principal matron at Laine\u2019s hospital would give her a severe\nreprimand if she ever found out. More likely sack her. If either she or Eshana\nhad any sense at all, they\u2019d turn around, go back to the mission, and mind\ntheir own business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a line from Wordsworth, one of Adam\u2019s favorites, ran\nthrough her mind…little, nameless,\nunremembered acts of kindness and of love…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blast! She wouldn\u2019t call what she and Eshana were about to\ndo little, but please let it be unremembered. Unnoticed would be better still. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nudging Eshana in the side and closing her mind to the\nwrithing creatures in the burlap bags they carried, she hissed into Eshana\u2019s\near. \u201cWell off you go. You\u2019ve got yours to dispose of, and I\u2019ve got mine. Just\nplease keep that guard distracted.\u201d Laine jutted her chin toward the obese head\nwoman waddling around in a sari stained down the front with betel juice. Every\nonce in a while she would take her long wooden club and rap on the doors of the\nhovels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eshana hurried through the narrow alleyway toward the\nguardian of the temple girls, carrying a burlap sack similar to Laine\u2019s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the opposite side of the bazaar, the globelike spires of\na temple devoted to a Hindu goddess poked above nearby rooftops. Like a\nmulti-tiered cake decorated in a variety of colored icings\u2014pinks, blues,\norange\u2014the temple enticed like a sugary concoction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But from there the loveliness ended. In these alleyways\nbehind the temple, the pervasive scent of incense and stale flowers mixed with\nthe reek of human misery. Girls who should still be playing with toys, and some\na little older, chatted with one another. Many of the paint-chipped doors were\nclosed, imprisoning within those adolescent girls forced into ritual\nmarriages to a Hindu deity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laine flattened herself against a peeling plaster wall to\nwatch Eshana shake out the contents of her sack at the base of a cluster of\nclay pots. Now she waved her hands about, talking in rapid Hindi to the older\nwoman. Good girl, Eshana, that\u2019s the ticket.<\/em> Laine\u2019s stomach writhed in\nrhythm to the creature in the bag she carried. She strengthened her grip at the\ntop of the sack though the drawstring had been tightly pulled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure enough the head woman stomped off with Eshana and\nbegan to clatter around the pots with her club, giving Laine the moment she\nwaited for. Sixth door from the end on this side, Eshana had told her. Eshana\nhad been visiting the inhabitants of this alley on a regular basis in an\nattempt to give them some sort of medical aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laine hunched down at the correct threshold. A gap of five\nor so inches between the door and the mud floor of the girl\u2019s hovel afforded\nher the needed space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The low voice of the so-called midwife seeped out. Midwife,\nmy eye.<\/em> Nothing more than witch doctors with their foolish notions that no\nwater should be given to those giving birth and that the mothers be kept in\ndark rooms with filthy concoctions of ash smeared over them. Laine shut her\nmind to the atrocities of how they forced a baby out if it took too long to be\ndelivered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She kneeled at the bottom of the closed door. With a deep\nswallow and shudder, she slotted the top of the sack into the gap below the\ndoor. With her other hand she eased the drawstring, loosened the bag\u2019s opening,\nand jumped back to flatten against the wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another shudder rippled through her as she waited. Nothing.\nHer gaze flitted from the ground to the flat rooftops of this rancid boil of a\nplace. Where had the horrible, disgusting creatures gone? Oh please don\u2019t\ncome out at me.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At last, screams from inside room number six shattered the\nsleepy deadness of the afternoon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSnake!\u201d one woman screeched in Hindi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another cry pierced the air. \u201cA cobra!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They tumbled from the room, and with a gulp Laine slipped\ninside. \u201cThey\u2019re not poisonous. They\u2019re not poisonous,\u201d she repeated to bolster\nher flagging courage. But she had no time to worry where the rat snakes had\nwriggled off to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She went still. There lay the girl. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So small for fourteen, lying on a heap of rags stained with\nwater and blood. She peered at Laine with eyes soaked with pain. There was no\ntime to waste. Laine picked up the girl and, cradling her in her arms, ran from\nthe hovel. The young mother weighed no more than a ten-year-old. All skin and\nbones except for the mound that was a baby in her womb. The girl batted at\nLaine\u2019s arm as ineffectually as a wounded bird against a tiger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eshana, having heard the screams, scurried away from the\nwomen who were beating the bushes, searching through the earthen pots for the\nharmless snakes. Eshana ran ahead to help Laine lift the girl into the closed\npurdah cart they had hired. As soon as the three of them were in the cart,\nEshana yelled, \u201cDrive, juldi, juldi<\/em>!\nHurry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their Sikh driver flicked a whip, and his startled horse\nbolted down the cobblestoned bazaar. No one followed them as stalls full of\nwares, bolts of silk, fruits and vegetables, copper pots of steaming food, and\na multitude of people flashed past in a blur of color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laine placed her fingers on the girl\u2019s pulse. \u201cShe\u2019s\ndehydrated. Feel her skin, her fingertips.\u201d She pulled back the girl\u2019s eyelids.\n\u201cEyes dull.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The patient pushed Laine\u2019s hands away and moaned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all right now, little one.\u201d Laine spoke in Hindi.\nLifting the girl\u2019s wrist, she planted a kiss against the weakening pulse.\n\u201cWe\u2019re not going to hurt you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The girl\u2019s gaze tracked from Eshana to Laine\u2019s while the\npurdah cart wound through the streets to the other side of Amritsar. Her\neyelids drooped and closed by the time the cart stopped outside the narrow,\nfour-story mission close to the Jallianwalla Bagh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mala and Tikah thrust the front doors open and carried out\na cot. Within minutes they transported the patient into the surgery where they\nwere met with the clean smell of carbolic soap. As Eshana and Laine washed\ntheir hands, Mala hooked the girl up to a saline drip while Tikah bathed her\nwith a warm soapy cloth allowing them to see her pallid skin beneath its\napplied layer of ash. Laine pinned her nursing veil to her hair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eshana tightened the blood pressure cuff on the patient\u2019s\narm. \u201cHer pressure is dangerously low.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The girl fluttered her eyes open to see the sterile clinic\nand instruments. With a pleading look she tried to speak. Laine brushed the\ngirl\u2019s hair from her forehead. \u201cWe only want to help you and your baby. Just\ntell me your name.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChandrabha,\u201d the girl choked out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll right then, I\u2019m going to call you Chandra for short,\nand now I\u2019m going to examine you. Don\u2019t be afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~*~<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half an hour later, as the last of the afternoon sun faded,\nso too did Eshana\u2019s hope. Drenched in sweat and the girl\u2019s blood, she watched\nLaine step away from the examining table. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo use, Eshana. The pelvis is too small. We have to get a\ndoctor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eshana sank her head into her hand. \u201cThere is only Dr.\nKaur. He is very kind, but I do not wish to involve him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t involve him she\u2019ll die. If she does die, then\nwe\u2019ll need him to record her death properly.\u201d Laine\u2019s matter-of-fact tone\nmatched the steadiness in her gaze. \u201cAnd you and I could go to jail.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eshana gave a firm jut of her chin. \u201cWhat of it? If Miriam\nstill lived, she would do all she could for the life of this girl. I will go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tikah glanced up from bathing the girl\u2019s brow. \u201cIt will be\nwell, my sister. Go, and bring the doctor. Mala and I will assist the nursing-sahiba<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chandra gave a weak moan. The saline had rehydrated her\nbody so that she had gained only enough strength to communicate her pain. There\nwas no time to lose. Eshana rushed from the room and quickly changed into a\nclean garment. Whipping the end of her cotton sari over her head, she raced out\nof the mission. Lord Yeshu, keep the\ntemple woman from remembering my face. Do not let them come here to hurt the\npeople of this house.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Jai Kaur\u2019s office lay two streets away, and Eshana\u2019s\nthin-soled chappals<\/em> pounded the\ncobblestones. She bumped into several people and pushed her way through the\ncrowded bazaar. Her chest burned as she tried to catch her breath and opened\nthe door to his clinic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patients sat cross-legged or hunched down against the walls\nwaiting, but Jai Kaur shot her a glance as she stumbled into the room. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He left the patient he had been examining behind a curtain,\nstrode toward Eshana, and towered over her. \u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA girl in labor. She is dying.\u201d Eshana\u2019s hand crept to her\nthroat to settle her breathing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jai turned away to wash his hands and spoke to someone\nbehind another curtain. \u201cFather, I will leave you to see the rest of the\npatients. I must attend an emergency birthing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hooks screeched along the metal rod as Jai\u2019s father, Dr.\nKaur Senior, pushed aside the curtain. Beneath his red turban, the man\u2019s\nheavy-lidded gaze swept Eshana then rested on Jai. \u201cYour responsibilities, my\nson, are with our own patients.\u201d He modulated his voice low for the sake of the\npeople filling the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jai met the older man\u2019s gaze. Like his father, in the\ncustom of the Sikhs he had combed his un-cut black beard and rolled it beneath\nhis chin. He had meticulously tied his royal blue turban around his head,\nadding several more inches to his imposing height. \u201cFather, I have already\nascertained that no one in this room is requiring emergency care. I will return\nas soon as this other life is out of danger. Is that not why you had me follow\nin your footsteps? To give aid to those who are suffering, no matter what their\nfaith?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The senior Dr. Kaur slashed a hand in the air. \u201cGo then.\nBut hurry back. It is most likely this woman is trying to save the life of\nanother of those temple girls, who are no more than harlots. Disgusting, this Devadasi, <\/em>aHindu practice that is a terrible blight on India.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eshana understood his Sikh revulsion for this particular\nHindu custom, but felt that his distaste included her too. Jai did not waste\nanother moment. He picked up his medical valise and strode from the clinic. She\nhad to run to catch up with his long strides as he struck out for the mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike her, Jai breathed normally in spite of his pace. \u201cIs\nthis patient a temple girl?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe suffering of this human being is no different than any\nother.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stopped suddenly so that she had to turn back to face\nhim. People filed past them in the bee-hive of a bazaar. \u201cSo it is true. I can\nsee it in your eyes. You were never meant for subterfuge, Eshana.\u201d He picked up\nhis pace again. \u201cI have no qualms about helping anyone who needs my services.\nBut you must take a care for yourself. I am worrying about you and the other women\nof your mission. It has been a year and a half since your founder, Miriam,\ndied, with still no administrator to fill her place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She pushed her chin out in a way her beloved Miriam would\nhave recognized. \u201cI have written to the mission headquarters. I see no reason\nwhy they should not consider me as administrator to carry on Miriam\u2019s work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jai must have seen something in the unbending set of her\nneck. He softened his tone. \u201cThe mission headquarters would do wisely to place\nyou in that role. But do you not still desire to become a physician?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Memories of sitting with Miriam at the top of the\nfour-story house pulled at the strings of her heart. Many times they had sat\nmending clothing in the evenings while the houseful of orphans and patients\nslept. Many nights they had discussed Eshana\u2019s desire to become a doctor, and\nprayed for that. But Miriam had died. Eshana shook off the memories. \u201cI cannot\nbe leaving the mission to study medicine. Besides, the women of our house have\nlearned much from Laine Harkness. And if we need a doctor you have been\ngracious to come to our aid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His eyes as black as agates grew somber. \u201cI cannot always\ncome, Eshana. Someone in your mission needs to gain proper medical training.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs I have said, I must keep the mission running.\u201d She\nturned her back to him, straight as a ruler, as her mother so long ago had\ntaught her, and renewed her steps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His swift paces caught up to her. \u201cWhat will you do,\nEshana, if the Hindu priests and certain high-caste people learn of what you\nare doing, that this is not the first untouchable female you have taken away,\nbut the second? Your charitable work could come under scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She let her gaze drop from his piercing one. Jai was right,\nof course. Miriam\u2019s mission could come under scrutiny. Did she have the right\nto place the mission\u2014the children\u2014in such danger? Or worse than scrutiny, what\nif one night a Hindu fanatic who believed her actions showed no respect for\ntheir religion entered the house as the children slept? <\/p>\n\n\n