had opened before her eyes.
Sara glanced at the box of chocolates on the bedside table, at the room, though there was little to see - the bed she had slept in, the table, Gabriel's chair.
Several large boxes at the foot of the bed drew her eye, and she wondered why she hadn't noticed them before. She hesitated for a moment, not wanting to poke into them if they belonged to Gabriel, but her curiosity got the best of her.
A riot of color met her eyes as, one by one, she opened the boxes. She found delicate convent-made underwear: pantalets edged with lace, a camisole bedecked with a pale blue ribbon, a corset, a petticoat made of organdy, a pair of kidskin gloves, shoes with silver buckles, silk stockings.
Another box held a straw bonnet trimmed with a white feather and pink ribbons.
And dresses! Beautiful dresses fit for a queen. She draped them over the bed, her hands lingering over each one. The rose-pink silk was a study in simplicity with its scalloped neckline and long fitted sleeves. The blue challis was trimmed in yards and yards of delicate lace. There was a muted rose, green, and blue plaid taffeta, a floor-length gown of burgundy velvet.
In other boxes, she found a dressing gown of rose-colored velvet, a dark blue cloak trimmed in ermine. She'd never owned such costly clothing in her life. One box held dozens of ribbons in all the colors of the rainbow; another held a white feather fan. She opened the fan carefully; then, pretending she was a highborn lady bored with life, she fanned herself.
A highborn lady, indeed, Sara thought with a laugh, and closing the fan with a flourish, she stared at the bounty spread on the bed.
She stroked the ermine trim on the cloak as if it were still a living thing. The cost of the cloak alone would have put food on the table at the orphanage for a month. Why had Gabriel bought her such elegant things? Where would she ever wear them?
Where? Here and now, she thought, and hastily pulled on the undergarments, then reached for the dress of rose-pink silk. It felt like heaven and fit as if it had been made for her. She glanced around the room, hoping to find a looking glass, but there was none in evidence. She tried each dress on, fretting over the lack of a mirror.
Perhaps she'd find a looking glass in one of the other rooms, she thought, and made her way down the hall, peeking into the tiny cells where the monks had once lived as she passed by.
Barefoot, she padded silently from room to room, all thought of a looking glass forgotten as she explored the old abbey.
The chapel, long neglected, still retained a hint of its former beauty. Some of the stained-glass windows had been broken, but others were still intact. A shaft of sunlight streamed through the window over the altar, the colored glass tinting the sunbeams.
Sara knelt at the altar, her gaze fixed on the window. It depicted a small blue pool in the midst of a green meadow. The Christ figure stood beside the pool holding a tiny lamb in the crook of one arm. Other lambs and sheep were gathered at his feet.
Sara glanced to the left where another window depicted Christ's agony on the cross. It was so beautiful, so lifelike, that tears stung her eyes. She stared at the nails in His hands and feet, unable to imagine the pain He had suffered, or His willingness to shoulder the sins of the world, to suffer, bleed, and die as an atoning sacrifice for all mankind. She had never doubted His love for her. And now He had blessed her with a miracle.
She knelt there for a long time, enveloped in a sense of peace and love as she offered a quiet, heartfelt prayer of gratitude for the ability to walk.
Leaving the chapel, Sara peered into what looked like the infirmary. Four iron bedsteads lined one wall. The mattresses, made of straw, had long since disintegrated. A huge lacy spider web dangled from one corner.
She paused at the refectory door. Several long plank tables, covered with years of dust, were situated in neat rows, and she imagined the monks sitting there in the high-backed wooden chairs, eating in silence while one of the brothers read to them from the scriptures. She saw another spider web, and there was a nest of some kind in the massive