The Will of Time Read online

  "But Brant," she went on, and he tensed in anticipation of what she was about to disclose. "I wasn't completely Puritan. I mean," she spoke quickly, as if embarrassed, "the guys I dated expected so much. I tried to make them happy, without, uh, full contact."

  "Because of the disease you mentioned?"

  "That, yes, but there was another reason. I wanted the first man inside me to be someone I loved. And that turned out to be you."

  Brant released the breath he hadn't known he was holding. Shoving his hand into her hair, he pulled her head to his lips. "God, Leia, I love you too."

  Leia awoke, her skin stuck to Brant in the humid darkness. "Are you awake?" she whispered.

  "I am. Are you ready again?" he asked, guiding her hand.

  "Not yet. I want equal time, Brant."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I want to know about your first time. It clearly wasn't me," she said, trying to keep her voice even and factual.

  "Are you sure you want to hear this?"

  "Yes," she said, running her palm over the silky hairs on his chest. "I'm already jealous."

  He chuckled, almost harshly to Leia's ears. "Don't be. It was Margaret."

  Leia was surprised. "The girl you wanted to marry?" Should she feel better or worse?

  "We met when I was fifteen. She was lovely, with white skin and long, dark hair that reached her waist. Her figure was very well curved. I was very young, and unknowing, and I thought her looks would make her the ideal wife."

  "What happened?" Leia asked, feeling skinny and inadequate after hearing the description.

  "We met at several dances and barbecues, and spent time together when we could slip away. Each event was well chaperoned, but we managed to be alone a few times. My brother, Cameron, had made it no secret that he was interested in Margaret, but she saved her dances for me, and it was me she met behind the barn. I didn't have the discipline then that I do now, and I took her innocence that summer. I felt terrible and proposed to her. She agreed, but before I could speak with her father, Cameron had." Brant grew quiet, as is that was all that needed to be said.

  "So she did prefer you?"

  "I believed so. Before her wedding, I took her aside to apologize for everything. It was then she told me she'd never have married me because she had learned Cameron would inherit BlueBell Ridge. She told me she couldn't bear being penniless after the war, or having no place to live, because her parents had lost everything when the war started."

  "So your brother didn't care that the two of you had been intimate?"

  "I don't know. The last time I spoke with Margaret, she told me it had been a mildly amusing yet informative experience, and not to worry, she was not with child."

  "Oh, Brant, how awful for you," Leia said, her jealousy melting to sympathy. How could that bitch have treated him like that? She pressed further. "And was there someone after her?"

  "Leia, do you really want to hear more?"

  She nodded, irritated with herself but wanting, needing, to hear.

  "There were others, women one would not consider marrying, no one that meant anything to me. No one like you," he said, "No one with shining gold hair and the tiniest waist. No one that touched me like you. No one that made me care."

  "I'm glad."

  "I hope you are still glad, Leia, when we have no home or income except a soldier's pay. As a husband, I can't provide for you now."

  "We'll be fine," she told him, rubbing his temples. She hoped she was right.

  Jason joined the men outside the next morning, his borrowed clothing allowed him to fit right into the pastoral scene. The improper fit didn't hinder the man's capacity for work, Brant noticed. He was impressed by Jason's endurance as they hoisted bales of scratchy yellow hay.

  "So, is everyone strong in the next century?" Brant asked, wiping sweat from his forehead.

  "Only those of us who pump iron at the gym three times a week. After sitting at a desk all day, it's a requirement, for me, anyway," Jason replied, obviously pleased.

  Brant was surprised not only by Jason's physical condition, but at his mental one as well. The man seemed happy, pleasant, content with his highly unusual situation. Was he the type of man to interest Leia? Lifting two bales at one time, Brant considered what Leia had revealed about her life the night before. There was no reason he should be worrying about competition from this man, whom Leia had rejected long before, or actually after, she had married Brant.

  Collecting iron implements to be put away, Brant loaded enough for three men into his arms. To be fair, he spoke to the helping Jason again.

  "I do appreciate your help, Maxwell," he began, hauling his heavy load in front of Jason and then to the corner pegs. He kept one rake out to smooth the barn floor.

  "How do the McGarlands manage when you're off playing soldier?"

  "They have a lot of friends more than willing to help out. Hard working men, and women, who come and go often." He wanted to add 'like yourself,' but didn't want to answer any more questions.

  "Well, since I can't get to the Nautilus, I have to be creative," Jason said, lifting saddles to clean under them.

  Brant felt that Jason was inventing more work, doing more than what was needed in the small barn. Perhaps he wasn't certain how to take care of horse's quarters. Could things have changed so much in the future? Jason was almost as muscular as Brant himself, so hard work must still be valuable in his time, but he had mentioned sitting at a desk all day, like a teacher or banker.

  "Maxwell, are you intending to attempt to return soon?" Brant paused, leaning on his rake as a substitute cane. He rubbed his healing thigh, which itched like the devil, cursing the wound for ebbing out some of his strength and stamina.

  "Yes, I have business to see to."

  "And Leia?"

  Jason stopped working, settling on a bale. "I think if Leia was meant to have found her way home, it would have happened by now. She's told me about all the times she's tried to find the door."

  Brant nodded, and resumed raking. He had many reasons to mistrust this man, but some things he said made sense.

  "I just hope," Jason continued, "that I am meant to return."

  I hope so, too, he thought. Brant actually began to feel concern for Jason's situation, and wondered how Leia would feel about that. As he wiped his forehead with the now soaked rag, he heard a woman scream.

  Jason and Brant reacted immediately, with Jason moving faster. Brant grabbed his cane and followed him out of the barn and down toward the thick trees. The scream came again, shorter in length but just as ear-piercing. The pines threw the men into total shadow as they entered its canopy of limbs. The screams had stopped, but Brant heard a woman's voice tremble, "Oh please, oh please."

  He felt the damp hairs on his neck stand up. The voice alone did not identify the woman in distress. Brant nearly matched Jason's pace as he swished through the tall grass with his cane.

  Jason's face was frozen into a grimace as he took no heed of his own skin wading into the woods. Brant thought he heard the man mumble something about 'lime disease,' and made a mental note to ask him about the citrus problem later.

  "Oh please, oh, no, please," drifted toward them, the words almost visible fragments of someone's fear. Brant forced his legs to move faster, noticing the rubbing of his wool trousers helped the itching wound. Thick sheets of sweat poured down his face and chest. They were getting closer, but who was it they heard pleading with an unknown evil? He wished he'd taken the time to get a rifle. The only weapon he had on him was a short knife kept in the barn. Images of drunken men with soiled gray coats flitted through Brant's mind. He imagined their slimy hands on Leia's fair skin, her white throat and face, the same men that had killed his parents, he presumed unreasonably. He wondered what Jason imagined.

  Jason pushed what must have been a spider web from his face, still leading the way. He paused and looked to their right once, as if he heard something there too.

  A soft, muffled crying noise
was now just ahead. The men remained silent, and pushed forward.

  Chapter 14

  "Torin," Leia said, following him from the hallway to the front porch. "Tell me about your parents." She sat on edge of the railing, which pushed her hoops out to the front.

  "My parents? Why, what has Brant told you?"

  "Not much. I think it hurts him to talk about them, the grief is still too fresh. But since we are married, I'd like to know a little about his family." Leia looked at her brother-in-law, who now lounged with legs sprawled over the side of a wood chair. "You're pretty interesting, too."

  A slow grin eased over his boyish face. "Aw, shucks, ma'am."

  "Don't get too excited, now, I'm in love with your brother."

  He passed a hand through his hair, a gesture that reminded Leia of Brant. "I know, you have this perfect girl for me back home. With red hair."

  Leia smiled. If only she could get the two together; Torin and Sara. Ah well, match making wasn't easy in any century, and when two separate centuries were involved ...

  "There were four boys in my family. Has Brant told you about Cory?"

  She nodded. "He died young."

  "Yes, too young. And you know about Cameron, the oldest, and his wife Margaret?"

  "I've heard enough about those two, I believe." She arranged her skirts and began to pace the porch, her soft slippers making little swishing noises, like ballet slippers on a dance floor. "Were your parents very loving toward you boys?"

  "They were the best." Torin turned in his chair so he could follow her movements with his head. "We were lucky to have them. And they were healthy, so we were all healthy, too. Cory was ruining his lungs in that coal mine, but that turned out to be the least of his problems. Cameron will be the first of us to have a son, so only time will tell."

  "Or daughter."

  "Possibly."

  "Do you remember your grandparents?" Leia stopped at the opposite side of the porch, staring out into the leafy trees. Her own grandfather would have loved this lush forest on the property.

  "No, sorry, they passed on years before we were born. How about you, Leah, any fond memories?"

  She considered the question, and decided not to bore him with childhood moments. "Quite a few, actually." Leia changed the subject. "Torin, do you think your parents would have liked me? As a daughter-in-law, I mean?"

  Torin burst out laughing.

  "Was that funny?" His laughter stung, but Leia kept her eyes fixed on his face.

  "Not at all. I'm sorry, but I just had the most rotten thought." He stood up and stretched. "It was in poor taste. I've got work to do on my saddle," he said and started to leave the porch.

  Leia grabbed his arm. "Not until you clue me in on this rotten thought, Torin Douglas." Not that she could restrain him with physical force, but she knew he was teasing by the gleam in his dark eyes.

  "I was just thinking that while my parents, especially my mother, would have loved you, she would have absolutely hated Margaret. As a daughter-in-law. Can I go now?"

  Leia stood on her toes to press a kiss on Torin's cheek. "Sometimes a girl needs to hear something rotten."

  The snake's head was poised like a lover staring into Belle's eyes. Jason and Brant approached quietly, taking in the woman on the rock and the uncoiling copperhead before her.

  "Just be still, Belle," Brant said, "it won't bite you." he moved toward the snake with Jason behind him now. He hoped it wouldn't attack, but all that screaming hadn't calmed the snake.

  "We don't have a gun," he continued, "but don't worry." Inching closer, he approached the blotchy copper and gray demon. He motioned for Jason to stay back, and was pleased to see the man could take orders, either that, or Jason was afraid of snakes.

  "Brant, I'm so afraid," Belle whispered, her first words since the pleading heard in the distance. "I've been through so much, things I can't even mention, and I've never been this frightened."

  "I know. Just be still another moment," Brant said, stopping a yard from the snake, watching its side as it watched Belle. "Don't scream again." His own fear was trickling down his face, though he knew the copperhead was unlikely to attack.

  He heard Jason breathing heavily behind him, and a glance confirmed his notion that Jason was sweating buckets to Brant's bullets. Jason nodded back at Brant's silent query, however, that he was alright and willing to help if needed.

  Moving still closer, Brant scanned the immediate area for weapons of any sort. It appeared the only rock around was the one Belle sat on. He knew what he had to do. He moved closer. Two feet from the creature, Brant took his cane in both hands. With a sweep of the smooth wood, and one giant footstep forward, he whisked the slimy thing into the air. It flew into the trees without a hiss, its tail flailing behind its tiny head.

  Brant swallowed, took a deep breath and held out his hand to Belle. She was frozen to the rock for a few seconds until she realized the danger was gone. Blinking, she accepted Brant's hand at last. When he had her pulled to her feet, she found her voice again.

  "Thank you," she said on a whisper as she wiped her hands on her skirt.

  Jason cleared his throat. "Do you come out here often...alone, that is?"

  Brant thought that was a good question. "What are you doing out here, Belle? All alone and sitting on a rock?" He watched her face contort, wondering if her brain was working that hard to find an answer. Perhaps he'd try to follow her the next time she slipped away, if he noticed. If she wanted to meet the enemy, he might never catch her maneuvering.

  Belle smoothed a few frizzy, dark locks from her forehead. "Of course I don't come out here often," she snapped. "But today," she continued with a softer tone, "I just needed some time for myself. Alone. There are so many people at the McGarland's now. It's really quite busy."

  "As always. They have always been hospitable, Belle. And not just to you and me."

  She nodded. "You're quite right."

  "Miss Boyd," Jason spoke up, offering his arm to the woman. "May I escort you back to the house? Perhaps you could use a drink?"

  She took the arm and smiled up at Jason, who then turned his head back to wink at Brant.

  Chuckling under his breath, Brant followed the interesting pair from the woods, Belle' skirts swaying like a clapper from her namesake.

  Leia watched Jason approach the house with Belle on his arm, Brant following a pace behind. She couldn't imagine what the trio had been up to in the woods, but she decided it had not been a leisurely stroll. Giving the bean in her hand an extra hard snap, she tossed it into the pail with the others. Her perch on the back porch steps gave her a full view of the back yard and out buildings, and now the three musketeers. They approached the house smiling and talking like three good friends. She snapped the next bean with even more force.

  Torin emerged from the stable, probably having heard the little group. Leia watched them, watched Jason telling a story with his hands and tapping Brant's cane. Belle looked at Brant with hero worship in her gaze. The hearty laugh that came from Torin seemed to vibrate the porch under Leia. She watched the Douglas brothers, relaxed for a moment in conversation, and her stomach gave a flutter. How handsome they were...especially Brant!

  His rugged good looks had only improved as he recuperated. His sandy hair had grown more adorably shaggy, but his skin and eyes had grown clearer. Perhaps from the pain endured. When he turned from the group, he saw her on the steps and waved.

  Her flutters increased and traveled lower. She watched with a growing flush as he made his way toward her, his gait a little surer with the cane.

  "Leah," he called, "I hope you're working on dinner. I'm hungry as a workhorse." He sat beside her on a step, his hip touching hers. "Very hungry, indeed," he went on, looking at her with an intense hunger that food couldn't ease.

  "Me too," she said, letting whole beans slip into the pail. She couldn't take her eyes from his. The deep brown pools glimmered with excitement, and Leia wondered what had happened in the woods. She onl
y wondered briefly, however, for the glimmers soon convinced her that they shone for her only. Leia felt her soul meld with her husband's, closing her eyes at last as his lips brushed hers. Shivers rippled through her as she realized Brant's recovery was almost complete.

  "Leah!" Torin called as the stragglers arrived at her feet. "I hope my brother's told you how we've worked up our appetites." He waited in front of Leia.

  Tearing her attention from Brant, she at last looked toward the others. Torin was smiling, but Jason and Belle did not look amused. Just what had gone on out there?

  "Will you be staying for dinner, Belle?" Leia asked, remembering her manners. She used the sugary sweet voice she usually reserved for deadbeat appraisal customers.

  "Yes, thank you. That would be nice," Belle replied, fluttering her eyelashes at Jason. She still clutched his arm, smoothing the reddish blond hairs of his forearm.

  "Oh, beans," Leia muttered, drawing the gaze of her companions.

  "What?" Brant asked.

  "I said, um, beans, I'm preparing these beans to go with dinner." She tried to paste a matching sugary smile on her face.

  Brant grinned.

  Throughout the meal, Leia was sure she saw Jason flirting openly with both Belle and MaryKatherine. She didn't understand him at all. Wasn't it just a few weeks ago he had professed his love for Sara? Perhaps he was now trying to goad her into being jealous. As if that would work. Or maybe he'd figured out that he'd never have Leia or Sara, but as she realized before, she really didn't know the man that well.

  At least Brant seemed immune to Belle's charms tonight. Someone must have told her once that her voice sounded like a bell, because she seemed to like the sound of her own laugh. Leia hadn't forgot that night she'd overheard them in the alcove. Even though she knew Brant had not been interested, it hadn't stopped Belle from trying to...seduce him?

  She watched MaryKatherine touch Jason's arm after he told a story of some sort. What kind of story could he tell a girl from 1863? She prayed he wouldn't plunge her into any sort of scandal. How could she get him back to the future where he belonged? Or where she belonged, for that matter? Maybe they could find the portal together, and then should she go with him? She loved Brant. Would love to stay married to him and have his children. She closed her eyes and pictured herself nursing his baby, Brant watching, proud to be a father. He had no prospects for a career or a home, though, and if she stayed in this time, neither did she.