The Will of Time Read online

  "Douglas...you down here?" The masculine, slightly intoxicated voice bellowed into the deep darkness, echos bouncing off the damp walls.

  "It's one of Diamond's guards. What's he doing down here?" Leia whispered the question into Brant's ear. The little group stood motionless, the steps silent.

  "Who's over there?" The voice called out again, followed by movements of what sounded like glass knocking glass. "Where's the damn..." A splunk of glass on dirt floor told Leia the man had gotten thirsty on duty and stumbled across the wine.

  They started to climb again, hoping the guard would be busy with his spilled drink and shards. They had no such good luck. A lamp was lit at the foot of the stairs, where they had stood just moments ago. The man held the lamp over his head and took two steps up.

  "Douglas, you have an underground passage here? That why we keep hearing 'bout you stealing slaves and setting 'em free? You're on that underground railroad, ain't you? You letting this darkie go free tonight?" Round sweat stains ringed the man's filthy shirt, and his breath filtered up the stairs, sour with wine and unbrushed teeth.

  Leia shuddered at the man's crude words, but kept climbing and reached the door. Feeling the rough wood under her palm, she accepted a few splinters before finding the knob. Brant remained a few steps below her, between Hettie and the guard. She watched the little scene, unsure of what to do.

  Hettie swayed, leaning on the handrail for support. Leia knew she had to act, because the door was fading before her eyes. She turned the knob and yanked, ready to plunge through the portal.

  "Leia, go," Brant urged, maintaining his position, not taking his eyes from the guard.

  She wanted to go, but she wanted Brant to go with her. If she went alone now, or went and took Hettie with her, Brant would be charged with running an operation to steal and free slaves. A major offense in 1863, even if your wife wasn't under suspicion of being a spy. She couldn't leave him alone to that fate. He must get through the door. She let it close.

  "Brant, it's stuck," she said, trying to get his attention. Hettie looked up at her, not understanding.

  He groaned and whirled quickly, dashing up the stairs and squeezing past the women. When he opened the door easily, Leia pushed him through. The last thing she saw of him was the surprise in his cocoa eyes. Next she pulled Hettie up the two remaining steps, aware of the guard climbing the steps by twos.

  "Miz Leah.."

  "Go!" She pushed Hettie through the door, aware of the guard's hand on her left arm. Brant was pulling her right arm, gently but with persistence. She briefly thought of a wishbone, too much adrenalin pumping through her to be terrified.

  "You're not getting away from me," the guard said, hissing into her ear. His strong hand only grasped her arm, the other supported himself with the handrail. He was strong for his condition, but Leia felt the right side of her body go through the portal, not that it felt like anything, but she was closer to Brant.

  The guard laughed, so confident was he of capturing his prey. "You'll be joining your friend in a real rough place, Mrs. Douglas. No more slaves are going to slip through this station, no ma'am. Spying and slave stealing! You've got quite a future in a Union prison." He seemed to be in no hurry now, keeping his firm grip on Leia's arm but not pulling as hard. The guard reached over with his free hand and pinched Leia's breast. Leering, he said, "Oh yes, you will make a fine prisoner."

  Perspiration soaked Leia's dress, trickling down her sides. The man-made material of the modern dress absorbed no moisture. With heart pounding in her skull, Leia closed her eyes and prayed. Maybe Grandfather was listening. Maybe her parents. Maybe God.

  "Leia, hold on," Brant said, seemingly unable to cross back through the doorway. "I love you, just don't move."

  Like she could. The men's pulling pressure increased on both sides of her body until she felt tears behind her eyelids. She offered up a few words of prayer, asking to die rather than end up in nineteenth century military hands. Without notice, she felt her right leg whipped out from under her. In a split second the left sleeve of her dress ripped free, leaving the guard staring stupidly at a piece of ragged material.

  She landed on her back in the dining room of her house. Her beautiful, modern house registered while she caught her breath. Hettie slammed the dining room door shut behind them.

  "It's over," she said, leaning against the door.

  Brant knelt over Leia, testing her back and limbs for damage. "You scared me. You shouldn't have pushed me through first. Does your back hurt? Leia, do you know what would have happened to you if you hadn't made it through? Why'd you do that?"

  "Couldn't let you be caught," she said as breath began to refill her lungs. "You two have done so much good, helped so many people. I just wanted to do something good."

  He pulled her to his chest, crushing her to him. "You are good. You helped us help the slaves, Leia. I would've stayed. You didn't have to go through that."

  Hettie opened the door, looked down, and closed it again. She drew a heavy breath that seemed only partly from relief. "Don't worry, there'll be no more traveling that way. I ended it when I came through. And Mista Brant, be glad you didn't sacrifice yourself by staying. Your wife's gonna have a baby."

  Brant looked down at her, eyes widened. "Is this true?"

  Leia blushed. "I think so. I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure. There was no drugstore to buy a home test kit."

  "We haven't been together that often," he said, helping Leia to her feet. "You can test this at home now?"

  "Yes. My mother got pregnant with me on her wedding night. It must be hereditary."

  "What?"

  She laughed, feeling better than she had in a long time, overlooking the dull ache in her lower back and the developing arm bruises. "Never mind. Let's look around. Someone may be here." The group moved through the first floor of the house. Leia gazed in awe at each room, now decorated so differently. Antiques had been replaced with contemporary glass tables, electric lamps and leather furniture. Home!

  In the kitchen, Hettie called out. "Here's something. A note that says: Martin, please wake me when you come in. S."

  Leia hurried to examine the note. "That's Sara. She must be upstairs." She turned to face Hettie, who was grinning at her broadly. "Did you just read that?"

  "You're a good teacher."

  Leia grinned back. "Let's go surprise my friend Sara." She rubbed the small of her back, a chore which Brant took over for her. They climbed the front stairs, and she took great pleasure in touching her photographs of houses and the electric lamps over them. Leia led them to Sara's favorite bedroom in the house. Electricity!

  Without knocking, Leia entered.

  She gasped.

  Stretched out on the bed, side by side facing each other, were Torin and Sara. His arm draped gracefully over the curve of her waist. Naked from the waist up, the rest under covers, they also gasped at the intruders. Then everyone, except Hettie, spoke at once.

  "Leia! You're back!" Sara exclaimed, pulling the covers up to her neck.

  "Torin, what's going on here?" Brant asked, big brother-like.

  "Brant? How'd you get here?" Torin jumped from the bed to embrace his brother.

  "Sara," Leia said, sitting beside her friend. "Are you okay?"

  "Are you? I mean, traveling back in time and all, I was afraid I'd never see you again. Jason told me what happened. Is that your husband? My God, he's a real hunk."

  "Of course, I see you also approve of Torin," Leia teased, relieved that Brant's brother had been wearing boxers when he threw back the blankets.

  "We got married," Sara said, sitting up and reaching for a sweater, seemingly undaunted as the sheet fell away from her chest.

  "You're kidding!" Leia stood, shocked, and turned Brant away so Sara could dress.

  Brant was busy slapping his brother on the back. Once her clothes were on, Brant reached for Sara. "Let me welcome you to the family," he told her, pecking her cheek.

  "We're s
isters now," Sara said to Leia, smiling. "I knew it would happen someday." She leaned closer and said, "I'm so sorry for not believing you about Jason. Forgive me?"

  Nodding, Leia felt happy, lighter than air, but just a little sad that she'd left her other sister behind. MaryKatherine could never have married and inherited the house, however, if she had not. She could never have passed it down the genetic line, and Leia would never have met Brant. She'd have to do some research and see whom MaryKatherine had eventually married.

  She was snapped out of her thoughts when the bedroom door was filled with a large, dark shadow. For the second time in just minutes, a voice boomed out, "What's going on here?"

  "Martin!" Leia grabbed the tall man and hugged his waist. He returned the embrace, but set her aside after a moment.

  "Martin?" she asked, wondering what was wrong. As she watched, Martin moved toward Hettie, who stood immobile near the bed.

  "Hettie?" he asked, moving nearer, arms extended, eyes wide.

  Then they were in each other's arms, not lustily, but like a brother and sister who had been separated for many years.

  "Let's leave them alone to talk," Brant suggested, and the four young people left the room. Brant touched Leia's arm in the hall. "We need to take Hettie to see a modern doctor."

  "Come with me. I have some things to show you. We'll start by calling a doctor right now. I could use a blood test myself."

  Torin laughed. "You're going to love the telephone, big brother."

  Sara was more concerned. "Are you sick, Leia? Did the time-traveling hurt?"

  Leia took her friend's hand. "No, but I may be pregnant. I need to find out." And if she was, how could she find out if time traveling affected the baby?

  Sara squealed. "Oh, that's wonderful! And you're married, and you get to keep the house, right? Can Brant stay here?"

  "He has to. The portal's gone for good. I guess we need some paperwork on the wedding, since Jason might push to see it."

  "He's left for Pennsylvania. I don't expect him back anytime soon."

  "Really? Why?"

  "I'll tell you all about it later, but it suffices to say I nixed his deal to sell this property out from under you. He's involved with some property a church gave him to develop, under certain conditions. And you know, these two men appeared out of nowhere one day, dressed as Confederates, and Jason took them in as partners in this Civil War Mall he's doing. They're helping do some of the charity work required in the deal. It was really odd."

  Brant and Leia exchanged glances, realizing fully where and when these two men had come from. She'd have to tell Hettie about the men they'd chased into the future, too.

  "Hettie is wonderful," Leia said, pulling Brant close for another hug. "I think you and I need another honeymoon, a real one, don't you?"

  "I don't know about a wedding trip with a woman who's already with child," he said, his eyes large with feigned concern.

  "That reminds me. C'mon, we're going to call my family doctor." She led him to the parlor phone, and amazed him at the conversation she had making an appointment for Hettie to visit. A blush warmed her cheeks as she explained to the secretary, whom she had known for years, that she also needed a pregnancy test. She hastened to add that she had married, but would be keeping her own health insurance for now.

  As she replaced the receiver, Leia spied her glass pieces, intact and on display. The Chippendale cabinet hosted some of them, the windowsill even more.

  "Look, Brant, my glass is here. Even the pieces you bought me are here!" She moved to examine them, delicately lifting each piece of cool, smooth glass. Seeing one particular item, she jumped, almost dropping a blue bottle.

  "Brant, this is so weird. The pieces you smashed are here, at least, I think these are the same ones. My goodness, this collection has really multiplied," she said, shaking her head.

  "Like you're going to do?" Sara's playful voice came from the arched doorway.

  "I hope so," Leia admitted, setting the bottles back in place. "Brant's going to build another cabinet for me, for my display. He made one as a wedding present, but of course, I couldn't bring it with me through the portal." She sighed. "Not that I didn't want to."

  Sara tilted her head and said, "Leia, you might want to check out the wood cabinet in the alcove. I had never seen it before, but it's beautiful. There are champagne glasses in it now." She lowered her voice. "I think it's an antique."

  Brant and Leia exchanged glances. Could it be?

  Torin came in behind Sara. "Has your bride demonstrated the remote control and television? You're going to be beside yourself. And then, you must go for a ride in an automobile. I think.."

  "Wait!" Leia held up her hands in surrender. "I give in. There's a ton of things Brant needs to see. But I have to get back to my business. There are mortgage companies to call and appointments to reschedule, if anyone will still speak to me."

  "I could help you with that, Miz Leah," Hettie said from the doorway. "It seems that I'm stuck here too, and you know my brother Martin will get to driving me crazy before too long, and I'll need something to do."

  She turned to Martin. "I can read now, too."

  "Hettie, that would be wonderful. I trust you with my life. Why not my work? I'll take you into the office tomorrow morning and we'll get started. And then the next day, I can show Brant a few modern conveniences." Leia turned and headed for the alcove, fingers crossed superstitiously. As she flipped on a wall switch, warm light from a Tiffany table lamp filled the room.

  "It's here," she said, frozen in place. The cabinet Brant had made her, with his own hands, was waiting for her in the corner. The angled corner chair was gone, but the cabinet's polished darkness gleamed like new. Someday, she'd give it to her child as a wedding present.

  "We didn't have to carry it here, did we?" Brant asked, slipping into the room behind her. "All we had to do was put it into history." He wrapped his arms around her from behind, whispering into her ear. "Our history."

  "Thank you again for my wedding present." Her eyes filled, along with her heart.

  "And thank you again for mine."

  Leia settled everyone into a bedroom for the night. The fatigue from stress showed on every face, nineteenth and twentieth century alike. Brant closed the door softly behind him, signaling the retiring of the host and hostess for the evening.

  "We are successfully free," he said, leaning against the six-paneled door with an ease and confidence Leia admired.

  "I'm sorry that you can never go back, for your sake. Will that bother you very much?" She waited without breathing, hoping for a negative response. She got one.

  "There's nothing to miss, Leia. My brother's here, and he's all the family I had left...All the family I valued, that is. Now," he said, raising an eyebrow, "we can make as large a family as we want."

  She giggled. "Come here, you big hunk of man."

  "What?" The other eyebrow raised.

  "That's what Sara called you. A hunk. It's a very modern, very complimentary term for a strong and handsome man." She patted the bed beside her.

  He obliged, aligning their hips and thighs as he had back in 1863, in the narrow bed. Reaching for her stomach, he gently rested his hand on it, and leaned his lips toward hers for a kiss.

  She gasped, taking his tongue into her own mouth. "God, you do it to me even when I'm pregnant and barfing every morning."

  "Do what?" He turned a mischievous eye to her.

  "Heat my insides."

  "If you're pregnant, I guess the weight you're gaining will eventually drop away."

  "I hope so." So would he, once he'd seen fashion magazines.

  "Too bad. I like the swell of your breasts," he said, taking them in hand. "I like these fuller thighs, too. They make things easier."

  "Brant," she said, barely able to catch her breath. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

  "And soon you'll look like one of those shapely bottles in your collection."

  "Brant," she said again
, wondering if her words reflected her blush.

  "They're my favorite," he said, and quieted her with his mouth.

  Leia woke to the smell of brewing coffee, and hurried downstairs for a cup. Fresh caffeine, mildly roasted from Columbian beans, was something she had sorely missed in the nineteenth century. When she reached the kitchen, Martin stood at the counter, as if waiting for her.

  "Good morning," he said, his white teeth gleaming like a commercial for toothpaste.

  "Martin, you don't know how much I need this coffee," she said, reaching for the extra large mug he offered. The steam wisped up into her nostrils, tickling them, until she couldn't stand it and sipped indelicately.

  "It's decaf, just in case. We're all glad you got back, Leia. Was it very hard for you?"

  "Actually, I enjoyed it sometimes. I met Brant, and that was great. Sometimes were downright scary, like when I was alone in the woods at night. I think the hardest part was exploring the cellar last night, to find the passage, without using any lights." She sipped again, watching Martin's face.

  "Is something wrong, Martin?"

  "I have a confession, Leia. As you know, I am Hettie's brother. We worked together for a long time, coordinating the escape plans of fellow black Americans. Slaves. I couldn't bring Hettie forward and still expect the passage to work, so I have born the guilt of my sister's servitude for many years. I wanted to thank you for befriending her, and teaching her to read, which I always wanted to do."

  "Martin, how did I go back in time? How did I find the cellar portal into the past that day? Did you do that?" She had to ask, not caring if she sounded foolish with her questions. "And were you responsible for helping Sara send the messages?"

  He nodded, not meeting her eyes. "I apologize for altering your destiny, Leia. I saw you living a miserable existence here, lonely and too concerned about property. I knew you loved your job, but that wasn't enough. Once I loved a girl, before I came forward, and I hoped someday you could experience that too. The happy part, though, not the pain. It all started when I broke your father's flask, which enabled you to travel like he did."