Another Dawn (52 page)

      
"I have one more question, though," she said as they parted. "Why didn't you drop your disguise after you learned we'd been thrown back in time?"

      
His eyes hardened again and she regretted pushing the point so soon. It could have waited. "Never mind," she said, "we can discuss this later."

      
"No, now."
 
He looked into the distance, beyond her at something she suspected only he could see. "The shame."
 
He turned his gaze on her again. "I didn't want to feel ashamed of something I didn't do ever again."

      
She studied his expression for several moments, knowing in her heart that he meant exactly what he'd said. "Yes, I understand."
 
She kissed him again, then straightened in her saddle. "Your sense of honor is one of the things I love most about you."

      
He waggled his eyebrows at her. "Oh, I thought it was..."
 
      
Leaning closer, he whispered something in her ear that would've given Mrs. Wilson heart failure. Sofie's pulse quickened and her breath froze. Heat suffused her body and she squirmed in her saddle.

      
She maneuvered her hand beneath the edge of his coat and cupped the hard, impressive evidence of his desire. "That, too, big guy."

      
His gaze raked her, though she knew he couldn't see anything through her bulky coat and baggy jeans. "Later, I'm going to hold you down and kiss every inch of you."

      
Hunger oozed through her body as she rubbed her palm along the hard ridge beneath his jeans. "Every...inch?"
 

      
"Yeah."
 
His voice sounded hoarse. "Every gorgeous inch."

      
"Pity we have to wait."
 
Slowly, seductively, she used her thumb to trace circles around the hot, throbbing tip of his erection. "Hmm...?"

      
"The sun's warm," he whispered against her lips. "Isn't it about lunch time?"

      
"Let's skip lunch and get right to dessert."

      
"Oh, God."

      
Luke no longer felt like a liar, though he still hadn't told her the nature of his alleged crime, or the fact that he was being executed when they'd been thrown back in time. He knew she would ask eventually, and he would tell her the truth.

      
No more lies. He was finished with lies.

      
As they neared Denver, his tension mounted. He knew the building that housed, or would house, his grandfather's shoe repair shop already existed. Something tugged at his sub-conscious, and he couldn't stop thinking about how much he'd wanted Grandpa's respect. Instead, the old man had died ashamed of his only heir.

      
But Luke had to concentrate on the here and now, such as it was. He had a new life ahead, and a woman who loved him. He was about to get married.

      
Denver was far different from the city he remembered, but much of it was still familiar to Luke. The energy and vitality–the heart of the city–were already present. A stab of homesickness shot through him as they rode through town.

      
First, they visited the assayers office and he cashed in the gold nuggets the citizens of Redemption had given them. Then they found a hotel near the area that would one day be known as the 16th Street Mall.

      
Two blocks from his grandfather's shoe repair shop. Four blocks from the Victorian house where he'd been raised. The sight of the beginnings of the State Capital jarred him. Though still under construction, the skeleton of the dome and the building itself was yet another reminder of his grandparents and his childhood.

      
And his shame.

      
After they checked into the hotel and cleaned up, Luke left to buy a dress for Sofie and some decent clothes for himself. Wedding clothes. His internal radar dragged him over two blocks where he stood and stared at the brownstone that would one day belong to his grandfather.

      
From the outside, it looked very much as he remembered, though it now boasted a bright orange awning. Tears burned his eyes and scalded his throat, then he noticed the store was a millinery shop and dressmaker. He could probably find Sofie something nice there, and manage to satisfy his own curiosity at the same time.

      
After crossing the cobblestone street, he mustered his self-control and pushed open the door. Displays of hats, lace collars, and gloves filled the front room, and a large open book occupied a table between two wing backed chairs. Gaslights glowed from ceiling and wall fixtures.

      
He looked at the back wall, noting its brick construction, and a wave of nostalgia blasted through him. Grandpa had torn the bricks off that wall and replaced it with gleaming wood paneling and a multitude of shelves. Luke remembered helping the old man tear down the bricks himself with a hammer and chisel. It had been tedious work, but laboring beside Grandpa had been one of Luke's favorite boyhood activities. How he'd loved that old man...

      
"May I help you, sir?"

      
Clearing his throat, Luke forced his attention to the well-dressed woman. "Yes."
 
She wore a white, lace-trimmed blouse buttoned nearly to her chin. Her hair was pulled into a bun or something at the back of her head, and a decorative comb held one side. A brooch at the front of her blouse was her only jewelry.

      
Was this how Sofie should dress? The dresses she'd borrowed from Dora had been much more practical, but this was Denver, not Redemption. For the wedding, he decided, she needed something frilly.

      
"Are you looking for a gift, sir?"

      
"Yes, a wedding gift."
 
He looked around the store at all the frills. "Do you have any dresses?"

      
"You mean ready-made dresses, sir?" She appeared scandalized.

      
"Well, yeah, the wedding's today."
 
Luke chuckled. What would she think if he told her he and Sofie were already sharing a hotel room? "Something I can buy and walk out the door with."

      
"Only some samples."
 
She hoisted her chin up a notch or two.

      
Snob
. "Well, my fiancé is about, er..."
 
He looked the woman up and down. "She's about your size, only a little bigger right, uh, here."
 
He held his hands cupped out in front of his chest.

      
The woman gasped and he dropped his hands to his sides. "Sorry, ma'am," he muttered, realizing immediately that he'd just committed a major social blunder. In any century. Heat flooded his face, but he pushed onward. "Would any of your samples fit someone that size?"

      
She gave a stiff nod and disappeared into the back room, where Grandpa would one day keep fragrant pieces of leather, tools, and supplies. Luke wondered what was back there now. Probably lace and stuff.

      
"Here we are."
 
The woman returned with three dresses draped over her arm. She hung them from hooks along the brick wall and stood back. "If we had time to take measurements, I'm sure I could create something lovely for your young lady."

      
"Yes, I'm sure you could, but we're in a hurry."
 
Luke heard her gasp, but decided to ignore it. Let the woman think whatever she wanted. Well, considering how intimate he and Sofie had been the last few days, she could be pregnant. The thought made him smile, which shocked him even more.

      
"Do any of these meet your approval, sir?" the woman asked stiffly.

      
Forcing his attention back to choosing Sofie's wedding dress, Luke zeroed in on something soft and blue–the color of Sofie's eyes. "I like this one."

      
"That's a traveling suit, sir."

      
"Oh, well, she'll need one of those, too."
 
He wasn't wealthy, but he had quite a bit of money after cashing in his gold. One dress was a myriad of checks, which he ruled out immediately, and the third one was glittering gold, obviously meant for a party. Even he could tell the neckline was cut very low, and the waistline tightly fitted.

      
"This one."
 
He pointed at the gold. "I'll take this one now, then bring her back to try on the blue one tomorrow, if that's all right."

      
The clerk nodded, open approval showing in her eyes and surprising Luke. "You must love her very much."

      
"More than my life."
 
Luke instantly changed his opinion of the sales clerk.

 
      
"Your fiancé is a very fortunate young lady."

      
"Nah, I'm the lucky one."
 
He smiled and asked the woman to throw in any underthings Sofie might need, too.

      
Blushing, the clerk boxed everything for him and he asked her where to find clothes for himself. As he left, he glanced back over his shoulder at the brick wall. He could actually see himself standing there as a young boy of about nine, right beside Grandpa.

      
Why did that one small event from his childhood haunt him so? At any rate, he was glad he had an excuse to return to the store. He smiled, realizing he could tell Sofie why the building was important to him.

      
Yes, he was the lucky one in this deal. Not only was he going to marry a woman he loved, but she was the only person in the world who would understand his memories of events that hadn't happened yet.

      
The air outside was crisp but the sunshine brilliant. He had no idea of the date, but they were definitely well into October now. Too late to travel west by covered wagon, but maybe there was a train across the southwest. He knew there was one through Wyoming by this time. Or they could go south and catch a boat to California, though that would mean traveling around South America. He had no idea whether or not the Panama Canal had been built yet.

      
Strike that idea. The thought of being confined on board a ship for months sounded awful. Especially after eleven years in prison...

      
Determined to put that experience to rest once and for all, Luke drew a deep breath. He had clothes to buy, and he needed to find a church. Any church.
 

      
Guilt threatened his resolve again. No, not any church. He wasn't quite ready to enter a Catholic church. Besides, all the rules and rituals required for a Catholic ceremony would take time. If there was one thing Luke didn't want to do again, it was wait.

      
Within an hour, he returned to the hotel with his arms laden with packages. He and Sofie had an appointment with a Methodist minister later in the afternoon.

      
If he had a Big Mac and a large order of fries for both of them, life would be perfect.

      
Sofie giggled when Luke insisted on carrying her across the threshold after their wedding. She didn't care that the hotel clerk had looked at them with disapproval when Luke asked for a bottle of champagne to celebrate their wedding.