Echoes of Tomorrow (40 page)

Angeline turned to look up at him and graced him with an angelic, loving smile for the benefit of the onlookers.  He didn't bother to respond.

The minister's voice began to drone.

As he stood there and stared, Angeline's face began to transform into Elise's.  Reed blinked several times and even shook his head, but he could still see Elise.  She had on a beautiful, white-beaded wedding gown with a matching veil.  The gown belonged to Jan, who stood beside her.

Jan?  Who is Jan?

Of course, Jan was married to Don, the man standing beside me.

Then it began.  Memories tumbled over him like a cascading waterfall.  They came so fast, one wasn't completed before another began.

Elise!  She's my wife!  My beautiful, wonderful, airplane-flying wife!  And Angeline's baby isn't mine!

"...reason these two should not be joined together in Holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace."

Reed's head jerked up and he opened his mouth to speak.

A growing murmur of the crowd stopped him, and he spun around to see Jeffrey Vancoeur walking up the aisle.  He stopped within inches of Reed.

"Terribly sorry, Blackwell, but I feel you might want to see me in private."

Reed glanced at Angeline, who was glaring at Jeffrey with murder in her eyes.

The two men excused themselves and entered the house from the rear.  They both ignored the crescendo of voices as they walked away.

Reed listened in stunned silence as Jeffrey told him that Angeline was not pregnant and never had been.  He summoned a terrified slave Reed recognized as Angeline's maid.  She confirmed that she'd washed the rags from Angeline's "monthly curse" with clockwork regularity.

"You can thank Lilianna for ferreting out that tidbit of information.  Not only did Angeline lie about being with child, Blackwell, but once she'd spun her story, she was trapped.  She approached me in the hope I would help her out of her predicament by obliging to get her with child.  She pointed out we were only second cousins.  And, of course, by being a relative, I was honor bound to keep her little secret."

Reed breathed deeply in an effort to remain calm.

"How very enterprising of her.  Tell me more."

"Not much more to tell, really.  Of course, I wasn't accommodating."

"Of course."

"I threatened to expose her to you.  She played her hysterics very well and promised not to go through with the wedding.  She was very convincing.  I left town believing the whole thing had been settled.  Imagine my surprise when I stopped here at breakfast that day and found the wedding plans were in full swing.  And she'd even managed to force out your charming houseguest.  You know...the one you're in love with."

You're right,
Reed thought
, and I'm going to shout it to the world.

"I spoke with Angeline again, rather sternly I might add, and she tearfully swore to put an end to this charade.  I'm afraid I can be very naive, and I woefully overestimated her character. 

"I only just arrived back in the area today.  Of course, I came straight here as soon as I was made aware of the day's festivities."

A beaming Reed held out his hand and clasped Jeffrey's as he clapped him on the back.  He felt as if he'd just been given a pardon from purgatory.

"You're a good man, Vancoeur.  I'll find a way to repay you."

"Repay me by marrying Elise Gerard.  If any two people should be married, it is you two."

"It's a deal," Reed said with a laugh.  "But before you leave I have something I want you to witness."

He stuck his head out the study door and murmured to a passing servant.  He turned back and smiled at Jeffrey.  Amazing how his descendent was an exact duplicate in looks, but there was far more than a hundred and fifty years separating their personalities.

Within minutes the door crashed open, and Angeline and her ruffles stood in the doorway, vibrating with rage.  The servant who brought her left at a run.

"What is the meaning of this?" she screamed as she stormed into the room.

Reed's voice was deceptively calm.  In fact, she was forced to stop screeching and stand still in order to hear his quiet words.

"I believe you know what the meaning of this is, Angeline.  I know everything.  The wedding is off.  In fact, the wedding was off when I remembered exactly what happened the night I supposedly raped you.  I just hadn't had the chance to stop it."

Angeline took a breath to speak, but Reed held up his hand for silence.

"If you prefer, I can go out and explain to the guests what has transpired and reveal the content of my conversation with Jeffrey." 

He nodded to Jeffrey.  Jeffrey nodded back.

"I'm sure the guests are buzzing with conjecture as we speak.  But I believe I am correct in assuming you don't wish certain facts to be known.  Therefore, I am leaving you here to explain to our guests in your own words why we are not getting married.

"Bear in mind, however, that at this point I will not tolerate a blackening of my name, or Elise's, or Jeffrey's, for that matter."  Again he nodded to Jeffrey, and again his nod was returned.

"Vancoeur, my good friend, might I impose upon you to remain here and insure my instructions are carried out as requested?"

Jeffrey's face was comically solemn.  "Wouldn't have it any other way, Blackwell."

"I leave her in your capable hands, then."

He flicked his gaze one last time over Angeline.  She was trembling, but no longer from fury.  It was the first time he'd ever seen her speechless.  She might yet learn to exercise an economy with words.

He strode from the room, and as he passed into the hallway he heard Vancoeur's voice.

"Don't bother to swoon, Angeline.  It won't get you out of this one.  I'll simply dump this pitcher over your head and send you out there dripping wet."

*******

Reed wasted no time in the stables.  He slid a bridle onto his horse and jumped onto its bare back.

He had to saw on the reins to keep from running over Nell, who had darted in front of him, waving her arms.

"Mistah Reed!  Mistah Reed!  You remembers, don't you?  You remembers Miz ‘Lise."

"Yes, Nellie my love.  I remember everything."  It'd been so long since he'd smiled, this one hurt his face.  "I'm on my way to get her now!"

"Oh, Lordy, Mistah Reed.  Miz ‘Lise done tell me to give her some of my potion to send her to her home."

Reed's breathing stopped.

"When did she ask for it, Nell?"

"The day she leave Oak Vista.  She tell me she can't stay here and watch you marry someone else."

"Nooooo!"  Reed's cry was that of a tortured animal.  He yanked the reins and kicked his horse into a dead run.  The cold that had gripped his empty soul since he was torn from Elise's arms now gripped him in a glacial bitterness.

"Mistah Reed!  Wait!  Mistah Reed!"

But she was talking to a cloud of dust.

*******

She first became aware of the familiar, muffled ticking of the grandfather clock in the foyer.  Her head felt muzzy, like she'd been drugged, and she burrowed deeper into the covers and tried to go back to sleep.

Then realization dawned on her.

She was home!  Oh, dear Lord, what had she done?

But wait!  She sat up and stared ahead of her.  This was her room in the past!  She hadn't left!  Dear, sweet Nell had switched the teas after all.  She'd only given her something to knock her out.

Covers flew from the bed and she grabbed the first gown she came to and began to struggle into it.  She had to find Reed.

Could she convince him Angeline had manufactured this story?  Could he get an annulment? 

She fumbled with the buttons at the back of her neck.

How had she gotten here...

"Make one more move and I'll hose you down with tear gas."

Elise froze with her elbows skyward, the buttons on her dress forgotten.  She spun around to find the owner of the voice, his name a cry on her lips.

"Reed!"

And there he was - a work of art propped against the headboard, right beside where she'd been sleeping.  The sheet was draped enticingly across his lap, his tanned, muscled chest exposed and begging for her fingertips to trace the many ridges.  His fingers were laced behind his head, and the boyish grin belied the powerful man behind it.

She was on top of him in a heartbeat.

"Reed," she cried.  "Tell me you didn't marry her.  Let me hear you say it."  Her words were distorted from the frantic kisses they each sought.

"No, little one.  I didn't marry her."  He peppered kisses along her neck.  "How could I?  I'm married to you."

Her head shot up and she held his face between her hands.  She studied his eyes - happy, blue eyes that sparkled up at her.  Then she remembered his comment about the tear gas.

Her heart nearly burst.

"You remember?"  It was part exclamation, part question.

He wasn't able to answer.  He was buried in a cloud of cotton skirts and a flurry of kisses.  When the kisses slowed and turned into long, languid expressions of love, Elise forgot she'd even asked.

She forgot everything but the moment.  The rightness of how they fit together, the conflagration they both generated with a mere touch.  There would be time for questions later.  All the time in the world.  But right now she joined Reed in wiping all coherent thoughts from her mind.

Many hours later, in the humidity of New Orleans in June, and under a light covering of sheets, Reed gathered Elise close.  She felt his chest vibrate and heard his heart beat faster as he sighed.  She snuggled even closer.

"What are you thinking, darlin'?"

He hesitated, as if collecting his thoughts.

"I'm thinking, little one, that I finally feel warm again."

###

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Originally from West Virginia, Jenny now lives in western Tennessee with her husband, along with the Goddess of the Universe (a cranky old “kitten” named Mabes), and two Samoyed “puppies” named Czar Nicholas and Alexandra, but they answer to Czar and Lexxie, Trouble and Chaos, Dumb and Dumber…you get the picture.

DISCOVER OTHER TITLES BY JENNY LYKINS AT SMASHWORDS.COM:

Spirit of the Ruins

The Ghost of Christmas Present

Lost Yesterday

Waiting for Yesterday

Distant Dreams

River of Dreams