Timeless Love (14 page)

"Fine, we shall wait until tomorrow
afternoon."

He hugged her tight. "Don't pout minx. We got
this far, haven't we?"

Joey still couldn't believe he was in 1821.
When he had jumped toward the door, he landed on the floor of the
carriage with Cathy under him. His only thought was to secure her
safety. He didn't have time to blink before the carriage was struck
by lightning. Darkness descended over them both and when they next
opened their eyes, they were on a muddy road in the middle of
nowhere. Cathy had pointed to a burned tree. The carriage had
returned to the exact spot where it had been first struck. They had
no sooner scrambled out of the carriage, before it disappeared
again right in front of them.

She had been right all along. His decision to
run to the carriage was right too. It was not only to send Cathy
home and protect her. Deep down he wanted to be with her and he
didn't care where or when.

They had managed to hitch a ride on a famer's
cart the entire way to her parents' manor. The surprise was
Viscount Sherwin and his wife after listening to their incredible
tale, believed them whole-heartedly. Perhaps it was clothes they
had been wearing or the money in his wallet dated 1967 or his
driver's license was enough solid proof, but the photographs sealed
the deal. Too bad they had to burn it all.

'There can be no trace of the future. You
can never speak of it. The ramifications could be disastrous!'
The viscount had warned.

Joey had teased what would be the harm if they
left a notation in their wills for any descendants to buy stock in
Coca-Cola or General Motors, but the viscount failed to see the
humor. The only thing they didn't burn was his leather pants. They
could pass for 1821, though Cathy told him he was to wear them for
her alone in the privacy of their bedroom.

It wasn't easy. Life in 1821 was boring. The
clothes and manners were restrictive and the food was weird. There
was no indoor plumbing. What of 1969? He would be soon forgotten.
His bike would be found down at the mill. The landlord would sell
his possessions to make up the back rent. He knew they were only
'things' but he would miss his Clairtone stereo and his music most
of all.

He smirked. McGonagall will be pissed off at
his disappearance. Good. There was no one to report him missing.
The people he did talk to in the neighborhood would get on with
their lives and forget him.

Cathy's parents welcomed him and the viscount
confided to him on their way back from Truro that he was making
Joey his heir. He was stunned by the news. He had only known him
for six weeks, but Richard Worthington assured him it was long
enough to get the measure of a man. So upon his death, Joey Indelli
would be the new Viscount Sherwin.
How screwed up was
fate?

He hugged Cathy tighter. "I love you. You're
my soul, the music in my heart. I don't care where or when we are,
as long as we're together. I cherish you, babe."

He heard a soft sob from Cathy. He was home.
Joey knew he had found everything he had been looking for –love,
family, a sense of belonging, and he had found it in
1821.

The End

www.karyngerrard.com

Other Books by Karyn
Gerrard:

Timeless Heart

Black Lust

Black Desire

Evernight Publishing

http://www.evernightpublishing.com