by Clare Revell
Jonni smiled. “I’ve seen that before. It’s still there, in my time. I always wondered who did it and who ST and JP were.”
“Now you know.” He put the knife away and began walking again, leading her and the horse across the field until they reached the milestone where he had first met her.
“So much has happened since we first, quite literally, ran into each other,” he said. “We have both saved each others’ lives, for one thing, and I have found something I never expected to.”
“What’s that?”
“Love,” Sebastian said. He took hold of her hand and raised it to his lips. Everything hinged on the next moment. He could put off asking her no longer. But how would she react? Would she realize his hopes or dash them? “I am deeply in love with you, Jonni. I was wondering, would do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
****
Jonni looked at him. Marriage? Sebastian loved her and wanted her to marry him? A bubbling feeling welled up inside her, bursting over her with showers of sheer joy. Thank you, Lord. Let me be all to him that he needs. She glanced over his shoulder at the milestone which had brought them together. How appropriate he should pick here to propose.
His lips touched hers briefly and then possessed her. How could one kiss set all her senses ablaze? Conscious thought left her and she seemed to float in the ocean of love and desire his simple touch provoked.
The kiss ended and she leant against him, taking in his scent, hearing his heart beating. Movement drew her gaze to the left.
The milestone shimmered, and she could see the village behind it, a very twenty-first century police car stopped at the head of the queue of traffic. Bright Christmas lights hung on every building and lamp post. It looked more like the remnants of a dream. Jonni took a sharp breath.
Sebastian looked at her. “What is wrong?” He followed her gaze. “What is that?”
“It’s the way back to my own time. I could go home.” Why now? Why did it pick the moment he proposed to give her the way home?
Sebastian took a deep breath. “What are you going to do?” He tightened his arms around her as if to keep her with him.
Jonni looked at him, back at the village, then at Sebastian, shaking her head. There was no choice to make. She was where she wanted to be, in the arms of the man she loved and whom she knew loved her. Her future lay here in the past with him. She looked deep into his eyes. “Sebastian.”
****
He looked at her, his stomach dropping. He had just bared his soul to this woman. He loved her, needed her and wanted her. He never knew it was possible to love anyone as much as he did her. Without her, his life was meaningless.
She would leave him and go back to her own time. Part of him didn’t blame her, it was where she belonged. But the rest of him cried out for her to stay. Her loss would be his undoing. She’d changed him so much. Sorrow filled him and he loosened his grip, looking down.
Jonni put a hand on his face, lifting it. “Sebastian.”
He looked up, his dark eyes gazing into hers. “Jonni.”
She smiled. “Yes I’ll marry you. I would be honored to be your wife. This is where I want to be, right by your side, here in your time.” Behind her the village shimmered and vanished—the portal closing forever.
Sebastian pulled her into his arms and brushed his lips over hers. “I love you.” Her lips were as soft and pliable as he’d imagined. His hands slid down her back, pulling her towards him, trying to hold as much of this wonderful woman as he could.
Something within him stirred. Kissing a woman had never felt like this before, why was it so different? Perhaps it was because he loved her, truly loved her with his whole being. Her hands and arms surrounded him, her fingers running ripples of pleasure across his back, heightening everything he felt.
“I love you too,” she replied. She closed her eyes, responding to him.
He broke for air and smiled at her. “God surely blessed me the day you landed under my carriage.”
Jonni smiled. “He blessed us both.”
Sebastian smiled. “Let’s go home. It’s Christmas and we have a lot to prepare.”
“What about lunch? It seems a shame to let it go to waste.”
“We have the rest of our lives to eat lunch,” he said, kissing her. “But this is our first Christmas and I don’t want to miss a second of it. Besides, I have a houseful of guests and a wedding to plan….how does a double wedding tomorrow sound?”
Jonni smiled at him. “That sounds wonderful—if Louisa and George don’t mind sharing.”
“Let’s go and ask. And if they do, then we’ll marry on the New Year.” Taking her hand, he lifted her onto the horse. He climbed up behind her, pulling her back into his arms before taking her home to Southby.
A note from the author.
The train accident in this novel, is based on the Sonning Cutting railway disaster which happened in the early hours of December twenty-fourth eighteen forty-one in the cutting through Sonning Hill, near Reading, Berkshire. It was the first fatal train crash in the UK.
Over the previous few days, it had rained a lot and the water-logged soil slipped onto the line. The engine of a Great Western Railway train running from Paddington, London to Bristol Temple Meads derailed, the resulting crash crushing the passenger coaches between the goods wagons and the tender. Eight passengers died at the scene and seventeen were injured seriously. All the injured were taken to the Royal Berkshire Hospital where one later died. A temporary mortuary was opened in a small hut near the crash site.
The inquest opened at three pm the same day, in the nearby pub, Shepherd’s House Inn, and then adjourned until December twenty eighth. Those present at the inquest included Isambard Kingdom Brunel, chairman of GWR. He’d been at the crash site since the day of the accident helping to clear the line of soil and wreckage.
The cutting is still in use today. As is Shepherd’s House Inn and the Royal Berkshire Hospital.
I changed the date and the direction of the train for the purposes of this story. All other facts remain as they happened.
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