Forever Ashley

by Lori Copeland

  Ashley leaned out of the window and shouted a warning to a militiaman sitting on the ground trying to reload his gun. Just as the man glanced up at her, a British soldier ran his bayonet through him. Ashley covered her eyes and moaned as the man slumped to the ground.

  The British were firing so furiously and there was so much confusion that Ashley felt faint. It was impossible to know the number of colonists who fell at each volley, but the firing continued in all directions.

  Then as suddenly as it had started, the colonists began to drop back into formation. Ashley saw a British soldier fire one last volley at Solomon Brown, who was stationed behind a wall. She gasped as the wall smoked after it was hit.

  Brown rose and fired into the solid column of regulars, then beat a hasty retreat, using the wall as a shield. Suddenly the battle quieted.

  A moment later Ashley heard the sound of a drummer, beating the call to retreat.

  The British ceased fire and began moving into columns. Once formed, they fired a last volley for victory and gave three rousing cheers.

  Ashley watched as the redcoated men moved forward to the tune of fife and drum, marching in the direction of Concord.

  The smoke began to clear and the cadence of drums dimmed as Ashley slumped weakly against the windowsill.

  The British would march on to Concord. The colonists would regroup their forces and meet the redcoats again, but none of these men would realize the repercussions of what had happened here on this green today.

  The first battle of the Revolutionary War had been fired, the first blood spilled in the fight for the colonies’ right to separate from Britain. The upstart youngster, as the British termed the colonies, had begun to stretch and grow, and America would never again be the same.

  Ashley felt strange standing at the window staring down upon a site where a battle had just been fought. It had lasted such a short time, already it seemed unreal. Ever since she’d fallen through the roof of the Green Dragon Tavern, time had meant nothing to her, just one inconceivable event strung upon another.

  “Ashley. ”

  “Yes?” She whirled from the window, trying to locate the whispered voice. For one crazy moment, she thought Aaron had called her name, but that was impossible: He couldn’t be here.

  Was she going completely mad? She closed her eyes and her fingers came to her temples to still the sudden pounding. The abrupt pain was like a hammer upon an anvil, beating relentlessly against her skull.

  “Ashley.”

  At the sound of her name, she opened her eyes slowly, squinting against the building pressure in her cranium. Once again she found the room empty.

  “I am losing my mind,” she murmured.

  Suddenly the door burst open. She cried out when she saw Aaron standing in the doorway, grinning at her. With tears in her eyes, she threw herself into his arms.

  “You’re all right!”

  “A little singed, but unharmed.” Aaron gave a whoop of victory as he swept her up into his arms, hugging her. “I may not be in your history books, Ashley Wheeler, but I was there today!”

  “I was so afraid—” His mouth closed over hers, muffling her words. “I couldn’t find you anywhere!” she murmured against his lips.

  “I was busy! We had eight dead and ten wounded at last count. Once I had to grab a pistol and fire when a Tory rode in upon me and refused to recognize my medical box.”

  Throwing back his head, he began to laugh. The laughter rolled out of him so long that Ashley thought he might be hysterical.

  “We won! We won against those lobsterbacks!”

  Ashley didn’t have the heart to tell him that the colonists hadn’t actually “won,” though they had survived to fight again.

  His mouth came back to hers, savoring the victory they shared.

  “I have to get you out of here to safety,” he murmured when their lips finally parted. “The British may return.”

  “They won’t. They’re on their way to Concord.”

  He smiled at her indulgently as he hurried her toward the door. “Mayhap, but I’m taking no chances.”

  The townsfolk were beginning to recover from their shock. They bustled around, trying to aid the wounded and comfort those whose loved ones had paid the ultimate price for freedom.

  Aaron and Ashley made their way down the street, trying to reach the edge of town unnoticed. Aaron paused occasionally to kneel beside a wounded man, quickly administering help before he moved on.

  It took over forty minutes for them to reach the edge of Lexington.

  “We will take to the woods,” Aaron called as he took her hand and they ran across the road. “’Twill be dark soon, and we can’t risk running into a British patrol.”

  “Where are we going?” Ashley called back.

  He glanced back at her, smiling. “We are going to find a place where we can be alone.”

  Ashley frowned, feeling a sudden pang in her heart. Where they could be alone—or where they could say goodbye?

  Chapter Fifteen

  The barn had not been used for some time, but the hay was dry and pleasantly fragrant. The late afternoon light filtered through the cracks, and motes of dust floated through the air as Ashley and Aaron entered the building’s cool interior.

  “It’s not the Green Dragon,” Aaron apologized. “But it will afford us a place to rest.”

  After picking up a stick, Ashley poked at the mound of straw, hoping there weren’t any mice and snakes hiding in it. The sound of tiny feet scurrying into dark corners drew her back to Aaron’s side. “It’s okay, I don’t mind.”

  “We’ll spend the night here, then be on our way back to Boston at early light.”

  “Then what?”

  Aaron sighed. “I know not what.”

  Her eyes roamed about the interior of the barn, and she sighed. Everything seemed surrealistic to her now. They were in danger of capture by British soldiers; she had just witnessed the opening battle of the Revolutionary War; and now she was about to huddle in a mice infested barn. She would never complain of being bored again.

  “The hay looks soft,” she said, sinking down upon it. She lay back and closed her eyes, letting the scent of the hay wash over her. “I’m hungry again.” The meat pies they had eaten earlier had barely satisfied her.

  She opened her eyes to find Aaron smiling down at her.

  “My hunger is of a different nature,” he confessed.

  Offering him her hand, she pulled him down on the sweet smelling hay beside her.

  “You’re wearing your glasses again.”

  “I’m trying too.” His mouth met hers, and they kissed, a long, intimate kiss that said more than words ever could. Murmuring each other’s name, the kiss grew deeper.

  “Ah, but you are sweet,” Aaron whispered many long minutes later.

  Ashley smiled as she held him closer. “You didn’t think so once.”

  “Ahh, but I only portrayed indifference,” he confessed. “You are a most winsome morsel, Ashley Wheeler.”

  His hand caressed her face. As his mouth lowered to take hers again, he whispered, “You are so beautiful.”

  She laughed, wondering why he could make it sound so believable. “When I think back to the day that I fell through the roof of the Green Dragon—the looks on your faces…”

  “It must have been quite amusing,” he agreed dryly.

  “If you remember, you wanted to choke me,” she reminded.

  “Only because I thought you were a spy.”

  Her hand drifted across the front of his shirt resting against the coarse linen. She loved the feel of his warmth…she loved his dark energy, a force that only now was she beginning to know. Over the past few hours, she had grown to believe that their lives were indelibly bound. How or why, she couldn’t explain. Nor did she want to try; being there in his arms was enough.

  “I know in my heart that you are not real, Aaron, yet I have never loved a man as I love you.”

  Catching her hand to hi
s mouth, he kissed it.

  “I want you to stay with me forever,” she whispered.

  “Even though you remain convinced that I am a figment of your imagination?”

  “Oh, Aaron, I don’t know what you are. I only know I have never loved anyone as much as I love you.”

  “Even Joel?”

  The mention of Joel’s name jolted her.

  “Aaron, I’m so confused,” she admitted softly. “I’m not sure of anything anymore.” She knew only one thing: She wanted to spend what time was left in his arms.

  He wrapped his arms around her, and for too brief of a time, the world belonged only to them.

  Suddenly a light appeared—a very bright light, and Joel’s voice came to her as clearly as if he were standing in the barn. Startled, she tried to lift herself up to go to him, but her body refused to move.

  His face wavered slightly out of focus, yet she could see that concern, and…love…yes, love darkened his eyes. He spoke, but his words were garbled, and she couldn’t understand what he was saying.

  She tried to reach out to him and call his name, but her arms were so heavy that she was powerless to lift them. She tried to speak, but the words refused to form. Joel…Joel…Ashley…Ashley…

  Joel!

  Come on, sweetheart…Ash…

  Ashley awoke with a start. Aaron was holding her, his hand brushing her hair back from her face.

  “Are you all right?”

  Ashley struggled to clear her mind. “I think so.”

  “You were calling out a name.”

  “Joel?”

  Aaron nodded gravely.

  “I saw him…in a dream. It was so strange.” She closed her eyes, trying to recapture his image. “He was here, and yet he wasn’t. I tried to reach out to him, but I couldn’t.”

  Sighing, Aaron drew her closer.

  “It seemed so real,” she whispered.

  “It will all be over very soon,” he promised softly.

  “What will be over soon? Aaron, do you know what has been happening to me?”

  “I only know that I love you, Ashley.” Gathering her close in his arms again, he held her as the shadows in the old barn deepened. She clung to him with a desperation that matched his own. Turning onto her side, she burrowed her face against his chest.

  “What will I do without you?” she whispered.

  When Ashley woke again it was morning. Opening her eyes, she gazed at the loft and the high ceiling of the barn overhead. For a moment, she couldn’t remember where she was or why she was there, then a delicious feeling of happiness washed over her. Aaron.

  She turned her head in the hay and gazed at him. He lay sleeping, his lashes two dark crescents against his lean cheeks. After rolling onto her side, she rested her head in her hand and reached out to touch him, then hesitated. Like her, he was exhausted. She couldn’t bear to wake him. Yet she longed to touch him, to assure herself that he was real. So few things seemed real to her right now.

  He was sleeping so soundly that when her fingertips traced his strong jaw and the outline of his lips, he never moved. Suddenly, touching him wasn’t enough. She scooted closer and leaned over him, pressing her lips to his, tasting him.

  “You are courting danger,” Aaron murmured.

  “Maybe I like danger,” she teased.

  His eyes opened and he studied her seriously for a long moment. “I love you, Ashley.”

  “I love you, Aaron.”

  Sighing, she nestled back into his arms, listening to the early morning sounds filtering through the cracks of the barn. “I wish we could stay here forever,” she confessed.

  “We are in constant danger. This barn won’t provide us protection for very long.”

  “I know.” She rolled onto her back, her gaze meeting his. “What’s going to happen to us?”

  “You do not know?” he teased.

  “I only have this horrible feeling that I’m about to lose you.”

  He smoothed his hand over her hair absently. “You will never lose me, love. Though we may be apart, I will forever hold you in my heart.”

  “Oh, Aaron…I wish it could be different. I wish I could stay here with you. We could get married, and once a week Paul and Rachel could come over to have dinner with us.”

  “And our children, all six of them, would have red hair and blue eyes exactly like yours,” he predicted.

  “Six children?”

  “Mayhap six is too small a family. Ten might be more appropriate. Five boys and five girls.”

  Grinning, she thought about the chaos and happiness such a large household would bring. “If I could stay, there would be so many things I could help you accomplish. So many strides in medicine have been made.”

  “I wish I could have access to a great quantity of your miracles,” he confessed. “Many lives would be saved.”

  “I wish I could provide them for you. I’d like to tell you about all the modern wonders that have been invented in my time. Did you know that ninety percent of all the scientists who have ever lived are alive in my time?”

  He smiled at her lovingly. “I did not know. ‘Tis difficult to comprehend.”

  “Yes…though I may never get back there.” A tinge of sadness entered her voice now, an unspoken longing.

  Aaron gathered her closer. “Do you wish to go back?”

  Ashley was silent for a very long time, then she said softly, “I have mixed feelings. I know that I don’t belong here. Part of me knows I won’t ever belong here, yet another very important part of me can’t bear to think of leaving you.”

  For the first time in her life she understood that love wasn’t taking, or even accepting; it was giving.

  Aaron understood that land of love. He’d put himself in a precarious position with the patriots by not killing her as he had been ordered to do. He’d taken a wild gamble in choosing to protect her, even when he had found it difficult to believe that she came from a different century. During their time together, he’d protected her and taught her much about dedication to a cause bigger than himself. And last night he’d taught her about tenderness and love. He’d shown her that if a man and woman could share that, nothing else mattered. Whatever the future held, she would never forget these hours in an old barn with Aaron Kenneman on an April morning when the whole world was changing.

  Tears misted her eyes as she clung to him, trying to free herself of the ominous sense of impending doom.

  “We must go now,” Aaron said.

  “No.” Her arms tightened more securely around him.

  “We must, Ashley.”

  “Why? The British—”

  “We must return to Boston. There will be more opportunity for escape there, should it become necessary.”

  She knew he was right. Boston would have strengthened its fortification against the British troops. They would both be safer there, but she wondered how they would make it back without being taken prisoner. British troops would dominate the road for the next several days. How could they hope to avoid discovery while traveling the fifteen or so miles back to Boston?

  They held each other, trying to hold back the reality that awaited them outside the barn. It suddenly occurred to her that the same qualities she admired in Aaron, she’d complained about in Joel. Every time a patient had taken him from her, she’d whined like a spoiled child. She realized now that at least Joel had always returned to her. There had never been anything between them nearly so large and threatening as a war.

  Moving toward the door, Aaron suddenly held out his arm warningly.

  “What’s wrong?” she whispered.

  Cocking his head, Aaron listened to the jangle of bridles as horsemen approached.

  Ashley grasped his hand. “Is it the British?”

  “Get back,” Aaron whispered, moving her into the shadows.

  After returning to the door alone, Aaron peered out through the crack.

  “Is it the British?” Ashley asked again.

  The muscl
e in Aaron’s jaw worked tightly as he viewed the company of redcoats riding toward the barn.

  He glanced around to see if there was another exit. He quickly located a matching set of weathered doors on the opposite end, but he frowned when he saw that the bottom edges were firmly implanted in the dirt and debris that the wind had swept in.

  “Quickly,” he whispered. “Into the loft.”

  Aaron tested the ladder, then motioned Ashley to proceed ahead of him. They scrambled up the ladder and disappeared into the shadows as the riders grew nearer. Crouching against the far wall, they held their breath as the soldiers entered the barn a minute later.

  “Looks decent enough for a few hours’ rest,” one of the soldiers commented.

  “I say we ride on. The horses can last for several more hours,” the man with him said.

  ‘The horses may, but I can’t.” The first man’s eyes surveyed the barn’s dark interior. “We’ll bed down here for the day.”

  “As you say. Anything is better than the open country where those rebel dogs can creep upon us.”

  Ashley and Aaron could hear the jingle of bridles and saddles being removed from mounts and tossed aside. By the sounds, Aaron could tell that it was a small patrol, not more than six or seven men.

  Ashley glanced anxiously at Aaron as the soldiers tied their horses inside the barn, then closed the door. They couldn’t crouch this way all day without being discovered.

  Aaron shook his head, lifting his finger to his lips to silence her.

  They listened as the soldiers made preparations for their morning meal. When the meager fare had been eaten, they rolled up in blankets, and far sooner than Ashley expected, deep, resonant snores began to fill the air.

  Aaron nudged her, moving her farther back into the shadows.

  “What do we do now?” she whispered.

  Pressing his mouth to her ear, he whispered, “We do nothing. They will only sleep a few hours. They will sleep too light for us to attempt an escape. We must wait until they leave.”

  Ashley nodded mutely.

  Taking her hand, they lay down again.