Now and Forever:: A NEW ADULT TIME TRAVEL ROMANCE NOVEL (RAVENHURST SERIES Book 5)

by Lorraine Beaumont

  “Yes. I suppose it does,” he said, shuffling back across the small chamber to the table. Pulling out a chair, he sat down wearily and placed his face in his hands.

  Milford waffled near the doorway not sure what to do. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. About to turn on his heel and walk back out the door …a shiver ran up his spine and he knew the man had settled his gaze on him once more. Bloody Hell! He turned back around.

  “What are you waiting for? Come, come, I will not bite.” He waved his hand out in the air and directed it toward the chair at the opposite end of the table. “Have a seat.”

  Not having any other choice, Milford walked forward, and once again, he felt like the frightened young lad he had been centuries ago. The memory crept from the crevices of his mind …

  THE PAST SECRET ROOM

  KING ARTHUR’S REALM

  “Well, well, well. Look who has come back to visit.” Merlin turned his icy gaze on the boy. “Tell me, did all go the way you wished?”

  His small frame quaked in the doorway. “I do not know,” said young Milford, his words barely audible.

  “I warned you not to trust her,” Merlin exhaled, shaking his head. “She is a deceptive girl. She lets envy and jealousy get in the way of what is right and wrong. He does not even want her; he never did, and yet, she will not relinquish her hold even though it is not her hold to have.” His words rushed from his mouth, revealing the truth as he spoke, but he could not lose the hope he had for her, even though he knew it was futile.

  “What will happen to the girl?” asked young Milford, wringing his hands.

  “The girl you say?” He waved his hand in the air. “She is gone.”

  “What?” Young Milford gaped at him. “No. No. No.” He shook his head, back and forth adamantly. “She cannot be gone,” his voice rose and octave. “You do not understand.” He wrung his hands together. “He is going madder as each day passes.” His body shook. “I have to find her.” He paced back and forth. “There is no other option.” He stopped abruptly and turned. “Where do you think she went?”

  Merlin’s brows creased. “Think you, she would magically appear after the lengths you went to… to rid the Earth of her human existence?” He shook his head and said, “Tsk. Tsk.”

  “I did not realize what I was doing.” He stepped forward, lifting his palms in the air. “My ear was bent to the ranting of an evil, vile creature,” he defended. Even though, deep down, he still knew it was his fault.

  “And yet,” said Merlin. “When I tried to give you warning, you and you alone chose not to heed my warning.” Merlin dragged his fingers across the rough-hewn surface of his worktable. Reaching for the bowl in the center, he pulled out a few dried herbs and tossed them into the kettle hanging over a pile of hot coals in the hearth. The concoction hissed and bubbled, spluttering white puffs of smoke into the air. Brushing his hands off, he walked towards the door.

  “You cannot leave!” cried Milford.

  Merlin cocked his brow. “Oh I beg to differ. I can and will when it suits me.” He turned to go.

  “Pleeease wait,” he begged, tears blurring his vision.

  Merlin paused. “Why should I?”

  “I am desperate.” Tears slid down his cheeks. “I need your help. You are the only one powerful enough.”

  “Ah, now it is my power you seek?” he inquired darkly.

  “I came to you before, but you turned me down,” he tried to defend his actions.

  “And look!” Merlin flung out his arm. “You have returned to me so I may fix something that should have never come to pass in the first place.” He shook his head. What am I to do with you, my little foolish friend?”

  Milford swiped his nose with his tunic sleeve and shrugged.

  Merlin leaned down and caught his eye. “Hmm, what shall I do?” Standing up fully once more, he crossed his arms and began tapping his chin.

  Dong. Dong. Dong.

  Each tap he made coincided with a bell tolling.

  Milford widened his eyes. The constant ringing was getting louder and louder. Time was running out. “I am begging you to help me, please.”

  “I am sorry what are you saying?” Merlin lifted his hand to his ear. “I cannot hear you over the tolling bells.”

  Young Milford got down on his knees. “Please my lord, I beg of you…” Clasping his hands together, he shook them in the air, like a mendicant. “Please help me.”

  The tolling bells stopped abruptly.

  Milford looked around the room, his hands still firmly clasped in front of him.

  “What are you willing to sacrifice?” Merlin asked breaking apart the deafening silence with his question.

  “Sacrifice?” he asked. “I will give up anything, and go to any lengths to fix what I have done.”

  “So be it,” he said simply. With a flick of his wrist, the door creaked open wider, revealing an illuminated passageway.

  Milford blinked. It looked like a million little dots of light clustered together. “How long?” he asked. His lip quivered and a steady stream of tears began anew, spilling down his pale dirty face.

  “However long it takes.” Merlin stepped forward toward the light.

  Milford felt cheated. “What?” He stood up and pressed his thin shoulders back. “I cannot live forever!” he yelled out, his small upturned face turning from pale to red.

  “Oh, I beg to differ. In this instance, you can and will. At least until your job is finished… even if it takes an eternity.”

  “I do not understand why you cannot simply bring her back.”

  Merlin regarded him in his own space of silence. His heart felt heavy. “It is not that simple,” he murmured distractedly.

  “But you are so powerful,” persisted young Milford.

  He laughed at that, it had a bittersweet edge to it. “Oh my little foolish friend,” he exhaled, shaking his head. “Even I am not that powerful.”

  The sound of chair scraping on the stone floor pulled Milford back from his reverie. He inhaled a lungful of air feeling as though he had just taken a long nap. He looked around the small room. “Where is Lance?”

  “Lance?” the man gave him a questioning look, seemingly confused.

  “Yes Lance.” Milford looked at him curiously gauging his reaction or lack thereof. Had he lost some of his memory? By the looks of it, the man had already lost his ever-loving mind. Oh, perfect. “Do you not remember your pet my lord?”

  “Oh, right, Lance.” He waved his hand in the air dismissively. “He had other things to attend to.”

  What other things would a bird have to attend to? It was just a bird…right? The mere thought gave him the willies. Shaking slightly within, he reluctantly pulled out the chair. The legs scraped across the stones underneath loudly and once again, he caught sight of the patterns carved on top.

  “So,” Merlin began, breaking into his thoughts. “What news do you have for me this time?” he asked and then let out a world-weary sigh.

  Milford straightened his waistcoat, and situated himself on his seat. “Well, some things have happened.”

  “What might those things be?” Merlin asked.

  “Ah…” Milford pulled at a string on his sleeve but it would not break, instead it kept unraveling much like the legend that had turned into a damned curse.

  “Do tell,” Merlin prodded. “Are you finished then? Has your purpose been served? Have you magically set to rights your mistakes from the past? Is everything in place now, and as it should be?” He gave him a pointed look, which was anything but reassuring.

  “Not exactly,” Milford hedged, not liking the strange gleam in the man’s eyes.

  “Of course they are not or I would not still be sitting here…would I?” he asked resentfully.

  Milford flinched from his tone. “No, I suppose you are correct. You wouldn’t be sitting here,” he said and neither would I, he thought a little bitterly.

  “Well, you have news then?”

&nb
sp; Milford glanced across the room to where a lone key hung on the wall—taunting him. So close, but yet, still so far away. “Of course,” he lied.

  “Do tell,” Merlin urged. “The suspense is killing me.” He made a choking sound and flailed his arms in the air.

  Milford started from his chair to help the man but he was stuck in place. He felt glued to the seat.

  Merlin laughed but it came out more of a derisive snort. “I am fine,” he assured him. “I was merely seeing if you were listening to me.” He lifted a bold brow at him as if daring him in some way to admit the contrary.

  Beads of perspiration broke out on his skin. Was he so easily read then? Was the man onto him? Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a crisp handkerchief and mopped the gathering sweat from his brow. He tried to visualize his happy place in his mind. Images of palm trees swaying in the breeze entered his mind along with visons of glistening crystal blue waters with waves rolling over and crashing against white sandy beaches.

  “I wonder…” He paused and placed his hand on the table, rhythmically tapping the top with his fingers in thought and then suddenly he stopped as though a thought had just occurred to him. “I have to say…you do seem a bit … preoccupied.”

  “Well, it has been a trying day.” Milford shifted in his chair.

  “Hmm, what has been so trying? Do tell. I can assure you I am all ears.” He lifted his hands to the side of his head and suddenly his ears were as large as an elephants.

  “Your ears…” Milford grappled for perchance on the table. He felt like he would lose his dinner at any given moment.

  Merlin laughed so hard his eyes began to water. He lifted his hands and shook them in the air. And just like that, his ears were normal again. “Ah, it is so pleasant to have company.” He chuckled and wiped a tear from his eye. “I find so little gives me amusement these days. Thank you for the diversion.”

  “No problem, my lord.” What Milford really wanted to call him was something altogether different. A donkey’s arse would have been fitting.

  A wish fulfilled

  THE AGE OF CHIVALRYTHE HIDDEN GLEN

  THE point of a sword was under her chin and Marguerite could not help but wonder if she should just lean forward and end the madness that had become her life once and for all.

  But then what?

  Would she float off into oblivion and then what purpose would her life have served?

  Life is a gift after all…a precious irreplaceable one.

  No.

  Taking the simple way out was not an option—she was not a quitter.

  She was a fighter.

  And she may not understand why her life had taken so many hard turns of late but maybe she was not meant to. Maybe she had yet to discover what her true purpose was. Perhaps her answer was around the corner she had yet to turn or maybe through a door she had yet to open?

  For now, it may be out of her grasp but something deep inside let her know that this thing she sought was not out of her reach. She only needed to wait it out. And at the end of the day is that not what life was supposed to be? Without the bad, could you ever truly appreciate the good when you find it? And without having to walk in the darkness of night how could you ever truly welcome the light of day when it arrives? Oh and what a travesty her life would have been if she foolishly ended her life early and ultimately cheated herself out of the very thing she wanted most of all…her very own happily ever after.

  Taking a bracing breath, she looked up the length of the gleaming steel, to the hand that held it, and further still, to the handsome visage of the man standing in front of her—his dark penetrating gaze boring down into her own. Please remember me, she prayed. “Hello, my love,” she said, her eyes reflecting all the emotion she held inside.

  Darias blinked. His chest tightened. His sword wavered. My love? “I think you have me confused with another,” he rasped out, his vision blurring. A piercing ache stabbed behind his eyes but he could not relinquish his eye contact with the girl even though doing so caused him even greater pain. The length of steel in his hand seemed to lower by its own accord, plunging deeply into damp earth. Only afterward did he realize he was the one that had put it there.

  He dropped the blade and staggered backward. Turning he settled his haunted, anguished gaze on her. “I did not mean…” he began, shaking his head, his face a mask of confusion and pain, marring his otherwise perfect brow. “ By the saint’s above…” He looked upward. “What is the matter with me?” He fell forward to his knees, and gave her beseeching look. “Please forgive me…,” he begged.

  Reaching out she embraced him.

  He buried his face against her stomach, wrapping his arms around her, holding her tightly. “I do not know what is wrong with me.”

  “It will be all right.” She tried to soothe him, reassure him, lending him her strength to battle against the demons that waged a war inside of his mind. “I promise.”

  He tightened his hold on her while she ran her fingers down the length of his silken strands of hair.

  They stayed wrapped in one another’s embrace until the roiling clouds of the storm had finally dissipated and the warm rays of the early morning sun slanted down through the treetops covering them both in its glorious light.

  It was then, in that one perfect moment that Marguerite Elisabeth Dupre’ knew without a doubt that her very own happily ever after just may be within reach after all.

  All in due time

  PRESENT DAYRAVENHURST

  REED lay awake staring at the ceiling or what would be the ceiling if it wasn’t still so dark. The bed moved beside him and he couldn’t help but wonder if Raven was awake as well. “Are you awake?” he whispered just to see.

  Raven froze, holding her breath. Of course she was awake…Reed was lying beside her. His close proximity to her own body made it impossible to sleep even though what had happened between them earlier had made her feel relaxed.

  In the distance, she could hear the groan of the ancient clock grinding out four chimes. It sounded as though the damn thing was about to keel over. She thought she might too, from embarrassment. “Yes,” she finally answered.

  “I am truly sorry…for earlier.”

  “No problem.”

  He laughed, and even in the darkness, she could hear the hard edge to it. “What is it that you want from me?” he asked.

  “I don’t know.” That was another one of her big fat lies. There were so many different things she wanted from him she couldn’t count them all.

  “I never thought I would get married…” he began trying to explain his actions or lack thereof.

  Oh, perfect.

  “I do like being with you though and the thought of being married… to you, doesn’t freak me out nearly as much as I thought it would.”

  Oh big whoop! “Well, thanks…I guess. It was just a practice anyway…right? If I get married…I mean when I do get married… it will be good practice for that day, so it wasn’t for nothing.”

  His stomach twisted. “I am sure you will make some man very happy…”

  “Thanks,” she cut him off, not wanting to hear anymore.

  “Do you have someone in mind?” His stomach twisted a bit more. “I mean is there someone special in your life.”

  Yes. It’s you idiot. “No. I mean yes.”

  “Is there or isn’t there?”

  “Well I meant to say that of course there is someone I care for.”

  “Oh,” he said. “I didn’t realize, since you know… what we did earlier.”

  “Um,” she said and bit down on her lip hard. “We are taking a break right now,” she said finally, dumping out another big fat lie. It was becoming a habit.

  “Well, I am glad to hear that,” he exhaled seemingly relieved by the prospect. “I don’t think I am the kind of man someone like you would want to be saddled with until death do us part.”

  The reciting of their vows, even in part made her stomach pitch. Her temper flared. “G
ee Reed—you don’t have to sound so blasé about it all.”

  He turned and faced her. “What do you want from me?”

  Everything. “Nothing.”

  “So we are good then?”

  “I guess.”

  “May I…?”

  “What?” she snapped completely irritated with the way the conversation was going.

  “I can’t sleep.”

  Good, neither can I. “And?” she asked feeling he wanted to say more.

  “May I hold you for a bit?”

  What the hell for? He was killing her. “Sure.”

  Reed slid closer to her, and wrapped his arm around her stomach pulling her back into his chest. He inhaled her hair and then adjusted himself. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

  “I don’t mind you holding me if it helps you sleep better.”

  “I wasn’t talking about that.”

  She noticed he sounded angry. “Oh, what were you talking about?” She shifted in his arms.

  “Helping me find the treasure,” he elaborated. “You did say you were good at figuring out puzzles.”

  “I am.”

  “Well you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

  “I said I would, unless… you don’t want me to now.”

  “No. I do.”

  “Okay then.”

  “Okay what?”

  “It’s settled. I will help you find the treasure.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” He tightened his hold on her pulling her closer and she didn’t think she would be able to sleep but the warmth from his body relaxed her even more and soon she was fast asleep in his arms.

  Reed didn’t think he would get any sleep either, but he wanted to hold her for a bit, because he didn’t think he would ever have another chance. And for some reason he didn’t want to miss out on doing such a seemingly simple thing. Surprisingly enough even though he wasn’t tired he too fell asleep holding her warm body close to his own.

  Another beginning

  THE AGE OF CHIVALRYTHE HIDDEN GLEN

  THERE were some things Marguerite knew for fact, and many more she didn’t. And she didn’t pretend to either, but right now, she wished she knew a lot more than she did. Especially now, that Darias was acting so strangely.