The idea of her figuring that out put a scowl on his face.
He wanted her to belong here – with him.
Chapter 17
Vaughn peered out the front of what Jonathan called the truck. She had never seen such a wonder as this. This conveyance… this truck was almost magical. Like sledding down a snowy hill. Except there was no snow, and there was no hill. They were gliding along a dirt road as though there was nothing to it.
When Jonathan had suggested they go out to look for a Christmas tree, she’d put on the warmest clothes she could find.
His friend was coming to visit tonight, so she was saving the blue dress she’d found in the trunk for that occasion. It was going to be a surprise for Jonathan. She couldn’t wait to dress properly as she was accustomed to.
She pushed aside the thought that the long blue ball gown might not be proper dress for 1969, if indeed that’s where she was.
Jonathan pulled the truck off the side of the road and turned off the motor.
“There should be a good tree out here,” he said, nodding toward a grove of trees. “I’ll come around.”
While she waited, he came around the truck, opened the door, and helped her out. After he set her firmly on her feet, he kept his hands on her waist. She blinked and lifted her chin until her eyes met his.
The cold air swirled around them, sending a shiver through her. Gazing into his blue eyes, she forgot about the possibility of being in a different time. She forgot to worry about what appropriate fashion was.
She saw only his crooked grin as he stared into her eyes.
Another one of those trucks passed by, this one going much faster. Jonathan lifted a hand and waved as the driver passed.
“Come on,” Jonathan said after he grabbed an ax from the back of the truck and tossed it over his shoulder. “Let’s go find us a Christmas tree.”
Vaughn had spent some time in the woods growing up. The nuns insisted on a daily walk, weather permitting. Their walks, however, were on a smooth pathway. Not through the woods with no path and no direction.
Jonathan stepped over a log and took her hand to help her over.
“Where are we going?” She asked.
“I remember some nice trees over this way.”
“Can you find your way back?” She asked. She saw no landmarks to give them direction, and with the cloudy sky, there was no sunlight to follow.
“Of course,” he said. “I used to hunt here all the time.”
“You no longer hunt?” She asked.
“Rarely.”
“Then how do you get food?”
He glanced at her oddly, but said. “I purchase it.”
“Ah.” Of course. That’s what the nuns did. She wasn’t sure how her father acquired food for her and her mother before they were killed. She had no memory of him either going hunting or coming home with game. As a child, she’d had no reason to be concerned with where her meals came from.
Suddenly, Jonathan stopped and looked to his left.
Vaughn stopped also and followed his gaze.
She was unprepared for what she saw.
Chapter 18
One of Jonathan’s earliest memories was of walking through these woods with his father, Bradford Becquerel.
Bradford had an entrepreneurial spirit. For one, he’d planted acres of Fraser fir trees.
Someday, Jonathan, these trees will all be yours. They’ll be worth something someday.
Jonathan had put the trees in the back of his mind as he’d attended college, then flight school, and finally had gone to Vietnam.
Now, with Vaughn, he’d remembered that he had a grove of Christmas trees on his very own land. Considering that they had been left unattended for nearly fifteen years, the seedlings had grown up nicely.
“They’re lovely,” Vaughn said.
“My father planted them,” Jonathan said, proudly.
“Which one do we get?”
“You pick,” he said. “Pick out any one, and I’ll chop it down.”
Her eyes bright, she walked among the trees, one hand outstretched to run along the branches as she passed.
He followed, watching her.
He was enchanted. Everything looked different through her eyes. It looked new and shiny.
The trees had gotten too big. He should have cut them years ago and sold them. Unfortunately, running a tree farm had never been one of his life goals.
But with Vaughn… everything looked different.
Maybe when he came back from his tour in Vietnam… His service with the Air Force would be completed. Maybe they could fix up the Christmas tree farm and, with just a little word of mouth, make a go of it.
“I like this one,” Vaughn said, both hands on the branches of one of the taller trees, a smile across her face.
“I like this one, too,” Jonathan said, but he was looking at Vaughn, not the tree.
So this is how it happens.
Jonathan had earned a college degree, learned to fly airplanes, and fought for his country on the other side of the world.
But, never, not once, had he found the right girl. And here she was. She’d dropped down into his bedroom.
If that wasn’t divine intervention, he didn’t know what was.
Now all he had to do was get himself back alive and in one piece from Vietnam – again. And keep Vaughn here in the meantime.
Fortunately, he had until after the new year to convince her to stay.
He lifted the ax off his shoulder and rested it on the ground.
“Are you sure?” He asked. “With all these trees, at least a hundred, how did you pick this one?”
“Sometimes you just know these things,” she said, a mischievous smile on her face.
He nodded. Sometimes you just had to go with your gut.
He almost didn’t notice at first as the first snowflake floated down and landed on his sleeve. But another quickly followed.
She noticed then, too, and held out her hand. “It’s snowing!” She said.
He grinned. A rare snowfall in Natchez. At Christmas time. While hunting for a Christmas tree.
It was one of those rare magical moments in time. A time when everything seemed to come together.
He released the ax, letting it fall to the ground, and moved toward her. His gaze must have been intense because she took two steps back, standing behind the tree limbs.
Reaching her quickly, her took her elbows in his hands, pulling her toward him. He placed one hand on her cheek and, placing a finger under her chin, tilted her face toward his. Her lips parted slightly, and her eyes fluttered closed.
He moved forward until his breath mingled with hers. His lips were so close to hers, he could almost feel them. A snowflake landed on his cheek.
He pulled her against him and touched his lips against hers. He felt, more than heard, the little gasp that escaped on a breath.
Neither one of them moved as the seconds ticked past. They were locked there in their own little snow globe.
Jonathan felt his world tilt and shift beneath him.
Vaughn was the girl he wanted.
She was one he’d been waiting for.
Chapter 19
Vaughn held the door open while Jonathan brought the tree inside. It hadn’t looked nearly so big growing outside in the wild .
He’d chopped it down, loaded it onto the back of the truck, and now he stood staring at it. The tree stretched across the foyer.
“Will it fit?” She asked.
“It might be too tall.”
“What do we need to do?” She asked.
“I’ll build a frame for it, then we’ll stand it up. If it’s too tall, I’ll cut the top out.”
“Too bad we can’t measure it first,” Vaughn commented.
He shrugged. “We could, but I think it’ll fit.”
The clock chimed twelve times.
“Are you hungry?” He asked.
“A little,” she nodded. The crisp cool air had s
tirred her appetite.
“If you’ll make some sandwiches, I’ll go out and cut some boards.”
She wanted to watch him cut the boards. She wanted to see how everything worked, but she also wanted a moment to think about what had happened in the woods.
She wanted a moment to cherish the magical moment when he’d kissed her with snowflakes falling all around them.
She’d never been kissed before. And she could still feel the light pressure of his lips against hers.
She nodded and left him to go into the kitchen. She’d watched him make sandwiches yesterday, so it was easy enough to replicate what he’d done. She opened the package of bread and took out four slices, putting them on a plate that she took from the cupboard.
She then opened what she thought of as the cold box and took out other things needed for the sandwich.
Since she’d never been kissed before, she had nothing to compare to that moment with Jonathan. It was all she could think about. His soft, firm lips on hers. She couldn’t help but wonder if this meant they would get married.
Would he want to kiss her again? Her thoughts swirled as she opened another package and took out slices of turkey. Putting them in a pan, she slid them into the little oven sitting on the counter. She mimicked what she had seen Jonathan do and turned a little knob. She smiled when the oven began to heat.
While she waited, she pulled a little book from a stack of mail and flipped through the pages. It was obviously a catalog selling clothing and other items. All the ladies wore dresses that were too short. Like the ones Jonathan had bought her, they stopped at their knees. The images showed them wearing these dresses out in public. This America was much different than anyone had warned her about.
She placed the warm turkey on the bread, cut a tomato, and put that, too, on the sandwich.
She felt safe here with Jonathan. There was so much about this world that she didn’t know about, but it didn’t seem to matter. She stood and stared at the calendar. 1969.
There was so much to learn. Like the motorized truck. The telephone. The short dress.
Taking the sandwiches, she took them into the foyer where Jonathan was nailing boards around the bottom of the tree.
When she walked into the room, he stopped and looked up to smile at her. Her heart skipped a beat, and she smiled back.
Sitting next to the fir tree, with the snow falling outside, they ate sandwiches she had made.
Vaughn wanted this moment to never end.
Chapter 20
Jonathan watched the snowfall coming down like rain now. He hoped his friend decided not to stop by. The weather was too bad for travel.
Besides, he wanted to keep Vaughn all to himself. He didn’t want their idyllic time to be interrupted by a guest.
He turned and looked at the tree. After they ate lunch, they’d stood the tree up. The top of the tree was bent over against the ceiling by only a few inches. Not enough to worry about.
After hauling the trunk stuffed full of Christmas decorations downstairs, Jonathan left Vaughn sorting them while he brought in firewood and built a fire in the fireplace. When he came back, she had decorations sorted all over the floor.
If there was one thing he could say for her, she was organized. She’d organized the clothes in his bureau and now the Christmas decorations. He wondered if she would like to have lights for the tree, but given her austere tendencies, he decided to see what she would do without lights.
“Do you have everything you need?” He asked.
She lifted her gaze from where she sat on the floor surrounded by hand-carved little toy decorations and delicate glass balls. “I’ll be needing your help,” she said.
Her long dark hair was pulled around to fall over her left shoulder. Her eyes were bright, and, again, he was struck by how delicate her features were.
Going to her side and kneeling next to her, his pulse raced through his veins. He would do anything for her and wanted more than anything to spend time with her. “How can I help?”
“We need to get these decorations up there,” she said, pointing toward the tree towering over them. “And this angel goes at the very top.”
He glanced toward the top of the tree. He was going to need a ladder. He lowered his gaze back to hers. She was smiling impishly.
It was more than he could handle.
He put one hand gently behind her head and placed his lips against hers. Time ceased to exist, and the rest of the world faded away.
Chapter 21
Vaughn grasped Jonathan’s shoulders as he leaned her back and kissed her. All thoughts left her mind as his lips pressed against hers.
He pulled back and pressed his forehead against hers.
“I have to leave in three weeks.”
“For how long?” She asked, trying to focus.
“I have to be gone for a year.”
She pulled away from him to better look into his eyes. “A year?” A year may as well be forever.
“There’s a war,” he said. “I have to fight.”
“You’re a soldier?”
“I’m actually a commander, but yes, I’m a soldier. After this year, my time will be up, and I don’t have to be in the military anymore.”
“You need me to go,” she said, swallowing the panic that stirred in her throat at the impossibility of finding her way in this time.
“No,” he said. “No. No. I want you to stay.”
“You want to me to stay here?” She asked.
“Please,” he said. “Please wait for me.”
She stood up and walked to the front door. Turned around. “You want me to stay here. In your house?”
“Yes.”
“What will I do?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “What do you like to do?”
“I read and study and…” She thought about Beau and Abigail. “I’m a tutor.”
“You could teach,” he said, standing up and stepping over the decorations to reach her.
She shook her head. He had no idea what he was asking. Yes, she could teach. But there were too many hurdles to overcome. Hurdles she couldn’t even begin to imagine.
This was not her world.
She wanted to be here with Jonathan. But not here by herself. Not for a year. An afternoon maybe. Maybe even overnight now and then.
But not a year. She was shaking her head. “I can’t.”
“But we have the rest of our lives once I get back.”
“I’m not from here. I don’t know how to survive that long. I’m not ready.”
“I’ll get you ready. We have three weeks.”
She laughed and lowered her head. Three weeks to catch her up on hundreds of years. It wasn’t possible. “I shouldn’t even be here.”
She saw the pain in his eyes as she said the words. But it was true.
She shouldn’t be here.
She had been born in 1697. In her world, it was 1714. If she told him she had traveled through time, he would think she was crazy. She barely believed it herself, much less to ask someone else to believe it.
“It’s OK,” he said. “I’ll get the ladder.”
He turned and walked toward the storage room to get the ladder. She’d hurt him. She saw it in his eyes before he turned around.
Her heart heavy, she went into the parlor and stood in front of the fireplace, holding her hands out to soak up the warmth from the flames.
She needed to get dressed. His friend Edward would be here soon. She would wear the black dress with the white dots. She could wear the soft trousers beneath it since it was snowing outside. If it was a fashion faux pas, she would be forgiven due to the cold weather. She would put the blue ball gown on tomorrow when they were alone. According to what she could discern, it was no longer anywhere near the current fashion.
Vaughn didn’t know what to do. She wanted to be here with him. But he wanted her to wait here for a year. A whole year!
I have nothing else to do.
The r
ealization came out of nowhere. In truth, this was the best thing. If he asked her to leave, she would be homeless. Homeless in a strange country in a strange time. Thanks be to God that she was blessed to have learned English.
She turned her back to the fire and lifted her chin. Whatever it was she needed to do to survive in this time, she could do it. She could learn. She was fluent in four languages. She could sketch. She could stitch. She could play the piano.
She could learn which buttons to press to heat her food and wash her clothes.
Vaughn could wait for one year until Jonathan returned in order to be with him.
He was more than key to her survival. She was falling in love with him.
When she heard him setting up the ladder, she went back to the foyer and stood next to him.
“Okay,” she said, the word feeling strange on her lips. “I’ll wait for you.”
A grin broke out across his face. He reached out and took her hand in his, linking his fingers with his. “Why the sudden change of heart?” He asked.
“It was unexpected. And I was overcome with fear,” she admitted.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “I’ll give you a phone number you can call to reach me if you need anything at all.” He pulled her against him. “Or if you’re just afraid. You can talk to me on the telephone.”
She pulled back and smiled at him. “A year isn’t so very long,” she said. “I can read about your history and catch up.”
“I’ll get you books from the library,” he said. “You said you like to study. When I get back, you can teach me everything you’ve learned.”
“I can do that.” The heaviness lifted from her heart as she looked into his blue eyes. This man wanted her to wait for him while he fought a war.
She was blessed.
Chapter 22
Loud knocking at the door disturbed Jonathan and Vaughn from putting the last touches on the Christmas tree.
“It must be Edward,” Vaughn said.
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