“I’m done talking, Osborne,” Hastings bellowed. He stepped closer, and adjusted the butt of his rifle against his shoulder. The muscle in Dan’s arm flinched, and he fired the flintlock. In the same instant, the cracking sound as several bullets fired deafened Jana’s ears. She didn’t hear her own screams, and the world moved in slow motion. Like in a surreal dream, she watched Dan collapse to the ground in front of her. Her arm felt like lead, reaching for him. Her lungs filled with air, taking in the acrid odor of black powder from Dan’s rifle. The weapon hit the floor with a loud thud, and Jana screamed Dan’s name.
Her knees hit the wooden floor, but she ignored the pain shooting up her legs from the impact. Her vision blurred when she grasped Dan’s heavy, limp arm. A dark shadow nearly drowned out the light coming through the cabin door, and in the next instant, Hastings dropped to the ground, blood spewing from his neck. Daniel loomed over him, a large hunting knife in his hand. Her heart pounded in her ears, drowning out all sound.
With a trembling hand, Jana swiped at the tears in her eyes. She tugged on Dan’s arm. Blood soaked his shirt. “No!” she screamed again and again. She leaned over him, and fresh tears streamed down her face. She hastily blinked them away.
“No. Dan . . . nooo. Please, . . .” she pleaded. Her hands were sticky with his blood, and his lifeless eyes stared up at her. Jana frantically searched for a pulse, then leaned her head against his chest. Her mind refused to believe what she knew was the truth. He was gone. Dead. She cradled his face between trembling hands. “No, Dan. Please, . . . don’t leave me. Please . . . I love you.” She kissed his lips.
The world around her ceased to exist. Jana fought the arms that pulled her away from him, and carried her somewhere away from Dan. Muffled voices spoke in the background, and infants cried loudly. Aimee’s familiar voice close to her ear didn’t quite penetrate her mind. Dan was gone. It was all she understood.
Jana didn’t know how much time had passed, when Aimee spoke to her again. She looked around, her eyes unfocused, not really seeing anything. Her hands touched soft furs beneath where she sat. A lamp was lit in the corner of the room, casting a warm, dim light around her.
“Dan?” she called, the sound of her voice foreign to her own ears.
“Daniel found their camp, but Hastings was already gone,” Aimee said, her arm around Jana’s shoulder. “He hurried back home, but he didn’t get here in time, Jana. He was a second too late.” Aimee’s voice cracked. She pulled Jana into an embrace, and Jana clung to her. They both trembled and cried in each other’s arms.
“He died, protecting you and me,” Aimee whispered.
Dan was dead. He was lost to her forever. The finality of that thought was too much for her to bear. Her mind conjured his smiling face, his passion-filled eyes, the tender touch of his hands, and she squeezed her eyes shut. All gone.
****
The next several days passed in a blur. Jana couldn’t think, couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. She merely existed. The day after Dan’s death, Aimee asked her the question that made his death final.
“Do you want to take his body home to the future?”
Jana shook her head. “No,” she sniffed. She stared across the valley to the east, to the dark mountains stretching high into the sky.
“This looks like a spot I’d want to be buried at.” Dan’s words echoed in her mind. “He wanted to be buried on Purple Mountain. Right here, to overlook the valley. This is where he wants to be.”
Daniel carved his and Aimee’s names in a rock, and dated it 1811. Underneath, he carved the words, Dan Husband to Jana. Jana stared at the rock when he showed it to her. A shiver raced up her spine. The grave Dan had found on Purple Mountain, the one he’d shown her, thinking it was Aimee’s, had been his own! Age had weathered away all of the inscription except for Aimee’s name and the date.
Daniel found the time travel device in Hastings shirt pocket. Aimee handed it to her a day later, and had asked if Jana wanted to stay with her and Daniel in the past.
“I can’t,” she answered. “I can’t live in this time. This is your world. It’s time I returned home.” Her life was forever changed, but she couldn’t remain here. She would do what she had planned to do all along. Go home to California, and try and forget all that had happened. Try and forget the man she loved above everything else. She knew it would be impossible.
Kissing each of the twins on their cheeks, Jana hugged first Daniel and then Aimee in a warm farewell.
“Yellowstone exists because of you,” Jana said, smiling softly at both of them. “This was your destiny all along.”
She stepped out of the cabin and walked across the meadow. Looking to the east, she gazed up at the purple-hued mountains. She could almost feel Dan looking down at her, and she blew a kiss in his direction. A soft breeze lifted her hair, and swept softly along her cheek. Jana closed her eyes, and raised her chin into the wind, imagining Dan’s fingers caressing her face.
“Keep a watch on the valley, my love,” she whispered, and with the tears flowing freely from her eyes, touched the right eye of the snake.
Chapter 30
Jana’s head spun dizzily. The echoes of many people talking at once all around her pounded her mind. Groaning, she raised her heavy eyelids, holding a hand to her temple to ease the dizziness. Without even looking, she knew that she was back in her own time.
“Dan,” she whispered his name. “Dan, I love you.” She sniffed, and reached into her pocket. Startled, she realized she held the snakehead in her hand.
Quickly, she returned the time travel device to her pocket. She didn’t want anyone to see it, and perhaps comment on the strange object. The device had caused enough trouble already. It would be up to her now to dispose of it, she realized. Jana ran her hand over the soft leather that bound Aimee’s ancient journal. Strange that she should have it with her now.
An icy breeze touched her face, sending a shiver down her spine. Glancing up, a large crowd of hikers entered the lobby of the inn. In the back of her mind, Jana thought the scene looked oddly familiar. An overwhelming feeling of déjà vu hit her. It was as if she had lived this moment once before. No. It couldn’t be possible! The time travel device didn’t work that way. Past events could never be repeated.
A tear hit the leather of the pouch clasped in her hand, leaving a dark spot on the tan colored hide. Jana sniffed, and she wiped at her eyes.
“Now what would cause such a lovely woman to cry on such a beautiful day here in Yellowstone?”
Jana looked up, startled by the ranger who had sat down next to her on the couch she occupied. A split second passed, and Jana shrunk back in shock. Her hand flew to her mouth, and she gasped.
“Dan?” she whispered in disbelief. For a moment, she was frozen to the spot. She couldn’t move, or think. He was here, alive and well. Her eyes roamed quickly over his uniform. There wasn’t a drop of blood in sight. He sat down beside her, a wide grin on his face. She sobbed again, ready to throw her arms around his neck, when his next words stopped her cold.
“Yeah, my name’s Dan,” he said, pointing to the name badge on his uniform. Jana clearly read the name, Daniel Osborne.
Her mind raced for comprehension. He didn’t recognize her. He didn’t know her. Her hand shot to the time travel device in her pocket. She had come back to the future, but not to the time she left. It was the only explanation. The device had sent her home, but two months prior to when she left, to the time when she’d first come to Yellowstone to search for Aimee’s journal. She glanced down at her hands. That’s why she had the journal with her now.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” the ranger flashed her a radiant smile. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jana replied slowly. “You . . . you remind me of someone.” Dan, don’t you remember me? Don’t you remember anything that’s happened? I love you. Why was she the only one who remembered?
“Well, I hope that’s a good thing,” he grinned. His se
nsual voice penetrated her thoughts. “So, you didn’t answer my question.”
“Huh?”
“What is a lovely lady doing in this grand park, crying. There is no such thing as a bad day in Yellowstone.”
“I was reading.” Jana shrugged, fingering the pouch with the leather bound journal in her hands.
“Tell you what.” Dan patted her on the knee. “I just got back from a six hour hike, and I’m real hungry and thirsty. Would you care to join me for dinner and a drink? I’m off duty as of now.”
“Sure, I’d love to.” She was still staring at him, disbelief on her face. You’ve been given a second chance, Jana. Don’t walk away this time. She searched her memory, trying to remember their initial conversation when he’d first approached her, and asked her to dinner.
“Can I ask you something?” she asked tentatively.
“Sure.”
“Has your family lived in this area long?”
Dan laughed. “My family has roots here since time began. I think my great, great, great, great, something great-grandfather was one of the first fur trappers in this region. I was named after him. Legend has it he fell head over heels in love with a woman who appeared out of nowhere in the Yellowstone wilderness, and they lived happily ever after. What a weird question to ask, though.”
“Well, Dan.” Jana stood up. “It’s about to get a lot weirder.”
He stood to his feet as well and led her toward the lodge’s restaurant. “Ok, now I’m mighty curious.”
“Not only are you named after your ancestor, but you could be his twin brother.” Jana smiled at the perplexed look on his face. Not giving him a chance to react further, she held up Aimee’s journal, and continued, “I hope they serve something pretty stiff to drink here, because you’re going to need it after I’m done with the story I’m about to tell you.”
He responded to her odd statement with that grin she’d come to know and love. Would he have the same feelings for her now as he’d told her he had the first time they met?
Dan led her through the lobby to the Inn’s restaurant. After they were seated, he leaned forward, still smiling broadly.
“Do you have a name?” he asked, his eyebrows raised expectantly.
“Jana. Jana Evans,” she answered quickly, and took a hasty drink from the water glass next to her place setting.
“So, tell me Jana . . . Evans, how long are you here in Yellowstone?” His voice had gone deep and sensual, his eyes darkening from the chocolate brown they’d been a moment ago to an almost midnight black. He reached a hand across the table, softly covering her own. Jana sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes. Memories of her weeks spent with him flooded her mind. Memories of their night under the buffalo robes in an Indian wickiup, when he made her his wife in the Sheepeater tradition.
Dan, you have to remember.
“I’ll be here as long as it takes,” she whispered, and opened her eyes. This was not how she remembered the conversation from three months ago.
Dan cleared his throat. “You know, I’ve changed my mind about dinner,” he said, and to her surprise, stood. Hesitantly, she pushed her chair back from the table and rose to her feet.
“There’s still a lot of daylight left. Would you care to take a walk with me?”
Lost for words, she merely nodded. Dan took her hand. He pointed at the leather pouch on the table.
“Don’t forget your book. That looks to be quite rare. Not something you’d want to leave lying around, I bet.”
Jana hastily grabbed the journal, and allowed him to lead her out of the building into the bright late afternoon sunshine. Too baffled by his behavior to speak, she kept pace with his leisurely stride as he navigated his way through the parking lot toward the geyser basin, past Old Faithful, and across the Firehole River.
“Have you ever seen Old Faithful go off from Observation Point?” he finally asked when they reached the familiar trailhead leading up the steep incline to the spot of their first unofficial date over a month ago.
“Yes, I have,” Jana said, blinking back the tears that threatened. It was as if she was reliving different parts of different first dates with Dan.
He smiled at her, and motioned for her to head up the hill ahead of him. In much better shape to climb the steep switchbacks this time than she had been six weeks ago, Jana reached the top without being winded. She gazed out at the vast expanse of the Lower Geyser Basin below. Castle Geyser spouted water high in the air in the distance, putting on a nice display for a group of eager tourists. The water runoffs and pools of hotsprings glistened as the late afternoon sun shimmered down on them.
“It’s really beautiful up here,” she said quietly, and turned. Dan stood inches behind her. That look in his eyes, the look he reserved only for her when he held her close, when he’d made love to her, shone in their depths. Jana’s heart sped up. Would he fall in love with her a second time?
“Yeah, nothing beats the view from up here,” he said huskily, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. Jana didn’t resist. Her arms reached up of their own will, snaking around his neck, pulling him to her.
Dan lowered his head, and their lips met, pressing against each other first slow and soft, then with an urgency neither of them could hold back. Jana moaned. He pulled his head back slightly, and cupped her face between his hands.
“I kissed you like this in a Crow hunting camp two centuries ago,” he whispered. “I remember making love to you, claiming you as my wife under the covers of a Sheepeater wickiup. Tell me you remember it, too, Jana.”
Jana sobbed and wrapped her arms around him tightly, breathing in his scent as if she wanted to burn it into her memory forever.
“You remember?” she sobbed, her words barely audible. “I didn’t think you remembered. I remember everything, Dan. I love you.” She pulled his face toward hers, and kissed him again, slowly and tenderly. “I thought I lost you. I thought you were dead.”
“Everything is blank in my mind after Hastings’ bullets hit me. I woke up here, ready to take my group of hikers to Shoshone Lake. At first I thought I had dreamt everything, but the more time went by, the more vivid the memories became. When I walked into the Old Faithful lobby, and saw you sitting there, in that same spot you were in before, looking as sad as the first time I saw you, I had to make sure you remembered, too. That it was real, and not just a dream.”
“We have a chance to start over,” she said hopefully.
“Yeah, we do.” He held her close and smiled down at her. “The mistakes I made, deceiving you, I’m getting a do-over. And I’m planning to do it right this time.”
A disturbing thought entered her mind. “If you’re here, alive, then Hastings must be here as well. Daniel killed him and his accomplice in the past. They’ll remember everything, too.”
Dan laughed softly. “Who’s gonna believe them if they bring it up? Hastings’ll never see the journal this time around. I may not have a seasonal job here anymore, but Hastings won’t be superintendent forever. I can wait, and bide my time.”
“I have the time travel device,” she said, reaching into her pocket. “Just like Aimee and Daniel, let’s get rid of it so it’s never found again.”
“We’ll do what Aimee intended the first time. We’ll toss it over the falls again, but I’m adding some extra weights for good measure. There’s still plenty of daylight left. The canyon is spectacular in the setting sun.”
“Since we’ve come back two months before our trip into the past, does that mean the events we experienced, being with Aimee and Daniel, didn’t happen?”
Dan’s forehead wrinkled in concentration. “I don’t know. But I do know this. Even if they didn’t experience it, we did, and we’ll always have that as a memory.”
It took them a little less than an hour to reach the parking lot leading to the Brink of the Lower Falls trailhead. Dan held tightly to Jana’s hand as they walked briskly down the half-mile of switchbacks to reach the viewing
platform. Just before they reached the bottom, Dan pulled her into an embrace.
“I have something to say before we do this, and we can’t hold a conversation over there,” he said, motioning to the wire-meshed safety fence. The roar of the river was loud where they stood now, but it would be deafening at the brink, and conversation would be impossible. Jana raised her eyebrows expectantly, and waited for him to continue.
“I have a year left in my master’s program. I’m planning to earn my teaching credential during that time as well. Next summer, I’m not sure if I’ll get another seasonal position if Hastings interferes.” His hands slid up and down her back while he spoke. Jana wondered why he was telling her this.
Dan cleared his throat. “I have a lot of student loans to pay off. It will take me years to clear my debts.”
Jana shook her head, and smiled up at him. “No, it won’t. You have an inheritance now.”
Dan’s eyebrows drew together.
“Aimee left a lot of money behind when she went to live with Daniel. She inherited it from her parents when they died. It’s been sitting in an account we shared. When we moved to California together after we graduated from nursing school, we pooled our money, just in case something happened to one of us, the other would have full access. It should rightfully belong to you now. I’m sure there’s more than enough to cover all of your loans.”
Dan’s shoulders visibly relaxed. “Jana,” he said slowly. “You and I . . . I claimed you as my wife in that Sheepeater village. I think of you as my wife. Would you . . . could you consider a marriage to me in this time. Can you see yourself married to a simple schoolteacher, and seasonal ranger?”
“That is the strangest marriage proposal I’ve ever heard.” Jana beamed.
“I can get down on one knee if you prefer.” Dan released his hold on her, and was about to do just that, when Jana grabbed his arm.
“I don’t need that kind of proposal,” she whispered. “I like the one from two centuries ago.”
Yellowstone Deception (Yellowstone Romance Series Book 5) Page 23
