The Yankee Gentleman and His Southern Belle

by Tammy Lynn

  Kitten raised her voice and spoke out first. “We want to thank all ya’ll who came out today. Tara has been here throughout our history and no one was more sad to think she could have been gone, than our family. To those people who lost loved ones, you have our utmost sympathy and deepest regrets. Anyone who needs help rebuilding, please come to me afterwards and we’ll do what we can to help the rebuilding process. We too, lost people, most of you knew them, and we thank you for the phone calls and cards that came through. Tara will take a lot to be rebuilt, but there is a song out there that says we had to break things down to build it back up and lean on each other when the times got rough. I think ya’ll know who sings it. Whenever I have been thinking about giving up, that song runs through my head. Granted, it’s not a song about building structures but about a relationship, but that little phrase says it all in this case. I just want to introduce you to a couple of people. Everyone here knows Miss Alysia, but to her right is Jaret Chamberlain and the gentleman next to me is EJ Chamberlain. They came from Maine to help us rebuild also. Anything you want to help with, come to either of these men or Randall and Avery. I also want to thank Doc for helping out with the horses. You don’t know how much it’s appreciated. If anyone has any questions, now’s the time to ask them, if not, let’s get this barn raised!”

  After that it was like an army of ants running around Tara. Within the day they had the structure erected.

  Kitten didn’t see it as it was going up. She took the time to get out on the tractor, and take the torch with her. If she was going to get the sunflowers up and going again, she was going to have to do it within a week. She had already cut off the tops of the sunflowers, those that weren’t damaged, of course, and had a pretty good crop of seeds come out of them. Now it was time to burn the field. Taking the torch with her, she went out on the tractor and burnt the edges first to create a firebreak. The wind was light and variable so when that died down she went ahead and started fires throughout the ten acres that lined the drive. The rest of the acreage would have to wait until everything was fixed. By the end of the night, most of the town had ate their share of food and was heading home, promising to be back the next day, waving to Miss Kitten as they passed down the drive. She was sitting on the tractor watching so the fire didn’t get out of hand, along with a couple of the guys that had volunteered to stay until the last embers were extinguished. The night grew later and later and the guys who had volunteered started to go home, each stopping by to let her know that they were leaving and that the fire was out on their portion they had been watching.

  With the moon high in the sky, and it a little chilly outside, Kitten still didn’t venture off the tractor, instead sitting and thinking about her future. She considered, just for a second, leasing Tara and leaving Albemarle, but then, it was her heritage, there was no way she could actually do that. It would be like killing her history.

  The tornado hadn’t killed off everything. She still had her plantation, and it would be stronger, just like she was. Her thoughts strayed to EJ and everything that had shared. The love they had made, just everything they had been through together and she knew that she was going to have to let him go. He did belong to Candra and he was never really hers to begin with. Bonded for life, they would always be.

  As Josh had said about future generations breaking the curse, she knew how. She would send her daughter, if she ever had one, to Maine, to seek out the future Chamberlain man. But then, she knew exactly where the future Chamberlain man would reside and the future Chambers lady would be here, waiting on him, just like the history.

  Tears came. For someone so strong, she sure had been crying a lot, she thought. Kitten knew she had to be strong, but when it came to letting EJ go, it was going to be torture watching him walk away. Coming out of her reverie she saw that there was no more fires, and knew she smelled like smoke, but wanted to see what everyone had accomplished today.

  Going around the house she saw the new structure up, a massive skeleton of wood, waiting to be dressed. Running her fingers over the wood, her thoughts again went back in time. To a feeling, not a place. A feeling of contentment, of serenity came over her. It was as if Miss Victoria had been standing here running her fingers over the new structure that was being put up. Walking around the whole building, she envisioned it completed and knew it would be perfect.

  “Kitten, where are you?” She shook her head as she heard the words, coming from far off. “Kitten?” The voice was nearer, but she still couldn’t answer. It was like she was caught in the past, seeing the past through the eyes of the present. A lady in Victorian clothing and a Rebel soldier standing in the middle of the building, holding onto each other. Such a moment of sadness for them both. He held her close in his embrace and they both touched their lips to the other.

  “I love you.” She heard it as clear as day and watched as the Rebel soldier shed his jacket for a Yankee jacket and shed the hat, giving it to the lady in the Victorian clothing. “Remember me, always. I will return, somehow, some way I will return to you.” Then they both were gone.

  The moon went behind the tall towering maples and she was able to answer the voice that was calling her name. “I’m over here, in the barn.”

  Hearing EJ come behind her, she looked once again as the visions came in front of her, along with the luminescent moon.

  “I will come back for you.” The woman turned and quickly vanished, the man on horseback looking at the spot until the mist was gone.

  “You did see that, EJ, right?”

  EJ held onto her hand. “Yes, I did. What did I see?”

  Kitten explained what she saw and along with this they concluded it must have been Miss Victoria and Miss Lily, that somehow they were in the right place and time for them. When no more visions came through, EJ turned Kitten around and hugged her to him.

  “I couldn’t find you. It’s after midnight. I was getting worried.” His short sentences said just how worried he actually was.

  “I stayed in the front acreage burning the remains of the sunflowers. I was thinking about so many different things, but ultimately it always come back to us. Just how much I’m going to miss you. How strange it is that you’ve become an integral part of my life, and in a few short weeks I’m going back to what I had before.”

  EJ looked at her and cocked his head. “What did you have before?” Suddenly jealous, he hated to hear what would come out of her mouth.

  “Emptiness, hope, a feeling of everlasting love just out of my reach. But now I know where you are and you’re further away than ever before. Before you came, I had the hope you and I would find each other first, now I know that can never be.”

  EJ hugged Kitten tightly, emotion clogging his throat. “I’m sorry that I made you lose hope, Kitten. I had to find you though. You know that.”

  Kitten nodded against his chest. “I know, and I’m not sorry I did, I’m just sorry that I’ll never have you to myself, except in my memories. I’m going upstairs. I smell like smoke.” As she walked off, their fingers that had been intertwined, slowly untangled, just like her life, Kitten thought.

  EJ looked at the lady who was slowly walking toward the front of the house. She was taking down her hair out of the bun she had been wearing it in. One by one, she took the pins out and suddenly it cascaded down her back. The moonlight showed off her hands fluffing her hair, out of habit, he thought. Taking it in her hands, lifting it up above her head and letting it slide through her fingers slowly, erotically, he thought. What he wouldn’t give to have that hair sliding over his body every day for the rest of his life. Shaking his head, he followed Kitten into the house, mentally kicking himself for the wicked thoughts that invaded his mind.

  In her room Kitten gathered up a towel and lay it over the warming rod and went inside the heated shower. In her thoughts she could see and feel EJ running his hands down her body, over slippery soaped skin, over her breasts, across her puckered nipples, down her stomach, between and down her legs, her fe
et and then back up again. She knew in reality it was only the rough washcloth eliciting the reaction she was getting from her already heightened senses.

  EJ knew what she was doing. He could feel it in his body, or maybe it was because he knew she was in the shower. He felt himself getting hard and knew that he would forever have this reaction to her. Just getting out of the shower, she heard her cell phone ring and raced for it.

  “Yeah?”

  “Are you done with your shower?” EJ held the phone hard, almost to the point of breaking.

  “Why?” Kitten didn’t understand why he wanted to know. “Did you want to say good-night?”

  EJ growled into the phone with a ferocity she didn’t understand. “If I come in your room, there won’t be any leaving it after what you did in the shower to my mind.”

  Kitten was taken aback. “EJ, what did I do in the shower to you?”

  His voice lowered almost to the point of whispering said, “I knew what you were seeing in your mind, what you were feeling. I was feeling your body, Kitten. We’re so connected it’s unreal.” He took a deep breath. “You know why I can’t come in and say good-night. I would love to be inside you again, but I can’t condone it. I know where my heart lies, but also where duty is and it’s what I have to honor. Good-night, my sweet.” He hung up the phone and Kitten hung up hers, knowing in his own way he told her good-bye.

  Sliding naked into her bed, feeling the slippery slide of the sheet against her silky skin, she mentally told him good-bye too, slipping into what she hoped would be a dreamless sleep.

  Roaming hands slid down her feverish body, making Kitten arch to the hands making her heart pound. Not feeling them on her body, she raised her hands to search for them to no avail. Coming awake slowly, she found she was alone in her room. Another dream.

  Kitten switched on her light beside the bed and reached into the pile of journals, which was probably giving her the dreams in the first place, and started reading. June 6-1949. I have traveled so far and so long to meet her. After finding Pop’s journal among his things and reading them over and over, I knew I had to see where he was. I saw Tara from a distance once, long ago, and saw the young mistress of the house walking down the long drive, leading a large black stallion. She mesmerized me as I stopped and watched her climb onto a rickety fence top before hiking her skirt up and straddling the stallion. Such an unladylike gesture, but such a sight to see, also. I went on my way, not knowing her name. I know now her name is Miss Alysia. Pops had come into town on a buyers meeting for the farm and noticed the ladies standing beside the carriage with packages in hand. Always a gentleman, I wondered why he refused to go over and help them. After more urging from me he walked over and within a second, the packages fell on the ground. Miss Alysia picked them up and Pops hugged the other woman. The blond hair in a bun, bright blue eyes and impeccably dressed. The vision I had on the street was the same I had read in Pops’ journal just a few weeks back. Miss Lily is who that must be. Pops waved me over, but I refused to go, not wanting to admit the sexual pull I had. I turned around and went back inside the rooming house we were staying in at the time. Pops came back in and said he would be back later and we would go back to Maine. That he had unfinished business. A few weeks later he told me that Miss Alysia was someone I needed to meet. He told me an abbreviated version of what happened between him and Miss Lily, and I knew that there might be a connection, but it was only because of the stories I had heard through the years. I had to go to Albemarle on business regarding Chamberlain Farms and Pops told me I should look into Granddad‘s history. We were looking into buying a few horses and I decided I should look into meeting her. The closer and closer I came to her, the more sexually aware I became. Coming into Triple C Plantation, also known as Tara, I knew I had come home, and I don’t know why. Miss Alysia stood on the step of the veranda, like she had been waiting for me. I’ll never forget how she looked that morning, the sun glinting off hair that should have been properly put up on the top of her head, but spilled down her back. I noticed belatedly that she had a rug draped over the front railing and had a large stick and was hitting it. I remember telling her that she shouldn’t be working, she should be relaxing, sipping on iced tea. She has a viper’s tongue on her. Sarcasm dripping from her words as she informed me that she didn’t like iced tea, she’d rather have iced water, she loved beating the rugs because of the way it made the frustrations go away. I knew right then that she was the one for me. For the longest time, women would come and ooze charm at me and I didn’t like that. This one didn’t care and she was the one I desired. After introducing myself and asking to see The General’s room, she informed me I could sit on the porch and wait until she was done. Hearing the words she said as she beat on that rug made me glad I was not on her bad side. Picking up the rug, which was a little bigger than her, she walked to the door and stood there looking at me and told me she wasn’t issuing an invitation to come in. After walking into the kitchen and issuing some orders, she went upstairs beckoning me up after her. She took me to the room and let me in, swaying a bit as she did and informing me she would be right back. Ten or fifteen minutes had elapsed when she finally came in. She told me the history and we came closer and closer together until we were a breath’s inch apart and she raised herself on her tiptoes to reach my lips and placed hers on mine. A spark of recognition and desire raced through my body like blue fire racing through the forest. Within seconds we were all over each other. Never had I ever been so ruthless and rough kissing a woman, but I couldn’t stop. Her hands were over my clothing, then under it within seconds. Minutes later we lay across the bed, her spread out on top of me. I didn’t stop to think how wrong this was and went on with the seductive woman on top. I held her head still and kissed her like I never want to stop. The kiss getting hotter and hotter, more demanding and before I knew it she was on her back and I was entering her. I heard the gasp, the sigh, and such an overwhelming feeling of completeness that I was taken aback. Never had I felt that before. I could never describe this as sex, for it was warm and loving, not cold. We made love for hours, until the lateness of the hour became clear. I watched her get dressed and it was just as erotic as watching it come off. Her mama was called out so I never got to meet her, but I did see the paintings on the staircase. All the women look so much alike, just like the Chamberlain men. We went down for supper, but I could not relax with such sexual energy flowing through me. After dining, she took me outside and showed me the grounds. We went down to the stables where her magnificent black stallion was. I couldn’t keep my hands off her one second longer and we climbed into the loft to make love once more in the soft hay. Such an addicting woman, Miss Alysia is. I couldn’t get enough of her body, her kisses, her scent, her taste, or her touch. Her hand on me I couldn’t handle, so she teased me over and over with her hot mouth. As the moon cleared the top of the trees we walked back to the house and up to her room where I lay there, holding her, watching her sleep. I knew I had to leave in the morning, and although I knew I would get hardly any sleep tonight, I just wanted to keep looking at her. I fell asleep with her head on my chest, her glorious hair cascading over me onto the bed. I heard a deep man’s voice waking me up, but he wasn’t in the room. Saying it was time to go, but I would forever be returning back. I left quickly, but not without leaving her a flower from the climbing roses on the trellis outside her window and a note with my love and my name on it. Miss Alysia is my destination forever, my future that I want to be with, but I know in my heart I belong to another who is at home, waiting for me to return. I know I overstepped all boundaries and perhaps ruined my life back home, but I know that I would do it all again for one minute, one second to be in her arms, to feel the completeness I have inside me now. I know I will see her again, will be with her again, if the fates allow.

  Kitten put down the book, not believing just how each generation got together and fell into bed without regard for the people in their lives. As fate had every generation, the older
never met the younger which she saw as strange. Jaret spoke in such a passionate way about her mama, the same as EJ had spoke to her. Would she have to wait until she was eighty for him to come back to her?

  As if saying it aloud her phone rang and she jumped. “Good-night EJ. I’m going to sleep now.” Kitten turned off the lamp, but held the phone open. “I know, and I also know you read Jaret’s journal. I could feel the passion overtaking me. I walked by your door and the light was on.”

  Nothing was said for a minute before Kitten said quietly, “I don’t think it’s The General’s room that gets it all started with us. I think we were born to love and lose every generation.”

  EJ stared into the darkened room. “Kitten, if that’s right, then why did Miss Alysia and Jaret find each other? Why did Elijah and Miss Lily meet up one more time, and how do you explain Miss Victoria and Josh? How do you explain us?”

  “Explaining us is easy. You came back because I called you. The others were fate.”

  Kitten was about to hang up when EJ said in a deep husky voice. “We are living proof that love exists through time and space. You hear the voices at night, just like I do, don’t pretend you don’t.”

  Kitten said sadly, “I do hear them, EJ, and just like they tell me. I have to let you go.” Kitten closed the phone, walked to her window and sat on the window seat looking at the stars, begging for a sign that she could hold onto him tightly and not have to let him go.

  The phone chirped once again, and, after debating whether she should answer it or not, opened it to hear EJ once more. “What if I don’t want to go?” The phone went silent and she suddenly smiled. Was that the sign? Sliding back into bed she finally slipped into a deep dreamless sleep. The man in the other room looking at a darkened room. Despite the honor he knew his wife deserved, he meant what he said. What if he didn’t want to go? EJ finally fell into a deep sleep, determined to change the course of history.