“Would you like something to eat, Miss Randall?” Mr. Richards asked between sips of tea.
“Oh, no, sir. It hasn’t been that long since I’ve eaten, and I am still quite full.”
“Yes, Father. We ate breakfast at Abby’s,” Benjamin added. “Wesley wanted me to tell you that they would visit soon.”
“Abby shouldn’t be traveling in her condition,” Mr. Richards said. “Perhaps I’ll stop by to see them later today to keep her from venturing out.”
“I’m sure she would be glad to see you,” Benjamin agreed.
Mia noticed the way Benjamin hardly took his eyes off his father, as if he were savoring every moment with him. She supposed that only someone who knew the future, as Benjamin did, could truly know how precious simple moments such as this were. She thought of her own moments like this with her mom when they went to the diner every Friday. It was their way of catching up with each other after a busy week. She wondered what her mother was doing at this very moment. Was her mother missing her? Was she stricken with fear and grief because her only child had disappeared?
She shrugged away those thoughts. To allow herself to fall into that kind of thinking would help no one. She had no way of getting back until the next full moon, so the best course of action was to stay focused here in 1863. In some ways, this was a great opportunity. How many people from her time period could say they had experienced life in the nineteenth century firsthand?
She thought of her classmates and wondered how many of them would want to. Here there were no televisions, no game systems, no computers, no Internet. She imagined that most people her age had to work just to help their families survive.
Mr. Richards brought Mia out of her reverie. “Benjamin’s lucky to have met you, Miss Randall. Between the hotel and the railroad, he’s been quite busy of late, and he has taken far too little time to accompany lovely young ladies, such as you.” He patted her hand. “I’m so glad you have provided him a diversion from his many responsibilities.”
Diversion! If he only knew. She breathed in deeply, the fabric of her bodice squeezing her ribs. “It has been my pleasure.” She glanced at Benjamin and found him watching her, a twinkle lighting his eyes. “Benjamin’s easy to talk to.”
“He gets that from his mother. She had only to begin talking and everyone within the sound of her voice would be put at ease.” He dabbed at his eye, as if he were wiping away dust, and stood. “I must be getting back to the office. I have tracks to be repaired and supplies to order.”
Benjamin rose, too. “Do you need help, Father?”
His father reached out and touched his shoulder. “No, son, I’ve got it handled for now. You keep Miss Randall company.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good day, Miss Randall.” He bowed slightly in her direction.
“Good day, Mr. Richards,” she answered softly.
Mr. Richards turned and walked away, waving to Henry as he made his way around the tables and out the door.
“I suppose we should get you a room in the hotel. You’ll need a place to stay.” Benjamin strolled to the back of her chair and scooted it out. He took her hand, helping her up from her chair.
She surveyed the room, the wide, white baseboard and the bright, white crown molding lent a certain elegance to the room. Benjamin tucked her hand in the crook of his arm and guided her through the arched doorway that led to the lobby of the hotel.
“My friend, Matthew, works at the front desk, so we can get you a room without my father knowing. It might be difficult to explain to him why you’re not staying at your mother’s house.”
Her mother. Mia couldn’t help but worry about her.
“Are you well?” he asked, concern etched in his gently furrowed brow.
Mia slowly smiled, remembering all the times her mother had urged her to seize her opportunities. “I worry about my mother, but I’m fine.”
“She’s lucky, you know. To have a daughter like you.”
“We have learned to lean on each other over the years. We’re all we’ve got.”
Benjamin stopped and turned her to look at him. He placed his hands on her shoulders. “I promise you that I will make sure you see her again,” Benjamin vowed.
“I know you will.” Mia reassured him with a smile.
He turned and tucked her hand around his arm again and resumed walking across the marble floor toward the front desk.
Mia looked up into the domed ceiling and gasped. Sunlight filtered through the stained glass in the dome, making the glass come alive with color.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.
“When my father had this hotel built, he wanted it to be special. He wanted people who walked through the doors to remember their stay in Chattanooga for the rest of their lives.”
“I would say he was successful. It’s breathtaking, and I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I’m glad you like it. I hope you find your room equally as pleasing.”
They reached the front desk and Benjamin leaned against the long counter as he addressed the gentleman, who had his back to them. “Matthew, I’d like you to meet my friend, Miss Mia Randall.”
Matthew turned around, a smile spread across his face.
Mia shrieked, “Matt Anderson!”
“You two know each other?” Benjamin asked, a look of disbelief on his face.
“He’s my…my ex-boyfriend,” Mia stammered.
Chapter 7
“Boyfriend!” Benjamin exclaimed, staring hard at Matthew.
“Ex-boyfriend,” Matthew corrected, a mischievous grin setting off a dimple in his right cheek.
Benjamin wasn’t violent by nature, but right now, his hands were aching to curl into fists and knock the smirk off Matthew’s face. He had been waiting for Mia for well over a century and already he felt very protective of her. And now his best friend had already been her boyfriend? How was that even possible?
The range of emotions he was experiencing must have been evident on his face because even now, Matthew was holding up his hand, palm outward in a conciliatory manner, silently urging Benjamin to let him explain.
“Now, you can’t get mad, Ben. It was your idea.”
“My idea?” he barked. “I don’t recall ever telling you to be Mia’s boyfriend.”
Mia stood mutely by his side, her lips parted in surprise as she stared from Matthew to him.
“Maybe you don’t remember because your past and your future have changed now,” Matthew reasoned with him.
Now Benjamin could feel his jaw dropping. He felt Mia’s hand tighten on his arm. “What did you say?”
“Okay, so maybe you didn’t exactly tell me to be her boyfriend, but you told me to do whatever was necessary to watch over her and bring her back to you.” Matthew’s dimple was still smugly planted in his cheek as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Benjamin wanted to speak, but the words would not come. His mind was feverishly wondering how Matthew was involved in all of this.
“For heaven’s sake, Ben, close your mouth before you swallow a bug or something.”
Matthew’s sarcasm forced him to clamp his mouth shut.
“Let me get Tom to cover for me, and we’ll go outside and discuss it.” Matthew disappeared through a doorway and came back a few moments later with Tom on his heels.
“I’ll be back in a little while, Tom. If anybody asks, tell them the boss’s son demanded my immediate attention.”
Tom grinned, his overly full lips revealing crooked, yellow teeth. “Will do.”
“Come on, Romeo and Juliet. I’m sure the only thing on your mind at this moment is wtf.”
“W…t…f?” Benjamin asked, baffled at the entire situation.
“Oh, ask her,” Matthew muttered, thumbing in Mia’s direction.
Mia finally came alive and announced, “It means what the….” She hesitated. “Freak.”
“What the freak?” Benjamin repeated, still not understanding.
> “It’s slang,” she explained.
“It means,” Matthew added, “What the heck’s going on?” He brushed past them, his dress shoes clicking against the smooth marble floor. “Honestly, Ben,” he called over his shoulder, “You haven’t been educated until you’ve hung out with a group of teenagers in the twenty-first century.”
Benjamin felt a twinge of jealousy. He may not know exactly what was going on, but it was becoming apparent that Matthew had spent time with Mia in her world. He tried to tamp down the emotion that he was unused to feeling. Matthew was his best friend. He trusted him with his life.
He watched Mia walk beside him gracefully, her silky hair pinned up in the latest fashion, the pink grenadine skirt rustling as her slender legs moved swiftly beneath it. She was the epitome of beauty, and she had stirred emotions within him that no one else ever had. Matthew had a way with the girls. He knew all the right things to say. Insecurity bubbled in Benjamin’s soul, and he protectively squeezed her hand that rested on his forearm.
Matthew sat on the edge of a stone bench beneath the winding branches of a gigantic oak tree, leaving enough room for Mia and him to join him.
Benjamin motioned for Mia to sit beside Matthew, and he sat beside her on the other end.
“So obviously you’ve been in her world,” Benjamin noted, beginning the conversation.
“That world sucked until I came along.” Matthew laughed.
Mia broke her silence. “It pretty much sucked after you got there, too,” she snapped, a little sharper than she had intended.
“What did you do to her?” Benjamin demanded as he stood, his ire rising.
“Calm down, Ben,” Matthew said quietly. “I did just what you asked me to do. I watched over her.”
Mia’s sharp intake of breath caused them both to look at her. “He really did ask you to watch over me?”
“And just when did I ask you to do that?” Benjamin thundered.
A solemn look crept on Matthew’s face. Benjamin glared at him, wondering what he had done to Mia, what had caused this somber mood. Was he feeling guilty about something that had happened in her world?
“You asked me to look after her…right before you died,” Matthew whispered. He turned to look at Benjamin. “You’re my best friend. What was I supposed to say?”
Benjamin immediately felt ashamed that he had assumed the worse. He sat back down and stared at his worn boots.
“Why don’t I remember?” Benjamin asked to no one in particular.
“Haven’t you read the manual on how to travel through time?” Matthew asked.
Benjamin was relieved that his sardonic attitude was back.
“You don’t remember because your past and your future have changed. For you, it hasn’t happened. It has, however, happened for me, and I remember every grizzly detail.”
“I’m sorry, Matthew,” Benjamin apologized. “I shouldn’t have doubted you.”
“So you’re from 1863?” Mia whispered to Matthew.
“Yes.”
“And you were only my boyfriend because Benjamin had asked you to watch over me?”
“Yes.”
They sat in silence for a few moments, the warm air rustling the oak leaves. Horses whinnied in the distance, and songbirds chirped above their heads.
“Look, Mia,” Matthew said as he turned to look at her. “Maybe that wasn’t the best plan, but it was the only one that I could come up with. I promised Ben that I would watch over you and bring you back to him.”
“Bring me back to him? I’ve been here before?”
Matthew groaned. “It’s hard to explain. At this point in my life, yes, you’ve been here before.”
“So all the times that you didn’t want to be with me? All the times that you made excuses? That you chose your friends over me?”
“You’re a sweet girl, Mia. But I knew that it was Benjamin who had stolen your heart, even if you didn’t know it yet.”
Benjamin couldn’t help but feel relieved at that bit of information.
A carefree laugh escaped from Mia’s lips. She inhaled deeply. “All these months I thought it was me. I thought you didn’t want to be with me because I wasn’t pretty enough or witty enough. I thought you just didn’t like my company.”
“I think you’re great, but you’re Ben’s girl. I was trying to keep an eye on you without getting too close.”
“Then why did you break up with me?”
“You were easy to like, Mia. Maybe too easy. I didn’t want to lose sight of my main objective, which was to get you back to Ben.”
“This is a lot to soak in,” Mia said softly.
Matthew continued, “When you came to 1863 the first time, Ben confided in me. He told me how he had met you near Wilder Tower and how he brought you through the portal. I didn’t believe him, so when the next full moon came, he showed me the portal. He also saw to it that you went through the portal to return home. Not long after that, Tom, the guy that’s covering for me at the desk, was killed in the war. Since Ben had originally died in the war, he hadn’t intended on joining the war again because he didn’t want to die again. But when Tom died, he joined anyway, hoping that the outcome would be different, that this time he would live to see the end of the war. Ben was shot by a Yank. He died two days later.”
“I can honestly say that I’m glad I don’t remember that,” Benjamin muttered.
“Watching you die was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Matthew said, looking at his friend. “Don’t let it happen again.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Benjamin replied dryly.
“Anyway,” Matthew said, turning back to Mia. “I promised him that I would watch out for you and bring you back to him. He was afraid that when he died, he might cross over to the other side, so he made me promise that I would go far enough back in time that the two of you would not have met each other yet. That way, he knew that he would be in your world as a soul in transition. I went a little further back than I had intended, which is why I hung around a while. I knew Benjamin would be at Wilder Tower in the summer. All I had to do was make sure you were there and let Ben take care of the rest. Then I waited for the chance to slip through the portal back to a time in 1863 before you showed up the first time, Mia. I barely did make it. I swear if the portal had been any farther away, the gatekeeper would’ve been picking pieces of my flesh out from under his fingernails. So now, we’re all on different paths through time. Neither of you remember the last time that you were here because I changed your future. I remember it, though, because it’s still part of my past. And I don’t remember Ben’s death the way he remembers it because when the two of you traveled through the portal the first time, Ben’s future changed. Time is a fickle thing. The more I think about it, the more it makes my head spin. I guess now we understand why the gatekeepers deter people from hopping through portals. Things tend to get a little messy.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me what was going on instead of pretending to be my boyfriend?” Mia asked Matthew.
“Hey, I know I’m good looking, but even I couldn’t have pulled that story off. You would’ve taken one look at me and decided I was completely off my rocker.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Mia said thoughtfully.
“Of course, I’m right. My good looks are no secret.”
She punched him in the arm. “I meant you were right about me thinking you were off your rocker. In fact, I’m thinking that I still think that. I do have another question, though. How did you know that Benjamin would talk to me again?”
“I didn’t, but Benjamin swore to me that all I had to do was make sure that you were near the tower. He said that he had a connection to you, and that if you were there, he’d find you.”
“Thank you, Matthew. For bringing her back to me.” Benjamin reached around the back of Mia and clasped Matt’s shoulder. “You’re a good friend.”
“I just made sure she was in the right place at the right time. You did the res
t. I know you would do the same for me.” Matthew stood. “Well, I guess I’d better be getting back to work.”
“So what does the future hold now?” Mia asked, wondering if she would be able to get back home to her mother. She supposed there was no proof that she had ever made it back home safely the last time she was here.
“Do I look like I have a crystal ball and a pack of tarot cards?” Matthew asked teasingly, tapping his fingers on his chest. “The truth is it keeps changing, and I don’t really want to talk about the future too much.” He lowered his voice. “I don’t want to catch the attention of the gatekeepers. And if the two of you are smart, you won’t want to, either.” Matthew turned toward the hotel.
Benjamin knew all too well just how dangerous the gatekeepers could be.
“We’ll pick up a key for Mia in a little while,” Benjamin announced to Matthew’s back as he walked away.
Matthew didn’t look back. He just waved his hand in acknowledgement.
Mia scooted over to the center of the bench, carefully arranging her skirt around her.
Benjamin moved closer to her, away from the edge of the bench. “Wow. You don’t have a discussion like that every day.”
Mia smoothed her skirt, running her fingers through the folds of the fabric. “It is a lot to absorb.”
Benjamin took her hand in his, admiring the softness. “Mia, I’m sorry that I have gotten you involved in all of this.”
She glanced at him. “It wasn’t your fault, Benjamin. If the gatekeeper hadn’t been chasing us, none of this would have happened.”
“But it’s obvious that I made plans to bring you through the portal.”
“But not until after I had already been through the portal,” she countered.
He sat silently, staring at the ground. “Mia,” he began, and then stopped.
“What is it, Benjamin?” she prompted.
He stroked his finger along the back of her hand. “There’s something that I must tell you.”
Her eyes were fixed on his face, and she waited patiently for him to turn and look at her.
“You know how I told you that I had died over and over again?”
Ghostly Encounter (Ghostly #1) (Ghostly Series) Page 9
