“It’ll be fine, Father. I’m in no condition to do more than talk.”
Mia blushed, his father’s concern dawning on her.
“All right,” his father agreed. He walked out of the room and softly closed the door behind him.
They were alone.
“Mia, why did you not follow our plan?”
“I don’t recall our plan involving you being attacked within inches of your life by an evil monster,” she said dryly.
“They are superficial cuts,” Benjamin said. “Not hardly life threatening.”
“Don’t downplay the situation, Benjamin,” Mia scolded. “We both know that if his claws had gone much deeper, he could have hit your lungs or your heart or severed an artery. Who knows what could have happened?”
“But it didn’t.”
“Even so, the risk of infection is a serious consequence here. You don’t have the same medications that we have to prevent them and cure them.”
“Is this our first fight?” Benjamin asked, grinning.
“Benjamin, I’m serious,” she said softly, smacking the back of his hand.
He studied her a moment, holding her eyes with his own. “It does my heart good to know that you care.”
“Of course I care,” she whispered. She leaned down and gently kissed his cheek. “Are you in much pain?”
“A bit,” he whispered. “But as long as I feel the pain, I know I’m not dead.”
“That’s one way to look at it,” she offered.
“When you’ve died as many times as I have, that’s the only way to look at it.”
Mia knew that to him it must be a relief to be out of the agonizing loop that he had traveled for so long. She wished that she could take the pain away, not just the physical pain that he suffered now, but the emotional pain that he had endured.
“I must apologize that I failed to deliver on my promise to have you home. We could try again tomorrow night, but I fear that I won’t be in any condition to do so.”
“Benjamin, don’t be ridiculous. We’ll try at the next full moon.”
Mia walked around the bed to the other side and lay beside him. He turned his face to her, and she kissed him on the cheek, wishing that he could hold her in his arms as he had the first night that she stepped into 1863.
Her thoughts turned to her mother, and she wondered what she was doing at this very moment. Mia had always been there for her. They had always been there for each other. But now she had left her mother alone. Guilt washed over her. At the first opportunity, she had to return home.
Her thoughts turned to Old Green Eyes, and she shivered. If she tried to enter the portal again, would he kill her? Would she spend the rest of her days trapped in the same loop that Benjamin had just escaped?
Chapter 11
A dull ache penetrated Benjamin’s brain as he slowly opened his eyes. He tried to move, but was greeted with jolts of pain from his mutinous back. He lifted his head and turned to face the opposite direction, laying the opposite cheek on the feather pillow. Surprised to see Mia lying beside him, he focused on her face as she gazed at him intently.
“Good morning,” she chirped brightly. “How do you feel?”
To reassure himself that she was real, he reached out and caressed her face. Her skin was soft against his fingertips. He took a deep breath to steady the pain that the slight movement created. “Like I’ve been trampled by stampeding horses.”
“It’ll take a few days to get over the soreness,” she said, smoothing her palm across the edge of the bandage at the base of his back. “Do you want something to eat?”
“Yes,” he replied. “I’m starving.”
“Lusinda brought you some oatmeal.”
She helped him into a sitting position and propped several pillows behind his back. Then, she handed him the bowl.
“Benjamin, can I ask you something?”
“Absolutely.”
“Are Abram and Lusinda slaves?”
He swallowed his bite and answered, “No. My father doesn’t believe in slavery. He was working in town one day when a slave trader was selling his slaves. Two of them were husband and wife, and the slave trader had just sold Lusinda.”
“He was going to sell Lusinda, but not Abram?”
“Not to the same buyer. Lusinda went into hysterics, so my father bought Abram. Then he offered to buy Lusinda from the man who had purchased her for twice the amount of money that he had just given. It was an offer too generous for him to decline.”
“So they were slaves?”
“Yes, but after my father bought them, he gave them their freedom and offered them jobs. They accepted the jobs and have been with my father ever since. In truth, they are part of our family.”
“That was very kind of your father.”
“I don’t think he looks at it as kindness. I think he considers it the decent thing to do—the only thing he could do. I think he thought of my mother and the pain that he has endured without her. He couldn’t stand by and allow them to be separated. Not when he could do something about it.”
Mia nodded her head in understanding.
“Thank you, Mia,” Benjamin said. Waiting until she looked at him, he continued, “Thank you for coming back for me.”
Mia smiled. “You’re welcome. I know that you would’ve done it for me.”
A soft knock sounded at the door.
“Come in,” Benjamin called hoarsely.
The door opened, and Abby walked in.
“Abby!” Benjamin called.
“What have you gotten into now, Benjamin?” she asked. The smile on her face didn’t hide the concern that was evident in her furrowed brow.
“I’m fine, Abby. You shouldn’t have come with the baby due so soon.”
Abby patted her belly. “I’m with child, Benjamin, not an invalid. I already had to miss the ball because of Wesley’s incessant worrying.”
“I just wouldn’t want any harm to come to you or the babe because of me.”
“That’s my Benjamin. Always worrying about everyone, but himself.” Abby looked at Mia. “How are you, Mia?”
“I’m fine. Thank you for the ball gown. It was beautiful. I really appreciate you thinking of me.”
“You should have seen her, Abby. She was the most beautiful girl there,” Benjamin added.
“I’m not surprised,” Abby said. “If she’s that beautiful in a pair of breeches, I imagine that she looked just like a princess in a ball gown.”
Mia looked down at her breeches and flushed.
“Matthew came and told me what happened this morning,” Abby said. “He told me that you were in breeches and might need appropriate clothing, which I brought. What he refused to tell me, however, is what’s going on with you two.”
Benjamin looked at Mia, and their eyes held.
“Benjamin?” Abby prompted.
“Abby, I can only tell you if you promise me that you will not tell another soul,” Benjamin answered.
“I cannot make that promise,” Abby said. “What if it is in your best interest if I do tell someone else?”
“Very well,” Benjamin answered. “I’ll not speak of it.”
“Perhaps Mia will tell me then,” Abby suggested, looking at Mia with her best matronly glare.
“Leave Mia out of it,” Benjamin demanded as he tried to rise from the bed. The pain that shot across his back forced him to lean back against the pillows.
“Then tell me, Benjamin,” she ordered.
“Persistent, aren’t you?” he asked, as he stared at his sister briefly before lowering his eyes to the bowl in his hands.
“Benjamin, something is amiss. If you will confide in me, then perhaps I can help.” She walked to his side and sat on the edge of the bed, resting her hand on his knee.
“I know of nothing that you can do,” he answered quietly.
“Won’t you let me try?” she asked, shaking her head gently.
“You should tell her,” Mia whispered
.
He squeezed Mia’s hand and looked in her eyes. She nodded reassuringly.
“Very well,” he said softly.
He turned his gaze on Abby. “You’re going to find my story a bit hard to believe. Are you sure you want to hear it?”
“Yes,” she answered quickly.
“Do you believe it is possible for someone to travel between two periods of time?” he asked, watching her face closely for her reaction. He could see the disbelief in her blue eyes, but then something akin to curiosity seemed to take over.
“Why do you ask?” she laughed. “Benjamin Alexander Richards! Do you expect me to believe that you have traveled through time?”
“I told you that you would find it a bit hard to believe,” he grumbled.
She gasped. “You’re not jesting?”
“You remember when I brought Mia to your house?” he asked.
“Of course,” Abby replied.
“And I was wearing a uniform?”
“Yes.”
“I was wearing the uniform because I had joined the war.”
“What are you talking about, Benjamin?” Abby asked, a puzzled expression on her face.
“Just hear me out,” he said, raising his palm to halt her questions. “I had joined the war, and I died in battle. I wandered the Earth as a soul in transition for nearly a century and a half.”
“A soul in transition?” she asked. “Benjamin, you must have a fever. Let me get the doctor.” Abby rose from the bed.
“No!” he shouted, a little louder than he intended.
“It’s true, Abby,” Mia added. “I’m from the future. That’s why I was wearing the strange clothing, well, strange to you, anyway. Everyone dresses like that where I’m from.”
“It’s impossible!” Abby exclaimed, seating herself back on the edge of the mattress.
“There’s a time portal,” Benjamin continued. “It appears during the full moon, and if someone goes through the portal, they can travel to another time.
“When I was a ghost, I could travel back to 1863. I would be alive when I got here, but I could do nothing but relive my life. I couldn’t change anything that happened…until Mia came through the portal with me.”
He grabbed her hand and looked at her intently, hoping she could read both his sanity and his genuineness on his face. “Abby, please believe me. These portals have gatekeepers. They exist to protect the integrity of time. They will allow souls-in-transition to travel through the portals at will, but living people…. Let’s just say they will kill if that’s what it takes. That’s how I received my injuries, Abby. I was trying to help Mia travel back through the portal, so that she could return home. The gatekeeper had other ideas.”
“You’re saying that it was one of these gatekeepers that injured you?” Abby asked, her facial features reflecting a myriad of emotions as she processed the information.
“Yes,” Benjamin and Mia said in unison.
“And that time travel is possible?” she murmured.
“Yes,” Benjamin answered softly, releasing her hand as he leaned back on the pillows, allowing the tension to flow from his body as his sister seemed to accept his explanation.
“Have you told Father?” she asked.
“No. Don’t say anything to him. He cannot know that I died in the war,” Benjamin instructed emphatically.
Abby gasped and instinctively covered her mouth with her hand.
“What is it?” Mia asked, her light brown hair hanging in disarray around her face.
“I just remembered something that Wesley once told me,” she said in a hushed whisper.
“What?” Benjamin asked.
“He told me that as a child, he visited a friend of his father’s, a moonshiner who lived on Lookout Mountain. His father’s friend was one quarter Cherokee. His father was white, and his mother was half Cherokee, half white. Anyway, his father’s friend used to talk about old legends. He told stories about how many of his Cherokee relatives were forced to leave the area on the Trail of Tears. But I also remember Wesley telling me about a story he once told about traveling through time. Wesley said the man was retelling an old legend, but what if it wasn’t a legend? What if it was real?”
Benjamin was leading forward again, despite the pain that stretched across his back with the movement. “Does Wesley know the whole story? Does he know who the man is? Is the man still alive?”
Abby focused on Benjamin. “I don’t know. We shall have to ask him.”
Benjamin touched his sister’s arm. “We need to find out all we can. I must help Mia return home on the next full moon,” he said, his voice laced with urgency.
“Benjamin, you don’t even know if these stories are true,” Mia cautioned. “Even if they are, they may not contain any useful information.”
“I know,” Benjamin said, patting Mia’s hand. “But I must find out. The fewer chances I take with something going wrong, the better. I promised that you would return home, and you shall.”
“Let me get Wesley,” Abby offered, rising from the bed, her skirts swooshing as she walked toward the bedroom door.
“He’s here?” Benjamin asked.
“Yes. He’s downstairs talking to Father.”
“Get him,” Benjamin urged. “But remember, Father mustn’t know anything about this. I could never bear to see him hurt like that again.”
Abby nodded her head and slipped out the door.
“Do you really think it will help?” Mia asked, shifting her position on the bed.
“I don’t know,” Benjamin answered, “but if there’s any information at all that might help ensure your safety through the portal, I want to know about it.
“It is my carelessness that brought you here, and it is my fault that you were not able to go back through the portal when you had the chance.” He should have never spoken to her, never risked any harm coming to her. He had been weak, giving in to the temptation of her, but she had shone like a beacon of light in his miserable existence. Who could have resisted her beauty? Who could have resisted her goodness that wrapped around her being like a cloak?
Weak or not, he suspected that given the opportunity to do it again, he would still not be able to resist her. How could he? She was everything he ever wanted. She had made the last century and a half of wretchedness melt away at the sheer sight of her.
Gazing at her now, her rubicund complexion, her bright eyes more blue than gray at the moment, her lips slightly pouting as she thought about their predicament, she was the picture of innocence. Her golden brown hair was tousled about her head in disarray, yet she was just as beautiful now as he had ever seen her.
“Benjamin, you can’t blame yourself. It just happened. Perhaps it is fate. I can’t believe that we weren’t meant to meet that day in the park with or without Matt’s help,” she said softly, captivating him with her lips as he watched them form each word that flowed eloquently from her mouth.
“To what purpose?” he asked, feeling dejected that he must soon let her go.
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “All I know is that I love you, and I am happy for whatever amount of time we have together.”
A myriad of emotions churned within his soul. How could fate be so cruel? His throat ached with raw emotion. He had waited so long. So very long. How could he live without her?
He remembered the pain of losing his mother, the nights that he lay in bed, wishing that he could hear her voice. And now Mia, too, would be plucked from his life. Why must everyone that he held dear be taken from him? What had he done to deserve such sorrow?
He struggled to regain control.
“Benjamin,” she whispered, taking his face between her palms. As if she knew there were no words to soothe his tortured soul, she leaned down and kissed him with those sweet lips that had mesmerized him only a moment before.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her on top of him, ignoring the pain that spread through his back. He needed her. If he couldn’
t have her forever, then he would savor this moment. Take the memory of her warm lips, her gentle kiss, her willing embrace, and hold them dear to his heart forever.
He didn’t want to release her. He longed to hold her in his arms until the next full moon, but the footfalls outside the door made him reluctantly loosen his hold. Mia pulled away from his lips into a sitting position, looking expectantly at the door.
Abby entered the room with Wesley on her heels.
“Where is Father?” Benjamin asked.
“He stepped outside to discuss the estate with Abram,” Wesley answered. “He checked on you this morning before you were awake. Abby updated him on your condition. He said he’ll be up to check on you again shortly.”
“Then we must hurry,” Benjamin urged. “Abby explained the situation?”
Wesley rubbed his hands together and nodded his head. “Benjamin, I don’t know whether the story is true.”
“Do you remember where he lives?” Benjamin asked.
“Yes, of course,” Wesley answered. “Charles Turner has been a friend of my father’s for as long as I can remember.”
“Then you will take us there?” Benjamin asked, hoping Wesley would agree.
“Of course.”
Benjamin sighed with relief. “Thank you, Wesley. I may need a few days before I’ll be ready to travel.”
“We can go whenever you’re ready. Are you sure you want to do this?”
“I must. At the next full moon, Mia needs to return home through that portal. Since I’m the one responsible for bringing her here, I must see that she gets back home safely.”
“You know you can count on me to help you in any way that I can,” Wesley offered. “I have to get back to the farm. Just let me know when you’re ready, and I’ll take you to see Mr. Turner.”
“Do you want me to stay with you, Benjamin?” Abby asked.
He shook his head. “Thank you, but it’s not necessary. I’m fine, and I have Mia, Abram and Lusinda, and of course, Father, all fretting over me. You need to go rest.”
Abby walked to the bedside and bent down and placed a kiss on Benjamin’s temple. “Let me know if there’s something I can do.”
He squeezed his sister’s hand. “I will.”
Ghostly Encounter (Ghostly #1) (Ghostly Series) Page 14
