Edge of Time (Langston Brothers Series) (39 page)

He stepped forward with a smirk. “A course it made for the perfect hiding place what with the bodies fadin’ in and out. If anyone ever came pokin’ around there was usually nothin’ to find. Until you.”

Marissa mind whirled. This explained everything. The ghosts, never finding sign of digging until the afternoon she’d been looking for her window to the future She’d been right!

Paul stepped forward again. “Umm,” she swallowed, “Wha-what about Jim’s wife? Didn’t you worry about her finding out?”

“Nah,” he shook his head almost jubilantly, relishing the opportunity to gloat about his conquests. “Genie Harris never once went back in those woods and all Jim had to do was give her an excuse to keep her from asking questions. She’d believe the sky was green if Jim said it.”

“Oh, Genie,” she whispered, but Paul was getting dangerously close, almost within arm's reach. With the gun in his hand trained on her she didn’t dare attempt to use the pitchfork. The man had already said he didn’t intend to kill her right away and if she could just prevent provoking him for a few more minutes…

*     *     *

It felt as though a railroad tie had been rammed through his temple. Craig opened his eyes
and blinked a few times,
grossly disoriented. With a low moan he started to move but stopped as pain and nausea overwhelmed him. As he lay still as possible, the sound of voices slowly began to penetrate his aching skull.
Third time’s the charm…t
hree was a damned unlucky number… Jim Harris… partner… loot… bodies…
bodies?
With enormous effort Craig heaved himself upward and staggered, nearly falling backward as a wave of dizziness sent his senses reeling. The sight of Paul Christenson backing his wife into a corner with a gun pointed at her galvanized him. Ignoring the blinding pain in his head he hurled himself across the barn toward the man.

The crack of gun fire echoed through the confines of the barn leaving a deadly silence in its wake. Somewhere outside the rooster began to crow frantically from his pen and the noise broke the trance of the moment. The shot had gone wide, embedding the bullet in the wall of the barn, and before Christenson could regain his bearings, Craig took firm hold of his right arm, twisted it, wrenched him to the ground and kneeled on his arm. “Marissa,” he gasped, holding the struggling madman beneath him. “Go get help!”

“I won’t leave you!”

“I can handle him.” Sweat poured from his brow and his chest heaved with the exertion of restraining the frantic man. “Don’t argue.” He sucked in a ragged breath. “I need… to know...” he punched Paul in the jaw “...to know you’re safe.” For a brief instant he looked up at her, his intense blue eyes conveying more love than words ever could. “This is not a request. Go and get help. Now!”

Turning she fled the barn.
Help? Where was she supposed to find help? And where was that damn deputy who was supposed to be watching the house?
On horseback it was thirty minutes back into Charleston and a good fifteen minutes to any neighboring farms; on foot it would be at least twice that long. There was no way she could leave him for that amount of time. Craig was injured, badly, and Paul was a desperate man; if she left the action could very well doom her husband. Her eyes fell to the chicken coop.
Yes!

*
             
*
             
*

An unh
oly shriek split the air and both
men both froze for an instant.

“What the hell?” Paul gasped as
a squawking rooster streaked into the barn.

“Toughie!” Craig exclaimed, leaping out of the way and grabbing the
six-shot pistol
as the gnarly rooster attacked the man on the ground. With his sharp beak and vicious spurs,
t
he
bird
knocked Christenson back as he tried to rise. The merciless attack gave Craig the chance to leap onto some hay bales, aim and fire with deadly accuracy.

“Craig!”

He stumbled over the limp body on his way to Marissa, and nudged it to ensure that Christenson would not surprise him again. The rooster, cowed by the gunshot, cowered in a corner. Craig raised a hand to the bird in mute
thanks before staggering through
the
barn
door
s
and into Marissa’s reaching arms.

They collided. “Ouuff,” he grunted as they tumbled to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

“You’re ali
ve!” she sobbed, clinging to her
husband. “I thought he shot you. I
heard the gunshot and yelled your name, but
you didn’t answer and
—
“

“Marissa,” Craig choked trying to loosen the stranglehold she held on his neck. “I can’t breathe!”

“Huh? Oh!” Quickly she moved her arms. “I’m sorry, Craig.”

“I don’t know about you,” he said, “but I have the feeling we’ve played this scene before. Marissa, move your knee!”

*     *     *

The south had been inundated with carpetbaggers and con artists looking to capitalize on the desolation that had befallen the former Confederacy, and the people of Charleston were more than ready for a celebration. A myriad of well wishers milled through the lush gardens of the Langston plantation, murmuring in appreciation of the beautiful bride and handsome groom.

“My father has
been a widower for over twenty years.” Craig shook his head with a wry smile “I’d never thought to see him marry again.”

Marissa grinned and leaned into his shoulder. “And it’s really good to see Genie so happy. She deserves this. And with her son Andy home, along with Carolyn’s Albert, as she said, her ‘cup runneth over.’ I’m glad we didn’t tell her about Jim.”

Craig grinned down at his wife. “I’m just glad to see you so happy.” Quickly he leaned in to claim her soft lips in a gentle kiss. “But if you
will excuse me for just a moment
, my dear, I see James Rowe and I would like nothing more than to show off my son.”

“Be my guest.” Marissa smiled, tenderly laying the sleeping blond bundle into the crook of her husband’s arm. “Christopher is getting awfully heavy and my arms could use a break.”

Manfully, James had married Kirsten and while a more miserable union had likely never existed, he was famously enamored of his daughter who’d inherited his flaming red hair

“Where has that man taken my new grandson off to?” Marissa turned to see Genie’s aquamarine eyes sparkling into hers.

With a laugh Marissa tossed her head in Craig’s direction. “Showing Christopher off as usual.”

“Papas are allowed to be a little proud, you know.”

At that moment Ginny Long came to join them. “Now where has my little great-grandson gone?” Ginny craned her neck and shook her head with amusement when she spotted Craig holding the no longer sleeping, bright eyed Christopher over his shoulder. “Genie, congratulations on snaring the other most eligible bachelor in Charleston.”

Genie opened her mouth to scold the other woman teasingly when a sudden rush of excitement flowed through the crowd like electric current. All eyes turned to the back of the wedding pavilion where a tall,
strong young man
with shaggy blond hair and piercing blue eyes had entered
The Highlands
Garden. The man wore the tattered remains of a gray uniform jacke
t over a well worn shirt and faded
trousers
. Though obviously bone weary, a toothy, lopsided grin split his handsome face.

“Curtis! Curtis me lad, can it really be you?” The joyous and somewhat disbelieving voice of Robert Langston rang out in the warm afternoon air. Plunging through the crowd, the hulking man grasped his son by the shoulders and stared at him for a long moment, tears welling in his eyes. “It is you.”

Robert crushed the young man to his ches
t until Curtis coughed
.
“Yeah, Pop I’m really glad to see you too, but I can’t breathe.”

“I’m sorry, me boy, but I just can’t believe yer back.”

The rest of the Langston men
gathered eagerly about their brother, embracing him warmly. With a watery gaze Marissa couldn’t help but be reminded of the picture of the four brothers Craig kept in his study. The Langston family had been lucky indeed over the course of the war. Now, all four of the brothers were together again.

“Well, if I ever saw a Hollywood moment,” Ginny Long whispered, gazing upon her grandsons as a pair of tears trickled down her cheeks.

Marissa and Genie turned in tandem. “
What
did you say, Ginny?”

The older woman turned, wide-eyed. “Nothing!” she exclaimed. “Nothing.”

“You said something about Hollywood.” Marissa narrowed her gaze thoughtfully.

“Hollywood, California?” Genie continued carefully, as though testing dangerous waters. “Where the movies are made?”

Eyes widening in surprised awe, Ginny stared in profound disbelief at the younger women. “You don’t mean to tell me...” Her voice trailed off.

“What year was it Ginny? 19
72
?”

Blue eyes sparkling the older woman inclined her head with a smile. “Yes
,
it was. What do you say girls, any regrets?”

Marissa and Genie turned to one another and smiled. “Not one.”

Edge of Time
230

Anne McClafferty sat with trembling hands staring at the faded envelope in her lap. It couldn’t be possible. The
postman said the letter had been at the post office
with specific instructions
for about one-hundred and fifty
years. Was it a trick of the mind, making her believe the script was Marissa’s?

July 15, 1865

“Dear Mom,” the letter began.

“I have no idea if you’ll ever get this letter, but I had to try and let you know that I am safe. Believe me, I know how impossible it sounds, but I’m living in Charleston in 1865. It was 1863 when I came here and so much has happened that I don’t know where to begin.

“Enclosed is a picture of my family
—
can you believe it? Me in a dress? My husband Craig is a doctor, and I work with him as doctor of sorts myself. On my lap is Christopher, your grandson. He takes after his father. Both of them have the most beautiful blue eyes...”

The letter continued on for several more astounding pages and finally ended with
—

“I will try to write again.

“Forever your loving daughter,

“Marissa McClafferty-Langston”

End