Timeless Heart (11 page)

The prospect of him actually leaving robbed her
of practical thought. She could not be without him. That was all
she could think of. The thunder and lightning were on top of them
now, directly overhead, the rain falling in torrents. She could see
him, on the opposite side of the carriage, the door open, one foot
in the carriage, one foot on the running board. He looked up and
saw her through the carriage window, struggling with the handle on
the opposite side.

"No! Sandra! Let go,
now
!" he cried,
motioning her away.

At that instant, lightning struck, throwing
Sandra back and away from the carriage with blinding white violence
and a deafening crack. The burst was blinding. She buried her head
in the crook of her arm to protect herself from the flash. She
finally lowered her arm and opened her eyes.

It was horrible. She could smell the wood from
the carriage burning. Wisps of black and blue smoke were the only
thing left where the carriage stood. The acrid scent of ozone hung
heavy in the air.

She had let go of the handle when Jerrod yelled
and the lightning struck. Why
, why
had she done it? She
would be with him now. Instead...he was gone. Memories and
mist.

The rain still fell, mist and smoke gathered
all around her, thick and insidious. The thunder storm was moving
off. The man she loved was gone.

Please...please let him get back to his
time. Let him get back where he needs to be.
The tears were
streaming down her cheeks in torrents. He was gone, and she would
never be happy again, never love again. Not like this.

She should have begged him to stay. But she
loved him enough to have let him go. Her tears fell and were washed
away by the rain, her body was racked with pain. She hugged
herself, hoping for some comfort and consolation, but there was
none. She was alone.

She managed to struggle to her knees. Her legs
would not hold her up, the pain and grief was overwhelming.
Kneeling, the heavy fog and smoky mist gathered about her. She
looked again toward where the carriage stood. Through her anguish
and pain stricken eyes she could see a misty shape was gathering
and moving from the shadow and fog.

No. It couldn't be.

Sandra could not believe her eyes. It was like
a scene from a movie: Mr. Darcy walking across the misty moors. She
again tried to stand.

Jerrod fell to his knees in front of her and
cupped her face tenderly. "Yes, love, it's me."

"You came back to me. How?" Her voice trembled
with all the endless love in her heart.

His eyes closed, he leaned down to touch his
forehead to touch hers. "I love you, Sandra, I would be wretched
without you."

"You...you didn't leave?" she
whispered.

"No, I love you too much. I could not leave
you. I decided I had to stay. As I stepped out of the carriage, I
saw you reach for the handle. The lightning bolt threw me from the
carriage to the ground, knocked me senseless for a few minutes.
I...I thought I had lost you." He chuckled softly, the mirthless
laugh turning into a groan of pain as he flinched from trying to
move his arm.

“I don’t understand.”

“My dearest love. By the time we returned to
this place, I knew I did not want to leave you. I only climbed into
the carriage because I thought you wanted me to go. But when I saw
you running toward me, calling out my name, I knew you loved me as
much as I love you, and that we could never be parted. That’s when
I stepped outside. And then lightning struck, at a fortuitous
moment, I daresay.”

A sob escaped Sandra's throat. "I...I
was
going to go with you, I couldn’t stand staying here
without you, I didn’t really want you to go."

He chuckled quietly. "Then, my darling, it all
worked out the way it should. As it was meant to be.” His fingers
stroked her cheek affectionately.

Sandra began to cry, she could not stop the
tears. Jerrod moved next to her and comforted her, embracing her
from behind, his large body all but enveloping her into his
strength, his comfort, his love.

"Hush, my sweet, we are together. We will work
the rest out. We love each other. That is all that
matters."

And Jerrod found he was speaking the truth.
There would be much, and many, he would miss, but that would be
nothing next to the loss of Sandra. He had barely known her a few
weeks, but what was time anyway? A measure, a unit. He knew what he
felt in the deepest part of his timeless heart. And that this rare,
deep love was also interwoven with the most desirous passion he had
ever experienced made it all the more sweet and tender.

She sniffled noisily. "But your life, your
family! You’ll never see them again, and it’s all my fault! You
said it would come between us!"

Jerrod smiled, he knew now he would sacrifice
anything to be with her, his life, even his own soul.

"They are my past. It is the present, and
future, that matter. Our present and future. Come, my dear heart,
let us go home."

Jerrod stood, holding his hand out to Sandra,
his face smiling, love radiating from those beautiful sky blue
eyes.

Sandra looped her arm through his. "You know,
there are a lot of small farms outside Truro for
sale..."

Jerrod's laughter echoed through the woods as
they walked toward the SUV and their new lives.

The End

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