Leaving Lavender: A Time Travel Romance (Lavender, Texas Series Book 3) Read online

  “Eddie,” Mrs. Alston said. “Such an unusual name for a woman.”

  “It’s short for Edith,” Eddie reminded her politely.

  “Oh yes.” Mrs. Alston nodded. She wasn’t really interested, Eddie could see that, and doubted this was simply a display of mannerly behavior. Geoff had left them alone for a reason. His mother was playing the game as instructed.

  “I’m told that my son is very fond of you,” Mrs. Alston continued.

  “We’re good friends,” was the most Eddie would commit to.

  Mrs. Alston continued on, though she was obviously making hard work of it. “Very, very fond.”

  To Eddie’s surprise and shock the senior Mr. Alston suddenly spat out a couple of obscene words, both of them apparently meant to describe her. She couldn’t help thinking that if Papa was here he’d knock this man flat for insulting his daughter.”

  “Now Marshall,” his wife scolded mildly. “The only thing we meant to say is that we know you’re the only person who really has any influence with our Alexander.”

  “Boy’s going to prison if he doesn’t wise up. That’s what Geoff says and my older son is one guy who knows what’s going on,” Marshall Alston added. “Don’t know what would have happened to Zan, the way he always has his head in the clouds, if he hadn’t had his brother to look after him.”

  Anger boiled within Eddie. She could barely refrain from telling this unpleasant old man what she thought of how all of them had treated Zan. She’d never imagined a family like this one existed.

  It was a miracle Zan had grown up to be the wonderful man he was.

  “I’m sure Zan will make perfectly good decisions without being influenced by anyone.”

  The old man snorted. “Never has before. Won’t listen to his brother. Won’t listen to the experts. But when a man’s got the hots for some girl, then he’s easy influenced. You’re the one to make him see reason, girl.”

  “These days, Marshall, young women don’t like to be referred to as girls,” his wife cautioned gently with an apologetic smile in Eddie’s direction.

  “Don’t know why not. I call you my girl and you’re a good deal older than this little chick. Women don’t like to admit their age, everybody knows that. Makes ‘em feel younger to be called girl.”

  Eddie knew beyond doubt that not only did she dislike Zan’s father, she never would like him. She hoped they would not be sharing future holidays. As an admittedly rather romantic early 20th century girl, she was embarrassed and offended by having Zan’s love for her described as ‘having the hots.’ It diminished this almost holy feeling of God-blessed love.

  She went over and selected a book from a shelf and started to read. It was no longer necessary to even pretend courtesy with these ill-mannered people.

  Mrs. Alston made several attempts to restart the conversation, but Eddie pretended not to hear her. Instead she focused her mind firmly on the book before her which was about space and stars and planets and many other things she knew nothing about, but should learn if she were going to have intelligent conversations with the man she loved.

  When Geoff and Zan came back, she saw when Geoff cast questioning looks at both his parents. His mother shook her head slightly, but her father came right out and said. “She didn’t seem to get it. I’ve got to believe she’s not real bright, son. Dumb blond.” He grinned, though Eddie didn’t see what the joke was since her hair was reddish brown.

  All of this seemed to go right over Zan’s head. He looked only at her as though he couldn’t take his gaze away and his eyes were so full of love that her heart swelled within her.

  “You should have gone with us,” he told her as he chose the chair nearest her. “It’s cold out, but the stars are sparkling like jewels in the sky.”

  She could hardly point out that nobody had invited her. Certainly she would much rather have been with Zan, or even in Geoff’s doubtful company, then in here with Mr. and Mrs. Alston.

  She touched his hand. “I’d better be getting back to the ranch. It’s late.”

  Disappointment clouded his handsome face, but before he could say a word, Geoff spoke up. “Not tonight, Eddie. I’m afraid the weather is too threatening for us to send you out on those isolated roads.”

  “But Zan just said it was cold and clear.”

  “Ice storm predicted to move in from Kansas. Your place is a good distance north of here; the roads may already be icy.”

  Somehow she felt panicked at the thought of being compelled to stay here. She was certain the excuse about bad weather was a lie.

  “I must go,” she insisted. “My family will be worried to death if I don’t get home tonight.”

  “We’ll send a message,” Geoff assured her.

  His mother mouthed her phony smile. “You’ll just have to be Zan’s house guest for tonight.”

  Zan smiled at her. “I would like that,” he said.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Zan felt as though his head was filled with continually buzzing bees that kept him from being able to focus or think with clarity about anything. The bees were not the result of the variety of powerful medications that had been injected into his body in the last few months; he’d set them free himself as a distraction to keep him from dwelling on subjects he didn’t want to be compelled to discuss.

  He didn’t want to tell anybody about the new ideas continuing to work themselves out in his mind that could lead to drastic new enhancements in space travel, or contrastingly, into super weapons. He was even beginning to suspect that his business brilliant brother hadn’t been so smart after all and was beginning to figure that out himself. Geoff looked over his shoulder these days, afraid that the devil he’d done business with wasn’t representing his own country but a violent strong-arm government who would work in nobody’s best interest.

  But Geoff was caught. He didn’t know what to do. Right now, neither did Zan, except to keep playing the game of keeping his ideas to himself.

  Now he nodded as Geoff and his parents said goodnight and left him alone with Eddie. The distracting noises in his head were not so loud that they kept him from being aware of her nearness, of the floral scent of her old-fashioned perfume, of the soft curves of her body and her sweet mouth.

  “They left,” she said indignantly. “They left us alone.”

  “Thank goodness,” he said and kissed her, pulling back only when she failed to respond. Just being close to her brought the noise in his brain to a low and dying hum.

  “But you don’t understand, they left us alone. That’s most improper.”

  He couldn’t help being amused. “I thought from what you and Betsy said that you were the girls who didn’t mind the rules, who were always getting into trouble.”

  “Not that kind of trouble,” she said with dignity, folding her arms.

  “Things are different here,” he tried to explain. “Naturally Geoff and my parents assume we’re living together. That’s what people who are in love do.”

  She frowned. “You live here. I am currently living with Betsy’s aunt and uncle.”

  “Well, not necessarily actually living together, but certainly sleeping together, at least now and then. Of course they don’t know how few opportunities . . .”

  “Sleeping?” She stared at him. “You mean in the same bed. You mean . . .”

  Her face flamed a brighter red than her hair. He could almost feel the heat from it. He really was stupid these days. He could have kicked himself. She came from a different time and place. When and where she lived, respectable young women didn’t generally take lovers. That was something saved for marriage and a lifelong commitment.

  “Naturally I wasn’t thinking anything like that,” he assured her quickly. “But it’s how people live now.”

  She was obviously horrified. “But there could be so many complications . . .” she hesitated, apparently not caring to detail exactly what those could be.

  His poor, dear Eddie. She’s just run into a major cultu
re shock. “You know you don’t have to fear being alone with me, don’t you, dearest?”

  “Of course not. You are a gentleman.” He voice wobbled a little as though she wasn’t quite as sure of herself as she wished to sound.

  He wanted to hold her in his arms, but he was a smart guy so instead he took a step backward, leaving her free of his touch. “It’s hard to be a gentleman with you, Eddie.”

  “It is?” Her blush deepened. He wondered if many women blushed anymore. Certainly it must be hard to shock them.

  And yet Eddie was no shrinking violet. Women in her time hadn’t lived easy lives, particularly not in frontier Texas. “Can you shoot a gun?” he asked with sudden irrelevance.

  “Of course. Papa taught us, though Cynthia said it was barbaric and refused to learn.”

  “Cynthia is your stepmother?”

  She nodded.

  “She’s a modern woman. She must have talked to you about sex.”

  She looked down. “Of course. Anyway I’ve worked on a farm, I am not ignorant. It’s just hard to talk to you about things like that and people seem to look at things so oddly now.”

  “I just wanted to make sure you knew I didn’t only want to be your friend. I want more than that.”

  She waited.

  “Do you want me to get down on my knees to propose?”

  “Only if you feel like it?” Her lashes didn’t rise, but he saw those soft, full lips curve upward in the beginnings of a smile.

  Immediately he dropped to his knees, a jar that was thankfully softened by the deep carpet. “Miss Stephens, my dear Miss Stephens, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” he imitated what he thought of as the more formal speech of her time.

  When she didn’t reply, he looked up. “You’re supposed to say, ‘but Dr. Alston, this is so sudden.”

  “No, I’m not,” she protested. “I knew you were working up to this.”

  “Well, really, Eddie. You could at least pretend that you didn’t have me wrapped around your little finger.”

  “It would be highly improper for me to agree to your most flattering proposal until you have approached my father and asked for my hand. Only with his approval could I accept or reject you.”

  He got up from the floor, frowning at her. “Eddie, you know there’s no way I can ever meet your dad. He’s locked away in Lavender and me, well I’m locked away here.” Reality began to soak back in. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that, not when I know every word we say can be overheard. But your dad is gone, dead as far as we’re concerned, and I know I have no right to ask you to share my captivity . . .”

  She covered his mouth with her hand. “I suppose we’ll just have to make do without Papa’s approval, but the answer is yes. Zan I love you and want to be married to you.”

  He took her gently into his arms as though she was so precious as to be breakable. “Guess the person we have to get permission from is Geoff,” he said, his voice tinged with irony.

  Fully aware of what her papa would say if he knew she was sleeping in one bedroom while her fiancée was in another in the same dwelling, even though she had always delighted in flouting convention, Eddie couldn’t help feeling a little guilty. But she also was feeling a whole lot of happiness.

  For tonight at least she could ignore the jeopardy in which they were living. It was a little like the tales she’d heard of rushed marriages taking places before soldiers had to go off to war, perhaps to die at Gettysburg, Shiloh or Chancellorsville. If the next few days were all she and Zan would have together, at least they would have that much.

  And if Geoff refused to let this happen, then she would throw conscience and risk to the wind and just be with him, the way Maud had been with her sweetheart.

  Oh, my, how Papa would disapprove. But he could not know how close to hopeless the situation was. He couldn’t know how much she loved Zan.

  She lay awake in the darkness, too excited to sleep, but she must have drifted off, or it was one of those waking dreams because she found herself standing in the middle of a snowy pasture with cold wind blowing through the night shirt and pajama pants Zan had loaned her for the night. Her feet felt frozen against the cold.

  Maud, bulky in several layers of heavy clothes, took off her own coat and threw it over Eddie’s shoulders, pushing her ahead until they got inside the house where the embers of a fire lingered in the fireplace. Jenny, looking long-legged and several years older than when Eddie had last seen her, was sound asleep on the sofa.

  Maud wouldn’t let her speak until she’d rubbed warmth into her feet, wrapped her in a thick quilt next to the fire, and added a couple of extra logs to build the blaze.

  “Lucky I was out seeing to the heifer,” she said. “I half expected she would have her calf tonight with the snow moving in. But there was nothing doing, thank goodness.”

  She and Maud were no longer the same age. The other woman looked to be in her early thirties, her face reddened from years of outside work. Eddie glanced questioningly at the sleeping girl. “Will we wake her if we talk?”

  Maud shook her head. “She’s a sound sleeper, my Jenny. Would take a boom of thunder to awaken her. And my mother’s back in her bedroom sound asleep too. As long as we keep our voices down, we have the night to ourselves.”

  “Jenny’s grown so much since I’ve seen her.”

  “Years have passed.” Maud got up, went into the kitchen, and while Eddie debated following her, it felt too good close to the fire. Minutes later her hostess returned, bringing cups of warm milk, one of which she handed to the younger woman.

  “It’s only been a few weeks for me,” Eddie said. She’d never liked warm milk, which Mrs. Myers always said was good at bedtime, but she sipped it anyway and did find it warming.

  “I can see that,” Maud responded calmly.

  “Doesn’t it ever bother you, Maud, these strange things that happen here? Last time I was here the house was deserted, but I saw what looked like an Indian camp outside.”

  “All I know is that everything means something, not always to me, but to the people who come here.” She gave a little smile. “I reckon I might get lonesome some time ‘cept for my visitors.”

  “I’m always glad to see you,” Eddie said quickly, afraid Maud would think she was complaining. “You bring me a kind of comfort.”

  Maud nodded as though she understood. “The way I first saw it, you were brought here so as to get a message from your mother. But that’s happened and you’re back again. So more’s got to be going on.”

  “But what can it possibly be? Oh, Maud, I just got engaged tonight. Do you suppose something terrible is going to happen like . . .like . . .”

  “Like what happened to me?” Maud questioned gently. “When the man I was going to marry was killed before we could get to the preacher. No, I don’t think so.” She shook her head. “Maybe you’re just facing a scary time and needed a word of encouragement.”

  “I thought of you,” Eddie admitted, “because we are taking a big risk and I couldn’t help but feel that I wanted to be brave like you and do what I needed to be with Zan.”

  “Zan?” Maud’s smile widened. “That’s a funny name.”

  “He’s from the future and it is a funny place and not funny ha-ha, if you know what I’m saying.”

  “Reckon it’s always the future,” Maud said, “when we’re looking to tomorrow. But don’t let it scare you.”

  And then she was back in her own bed, dry and warm under a heated blanket, the taste of milk still in her mouth.

  Chapter Twenty Three

  The senior Alstons didn’t stay around for the wedding a week later, but to Zan’s surprise permission was given for the event to take place at the Caldecott ranch.

  He couldn’t help but be suspicious at this favor, but when he questioned the unusual degree of consideration, his brother smiled rather grimly and just said it hadn’t been easy to arrange.

  “They want you happy,” he said softly. “And
we all have come to the conclusion that requires seeing to it that Eddie is happy.”

  Eddie was taken home a couple of days in advance to prepare for the big day, but Zan was not allowed to communicate with either his bride to be or her family. The daily injections continued, leaving him more dazed and fuzzy-minded than ever. Much as he wanted to anticipate his marriage to Eddie, somewhere deep inside he had a strong feeling his keepers didn’t intend for that day to ever come.

  The anticipation of the wedding was part of their plans for breaking him, but he wasn’t quite sure how they planned to make that work. In the meantime, he pretended to be less alert than he actually was and, instead of sending the sound of buzzing reverberating in his brain, he focused on thoughts of Eddie and the years ahead they would spend together.

  It was no more than a dream, he knew that, but it was all he had for comfort.

  Eddie had protested being separated from Zan, but she was simply bundled into an official vehicle and taken out to the ranch. The wedding would be Saturday at seven p.m., she was informed, and told that a judge would be provided to perform the ceremony and the only guests would be her aunt, uncle and cousin. She didn’t bother to mention once again that actually the Caldecotts were Betsy’s relatives, not her own.

  Having apparently no difficulty getting through the locked gate, they left her out in front of the house and drove off as if not eager to meet the ranch owners. Before she could knock on the door, she was greeted by enthusiastic barking and when Jerry flung open the door Einstein jumped on her with such force that he nearly knocked her down.

  “Eddie!” Jerry yelled, almost as excited as the dog. “Mom! Dad! Eddie’s back.”

  Lynne and Moss came running from the kitchen and took turns hugging her, while Jerry almost forgot his teen dignity enough to do the same, though he managed to refrain from more than a quick one-armed clasp. The dog kept barking throughout, dancing around the happy little group.