Caroline found herself in the woods again. She slowly twirled around, taking in the sunlight-dappled surroundings. The trees, full and green, told of the summer season. Her hair and clothes stuck to her skin from the steamy heat. At least this time she wasn't running.
She walked along the trail, not really knowing where she should go, waiting for a sign or a sound to catch her attention.
So far this dream was miserably boring. The middle of nowhere, by herself, in the sweltering heat.
Caroline spied an outbuilding and finally heard something. Soft crying or, maybe, whimpering. She ran to the side of the building to get a closer look only to stumble upon a young woman crouched beside the wood pile. The same girl from her previous dreams. Caroline assumed this was Rachel.
She wasn't sure what she should do. Doubtful if the girl could see her, Caroline approached her. Rachel jerked her head up, her bloodshot eyes terrified.
"Get down! He'll see!" she whispered frantically.
Caroline pointed at herself, confused. She squatted down next to Rachel, careful not to touch her. Her white nightgown covered in blood, Rachel hugged her knees, rocking back and forth, muttering hysterically.
"I cut him. I cut him. I had a shard of metal and I cut him."
"Who?" Caroline asked. "Rachel, who did you cut?"
"He was trying to hurt me and I cut him. Oh, but that only angered him more. But I cut him. His hand will need a doctor's care for certain. I cut him."
"Which hand? Whose hand? You have to give me a name."
"They have to know. They must know the truth."
"Rachel, I can't help you unless you tell me who hurt you."
She gasped, "Oh no, he's coming! He's coming back for me!"
Caroline stood and turned around, but saw no one. She heard a twig snap right behind her and felt the warm breath on the back of her head. She stood between Rachel and whoever or whatever was chasing her. Not positively sure they could even see or hear her, Caroline closed her eyes, gulped and started to turn around.
BAM! Caroline nearly jumped out of her skin. Something from outside slammed into her window. Something large enough and loud enough to cause her to jolt from her dream. Notably freaked out about whoever had stood behind her, about to do who knows what, Caroline was thankful she woke.
She rushed to the window seeing only the moonless, pitch black night. Nothing. She checked her phone for the time. Four in the morning. She couldn't imagine a bird flying into the window that early. It was still dark. Eew, I hope it wasn't a bat. Not sure she would be able to go back to sleep, she turned on her laptop and attempted to do some research about Rachel Fontenot.
Unfortunately she came up empty. With it being so long ago, there wasn't much about her but her birthday, which, oddly enough, was the same as Caroline's. Rachel was born May 13,1868. Same day over one hundred years before her. The only other information she found on Rachel was how she died. August 3, 1886, falling from a window and hitting her head, instantly killing her.
Again, the freakish coincidences were piling up. And so were her goose bumps. Though her mom always loved the name Caroline, her full name was Rachel Caroline. Emily had once mentioned Eddie had been the one to name Caroline. Guess now she knew why. It was a long time family name.
Rachel's middle name surely wasn't also Caroline. She'd have to go to the public library in the morning to look in old newspapers. Maybe knowing her birthday would help in her research.
Yawning, she put away her laptop and fell asleep. This time she had no dreams.
Caroline pulled the eye mask from her face at the sound of voices downstairs. Daylight filled the room and she reached for her cell phone from the nightstand, but it wasn't there. Sure she'd left it there, Caroline figured she took it with her to the window when she got up in the middle of the night. She retraced her steps, and found her phone on the edge of the dressing table. She couldn't believe what time it was. She'd slept until ten-thirty. Frustration pulsed through her. She wanted to get an early start at the library.
Caroline gathered her things for a quick shower and got dressed for the day. She didn't want to take the time to blow dry her hair, so she twisted it into a sloppy bun and dabbed on a little make-up to look presentable. She reached for her engagement ring and panicked. It wasn't on the nightstand where she'd left it. And she specifically left it there so she would know where to find it. Searching the floor on her hands and knees, thinking she must have knocked it off at some point during the night, Caroline could only think the worst. She couldn't find it. Her heart raced and she frantically searched the rest of the room, even stripping the bed. No luck.
Where was it? It had to be there somewhere. She probably flung it across the room when she jumped out of her skin last night, but it was nowhere to be found now. She'd have to find it later. Right now, she needed to get going in case the library closed at noon. If she had flung it across the room, it wasn't going anywhere, so it should be okay until she got home. She'd make a point to look for it when she got back from the library.
Down in the kitchen, she scarfed down a quick breakfast Delia had set aside for her while she and Delphine finished cleaning up.
After Caroline inhaled her food, and asked them where the nearest library was. Delia smiled. "The library is downtown on Maple Street."
"Right, small town. I remember. Can you give me directions?"
"Sure, love. I'll write them down for you."
"Can I ask y'all a crazy question? What is today?" Caroline had completely lost track of time and her cell phone with the calendar was still upstairs in her purse.
Delia smiled sweetly, "Today is Thursday, June second."
"Thanks. I guess I've been distracted lately."
"You have good reason, boo. You've been through a lot in the last couple of days. Stress like that can wear on a girl. That's what gives you gray hair, right Delphine?"
Delphine snorted. "Speak fuh yuhself, beb. Me and Miss Clairol have a great relationship."
The two of them cackled with laughter as Caroline thanked them and slipped out. She ran upstairs to get her phone and do another sweep around the room for her ring before heading out. She still couldn't find it. Pain shot through her gut. Not sadness from the inability to find it, but because of what Trevor would do if he knew she'd lost it. Though completely possible, she didn't want to consider the possibility of anyone taking it. Not her new family. The best way to ruin everything she'd rebuilt with her dad would be to blindly accuse someone in his house of theft. Caroline assured herself she would find her ring when she got back. She would. Hopefully.
Delia's directions to the library were straightforward and accurate. Amazed at how easy it was to find with only needing to make three left turns. Caroline walked into the library and went straight for the front desk. The decent-sized library for such a small town impressed her as she studied the rows of shelves and equipment.
No one monitored the front desk. Standing with her back to the counter she scanned the open space of the library for help.
"Hi there, how can I help you?"
Startled, she jumped and turned around.
A painfully attractive man with golden brown hair and matching eyes flashed an amused, magnificent smile causing Caroline's knees to grow weak. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
"No, it's okay, it's just. . .two-seconds ago no one was here. I turned for just a second and then. . .there you are. . .out of nowhere. I'm rambling. Sorry." Her face grew hot. Great. I'm blushing! Why am I blushing? Why am I rambling?
He squinted. "Hey, have we met? You seem. . .familiar."
"I doubt it." He was gorgeous, but Caroline couldn't help mentally rolling her eyes at his corny attempt to flirt. Next he'd probably ask for her sign. Good thing she was a stubborn, bullheaded Taurus.
He studied her face, her hair. "No, I'm good with faces, especially beautiful ones." He flashed a panty-busting smile and winked. "I swear I've seen you around."
Caroline shrugged, flattered and heating beneat
h his inspection. She had to give him props for trying. "Sorry. I don't think so. I'm not from around here." Severely handicapped in the flirting department, Caroline usually made a fool of herself, but this guy seemed to be a pro. "I'm sure you're mistaking me with someone else."
Still unsure, he shook it off and smiled again, appreciatively running his eyes up and down her body. "Yeah, you're probably right." He leaned forward resting his elbows on the desk, his deliciously masculine scent inflicting an acute bout of dizziness. "So tell me, beautiful stranger, what can I do for you today?"
He stood patiently watching her blush as she gathered her scattered thoughts. She couldn't understand why this random guy had such an effect on her. She'd spoken with hot guys before, she was engaged to one, so why did this one have her all flustered? "I, uh, I'm looking for old newspapers from the mid-1800s. How do I go about finding those here?"
He raised his eyebrows. "Wow, that's a long time ago. Those would probably be on microfilm."
"Micro-what?"
He flashed that alluring smile again. "Microfilm. Follow me and I'll show you where they are." He spoke over his shoulder as they walked to the back of the library. "You've never heard of microfilm? Where have you been?"
"Google." Caroline hadn't been in a library since high school, thanks to the internet.
He chuckled. "So I take it you've never seen one of these babies?" He patted a monster-sized ancient device. "Allow me to show you how it works. What month and year specifically are you looking for?"
"May 13, 1868."
"Okay, these are all the files from that era. They are obviously in chronological order, so here are the 1800s." He scanned the files with his finger until he found the 1860s. Next, he pulled out a long narrow box filled with spools of ribbon, only instead of ribbon it was printed plastic. "May thirteenth, you said?"
"Yes, 1868."
He pulled out a spool and booted up the machine. Caroline couldn't help but notice the mounds of muscle hidden beneath his semi-tight shirt. He was obviously fit. With golden skin and beautiful amber eyes that closely matched those caramel locks, he was dazzling. Not too tall, but not short either. Probably around six feet. Of course, to her just about everyone was tall. Her gaze dipped to his backside, perfectly rounded under his khakis.
He shifted and she looked up. A smirk spread on his lips. Caught! She had been caught checking him out. She was mortified. Her face burned and she was positive she turned three different shades of red.
He smiled, "Did you hear me?"
She'd been too busy drooling to hear him. Oh, fantastic. Great job, Caroline. Real classy. "What? No, I'm sorry. What'd you say?"
"I asked you if you saw how I loaded the spool onto the machine, and if you think you can do it yourself?"
"Oh yes, I saw. I'm sure I can remember. . .if I need to." Caroline wanted to crawl under the table.
"Are you sure? I could unload it and do it again for you if you'd like. Sometimes it's tricky to get it lined up just right."
"Yes, if you don't mind. Do it again for me, please?"
He paused for a moment, grinning, studying her face before he unloaded the film. Goodness, he was indeed handsome. He had a ruggedness about him that she'd never seen before. So hot.
For the second time, he loaded the spool onto the peg, threaded the plastic under the microscope-like piece, and hit a button. It made a loud noise as it loaded the machine, and suddenly she could see the newspaper on the big screen. It was so cool.
"Awesome! Thank you so much. I think I've got it now."
He stared for a moment. "Do you need help with anything else? I mean. . .while you've got my attention?"
Was he blushing?
"Um, I do have one question. Have you lived here your whole life?"
He smiled and said, "Born and raised."
Hmmm. A pure bred southern boy. Nice. Focus Caroline. "Well, I'm looking into some of my family history, and I don't know much about this area. Honestly, I don't know much about Louisiana. If you're not busy, I could use some help with the areas involved?"
His smile lit up that handsome face. "My shift's about to end. I'll be back in ten minutes."
"Great, thanks." Caroline really didn't need help. Not entirely sure why she asked him to stay, Caroline thought it acceptable to make a friend. To her good fortune, he just happened to be gorgeous.
She scrolled through the microfilm looking for May 13, 1868. The spool he chose started with April. They must be filed quarterly with this one being April-June. Caroline zoomed through April and tried to slow it down when it got to May, but not knowing how to use the machine was a hinderance. She didn't know how to stop it once it was going so fast. And then the slapping of the film echoed as it slid out of the machine and spun around on the unloaded spool. Great. Genius. How did he load this thing again? She mumbled under her breath. "Way to go, Caroline. Real smooth."
"Caroline? So that's your name?" She whirled around in surprise to see her handsome helper standing right behind her, smiling and clearly intrigued.
"Yes, my name is Caroline."
"That's a pretty name. I'm Cade."
"You have a pretty name, too. Well, not pretty, you're a guy, obviously." Good Lord, I sound like a ditz. "It's um. . .nice." A subject change would be great about now. "Short for Caden?"
"Yep, Caden Luke. It's what my momma calls me, but only when I'm in trouble." He chuckled.
"You either must not get into trouble very often, or you get into trouble all the time."
He frowned. "Why would you think that?"
"Your amusement when you said it gave it away."
He grinned again. "Nah, my mom usually lets me do whatever I want, considering I haven't lived at home with my parents in years. I'm a good boy—most of the time." He winked, his playfulness alluring. The adorable dimple in his chin didn't hurt his case either.
She turned to look at the mess she made with the microfilm machine and his eyes followed.
"Man, I leave you alone for a few minutes and you tear everything up?" He laughed when he said it, but she was still embarrassed.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't figure out how to slow it down before the spool ran out of film. Is there a trick to the controls or something?"
He leaned down over her right shoulder and readjusted the spool. She caught a whiff of his clean fragrance. He smelled like soap and body spray. Incredible and strangely familiar. Did Trevor use the same soap? She didn't think so, but she had smelled it before.
The heat from his body radiated his scent. It was positively intoxicating. He fixed the spool back to where he had it first, and scrolled slowly through May. He stopped it on May 13, 1868.
"Here's the date you were looking for. Is there a particular section you needed?"
"I need the birth announcements." He looked at her for a moment as if she was crazy.
"What?"
"Do you really think they put birth announcements in the newspaper back in the 1800s?"
"I don't know, it was a little before my time." She pushed the sarcasm.
"I think you need to find the hospital records to get that information."
"Well, where would I find those?"
"If the baby was born in a hospital and not at home, you may be able to get a copy from the courthouse."
"Great. Where is the courthouse?"
He smiled. "I can take you there if you'd like?"
"Thanks, but I have my car here. I can drive if you'll just tell me where it is."
"Tell you what, if you'll have lunch with me today, I'll drive you to the courthouse and then bring you back to your car?" Oh, he was good. Smooth, real smooth.
"Um, I should tell you I have a. . .well, I'm engaged." That didn't faze him as he stood patiently waiting for her answer. She added, "I guess so, but I really need to get those copies today, okay?"
"Sure thing, I'll take good care of you." He put the microfilm away as Caroline gathered her belongings. He let her walk in front of him as they exited the librar
y. His charm melted Caroline's bones when she paused to let him go through the doorway first, but he refused with a crooked grin. He held it open and motioned ahead. "Ladies first."
Ten