“Oh yeah, I’ll be here,” Dave assured me without a smidge of doubt.
I grinned at him in sheer amazement. I couldn’t believe how into this he was and even more surprising, how completely accepting of all of this news he had been. While I’ve spent months fearing that I was losing my mind, his attitude was just like ‘okay, time warps, sure, no problem’.
***
That very night we began a mutual journey to our own private discoveries as we went on separate time travels. I was my grandaunt Lucy and I was with my Mills family as we attended a Sunday church service and then I came home to do some baking on a cool spring day with (Lucy’s mother), my great-grandma Alice at her and Henry’s newly constructed and commodious two story farmhouse, at their farm which, by the way, is no longer owned by family members but is still in good shape in the real world and is about a mile from Grandma Rose’s house.
It was uneventful, as far as time warps go, but those are the kind that I cherish the most—it was absolutely wonderful and I drank in every moment. I always—always enjoy spending as much time with Great-Grandma Alice as I possibly can. She is or I guess I should probably say that she was, able to bake the most delicious homemade bread in her turn-of-the-century cook stove and how she managed to do it without burning or at least scorching it is beyond me but she had it down to a science. We baked bread together and then enjoyed some of it with fresh churned butter and lemonade as we sat out back in lawn chairs underneath a shady oak tree; whiling away the time, as we allowed the kitchen to cool down, before going back in to clean up and wash dishes. There was a light breeze that felt heavenly upon my skin which was damp with perspiration from our baking exertions and the sweet smell of flowering plant and tree blossoms wafted through the air.
I decided to use the opportunity of this alone time with Alice to ask her questions about her childhood growing up in Ohio where she had lived until she was eighteen when Judson and Rose had brought the entire family out to Iowa, in 1868. Then after that, Great-Grandma Alice described to me when and where she had met Great-Grandpa Henry and she shared all of the little details about their wedding day back in 1872. While she spoke, her eyes sparkled with a light that couldn’t have been attributed solely to the sunshiny day that we were enjoying together.
I couldn’t help but reflect, as I listened to her speak, on the fact that before my time travels had begun; I’d known the basic details of Alice’s existence. I had known when she had been born and when she had died, I’d known how many siblings and children she’d had, but I had known nothing about the more important details that make Alice so very special.
I have learned, as my times with her have unfolded, that she was much more than merely the dry, shapeless details from my genealogy charts. I know about the kind of woman that she is, or was, a warm and loving wife, a good and charitable Christian who helped others whenever possible, a good sister, a wonderful daughter to Rose and a nurturing mother to my grandpa Arlan and his siblings. After weeks of avoiding my house and now coming back and reclaiming my secret, with Dave at my side, I felt that these travels might just be a blessing and a gift, especially days like this one, when I learned a little more about all of the varying facets that make up my great-grandma Alice.
***
Dave’s time warp had involved his great-great-great-grandfather Samuel McFall. Dave had been a boy of about seventeen he’d guessed but he’d had no way of knowing exactly who he was, only that he’d been one of Samuel’s sons. He, along with Samuel and several other young men had been in a farmyard, during his warp, working at trimming the hooves of a team of four draft horses. Dave himself had been raised around saddle horses most of his life but he said that he’d had no clue about the draft horses or trimming hooves because he’d always just hired a ferrier for such things.
After Dave had gotten underfoot a couple of times, several of the men had sent him up into the loft of the barn and put him to work at pitching hay. Later he’d been ordered to clean and fill the horses’ water buckets and fill their feed bins with hay and a scoop of oats for each one. He had also been given the responsibility of walking each of the horses back to their stalls when they were ready, but he’d gotten two of the four mixed up and placed in the wrong stalls. He’d received a stern talking to from an older sibling; (his best guess of their familial relationship) for “Not having my head on straight,” he had told me, mimicking the sibling’s twangy country speech and Dave’s rendition of it had been hilarious. Dave had been euphoric all the next day as he kept remembering and going over every detail that he could recall, time and again.
Chapter 27
I stretched, arching my back languidly and turned onto my side, looking at the clock on my nightstand and saw that is was 7:30. Not bad I decided, as far as return times go. I turned to my back again and reached out to run my hand over Dave’s side of the bed but the sheets were cool, no longer holding any of the heat from his body although the scent of him, clean and masculine lingered. I moved over to lay face down on his empty pillow inhaling deeply, enjoying the fragrance of him as I hugged it as if holding him in my arms. Then I heard the front door close softly, followed by the creaking of the screen door as it was carefully latched and I jumped out of bed, as though I had been shot out of a cannon. I stepped into my slippers, threw my robe on over my pajamas, barreled down the stairs, burst out of the front door and off of the porch.
“Hey, Cameron,” I called.
Dave turned from just placing his tool belt into the bed of his truck, obviously surprised by my sudden rise from the dead, and he smiled at me with surpassing sweetness.
“Did I forget something?” he asked.
“Just this,” I said standing up on the tiptoes of my fluffy slippers and slipping my arms around his neck to give him a big bear hug. He lifted me completely off of the ground and turned me so that I was standing up against the side of his truck while he braced his hands on the top of the cab and bent to kiss me, but I deflected his kiss and gave him only a slight peck.
“I didn’t think this through,” I said with embarrassment. “I’m sure that my breath is atrocious.”
“I don’t care one bit,” he said leaning down until looking me directly in the eyes. “Give me a kiss—now!”
I bowed to his demand and he truly didn’t seem to have a problem with my breath after all.
“I want you to know that I did give you a kiss in the forehead before I left the house,” he assured me. “But you were elsewhere. Were you doing anything noteworthy?”
“Oh it was just a tea with the Cedar Township Women’s Auxiliary at Mrs. Quarton’s house. They were discussing the upcoming observance of the 1896 Flag Day at the cemetery. Pretty dry stuff but Grandma Rose and Grandma Alice seemed to enjoy themselves. What about you?” I asked.
“Let’s just say that I’ve learned more than I ever wanted to know about the digging—by hand mind you, of a new outhouse pit,” he said with a laugh.
“I’ll need to hear all about it later,” I said, smiling up into his eyes and feeling a little reluctant to let him go. Even though he was just leaving to go to work for the day, he would be meeting with a prospective client for dinner tonight and he wouldn’t be home until almost 9:00 p.m.
“I hope that you have a good day. I’ll be missing you. Get home as soon as you can.”
“You too and of course I will,” he assured me, gazing down into my upturned face. “I still can’t get used to the idea that I have someone waiting for me to come home to them. It feels amazing to belong to someone, Torie.”
“Me, too, I’m loving it,” I confessed.
“We’ll be starting our second month together soon, you know. Maybe we should plan a night out in Des Moines to celebrate. How about someplace fancy so that you can dress up and wear some sexy high heels?”
“Okay, I’ll think about that. Date night, huh?” I said with a laugh.
“Definitely,” he agreed and kissed me again.
“Well I’d better let yo
u get going,” I decided with a heavy sigh.
“I suppose so,” he agreed, and released me from where he’d been keeping me trapped up against his truck and between his arms. I stepped back as he climbed in, waiting while he turned over his engine and then he lowered his window.
He reached out a hand take hold of mine; drawing me toward him again and we shared one last brief kiss before I stood back, each of us wearing matching goofy lovesick grins, as we gazed at each other while he backed out.
***
When Dave started down the road we exchanged one last wave before his truck was swallowed up by a cloud of gravel dust and I turned for the house, thinking as I did so, about my long day and evening stretching out before me like an endless wasteland. I decided, right then, that I’d get cleaned up and head into Des Moines.
I called ahead to the spa and made an appointment for my usual and after I’d arranged that, the thought occurred to me that after my appointment I could possibly do some browsing at the shops of Jordan Creek Town Center to pass some time. That thought, as thoughts often do, led to another, which was that maybe (that is if I could actually pull it off) I could arrange to have a romantic surprise waiting for Dave when he arrives home tonight. And it was while pondering what that might possibly be, that I had a sudden stroke of genius, What about a sexy historical romance theme, à la Passion’s Fury,—Hmmm.
***
After I’d showered and dressed for the day, I sat down at my computer to work on my newly mandated, three pages a day of my Civil War romance novel still in progress. I’d received another sternly worded email from my agent Tom Rhoads just last night regarding my failure to give my editor the six chapters that I’d promised her by the end of the month. I was close to finishing but it had been a struggle because I just wasn’t inspired—period. I have had more important things on my mind recently, namely Dave Cameron and time travel.
In spite of my lack of inspiration I was making some progress by just getting something down in the general direction I was headed which was helping me to push a little further when I came back to it again each successive day. I still had a long way to go in the overall story itself, but I did manage to punch out my three pages within a few minutes and slacker that I am, called it a day.
I let Shadow outside for a quick turn about the yard and waited on the porch for him to do his business. He is such a smart and perfectly trained dog that the slightest order and he immediately responds; he will even pee on command. After I brought him back inside, I filled a water bowl for him, and then locked up the house before heading out of town.
***
As I drove the sixty miles to Des Moines solidifying my plans for some sexy surprise for Dave, I got to thinking about what Dave had said about us starting our second month. It was true, and if I were to follow my normal pattern, there could be trouble brewing in our relationship before long.
I couldn’t help but think of Rick Larson; a great guy that I’d dated about six or seven years ago. Rick had been my last serious boyfriend before Derek and he had been in love with me, which had been his only crime. We had known each other through work for a couple of years before we had started dating casually and not long after that, we had become an item. It had only taken six weeks before he and I had been cohabitating semi-regularly and shortly thereafter he had wanted me to move in with him and share his life with him and work in the direction of permanence, and marriage, and children!
I really had been in love with him and at twenty-eight I should have wanted all of those things that he had wanted to share with me and I had wanted them but when he had pressed it—instead of a happily ever after, I broke up with him and pretty spectacularly, right before Christmas. It was because I had been afraid that an engagement ring might have been in the offing and I wasn’t about to wait for him to slip that symbolic noose around my neck. I had bolted, never speaking with him again, which had been more than a little awkward and uncomfortable, to put it mildly, since we had worked in the same building together every day. What’s that saying about ‘don’t dip your pen in company ink?’ Anyway, thankfully I got a new job and left the company about two months later and I had never looked back.
I hate to make comparisons but in many ways Dave is Rick, all over again. Regarding Dave though, I am not feeling any of that pressure or the fear of what might be coming next. I am feeling like we are at a healthy place in our relationship and getting closer every day. Historically though, I know that everything always seems fine until suddenly it isn’t anymore. I am just hoping and praying that I can break the pattern this time and continue this amazing journey with this man.
***
After my appointment at the spa, I strolled along the shops at the mall looking for some kind of inspiration in my quest for a romantic seduction. I stopped into Soma and was browsing through racks of seductive apparel when a small rack of soft-white gauzy baby-doll gowns with wide, low-slung necklines and gathered sleeves, caught my eye. The gown was sexy but almost had a flavor of olden or medieval times about it. It was something that I could totally see my protagonist Melody Turner wearing as she teased and tormented her new husband Beau Gardner. The gown also came with a pair of sexy V-string panties of the same see-through gauzy material and I decided, without doubt, that this was going to be just perfect, so I grabbed up my size and headed for the checkout counter.
When I accepted my credit card back from the salesclerk, I took up my inspiration which had been wrapped carefully in tissue paper and tucked inside a stylish Soma bag and set out next in search of some romantic scented candles and perhaps some mood music to finish out my carefully orchestrated seduction.
***
When I heard the door of Dave’s truck close at 9:00 p.m., I turned off the television and was at the door ready to welcome him home.
He smiled warmly at me as he pulled the screen door open.
“Uh oh, what’d I do?” he asked, not sounding truly concerned.
“Not a thing. Just happy to see you,” I assured him.
He pulled me into a hug with one arm as he set his worn tool belt just inside and once free of the thing, enveloped me in a fierce two armed embrace. He sighed in contentment, as I ran my hands over his back, massaging lightly.
“How was dinner? Get the job?” I asked smiling up at him as our hug loosened but we continued to stand in the foyer, holding each other as we talked, swaying gently together, almost like a slow dance.
“Yeah and it’s gonna be really nice. A total renovation of three thousand square feet and the guy wants to go for every detail to be exact. His enthusiasm kinda reminded me of a certain driven, sexy woman I worked for recently,” he said as he lowered his hands to squeeze my butt cheeks playfully.
“Hmmm,” I said as he wrapped his arms more securely around my waist. “Well, I think that I like the more recent work that you’ve been doing for her, some of your best, I think.”
“Wait for me to grab a quick shower and I’ll show you some more of my skills,” he promised as he dipped me suddenly causing me to call out with a little ‘whoop’ and a burst of surprised laughter before he planted a deep kiss on my mouth.
***
As Dave headed upstairs to take a shower, I turned off all of the downstairs lights and hurried up to prepare for my performance. I drew the shades in our bedroom so that the light of the moon or any passing vehicle headlights wouldn’t be warring with the cozy flicker of the lavender and linen scented candles I’d lit and had placed strategically on my dresser and the nightstands. I feel that the gentle, soft illumination of candlelight always does wonderful, magical things to bare skin in the act of lovemaking. Next I pulled the covers back invitingly and finally I turned on the sound system which I’d linked up with my iPod, selecting the play list that I’d compiled with some of my favorite romantic love songs.
I had already showered earlier in the evening in preparation, so I now quickly undressed and slipped into my new gown and panty set and spritzed my perfume into
the air, walking through the mist and then waving my hands wildly to dissipate the hanging cloud. I bent over, flipping my freshly cut and washed hair to hang down, and ruffled my fingers through it so that when I popped back upright and checked my appearance in the mirror, my mane was fanning in cascading layers around my face and down my back. Lastly I took up a small jar from my vanity and dabbed some gloss onto my lips before climbing onto the bed and posing myself carefully.
Regarding the posing; I had made the mistake of calling Mindy in the afternoon and telling her about my plans and amongst the many sexy time ideas that she had reveled in describing to me and which I had shot down, one by one, there had come one bit of input which I had decided to put to use. We had gone online and on Pinterest we had found dozens and dozens of boards and pins with the subject of sexy poses to make an impression on your man (I know, I know, both childish and ridiculous) but the one that Mindy had decided on for me, unilaterally, was of a woman sitting up on the bed with her back arched up straight in perfect posture which I now mimicked and did find had the effect of thrusting my lightly veiled breasts out front and center. My legs I arranged so that my right leg was tucked up with the heel of my right foot close to my crotch and the knee of my left leg bent with my left heel close to my butt.
“Kind of like a sexy reindeer leap,” Mindy had said regarding the pose demonstrated in the Pinterest board named ‘41 sexy ways to sit on a bed.’ “Trust me,” she had said. “That’ll be hot.”
***
When Dave came to the bedroom door a few minutes later what met his eyes was me, reindeer leap and all, sitting in the midst of our bed in the soft glow of perfumed candlelight, with the romantic strains of John Waite singing “Missing You” playing on the stereo system. I’d hoped to create sexy and if the look on Dave’s face was any indicator, I’d succeeded and then some.