Dances Naked (7 page)

I

t had been an uncomfortably warm night and
,
even though we had all been splashed or soaked with some form of chaos the day before, we all slept soundly. Grant slept the hardest and longest
,
which I very much appreciated. Actually, I think we were all grateful for that blessing. He must have been more worn-out than he knew. The two pain pills I had slipped into his sandwich knocked him out for nearly 24 hours. Hey, it worked for me to have that obnoxious and nosy so and so sound asleep and not snooping around the premises, irritating family members with his bad manners. Evidently, no one missed him
.
I didn’t hear of even one person calling for or asking about him!

When Mr. Personality finally awoke the next afternoon
,
Sarah told him that Rachel couldn’t leave for another day
,
at the earliest. He started to protest but stopped short when he felt a big, heavy hand on his shoulder, not squeezing it
,
but settling on it firmly. “Let the lass heal,” Jody said with authority. “The wee lad will get the attention he needs from the women here until the mother is up and about. Or did ye figure on takin’ on that responsibility yerself?” he added with a hint of sarcasm and a double eye blink, his version of a wink.

“Hmph!” Grant
grunted
then walked away, sweeping his right arm out in a gesture of defiance, using it like a scythe to slice through the laundry bush laden with clouts. He was mad that they couldn’t travel right away. And
,
with two big men living here
,
he couldn’t do anything about it except leave without her.

It didn’t seem like he wanted to do that though. I watched him as he sulked away from the house. Rachel was apparently of value to him, an asset of some sort. Why else would he stay and wait for her to recover? I doubt that it was because he cared for her but I suppose that coul
d be a possibility. Yeah, right!
T
hat self-centered
,
oversized
,
gimme-gimme ingrate cared for no one but himself. She was his trump card for sure but for what game I had no idea. Hopefully
,
it wasn’t one that would bring harm to her or the baby.

Ж

Yesterday I finally got a chance to write my letter to Leah. I had figured out how to send a letter from now, 1781, to an acquaintance in the 21
st
century. I’m sure James Melbourne, the enchanting young man I met the day I first interacted with Simon, th
e master time traveler, would forward the letter to my daughter in North Carolina.  I’d send a request to my husband’s Uncle Tony, also a Melbourne, to hold my letter there in London, not to be read until November 1, 2011.That would be the day after I disappeared, fell off a time portal cliff
and broke my back,
got dosed with the Fountain of Youth water, and dev
eloped a severe case of amnesia
. In the letter, I would tell my daughter where I was and not to worry
about me, that she now had a new family and
that
they were some of the ‘fictional’ characters from the
‘
Lost
’
novels.

Rachel was resting comfortably, Baby Boy snuggled amidst a rag quilt in one of my handmade bassinet/ laundry basket containers. Wallace was out in the barn showing Jenny how to weave more of them. We were going to have a bumper crop of corn this year and needed more of the smaller containers for temporary storage until we could get it all processed. I didn’t know where Jody was
,
but Sarah was in the kitchen with me. It was an opportune time to read her my letter and get her opinion about it.

“This first part is for my friend James. I can send it to him through his family on England, for them to pas
s down through the generations. That way
he can break it to Leah gently, what happened to me and where I am:

As of August 4, 2013
,
Leah is working at the Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, not far from our little cafe. She was, will be, my recovery room nurse. So
,
if you have a chance to talk to her in person, would you please explain this to her and then let her read this letter.”

“I hope he gets a chance to meet her in person,” I fantasized
a
loud. “I think they’d get along great. Hmm, I don’t think I n
eed to read all of this to you—
it’s
kind of personal in places, but
here:

I am alive and well in 1781. I will show up again on August 4, 2013 at the hospital you work in but you will have to let me go back home again to my new family. I have a husband and triplets!”

“So, what do you think?” I asked after reading the selected parts to her. There was no way I was going to let her read the part that a 21st century lady by the name of Lisa Sinclaire had written biographies about her and Jody that were represented as historical romance novels. I didn’t want to jinx the possibility that those stories would never be written. I think that I would definitely be interfering with the time line continuum thingy if I did that!

“It sounds like you have all the pertinent information there so James can contact Leah. I’ll write a companion letter and send it with my others. I’ll ask
that
someone try and get in touch with her and James, too. That’s Moses H. Cone Hospital in Greensboro and August 4, 2013? Wow,” she mumbled, “so far away.” Sarah regained her composure and added, “That is
,
if my letters do get through to Barden Hall.”

“Now what’s this about Barden Hall?” Jody asked brightly as
he waltzed into the kitchen. “O
ops, sorry,” he whispered as he saw the sleeping mother and child a few feet away.

“Aw, she won’t wake up until she’s ready and neither will he,” I commented in my normal speaking voice. I shook my head and added, “It’s sure hard to believe that those two are any relation to that Captain Asshole. Did you hear anything about his trial or sentencing?” I asked.

“Weel,”
Jody
said as he pulled out a chair from under the table and sat down, “It looks like he’s to be hanged by the neck until daid next, no, wait, that was,” Jody counted on his fingers, “he shoulda been hanged yesterday. The major said he didna wanna waste any more food on a man who had tried to take soldiers away from his majesty’s army and collected taxes fer his own personal gain. I told him that my son could also give testimony about the um, altercation at the mill
,
but he said it wasna necessary, that my word and that of his sergeant were enough. And
,
he wasna too happy about him tryin’ to kidnap the lass either,” Jody said as he shifted in the seat. “It seems the major has six daughters and is quite protective of them, which is how it should be. So, yer sendin’ a letter to Barden Hall so my Benji can watch out fer yer friend James and yer daughter Leah?”

“That’s the plan. You know, when the time comes that this letter is to be read, Benji will be quite a bit older than Leah will be. It’s been a long time since you’ve seen him, hasn’t it? I’ll bet he looks just like you,” I proclaimed with parental pride
,
although I was bragging about someone else’s progeny.

“How do ye ken? Did ye ever meet him? Have ye ever been to Barden Hall?” Jody asked excitedly, leaning forward and clutching his knees.

“No, I’ve never set foot outside the USA
,
but I do know that he has a tall mama who looks like you and he has red hair, too
,
so, well, gee, I don’t know.” I sighed in frustration at getting the man all wound
with
no way to satisfy his excitement. “I’m sure with his heritage
,
he’s good looking, smart
,
and responsible.”

“Weel, I’ll settle for jest bein’ responsible. Although with his parents, I’m sure he is the other two as well. Now, do ye think the lass and the bairn can travel tomorrow? They’re no bother here and I wouldna want to send her away before she’s strong enough.”

Sarah looked at Jody
, then
me
,
then shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll see how’s she’s doing in the morning and give her my advice. She’s been a good patient and the boy’s yeast infection seems to be almost gone. It was mostly irritation from being in filthy clouts. I’ll make sure she has a change of clothes for him and a few spare clouts with explicit instructions on cleanliness, for her
and
for him. She, um, talked a bit during labor. It seems her mother died before she had a chance to tell her all she needed to know about babies, and, well, a lot of other things. When she gets to feeling better
,
I’ll fill her in on a few other important facts of life. Jody, she said they were headed to stay with family in New Bern. Do you think we can get word to Angus to keep an eye on her?”

Jody grinned as she was asking. “It’s already been don
e;
I sent word jest this mornin’. And
,
I’ll make sure Grant kens that I have friends and family from here to New Bern
,
and that they have all been asked to keep watch over the young lass and the bairn. He may be a nosy man
,
but I’ll bet he kens not to hurt either one of them.”

Just then
,
I heard a crashing noise outside
,
like stacked wood being knocked over, then the sound of someone running away. “Weel, it looks like he heard what I wanted him to hear,” Jody said with a chuckle. “I dinna ken how long he was out there
,
but he kens now that those two,” he nodded to Rachel and Baby Boy, “have protectors from here
to the Atlantic Ocean. I’d wager by those squinty eyes that Grant is a family name
,
not jest a given name. He has the way of the Grants of Leoch about him. Never trust a Grant.”

Ж

Wallace saw Grant stumble and fall away from the house. It almost looked, no
, he definitely had been listening outside the kitchen window. Jody was in there with the women so the
re were no worries about them—t
hey were safe. The discourteous traveler now
was
headed toward him and it looked like he was chanting.

“Leah, Moses Cone, August 4, 2013, Leah, Moses Cone, oh yeah, Greensboro, August…crap, I have to find a way to write this down. I’ll never remember so many things that don’t make sense,” Grant mumbled. He looked up and saw the tall
,
young father staring at him. “Hmph,” he sn
orted and turned to head in the opposite direction. “Leah, Moses, Greensboro, August 4, 2013. Leah, Moses…”

Ж

Later that day

We got an unexpected guest this afternoon. Young Hannah Althouse came by for a visit. She had been with the Donaldson family since
March and was on her way home to her ‘
first’
family.

“I don’t know if I can be away from my babies for very long,” she admitted to Sarah. “I wanted to learn the healin’ from you
,
but do you think that maybe we can wait until winter? I mean, there’s so much to do with the garden
,
and the girls are a handful for just Mrs. Donaldson
,
and I already miss my boys
,
and,” she sighed deeply, “I haven’t even been gone one day. Did you know that they crawl now? Well, not really crawl
,
but they can roll over and over to get whatever they want. We had to put the chairs down sideways in front of the hearth. The fire has been
out, but they like the coolness—
there’s a draft that comes down the chimney. We don’t want them going in there later when there’s a fire going!”

Young Hannah was all aglow talking about her ‘boys
.
’ The twins weren’t related to her
,
but she had been their au pair since they were born. “Oh, and look at this,” she said as she held out a little purse. “Miranda made it for me for my birthday. She didn’t know what da
te
it was so said I could have it now. It was late if my day had passed
,
but otherwise it would be an early birthday present. Wasn’t that sweet? And get this,” she said with unbridled enthusiasm, “it
was
my birthday! And I hadn’t told anyone!” Tears were starting to build up on her bottom eyelids. “I think I’d better go home and see my Ma and Pa for a few days. But
,
I’m going to ask them if it’s okay if I go back again. The Donaldson’s need me and,” she sniffed and wiped her nose and eyes with the back of her hand, “I need them. We’re all born into a family
,
but sometimes God gives you a different one later. Do you know what I mean?”

“Boy, howdy,” I replied with emphasis. “I mean, yes, I do know because it happened to me, too. I do believe we’re both doubly blessed.”