Loving You (Remembrance Series, Book 2) (8 page)

That night, I settled into his arms and drifted toward my subconscious mind, hoping we would be able to remember more of our Colonial past. I could feel his presence close by, but found myself emerging in the dream as Hannah, in what appeared to be her bedroom.

“Hannah, dear, you have a caller in the parlor. Please come down and greet your guest.” I couldn’t believe it. My own mother’s voice called out from downstairs.

I opened the door to my room and found my way to the stairs, seeing the perfect reflection of my mother in undress with her caraco and petticoat. However, her hair was much longer and placed up under a cotton cap.

She directed me to the parlor, where I expected to see Aaron waiting for me. I could feel my footsteps falter when I saw Lucinda smiling, rather pleasantly, at me. “Thank you Mrs. Clark.” She turned to me. “I would like to request a moment of your time, Hannah, to discuss something in private.”

I looked to my mother, hoping to convey that I did not want to be left alone with this woman. Instead I heard, “I need to tend to dinner. I will leave you two to discuss. There is hot tea and biscuits on the side table.”

Lucinda walked over and poured herself a cup of tea before taking a place on the Chippendale settee. I decided to skip the tea and sit in the upholstered side chair across from her. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company today, Lucinda?” I asked, mildly curious.

She took a sip of the tea before glancing my way. “This visit is far from pleasurable for me. I have come to warn you away from Aaron. No good can come of your pairing.” Her eyes glowed a slight red in the center and her stare froze me to my seat. “Mark my words, Hannah, you WILL NEVER marry him! If you proceed forward with your plans, I assure you that your family’s name will be destroyed.”

I sat there in trepidation of her boisterous claims. After a time, I was finally able to speak. “Betrothed or not, he has declared his love for me, alone. What gives you the impression that he would so willingly take your hand? Do you act so brazen with all the citizens of our colony? Is that how you achieved your social standing, through intimidation?”

She sat her tea down onto the side table before standing up and fisting her hands. Her voice was dark and controlled. “You had better head my warning or your father’s credibility as a doctor will be shaken in this community. I must take my leave and go pay MY betrothed a visit.”

“I would bid you a good day, though you have sadly attempted to ruin mine. Your vile words have fallen on deaf ears. Aaron will hear of your visit and we will let love and fate decide whose hand he will take.” I paused to gather my strength for one final blow. “Horrid words and empty threats are unappealing coming from someone who is supposedly a lady of culture. My father is the only doctor in this community and well respected, at that. With the backing of the Franklin’s, the Washington’s and other leaders of the city, he will continue to thrive.”

Apparently my words caught her off guard, as she stormed toward the entry and took her leave. She glanced back only once. “You may have won this battle of wits, Hannah, but I will win this war!”

I watched out the window, as she marched down the street and to her awaiting carriage. There was another young woman awaiting her return. When the woman leaned forward, my breath caught as I recognized the red waves escaping her cap and saw Rebecca, whose deep scowl and glowing red eyes were aimed directly at me.

I felt the darkness creeping in and smothering me; I was unable to breathe. Spontaneously, my hand flew up to grasp hold of my throat, trying to will air back into my lungs.

“Jordan, wake up.” Gregory’s panicked voice called out to me, gently shaking my shoulders.

My eyes popped open as he gently lifted my torso. I finally managed to take in a breath of air, with a deep gasp, causing my ribs and lungs to hurt. Gregory’s hands were gently wrapped around me, rubbing up and down my arms trying to soothe me. “It’s okay, honey. I’m right here. Just take small breaths to calm your breathing.”

I nodded, in understanding, and began to take small, cleansing breaths to steady myself and slow my rapid heart rate. The dream had definitely scared me to the point of a panic attack. What was with the glowing red eyes and both of them teaming up, together? Was one the main culprit and the other a coerced counterpart? This dream didn’t make any sense.

When my breathing finally calmed, Gregory offered to get me some hot tea. I quickly shouted out, “No! I’ll take some water, please.”

He headed into the bathroom and brought back a glass of cool water. It was refreshing and helped soothe my parched throat.

After climbing back into bed, he said, “I saw the whole dream. Those two women are a real piece of work. I kept trying to get to you to stop Lucinda from verbally threatening you.” His brows furrowed as he attempted to find the right words. “I don’t know quite how to explain it, but it felt like I was being held back and restrained for some reason. I could only be a silent observer, rather than a participant or comforter in your dreams.”

“I have to agree. They are evil to the core; but I’m wondering if both are active participants, or if one is leading the other, or if a darker power is at work. There’s something about their glowing red eyes that remind me of the witch.”

I was going to say more, when I noticed the darkness slowly fading to light, through the window. Gregory seemed to follow my gaze. “Rather than go back to sleep, would you like me to get some coffee and we can watch the sunrise out on the lanai? I know Mom has a busy day planned for all of us, this morning; maybe we could take a nap this afternoon.”

I smiled at the thought. “That sounds lovely.”

August 5, 20 - -

I’m not really sure why I’m writing, but I’m questioning the significance of dreaming about Rebecca and Lucinda. Is one of them Pamela from work, maybe? They have the same hair. And, the other could be Angela, the girl Gregory used to date?

It seems like my dreams of past are somehow correlated to what is going on in our present and possibly our future. Gregory thinks we’re merely reliving our past to discover our future, but I feel it ties to our current situation, somehow.

Ray has been relatively quiet, as of late. My guess is that there is no news to report or reason to guide us at this point. The last time I saw him, He did say I needed to heal, first, before any more or new revelations

Through our dreams, we’ve discovered our first and last names, but are still clueless as to our full names and where we lived. There are some familiar buildings in the background, and references to families we seemed to associate with.

We’ve both been trying to trace our lineage back to the late 18
^th
century, to see where our ancestors lived; but so far it hasn’t yielded any firm results, as our families seem scattered about the different colonies because of the unrest prior to the Revolutionary War.

How are we to solve this mystery in such a short time, with so little to go on? I can only hope that some of these dreams and everyday occurrences start making sense.

Gregory wasn’t kidding when he said Lorraine had a busy day planned. We all had to be dressed and ready for the caterer and florist by 10 AM. My mother, Gregory, and I thought we would be discussing various options with the vendors. Instead, we went downstairs to find four different table settings, complete with linens, candles, crystal and china, along with differing floral styles to match.

I could now understand where Gregory got his drive from; his mom. Once Lorraine had an idea in her head, she didn’t stop until it was finished.

We took our time analyzing all of the setups. Some of the china and crystal patterns seemed a bit too formal for a garden wedding; so, we opted for a table setting using ivory, gold and burgundy linens, simple glassware and a combination of square and round plates with a simple interwoven pattern in burgundy with golden dots along the outer ridges.

For the tables with golden linens, we would focus on more of an elevated burgundy centerpiece in a golden stand and do the reverse for the tables with the darker linens. Ivory candles of varying heights, wrapped in coordinating ribbon, would adorn each table.

Before long, I felt like I was being smothered with decisions. I leaned over to Gregory and whispered, “Can we get out of here, soon? I don’t know how much more I can take of wedding planning, today.”

He nodded and smiled. “Hey, Mom. Can we wrap this up and maybe go out to lunch? Possibly have Grandpa join us?”

Douglas walked over and whispered to us. “Good call, son. I was about to suggest the same thing. At least your mother has something to work with, now, and should let up on some of the planning for a while.” He gave me a wink, before grabbing his phone and calling his father.

Mom sat through the whole event, offering a few comments here and there. When Lorraine was out of earshot and bidding event coordinators adieu, Mom leaned in and asked, “Is she always this intense?”

I shook my head. “She wasn’t when I first met her. I think she’s just excited, with her youngest getting married and all.”

The afternoon was much more peaceful, or so I thought. We had lunch at a lovely tapas restaurant at Pointe Orlando. Afterward, Gregory, Douglas and Grandpa wanted to peruse some stores in the plaza. Mom and I opted to rest on a bench, but were quickly shot down. “You must check out this one store, first. It’s not that far of a walk and I promise we can sit and get a cool drink while the guys look.” I relented, giving Gregory a kiss on the check before heading off to who knows where with my soon to be mother in-law.

By the smile on Lorraine’s face, I should’ve known that she was heading me the direction of a bridal shop. I was about to protest, when she said, “I know you can’t try anything on, yet. I just wanted to show you a couple of dresses that you had marked in the books to see if you like them, in person. She has a large seller list that she works with and can help track down a specific wedding design or designer you might want. If she can’t find it, she has a seamstress who can make a dress, of your own design, from scratch within a couple weeks time; but we need your measurements, now.”

I was relieved that I didn’t have to try anything on. The dresses were gorgeous, but not exactly what I was looking for. My mom happened to bring my pieced together version of the ideal dress and had it with her, so we let the owner, Bethany, make a copy and I explained each part of my dream dress to her. To my surprise, she felt my envisioned dress could come to life, one way or another.

To my astonishment, we got in and out of the shop within thirty minutes and were able to sit down with some iced tea at a nearby coffee house. I texted Gregory our location and told him we would be waiting for them. He had stated they would be a while, because his Grandpa and Dad were checking out new electronic creations in one of the shops.
Men and their toys!

Loraine reached over and took my hand, giving it a squeeze. “I’m sorry if I rushed everything this weekend, Jordan. It wasn’t my intent to make you uncomfortable. We are on a limited schedule and, with you returning to work soon, we won’t have much time to take care of these things, later. She did have a point, so I let her know how much I appreciated her taking the lead on things, despite feeling a little smothered at times.

Mom and Lorraine quickly became engrossed in a conversation of their own, while I people watched. I wasn’t paying much attention, kind of daydreaming, when I caught sight of Gregory’s form out of the corner of my eye. He was talking to someone who looked exactly like Lucinda, from my dream.

His arms were quite animated and he appeared to be arguing with her. She stomped her foot and fisted her hands a couple of times before walking away. I watched as he shook his head, composed himself, and then entered the coffee shop.

He walked up to me, leaning in for a kiss. I gave him a chaste one on the cheek and whispered, “Was that Angela?”

His breath caught as he turned. “You saw?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know why she keeps following me.”

Lorraine piped up, “Who’s following you, dear?”

Gregory replied, “Angela.”

She took a deep breath in to calm herself. “I’m afraid that girl is delusional. She tried coming over to the house the other day, wanting to plan an outing so we could ‘get reacquainted with one another’. I asked her why and she stated that she was engaged to you. Of course, I quickly corrected her and asked her to leave.”

Gregory sat down next to me, scooting my metal chair closer to his. “Looks like I need to call our lawyer on Monday and see if he can reason with her to leave us alone. If not, I may be forced to get a Restraining Order.”

My mother sat with a questionable look on her face, as we enlightened her to what was going on. After a few minutes, she replied, “I agree. She sounds a bit touched in the head.”

We decided there would be no further talks of past significant others, work, or anything else stressful for the remainder of the weekend. The thought was a good one until we arrived back at their house and found a note from Ray, along with a white feather, on our bed.