Our Time Is Now

by Chloe Douglas

  As Gideon kept his gaze focused on the gunman, he began to feel a niggling twinge of familiarity. There was something about Richard Bragg’s demeanor and mannerisms that, strangely enough, put him in mind of Oren Tolliver. Granted, Jessica’s estranged husband looked nothing like Oren Tolliver, but what he saw reflected in the depths of Bragg’s hate-filled, brown eyes made Gideon suddenly wonder if Richard Bragg, Oren Tolliver, and the “red man” weren’t one and the same.

  “Can that possibly be true?” he murmured to himself. “After a century and a half, have I actually come face to face with my nemesis of old?”

  An uneasy look crept into Bragg’s eyes. “What are you yammering about?”

  “Reincarnation,” Gideon said simply.

  When Bragg shot him a questioning befuddled glare, Jessica clutched her throat with her right hand. “Oh my God,” she gasped as she gaped at Richard Bragg. “You don’t actually think he’s Oren Tolliver?”

  “That’s precisely what I think,” Gideon confirmed with a terse nod before he turned to the red-headed bastard and, in a commanding voice, said, “You must allow Jessica to go free. It’s me that you want, not her.”

  “Damn you,” Bragg hissed as he clutched his weapon with both hands. “Who are you to give me orders? In case it’s escaped your notice, I’m the one holding the gun.”

  “Go ahead,” Gideon taunted, more than willing to sacrifice his life to save the woman he loved. “Pull the trigger.”

  Bragg’s lips curved in a malevolent smile. “Ladies first,” he said, and pivoted toward Jessica.

  “No!”

  In the next instant, Gideon hurled himself at the other man. As in battles past, he knew this would be une lutte à mort. A fight to the death.

  His attack fueled by brawn not brain, Gideon grabbed Bragg’s right wrist and yanked his arm upward, but not before his enemy had squeezed the trigger. The bullet went high, into the plaster ceiling overhead, showering both of them with powdery debris.

  Gideon jerked Bragg’s arm that much harder, not stopping until he heard a sickening, bone-scraping pop.

  “Argh!” Bragg screamed as his shoulder dislocated, dropping the gun.

  “For the atrocity you committed against the woman I love, then and now, you will die,” Gideon avowed.

  His revenge had waited a long time; Gideon savored the feel of his fist connecting with Bragg’s face. From the telltale crunch and copious spurt of blood, he knew he’d broken Bragg’s nose. Not content to stop there, he grabbed his foe by the neck and yanked him several inches off the ground. Grunting loudly, he heaved Bragg toward the nearby oak armoire.

  Bragg let out a pain-wracked shriek just before he slumped to the ground in an unconscious heap.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Gideon saw Jessica rush toward him.

  “Don’t you think this is a good place to call it quits?” With a worried expression on her face, she placed a restraining hand on his forearm. “He is, after all, down for the count.”

  Disdainfully glancing at Bragg’s sprawled body, Gideon said, “Honor demands that I avenge Sarah’s death.”

  “You can’t do that,” Jessica said in a pained voice. “It would be an act of cold-blooded murder.” She frantically clutched at the front of his jacket when he moved to retrieve the gun. “If you kill him, the authorities will send you to prison.” Tears pooling in her eyes, she begged, “Please, Gideon. Don’t do it. I can’t bear the thought of losing you.”

  This last tearful utterance felled him. While he could all too easily assuage his need for vengeance, he refused to forsake his one true love. They’d been given a second chance, their aching hearts having sought each other across the boundaries of time. He wouldn’t let his damnable pride destroy their love. He’d made that mistake once before and had lived to regret it.

  Gideon exhaled heavily. “You must think me a brute of a man,” he said, overcome with shame.

  “If you must know, I think that you’re—”

  “Gawd Almighty, Ol’ Man Winter hit this place with a vengeance,” a voice exclaimed from the open doorway.

  * * *

  As J.W. Malone strode into the library, Jessica cast a glance at her battered, soon-to-be ex-husband, who was still out like the proverbial light.

  “Old Man Winter certainly does pack a powerful punch,” she murmured, unable to drum up an ounce of sympathy for Richard.

  Peering behind the sofa, J.W.’s brows instantly shot upward. “What happened to the fella sprawled on the floor? He looks like he went two-steppin’ with a two-by-four.”

  “As you can see—” Sweeping an arm across the ransacked library, Gideon gestured to the smashed lamps and upended furniture. “We were embroiled in a bit of a ruckus.”

  “A ruckus, huh?” J.W. nudged Richard in the ribs with his boot tip. When he got no response, he glanced at Gideon and said, “I’ve seen roadkill that looked more lively.”

  “What would you have me do with an armed intruder?” Gideon countered.

  “Point taken.”

  Relieved that the violent ordeal was finally over, Jessica slumped against Gideon’s shoulder, her internal battery pack completely drained. “How did you know that Richard would be at Highland House?” she asked, awed to think that Gideon had proven his love in the most elemental way possible—by putting himself between her and the madman’s loaded gun.

  “I had no idea that he would be here,” her knight errant replied as he placed a protective arm around her shoulders. “But soon after awakening this morning, I sensed that you were in grave danger. From who or what, I knew not.”

  “ ‘The red man cometh,’ ” Jessica whispered, suddenly making sense of what heretofore had seemed a nonsensical phrase. “If you hadn’t charged to the rescue when you did—”

  Gideon put a silencing finger over her lips. “Let us not speak of things that did not come to pass.”

  “You’re right,” she conceded, loathe to ponder the deadly “what-if” scenario. The confrontation was over. That was all that mattered.

  Inclining his head, Gideon brushed his lips against her forehead. “This day, this lifetime, Oren Tolliver was soundly defeated. He can never again harm you.”

  “And hopefully the karmic cycle has finally been broken.” Suddenly curious about something, Jessica pulled her head away from Gideon’s shoulder. “By the way… where did you sleep last night?”

  His expression somewhat like a Cheshire cat’s, Gideon said, “That story is best saved for later, I think.”

  “We were all worried as hell, buddy,” J.W. chimed in as he retrieved Gideon’s cavalry saber from the floor. “When I heard that you rode out to Hell’s Hole, I figured—” He broke off in mid-sentence as the entire room suddenly began to shake.

  In the next instant, Jessica’s breath caught in her throat as the two-hundred-year-old windows began to rattle in their equally old panes.

  Seconds later, all three of them turned toward the French doors. In stunned amazement, they watched as a cherry-red Dodge Ram pickup truck roared across the snow-covered front lawn, fishtailing to a stop just outside the library. J.W.’s sister hopped out, her cheeks flushed the same vivid hue as the truck’s paint job.

  “Jessica, honey, are you all right?” Darlene shouted as she dashed into the library. “I had this terrible premonition that you were in danger. When I got no answer on your cell, I decided to hustle on over here.”

  “My Smartphone and I got separated,” Jessica told her, deeply touched by Darlene’s concern. She’d never before had friends like J.W. and Darlene Malone, ready to drop what they were doing and rush to her aid.

  Glancing behind the sofa, Darlene didn’t so much as raise a plucked brow. “Who might that be?” she inquired, her blasé reaction the complete opposite from her brother’s startled response.

  Appearing equally blasé, Jessica said, “That’s my soon-to-be ex-husband.”

  “Truth be told, I’ve been tempted to do that to a couple of my exes.” Catching
sight of Gideon’s expression, Darlene shot him a dimpled grin. “Hey there, big fella. I’m glad to see that you made it back to Highland House in one piece. And I hope Jessica read you the riot act for not coming home last—” Darlene’s smile abruptly vanished as she pointed a finger at Gideon’s chest. “How did you come by that?”

  Jessica and the two Malones stared at the large scorched circle that was prominently centered on the front of Gideon’s uniform.

  Due to the ruckus, Jessica hadn’t noticed the strange anomaly earlier. “It looks like you were hit by a bolt of lightning,” she remarked.

  “In a manner of speaking, that’s precisely what happened to me.” Gideon placed a hand over the scorched fabric. “This is a remnant of my meeting with Draygan.”

  J.W. whistled, clearly impressed. “Are you shitting me? You actually saw the dragon face to face? Now that’s a story I can’t wait to hear.”

  Just then, the blare of a police siren sounded in the near distance.

  “When no one answered the phone, I got worried and called the sheriff’s department,” Darlene said by way of explanation.

  “Time to face the music,” Jessica muttered, worried that once Richard regained consciousness, the situation would deteriorate into a he said/she said harangue. Artful liar that Richard was, Gideon could end up being charged with assault and battery. Or worse yet, attempted murder. And the fact that Gideon possessed no driver’s license, no Social Security number—no identification of any kind—would only complicate matters. “When the sheriff arrives, he needs to know that Gideon had absolutely nothing to do with the, um, ruckus that took place,” Jessica instructed everyone, willing to do or say whatever was necessary to protect the man she loved.

  “Why would you tell so blatant a falsehood?” Gideon asked in an indignant tone of voice.

  “I think I know,” Darlene intervened, her eyes narrowing as she shot Jessica a level stare. “And just so we’re all singing from the same choir book, when Sheriff Dowd gets here, he’s gonna want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

  His feathers clearly ruffled, Gideon said, “I have every intention of being forthright with the authorities.”

  “Which is exactly what has Jessica worried,” Darlene said astutely.

  In the next instant, a county patrol car pulled up beside the red pickup truck. Darlene assumed command and led them outside. Back straight, shoulders squared, the bleached blond marched up to the unsmiling, uniformed man who stood next to the squad car and planted a loud, smacking kiss on the sheriff’s left cheek.

  “Don’t worry,” Darlene said over her shoulder, grinning from ear to ear as the sheriff swiped his hand across the lipstick imprint left in the wake of her affectionate greeting. “We’re kissin’ cousins.”

  “Damn it, Darlene. I’m on duty,” Sheriff Dowd loudly complained as he hitched his holster from his hips to his waist. “Now what’s all this about? I’m up to my jawbone in emergencies, what with that overturned timber truck out on Route 219.”

  Still grinning, Darlene motioned for Jessica and Gideon to step forward. “Sheriff Reuben Dowd, I’d like to you meet Jessica Reardon and Gideon MacAllister.”

  The lawman acknowledged the introduction by politely nodding at Jessica. As he shook Gideon’s right hand, he said, “I know everyone in this county, but I don’t recollect ever having seen you before.”

  “And there’s a perfectly good reason for that,” Darlene piped in, her brown eyes twinkling mischievously. “Do you remember that story Mother Maebelle used to tell about the oddly dressed fella who mysteriously came down off the mountain, claiming he’d been lost in time?”

  Sheriff Dowd nodded brusquely and said, “Yeah, what of it?”

  “Well, it just so happens that Gideon…”

  Chapter 30

  Arm in arm, Jessica and Gideon stepped off the back stoop, both of them in dire need of a quiet respite.

  Once Sheriff Dowd had been apprised of the “unique” situation, Gideon managed to avoid arrest. Richard Bragg was not so fortunate, and Jessica was optimistic that the sheriff’s office would be able to make today’s attempted murder charge stick despite Richard’s vehement denials. Hopefully, cosmic justice would prevail, and Richard would end up sharing a prison cell with a big, horny, tattooed inmate named Bubba.

  As she and Gideon trekked across the field adjacent to the house, a westerly wind whistled past, dislodging a wet clump of snow from a spent thistle. Gideon put his arm around her, pulling Jessica close to his side to shield her from the chill breeze. The scene before them was one of profound beauty, the late-day sun casting a myriad of shifting gray shadows onto the snowy palette. Beneath their boots, the pristine snow crunched and compacted into two sets of deeply incised prints, while overhead, leafless trees raised their gnarled arms heavenward. In the southern sky a pair of wild geese honked a noisy greeting.

  Jessica clearly recalled the first time she’d walked this field soon after buying Highland House, and how she’d instantly been enthralled with the stunning vista. Almost heaven. Granted, she couldn’t lay claim to being a native West Virginian, but her spiritual roots ran deep. As deep as her love for the man who now walked at her side.

  “How do you feel?” Gideon asked, the inquiry punctuated with a light squeeze to her shoulder.

  “Exhausted. But strangely enough, I also feel lighthearted.” Her addendum put a smile on Gideon’s face. Jessica realized then that he no longer resembled a sad-faced crusader. Like a blithesome knight-errant, his smile extended all the way to the depths of his cerulean blue eyes. “I know this is going to sound a bit off the wall, but there’s a remarkable change about you. It’s as though you’re now filled with…” Her voice drifted into silence; she was unable to think of the right word.

  “A spark of celestial fire, perhaps?”

  Jessica laughed softly. “I wasn’t thinking in such flowery terms, but you do seem full of good cheer.” Not unlike the man she’d first fallen in love with in her dreams.

  “I suspect the change is due to my strange and enchanted wanderings last evening.”

  Intrigued, Jessica came to a complete standstill. “Enchanted? How so?”

  “It was enchanted in so far as I found myself caught between two worlds.” As he spoke, Gideon smoothed several strands of windblown hair from Jessica’s face, tucking the wayward tresses behind her ear. “To my astonishment, I discovered that not only is there this world, the one that we see with our eyes, but there is yet another world, one that we perceive with our souls.”

  “Do you mean to say that out there—” Jessica gestured to the snowy landscape spread before them—“there’s an enchanted world peopled with otherworldly beings?”

  Gideon verified with a nod. “That is precisely what I mean to say.” Placing a hand on the small of her back, he prodded her forward so that they could continue with their stroll.

  “I know about Draygan, of course,” she said. “But what other kind of beings are we talking about?”

  “When I first wandered into this realm, I happened upon Mother Maebelle, who—”

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” she interjected, making no attempt to hide her astonishment. “According to Darlene, her grandmother died nearly twenty years ago. That would mean that Mother Maebelle paid you a visit from beyond the grave.”

  “In all honesty, I did not think to ask from whence she came. I only know that I shall forever be in the old woman’s debt for her wise and generous counsel.”

  “Chalk up another one for the Malone women,” Jessica quipped.

  Cupping a hand around her elbow, Gideon ushered her forward as they continued their stroll across the snowy field.

  “There was a time, not long ago, when I mistakenly thought that death was the only curative for the pain lodged in my heart,” Gideon said quietly, his confession so unexpected, the words filled with such pathos, that Jessica instinctively reached for his hand.

  “I had no idea that you were so torm
ented,” she murmured. “Believe me, if I had known I would have―”

  “Saved me from my dark reveries?”

  “Yes,” she quickly assured him. “That’s exactly what I would have done.”

  “And so you did,” Gideon informed her, a tender smile hovering about his lips. “Ever since I first arrived in this century, your love has proven to be the most potent elixir of all. From the very beginning, you have been my refuge from the storm. Not only did you nurse my ravaged body, you mended my battered heart.”

  “Yours isn’t the only heart recently mended. I’m just grateful we’ve been given a second chance to get it right.” As she spoke, Jessica watched a cardinal alight on a weathered fence post. Perhaps it was the pensive tone of their conversation, but for whatever reason, its crimson red plumage looked like a pool of blood splashed onto the snowy backdrop.

  And that in turn made her think of Draygan.

  “I’m still curious about your, um, scorched uniform,” she said tentatively. Then, because she couldn’t think of a diplomatic way to phrase the question, she asked point-blank, “Did you kill Draygan?”

  “No, I did not kill Draygan. And though I did slay a dragon, it was the one that resided within my own heart.” Gideon’s shoulders heaved with a plaintive sigh. “In the past, I’d always let duty, and what I thought of as my sacred honor, determine my actions, placing both before the dictates of love. That was why I was so determined to kill the beast, seeing it as my duty to do so.”

  “So what made you see the light?”

  Gideon steered Jessica around a snow-covered patch of prickly pear. “It was the realization that love is all that matters. Nothing else in this world is of greater consequence. Once I surrendered to that, I was able to conquer the beast within me. Had I not done so, I would never have been able to return to Highland House and save you from the true monster that lurked amongst us.”

  “After my past life regression, I wondered why it was that you came forward in time instead of traveling backward. Now I know.” Jessica placed a protective hand over her abdomen. “You came forward so that you could save us.”