Rendezvous With Yesterday

by Dianne Duvall

  A second later, the world around them stabilized. And then she and Robert stood alone in a clearing vastly different from the one in which they had bid Dillon, Alyssa, and Marcus good-bye.

  They now stood in the clearing. The one in which she had fallen.

  The one in Texas.

  Hot, humid air assaulted them, dampening their skin.

  Beth leaned back slightly, still holding on to Robert just in case, and examined their surroundings.

  Dry, brown foliage. Hard clay soil, cracked by drought. A scorching sun overhead. Parched trees with leaves shriveling and falling from their limbs. Annoying mosquitoes buzzing around. Kingsley’s crappy cabin nearby.

  “This is it,” she said, hearing the wonder she felt reflected in her voice. “This is it, Robert. We’re in my time.”

  Robert loosened his hold on her, sliding one hand down to lace his fingers through hers. Taking a step back, he glanced around. “This is the twenty-first century? This is the clearing in which you were wounded?”

  “Yes.” She looked around uneasily as memory assaulted her. She heard again the explosive sounds of rifles, shotguns, and handguns firing. Saw blood spurt from Josh’s wounds. Felt bullets pierce her flesh.

  Her free hand went to the grip of the 9mm in her shoulder holster.

  Robert drew his sword and surveyed the clearing carefully. “Do you sense something?”

  Beth swallowed hard, trying to quell the irrational fear that built within her. “No. I think it’s just what happened here before.” Her hands began to shake. “I don’t know. I didn’t expect it to freak me out like this.”

  He tugged her closer. “Do you wish to leave this place?”

  “Yes. But we’d better not. We need Josh to come pick us up, and he’ll find us more easily if we stay here. Let me see if my cell phone will work. I used my solar charger to charge it again yesterday.”

  Ever alert, Robert kept his sword in hand while she dug the cell phone out of her back pocket and turned it on.

  Relief rushed through her, sweeping away her unease. “It’s working.” And she had a decent signal. Beth dialed their home phone number, her heart slamming against her ribcage.

  One ring. Two. Three. Four.

  “You have reached the Bennett residence…” An answering machine played Josh’s recorded invitation to leave a message at the tone.

  Tears filled her eyes.

  An annoying beep sounded.

  When Beth drew in a breath to speak, it caught on a sob. She hadn’t realized what hearing Josh’s voice again would do to her. Even in a damned answering machine message. She had thought she would never hear him again. And, to her dismay, she found she couldn’t speak as she burst into tears.

  Robert’s brow furrowed. His eyes clouding with concern, he touched her arm. “Does it not work?”

  Helplessly, she thrust the phone toward him.

  Robert took the cell phone. “What do I do?”

  Beth motioned for him to put the phone to his ear.

  “I hold it to my ear?” He would much rather drop it and take her in his arms. He had never seen her so undone.

  “Hello?” a voice suddenly spoke in his ear.

  “By the saints!” Robert exclaimed, gaping at Beth. “’Tis a voice! I hear a voice!”

  That voice proceeded to speak unintelligibly.

  Robert looked to Beth. “I cannot understand him.” What was it Beth kept calling Robert’s language? Middle English?

  Attempting to mimic Beth’s odd accent, Robert said slowly and deliberately, “Speak Middle English.”

  A pause ensued. “What?”

  “Speak Middle English, please.”

  Another pause. “Seriously?”

  Robert smiled. That had been another of the modern terms he had swiftly learned from Beth. “Aye.”

  “Who is this?” the man demanded, altering his speech to suit Robert.

  “I am Lord Robert, Earl of Fosterly. I seek Josh of Houston, brother of Bethany. Are you he?”

  “Yes. Aye, this is Josh.” He seemed a little less comfortable with the language than Beth. “Who did you say this was?”

  “I am Robert, Earl of Fosterly.”

  “Robert, where are you calling from?”

  “I believe ’tis the clearing in which you and Beth fell.” Beth nodded, wiping her streaming eyes. “Aye, ’tis the clearing in which you fell.”

  “The clearing where she was shot?”

  “Aye.”

  “How did you get that phone?”

  “Beth gave it to me.”

  “Beth gave it to you?”

  “Aye. ’Tis a most miraculous creation.”

  “What? When did she give it to you?”

  “A moment ago, ere you greeted me.”

  “Are you saying she’s there with you now?”

  “Aye.”

  “Let me speak with her.”

  “As you will.” Robert held the phone out to Beth. “He wishes to speak with you.”

  Beth took the phone from his and raised it to her ear. “J-Josh?” she managed to choke out in a broken whisper. She listened for a moments, then closed her eyes, her sobs increasing.

  Patting her shoulder, Robert took the phone again. “Josh of Houston?”

  “Put her back on,” Josh gritted.

  “She is weeping too hard to speak.”

  “Why? What have you done to her?”

  “Naught you are imagining. In truth I believe ’tis joy that makes her weep so. She has been fair worried about you, Josh of Houston. Knowing you survived and hearing your voice has lifted a great burden from her heart.” Robert chuckled when she nodded. “Aye. She is indicating I am correct. ’Tis a fair day all around. I do not always read her so well.”

  “Look, unless… put her back… phone and… talk to me, I…no way of knowing… Beth or some woman… reward.”

  Robert frowned as the man’s voice faded in an out. He lowered the phone, looked at it, then returned it to his ear. “Josh of Houston?”

  No answer came.

  He frowned and met his wife’s tear-filled gaze. “I cannot hear him, Beth. He no longer speaks to me.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Still trying to catch her breath, Beth grabbed the cell phone from him, put it to her ear, then stared down at it with dismay.

  The damned battery had died. What the hell? She had just charged it!

  Frustrated with the device and furious with herself over not being able to control her emotions better, she emitted a half-groan half-growl disrupted by a hiccup.

  “Beth?” Concern painting his handsome face, Robert sheathed his sword, took her by the shoulders and drew her close. “Easy, love,” he murmured. “Take deep breaths and think of naught save my arms around you.”

  Beth leaned into him and closed her eyes.

  Cupping the nape of her neck with one hand, Robert slid the other up and down her back in soothing strokes that loosened the tension she hadn’t even realized tightened every muscle. “All will be well,” he murmured. “I vow it. All will be well, sweetling. You shall see.”

  A jagged sigh escaped her as she burrowed her face into his chest.

  Robert continued to murmur and make soft shushing sounds until her sobs abated and her breathing quieted.

  “That strength you admire so m-much seems to have deserted me,” she muttered mournfully. How could she have fallen apart like that? At just the sound of her brother’s voice?

  When she had been grieving, thinking him dead—sure, she had cried. But this?

  Robert kissed the top of her head. “’Tis still there.”

  Snorting, she glanced around the clearing. “Boy, I really blew it, didn’t I? I can’t believe I s
at there and blubbered while the cell battery died. I have no idea how we’re going to get out of here now.”

  “I can give you a ride,” a deep voice offered.

  Robert abruptly released her, swiveled and drew his sword all in one motion.

  Beth drew her Glock, aimed it, then gaped. “What are you doing here?” she asked when she saw the speaker.

  Seth stepped from the trees.

  A very different Seth.

  Instead of knightly garb, he wore black jeans, heavy boots, and a black T-shirt that contrasted nicely with his tanned skin and outlined some very nicely defined muscles. His long, thick hair was pulled back from his face and secured with a strip of leather. A pair of dark shades rested on the bridge of his nose.

  Robert sheathed his sword. “I thought you could not accompany us.”

  “I could not.” Reaching up, Seth removed the sunglasses. “I can open the dimensional doorways that allows one to travel through time, but have found that it’s best if I refrain from doing so myself.”

  “Why?” Beth pressed.

  Smiling, he said nothing.

  She frowned. Well, if Seth hadn’t come with them and avoided traveling through time then how was he here? “Wait. Are you saying you’ve lived over eight hundred years?”

  No answer. Just the same handsome smile.

  It seemed a confirmation. And a pretty unbelievable one at that.

  But Beth had had enough brushes with the unbelievable lately to consider it the truth.

  She contemplated him curiously. “Who exactly are you, Seth? Or perhaps the better question would be: What exactly are you?”

  He strolled forward. “I knew your cell battery would die before you could ask your brother to fetch you, so I thought I would drop by and offer you a ride.”

  “How did you know the battery would die?” She pounced. “I just charged it yesterday.”

  He arched a brow. “Shall we go?”

  She looked at Robert. “He isn’t going to answer me, is he?”

  “Nay, he seems disinclined to do so.”

  “Fine,” she muttered, holstering her weapon. “But I gotta tell ya,” she groused, “the mystery part of this whole tall, dark, handsome, mystery-man thing you’ve got going can really be annoying sometimes.”

  Seth’s smile widened. “So I have been told.”

  Shaking her head, Beth looped her backpack and the tent strap over one shoulder and followed him through the dry summer foliage, Robert at her side.

  Several steps later, she glanced up and found Robert glowering down at her. “What?”

  “You think him handsome?”

  “Oh, please.” Beth shoved him hard enough to make him stumble slightly. “You know I don’t want any man but you.”

  “Yet you do think him handsome.”

  “Of course he’s handsome, Robert. But you are the only man who is handsome in a way that makes me want to rip your clothes off and have my way with you twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year.” She sighed wistfully. “If only there were three-hundred and sixty-six.”

  His expression lightened with amusement.

  Beth smiled up at him, then frowned.

  His face was very flushed. Perspiration beaded on his forehead and trailed down his temples and cheeks in thin rivulets. He pushed back his mailed coif to let the hot summer breeze comb through his thick hair, which clung damply to his head. But Beth doubted it would help. Summer breezes in Texas were about as cooling as a space heater or a hair dryer.

  Concerned, Beth tugged one of her jacket sleeves down over her hand and used it to pat his face dry. “Hey, are you okay?”

  Robert nodded. “’Tis hot, is it not?”

  Swiping her sleeve across her own face, she sent him a wry smile. “Welcome to Texas.”

  His look turned skeptical. “Such is common here?”

  If his face got any redder, she was going to insist they stop and divest him of his mail and hauberk before they went any farther.

  She shrugged. “This kind of heat and humidity is pretty standard for Houston. I may not like it, but I’m used to it.”

  “I begin to understand why your feet were always so cold at Fosterly.”

  She laughed. “Only when you weren’t there to warm them for me.”

  The trees in front of them parted to reveal a large, sleek black vehicle with windows tinted as dark as the body.

  “You drive a van?” Beth asked, somewhat surprised.

  “Yes.” Pulling the keys from his back pocket, Seth pressed a button that disabled the alarm and unlocked the doors. Beside her, Robert jumped when the van emitted a chirping noise. “Why? What were you expecting?”

  “An SUV. Or maybe a sleek sports car.”

  He shrugged. “This serves my purpose better.”

  “Mm-hmm. That purpose wouldn’t by any chance include sneaking in some afternoon romps in the back with your ladylove, would it?” she teased.

  Seth laughed. “Alas, it does not.”

  Robert sent Beth a somewhat scandalized look, then addressed Seth. “She is quite bold in her speech, is she not?”

  “You will find most women of this time speak thusly.” Seth turned to Beth. “I realize the gentlemanly thing to do would be to escort you to the front seat. But I suspect Robert’s first ride in an automobile will go better for him if you sit beside him in the back.”

  “Back seat’s fine,” Beth said.

  Robert eyed the van dubiously. “What is it?”

  Seth pushed a button on his remote, and the side door rolled back. “Think of it as a horseless wagon.”

  Beth took Robert’s hand and tugged him forward. “Come on. You’ll like it. It’s fun.”

  She suspected he would have balked at venturing into the strange conveyance had he not trusted her as much as he did. But he soon settled beside her on a soft bench seat.

  “Hey, Seth,” she said as he reached for the door.

  “Yes?”

  “Why did you send the tent back with me? It wasn’t with me in the clearing.”

  He shrugged. “I knew you would be cold.” Closing the door, he circled the vehicle and tucked his big body behind the wheel.

  When the finely tuned engine hummed to life, Robert started slightly and clutched Beth’s hand.

  Beth hadn’t realized what an unsettling experience this would be for him. Whenever she had imagined taking him on his first ride in a car, she had thought only about how much he would love the high speeds at which they could travel.

  That and their ability to regulate the temperature, which Seth did.

  Cool air wafted over them when he turned on the AC.

  Beth grinned at Robert’s amazed expression as he leaned closer to the vents. “Pretty cool, huh?” she asked.

  “’Tis very cool,” he uttered, closing his eyes in bliss.

  He did enjoy the ride. Eventually. The speed limit on the highway leading into Houston was seventy miles per hour. Having never traveled anywhere near that fast, Robert did seem a tad nervous until the sights distracted him.

  Beth found so much around them fascinating when seen anew through his eyes. The wide, smoothly paved road. The other vehicles that came in so many sizes, shapes and colors. The variety of races of people within those vehicles. The red brake lights that lit up on the back bumpers. The brightly colored billboards that Beth had always considered such an eyesore. The huge signs that hung above every store they passed.

  What would he think when she took him out after the sun set and let him see how many of those signs began to glow?

  The planes and helicopters that flew overhead astounded him. The booming music that assaulted them from neighboring cars annoyed him and made his head pound, although she tho
ught his earlier exposure to the heat could be partially responsible for that. The signal lights enthralled him.

  They were idling at a signal light not that far from the forest that had hatched their little road trip, having been diverted from the highway temporarily by road construction, when Robert suddenly leaned toward the darkened window beside him and pointed.

  “Beth, look there. Another of your portraits.” He frowned. “Or is it a license?”

  Leaning across him, she peered at an abandoned gas station that was papered with fliers. Did a picture of her reside amidst the assorted ads? “Seth, could we stop here for a minute, please?”

  “Of course.” As soon as the light turned green, he eased forward, swung into the gas station, and stopped.

  Beth hopped out and approached the wall near the boarded-up entrance. Not one, but several fliers with her picture adorned it. Most of them were faded, some more tattered than others. A couple had been partially covered by other fliers.

  Pulling one down, she took it back to the van and climbed in, sliding the door shut behind her to lock out the heat.

  Robert leaned in close as she retook her seat and studied the paper.

  A photo took up half the page, showing her from the shoulders up, smiling happily at the viewer. Josh had taken the picture when they had driven to San Antonio back in June. Beside the photo, in neat, dark type was a physical description of her. Height. Weight. Hair color. Eye color. Birth date. The date she had disappeared. The clothing she had been wearing when she had last been seen.

  And a phone number. Their phone number. Hers and Josh’s.

  An unbelievably large reward was being offered for any information that led to her recovery. She couldn’t imagine where Josh could have come up with so much.

  “What is it?” Robert asked. “Is it a license, like the small one you gave me?”

  She shook her head. “It’s a missing-person flier. People put them up when loved ones disappear in hopes that someone will see it, recognize them, and know where they might be found.”

  “Does such happen often?”

  “People going missing?”