Belle of the Ball: A Historic Western Time Travel Romance (An Oregon Trail Time Travel Romance Book 2)

by Susan Leigh Carlton

“That is pure genius!” he marveled. “We could clear a path to the barn and bunkhouse in minutes.”

  “You could indeed,” she said with a pleased expression.

  “What are you looking at?” he asked.

  “I thought I saw something over there. I guess it was my imagination. I’m seeing things. If I were to get back to my time, I would need a shrink for the rest of my life.”

  “You still haven’t given up the thought of returning, have you?”

  “I don’t believe I will get the chance, but I can dream.”

  “I’m not part of that dream, am I?”

  “I haven’t thought of it that way. I’ve only thought in terms of my family. As long as I’m dreaming, if I could go, and you could go with me, would you?”

  “I would feel as out of place as you do here. I would have no skills, no Flying W, no nothing. I couldn’t do it.”

  “It’s a good thing you are still writing the letters then. Maybe the right person for you will come from them.”

  “I’ve found the right person. She just doesn’t want me.”

  “Bart, I saw you give Mr. Farmer the letters to mail.”

  He chuckled.

  “Now what’s funny?” she asked.

  “The letters you saw, there were three of them, by the way. Two went to ladies I had heard from. I thanked them for writing, and told them I had already found someone. The third letter was to the editor of the newspaper directing him to cancel my advertisement.”

  Her eyes glistened. “Really?”

  “Really. If you go into my bedroom you will see the wadded up ones before I settled on what to say. Anna, I haven’t and won’t lie to you.”

  “Would you kiss me?”

  He took her into his arms, and kissed her gently. She parted her lips to allow him in. A fierce hunger welled up inside. A hunger she had never experienced. She shivered.

  “Cold?”

  “To the contrary, I’m quite warm.” She moved as close to him as she could get. “Hold me.”

  * * *

  He was awakened by the press of her lips on his. He bolted to an upright position. “What are you doing?”

  “Move over. I want to be with you. I love you and I’m ready to be your wife if the proposal is still open.”

  “The proposal is open anytime you want to take advantage of it.”

  “I do.”

  “That’s what you say that when Jack asks, ‘Do you take this man…’”

  The bedroom was suddenly bathed in a glow of soft light. In the center of the glow, a woman wearing a long white robe appeared. “It’s her. My angel,” Anna whispered.

  “Take my hand. I’ve come to lead you home,” the ethereal figure said.

  “I am home,” Anna said softly.

  “You were brought here to find out about yourself. You’ve done that, and your work here is finished. This is your only chance to return. If you choose not to go, you will finish out your allotted life span in this time.”

  “My place is here with Bart. Can you tell me the fate of my parents?”

  “They are with the Creator and happy. They watch over you daily.”

  The glow faded and she was gone.

  “I have to be dreaming,” Bart said.

  “If you are, we’re sharing the same dream. It was the same lady that led me out of the building.”

  “You could have gone home,” he said.

  “I am home, darling. My home is with you.”

  “When do we do this?” he asked.

  “Today, tomorrow? I don’t know what time it is. Either way, I’m sharing your bed tonight.”

  Chapter twenty-seven

  Planning

  “We are getting married,” Bart said.

  “It’s about time,” Emma said. “When is this big event going to take place?”

  “Today, if we can pull it off,” Anna said.

  “What made you decide to take the plunge?” Brett asked. “Last I heard Anna was waiting for some mysterious thing.”

  “I told you I didn’t know what it was, but I’d know it when I saw it. Well, I saw it.”

  She glanced at Bart. “Should we tell them?”

  “They probably won’t believe us,” but go ahead.

  “This is going to be a long story. Right now, only Letty and Jack, Doctor and Mrs. Palmer have heard it. I told Bart.”

  She related the entire story of what had happened to her. “I have to ask you not to tell anyone. They would think we’re all crazy and might even burn me at the stake for being a witch.”

  “That is the wildest thing I have ever heard,” Brett said,

  “Bart has seen proof of it. None of the others have. They accept my word.

  “He kissed me yesterday. It wasn’t an ordinary kiss. It set me on fire. Right down to my toes. Anyway, sometime during the night, I went into his room and woke him with a kiss. I told him I was ready to become his wife.

  “While we were talking about it, the room lit up and a woman dressed in a brilliant white robe appeared from nowhere. It was the same one who led me out of the country club and to here after the earthquake.

  “As near as I can remember it, she said, ‘Take my hand, I’ve come to lead you home.’”

  “She told me I had been brought here to find my way and I had done that, so my work here was finished.”

  “There was an angel in our house?” Emma asked.

  Anna nodded.

  “Why didn’t you wake us? What did you say?”

  “I told her I was home, my place was with Bart.

  “I asked about my parents and she said they were happy and were with the Creator.”

  Bart said, “The angel told her this was her only chance to go back and if she turned it down, she would be stuck here for the rest of her life.”

  “She didn’t say stuck,” Anna corrected. “She said spend the rest of my allotted life span.”

  “Wait, back up the wagon,” Brett said. “You saw her too?”

  “I did. She didn’t talk to me, only to Anna, but I heard what she said.”

  “That is incredible. An angel was in our house. Is there any sign she was here?” Emma asked.

  “I don’t know; I went back to my room and haven’t been back.”

  “Are you sure you didn’t just stay there and take advantage of the circumstances?” Emma asked with a sly grin.

  “I would have but he wanted to wait.”

  “I didn’t say that,” he replied.

  “You didn’t ask me to stay. It doesn’t matter, because married or not, that’s also my room from now on.”

  “We have to go in and see when Jack will perform the ceremony. Wouldn’t you rather get married in church?” Bart asked.

  “It isn’t important to me either way, since I’ll have no family there. Did you and Brett get married in church?” she asked Emma.

  “We did, but it wasn’t on a Sunday or anything like that,” Emma replied. “It was just us, Bart, Jack and Letty.”

  “That’s all we need, but I would really like for you to be there,” Anna said.

  “We wouldn’t miss it for the world. As the older brother, it’s my responsibility,” smirked Brett. “Mama will be pleased to see both her sons safely married.”

  “She will, in addition to finally having little kids running around. Speaking of that,” Bart took Anna’s hand, and said, “I think we will probably want to build a house for ourselves.”

  “Why? There’s plenty of room here.” Emma asked.

  “Do you expect to stop with one baby? Anna and I would like to have three or four. Now, we’re talking crowded. Besides, this is your home, and we would like to have ours, with our touches, although Brett and I have similar tastes.”

  “Maybe in horses, but in the house, Brett has no taste. It’s always ‘whatever you like.’”

  “As long as it keeps you happy,” her husband responded. She patted his hand.

  “Mrs. Crump, would you like to go to our wedding?” An
na asked.

  “I’d be out of place there, hon, you just get it done proper and get back here and I’ll fix you a nice supper.”

  “You wouldn’t be out of place. There’s just going to be us and the preacher,” Anna told her.

  “No, child, you go on, and I’ll be here when you get back.” She pulled Anna to her big chest, and said, “My prayers are with you, girl.”

  * * *

  Bart was decked out in the clothes Brett and Emma had bought on their banking trip to Denver. Anna was wearing the same dress she had on when she made her trip through time. The same one she had worn to the play.

  “I’m glad you are wearing that,” Bart told her. “I want everyone to see how spectacular you are.”

  “Flattery, my soon to be husband, will get you anywhere,” she replied.

  The church…

  “Jack, Anna and I want to get married and we would like for you to perform the ceremony,” Bart told the preacher.

  “It would be my pleasure. When would you like to do this? Sunday after services?”

  “We were hoping for this morning.”

  “When you make up your mind, you don’t waste any time do you?”

  “I don’t want her to change her mind.”

  “That is so not happening, cowboy,” Anna said.

  “I had better get Letty. She’d have my hide if I did this without her.”

  “It’s a shame Mama and Papa never lived to see either of us get married,” Bart said.

  Jack reentered the church with Letty. “Now we can proceed,” he said.

  “Hard work has its rewards doesn’t it?” Letty asked Emma.

  “What are you talking about?” Jack asked.

  “Never you mind,” Letty said. Her natural beauty shined through when she smiled as she was doing now.

  “I wonder if Letty has a long white robe?” Bart asked. “What do you think Anna?”

  “Could have been, though I don’t know if she could have made her way inside the house without waking anyone.”

  “Maybe she passes through walls.”

  “Have you two been at the John Barleycorn?” Letty asked.

  “Not one drop of that vile concoction has ever passed these lips,” he said unctuously.

  “What about over them?” she asked.

  “Never. Smell my breath if you don’t believe me.”

  The ceremony was performed, vows exchanged, and the new marriage was prayed over. “I now pronounce you man and wife. Bart, you may kiss your bride.”

  Letty hugged the bride and groom as did Emma. “I shall do my brotherly duty and kiss the bride,” Brett said.

  “Keep it chaste,” Emma warned.

  “Jack, I have a question,” Emma said. “There are five people that can determine which is Bart and which is Brett, but you’re not one of them. How do you know which brother you pronounced married to Anna?”

  “It’s easy. I asked, ‘Do you Bart, take Anna for your lawful wedded wife and he said I do.’ It would be a mortal sin for him to lie in the house of the Lord, and his sainted mother would rain all kinds of punishment upon him.”

  “Don’t worry, Jack. I have the one I want,” Anna said.

  Chapter twenty-eight

  We Have a Story to Tell

  The Owens’ living room…

  “You were in on the beginning, so it’s only fair you hear the latest,” Anna said. “Last night, or sometime this morning, Bart and I were talking, and the woman in white appeared. She didn’t walk in, she just appeared. She had an aura around her that was bright enough to read by. She told me I had done what I had been sent here to do and she had come to take me home. It would be my only chance. If I turned it down, I would be here for the rest of my given life.

  “I told her I was already home. I was where I wanted to be. I asked about my parents and she said they are in heaven.

  “This time, I have a witness. Bart heard everything she said. She knew he was there, but didn’t say anything to him.

  “I had just accepted his proposal.”

  “That’s a fantastic story,” Jack said. “What do you think you were brought here to do?”

  “I believe I was sent to learn who I am. I don’t know why here or why now, but it’s what I believe. I also believe I was chosen to be Bart’s mate, and part of my task was to figure that out. I did, so my work was over.

  “I do wonder if I had returned, would it have been to the place where the building was burning and falling in on me, or would it have been to an empty home.”

  Letty sat silent, awestruck by the story. “We’ve all heard how you wanted nothing more than to go home. Why did you choose the way you did?”

  “In the middle of the night, I suddenly realized how much I love this man and went in his room to tell him. It was there the woman came to us. The proclaiming of my love must have been the trigger. The offer to return was the final temptation. It didn’t even come close.”

  “I have that kind of love with Letty,” Jack said. “It is something for which I give thanks every day. I also make sure she knows it by telling her. Not many of us are fortunate enough to have that kind of love.”

  Letty was standing behind her husband, her arms over his shoulders and hands resting on his chest. “We are both blessed, honey.”

  “This is getting kind of mushy,” Brett said.

  “Hush,” his wife told him. “I hope you were paying attention. There are some lessons to be learned here today.”

  “Jack, thank you. We appreciate it, and we will see you Sunday.”

  “Do you want to eat before we go home?” Bret asked.

  “I don’t want to spoil my appetite for the feast Mrs. Crump is preparing,” Bart answered. “I do want to stop at the store. I want my wife to pick out some new dresses.”

  “You don’t like the way I look today?”

  “Honey, on your worst day you’re beautiful. I just want you to have more to pick from.”

  “Emma and I had our time in Denver,” Brett said. “Why don’t you two go, buy some clothes, and enjoy each other. When you get back, we can plan out what we’re going to do. We didn’t have a honeymoon and I think you should have one.”

  “I like the idea of a honeymoon,” Bart said. “What about you?”

  “Let’s do it,” Anna said.

  “I plan on that, but what about Denver?”

  “You have a dirty mind, Bart Williams?”

  “Yeah, I guess I do. When do you want to leave?”

  “What about tomorrow?”

  “Tomorrow’s good,” she said. “We’ll miss church Sunday and you told Jack you would see him then.”

  “They’ll understand.”

  Later…

  “I’ve moved my things into our bedroom,” she said.

  “I haven’t shared a bedroom since Brett and I were little,” he said.

  “You want to share it with him then?”

  “I’ll answer that in the morning.”

  In the hall, he said, “Wait.” He scooped her into his arms and carried her into the room.

  When he lowered her to her feet, she came eagerly into his arms and pressed her body against his. He tilted her head and claimed her lips. Her calm was shattered by the hunger of his kisses. The pit of her stomach was in a whirl as he massaged her lips and traced the outline with his tongue.

  She parted her lips to allow him entry, and swooned at the newfound intimacy, as a shockwave of desire raced through her body to the core of her being. Her knees weakened as she moaned with desire.

  He broke the kiss, and gently turned her and began unbuttoning her dress. He pulled it over her head and dropped it to the floor. The second layer followed the first, leaving her in her chemise and pantalets.

  “My turn,” she whispered, her voice throaty from the desire raging within. After she removed his shirt, off came the undershirt. She ran her fingers over the muscular chest. “You are so beautiful. I never realized how much until now.”

  She pul
led the chemise off and dropped her pantalets to the floor. “Make love to me, darling,” she told him. “Remember, this is a whole new experience for me.”

  “

  He was a kind and considerate lover, taking care not to cause any more pain than necessary.

  Afterward, she said, “We could have done this last night if you hadn’t been so stubborn.”

  “There might have been some guilt or regrets if we didn’t wait, and I wanted it to be perfect, and it was… perfect.”

  She snuggled and squirmed in his arms until everything felt perfect. “Encore?”

  The second time was better than the first. Bart was the first to fall asleep. Facing him, propped on her elbow, she watched him sleep. Her eyelids were heavy and began to droop. She lay on her back and he rolled toward her and draped his arm across her. She fell asleep in his embrace, feeling more content than ever before.

  The room was still dark when she wakened. She was alone in the bed. Donning a robe, she walked to the kitchen. The two brothers were sitting at the table, each with a cup of coffee.

  “Join us?” Bart asked.

  She ran her fingers through her hair, kissed him and said, “I believe I will.” Once she was seated, she asked, “Do you get up this early every morning?”

  Brett laughed. “He slept in this morning. We’re usually in the barn by now.”

  “We had better get going if we’re going to make the morning train,” Bart said.

  “I’ll take you in and pick you up when you get back,” Brett told them.

  The newlyweds boarded the train and waved goodbye through the compartment window. Their honeymoon had begun.

  Chapter twenty-nine

  Denver

  The compartment they had taken on the train gave them privacy, while also being able to see the sights. “This feels down right sinful making love on the train,” Anna giggled.

  “I thought it was pretty good myself,” her husband allowed.

  “So did I, but still, it felt like I was being loose.”

  Denver…

  Anna had been to Denver several times before her trip in time. She was unprepared for what she saw when they left the train station. Bart saw the disappointment register on her face.