Always and Forever

by L. A. Fiore

  Quinn was a little overwhelmed by Colleen's exuberance and the dance itself because it reminded her of the fair she had helped create with Archer. "It's wonderful, Colleen. How often do you all get together like this?"

  "At least once a month."

  Quinn took Colleen's hand, stepped closer and whispered, "Thank you for inviting us tonight and thank you for this afternoon, for sharing a part of your family's history with us."

  Colleen nodded in mutual understanding. Her legacy was living on through Quinn. "Please enjoy yourselves. Oh, and I should mention that when I told people of your visit, everyone was eager to meet you..." She looked over at Gabriel before she added, "...both of you."

  Just then, the first wave of people came up to introduce themselves. No sooner had the introductions been made then Quinn found herself being pulled out onto the makeshift dance floor by a young lad with black hair and bright blue eyes. She didn't know the dance but he was an excellent partner and twirled her around and around. Quinn never laughed so hard! As soon as one dance was over and another started, she found herself with another partner and on it went for most of the night. At one point, she looked up at her partner and she saw it was Gabriel.

  "Finally," he said as he pulled her into his arms. "I've waited for my turn all night."

  To Quinn's surprise, Gabriel was just as skilled as all of her other partners and he expertly led her through a faster-paced waltz. Even as they moved in circles around the dance floor, their eyes never left each other. Quinn felt a wave of déjà vu as she remembered her evening dancing with Archer and, looking at Gabriel, somehow she knew he felt the connection between them too. He twirled her, lifting her off her feet, and her laughter mingled with the sounds of the band.

  As they lost themselves in the other, neither realized that they danced alone. The others stood to the side and watched, with a bit of envy, their perfect moment.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Gabriel and Quinn returned from their brief trip to Ireland just in time for Gabriel to be called away on business. It was the perfect opportunity to check in with Charles as he had contacted Quinn in Ireland with some information on Derek's Mayan dig.

  Not long after Gabriel's departure, Quinn climbed into her Mini Cooper and headed to Stow. The familiar bell over Charles' door sounded her arrival and within moments she was sitting across from Charles at his desk.

  "I've been looking into that dig we talked about but there isn't anything, at least documented, that draws any interest. He had a partner on the dig, the same partner he had for several digs, but they parted ways. I have her name but as of yet I still haven't been able to get in touch with her."

  Quinn couldn't deny she was disappointed that Charles hadn't learned more, but it was also exactly what she expected. However, the message he left during her trip intrigued her.

  "You mentioned you wanted to show me something?" she prodded.

  "Yes." Charles brought her to a work table on the other side of the room. It was scattered with books all about Derek and his finds.

  "Like I said, nothing was documented from the Mayan dig. But as I scanned through these books on him, I did make a discovery which I thought was rather interesting," he gestured to the books on the left side of the table, "These are his earlier digs and these are his later digs."

  Quinn settled into a chair and studied Derek's earlier photos. He looked so young and naíve, so very different from the calculating and jaded man he was now. There was honesty in his expression, a general love and excitement for his work. Quinn then moved to his later digs but that hopeful expression was gone and instead there was that hardness to him that she had come to know and expect. And he wasn't aging gracefully either. The lines around his mouth and eyes cut pretty deeply. Why had he changed so much?

  "Take a look at the pendant around his neck," Charles said handing her a magnifying glass. "It isn't in any of his earlier photos but he isn't without it in the later ones."

  Quinn took the magnifying glass and held it to the pendant. It looked to be made from obsidian and the etchings around the perimeter of the circle were definitely an ancient language, glyphs of some sort. Could it be Mayan? On a cursory examination, absolutely.

  "We need someone familiar with Mayan artifacts to take a look at this and, as it happens, I know someone," Quinn offered then looked up at Charles and added, "Nice work."

  "Thanks, but now I have to ask what do you think it means?"

  Quinn realized she probably should have built it up a little but she was so excited at the possibility of making headway into Derek's nefarious moves that she just blurted it out.

  "It's only a hunch," she said excitedly, "but I suspect the Mayans figured out a way to travel through time and this pendant holds the key."

  Charles bewildered expression in response was priceless.

  After making arrangements to have her friend study the photos of the necklace, Quinn left Charles and headed back to Whispering Winds to get proof of what she was claiming.

  There weren't as many people walking around Whispering Winds as there had been during her last visit and that was probably due to the nasty weather. She parked her car, climbed out, and headed into the castle.

  Even though she worked at Whispering Winds, most of her time was spent in the restoration annex so the tour guides and ticket tellers didn't recognize her. She paid her entrance fee and opted for the self-guided audio tour, as opposed to the guided tour, so slipping in and out of rooms wouldn't draw notice.

  The first place she wanted to visit was the unfinished section of the castle she had visited with Thaddeus and Nickie. It was there that they had hid the loot that Derek was trying to steal from Archer. She wondered if Archer had retrieved his possessions or had he left them for her to find in the future?

  The room she sought was not on the tour which meant she was going to have to sneak into the part of the castle that was closed off to visitors. There were no alarmed inner doors, since the place was still a residence, so sneaking in only required her walking under the red rope that blocked the hallway. She looked around scanning for security cameras and found none, then quickly slipped under the rope and disappeared down the hall.

  It was difficult seeing since the lights were off in this part of the castle but she brought up a mental map of where she was and where she was heading. It didn't take long for her to reach the section of the castle that, when last she saw it, had been unfinished.

  By the style of decorating it was clear a female was in mind when the room was designed. The rosewood furnishings were so very delicate but the color palette kept the room from being overly feminine. Quinn liked the charcoal-gray walls and off-white fabrics. Additional splashes of color came from the deep jewel-toned rugs scattered around the dark wood floors.

  Her focus turned to the fireplace and the exact location of the hidden panel. She felt her heart hammer hard in her chest and after a quick check for security cameras, she reached for the panel. It didn't take nearly as long as she expected to work it free and when she looked into the concealed space, she saw the sacks sitting just as she had placed them over three hundred years earlier.

  She really hadn't made it up; she had somehow gone through time! She couldn't take the treasure -- didn't want to risk getting caught with it -- so she sealed up the hiding spot paying close attention to leaving the fireplace looking exactly as she found it.

  She quietly slipped from the room and made her way down the hall. She was heading for the exit but found herself detouring and taking the steps up two flights and down the hall. She gently pushed open the door and a gasp caught in her throat because her room looked exactly as it had. The bed cloths and curtains were a bit different but the walls were still papered in rose silk. The rosewood furniture was exactly the same and was even arranged just as it had been when she claimed this room as her own.

  Memories she hadn't called filled Quinn's mind but she knew she couldn't get caught in a part of the castle where she shouldn't be. She st
arted to leave but froze when she felt the touch, whisper-soft and icy cold, on her cheek. The sensation was so startling that Quinn drew in a ragged breath and worked to steady her galloping heartbeat.

  Her feet seemed to have a mind of their own as she walked into the room towards the bed. Inexplicably, she stopped and looked down at the floor, half expecting something to jump out at her. And that's when she saw it. It was so small that it was undoubtedly missed by most, but scratched into one of floorboards was a small A and Q. Quinn knelt down and ran her finger over the letters, knowing it was Archer who had carved them.

  She started to pull her hand back but some instinct made her press down firmly on the board which caused it to move. Quickly she removed the loose floorboard only to find a clothed-wrapped parcel hidden in the dark space beneath. She didn't hesitate to put the parcel in her purse before returning the board.

  The emotions coursing through her were too numerous to ponder. Archer had left her something, and if she wasn't being too fanciful, he was there in that room with her leading her to it. Her eyes smarted with tears as her heart rolled painfully in her chest.

  Slipping back into the approved area went without a hitch and before long Quinn was back in her car. She drove the hour trip back to the Cotswolds because she wanted to be home when she unveiled her treasure. Once she was locked in her house, she poured herself a glass of wine and headed up to her bedroom. She kicked off her shoes, turned on the gas fireplace and curled up in the chair opposite the fire.

  Her hands shook as she unwrapped the parcel to find a journal. When she lifted the front cover, the breath stilled in her lungs at the inscription:

  For my dearest Quinn

  Yours, always and forever, Archer

  She turned the page and lost herself in Archer's words.

  June 14, 1704

  It's been over a fortnight since you were taken from me, faded from my life like an elusive dream. It was real, as real as anything could be, but you're now gone and continuing on without you is proving to be very difficult.

  I've sequestered myself to my room finding I long for sleep, hoping to find what I lost in my dreams. But you aren't there, you aren't anywhere. To face a life without you, knowing that I will never again hold you, touch you, see you smiling at Nickie or laughing with Thaddeus causes a pain so severe sometimes I wish for the pain to take me, to release me from the prison that has become my life.

  Where are you now? Do you even remember or do you believe it to all be just a wonderful dream? I need to remember every moment. I need to write it all down so in the years to come, when reality and fantasy start to blur, I will remember every moment that I was blessed to have shared with you -- from the first moment I saw you standing in my great hall until that day at the river's edge when you reached for me then disappeared before my eyes.

  Your softly spoken vow haunted me then as it does now. I will remember you, I will miss you every day of my life, and I will love you even long after life leaves this body. Wherever you are, Quinn, know that there is a man who loves you, a love so strong that even the passing of time can not dim it.

  The first time I saw her she was standing with her back to me, her chestnut brown hair hanging in long, curls down her back, and she was clothed in ice-blue silk. The moment she turned and those silver-gray eyes found mine, my heart was no longer my own.....

  Quinn lost herself in their very poignant love story.

  The banging wouldn't stop. Why wouldn't the banging stop?

  Quinn tried to block out the noise as she settled more deeply into Archer's arms but the banging kept up, louder and more insistent. And then the shouting started, the worry and fear lacing through the disembodied voice calling her name. Archer held her closer, tighter, but she felt herself being pulled away. The harder he tried to hold her to him, the more she slipped away.

  "I don't want to go."

  "Stay with me, Quinn."

  But even as he spoke the words she was yanked from his outstretched arms.

  "Quinn, no!"

  "Archer!" She reached for him but she felt herself being ripped away. His look of devastation was the last thing she saw.

  "No!"

  And then she felt familiar warm hands on her shoulders and when her eyes opened, she saw him standing over her. Quinn didn't think before wrapping her arms around Gabriel's neck and fusing her mouth to his.

  Gabriel had been calling Quinn for days but she wasn't answering, not her cell phone or her house phone. After four days, he was mad with worry and so he climbed into his Aston Marten and drove the two hours to Quinn's cottage.

  When he arrived, it was dark but no lights were on and her car was in the drive. Panic and fear gripped him as he rushed to the door and started banging and shouting out her name. After five minutes with no answer, Gabriel broke the pane of glass and unlocked the door.

  When she screamed, he leapt up the stairs two at a time. He entered her room but he wasn't expecting to see her in the midst of what appeared to be a night terror. Her hair was plastered to her head and her light-weight nightgown was sticking to her heated, damp skin. She was thrashing about in her bed so violently he feared she was going to hurt herself so he moved to touch her, give her some kind of human contact to ground her. When her eyes opened, the flash of silver was breathtaking and before he said a word, she had her mouth on his.

  It wasn't a conscious thought that had him wrapping his arms tightly around her waist and pulling her up against him as he lost himself in her. Sanity pushed at the haze of want currently burning through his brain and, with great effort, he pulled his mouth from hers and held her a safe distance from him.

  It was then that he realized she wasn't awake. Her lips were swollen from his kiss and her face flush with passion. He knew he could take her in that moment, lose himself in her as he had wanted to do for so long, but that would make him lower than pond scum. He allowed reason to take over and gently eased her back onto the bed and covered her with the quilt. He settled onto the edge of the bed and stroked her hair until she fell back into a deep sleep.

  He moved to the chair and stayed awake watching her and wondering what she had been dreaming about that caused her to respond so completely to him. But was it even him that she was responding to?

  Quinn came awake slowly and though she had gone to sleep rather early the night before, she still felt very tired. She stretched as tidbits of her dream came back to her and she couldn't help smiling because some of her dream had seemed startlingly real. As she sat up she heard that deep baritone coming from across the room.

  "Good morning."

  It was instinct that made Quinn pull her blanket up to her chin as her eyes sought and found Gabriel. He was sitting as comfortable as you please in her bedroom.

  "Gabriel? Why are you in my bedroom? Hell, why are you in the Cotswolds?"

  The expression on his face was thunderous and when he spoke his voice was clipped with anger.

  "I've been calling for days. No one could get a hold of you so I drove out here to make sure you were okay. When I got here, I heard you scream so I forced myself in only to find you in the throes of a very intense dream."

  Quinn blushed because she knew very well what she had been dreaming about for the past four days and then she remembered how real her dream had felt. She couldn't bear to ask but she needed to know.

  "Did I kiss you?" Quinn could barely make eye contact.

  If possible, he looked even angrier at that question. "Yes," he answered.

  Mortification swept through her. "I'm sorry."

  He abruptly stood. "Don't be." He pulled a hand through his hair before he asked, "Are you okay?"

  "Yes."

  "Very well, then I shall return to London." He started for the door when Quinn called to him.

  "Wait. Why? What's the rush?"

  He didn't look like he was going to answer. Then he turned so suddenly and faster than she thought possible he was standing inches from her, nose to nose.

 
"Because when a woman kisses a man the way you kissed me last night, it makes that man forget himself. And in this particular case I don't want to forget myself."

  She was almost speechless. The look of lust burning in those green orbs had her pulse racing, but she did manage to ask rather weakly, "Why in this particular case?"

  His gaze never wavered when he answered, "Because it wasn't me you were kissing."

  And with that he turned and left the room. She heard his footfalls on the stairs and the closing of her front door. Moments later, a powerful engine roared to life then quickly faded in the distance. Quinn just sat on her bed dumbfounded.

  "What the...?"

  Chapter Fourteen

  Three days later, Quinn was sitting on a plane heading to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico to meet, Tessa, her friend with Mayan expertise that she had sent the pictures of Derek's odd necklace to.

  She'd spent far more time thinking about Gabriel's rather abrupt departure than she should have and though she knew she needed to talk with him, she just wasn't ready to face him.

  He was upset because she kissed him believing him to be Archer and he was right. How did she explain her feelings for a man who'd been dead for over three hundred years? It was one thing to theorize about past lives and souls calling to each other. Not as easy to explain that she was actually in love with a man who lived three hundred years ago and she had literally moved through time to be with him.

  Oh, she could see how that explanation would go over. She wondered if she would get all of the words from her mouth before the paddy wagon pulled up and the doctors, wielding large syringes filled with mind-numbing narcotics, came filing out of the back to take her away.

  The other point she wanted to make to Gabriel, one she knew based on his reaction the other day wouldn't be well received, was she truly believed they were drawn to each other because in some sense he was Archer. Archer had vowed to find her and he had. She knew this unequivocally because she had gone twenty-seven years without finding love, had never even known what she was missing. But when she found it, she knew it was real. She knew it was because Gabriel and Archer were one in the same and she was drawn to that man like a moth to a flame. But convincing Gabriel of this, hell, she'd have an easier time convincing him that aliens were camping out in his backyard.