by C. P. Odom
Darcy saw that his sister also intended to join the rest of them, but at his stern look, she only shook her head and jumped to the ground.
Georgiana wrapped her arm through Elizabeth’s. “Your wife will protect me,” she said smugly. “I did not see Major McDunn arrive. I shall not miss this one!”
“At least let me go first,” McDunn said, lowering his voice. “But if I yell to get down, then get down fast! Flat on the ground, and forget about modesty! Because I might have to start shooting immediately! Understand?”
When they all nodded, he turned about and cautiously began to approach a depression in the grass. He held his pistol in a standard two-handed grip though his finger was not on the trigger. A cartridge was in the chamber, and the safety was off. If his finger went to the trigger, he would be shooting in the next instant.
As McDunn moved forward step by step, the others carefully followed five paces behind. After he got close enough, he was able to recognize the familiar colors and patterns of the man’s clothing.
“It looks like Marine BDUs,” he said softly to the others, “so it’s most likely one of my own. But who? Kaswallon said everyone was dead.”
A closer look confirmed his guess. The man lying on his back was uniformed and equipped just as he had been when he arrived three years previously. McDunn could not recognize who it might be because the man’s helmet had fallen forward over his face.
He halted about five feet away and waved the others to stop. He was not sure what he should do, but he knew he was not going to do what Darcy had done and touch the man’s boot. Even his friend now admitted how foolhardy he had been.
Instead, McDunn said in a normal tone, “Marine.”
It was as though the man had been waiting to hear something, and he slowly reached up to his helmet. McDunn tensed, wondering whether some barb had stolen a dead marine’s clothes and somehow forced Kaswallon to send him after McDunn. Then the helmet lifted, and McDunn’s world froze as utter amazement locked his muscles—and his mind.
“Gunny,” Corporal Sandra Desmond said rather weakly.
“Dancer!” McDunn said breathlessly when he was finally able to speak. He found himself on his knees, having dropped down without realizing it. Acting by reflex, he put his pistol on safe and slid it back in his shoulder holster.
As energy seemed to flow back into Sandra’s body, she slowly started to wriggle her arms free from the straps of her field pack, blinking against the sunlight and looking about her.
“Fancy meeting you here. Where’d you get the elegant suit? Boy, it sure is good to see you made it here okay! Wherever here is, of course.”
“You were dead,” McDunn said as though someone else controlled his tongue. “Kaswallon told me everyone was dead.”
Now freed from her pack, Sandra rolled over and came to her knees right in front of him. Suddenly, he had her in his arms, clasping her so tightly she gasped.
“Hey! Go easy, big guy! Everything hurts from hitting the ground!”
McDunn murmured words of contrition and loosened his hold somewhat, which allowed Sandra to pull his head down until her lips touched his.
McDunn responded exactly as though Sandra was a long-lost lover, hardly remembering how he had forced himself not to think of her for the past three years since he could not have endured the reality of her lying dead with all the other marines of the regiment.
At last, the two of them drew back, and Sandra smiled up at him with an impish grin.
“That’s better, Gunny. Much better. I’ve wanted to do that for a very long time. Even before we left the States.”
“I never suspected,” McDunn said, stunned by this surprising revelation.
“There was never any time. And you had your hands full.”
Suddenly, a thought came to McDunn, and he leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “When I introduce you to everyone, don’t show any surprise at their names—or the names of the places here. It’s really a shocker, but be calm. I’ll tell you everything later.”
Pulling back, McDunn got to his feet and helped Sandra up. Then he turned to the others, who had drawn close when he holstered his pistol.
“Mr. Darcy, Mrs. Darcy,” he said, drawing Sandra forward with his arm still around her, “permit me to introduce one of my fellow marines, Corporal Sandra Desmond. Somehow, although I have no idea how, she survived our last battle and was transported here in the same way I was.”
He paused momentarily before he said, “She is rather special to me.”
“She is the one you grieved for these past years!” Georgiana said with sudden insight.
McDunn looked startled. “Yes, Miss Darcy, she is.”
He then introduced the others to her, pleased that Sandra was not responding in shocked surprise to the various names, as though they were not at all familiar.
And they may not be, he thought. She’s probably never read a single word of Austen.
Sandra reacted to each introduction as she would have in their old culture, stepping forward with her hand outthrust. McDunn kicked himself for not expecting it since he had done the same. Darcy and Fitzwilliam shook her hand immediately.
Surprisingly Elizabeth never hesitated when the sturdy, uniform-clad woman did the same to her, though she did grimace a bit at the strength of the other woman’s grip.
“Sorry,” Sandra said contritely, then shook Georgiana’s hand with more delicacy.
She beamed at McDunn. “So you grieved for me for years. Evidently, you’ve been here for a while.”
“Three years. To the day.”
“And I just got here! There’s a story there, for sure.”
“Which we should not discuss here, Dancer. Wait until we are safely back at Pemberley.”
Sandra nodded in acknowledgement, and McDunn looked about him, noting Sandra’s field pack and her two rifles, as well as a pair of canvas bags lying amid the depression in the grass where she had appeared.
“It looks like you brought a few things with you. Uh, anything valuable?”
“Oh, my yes,” Sandra said, slyly. “I think you could say that.”
“Then we had better get everything on your coach, Darcy. Uh…shall we continue on to Mr. Bingley’s as planned?”
“I think not, McDunn. In light of this extraordinary event, I think it best to return to the house.”
“Could you give me a hand with the heavier stuff, Fitz? We need to put it inside the coach. You remember how heavy my bags were.”
Fitzwilliam nodded and bent down to pick up the two canvas bags, grunting at their weight, while McDunn picked up Sandra’s pack and her two rifles.
“Hey! One of these is an AK!”
“And there’s some AK ammo in my pack,” Sandra said softly, so only McDunn could hear. “I wasn’t sure where I was going to wind up though I told Kaswallon I wanted to go where you’d gone. I wasn’t sure he could make that happen, but I guess it all worked out even if there was a bit of a time slip. But there was a lot more AK ammo lying about than anything else, so I grabbed one of the best looking rifles and as much ammo as Kaswallon and I could find.”
McDunn nodded, knowing that he and Sandra had to talk about what had happened and how she had made it here though she had already cleared up a few questions in his mind.
When they got to the coach, Sandra looked at it rather skeptically. “Look, it’s going to be crowded in there, and I’m really dirty, and I know I smell. Maybe it would be better if I just climbed up beside the driver.
“Nonsense, Corporal,” Elizabeth said. “Pray enter. But, given what you say, you might sit by the window beside the Major.”
Sandra laughed aloud and did as suggested while all her remaining gear was handed up to the footmen and tied down.
“You can get a shower once we get to
the house,” McDunn told her. “But discretion is the word.”
He pointed up above where the driver and footmen rode on the top of the coach. “Security.”
Sandra nodded her understanding. “Wait, did you say a shower? Do they have showers these days?”
“We do!” Georgiana said proudly, nodding at McDunn.
“Well, I have been a little busy these last three years. There’s a pair of showers and two bathrooms on each floor except for Darcy’s suite, of course. But we have running water to the showers, and with some time to heat up the boiler, even hot water.”
“That sounds glorious!” Sandra said, looking down at her dirty, bloody, and torn set of BDUs.
“Well, it’s the little things that make life comfortable.”
***
“I’ve spent the last three years thinking you were dead, Dancer.”
The others had gathered in McDunn’s room, which was more like an office than a bedroom. It was where all their discussions were held, and it was the repository of all things best kept from prying eyes. His desk was a massive affair, with handmade locks much more modern than anything available.
With contributions from Georgiana, Sandra was dressed in Regency fashion. During the dinner they had just finished, she had eaten with the same gusto McDunn had shown on his first days at Pemberley, and now all assembled leaned forward to hear her story.
“It seems like only a few hours ago when Kaswallon sent me off. All of us were certain you were dead, Gunny, with the mortar shell blowing you through the air like it did. We didn’t know anything about the cave then, of course.”
“I was with Murchison up in the rocks at his sniper pit when the bastards came over the perimeter. He’d caught a round in the shoulder, and I was trying to patch him up when several of them came up the hill. He got a couple and I got the others, but they killed him. Throat wound, right over his armor. That was where most of the blood on my BDUs came from since he fell on top of me after I caught a round in the helmet that knocked me into la-la land.”
“This United States of yours seems to grow some stalwart women, Major McDunn,” Fitzwilliam said with admiration.
“Oh, you do have a way with words, Colonel!” Sandra said, chuckling. “But I’m just a regular marine, not a real warrior like the gunny.”
“Your major explained what it meant to go see the elephant, and I know you have seen the beast yourself.”
“Colonel Fitzwilliam has heard the elephant’s trumpet himself, Dancer,” McDunn said, and she nodded somberly.
She cleared her throat uncomfortably and directed the conversation back to its original topic. “Anyway, with Murchison on top of me and his blood all over me, the barbs must’ve thought I was dead, especially since we were well up the hillside. I’d seen it was hand-to-hand down below me before my lights went out, and the regiment must have taken out almost all of the barbs before they went under. Anyway, when I started to come out of it, everything was eerily quiet—until your pistol shots went off, that is. And I knew it was you since it’s hard to mistake the sound of that cannon of yours.”
“So you didn’t see Kaswallon drag me into the cave?”
Sandra shook her head. “Even though I heard the shots, I wasn’t really with it for a while, so I must’ve missed Kaswallon when he got you. But I saw him when he came out dressed in those weird robes. He was bending over, looking through stuff, so I was able to get down the hill and sneak up on him. Even then, when I got an arm around him and put my knife to his throat, I don’t think he would have cooperated except he must have recognized my accent. Anyway, he told me he had you in his cave and was trying to find a rifle and some ammo for you.”
“Then you must have been the one who found my pack and the other stuff! I never could figure out where everything came from.”
“Yup. Kaswallon helped me, and we gave you half the gold and about a third of the ammo we found. I figured four bags of gold would give us a good start wherever we wound up.”
Darcy and McDunn looked at each other with a smile, and McDunn said, “Well, it might come in useful, Dancer, and it was a good thought. But Darcy and I formed our partnership early on, and we’ve been making enough money to fund our other enterprises. I think virtually all of the money from the gold he sold for me is still sitting in savings. Apart from melting almost all of it down so we could sell it, we just put it into savings and haven’t had to touch it. It’s our rainy day fund should we need it.”
After a moment’s thought, McDunn asked, “Did you have any problem convincing Kaswallon to send you after me?”
“He didn’t want to at first, but I convinced him. That was after we got you all set up and you vanished, which really made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, I can tell you! While we were waiting until it was my turn, we wired up a bunch of explosives on a timer, so he could set them off when he used the Siege. He wanted to make sure everything, including the Siege, was destroyed so the barbs couldn’t find it.”
“So Kaswallon’s gone, too,” McDunn said with a sigh. “Along with our whole world. You’re the only connection I have to what we lost, and I was shocked to my core when you peeked out from under your helmet.”
“That’s about it, Gunny. You and me, and you grieved for me, and I had to get tough with Kaswallon to have him send me after you. So, at the risk of shocking your friends, I have to ask how long it’s going to take you to make an honest woman out of me.”
In the silence following this last remark, Sandra never took her eyes off McDunn’s, and he broke the silence by clearing his throat.
“What Dancer means is…that is…”
“I believe we understand her meaning, McDunn,” Darcy said, the beginnings of a smile curving his lips.
“Well, it had to be said,” Sandra said matter-of-factly. “With the fancy clothes everyone’s wearing, I suspect it’s not common for a man and a woman to start living together. But I have to tell you, Gunny, after what you and I have been through, I’m not inclined to wait very long.”
Georgiana did not even bother to attempt to suppress her giggle as she looked at the dumbstruck look on McDunn’s face.
Finally, McDunn cleared his throat again. “Patience never was one of your strong suits, Dancer. Not that I’m opposed, you understand—”
“You’d best not be opposed!” she said fiercely. “Who else would we have to talk to at night otherwise?”
“—but we’re going to have to talk this question over with my friends. I’m kind of ignorant of courting customs here. The only one I’ve witnessed was, ah, a bit unusual.”
Darcy and Elizabeth looked at each other before laughing.
“I apologize if I’ve offended anyone’s sensibilities. No offense intended, but I knew I couldn’t wait for the Gunny to work things through.”
“And no offense taken, Miss Desmond,” Darcy said. He cleared his throat and looked at Sandra and McDunn.
“I have given some thought to the subject ever since seeing the way you and McDunn greeted each other earlier, Miss Desmond, which was certainly enough to compromise your virtue. And assuming he feels the same—”
“I do,” McDunn said firmly.
“My first thought was to advise McDunn to take you north to one of the Scottish border towns, where a license is not required. But I have had another thought. It was not long ago a man and a woman could get married simply by saying they wanted to be married in front of a pastor. So, since neither of you is English by birth and no one here knows what took place before you arrived, I suggest you simply declare you are married and carry on accordingly. Who will oppose you? Certainly not any of us or our staff.”
McDunn and Sandra looked at each other very intently. “A common law marriage works for me, Gunny,” Sandra said while McDunn could only nod.
“That was exceeding
ly clever and devious, darling,” Elizabeth said, giving Darcy’s arm a squeeze.
“Yes, indeed, brother,” his sister said in agreement. “I had no idea you had the soul of a barrister.”
When everyone stood to leave McDunn and Sandra alone, Sandra suddenly spoke up.
“Gunny, I mean Edward. I guess I’d better start calling you Edward. Could you give me and Mrs. Darcy a few minutes alone?”
McDunn gave her a puzzled look but said nothing, only nodding his agreement before leaving with the others.
When they were alone, Elizabeth looked at Sandra expectantly.
“Uh…well, this is kind of difficult for me,” Sandra said. Then she straightened her spine and blurted out what was bothering her.
“I don’t know what to do!” she said plaintively. “Well, obviously I know what to do, but I don’t know what’s expected in this era.”
Elizabeth smiled at the courageous young woman who could so easily risk her life but now found herself in a situation that utterly bewildered her.
“This is your country, and you already know all about manners and stuff.” Sandra began pacing nervously about the room. “I know I talked a good line when I asked Edward to make an honest woman out of me, but he’s been here for three years! He knows what to do.”
She stopped and looked at Elizabeth. “If we were back in our own time, I’d go to the bedroom and get myself all showered and perfumed, put on an enticing nightgown or else just take off my clothes and get into bed to wait for him to join me.”
“Getting into bed unclothed would work well enough even in this ancient time. Let us go into the next room, and I will tell you what I know.”
Elizabeth led the way to the door connecting to the other bedroom of McDunn’s suite with Sandra following her. “This is the wife’s bedroom, where she would usually sleep. A husband and wife of the wealthier classes would sleep in separate bedrooms, and her husband would ask admission when he wished to be more intimate.”
Sandra nodded her understanding. “I don’t think Edward and I will need separate bedrooms.”