“He went out yonder by the falls,” Free answered.
B.J. studied her friend’s face. “You’re planning to go back, aren’t you?”
Cluney nodded. “Yes. And I’m taking Hunter.” She glanced at Free and then back at B.J. “I was hoping you’d go with me, but …”
“Of course I’ll go,” B.J. answered. She squeezed Free’s big hand and smiled up at him. “We’ll both go, won’t we, Free?”
Free had no idea what the two women were talking about, but he’d go to the ends of the earth with his Belle. He nodded.
“Good!” Cluney breathed a sigh of relief. “Now all I have to do is talk Wooter into showing us the way.”
“Are you sure Hunter’s strong enough to make that trip?”
“He must be, B.J.! There’s no other way to save him.”
Cluney hurried out in search of Wooter. There wasn’t much time and everything had to be ready. She only wished she felt more confident that this plan would work.
As she headed toward the falls, she glanced up at heaven and prayed fervently, “Please, God, save the man I love most in the world! Don’t let him die!”
Chapter Sixteen
A dark cloud passed over the sun as Cluney approached Wooter. She hugged herself and shivered. How would she ever talk the cantankerous old mountain man into going along with her wild, desperate scheme?
Before she could speak, Wooter turned. His bearded face was screwed into a frown and he squinted one eye at her piercingly.
“No need you explaining what’s a-gnawin’ at you, little girl. I figured you’d hit on a plan to take him to the other side sooner or later.”
Cluney was so relieved, she felt faint. “If you knew that was what I was supposed to do, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t say you was supposed to do it. If you want my opinion, I think it’s a damn-fool idea. Crossing the moon-bow ain’t no Sunday picnic, you know. It could kill him ’fore he ever gets to the other side.”
Cluney shivered and clutched her arms more tightly. “Don’t say that. Don’t even think it! Taking him over is the only way I can save him.”
Wooter turned, avoiding eye contact. He remained silent for so long that Cluney thought he had forgotten she was there until he spoke to her. “Whoever said you was sent here to save him?”
She caught her breath in surprise. Of course she was meant to save him!
“Why else would I be here? You told me yourself, Wooter, that only people who were needed could come over the moonbow.”
Wooter kicked a rock with the toe of his boot. It flew over into the gorge and landed with a dull thud.
After he had waited to hear it land, he said, “Maybe you was needed to ease his dying. Did you ever think of that?”
“No!” Cluney stamped her foot. “That’s not why I came here and that’s not what I intend to do. I’m taking him back to a hospital.”
Again, Cluney was forced to wait for what seemed an eternity before Wooter told her what was on his mind.
“What makes you think he’d be happy in that other time? What could he do? What kind of life would he have?”
“We’ll be together,” Cluney replied. “That’s all that matters.”
“To you, maybe. But it’s different for a man. He needs his own place in life.”
Cluney shook her head, blinking back tears. “We’ll worry about that later. Right now, all that matters is getting help for him. And the only way I know is to take him forward in time to a hospital. After he’s well, if he’s not happy, he can come back. I’ll come with him.”
Wooter stared at her for a long, silent time. He was obviously trying to make up his mind. Cluney held her breath, waiting to hear what he would say.
“Well then,” he began, “you dose him up good with that medicine you’re so keen on. If you got anything for pain, give him plenty of that. He’ll need it. Then you dress him up real warm. Me and Free will get him out here to the edge of the falls come time to go. And I reckon we better figure on bringing that dog of his along, too. He’ll be needing something of his old life with him for comfort.”
“Is that all?” Cluney asked. She’d been hoping Wooter would explain elaborate preparations that would take all day—keep her mind off what they were about to attempt.
“No, that ain’t all,” Wooter stated in a flat tone. “If I was you, I’d take pains to explain to Miz Renfro how to give him that medicine in case this don’t work.” He stared at her hard, his gaze unwavering. “There ain’t no guarantees, you know.”
Cluney refused to let Wooter’s cynicism dampen her hopes. She turned from the man and headed back to the house, back to Hunter. It was time for more lifesaving drugs.
But before she gave Hunter his next dose, she called Mary Renfro into the room and explained everything to the woman as Wooter had suggested, just to be on the safe side.
“I’m gonna miss you, Larissa,” Mary told her after they’d finished with Hunter. “Having you here has been like having my own daughter, Lorettie, back again. But don’t you worry, I’ll take good care of the major once you’re gone, and I’m sure you’ll come back to him just as soon as you can. He needs you, you know. You’re better than any tonic for that man. I honestly thought he’d be gone long before now. You’ve wrought a miracle, child.”
In a sudden burst of affection and gratitude, Cluney hugged the thin woman. “I’m taking Hunter with me, Mary. We won’t be back.”
“Not ever?” the woman cried.
Cluney shook her head. “If all goes well, we’ll have a new life together, Hunter and I. I want to thank you for all you’ve done for him. You saved his life, Mary. I owe you so much and there’s no way I can ever repay you.”
“You don’t owe me nothing,” Mary said firmly. “You owe yourself and that fine man of yours a long and happy life. See that you both get it.”
“I mean to do my level best, Mary. I promise you that!”
The moon rose huge and blood-red that night. The air was cold, with a threat of rain or even snow. Cluney and B.J. shivered, coatless, in the cutting wind. But soon, they knew, they’d be back in the warm Kentucky springtime.
The two women followed along as Wooter and Free wheeled Hunter’s chair to the edge of the falls. He was bundled tightly in every available blanket, with the old hound, Trooper, lying in his lap. Hunter looked so shrunken and still that Cluney’s heart gave a lurch of fear. She touched his face to make sure he was still warm—still alive.
“He’s all right,” Wooter assured her. “It’s all them pain potions you gave him a while back. Mark my word, it’ll go easier on him this way. He won’t know nothing till it’s all over.”
Cluney knew Wooter was right. She only hoped she hadn’t given him too much.
“Now,” Wooter said, “let’s all stand close together and right still. The time’s nigh. Hold onto the one next to you and don’t let go, no matter what.”
Cluney and Free were on either side of Hunter’s chair, holding onto its straight back. Wooter clutched Cluney’s other hand, while Free kept a strong arm around his Belle. When Free leaned down to give B.J. a good-luck kiss, Cluney did the same for Hunter.
They were ready. All they needed now was the moonbow. The moments creeped by, silent and unbearable. When would it happen? When could they be off on their perilous journey through time?
Suddenly, the mist at the skirt of the falls shimmered with a faint glow. Then the light grew brighter and brighter, until Cluney had to close her eyes against the glare. She heard the familiar roar, and felt the earth shift beneath her feet. An odd dizziness overcame her. She thought she spoke Hunter’s name, but she couldn’t be sure.
The last thing she heard before the roar became deafening was Hunter’s distant voice. “I love you, Larissa. I always have and I always will.”
His words were punctuated by the baleful howl of old Trooper.
Then it seemed they were flying, with t
ime racing past them like pages in a picture book. In those very first moments, Cluney was conscious only of the scenes flashing before her eyes. Then suddenly, she realized with horror that she was gripping, not Hunter’s wheeled chair, but Free’s rough sleeve.
Hunter was gone!
“No-o-o-o!” Her anguished scream echoed down through the gorge and out over the mountains. It wailed through time, spanning years, decades, centuries. It was the sound of all the pain and heartbreak and suffering in the whole universe. It was a small, forlorn cry, lost in the blackness of eternity.
Before Cluney opened her eyes, she knew that the ground where she lay was damp and cold. As cold as her heart.
“Hunter?” she cried, scrambling to her knees.
She scanned the area quickly, hoping against all hope. The others lay sprawled around her, still stunned from their flight through time. B.J. remained very still, while Free’s eyes were open already. He gazed about, obviously dazed and in wonder. Wooter climbed to his feet, his old bones creaking with the effort. His gaze swept the area, then he limped over to Cluney to help her up.
“I’m sorry, little girl. I was afraid this would happen.”
Cluney was wild. “We have to go back for him, Wooter. Right now! We can’t leave him. What will happen to him? We have to get him to a hospital.”
Wooter shook his head sadly. “You know we can’t do that. Not in broad daylight. Even come dark, it won’t be no use. There’s no way back till next full moon. I ain’t even sure you could go back then. You see, little girl, he don’t need you no longer.”
“Hunter does need me!” she cried desperately.
“Not no more, little girl. You done all you could.”
B.J., aroused by Cluney’s cries, came to her friend and embraced her. “Don’t Cluney! You did the best you could. Mary will take good care of him.”
Just then, a tall, uniformed ranger strode over to them. “What are you people doing out here this time of the morning? Did you sleep by the falls? That’s not allowed, you know.”
B.J., fully aware now, recognized Ranger Sonny Taylor immediately. She felt a surge of relief to see a familiar face from a familiar time. “Hey, Sonny. How’s it going?”
He gave her a closer look, then frowned. “Do I know you, ma’am?”
“I hope to tell you! I’ve bugged you enough about my missing friend.” She turned and pointed at Cluney. “Well, she didn’t fall in the gorge. Here she is! I found her just like I told you I would. Sheriff Elrod can call off his search for good now.”
The big ranger looked more and more perplexed by every word B.J. spoke. Lifting his hat to scratch his head, he said, “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but I just can’t recall ever meeting you or your friends. And I don’t know anything about a search for anyone falling into the gorge. I think you all better come along with me and explain what you’re doing in the park before opening hours.”
“But, Sonny…?”
He turned back and gave B.J. a hard look. “Come on, now. You all cooperate and I’ll let you off easy. It’s a mite cold to be standing out here. I’d rather hear what you have to say back in my nice, warm office.”
Cluney realized he was right; she was shivering from the cold. Puzzled, she glanced up at the trees. The season had been well into spring when she’d left. By now, the branches should be thick and lush with the green of summer. Instead, they looked stark and leafless. How long had she been gone? It seemed only days—weeks at the most. Could it in reality have been months?
She turned to B.J. and whispered, “When you left here with Wooter night before last, what was the date?”
“June the sixteenth.” Realizing why Cluney had asked, B.J. glanced about. “Hey, something’s not right here.”
“That’s just what I was thinking,” Cluney answered. “Summer should be coming on, but it looks more like late winter or very early spring.”
Sure enough, when they crowded into the tiny ranger’s office, the calendar on his desk read “27 February.”
“That’s why Sonny doesn’t recognize me,” B.J. whispered to Cluney. “We didn’t meet until the night you disappeared, the eighteenth of May.”
Suddenly, Cluney was shaking all over. She gripped B.J.’s arm for support. It couldn’t be, but it must be!
“What’s the matter, Cluney? You’re as pale as a ghost.” B.J. pulled the ranger’s chair away from his desk. “Here, sit down before you fall down. What is it? What’s the matter with you?”
“The date,” Cluney managed after several wordless tries. “It’s February the twenty-seventh, B.J.”
“Yeah? So we missed our mark on the way back. We get to live a couple of months over again. After all we’ve been through, that hardly seems worth mentioning.”
Tears were now streaming down Cluney’s face and she was trembling as if she were having a seizure. Finally, she got out what she was trying to say. “Jeff! It’s only February, Jeff’s still alive!”
“My God! You’re right, Cluney. His plane didn’t go down until the first of March.”
Free was so amazed by everything around him—the electric heater, the radio playing country music, the ranger’s ballpoint pen—that he failed to notice anything else. But Wooter had been listening in on the whispered conversation between the two women. His frown deepened with every word he heard.
“Hey, hold on a minute,” he interrupted. “Just ’cause we missed on our landing don’t mean you two can go changing anything that’s already happened the first time around.”
“Why not?” B.J. demanded, obviously ready to fight. “Cluney’s fiancé was dead when she left. Now he’s alive again, which means …”
“Which means,” Wooter cut her off, “that she knows it’s going to happen, so she can be a lot nicer to him before what fate has willed happens to him all over again.”
Cluney moaned and covered her face with her hands to keep from sobbing aloud. She had just lost Hunter for the second time. How could she possibly endure the agony of losing Jeff again? And she couldn’t even be with him. His ship was already in the Mediterranean by now. He’d left the States three weeks ago.
Before further discussion could take place, the ranger entered his office and shut the door.
“I’m surprised at the lot of you,” he said, glancing from one to another. “You all aren’t kids out on a lark. You ought to know the laws around here. Now what were you doing at the falls all night?”
“Come for the moonbow,” Wooter piped up. “There ain’t no crime in that.”
Sonny nodded. “You’re right there, mister, but we frown on people staying by the falls all night. It’s too dangerous.”
“We wasn’t at the falls all night, but go the hell ahead and frown on us, if you like. Then let us go. We ain’t done no mischief and we want to get home.”
“Well, now, you just hold on a minute.” Sonny obviously didn’t care for Wooter’s surly tone. “I’ve got my orders not to let things like this pass. You see, we’ve been having a lot of vandalism around here lately. Somebody even stole an old tombstone from the Civil War burying ground.”
The ranger’s mention of Hunter’s grave marker drew B.J.’s immediate attention. “You mean that stone is gone?”
“Last time I looked.” Sonny narrowed his eyes at her. “You know something about that, ma’am?”
B.J. started to remind the ranger that he’d told her all about it, that he’d even shown her the spot where Hunter Breckinridge had been buried. Then she realized that he wouldn’t remember because at this point in time none of that had happened yet.
“I’ve heard about it,” she answered simply. “Could we go have a look at the burying ground?”
“Right now?” he said. “What in the world for?”
“Just humor me, Sonny. Please?” She smiled at him and he almost smiled back.
“Well, I guess it couldn’t hurt.”
“Great! Free and I will go with you. Wooter can stay
here with Cluney. She’s not feeling too well.”
B.J.’s mind was whirling. If Hunter’s stone—indeed, his entire grave—was still missing from the burying ground, that would mean that he must have survived after they left him behind. Maybe Cluney couldn’t do anything about changing Jeff Layton’s fate, but it would certainly make her feel better, after all she’d been through, to know that she’d saved Hunter Breckinridge.
Not even sure why he was going along with such nonsense, Sonny Taylor escorted B.J. and Free through the woods to the old burying ground. Along the way, he explained again about the Renfros and the cabin that used to be in the clearing—about all the things they knew so well from firsthand experience. Finally, they stood in the midst of the tangled underbrush and age-stained tombstones.
Suddenly, Free realized exactly where he was. A tremor went through his big frame and he clung to his Belle. He remembered digging some of these very graves and helping to lay the soldiers’ bodies in them. But the grave he’d started working on for Major Breckinridge was gone. There was not even space for one where it had been.
“It’s the confoundingest thing,” Sonny said, shaking his head. “See? It was right there, but it’s vanished now, like the others just closed in around it and squeezed it out.”
“He’s telling God’s own truth,” Free whispered to B.J. “I commenced digging the major’s grave when Miz Mary told me to. It was right between those two—Captain Van Dyke and Private McClenny.” He pointed to the location. “Ain’t no grave there now.”
“All right!” B.J. cried with glee. Then, leaving the two men staring after her, she turned and fled back toward the ranger’s office.
“What got into her, you reckon?” Sonny asked of Free.
The big man only shook his head in answer, but he was grinning ear to ear. “The major made it,” he muttered to himself. “He don’t need no grave.”
Back at the ranger station, B.J. flew through the door, startling Cluney and Wooter. “Hunter’s okay!” she cried.
Wooter frowned at her. He’d spent the past few minutes with the little Summerland girl trying to make her understand that what was meant to be couldn’t be changed, no matter what day and age it was. He’d told her that the fate of both Hunter Breckinridge and Jeff Layton was decided long before they were born, and no mortal human could do nothing about it. Like it or not! He’d tried to be gentle with her, but there were times when a man just had to be firm. Now, here was this wild, crazy woman, tearing in, screaming about how the major was just fine and dandy.
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