thought. The image of Becci vanishing as she walked through
the door flashed into his mind. What if Michael was wrong?
What if the door between his time and this was still open?
What would happen to her when she crossed the threshold?
He closed his eyes and forced back his fears. Panic wouldn’t
help Becci.
“Why do you want the coins, Ascott?”
“Power. That’s what it’s all about.” Michael answered. “I
would have had it four years ago, but you had to come along
and destroy everything. You cost me a lot, saddling up with my
Elizabeth like you did. She said she wanted to break our
agreement and keep the money for a proper wedding. She said
she couldn’t get ahead if I kept taking a cut. I offered her the
whole week’s take for the medallion and her body.” Michael
leered at him. “As you know, she accepted.”
Caleb drew in a shaky breath. “They said I killed you.”
Michael shrugged. “A mere flesh wound to the shoulder.
But I couldn’t have you hanging around asking questions, so I
called in my markers from the people in town and had them
railroad you out. Now, you show up again. I won’t let you ruin
everything this time.”
“You have one medallion, let the other go,” Caleb said.
“I’m not a fighting man, but I won’t let you hurt Becci. The
passageway is open. I know it is. I’ve got to stop her from
bringing it through that door.” With renewed determination
Caleb started past Michael.
“You’re not going anywhere until Jacobs tells me he has
the medallion.”
“Jacobs? No!” Caleb roared, shoving Ascott aside and
running toward the staircase. Before he could make it to the
steps Ascott grabbed him by the arm and threw a punch. Caleb
deflected the blow with his forearm and countered with a sharp,
upward swing that sent Ascott to the floor. The man attempted
to get up, then slumped to the floor. Caleb paused ready to put
Ascott down for good, then realizing he already had, he raced
toward the stairs.
Caleb fought away a sense of foreboding as he reached the
upper landing. Jacobs was in the room with Becci, and he knew
the drunk wouldn’t hesitate to kill her, just as he’d killed
Rebecca. The long hallway stretched the full length of the house.
Tension gnawed at Caleb as he resisted the urge to run toward
Becci’s room. If Jacobs heard him coming, he might hurt Becci.
He had to have the element of surprise on his side.
As he neared the end of the hallway, he noticed that the
door to Becci’s room stood open. He stared at it, his heart
pounding in his ears. But that didn’t block the sound of wood
scraping against wood. A fresh surge of fear skittered over
him, and his mouth went dry. He couldn’t ever remember being
this afraid for someone else. A chilling desperation spread
through him as he sensed the need to hurry. If he didn’t, Becci
would be lost to him forever.
He crossed to the open door. Becci faced the dresser holding
the trinket box. His missing journal lay on the bedside table, a
small piece of paper protruding from the side as if to mark
someone’s place.
Movement in the black void behind Becci caught his
attention. Caleb saw the flicker of something shiny. It went
higher and higher and inched toward Becci. Wind roared, and
a flash of lightning illuminated the room enough to see Jacobs
holding a knife.
No! Not my Becci, too.
Panic surged through him as he realized he hadn’t been
wrong. The drunk had killed Rebecca. But he wouldn’t fail
Becci the way he’d failed Rebecca. He couldn’t. He loved Becci
with his heart and his soul.
He leaped toward Jacobs as the knife started its downward
thrust.
Becci screamed and threw up her arms to deflect the blow.
She felt the sting of the blade cut the heel of her palm before it
hit the medallion, sending out a shower of sparks.
Hypnotized by the dark red stream flowing in a thin crooked
line down her arm, it took her a second to react to the pain. She
brought her injured hand to her chest while dodging her
attacker’s second slashing blow. Relief swamped her as Caleb
sprang from the doorway to tackle her assailant.
Metal clanked against metal. The two men rolled across
the room, brutal punches finding their targets. They crashed
into the dresser, sending the two gold nuggets flying.
Caleb pressed his forearm into Jacobs’s throat, pinning
him to the floor. Becci could see the fury in Caleb’s eyes as he
lifted Jacobs up by the collar and landed a well-placed fist to
his chin. Jacobs slumped to the floor unconscious.
Shoving her attacker aside, Caleb hurried to her and
scooped her into his arms. Without saying a word he sat on the
edge of the bed and flicked on the table lamp. While holding
her close to his chest, he jerked open the drawers of the bedside
table until he found a box of tissues.
He took her hand in his and slowly unrolled her fingers
with a tenderness she wouldn’t have believed possible. Then
he folded the tissue, and pressed it to the cut. He caught her
other hand and placed it over the wound. Then, Using one of
her socks, he tied his makeshift bandage securely in place.
“I need to get you to a doctor. Where is he? How do I get
there so I can bring him back here to take care of you?” Panic
edged his voice as he raked his hand through his hair.
“I’m all right,” she assured him. It didn’t hit an artery. I
think it will need stitches, though, but we’ll have to go to the
emergency room for them. Doctors don’t make house calls
anymore.”
She could see the concern in his eyes, and it warmed her.
His eyes and his actions told her how much he loved her. How
could she have ever doubted him?
“How do we get to this emergency room? I don’t know
how to drive.”
The helplessness in his voice tore at her heart. “We’ll get
Aunt Lilly to drive us.”
Jacobs moaned and began to shift. Caleb glanced at the
man. He couldn’t let Jacobs and Ascott get away with the
medallions.
“The medallion. Where is it?”
“He has it,” Becci said, nodding toward Jacobs.
Caleb eased her off his lap and hurried to where Jacobs
lay. Leaning down, he untangled the chain from the knife. He
held it up and looked at it intently, and then he clutched it to
his chest and closed his eyes as if in thankful prayer.
As Becci watched him, she felt her heart sinking. She’d
thought he’d come up here to save her. Had she been wrong?
Was the medallion all he wanted? A moment ago he’d been
talking about getting her to a doctor, and now it was as if she
no longer existed.
Tears fell onto her crude bandage. This time the pain had
nothing to do with the cut. It came from deep in her heart.
She’d thought he loved her, but he’d only come up here for th
e
medallion. He hadn’t come up here to save her.
“Mary Rebecca,” Caleb said.
“I’m not Mary Rebecca,” she yelled. “I’m Becci.”
Silence lingered between them, hollow and empty. Caleb
wanted to tell her he loved her, but the words wouldn’t come.
Rebecca had said he would find happiness, and he supposed
he had. For one day he’d experienced a love deeper than
anything he’d ever dreamed existed. He believed Becci loved
him, too, but he had to go back to his time and try to save
Rebecca. He had to make sure she and Luke were safe from
Obadiah.
“I know you’re not Rebecca,” Caleb whispered as he
brushed his knuckles down her cheek. “You’re a good woman.
You’ll make some man a fine wife.” He held up the medallion
and caught her hand. “I believe my purpose for being here is to
warn you against selling the house and to deliver this to you.
There’s a voice inside telling me that I’m not the keeper of this
coin, you are.”
Before she could respond, he said, “Ascott has another
coin downstairs. It belonged to my mother, and I’m its keeper.
I’m going downstairs to get it, but until you see the colors
disappear from around the door, don’t take this coin out of this
room.”
“But...”
“Guard the medallion with your life, Becci,” he interrupted.
“It has the power to give you what you desire most.”
He lowered his head and brushed his lips against hers.
When he pulled away from her, he said, “This is truly goodbye,
my love.”
Her heart pounded against her ribs as she gazed up at him.
She loved him, and he loved her. So why was he leaving her?
And why was he giving her the medallion? And what was a
keeper? More importantly, if the coin had the power to truly
give her what she wanted, why was he leaving? He was what
she wanted most, and he always would be.
As he turned and walked toward the door, she stared at the
gold piece he’d placed on her palm, willing it to keep him here
with her.
A sudden movement caught her attention, and she screamed
when Jacobs leaped to his feet and snatched the medallion from
her hand. Caleb spun around at her scream, and Jacobs charged
him, burying the knife blade into Caleb’s shoulder. Jacobs
jerked it out and stabbed at Caleb again, but Caleb caught the
man’s wrist with both hands before the knife reached him.
Caleb cursed as he struggled with Jacobs. The necklace
swayed between them, as if taunting Caleb for trying to leave
it behind. Had he been wrong? Was the medallion supposed to
stay with him?
He didn’t have time to search for the answers. Even if it
cost him his life, he couldn’t let Jacobs harm Becci. And he
knew that Jacobs would turn on her if he won this battle.
Jacobs lowered his shoulder and plowed into Caleb. They
rolled across the room, and Jacobs pinned him to the floor.
Then he raised the knife and brought it down again. Caleb
dodged the sharp blade, and it hit the medallion, which had
fallen to the floor. Jacobs grabbed the medallion’s chain,
scrambled to his feet, and started for the door. Caleb lunged
after him and together they plummeted through the door into
the hall.
Lightning seared the air and flamed through Caleb. A white
light blinded him to everything but its existence. Thunder shook
the house, and the wind howled with a freight train’s roar.
Through the doorway, he saw the curtain rod on Becci’s
bedroom window snap free of its mount and topple to the floor.
Caleb cried out. Pain ripped at him as he crashed into the
railing that lined the upper hall, giving a view of the entry hall
below. And just as quickly as the commotion began, it ended.
***
Disbelief swamped Becci. She glanced down at the curtain
rod and then at the door. An eerie, ghostlike silence hovered
about the room as the dim outline of two men struggling in the
hall misted over and vanished.
Becci tried to draw in a breath. Every nerve in her body
shuddered. Her hand tingled. She lowered her gaze to the blooddrenched
sock-bandage only to find it was snow-white. The
hairs on her nape stood on end.
Signs of the struggle remained in the room, but Caleb and
Jacobs had disappeared as if they’d never been.
Had all of this been a dream?
She turned and looked around her room, and her gaze came
to rest on the beautiful hand-carved box on the dresser. Then
her gaze moved to the leather-bound journal resting on the
nightstand, and she frowned. The book had not been there the
night before.
Becci picked up the journal and it fell open to the last
page. Caleb’s neat bold script leaped out at her in fresh, black
ink.
My Dearest Becci,
By the time you read this I will be back
where I belong. You have taught me to love
and to trust, and I will always love you no
matter what happens after tonight. Remember
that whether I live one hundred and sixty-five
years before your time or am here to spend
my life with you, you possess my heart. Touch
the wind and feel me. Smell the fragrant
dampness of a spring storm and remember
me. Hear the thunder and know that it is my
heart beating for you. The gold you need to
save your home and go to school and start
your nursery is there if you know where to
look. With the instructions in my journal you
should have no problem finding it. If I can, I
will put the medallion somewhere in the house
so you will find it, too. Once I return to my
own time I will need nothing but my memories
of you. The medallion is not gold. It is
orichalc—a metal that is as pure as newly
fallen snow and as bright as the sun after the
rain—and if you find it, know I give it to you
along with my heart. I am forever yours,
Caleb Harrison.
Closing the journal, Becci wiped at the tears running down
her cheeks. She looked at the empty hall. Caleb did love her,
but he’d vanished into the past. She stood at the threshold of
time without hope of ever seeing him again or sharing with
him the love they felt for each other
Becci laid the journal on the dresser and crossed the room
to the window. She picked up the curtain rod and tried to force
it back onto its brackets, only to toss it down in frustration.
Then she dropped to her knees and let the agony in her heart
take over.
“Why?” she yelled at no one in particular as tears drenched
her face. “Why did you give him to me only to take him away?
I don’t want to lose him. I love him.”
As she continued to cry, a million questions whirled through
her mind. Would Caleb remember her when he arrived back in
his own time? Would he know how much she loved him? Had
he met his death on his journey back?
>
The answers would be in the journals, but she didn’t want
to learn them. She wanted him to pop up in front of her, pick
her up and hold her to his chest. She wanted to melt into his
arms and beg him to make love to her. Never had she felt such
despair, and she didn’t think she’d ever get over it.
Finally her tears eased, and her sobs slowed to hiccups.
Slowly, she pulled herself to her feet. In a few hours a new day
would begin, offering a new beginning. She picked up the
curtain rod, and this time it easily slipped back over its hooks.
Staring down at the backyard, she watched the shadows dance
around the old oak.
Suddenly, hope bloomed in her chest. She could see Caleb
standing under the tree letting the water slosh over his body.
She had to go to him! She had to tell him that she loved him!
But before she could turn away, the image misted and vanished.
“This is truly good-bye,” she whispered, new tears falling
as she repeated the words he’d said to her. “I love you, Caleb.
I love you more than anything, and I would have gone back
with you if you’d asked. Why didn’t you ask?”
But she knew the answer even as she asked the question.
He’d left her behind so he could be with her namesake. No,
she corrected, he’d gone to be with his godson, and Rebecca
was just part of the package.
“Mary Rebecca Berclair,” Becci said, talking to herself.
“This is no way to behave. Caleb gave you what he could—the
means to keep Berclair Manor.”
She picked up one of the gold nuggets and put it back in
the trinket box. She bent to pick up another and froze. The
sound of foot steps downstairs reminded her that she still had
Michael to contend with, and he was more dangerous than Caleb
ever had been.
Twenty-two
Caleb lay on his back and tried to readjust to his trip through
time. He had just started to regain his equilibrium when Jacobs
raised up and brought the knife down towards him.
With a curse, he knocked Jacobs backward. The knife and
medallion crashed to the floor and lay between them. For a
moment both of them stared at the two glistening pieces of
metal, one just as dangerous as the other. Fresh blood pooled
around the blade and stained the wood flooring.
Caleb knew it was his blood. The thick crimson soaked
Christopher, Barbara - Keeper of Key.txt Page 35