“I can understand completely.” Aimee challenged Daniel with a wide smile. It sounded as if Marie Osborne had been just as stubborn as herself. “And if she went with him, I don’t see how your mother could have been the weak and fragile woman you and Zach made her out to be.”
“You refused to leave the mountains, too, when I said it was too dangerous for you here.”
Aimee grinned and nodded. “Exactly. And there was no way you were going to make me leave either, Daniel.” She raised a finger to his face. “And, I proved you wrong.”
“I knew right away that you weren’t like any other woman. I may have called you weak, but that was only because I wanted to believe it, so I could send you away.” His face sobered and a fleeting look of anguish passed through his eyes. “My mother died for her choices.”
Aimee gripped Daniel’s arm. They’d been down this road before. “Your mother’s death had nothing to do with following your father into the wilderness. She had a medical condition, and had she been pregnant in New Orleans and stayed there, the same thing would have happened. She wanted to be with the man she loved.”
“I shouldn’t have even been born,” Daniel said quietly. “If not for the device that was given to my father, I would have died along with my mother.”
Aimee shook her head. A chill raced down her spine. The device that had sent her to the past the first time, an old artifact that looked like a petrified snake’s head, was a mystery that she didn’t want to think about.
“Something we may never explain. Elk Runner believes in the Sky People spirits, and your father even said that the device came from them. I don’t know what to believe, but whatever it is, it’s a power stronger than we’ll ever comprehend.” Her eyes drifted to the cabin. “I also know that we can’t keep that device, Daniel. We need to get rid of it, and then live our lives as if that thing had never existed.”
Daniel stared at her for what seemed like an eternity. There was no doubt that he’d been thinking the same thing, but struggled with what to do.
“If we dispose of it, you will never return to the future.” His eyes penetrated hers.
Aimee sighed. “We’ve been over this already, Daniel. I choose you over any life I could have in the future. I love you.”
Daniel’s hard gaze softened. He nodded. “We’ll destroy it. I’ll burn it as soon as we go inside.”
A cold gust of wind rushed by at that moment, and Aimee shivered.
“Speaking of fire, it is too cold out here for you in only my shirt.” His smile turned into a devilish grin. “You will need warm clothes for winter, or I may just keep you locked up in the cabin during the cold months.”
“You don’t believe for a second that I’ll stay cooped up in that tiny cabin all winter.” She laughed.
“I’ve learned well that I can’t keep you from anything you wish to do.” His stare turned serious. “But there will be times you’ll have to listen to my advice, for your own safety.”
She nodded. Now was not the time to push, and Daniel was right. She’d made mistakes before because she hadn’t listened to him, simply because she wanted to prove that she wasn’t the weakling he’d said she was. That had all been before they’d finally admitted their love for each other. This was her permanent home now, and she would survive here.
“You’ll have to teach me how to make some clothes from hides, or maybe Gentle Sun and Little Bird can show me.”
Daniel took her hand and led her away from the river, toward the cabin nestled among the trees a short distance away.
“There are many things I need to teach you before winter sets in. I’m afraid there isn’t much time left to get ready for the cold months ahead.” He turned to her and swept her into his arms. Aimee laughed and locked her hands behind his neck, their faces inches from each other.
“You’ve been a distraction this past summer,” he murmured huskily. His lips came down on hers. “A very pleasant distraction.”
Chapter Two
Daniel reached for the small leather pouch he’d tossed on top of the table inside his cabin. The time travel device it contained had brought them back to his valley in the middle of the night, after Aimee had said her goodbyes to her friend, Jana Evans, two hundred years in the future.
He held the pouch firmly in his hand, the snakehead-shaped object inside nestled against his palm. A warm sensation flowed through him. Aimee had chosen him over her life in the future, a life that seemed safer than anything he could offer her in this time. Against nearly impossible odds, he’d managed to find her in the foreign world into which the device had sent him. He’d begged for her forgiveness and let her know she meant everything to him. And he’d let her know what an absolute fool he’d been for his behavior the last time he’d laid eyes on her.
His gaze drifted to Aimee’s clothes that lay on the ground where he’d helped her discard them the night before. She’d cried tears of happiness in his arms after he’d made love to her for the first time since the day she’d disappeared from his life. He’d held her tight and silently vowed that he would never let her go again. That had been a mistake he would never repeat. She’d made her choice, and now she was his to love and protect for always.
After he’d carried her into the cabin a short while ago, his shirt that she’d worn earlier had joined the pile of her clothing from the future on the floor. His eyes now sought hers as she lay on his . . . on their bunk, smiling at him with contentment in her gaze. So different from the way her fearful eyes had looked at him after he’d yelled at her to leave his hospital room that day in the future when he’d convinced himself that she’d lied to him.
She’d done as he’d asked and left without further argument. The final pleading look in her eyes had revealed her deep sorrow and the knowledge that she’d never see him again, and it would haunt him forever.
Daniel’s fingers tightened around the pouch. He’d allowed his anger for past hurts to overshadow the love in his heart for this woman, and he’d shunned her. And, he’d regretted it ever since.
“Are you going to burn that device or are you simply going to hold it?” Aimee asked, watching him intently. She lay on the bunk, partially covered with sheepskin hide, her head propped on one hand. Her brows rose while her eyes sparkled, still dark with passion.
Daniel tilted the pouch and shook the object that had brought Aimee to him into his palm. The same object that had saved his life, and his father’s life on numerous occasions from what Zach had told him on his deathbed. Daniel stared at it, turning it in his hand, careful not to touch the red stones that looked like eyes.
Where had this thing come from? The question had haunted him ever since his father had handed it to him and urged him to use it to bring Aimee back from the future. Was he acting out of selfish reasons for wanting to be rid of it?
Daniel straightened. It would be as he’d told Jana – he would protect Aimee with his life to keep her safe. She was a headstrong woman, and she would challenge his patience as she’d done so many times before, but it was exactly that strong character and her caring nature that had drawn him to her in the first place when she’d appeared seemingly out of nowhere in this wilderness he called home. A smile passed over his face. He was ready for the challenge.
“What’s wrong?”
Aimee’s soft voice snapped him from his thoughts. His head turned. She reached for his shirt on the ground and slipped it over her head. Daniel’s eyes followed as the shirt dropped over her slight body, the ends settling just above her knees. She came closer, her blue eyes on his face, and rested her hand on his arm. He offered a smile.
“Are you absolutely sure you want this thing destroyed?” He stared at her. There would be no turning back once he threw it in the fire.
Aimee’s forehead scrunched. “Your father wanted it destroyed. I think it’s for the best.”
Daniel shook his head. Never before had indecision about something plagued him the way it did now. “It has done nothing but good things for me. It is as if so
meone wanted me to be born.” He faced her, touching his fingers to Aimee’s cheek, and smiled. “And, it brought you to me.”
“It also took me away from you, remember?” She returned his smile, but her brows rose. “Now that we’re together, we don’t need it anymore. I was forced away from you and away from this time because of that thing. I don’t ever want us to be separated like that again.” Her fingers tightened around his arm. “That device scares me, Daniel. We have no idea where it comes from.”
“According to my father, a Tukudeka elder gave it to him out of gratitude for saving him from freezing to death. Without the device and its ability to send someone to another time, I would not have been born. From what my father told me, the elder seemed adamant that he take my mother to the future to give birth.”
Aimee nodded. “I know,” she said softly. “You and your mother both would have died had your father not brought her to the future.”
Daniel frowned. He hesitated before speaking. There would be no secrets between him and Aimee from now on. There had been enough secrets kept by his father that had caused too much anguish.
“After I buried my father, I went to the Tukudeka village to see Gentle Sun. Before I came to find you in the future.” His eyes locked on the woman he could now truly call his wife.
“Your foster mother? Does she know about the device?”
Daniel shook his head. “I asked her if she remembered any elders of her clan or the clans of relatives who had gone missing right before my father brought me to her as an infant.”
As a newborn without a mother, he would have starved had Gentle Sun not taken him in and been his wet nurse. She’d become the closest he’d had to a real mother, and she’d raised him alongside her own son, Elk Runner.
Daniel smirked. “Growing up, I embraced both the world of the Sheepeaters as well as my father’s white man world. I was raised listening to the stories told about the Sky People and their spiritual powers, but the Tukudeka beliefs conflicted with those of my father. I’m not sure what greater power to believe in. I went to seek answers from Gentle Sun before coming for you.”
“Did you get your answers?”
“Gentle Sun didn’t know of any elder who had disappeared at the time of my birth.” Daniel’s stare returned to the object in his hand, then back to Aimee.”
“Did you show her the object?”
Daniel shook his head. “No. The fewer people that know about it, the better. My father kept it a secret from me and everyone else all these years. I have not even told Elk Runner.”
Aimee laughed softly. “I can only imagine what he would say about a snakehead device that can send people to the future. It’s best to let him think that the spirits he believes in brought us together.”
“All Tukudeka believe in the Sky People.”
“Who, or what, exactly are Sky People?” Aimee’s brows rose.
“The spirits that guide the Tukudeka.” Daniel grinned. “Elk Runner told me on the day that I found you that the Sky People must have finally sent me a woman, because I couldn’t seem to find one on my own. There are legends about them, when they walked the earth among the Sheepeaters many years ago. They vanished, but their spirits still guide the clans. Elk Runner has strong beliefs in the spirits, although he has not gone on a vision quest of his own. He could have followed in his father’s footsteps.”
“Could have?” Aimee turned her head to the side with a questioning look. There was so much he needed to tell her to get her familiar with his world.
“Elk Runner’s father was a well-respected and powerful shaman. No one will speak his name.”
“Why not?”
“His father died when Elk Runner and I were just boys. I can’t even remember his face. Once someone dies, his name is not mentioned again out of respect.”
“It’s a good thing I never asked about Gentle Sun’s husband, then.” Aimee smiled at him, then her eyes went to the device in his hand.
Daniel’s gaze followed hers. The snakehead was smooth and weathered, and light in his hands, as if it were hollow inside. The red stones shimmered in the fire’s reflection. He inhaled a long breath before he looked at the petite woman standing next to him.
“I will do what I can to make you feel at home in this time.”
He stared at her, his expression no doubt somber. He should be the happiest man on earth, and he was, but she needed to be absolutely sure and without regrets about her decision.
Aimee wrapped her arms around his, and hugged him close. Her head tilted to look up at him, and a wide smile formed on her lips as her eyes sparkled with mischief.
“Can you build me a shower?” Her voice was filled with amusement. Daniel’s frown deepened.
“What’s a shower?”
“Running water that I can stand under to bathe.”
“Perhaps the nearby waterfall in the canyon of the Burning River would please you.”
“And you’re going to have to figure out how to make chocolate ice cream,” Aimee continued with definite laughter in her voice. “I’m not sure I can live without it.”
Daniel pulled his arm out of her grip and brought it around her waist, pulling her close. “If it’s within my abilities in this time to give you what you desire, I will do it.”
Aimee’s hand reached up to touch his face. “I’m going to teach you not to be so serious all the time, Daniel.” She stood on her toes and touched her lips to his. “We were making progress before I got sent back to the future.”
“I don’t take bringing you here, removing you from all you’ve known, lightly. I want you to be absolutely sure that you want to stay.” Daniel wrapped his other arm fully around her, hugging her close so she could feel his heart beating for her. The snakehead in his hand was the only thing that continued to cause his uncertainty. He kept his palm open while he held it, careful not to touch either of the red stones.
“I’m going to miss Jana above everything else,” Aimee said once Daniel had released her. “She was my best friend, a sister like Elk Runner is a brother to you, and always the more level-headed of the two of us. She’s the opposite of me…quiet and sensible. I want her to find a man half as good as you.” Her mischievous smile and the twinkle in her eyes returned. “If I could clone you, I’d send you to her.”
“Clone?”
“Yes, it’s making the same thing from the original. Like, another you.”
Daniel shook his head, but he returned his wife’s smile. “Someday I will understand your language.”
Aimee leaned away from his embrace, her forehead scrunched as if in deep contemplation, staring at him with her head tilted to the side. “I wonder what you’d have been like had you grown up in the future, if Zach hadn’t brought you back here right after your birth.”
Daniel frowned. “From what I remember of the future, it’s not a place where I wish to live.”
Aimee shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t want you to live there, either. And,” she stuck a finger in his chest, looking at him as his foster mother often did when he’d been a boy, “I don’t want to live there anymore, either.”
She reached for his hand holding the snakehead. “It’s time, Daniel.”
He nodded, then stepped up to the hearth. Before he could contemplate his actions any further, he tossed the snakehead into the fire. Immediately, the flames surrounded the object. The stones glowed red. Aimee stepped up beside him, staring into the hearth alongside him.
“It doesn’t look to be catching fire.” She whispered the words that were already apparent to him.
The fire continued to burn and consume the wood in the hearth, leaving the snakehead untouched. A while later, after the flames had turned to smoldering ash, the mysterious device sat among the coals. Even though soot had discolored it to a darker shade of brown, it appeared to be undamaged by the heat and flames.
Chapter Three
Aimee opened the old trunk she’d slid out from under Daniel’s bunk. The smell of rawhide drif
ted to her nose. A doeskin dress lay folded neatly on top of a pair of leather moccasins and a bighorn sheep hide. She ran her palm across the soft hide that covered various buckskin britches, wool and cotton shirts, pouches, and other leather paraphernalia. She smiled, her mind wandering to the day Daniel’s adoptive family of Sheepeater Indians had given the finely cured sheepskin hide to her.
She lifted the soft dress, holding it in front of her and caressing the buttery-soft leather between her fingers. She held it to her nose and inhaled deeply. Quite different from the smell of freshly-laundered clothes, but the scent of leather and wood smoke was a distinct reminder of her new life, and it always conjured images of Daniel.
The sleeves and bottom of the garment were adorned with long fringes, and rows of shells and animal teeth decorated the front. She’d only worn this dress once, a gift from several women of the Tukudeka tribe for saving a young boy’s life from drowning many months ago.
A warm sensation flowed through her. The way Daniel had looked at her when he’d first seen her in the dress would be burned into her memory forever. At the time, she hadn’t recognized that smoldering dark stare for what it was – the love he carried in his heart for her. There had been many more such looks later, once he’d finally admitted his feelings to her.
And even then you couldn’t be honest with him.
Aimee’s vision blurred. Less than twenty-four hours ago, she’d never thought she’d see any of these items again, much less wear them. When Zach had forced her back to the future, the dress, moccasins, and hide had been left behind. She’d had nothing but memories of her time in the nineteenth century, along with a broken heart.
For months she’d been in a deep and dark place, longing for the man she’d fallen in love with and thought she’d never see again. Would the guilt of lying to him ever go away, even though he’d clearly forgiven her? She had sworn to Zach that she wouldn’t divulge his secret of the time travel device in exchange for sending her to the past for the adventure of a lifetime. The secrets Zach had kept from his son, and that she’d also promised to keep from Daniel, had caused too much anguish. From now on, there would be no more secrets.
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