“Oh, my God,” she said, pulling out of his embrace. “You don’t know.”
“Don’t know what? What don’t I know?”
“Rowan, there is no easy way to tell you this so I’m just going to tell you and let it sink in, okay?”
“Okay.”
“We are no longer in 2012. We are in a different year in history. We’re in the year 1620.”
“What the hell, Ella?”
Ella sniffed at the collar of his jacket. “Rowan? You been drinking tonight?”
“Doesn’t mean I went insane.”
She reached out and took his hand and began to lead him out of the garden and toward the back door of the convent. “You know what?” she said. “You just come to it at your own pace. Meanwhile, let’s get out of the cold. The last thing we need is for people to hear you talk. I have my own room here.”
“Why don’t we just go to your perfectly nice apartment? Ella, what’s going on? What is this place?”
Gripping his hand, Ella pulled him through the kitchen door. Inside it was totally dark and she whispered to him to be quiet.
“Put your hands on my hips,” she said. “And I’ll lead you.”
“Where the hell are we, Ella?”
“Keep your voice down. I don’t want the ladies to meet you until morning. They have enough going on right now.”
“The ladies?”
“All in due time, Rowan. For now, just follow me.”
Feeling his strong hands on her hips gave Ella a surge of strength and optimism she hadn’t felt in months. As she led him through the medieval kitchen with its hanging poultry and rabbits, she could feel his fingers tighten on her, but he didn’t speak. When they left the kitchen, she hurried down the stone hall to her room. She paused briefly to listen for anyone else up and about in the convent. She heard nothing and pushed open the door to her room.
In the moonlight coming through the single window in the room, she watched as Rowan automatically felt on the wall for the light switch he knew must be there.
“Forget it, Rowan,” she said, pulling him to the bed. “There’s no electricity here.”
“You’re kidding. What is this, some kind of hostel or ashram?”
“Something like that,” Ella said. She pulled off his jacket and dropped it to the floor beside her. “Come sit down.”
“I can’t see my hand in front of my face,” he said. He sat down next to her on the bed and she knew he was confused and unsettled.
“Your eyes will adjust,” she said. She took both his hands in hers. “Rowan.”
“Ella.”
“We’re together now. We’ve found each other literally across time itself.”
“You didn’t drink any Kool-Aid at this ashram, did you? Because although you have no idea how happy I am that I found you, Ella, you sound really different.”
Ella laughed and clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the sound.
“Oh, my God,” she said. “I cannot believe that you are here. If I had any prayer, ever, it was answered when I saw you in the garden tonight. God gave you back to me. God gave me a second chance to not fuck this up.”
“Does God know you’re using that kind of language? Because I’m pretty sure he frowns on it.” He shook his head. “What happened to you, Ella? I got that crazy middle-of-the-night call from you and then nobody knew where you were. Not your dad, not—”
“You talked to my father?”
“Hell, yeah, I did. You disappeared. I’ve been living in your Heidelberg apartment for over a week now and it’s like you never existed. No friends stopping by, no phone calls. What the hell happened?”
“You came to Heidelberg to find me? Oh, Rowan. You came to Germany?”
“Okay, Ella, why are you talking like this? Of course I came to Germany. We’re in Germany, aren’t we? Why are you acting like this is news to you?”
“I thought you might have come here from the States,” Ella said. “You know, from Dothan.”
“I did come here from the States,” Rowan said. The confusion on his face made Ella want to laugh except she knew it wasn’t going to be funny when he finally figured it all out.
“I’m just grateful is all, Rowan,” she said, squeezing his hands. “You have no idea what kind of trouble we’ve got here.”
“Here at the ashram.”
“Okay, Rowan, I know you must be exhausted and I don’t intend to wear you out any more than is absolutely necessary because trust me you’re going to need to be a hundred and fifty percent for what you’ll need to deal with tomorrow,” Ella said as she pulled out a short candle from her nightstand and set it in the dish next to her bed. “But for starters, this is not an ashram. It is a seventeenth century convent.”
She lit the candle with a packet of book matches. She held them up. “I feel guilty about doing it this way but I’m hopeless at starting any kind of fire without them. The Mother Superior says I’ll burn as a witch if anybody finds them on me so I just keep them here in the room.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” he said.
She tossed the matches into the drawer. “You know what, Rowan? It’s nothing that can’t be dealt with a whole lot better in the light of day. Forget I said anything.”
“You’re talking like a crazy person,” he said.
“I know I am,” she said. “The thing is, I’m out of my head to see you again. I’m bonkers to be able to feel your hands on me and to be with you after all this time.”
She pulled on the drawstring at the neck of her nightgown. She watched his face relax and then expand into a smile as the nightgown dropped to the floor.
“No problem,” he said softly, reaching for her. “I’m feeling a little crazy myself.”
She moved into his arms and turned her face to feel his sweet breath, the bristle of his five o’clock shadow against her skin. When he kissed her, she moaned and opened her mouth to receive his probing tongue. After a moment, she pulled her face away and he kissed her throat and her neck, his calloused but warm hands caressing her naked back and hips.
“I know it’s late, Rowan,” she said, gasping, “and I’ll be happy to take it slow tomorrow but for now…” She groaned as he reached between her legs.
“Not to worry, beautiful,” he said hoarsely as he leaned her back onto the bed. “I’m way ahead of you.”
Chapter Thirteen
The next morning, Ella woke to see her rumpled cowboy was snoring softly with his arm thrown over his face. He was wrapped up in the coarse woolen blanket of her single bed. The bed was too narrow for the two of them and way too short for a US Deputy Marshal, so Ella had slept on a blanket on the floor next to the bed. Now she knelt next to the bed and kissed him on his unshaven cheek.
“I have to go,” she whispered. “Stay here until I get back, okay?”
His eyes opened sleepily and then closed again. “Okay,” he said.
Ella hurriedly pulled on her novice habit and tied her long hair with the strip of rawhide she kept on the nightstand. She ran down the hallway to the kitchen where she was already late for her chores. As soon as she entered the kitchen, she saw Mother Superior standing at the kitchen table, kneading dough. There were big splashes of white flour spoiling her black habit. She was alone.
“I’ll do that,” Ella said, moving to Greta’s side.
“I’m already doing it. Why don’t you check on the oven?”
Ella tried to gauge Greta’s affect. She was always fairly cool—very German in that way—but she usually smiled a good deal. Not this morning.
Ella moved to the oven and looked in. She used a thick pad to pull four loaves of bread out of the oven and set them on top of the stove to cool.
She moved to where Greta was kneading the dough.
“You know I have a visitor,” Ella said, standing with her hands on her hips.
“We do not bring men into the convent,” Greta said. “I didn’t think I had to tell you that.”
“It’s R
owan, Greta.”
The nun stopped kneading. “Your man,” she said with a smile. “He came to you from the future?”
“Yes,” Ella said, grinning. “Yes, he did.”
Greta reached out and grabbed Ella’s hand. “Forgive me, Ella,” she said. “I should have known it couldn’t be anything else.” She dusted off her hands and pulled her apron off. “Do you have the instant coffee that you brought back?” She moved to the stove and put a pot on top of it, moving the various lids around to direct heat under it.
“Great idea,” Ella said, taking the bread knife and moving to the counter to slice off two large pieces of steaming brown bread.
“He’s here to help us, isn’t he?” Greta said, clasping her hands in front of her like she didn’t know what to do with them.
“Helping people is in his genetic makeup,” Ella said. She put the bread on a chipped saucer and reached for a crockery mug for the coffee. “Now that he’s here, we can all stop worrying.”
“Have you told him of our predicament?”
“Not yet. I’m letting him get there in increments.”
“He doesn’t know what year it is?”
“Well, he thinks he does,” Ella said, stirring the instant coffee into the mug.
“He will need time.”
“Not as much as you might think,” Ella said. She picked up the mug and the plate, gave her friend a wink and exited the kitchen.
He was awake when she came into the room.
“Good morning, sunshine,” she said, setting the bread plate and steaming mug on the side table by the bed.
“Where’d you go?” he said, reaching for her and pulling her onto the bed with him. “Waking up with a hard-on isn’t nearly as much fun alone.”
“Wow, you really are a romantic, Rowan,” Ella said. “Anybody ever tell you that?”
“You’re so beautiful, Ella,” Rowan said, still holding her. “I can’t believe I’ve found you. But I’m ready to hear why you’re living here instead of at your apartment.”
Ella handed him the coffee mug and smiled ruefully. “Trust me, you’re not, Marshal,” she said.
“No, really. Do you have any idea how upset everyone was? You really think you can just disappear like that? I mean, what the hell? Were you just going to abandon all your stuff in your apartment? Your computer? All your clothes? Your passport?”
Ella could see he was starting to work himself up. “I can see how crazy it must look—” she said.
“Hell, yes, it’s crazy. And then sneaking back to get stuff in the middle of the night? What is this place?” He looked around the room.
“Look, Rowan, I have good answers to all these perfectly reasonable questions. I promise I do. But let’s do it in stages, okay? Can’t we just enjoy the fact that we’ve found each other after all this?”
“No, Ella, we can’t.” He set the cup down on the table and spilled coffee in the process. “We could have been together all along if that had been any kind of goal for you. All you had to do was answer your damn phone or, I don’t know, call me for a change. You act like it’s a fucking miracle we’re together and it was always just a matter of a phone call.”
“I wish it were that easy.”
“How the hell is it not that easy? Come on, Ella. I need some answers. Where’s my phone? You need to call your father, like yesterday.” He pulled the covers back and looked around the room for his things. He grabbed up his phone from the side table and peered at the screen.
“The reception here isn’t very good,” Ella said.
He looked at her in frustration and she leaned over him and kissed him on the mouth. “Everything in good time, Rowan.”
He dropped his phone and pulled her on top of him in the bed.
“Rowan, no,” she said. “We don’t have time for this and besides, I look like hell.”
“You look beautiful,” he said, kissing her neck.
She pulled away from him and stood next to the bed.
“You must have been dating some pretty rangy skanks back in Alabama if I look beautiful with this rats nest hair, no razor to shave my legs with and wearing a shapeless nun’s habit.”
“Is this your subtle way of asking me if I dated anyone while we’ve been apart?”
“Was I being subtle? I meant to ask right out.”
“Nobody but you, beautiful. Can you say the same?”
Ella sat on the edge of the bed. “I got backed into a date,” she said. Rowan raised his eyebrows. “Meaning,” she continued, “I didn’t agree to go on a date but ended up on one all the same.”
“I see. Sometimes those kind are the most fun.” He drank his coffee and watched her closely.
“This wasn’t one of those times,” she said. “Don’t be jealous, Rowan. I never got you out of my system, not even for five minutes.”
“Is that why you stopped calling me and started screening my calls?”
Ella sighed. “I don’t have a good answer for that,” she said. “I’m just no good at long-distance relationships.”
Rowan put his hand on her back. “Guess I better make sure to keep the distances between us as short as possible,” he said.
“That would help,” she said, taking his mug from him and leaning down to kiss him again. When he reached for her, she pulled back. “We really can’t,” she said. “The whole convent is up and on high alert. The Mother Superior already knew you spent the night, which means the others probably know, too.”
Rowan swung his legs out of bed and sat on the edge, scratching his head.
“You never told me what you’re doing in a convent,” he said. “Is there a place to take a shower around here?”
“No, and you’re going to have to go to the garden to relieve yourself.”
He gave her an incredulous look.
“I tried to explain it to you last night,” Ella said, smiling in spite of herself. “Now I’m going to let the day explain it.” She patted him on the knee. “Finish your breakfast,” she said. “Get dressed and I’ll be back in a few minutes to introduce you to your new world.”
As she got up to leave, he reached out and took her hand.
“Ella?”
“Yes, Rowan?”
“I just want you to know that no matter what bunch of crazies or whacked out nonsense you’ve got yourself involved with here, there’s no place on earth I’d rather be.”
Ella grinned and squeezed his hand. “I’m counting on that, Rowan,” she said.
“I cannot tell you how honored we are to have you here with us, Marshal,” Greta said to Rowan as he sat in the convent’s meeting hall. All the nuns and the novices were there and stood silent behind her. Ella sat next to Rowan with her hands in her lap.
“Ella has told me much about you. For you to have traveled so far, so far indeed, to help our poor convent, well, we are truly and deeply grateful.” Before Rowan could respond, Greta clapped her hands together sharply and all the novices and other nuns left the room. The three of them were now alone.
“A brandy, Marshal?” Greta asked.
At nine in the morning? Rowan thought to himself. He shook his head. “No, thanks, Sister,” he said.
“She’s the Mother Superior,” Ella said.
“Okay,” he said.
“I know Ella hasn’t had an opportunity to fill you in on the details of our predicament here, Marshal,” Greta said. “But time is of the essence, and I need to remedy that immediately.”
“Predicament?”
“It’s why I went back to my apartment yesterday,” Ella said.
“You mean two days ago,” Rowan said.
“Whenever,” Ella said. “Can I explain, Mother?”
“Certainly, Ella.”
“Okay, Rowan, there is this asshole who practically rules Heidelberg at the moment to the point where none of the laws can touch him and so he pretty much does what he wants.”
“Are you being metaphorical?” Rowan said. “Because it’s ludicrous to thin
k someone is publicly accepted as being above the law.”
Ella chose to ignore his comment. “This guy,” she continued, “has a son who has decided to eliminate all the Catholic clergy and nuns in town. Don’t ask me why. He’s already destroyed all the monasteries except one and all the other convents that used to be on the outskirts of town. He has threatened the Mother Superior here. Greta, show him your arm.”
Greta quickly pulled up her sleeve to show Rowan her scarred forearm.
Ella turned to Rowan. “This guy, Axel, the son of the head jerk, did that to Greta a couple weeks ago to show her how serious he is about destroying her and her convent. Are you with me so far?”
“Is this a new movie that’s coming out that hasn’t hit the States yet?” Rowan said. He looked from Ella to Greta in bewilderment.
“Axel and his band of thugs have a habit of kidnapping the young novices and selling them into slavery,” Ella continued. “And last week, they attacked one of our nuns and beat her. We don’t even know if she’s alive because they threw her in the Witch’s Tower. They abducted the young novice with her and have her in the castle.”
“This would be Heidelberg Castle?” Rowan said.
“And so now you know everything, Marshal,” Greta said. “We need your help. Yours and Ella’s.”
“So that’s what I’m doing here, big guy,” Ella said as she slapped Rowan on the knee. “That’s what we’re doing here.”
“Saving the convent from…?”
“From the wicked warlord, yes, exactly,” Ella said.
Rowan looked at Greta and then at Ella. “You guys haven’t missed a beat,” he said.
“Thank you,” Ella said. “I tried to be thorough.”
“Neither of you has broken character once.”
“I do not understand.” Greta looked at Ella with a puzzled expression.
“Never mind, Greta,” Ella said. “I told you he’d have trouble believing the whole time thing. And none of the rest of it makes sense until he does.”
Greta stood up and smoothed the wrinkles out of her habit. “Well,” she said, “normally I would say that time would take care of that but, alas, time is the one thing we do not have.” Then she said, “Excuse me, Marshal,” and left the room.
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