by Jenny Lykins
"Really? Your birthday's May 7th? You're kidding. How old will you be?"
"One hundred and eighty seven."
Elise punched him in the arm for managing such a straight face. She had to dance out of his reach while she did some quick subtraction. His retaliation for her physical abuse of him was usually a healthy dose of tickling.
"So you'll be an old man of thirty-seven. I'm not sure I want to be seen with you."
"Oh, so if you're such a babe in the woods, when were you born?" Reed was stalking her now, his arms outstretched to block her escape. Elise retreated toward the shower.
"I'll be thirty-two on June 22nd. Considerably younger than your advanced years." She now had one arm in front of her to ward off his attack and the other behind her in a frantic search for the handle to the shower door. Just as she found it, Reed lunged. She threw the door open and jumped into the shower, realizing her mistake too late.
A smug, victorious smile spread across Reed's face as he swaggered the last couple of steps to the shower door. He pulled it open, then began inspecting his fingernails as he leaned against the metal frame.
Elise knew he was watching her out of the corner of his eye, but she wasn't ready to give up yet. She waited patiently while he savored his victory.
"I know you're planning something, little one." Reed took a step into the shower. "You can forget it, though. There's no way around -" An icy blast of water hit him full in the face. His arm shot out just as Elise darted past him, and he pulled her under the frigid downpour with him.
"I've heard of taking cold showers," she yelled above the rushing water, "but I always thought the point was to take them alone."
******
Reed stood in front of his bathroom mirror, peeling the sodden tee shirt away from his stomach and over his dripping head. It was a good thing the shower had been a cold one. He wasn't sure if his resolve would have survived a moist, steamy encounter with Elise. Things got steamy enough under cold water.
It was getting harder for him to live up to his pledge to have Elise as his wife before making love to her again, especially since she made it clear she would be so willing.
Reed's mind wandered over the conversations they'd had this morning. He warmed at the memory of her touching declaration of her feelings and the sincerity she'd conveyed with her eyes. He had exercised every ounce of willpower to merely hug her and walk away instead of lowering her to the bed and allowing them the release they both craved. He knew if he ever gave in to the ache which had taken up permanent residence in the center of his chest, he would never again be able to hold it under control. The need was not just physical. He knew no matter how many times he and Elise made love he would still feel this way. He wanted o show Elise how much he loved her. His feelings were so strong he couldn't put them into words, even in his thoughts. All he could do was feel them. He had realized this the night he had carried her to his bed. It was as if an unknown force had guided his every touch and translated his feelings into the most ancient language.
"Hey, it's getting hungry out here!" Elise banged once on the door, then moved on down the hall. He heard the distant jingle of car keys as she galloped down the stairs.
"Be right there," he called as he swung the door open, giving his left pant leg a couple of tugs. A quick glance in the mirror told him it was safe to leave the room without having to limp.
As he grabbed a polo shirt and drew it over his head Elise reappeared at his door.
"Aren't you ready yet? Geez, I had to re-do my hair and makeup and still beat you to the punch. And they say women are vain."
Reed raised an eyebrow at Elise's insulting little grin and shrugged with a knowing smile.
"I guess I'd better not tell you then that...I'm worth the wait."
As he walked away, the warmth of her hand burned through his jeans as it trailed its way from the back of his waist to his left thigh.
"Oh, darlin', I already know that."
*******
The day dawned with a shimmering blue sky. Occasional feathery clouds passed across the sun, doing little to dilute its brilliance. At breakfast Reed offered to take Elise on the long-promised tour of "his" plantation as seen through 1844 eyes.
She tried to answer through a mouthful of croissant but only managed a muffled, "Mmph." Nodding her head instead, she stood and gulped her coffee.
"It's a perfect day for one. What a great idea. The only thing is I have a trip that leaves at five o'clock, but it's just to Indianapolis, and I'll be back by one. So when do we start?"
They both pulled on old jeans and tee-shirts for their explorations. Sliding her hand into Reed's, Elise all but dragged him out the back door. She'd been looking forward to this for weeks.
Their first stop was the solitary slave cabin still standing. It had been kept up and maintained over the years as a storage shed. Reed had even used it as one after he'd freed his slaves. But the shack now held scant resemblance to its original state. His vivid descriptions, however, had Elise's imagination cranking at full tilt.
"There was a huge, flat rock here, used as a door step. And there were two windows instead of one. See? Someone boarded the west side up. A small fireplace burned over here, in the center of the longest wall. A rope bed stood against the south wall, and a homemade table and two chairs sat close to the fire."
The clutter of the cabin melted away, and she could almost smell dinner cooking on the fire as Reed spoke.
Next he led her to where an apple orchard had existed in his time. Only a few scattered trees remained and the place bore no resemblance to an orchard at all. Reed speculated that one of the trees was the one he'd fallen from and broken his left arm when he had been eight years old.
None of the fields remained of the original property. They'd been sold generations ago, perhaps even after the Civil War to pay taxes.
His shoulders slumped a little as he scanned the horizon. Elise wasn't sure if his reaction was from the failure to find anything familiar, or from homesickness brought on by his reminiscing.
As they swung around to return to the house, he again pointed out where the family cemetery had been. They'd gone in search of this place after his arrival, only to find that all traces of a cemetery had disappeared. There were no headstones or markers of any type. Elise assumed the war had been responsible for that. The house and grounds had fallen on hard times during the 1930's. She wasn't sure when one of Reed's descendants had found the capital to restore the home, but apparently the cemetery had been forgotten.
All in all, this little adventure wasn't going as she'd expected. To distract him, Elise grabbed his hand and pulled him into a run, challenging him to a race she knew she would lose. Of course, he let her win, and when she caught up with him at the backdoor, he offered to describe the house the way it had been in his time. It was as if he needed to go through this - to finish the tour and put it to rest in his mind.
He walked through the downstairs rooms, pointing out all the things that hadn't changed and describing those that had.
"The white ballroom was white even in my time. The chandelier would have been filled with candles of beeswax whenever the room was being used. Elise, I wish you could have seen it. Flowers and garlands covered every surface, filling the air with their perfume. Ladies sparkled in their finery..."
Elise could see it - could almost hear the music and murmuring voices of a genteel past.
In a voice barely above a whisper she said, "I wish I could see it, too."
They shook off their whimsy and moved on to the dining room, which had originally been blue. Blue paint had been extremely expensive because of the pigment used in making it, and therefore was saved for the rooms where people were to be entertained and impressed. The epergne in the center of the table was not familiar to Reed, but had it been his, he informed her, it would have been filled with lemons. Again, the fruit was extremely rare and expensive and was used to symbolize wealth during social functions.
Elise alre
ady knew all of these little tidbits of information, but she enjoyed his look of pleasure while he related them. His version of blue paint and lemons was the twentieth century's version of expensive art and status cars.
He continued walking her through the downstairs, gave details of the ventilation system in the summer and pointed out a renovation that had been made in the area she used for a kitchen.
"My kitchen was separate from the house. This had been a work area for the servants and held the stairs to the cellar. C'mon, I'll show you."
A little more enthusiastic now, he opened the door to the cellar and motioned with his head for her to follow.
The two prowled around the dingy basement for a while. Reed seemed to be looking for something. After a few minutes he spoke.
"This was my favorite place to come and hide as a child. Nell would let a couple of the plantation children play hide and seek with me, and I always headed straight for the cellar. I bet you don't even know this is here."
He walked over to one of the rough hewn planks covering the wall and gave it a shove. A whole panel of planks popped open and with a loud, rusty creak the door swung outward, revealing a small, closet-sized room.
Elise's heart jumped at the discovery. Her house had a secret room!
"Wow! This is great. What was it used for? Hiding runaways?"
"My father died when I was so young, I never knew why he had this built here. But it was great for hide and seek."
The two of them crowded into the tiny room. Dusty plank shelves decorated with lacy cobwebs lined the walls, and several old brown crocks were scattered randomly on the shelves. There was not enough light in the room to see well, so Elise squeezed back out. Reed brought a couple of the crocks with him.
After she knocked the dust from her jeans and pulled a few cobwebs from Reed's hair, she hefted one of the crocks and started upstairs with it.
"These'll look great in the kitchen. It can use a little 1844 ambiance."
When she plunked the stoneware down on the counter, her eyes fell on the clock.
"Oh, my gosh! Look at the time. I've got to get ready for work, and I definitely need a shower before I go."
She started to run out of the room but turned and skipped back to Reed. Shouldering up to him, she smoothed her hands across his dirt-smudged, tee shirt-clad chest and nuzzled his neck.
"Care to help me get cleaned up?" she questioned. Her voice lowered to a sexy huskiness.
Reed gazed down at her with a "what am I going to do with you" look.
"Little one, you have to be at the airport in less than two hours. If I helped you get cleaned up, you'd be lucky to get there by next week."
The heat in his voice left her with no question that he meant what he said.
CHAPTER TEN
She was so happy it scared her. She spent half her time walking on a cloud and the other half waiting for a disaster. No one could be this happy and not have the rug yanked out from under her.
Right now she'd been swept off her feet. Literally. Reed had waited up for her again, in the ballroom, and they'd relived that glorious night, right down to their clothes.
He'd waited for her there on other nights when she'd come in from a trip. They'd always gone to their separate rooms and spent frustrating, lonely nights alone. But she could tell tonight would be different. She could feel it. And when he'd scooped her into his arms with a low, animal growl, all remaining doubt vanished.
She felt like a delicate flower in his arms. With her hands clasped behind his neck, she snuggled closer while his long strides ate up the length of the hall to the foyer.
Was he as excited as she? She had a feeling his staccato heartbeat was not from taking the stairs two at a time.
Elise's fantasy was on its way to having the perfect ending when it stopped with jarring abruptness halfway up the staircase.
The front door flew open so hard it banged against the wall, slammed shut, and was kicked open again.
Reed spun to face the door. Elise's trailing gown fluttered out around them.
Every muscle in her body tensed. She was going to jail for homicide, if she didn't kill herself first for leaving the door unlocked.
"My, my, what a touching scene." Jeffrey's eyes looked like it was all he could do to keep them open. Even from this distance she could see his dilated pupils. "What? D'ya have to get dressed up to get laid around here now?"
His words hadn't had time to register before Elise found herself standing on the stairs alone, watching Reed throw a nasty right into Jeff's jaw. The door took more abuse when Jeff bounced against it.
Amazingly, he didn't fall but sprang back, swinging at the air inches from Reed's face. He didn't seem to realize none of his punches hit their target. Reed hadn't moved a muscle to dodge them.
"You sonofabitch. I'll teach you to move in on my territory. I marked her long ago!"
That did it! Elise kicked off first one high heel and then the other. She stomped down the stairs with murder on her mind.
"You pompous piece of slime. I am not your territory. And don't degrade the dog species by elevating yourself to their level. You may have made me feel like you'd hiked your leg on me more than once, but you, you under-endowed, under-achiever, have no claim on me whatsoever.
"I hate your guts! Do you hear me? I...hate...your...guts!” She poked his chest with her pointed index finger. “So get out of my house and out of my life! GET OUT!"
She punctuated her last words with a mighty shove. He staggered backward, but not far enough for her to slam the door.
He grabbed the doorknob and pushed his face right up into Elise's. The sour smell of scotch urged her back, but she refused to budge.
"Don't think this is over, Elise. We're not through yet."
Reed grabbed a handful of Jeffrey's eighty dollar tie and lifted him up to meet him nose to nose.
"I'm afraid it is over, my disgusting friend. You see, Elise and I are to be married."
Elise's eyes flew to Reed, and she fought to keep her heart from exploding.
Reed seemed as surprised at his words as she. His head shot back and he turned and searched her face for her reaction. Her huge, brilliant smile and barely perceptible nod gave him all the answer he needed.
"The next time you see her, she will be Mrs. Reed Blackwell. And unless you are somewhat masochistic, when next we meet I suggest you turn and go in the opposite direction. In fact, that advice applies now." Reed spun Jeff by the shoulders and gave him a shove right between the shoulder blades.
This time he not only shot through the door, but he landed with a close up view of the veranda floor.
Before she closed the door, Elise leaned her head against the edge of it and sighed dramatically.
"You know, Jeff, shoving you out this front door is beginning to get tiresome. What say we don't do it anymore?"
With a flick of the wrist, she left the door to close itself. He wasn't worth the energy of a slam.
Jeff was out of her thoughts the minute he was out of her sight.
Did Reed mean what he said about marriage, or was it just something he'd blurted out in the heat of his anger? When she turned from the door she looked up into his soul-searching eyes. His face was impossible to read, but she felt his gaze delve deep into her heart.
Finally, he reached out and took her left hand in his. His movements were so slow and deliberate, it might have been happening in slow motion.
He brought her hand up to cradle his cheek as he sank to one knee and stared up at her through thick, black lashes. His other hand caressed the fingers of her free hand.
"Yes, I meant it," he said, and she wondered if she'd spoken her earlier thoughts aloud. "I love you, little one. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, in whatever century that might be." Elise fought the shiver that jolted through her body. "Will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?"
Her heart melted. It literally melted and trickled like warm honey into every pore of her body. Reed star
ed up at her with those electric blue eyes. He still held her hand to his cheek, and her fingers rasped against a trace of stubble.
The tears came totally unexpected and hovered on her lower lashes. She'd never expected a proposal from Reed, and now that he'd asked, she couldn't even choke a "yes" past the huge lump in her throat. Instead she blinked hard and nodded, and tried like crazy to stop her chin from quivering.
A gentle tug on her hand brought her down to perch on his knee. Her face nuzzled against his neck, and he sifted his fingers through the back of her hair.
"Can I take that to mean a ‘yes'?"
She giggled and raised her head to look at him.
"Just try backing out now, darlin'."
*******
"Why does he need a fake I.D., Elise? This isn't good. And here I'd decided he's the perfect man for you." Jan fired a couple more questions in Elise's direction, but Elise held up her hand in the time-out sign until all questioning stopped.
"He is perfect for me, Jan. You have to trust me on this one. I could lie to you and say he lost his birth certificate and we don't want to go through the hassle and wait of getting another one. But you're my friend. The truth is, he just flat out doesn't have one, or any other form of I.D., and we want to get married right now."
Jan's voice had long since lost all the bleary traces of sleep. It’d been three a.m. when Elise had shown up on her doorstep. She'd known Jan would be able to help.
"Why are you in such a hurry? You're not pregnant, are you?" Jan’s eyes dropped to Elise’s midsection.
Elise laughed. That was a joke.
"No, Jan. I can definitely tell you that I am not pregnant."
"Then why? Why are you in such a hurry? How can this guy exist without any kind of identification? Elise, take your time with this. Don't do anything stupid."
She was too happy to take offense at anything Jan might say. Besides, she knew it was all said with her best interests at heart.