Noah fiddled with his hair once more before leaving the bathroom.
Was it possible to adapt that quickly? Daniel thought back to the war years, and how he had adapted to living in a tent, going days without a bath, and killing the enemy. Yes, humans adapted quickly to changing environments, or they died.
When Daniel came out of the bathroom, Noah was holding up a pair of short blue pants. “What are those? They won’t fit me. They don’t look like they’d fit ye either.”
“Lincoln calls them briefs. The white shirt is an undershirt. Put these on first. They’ll feel tight, but I kind of like them now.”
Daniel put on the undergarments, then shoved his legs into blue pants. They resembled the riveted-for-strength blue denim work pants sold in Hughes Store. He’d never worn them, but the ones he’d seen miners wear weren’t this fitted.
The white short-sleeve shirt smelled fresh and clean like the towel and fit tight against the muscles of his chest and arms. The green cotton long-sleeve shirt fit over the smaller white one. The clothes were tight and constricting and he wondered if women’s corsets felt as confining.
“Are ye sure these garments are supposed to look like this?”
“I saw lots of men in the hospital. And they were dressed like you are now.”
Catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror over the dresser, Daniel didn’t know what to think. But if that’s what men wore, he could do it for a while.
They sat at a small table in front of a window that overlooked the river. “Beautiful view,” Daniel said, snacking on a bite of apple. “Have ye walked around outside?”
Noah finished a glass of juice. “We’ve gone down to the river, over to the stables, and through the vineyards.” He bit into an apple. “The property goes on and on. You’ll love it, Pa.”
When they finished their snack, they returned to the foyer where Braham was waiting. “Good God. I thought Lincoln and I looked alike, but ye two got us beat. Amber will like the clean-face look.”
Daniel rubbed his chin. “Haven’t seen this skin since I was twenty.”
“Except for the cuts and scratches, ye look respectable.”
“Where are Lincoln and Patrick?” Noah asked.
“They’re catching up on their lessons while ye’re gone so they won’t have to do them later. I already brought the car around front. If ye’re ready, let’s go.”
“Now, Pa. We’re going to ride in a car. It’s like a carriage, but without horses, and it goes fast. It’s scary at first, but Braham is a good driver. So put your seatbelt on, sit back, and enjoy the view.”
Daniel had no idea what Noah was talking about, but when he climbed into a black, shiny conveyance with doors and windows, smelling of rich leather, he was even less sure of what was about to happen. He only hoped it didn’t twist him about like the fog. His stomach had yet to recover.
When Braham pulled away from the front of the house, Daniel grabbed the door and yelled, “Slow down!”
From the back seat, Noah patted his shoulder. “Relax, Pa. It’s safe. You’re wearing a seatbelt just like me. You’re not going to get hurt. Close your eyes. That helps.”
“I remember my first car ride,” Braham said, laughing. “My fingernails clawed the leather. Scared the crap out of me. I got over it, and even taught myself to drive while Charlotte was away at the hospital. When she refused to help me return to the past, I drove to Lexington, Kentucky, knowing I would find help there, all in my attempt to save the president.”
Daniel stared at Braham. “Ye learned to drive this conveyance so ye could save Lincoln?”
“That was my plan.”
“I’m sorry I accused ye of not trying to save him. This would have taken a great deal of courage. I couldn’t have done it.”
“Aye, ye could. We learned during the war to do whatever we had to do.”
Daniel watched the landscape fly by, but when Braham passed other conveyances, Daniel closed his eyes. At intersections, red and green lights directed traffic and he thought that was a clever idea. Green light, go. Red light, stop. The yellow light, however, was a wee bit confusing.
“There’s the hospital, Pa.”
Noah pointed to a large stone and glass structure. Daniel had seen buildings as large or larger in Europe, but what surprised him was that the hospital had little character or artistic flare. It struck him as sterile.
“If it’s not visiting hours,” Noah said, “we’ll have to wait before we can see Amber.”
“I’m so nervous, I’m sweating like a pig. I’ll have to get back in that glass waterfall and take another rinse.”
“You put stuff on under your armpits, Pa. You won’t stink. Around here they don’t like people to smell. That’s what Lincoln said.”
“If Lincoln said so, it must be true,” Daniel said.
Braham stopped the conveyance and they all got out. Noah took Daniel’s hand. “When I came through the fog with Rick, Amber, and Ripley, we landed over there in the grass. Charlotte came out and took Amber inside. Braham showed up a few minutes later, and he took Ripley to a dog doctor. Rick and I went with Lincoln and Patrick to Charlotte’s office. She has a bathroom there. I took a bath and put these clothes on.”
“Come on,” Braham said. “Charlotte’s waiting for us.”
They followed Braham into the hospital. A woman dressed in green pants and shirt and a white coat was the first person Daniel saw. “I know ye,” he said.
The woman scratched the side of her face, studying him. “Did I sew you up during the war?”
Daniel nodded. “K Street Barracks Post Hospital.”
“Gunshot?” she asked.
He rubbed his side. “I don’t know which hurt more. Getting shot or ye digging the bullet out.”
“Sorry I hurt you, but I’m glad to know you’re okay. What happened to your face?”
Daniel pointed to his cheek. “Bullet.” Then he pointed to his chin. “Fist.”
“I’m going to have those cuts looked at first. You can’t visit Amber with open wounds.” Charlotte put her arm around Noah’s shoulder. “But you can go see her and tell her your dad will be up in a little while. Rick is with her now.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “Bye, Pa.”
“I’ll be in the waiting room,” Braham said.
Daniel went through another set of doors with Charlotte, and after she conferred with women in two different offices, she took him behind a curtain and instructed him to lie down on a bed with wheels. The room was like the one Amber had been in during the talking picture. He closed his eyes, and tried not to listen to the clangs, beeps, and voices in the ceiling. But he couldn’t ignore the strong astringent smells that made him scrunch his nose. It made no sense to him why, in this century, cloths to dry your body smelled like flower gardens but rooms smelled like cheap whisky.
Charlotte snapped on tight, white gloves and peeled the bandage from his face. “You need a stitch or two to cut down on the scarring.”
“I don’t care about a scar.” He tried to sit up, but she pressed on his chest.
“Amber will. I’m doing this for her.” Then Charlotte leaned closer and whispered, “If the sights and sounds get scary, close your eyes and think of something pleasant. Braham went through this and so did our cousin Cullen. Relax. It’ll be fine.”
After Charlotte finished sewing him up, she escorted him out to the corridor near the door where they’d entered the hospital. He had bandages on his cheek and chin.
“Visiting hours are over,” she said, “but I can get you in to see Amber for a few minutes.”
“I should have seen her first.”
“They wouldn’t have let you in the unit. Amber is having major surgery, and they don’t want your germs.”
“What are those?”
“Nasty little buggers you can’t see but can kill people.”
When they didn’t find Braham in the waiting room, they climbed two flights of stairs and arrived in a corridor with double d
oors and a banner sign: CORONARY CARE UNIT. “This unit delivers high-intensity care to heart patients. You can only stay a few minutes, so let those minutes count.”
“Where’s Braham?”
“Probably in my office writing, checking his stock portfolio, or designing another curriculum for the children. He has a team of experts he brings in regularly to introduce new topics or teach an advance-level course. His focus is history and the classics. Math, foreign languages, and science are taught by tutors.”
“I saw the boys have little black boxes like the one Rick had with moving pictures.”
“Those are iPhones. They use them to communicate with people who aren’t in the room.”
Rick and Noah came through the door. “She’s smiling, Pa. I told her you shaved.”
“What’d she say?”
Noah blushed.
Daniel’s heart fled to his throat. “What’d she say, lad?”
“That she’d love you even if you looked like a Stegosaurus.”
Daniel smiled.
“Noah, wait here with Rick,” Charlotte said. “Your dad will only be a few minutes.”
Daniel was about to tousle his son’s hair but remembered how particular he’d become in just a few hours in this strange new time and place.
Rick slapped Daniel on the back. “Don’t upset my girl.”
Daniel didn’t take offense at Rick’s comment. From the beginning, he’d noticed how protective Rick was of Amber. And he had no doubt that Rick would try to beat the crap out of him if Daniel ever hurt her. He smiled to himself. There was some satisfaction in knowing that Amber had never been intimate with Rick, so he could call Amber his girl all he wanted. Daniel knew in his heart, she belonged to him.
Charlotte escorted Daniel down a corridor lined with curtains. He had to bring his emotions under control. What was he afraid of? That she was so sick, he might lose her, too.
Charlotte stopped in front of a curtain. “Here you go. Are you ready?”
He nodded.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
She pushed the curtain and a glass door aside, and his heart nearly stopped. Amber sat propped up in bed. Her long hair curled over her shoulder. A smile was curving her lips. Her cheeks had more color than he’d seen in her face before. There were beeping machines to her right and left. The room felt cool on his skin. He stepped to the side of the bed and gripped the railing, just taking her in.
“Noah warned me that you’d shaved.” She cocked her head, looking at him closely. “Your eyes, nose, and cheeks are the same. It’s just around your mouth and chin that you look different. You have a strong square chin, and you’re more handsome without your beard.”
He was silently pleased that she liked the way he looked. He rested his forearms on the railing and leaned forward. “I want to kiss ye.”
She smiled. “I’d like that.”
There was a slight quaver in her voice and he didn’t know if it was because of her illness or him. He lifted her chin, and his mouth came down on hers slowly and tentatively at first, then deeper. The kiss moved like a warm light from the center of his heart. He caressed her lips with his tongue as he threaded his hands under her hair to cradle her head.
“What happened to your face?”
“Hmm. What?” he asked, nibbling at her lips.
“What happened to your face?”
“A few deputies got carried away.”
“I’m so sorry I lied to you. I wanted to tell you the truth.”
Daniel didn’t want to hear apologies. He wanted to kiss her. Hold her. Love her. Keep her safe. “I don’t care what happened or why. I only care about ye and doing whatever we have to do to get ye well again. I love ye, Amber.”
She gazed into his eyes. “You’ll be here after surgery. You’re not going to take Noah and leave.”
“No, I’m not.” He kissed her again, letting his lips linger above hers. “I love ye.”
“You’ve only known me two weeks.”
“Two days. Two hours. Two minutes. I fell in love with ye the moment I glanced up and saw the look in yer eyes after ye saved Noah’s life.”
The sound of a throat clear had them turning toward the doorway. Daniel straightened like the caught lover he was.
“Visitation is over.” A different woman dressed in green pants and shirt stood at the curtain, smiling at him. “Miss Kelly needs her rest.”
He didn’t want to leave. He wanted to hold Amber the way he’d held her the night before. “If ye need a reminder of how much I love ye, how much I need ye, read this.” He pulled an envelope from his pants’ pocket. “It’s the note I wrote this morning. I found it in yer journal. I’ll write a longer one tonight.” He kissed her again, letting her absorb the impact of his words. “I don’t think they’ll let me come back, but I’ll be here in the morning.”
“I love you, Daniel.”
He kissed her again. “Sleep well tonight, lass. Tomorrow will be the first day of our new life together.”
He stole one more kiss before he walked away from her. The long walk to the door that would take him back to Noah reminded him of leaving the cemetery following Lorna’s funeral, and he was filled with utter terror. As he neared the door, he stopped and pressed his forehead against the cool wall, and he tried to calm his breathing. If he lost Amber, it would end his life. He would continue to go through the motions, but there would only be a shell of a man left behind.
A warm hand pressed against his back. “She’ll do fine,” Charlotte said. “I know you’re scared, but you have to have faith and trust in her medical team.”
“I don’t know if I can find that faith.”
“Noah has faith, and if he sees that you don’t, his faith will fade, and he’ll have doubts. Amber will see his doubts and yours. She can’t go into this surgery without believing she’ll have a complete recovery.”
“Do ye believe she will?”
Charlotte gently turned Daniel’s head to face her. “I believe she will. If I had doubts, you would know it.”
Daniel hugged her. He could feel everything about her, her soft breasts pressing against his chest and the hard, defining muscles of her back and arms. The juxtaposition of softness against strength was the epitome of a healer.
And he had absolutely faith in Charlotte Mallory.
“I have faith in ye, and because of that, I will have no doubts.”
She kissed his cheek. “You remind me so much of Braham. I will enjoy getting to know you. Get some rest. Tomorrow will be a long day of waiting.”
She walked the rest of the way to the door of the unit with him. Braham and Noah were waiting on the other side. Braham went to her and enveloped her in his arms. “How are ye, lass?”
“I’m holding up.”
“Can ye leave?”
“I’ll wait for Connor and Olivia. They’re supposed to be here around eleven, right?”
“That’s what Rick said.”
“I’ll take a nap upstairs. I don’t have any surgeries tomorrow. So,” she smiled. “After Amber’s surgery, I’ll come home for a few hours to spend time with you and the kids. Pencil me in.”
He kissed her squarely on the mouth. “Consider it done.”
“What are you going to do now?” she asked.
“Take Daniel and Noah back to the house, get something to eat, and pick up the horse trailer. Connor and Olivia are bringing Daniel’s horse, so we’ll need to transport him back to the plantation.”
“Why didn’t you bring the horse with you?”
“We didn’t know for sure where we’d all land, so we figured Olivia should have the horse. Just in case.”
“That was thoughtful.” She kissed Braham again. “Hug the kids good night for me. When you come back, bring Olivia a change of clothes. I’m sure she’ll want to see Amber. I’ll try to sneak her in for a few minutes.” She glanced at Daniel. “You’re dead on your feet. You need to rest. But if you want to come back later to see her, you ca
n.”
“I’ve gone longer without sleep.”
“I’m sure you have,” Charlotte said, “but Olivia and Amber’s parents will be here soon, and I’m sure you’ll want to make a good impression.”
He hadn’t thought about Amber’s parents. My God. What would he say to them? Should he ask Mr. Kelly for permission to court his daughter? He pinched the skin of his throat, thinking of the many liberties he’d taken with Amber. Her father would surely know.
As if Charlotte had been reading his mind, she said, “I hear the Kellys are lovely people. And you have to remember, Amber is a twenty-first century woman. Whatever you two have done, it won’t concern Mr. Kelly. Go home and eat something.” Then to Braham she said, “Let him read a few issues of Cosmopolitan and Men’s Health.”
“Ye want him to learn twenty-first century mores by reading pop culture?”
“How did you learn?”
Braham laughed. “Yer brother Jack told me everything I needed to know.”
Charlotte threw up her hands. “Pick your poison.” She pushed the door open and returned to the CCU, chuckling.
53
The Present, Richmond, Virginia—Olivia
When the fog cleared, Olivia and Connor found themselves on the edge of a well-lit parking lot in front of a large hospital. The evening was cool, but not cold, and the nearby vehicular traffic was moderate for a city the size of Richmond at this hour of the night.
“I assume we are in Richmond?” Olivia’s grip on Connor’s arm relaxed.
“If VCU means Virginia Commonwealth University then we’re exactly where we want to be. Braham should be here with the horse trailer. Let’s go over there and stand under the light pole so he can see us.” As soon as they stepped under the light, a truck’s headlights dimmed, brightened, and dimmed again.
“Looks like our ride,” she said.
A black Suburban pulling a horse trailer nudged up alongside them. The driver’s window rolled down. “Heard a horse was stranded at the VCU Medical Center. I’m always looking for good horseflesh.”
Connor and Braham did a knuckle bump. “What’s the latest on Amber?” Olivia asked.
The Amber Brooch: Time Travel Romance (The Celtic Brooch Book 8) Page 64