A Time of Shadows (Out of Time #8) by Martin Monique

Author:Martin, Monique [Martin, Monique]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Published: 2014-12-16T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

SIMON DIDN’T LIKE THIS. Of course, he didn’t like much of anything these last few days, but this was tempting fate somehow. The clue they’d found at Gettysburg was deceptively simple.

W76

Where Mary went.

Both he and Elizabeth knew instantly what it meant. And it sent a shiver down his spine. He’d put on a calm face, of course, but inside he was roiling with emotion.

The last place on earth he wanted to take his child was the very place they were going. Memories of little Mary Stewart, not much younger than their Charlotte when she died, had never been far from his mind. The pain and loss he’d seen in Rose Stewart’s eyes were something he would never forget—losing a child.

Before, he couldn’t imagine how a parent would survive such a thing, but it was always in that vague, proper murmuring of condolences way that the uninitiated had. Now that he’d met Charlotte, fallen irrevocably in love with her, he could imagine it vividly, and it terrified him.

Instinctively he looked into his rearview mirror to reassure himself that Charlotte was there and safe. But for how long, a traitorous voice whispered. Not only had their mission been one of helping a dead child, but it was here, in Natchez, that old Nan, the blind slave woman, had seen through the veils of time and told them that their future child would die.

Now, here he was, bringing her to that very place.

The moment they passed the Welcome to Natchez sign a cold fist had gripped his heart and not let go. Glancing at Elizabeth in the seat next to him as she tugged nervously at her fingers, he knew she felt the exact same way.

Simon hadn’t realized how quiet the car had become until Charlotte broke the silence.

“Is something wrong?”

In the rearview mirror he saw her worried expression.

“Did I do something?”

Elizabeth turned around in her seat. “No, not at all.” Her glance slid over to Simon for a moment then back to Charlotte. “It’s just that there are a lot of memories here.”

Charlotte nodded. “Mom and Dad don’t talk about it much.” She looked out as the oaks and maples passed by the car window. “Is it because of the little girl?”

“In part,” Simon said, hoping she’d leave it at that.

“But you saved her,” Charlotte said. “Saved her soul, I mean. That’s what counts, right?”

Simon nodded and gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. Just before the Civil War, little Mary Stewart had been murdered, and their mission had been to help her find peace. They had. They’d unmasked the murderer and dug up long buried family secrets. In the process of helping the child rest, they’d found a ghost of their own. A ghost of what was yet to be, and it haunted them as intensely as any specter could.

And with that thought, the fist in his chest tightened a little more.

They drove along the same road from town they’d previously traveled in a carriage and found little had changed. Natchez had preserved its heritage, and most of the farmland remained undeveloped.

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