Garden of the Moon (25 page)

He opened his mouth the speak, but his attention was caught by something behind them. Sara turned to see Julie. Her face was very pale. Her eyes were large. When Sara turned back, Jonathan was gone.

Julie rushed toward her. “Are you all right?”

She put her arm under Sara and helped her to her feet. With much wincing and groaning Sara stood erect. It surprised Sara that Julie hadn’t asked what happened first. Perhaps it was the excitement of the moment. Nothing could be gained from keeping Julie in the dark.

This time, she didn’t try to hide what had happened from her friend. “Katherine pushed me off the balcony.”

Julie glanced up at the balcony, then back to Sara. “And Jonathan broke your fall.”

Sara stared at Julie, searching her face. That would account for Julie’s pale complexion and surprise expression. “You saw him this time, didn’t you?”

Chapter 21

Julie nodded. “Yes, I saw Jonathan. I heard you scream, and just as I came out of the house, I saw him rush toward you and use his body to protect you from hitting the ground.” She frowned. “Why do you suppose I can see him now?”

Sara had no idea, but she suspected it was because Julie had finally accepted his existence. “I don’t know. I’m just glad you can so you know I haven’t lost my mind.” She forced a smile, despite the pain in her forehead from the cut.

“I never thought you were crazy, just unreasonably obsessed. After seeing your Jonathan, however, I can fully understand your fixation with him. His portrait does not do him justice.” She grinned, wiggled her eyebrows and then grabbed Sara’s arm. “Now, let’s stop all this chatter and get you inside so I can put something on that cut.”

***

For the next few days, Sara’s body served as a painful reminder of her fall. Smears of black and blue covered both arms and legs. Her right shoulder, which, despite Jonathan’s attempt to soften her landing, must have taken most of her weight when she hit, ached horribly when she moved her arm. Her head pounded from the cut she’d received, and, as a result, encouraged Raina to, on a daily basis, fuss over her endlessly while brushing her hair.

“Beats me how yo’s fell over dat rail, Miss Sara. Lord above, you coulda died.” Then she’d cluck her tongue in her normal you-just-can’t-be-trusted-alone tone. This had been going on every morning since the accident.

But it hadn’t been an accident. Julie knew it. Sara knew it. Katherine had pushed her. Her nemesis was no longer trying to scare her off. She wanted Sara dead, and she had no idea why the game had suddenly turned deadly.

But perhaps Maddy could tell her.

Sara retrieved Maddy’s dairy from the trunk, and then settled in her favorite chair. She opened it to the page she had last read and then turned to the next entry. Again, Maddy had skipped a large portion of time. It was a week later.

July 10, 1805

I’ve spent the week preparing for Jonathan’s and my elopement. I have been especially careful not to give away anything, but it’s difficult not to shout my joy from the rooftops. Just when I had lost all hope, the thought of being with Jonathan forever makes me smile. I still have to pinch myself to make sure it’s not all a dream and that I’ll awake to find he still belongs to Katherine.

I’ve had to hide everything from my family, especially the servants and Mother. Just yesterday Mother inquired about my perennial good mood. I can’t even recall what I told her, but whatever it was, it seemed to assuage her curiosity.

I don’t think anyone else suspects, especially Katherine. If she found out, I would not put it past her to do something drastic to stop us. Sometimes, though, I wonder if she’s guessed something is amiss. She looks at me in that strange way she has, as though she can see through me to my very thoughts. But she says nothing. Knowing my sister as I do, she would not let an opportunity to deride me for something pass unnoted.

If Mother would just treat her better, perhaps Katherine would change. Father dotes on her, but Mother barely speaks to her. I don’t understand it, but I’m sure it makes Katherine feel bad. Sometimes, I find myself on the edge of feeling sympathy for her, but she usually does something ugly and any sympathy I felt dissolves into anger. Off and on I’ve seen Katherine look at Mother with something akin to hatred in her expression.

Oh well, very soon now, I’ll have the Atlantic Ocean between my sister and me, and how she acts will no longer affect me. My heart flutters at the mere thought. Jonathan and I alone and together at last. Can it be true? Can such happiness be only days away?

This is not the time for daydreams. It’s nearly midnight, and I’m to meet Jonathan to make our final plans. The house is asleep, and it’s time for me to sneak down the stairs, out the back kitchen and across the field to the orchard. He’ll be waiting for me beneath the oak tree that marks the edge of the fields. I can already picture his dear face in my mind’s eye, feel his lips on mine and his arms holding me close
…

The room began to spin. Sara closed her eyes and let herself be swept into the vortex.

***

Moments later Maddy stood in the orchard. The half-moon’s silvery light illuminated the figure of a man standing a few yards away. She ran into his open arms.

“I’ve missed you so,” she mumbled against his warm lips while she soaked in the feel of his solid body aligned closely with hers.

“And I you,” he said, devouring her with heated kisses. Then he raised his head and cupped her face in his strong hands. “Soon, my love, nothing will part us again. Until then let our night of love sustain us both.” His arm encircled her waist and then he drew her down beside him on a fallen tree.

Maddy rested her head on his shoulder. Where her hand lay against his shirt front, she could feel the accelerated beat of his heart against her palm. “I have everything packed and ready.”

“And no one is wise to what we’re doing?” His voice was thick with his denied passions.

“I’m sure no one knows. I took extra care to pack only at night after they’ve all gone to sleep. Then I’ve hidden the bag inside a trunk in the attic.”

He kissed her forehead. “It’s important they think that everything will go on as planned. If they even suspect that we’re up to something, Katherine will find a way to stop us.”

“I know.” She kissed his cheek. Before she could pull away, he turned his head and kissed her full on the mouth. All the passion they’d been tamping down for so long threatened to explode into the open.

Jonathan pulled away first, gasped for breath and stood. He moved a few feet away. “You are a dangerous woman, my love. A little more and you would not leave this orchard as you came into it.” He chuckled low in his throat. “But that will happen soon enough. It won’t be at all easy, but we can wait until we’ve exchanged our vows to lie in each other’s arms.”

Maddy nodded, straightened her rumpled gown, and then folded her hands in her lap.

He laughed, the sound low and sexy in his throat. “You look so demure, but I know the fires that burn deep inside you.” Jonathan’s face was obscure by the deepening shadows, but she felt if she reached for it, she could touch the passion filling the air between them. Heat rose in her cheeks.

He cleared his throat. “We leave on the eve of the wedding. Can you manage to get your bag to Harrogate by midnight?”

She nodded. “If I can’t, I’ll leave it behind, and you can buy me a whole new wedding trousseau when we get to London. Nothing will prevent me from being there.”

“Nor I. I love you so, my Maddy. I know that fate meant us for each other.” For a long time, he simply stared at her. “At this moment I want nothing more than to hold you and kiss you until neither of us can breathe, but that would not be wise.”

She said nothing, but looked at him, knowing her expression told him she would not object. A breeze blew across her face, cooling her heated skin. “I live for the day when I will belong to you completely.”

Something nudged at her memory. Something that told her they had already…

The orchard began to spin. Jonathan’s face blurred out then disappeared completely, along with her surroundings. Something was wrong. This time she spun more violently than ever before, and the colors that usually accompanied it had turned gray and ugly. Sara’s stomach heaved. Her head began to pound painfully.

Suddenly, the spinning stopped. She reached out to steady herself and touched cold glass. The dread gathered in the pit of her stomach told her this was not her room. Not the place where she normally found herself after a trip back in time. Instead, she was trapped between a window and a thick drapery. The heavy material threatened to suffocate her. She struggled to free herself, but the fabric clung to her, imprisoning her in the thick folds. Added to that was the knowledge that she had not taken on Maddy’s persona and was Sara Madeline Wade.

Then she heard voices.

“How can he do this to me?”

Katherine
.

Sara peeked around the edge of the drape. Katherine was sitting on a settee in what Sara recognized from one of her previous trips back as the library of Brentwood Plantation. This was where Phillip Degas had broken down after the engagement announcement. Beside her was a brown-haired man Sara recognized as Phillip Degas. His head was bent toward Katherine.

Before Sara could duck behind the drape, Katherine raised her head and stared straight at her. Sara held her breath. Katherine should have seen her. But when she said nothing, Sara realized that though their gazes should have met, Katherine seemed to look right through her. Could it be that she was invisible to them? Stranger things had happened.

She continued to stare at Katherine, but the woman showed no sign of having seen her. Knowing Katherine as she did, Sara knew she would not pass up an opportunity to reprimand her sister for spying on her. Convinced that Katherine couldn’t see her, Sara took a deep fortifying breath and stepped out from behind the drape and into full view of both of the people on the settee. Neither of them as much as blinked.

Slowly, still fearing that she might be discovered, she made her way to the chair across from them. Still neither of them showed a sign that they were aware of her presence in the room.

She sat and listened.

“Jonathan is betrothed to me. Me! Does he expect me to live with a man for the rest of my life who would rather be with another woman?” Katherine sniffed loudly. Then she dabbed at her eyes with a lacy white handkerchief. Giving another loud sniff, she peeked over the edge of the handkerchief at Phillip. Her eyes were as dry as Sara’s.

She’s faking
.

Phillip patted her hand. “I’m sure you’re imagining this, my dear. What man would not be honored to have you as his wife?”

You certainly would
.

Katherine forced a smile. “You’re so sweet, Phillip. I wish Jonathan thought as you do.”

“I’m sure he does.”

Another theatrical sob issued from Katherine. “No, he doesn’t. He’s lusting after my sister. My own sister! I saw them kissing in the garden the very night of our engagement.” She leaned her head on Phillip’s shoulder. “He’s broken my heart.” Several more well-orchestrated sobs.

Phillip’s complexion reddened with rage. “That bastard doesn’t deserve a woman like you.” He gathered Katherine in his arms. “Were it me, I would cherish you for all time.”

“If it wasn’t for my betrothal to him, I would welcome your suit, Phillip. Any woman would be lucky to spend her life with you.” She inserted another well-executed sob for effect. Sara wanted to scream at Phillip not to believe her, but she knew he couldn’t hear her. “I’ve asked him over and over to release me, but he refuses. He wants my dowry.” Another sob and a dramatic dab at her eyes added emphasis to her blatant lie. “He says I’ll only be released if he dies.”

Phillip raised his head. The look of intense hatred in his eyes frightened Sara. But as quickly as it had come, it disappeared when he bowed his head and looked at the woman leaning against him. The same love Sara had seen in Jonathan’s eyes when he looked at Maddy filled Phillip’s.

“Perhaps we should oblige him,” he said softly against her hair.

Over his shoulder, Sara could see a dry-eyed Katherine’s mouth turn up in a satisfied smile.

My God
!
Katherine had planned this all along. She’d coerced poor unsuspecting Phillip into becoming a murderer by playing on his love for her with the use of fake tears and outright lies
.

Sara was stunned. She couldn’t believe what she’d just overheard. Katherine’s vindictiveness knew no bounds.

Anger, hot and intense, roiled inside Sara. No longer able to remain silent, Sara opened her mouth to refute Katherine’s lies.

Suddenly, the room blurred and the spinning began again. This time the colors were there, bright and beautiful as always, the spinning less violent. She was on her way back to Harrogate.

Chapter 22

Sara bolted upright in the chair. She waited for the intense melancholy at the loss of Jonathan’s presence that always accompanied her return from the past. But it never came. This time, anger at Katherine’s manipulation of Phillip and fear for Jonathan’s life overcame her.

As she recalled the conversation between Maddy and Jonathan in the orchard, she almost wept with the realization that their plans would never see fruition. What high hopes they’d had for their future and their deep love for each other, and it had all come to a bitter end with a one bullet from a jealous man who had been duped into committing a terrible crime.

Then she glanced up and found Julie sitting on the bed, her face twisted with worry. “I’ve been waiting for you. You were gone a long time. Does it always take so long?”

Sara shook her head, closed the diary and laid it on the table. “I don’t know. It doesn’t seem long. However, this time was very different from the others.”