Romance: Seducing The Quarterback (43 page)

“What is that?”

“Well, I was planning to head out tomorrow too. I am going
in the direction you are going so I figured we could travel together. You don’t
mind do you?”

“No, I don’t mind at all I just don’t want to be any
trouble.” She tried to sound genuine as she thought of what she could do now.

“You are no trouble, dear. It will be good to have someone
with me this time to keep me company. It gets lonely when you’re alone for as
much as I am.”

Emily looked back at the town as they headed towards the
highway. That would be the last time she saw the small town. She knew that
there was no way that she could hide away now that the other woman was
traveling with her. She just hoped that she had made the right decision. “I
don’t even know your name.” She said it with a start.

“Just call me Maggie dear.”

“Ok. Thank you, Maggie for your help.”

“You are very welcome dear. Now let’s think about your new
life. You can be anyone you want to be. Do anything you want to do. The sky is
the limit, my dear. All you have to do is reach for what you want.” She smiled
at her as she spoke. The woman seemed very wise like she knew what she was
talking about. Emily knew there was more to her than she claimed as well.

Emily felt the burden lift itself from her chest. It felt
like she had been carrying a 50-pound weight around with her everywhere. She
was free. The chains were pulled away. She was free to do what she wanted. She
didn’t have to answer to anyone and she smiled. Her face split with the first
real smile she had felt in a long time. It was the first time that she felt
joy. Real pure and raw joy since her parents died and she owed everything to
the woman who was now sitting by her side. She was a woman that Emily knew
didn’t even really know, but she knew that one way or the other Maggie had
saved her life.

“Now the man you are going to marry has been single for a
while. He is a leader of a small village. He has been known to be very patient
and understanding with many things. He is the oldest of 6 children and they all
live in the small village as well as his parents. He is a family man and
believes that family is very important and should become before all else. He
wants children. Many of them.”

Emily felt herself become interested in what Maggie had to
say about the man. She had wanted kids. It was something she and Scott had
talked about and that he had agreed to. She, unfortunately, had changed her
mind when he had changed. There was no way that she would bring a child into
the hellhole she had lived in. She was afraid of not only the child’s welfare
but of how they would turn out as well. The simple thought of her raising a
child that would be like Scott was enough to make her sick and scared to death
of having a child.

“He seems great but why would he send for a wife if he is so
great? I just don’t understand the whole concept you know?” She looked at the
woman slowly in wonder.

“Well, that I don’t know honey. I guess that is a question
that you will have for him when you see him.” She smiled as she started talking
again.

“Now you should know that you will have a very important
role. You will be a person of the high regard in the village. You see you will
be kind of like a queen. The people may take a while to be won over but when
you do then they will fight to the death for you. You will be a leader. It is a
lot of responsibility, but you will also be cherished not only by Jeremiah but
the people as a whole. It takes a special woman to fill this role, my dear.”

“It sounds like a tribe of Indians or something. Like
something from ancient times. I mean there is running water right?”

Maggie’s chuckle was contagious and Emily found herself
smiling as the woman began to answer her.

“It is a very old community but yes my dear. There is
running water and electricity. There is even a television with satellite
channels. You need to remember however that your role is a big one in the
community and you must be able to take on that responsibility.”

Emily’s eyes widened as the woman spoke. She was suddenly
feeling edgy. How could she do that? She knew she would not be able to get away
from Maggie. She would have to try to do it once they arrived and run.
How
in the world could I help govern a community when I couldn’t even keep Scott
happy most of the time,
she thought to herself? She knew Scott was a
miserable man and there wasn’t a woman in the world that could probably keep
him happy, but she still felt inadequate for the job, especially one of such
high importance.

“Oh, my dear you are the perfect person for the job. I have
been watching you. I have also looked into your past and your heritage. You
would be the perfect fit for Jeremiah. You are young, beautiful, and courageous
and you have a big heart. What more could he want?”

Emily just nodded as she looked out the window again to think
over the woman’s words. She may have been young before, but now her skin and
body was so withered from scrubbing the floors on hands and knees and cleaning
the house. She looked 10 years older than she was. Scott had said that a mop
wasn’t needed that getting down on her knees cleaned it better. He had also
refused to let her clean with the better cleaning supplies requiring her to
scrub harder and longer. That was one mark against not only youth but beauty as
well.

It took a strange company looking for mail order brides and
three years for her to even think about leaving Scott. And the worst part was
they weren’t even married yet. She would hate to see how long it would have
taken her if they had been married. Her heart may have been big a long time ago,
but now it just lay in her chest in dozens of pieces. It was torn to shreds now
from the way her life had gone. Scott had killed any chance she may have had
for love in her life. She was so scared of men now that she didn’t want to even
be around them. She definitely didn’t want to have any romantic association
with them. She was so frightened they would change. Just like he had. Hiding
his true self until he got everything he could from her and break her heart all
over again.

“You will see that you have made the best decision you have
made in your life. Have faith dear. I promise you it will all work out.”

The next four days went by in a flash. She got close to
Maggie and the woman told her stories of the small village they were going to.

“Maggie?”

“Yes?”

“How is it that you know so much about the village? I mean
you know a lot about it down to little details.”

“Ah. I wondered when you would catch on. You see my dear.
The small village is my home as well. I was sent out to find wives for the men
in the village. We do not have many females born into the village. A curse from
long ago. Because of this, we are deemed to find women for the camp in other
places around the world. There are a few but not enough for everyone.”

“So there are women there for Jeremiah to choose from?”

“Oh yes dear. You see the position that you will be in is
sought out by many women. There will be some that will become very jealous of
you.”

“I just wonder if he has choices like that why he would want
a complete stranger? I know you said it will be something that I will need to
ask him. I worry that maybe there is something about him that I may not like.”
The woman smiled as she turned from her.

“We will be there tomorrow. You can ask him then.”

Maggie tried to hide the smile from her lips. It seemed like
just yesterday that she was in the same spot that the woman was standing in
now. She knew she had chosen the right one. Emily was perfect for the people
and the community. She was also the perfect person to make a wife for their
leader and her son.

* * * * *

The next morning Emily awoke to look around the room. She
almost thought that Maggie had left until the hotel room door swung open.

“Good morning. It is a good day, honey. It is the first day
of the rest of your life. Are you ready?”

“I guess so.”

Maggie knew that Emily had plans of leaving as soon as they
got there. It had been her plan as well long ago. Now she just hoped that Emily
would be able to notice a good thing when she saw it.

They drove down the road and turned off the highway on an
exit. Emily watched as they made numerous turns until they were on a long dirt
road. It seemed like the road went on for miles and miles.

They came to a cave and she gasped when Maggie continued to
drive right through it. The scenery until then had just been woods. When they
had driven only five minutes the cave opened up. What she saw took her breath
away. They were in a small cove of sorts. There were beautiful mountains behind
the rows and rows of log cabins.

As they got closer she saw that there was a small town
there. There were people everywhere. There were also many animals as well. The
car parked itself behind a huge log home. It was much larger than the rest.
Maggie smiled at her and got from the car. Emily was amazed to see deer
standing just a short walk from them. The deer looked her way, but they were
not like regular deer. They were not scared and did not run away like most she
had seen and they were really close; much closer than they should have been.
She wanted to shoo them away and scare them off. She knew that there had to be
a hunter in the small village somewhere and she couldn’t bear to see the
beautiful creatures hurt.

Emily stepped from the vehicle and looked around. There was
no way she was going to escape this place without a car of some kind and when
she looked around she saw that there were but four vehicles in the whole town.
They were all right there parked next to the little white car.

“Come on. Let’s go meet your new husband to be. The other
women should be arriving later tonight and tomorrow.”

She grabbed Emily’s hand and acted like an excited little
school girl as she dragged her to the door and then inside the home. It was
beautiful and rustic inside. A man came into the room and she gasped. He was
gorgeous with dark hair and dark brown eyes. His face had a five o’clock shadow
growing and he looked surprised to see them.

“What are you doing here?”

“Jeremiah Isaac Copeland. You know better. How about you say
hello?”

“Oh, I’m sorry mother. Hello, Emily. I am Jeremiah.” He
smiled and she was taken aback by it for a moment. Her head turned sharply to
the woman beside her at his words.

“Mother? You mean you were looking for a wife for your own
son?” Her eyes widened when she saw the guilty expression telling her that she
was correct.

 “Come on my dear. There is a lot for you to learn.”

Emily looked out the window expecting to see a beautiful
landscape. What was there instead, however, had her instantly shrieking as she
turned and tried to run. She watched in horror as the man she now knew as
Jeremiah opened the door.

 The bear made its way inside then at a trot. Emily knew
they were done for. Here was this beast who was about to eat them all and he
had just let it in the house. And what as worse was that the bear came in on
all fours like it was a regular guest.

“You must be Emily.”

Emily looked around to see who was talking and she felt
herself become faint when she realized that the words were coming from the
bear. She must have had too much sunlight or she was still at the hotel and
asleep. That must be it. She was asleep. All she had to do was pinch herself
and she would come awake.

Gripping her skin between two fingers she did just that but
she didn’t awake from the nightmare. Instead, she stared straight ahead as the
bear began to change. The hair began to disappear and it seemed to be standing
on its back two legs. The legs began to lengthen and then the arms. The snout
pushed back into its face and suddenly instead of a bear standing in front of
her there was a beautiful woman. Her eyes became round and wide as she stared
at the woman. Her gaze moved over to Jeremiah’s briefly and finally after a few
minutes it came to rest on Maggie once again in disbelief.

“Come sit down.” Her tone was strict and the girl’s eyes
widened. Emily realized that the girl couldn’t be much more than 16. She was
just a teenager and she was naked, but the biggest part was that she had just
been a bear. She felt the tremor course through her at what had just happened.
She was scared and shocked at once, but she couldn’t tell which was the greater
feeling.

“She didn’t know?” The girl’s eyes widened when she realized
what she had just done. Giving a guilty look behind her at Jeremiah the girl
knew she was in trouble. She gripped the blanket he had thrown at her around
her body tighter as she realized what she had done. She knew she was in deep
trouble and quickly left. Emily would have felt bad for her if her emotions
hadn’t had been in total chaos at the moment. There were a million things that
were suddenly running through her mind just then about bears and shifting and
being a part animal.

It was some time later that Emily sat in a quiet room alone.
She had just found out that shapeshifters were real. And not just bears.
Werewolves were real as well as other animals. Rabbits, panthers, tigers,
monkeys and even frogs and other reptiles.
It all makes sense now
, she
thought to herself,
why there were no hunters in the village and why those
deer had just stood there earlier.
Also why she thought that they could
sense something as if they were speaking to her? She hadn’t even thought it was
possible, but there was the truth in front of her. That was the reason they
lived so far away from the rest of the world and why they needed to search for
their wives somewhere other than their community.

Maggie had said it was a curse and that they needed to find
a match for themselves in other places. Now she knew what she was talking
about. It was too much. She needed to leave and fast. There was a knock on the
door. She knew that they knew she was in there and pondering what she had seen.
She also knew that if she didn’t answer then they would come in to check on her
anyway.

“Yes? Come in.”

Jeremiah walked into the small room and smiled at her. He
made his way to the chair beside the bed and took her hand with his own. She
felt the electricity shoot through her body at the touch. When she looked up
into his face she saw that he had a strange look on his face as he looked at her.
She realized that he must have felt the surge of power through their contact as
well. Although he felt something she was sure, he continued to stroke her hand
as he began to talk.

“I wanted to talk to you alone. I know my mother probably
told you that I am the most remarkable man in the world and so forth but I
wanted to get to know you. I am not asking you to marry me right now. I know
there is a lot to take in. I just ask that you allow me to spend time with you
so that you can know me and I can get to know you. If you want to leave after
that then I will not stop you. I just ask that you give me and the people a
try.”

She looked at him and then back down to their twined hands.
His hands were large but gentle as they stroked hers. She nodded. She didn’t
know what made her answer him.
I should be trying to get out of there
.
He said he would let her leave but there was something that held her back. She
couldn’t really describe it. Maybe it was something in his eyes or the way he
spoke to her but she felt drawn to him in some sort of way. It was more than an
attraction. It was a pull from within and it was one that she couldn’t deny or
turn away from. She would stay if at least to find out what had her so drawn.
What
was this connection between us, this invisible force that makes me want to
stay?

“I know it’s a lot to take in right now. I wanted to know if
you would go for a walk with me after the celebration tonight.” His words were
soft and gentle as he continued to look at their joined hands as he spoke.

“Celebration?” She didn’t know what he was talking about and
she could hear the bit of fear in her voice. His eyes slowly raised to hers and
he smiled at her.

“Yes. You see every five years the women go out in search of
female companions and wives for the men in the camp who do not have one. This
is the fifth year and all of the women are here, but one and she will be here
within the hour. It is a celebration to welcome the women to our village and to
show thanks that we have found these courageous and remarkable women to be in
our lives and to make our village a better place to be.”

“Wow. You make it sound like such a privilege and honor to
be one of these women. It sounds like you cherish them.”

“Yes, we do. These women give these men the ability to have
a family and a woman to be by their side. In our community, the women are
looked at as being the most powerful. For they are pure. You will see at the
celebration that the men will cherish their wives and put them above all other
things and people. You will be one of the women of honor tonight. You will also
be the one that most people will be looking at for you could possibly be our
next queen. My queen.”

She looked up at his last words and she saw the desire in
his eyes.
Why me?
There were plenty of other women in the world that
would have been more suitable for him, she thought. There was, however, a part
of her that was overjoyed that Maggie had chosen her.

“I would love to walk with you.”

“Good. I will leave you now then. Tonight will be a big night
and my reckless sister and mother will come to help you get ready.”

“Ok.”