Colm pushed through the tent flap. “Are you ready to talk yet?” he asked, the urgency in his voice apparent.
“I will talk with you and only you. If you take me to Captain Bothwell, I won’t talk. I promise you that. But I won’t talk unless you release me.” Her voice softened. “I feel I can trust you and no other.”
His brow arched. “You don’t know me.”
“No, but I feel like I do. Don’t you feel it? Don’t you feel like we have met before?”
“No! And you are stalling.” But that was a lie. He had felt it, a pull toward her. He felt it the moment their eyes met when he found her in the woods.
“Please, just let me go. I’ll leave and never come back. I swear,” she begged.
“It’s not that easy. General Morgan knows you are here, as do several others. I could lose my commission if I were to let a spy go.”
“I’m not a spy, I swear to you.”
“Then tell me the truth. Why are you here?”
“I’m here because you brought me here,” she exclaimed.
“You know what I mean. I found you in nothing but a nightdress in the middle of a battlefield. No one knows you or your family, and the only plantation near here is my family home. So tell me the truth!”
Katie’s posture tightened and she folded her arms in front of her. She pursed her lips, then grabbed her plate and tossed it at Colm, barely missing his head.
“All right, then. I guess you will have to take me to your torturer, because right now I don’t even want to talk to you.”
Colm grabbed her arm, pulling her up from the cot. “Come on,” he snapped, his voice sharp and angry.
Katie pulled away and she punched him in the jaw. Colm stood motionless for a moment then Katie lunged at him, kicking him to the ground. Jumping on top of him, she pushed her legs down over his forearms, but it did no good. They wrestled for a moment until Colm held her down.
“I’m sorry, I have no choice. General Morgan ordered it. I have to take you.” His voice cracked and she swore she noticed a tear fall. “I don’t want to do this, but you give me no choice.”
Colm got to his feet, pulling her up with him. She fought him for a moment, then gave up when he called the two guards into the tent. “Take Miss Butler to Captain Bothwell for interrogation.”
Katie struggled as the two guards dragged her through the camp to Captain Bothwell’s tent. When they entered, Captain Bothwell was preparing his tools on a table just opposite a single chair set in the middle of the tent. The guards dragged her to the chair and tied her arms down. Katie struggled against the ropes as Captain Bothwell stood, sorting through his tools and muttering.
“If you are gonna torture me, I wish you would get on with it so I don’t have to hear that annoying voice of yours anymore.”
The captain, who stood close to six-feet tall, was not a strong well-built man like Captain O’Donnell. He was more the string bean type, with sandy hair and dark eyes that seemed to burn with evil enjoyment of his profession. He smiled crookedly as he turned and faced Katie, holding a knife. “A woman! How delightful,” he said, his smile widening. “How very delightful. Shall we get started?” He stepped close to Katie, his nose just inches from hers.
Katie spit. “Fuck you! I’m not telling you shit.”
Bothwell pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face. “Well, aren’t you going to be fun?” He grabbed Katie by the hair and shoved a handkerchief into her mouth. “This way we don’t disturb anyone.”
Katie pushed the rag out of her mouth. “I’m not telling you anything. I don’t know anything.”
“Well, Miss…Miss Butler, was it? Well, Miss Butler, I will determine that,” he rejoined. Picking up a piece of salted pork, he shoved it into his mouth.
Katie prepared herself. She didn’t know exactly what was coming; she just knew it would be painful. Closing her eyes, she said, “I hope you choke to death, you bastard.” No sooner had the words escaped her lips when she heard Captain Bothwell begin to choke. Her eyes flew open and she watched as his face turned blue and he collapsed onto the ground. Her heart raced and her mind zoomed. Had she done that? How had she done that? Had the presence of the book in her hands really given her Eleanor MacAllister’s powers?
When Katie had determined that enough time had passed and Captain Bothwell was truly dead, she called for the guards.
After the fiasco with Captain Bothwell, Colm escorted her back to his tent. Katie was cooperative this time, knowing Colm might be the only one who could help her. She just needed to figure out how she would tell him she was from the future and had come to save him. She laughed to herself just thinking about it. It sounded more like the making of a Hollywood movie than her life. She pictured herself as the Terminator come to save Colm O’Donnell. It was quite funny when she thought about it. She couldn’t save herself at that moment any more than she could the handsome Captain O’Donnell.
Every time he spoke to her, it sent chills down her spine. She tried to ignore it, to put it in the back of her mind, but it was that damned southern accent. It got to her and sent heat to her panties like she had never experienced. Was it the combination of a southern twang, mixed with a touch of either Irish or Scottish accents? She wasn’t sure, and she really didn’t care. As far as she was concerned, he could be blind and lame as long as she could hear him talk, or preferably moaning while grinding on top of her, she would be happy. Oh my lord, what am I thinking? I’m his prisoner, not his girlfriend, and not his friend with benefits. She doubted he would even know what that last phrase meant.
When they got to Colm’s tent, he motioned for her to go in then followed behind her. She sat on the cot, picking up her book and thumbing through it. Some of the words she understood while others she had not a clue. Colm came over and sat next to her. When he did, she closed the book. She wasn’t ready to tell him anything, at least not yet. She had to broach the subject later…much later she hoped.
“So tell me about this book you keep so close to you,” he asked.
And there it is. What I didn’t want to answer, at least not right now. Quick, easy answer.
“It’s my journal. Well, mine and my great-grandmother’s,” she responded.
“I see why it is so important to you. Were you and she close?”
“Yes. I miss her very much.” Katie squeezed the book closer to her.
“You needn’t worry. I will not part you from your book. But if you would, answer me this one question and then I shall take my leave if you wish it.”
“Sure. Shoot,” she replied.
“Oh no, miss. I don’t wish to shoot you.”
“No, I mean go ahead and ask.”
“I have never encountered a woman like you before. How did you come by learning to wrestle and fight? You fight much like a man, if I dare say.”
She took a deep breath and prepared herself for yet another lie. In twenty-four hours, she had lied more than she ever had in her lifetime. “My father. He felt that his daughters should receive the same treatment as his sons, so we were taught to take care of ourselves. I wasn’t all that sure I could even remember what he taught, but you have to admit, I gave you a good fight.”
Colm laughed “That you did, my dear. I fear perhaps in the right circumstances, you might have won.”
“I doubt that. You have at least seventy pounds on me. I fear for me to win I would’ve had to resort to cheating by kicking you in the balls.”
Surprised by her lack of decorum, he had to ask. “You do not sound or act like any lady I have ever met. It’s strange for me to hear or speak with such vulgarity in the presence of a woman.”
“Well, Captain O’Donnell, you will find that I am not like many ladies.”
“That, Miss Butler, I can agree with. You are not like any woman I have ever met.”
It was when Katie smiled that he noticed something about this mysterious woman. She did look quite familiar to him. Her beauty was like none he had ever seen except in his dreams. My dreams. That is why she looks so familiar. This woman came from my dream, the same dream I have had for months. But how can that be? It’s not possible, is it?
Katie watched his face. She could tell he was thinking, and she feared asking what was on his mind. He could have been planning her execution for all she knew. “Are you all right?” she asked.
Colm argued with himself, not knowing exactly what the proper answer to her should be. He decided he best just come out with it. “You’re from my dreams. I have been sitting here deciding if I should tell you for fear you might think I am crazy. But I have dreamed about you for months, and now here you are.”
“It’s not crazy. I’ve had the same dream,” she whispered.
They spent hours talking and laughing, playing a game or two of cards, then chess. He was quite surprised she knew the games, but by this time nothing surprised him about Katie Butler.
“Checkmate,” Katie announced.
“You win again. How did you get so good?”
“My father. He loved chess.” She frowned. “Captain…”
“You can call me Colm if you wish it.”
“All right, Colm. I really need to tell you something, but I don’t know if I should. You will think I am crazy and have me locked up.”
Colm laughed. “Well, aren’t you locked up already?”
She laughed hysterically. “You’re right, I am. It’s just…”
“I’ve learned to just speak. Sometimes the secrets are worse than the truth. I promise I will not think you crazy.”
Katie felt like she would hyperventilate or worse, pass out just thinking about telling him the truth but she needed help. She needed to trust someone, and Colm O’Donnell had to be the one. The book was telling her something by putting her in this time and place. She knew she had to save Colm’s life, but she also knew she needed his help as well.
Taking a deep breath, she blurted it out. “I am from the future and I have come to save your life.” Oh my god, I do sound like the Terminator. “No, that came out wrong. I am from the year 2019, and I need your help getting back to my time.”
Colm sat staring at Katie for what felt like a million years before he spoke. “So you say you are from the future, you have come to save my life, and you need my help getting back to your own time. Is that correct?”
Katie hugged her book again, her expression stern and steadfast. “Yes, that’s right.”
Colm began to laugh, a loud hard belly laugh she thought for sure would bring the guards in. “You’re serious?”
“Yes. Yes, I am,” she replied.
Colm’s face turned almost three shades of green. He was not sick; it was more of a realization. “My grandmother always told stories of a woman…I always thought them old Scots-Irish folk stories. They were stories of a woman who traveled to places not of her time and fixed what needed fixin’. She said the woman was a powerful witch and used her powers to help others. The stories said the woman’s magic came from her family which traced back to Merlin and Morgana. Their magic was powerful and the female child of their union had the powers of both Merlin and Morgana—and was more powerful than both parents and her twin brother. My grandmother insisted it was fact and that a descendant of the woman would come to our family one day. It was also told that the rivalry between the twin siblings was fierce and the male child, jealous of his sister’s abilities, cast his own spell to take her powers but instead his spell cast him immortal. It is said he still quests for the power, and once he has made it his own, he will rid himself and the world of the female line of Stewart witches. Father always said it was just an old woman’s rambles, and that she told the story of King Arthur to amuse us. But somehow I always felt like she was telling the truth.”
“Well, I don’t know about the magic, but I do know something is happening to me. I feel it welling up inside me, but I don’t know how to control it. All I want to do is go home. I know you have many questions. But I don’t have the answers to them, at least not yet. Will you help me?”
He smiled. “Yes. Together we will try to figure this out. For now, rest. I will be right over here on the floor. If you need anything, don’t kick me, just yell.”
Katie laughed; it felt good to be honest with him. She hated lying to anyone, it wasn’t in her nature. Colm gathered up the chess pieces and tossed them into a box, then placed it on his desk. Katie removed her boots and lay her head down on the pillow. Within moments she was asleep and dreaming. The book had more to show her. Much more.
Katie was exhausted. She felt like she had run fifteen miles during the night. It had been days since she had gotten a good night’s sleep, and last night was no exception. She had dreamed the entire night. The book did indeed have much to show her. When she sat up, she noticed Colm had left the tent, and a plate of eggs and salted pork sat on the table next to her. Is that coffee I smell? Searching the tent, she saw a pot of coffee on the desk with a metal cup and a note.
Miss Butler,
You spent most of the night tossing and turning, and speaking in some strange language, but I thought perhaps you would enjoy this.
Cordially yours,
Colm
Katie quickly slipped her boots on and poured herself a cup, gingerly sipping, only to realize that the coffee had cooled. It tasted awful and delicious at the same time. She gulped down one cup, then another. She was on her fourth cup when Colm came back.
“Where have you been this morning?” she asked.
“I had to go meet with General Morgan. He asked if I had gotten any information out of you. I told him it was a delicate matter and that I needed to take things slow, befriend you first, gain your trust then pounce.” Colm jumped at her and Katie recoiled, her coffee spilling down her dress.
“Oh no, my dear. I am very sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“You didn’t. It is just reflex. I tend to be a bit on the jumpy side. Stems from my last deployment.”
“Deployment?” he asked.
“Yes, deployment to war.”
“They allow women to fight in your time?”
“Oh yes, and we are quite good at it.”
“Tell me about your time. What is it like? Do you know the outcome of this war?”
“I do. But perhaps I shouldn’t tell you a lot about what is going to happen. Space-time continuum kinda deal, wouldn’t you say?”
Colm stared at her, confused, and didn’t answer.
“Oh, right. You haven’t gotten to that yet. It basically means if you know too much about what is going to happen, it could make the world explode. Okay, maybe not so much world exploding as it is, just you shouldn’t know too much about your own future. Does that make sense?”
“Yes, I suppose it does,” he replied. “Now why don’t you tell me about your time in the service?”
“Well there really isn’t much to tell. Everything in my time is different. There is so much to tell, we could be talking for days.”
Colm crooked a smile then winked. “I don’t mind if you don’t.”
She had been at the camp for ten days and was still being held in Colm’s tent. They had spent many nights talking about the twenty-first century and how much had changed. She was careful not to divulge too much, but Colm sat in awe of her stories and in a way, it made her feel important, something she hadn’t felt in quite a while. Her ex never made her feel anything other than contempt and loathing, not only for him but for herself. Savannah 1864 was good for her so far. She was beginning to gain Colm’s trust as well as more freedom around the camp. It did feel good to be able to confide in someone.
Katie spent hours reading Eleanor’s book, and when Colm left for a meeting, she practiced some of the spells. It still surprised her how quickly she was picking up the enchantments despite the many failed attempts. She knew she would master them, but it would take time and she wasn’t sure how much she had left.
As far as she could tell from her reading, she knew she had to make sure Colm stayed alive, and to do that she needed to be able to stick close to him. Her first task was gaining General Morgan’s trust.
From what Colm had told her, and from what she remembered from military history, the general was a force to be reckoned with. Colm told her the general would want to talk with her at some point, but so far Colm had thwarted his efforts. General Morgan was strong-willed, knowledgeable in tactics, and had a reputation with the ladies.
She was one lady who would not melt to his charms, and he had yet to meet a woman from the twenty-first century. Game, set, match! I’m no nineteenth-century woman, and General Morgan will soon find that out. I just have to convince him that I am not a threat or a spy, and I’m here to help, even though it’s a lost cause. There’s no helping the Rebels, they just don’t know it yet. Their cause will fail, and the south will never be the same.
In the last ten days, she had learned a lot about Captain Colm O’Donnell, but she had never asked him about his family. She learned some things from the book and other bits of information came in the form of dreams. She discovered her dreams were more like visions: visions of things to come, things she had to stop from happening.
One vision that came to her most often was Colm dying. The vision was so real that when she woke, her eyes filled with tears, tears for a man she hardly knew but to whom she felt a closeness she had never felt in her life. Last night’s images were no exception, and she knew she had to tell him. Her foresight had made it abundantly clear that Colm O’Donnell must escape the fate the vision foretold. If Katie could change one vision, then she could change all. She would tell him today.
Katie milled about most of the morning while Colm went to meetings. She overheard some of the soldiers discussing the Yankee camp and their efforts to find it, but they had yet to locate it.
When Colm returned, he looked deflated, as if the entire world rested on his broad yet extremely sexy shoulders. She had grown quite attracted to him over the last several days. The more time they spent together, the closer she felt.
“Is everything all right, Colm?”
“No, it’s disastrous! The general wants me to bring you to dine with him in his tent this evening. He wants to talk to you himself. I don’t like it, Katie. General Morgan doesn’t take no for an answer. It can be dangerous.”
Katie smiled at the idea. “This is my chance, Colm, to get him to trust me and give me more freedom. I am suffocating inside this tent twenty-four seven, and besides, he has never met someone like me.”
“No one has, ’til now,” he scoffed. “Just be careful. I don’t trust him. He has a charm about him that ladies flock to.”
“Not this lady. He won’t know what hit him when I am done with him.”
“That’s what I am afraid of!” he exclaimed.
“What? I promise I won’t do anything rash and I promise to behave myself.”
“Fine. But I still don’t like it.”
Arching her brow and smiling, Katie replied, “Duly noted. I just have one request.”
“And what could that possibly be?”
“Well, if I am to dine with the general this evening, shouldn’t have something a little more presentable to wear than the clothing of a kitchen maid?”
“Yes, of course. I sent word with my aide to go to my family’s home to retrieve a gown from my sister, Greer. I am quite sure she will accommodate my request. I am also sure she will have questions as to why I need such an item on a battlefield, but I will have to respond on another day. I will have Mrs. Gordon and her daughter help you prepare, then I will accompany you to the general’s headquarters. He is hosting a dinner party this evening.”
“You will be in attendance?” she asked.
“Yes, but the general has asked that he have a private moment with you. I told him that you are my cousin and not a spy, and that I had just come to be aware of the fact after meeting with my mother earlier in the day. I explained that my cousin Katie had arrived twelve days ago to my family’s plantation to help with the cause. My mother had sent you to our camp and that is how you came to be here. It was only luck that I happened upon you, and having not seen you since we were wee infants, I did not recognize you nor did I know your married name, Butler. Sadly, you lost your husband during the attack on Fort Sumpter.”
“Well, I think you covered everything.” She smiled. “Now perhaps after he grills me, I will get more freedom?”
“Perhaps, as long as you behave and do not beat him up.” Colm laughed.
Having spent most of the day preparing for the general’s dinner party, Katie had hardly seen Colm. Her time had been spent washing, primping, and getting her hair done. She had not washed it since her abrupt arrival, and her hair had matted from the hair spray the salon had used the night she disappeared.
Katie was dressed and ready to go when Colm entered his tent and saw her for the first time; she took his breath away. “You are a vision, Miss Butler, I can hardly believe it. Not that you weren’t beautiful before but to see you like this, it’s just breathtaking. You are breathtaking.”
Katie’s face flushed. She wasn’t used to dressing up, but in the span of two weeks she had been in a gown twice, and she had to admit it felt good. Mrs. Gordon had brought in a mirror so Katie could see herself, but she was nervous about looking. When Colm doted on her upon his arrival, she had to look.
Her hair seemed to shine. Her dark locks were curled, teased, crimped, and rolled off her face. At her neck, her hair was arranged in the shape of a bow, adorned in the middle by her emerald and gold broach, artfully interlaced by Mrs. Gordon. Her makeup was light: only blush, lip balm, and a hint of color on her lids. It was much different than what she was used to wearing, although when she was in uniform, she wore very little.
Her dress was a beautiful rose gold, the neckline enhanced with lace, with a ruffled petticoat and hoops that pushed the skirt out into a perfect bell. She could hardly believe her eyes as she stared back at herself and smiled.
She hadn’t yet noticed that Colm was just as finely turned out. He had since changed into his dress uniform and her nose caught a whiff of musk and wood. To her surprise, she liked the smell. It’s better than the smell of dirt, sweat, and ass. She giggled.
“And what is so funny, my dear Miss Butler?” he asked, leaning into the tent’s center pole.
“Nothing. I just noticed the smell in the tent got sweeter, instead of smelling like sweat and dirt.”
“Yes, of course. I washed, shaved, and changed into a clean uniform. Are you ready to go? I have a carriage ready to take us to the mayor’s house. He has graciously opened his home to the general.”
When the carriage pulled up in front of the huge home of the Savannah mayor, Katie was in awe. In her entire life she never imagined seeing or experiencing anything of this magnitude; it was almost beyond her comprehension. When they pulled up to the steps of the mansion, two soldiers approached and assisted her from the carriage. Colm followed and they made their way inside. The home was sumptuously decorated and the women so beautifully dressed, she thought she had stepped into an old movie. She squeezed Colm’s arm tighter, her nervousness apparent.
“It will be fine, my dear,” he whispered to her. “We shall meet with the general and then if you like, we will take our leave.”
Katie’s body shook uncontrollably. She wasn’t sure if it was the noise, the people, or the unknown. The unknown has to be the worst part. What does he want? She had no idea what she would say or what the general would ask. She didn’t have long to wait as Colm whispered to her again: “The general is coming our way.”
Katie stood tall, took a deep breath, and smiled as the man approached them. She had expected a tall, strong, confident man, but what she saw was a man no taller than herself at five feet nine inches with a stocky build and a unkempt beard that ended just past his chin. When he greeted her, his smell almost overwhelmed her. He smelled worse than any human waste-riddled city she had ever driven through. It was like he had taken a bath in shit and urine. This is a ladies’ man? More like a man of sewer rats.
Taking her hand, the general kissed the top. “If I may be so bold, Miss Butler, but could we could move to my study? I do have some questions for you.”
Katie smiled and curtsied, and followed the general into the mayor’s study. “May Captain O’Donnell attend? He is, after all, my chaperone. And I, being a widowed lady, cannot be seen going into any room alone with a man, be him married or unmarried,” she replied, hoping she would not have to endure his pungent odor for too long.
“I must first apologize for my unseemly smell. I took a tumble from my horse on the way back from camp to here, and landed into a rather deep ditch of, well, I cannot say in the company of a lady, but I am sure you noticed.”
Katie wanted to scream, Hell yeah. The entire house can smell your stinky ass. Hell, they can smell you all the way to Savannah, but she thought better of it and replied, “Oh, sir, you can hardly tell.” She smiled and turned to Colm, who grinned back.
“Well, my dear, I was sorry to hear of your misfortune. I hope you are finding your accommodation at camp sufficient?”
“Well, general, I thought I might ask about obtaining my own accommodations. A lady does have the need for some private time. Don’t you agree?” she smiled again, winking at him and hoping her innocent flirting might gain her some freedom.
“You are quite correct, my dear. A lady does need her space. Captain O’Donnell, could you see to it that Miss Butler is housed in her own tent tomorrow?”
“Yes, sir. I surely will.” Colm replied.
The general turned his attention back to Katie. “I was sorry to hear that you lost your dear husband at Fort Sumpter. How long had you been married?”
Katie paused for a moment. Is he testing me? I wish he would change his mind and talk about something else. Just as she was getting ready to answer, the general interrupted and began talking about his affection for his dog and how he must get back to the animal. He abruptly turned around; as he walked out the door, he announced, “Miss Butler may have her freedom around camp, but she cannot leave camp without a chaperone.” Then he left the room and walked outside to play with his dog.
“Well, that was odd!” Colm acknowledged as he took Katie’s arm and escorted her from the study.
Katie leaned into him and whispered, “I think I made him do that.”
Colm turned to her. “What do you mean? You made him leave?”
She nodded. “I think when I wished him to talk about something else, he did. The same thing happened with Captain Bothwell.”
“Shhhh! Don’t say another word. Not here. We will talk about it later. Until then, would you like to dance?” Colm asked, holding his hand out to hers.
“I would, but I don’t know how,” she answered.
“It’s okay. Just follow my lead.” He laughed. “I find it amusing that you can fight but you cannot dance,” he continued as he swung her onto the dance floor, pulling her closely to him. She could feel heat flood her body and heard the pounding of her heart inside her ears. She felt an overwhelming heat pulse throughout her body, tingling heat that shot in waves to the tips of her fingers and her toes.
“Can you feel that, Colm?” she asked. Her heart raced and she felt flushed.
“I feel something. What is it?” he replied.
“I’m not exactly sure. I’ve been feeling it for days now, and it always got stronger when I’ve been in the room with you, but just now when you held me close, it felt like my entire body was on fire and at the same time hanging upside down on the jungle gym. A tingly hotness encompassed my entire body. Could it be,” she whispered, “my magic is stronger with you?”
“Perhaps we should get you back to camp so we can discuss this further,” he replied. “This is not the place to talk about such matters.”
The carriage pulled up to the edge of the camp. Colm got out and assisted Katie down from the carriage. It was getting darker and hard to see, but the moon was full and brightened up the area enough so they could navigate through camp with no problems. The ride back was short, and they did not speak on the return to camp. There was so much they both wanted to say but could not for fear someone would overhear their discussion. Now that Katie could walk freely around camp, Colm took her hand and lead her to a stone path. As they walked, they discussed the events of the past few days and then of that evening.
“It seems your powers are getting stronger,” Colm said in a low tone.
“I think so. But they have never felt as strong as they did when we embraced,” she replied.
Approaching the river’s edge, Colm stopped and took her hand. “Just across the river is my family’s home. I often find myself standing in this very spot, longing for something, but I have no idea what. I’ve always felt it, even as a young child. I felt a pull to this spot and to this small schoolhouse my great-grandfather had built on the property before the American Revolution. It’s always been my safe place.”
“It’s beautiful, Colm,” she replied softly.
“As are you. May I kiss you?”
“Yes.”
Colm took her in his arms and pulled her close, kissing her. When he did, Katie’s body began to radiate a low, glittery glow. Her body began to get warmer and as their kiss deepened, she felt that warmth grow. At first, Colm was taken aback and Katie began to panic but as he held her, she calmed. He was her center. He was the ember that burned and lit the fire within her soul; he was her soulmate. Two halves made one. Just as the book foretold, but I can’t inherit all until we have given ourselves to each other.