She woke to the sound of Reginald’s morning coughing binge and rose to help him prepare for his day. He announced, “One of the lads is taking me hunting for an alligator this morning.”
Darcy gasped.
“Don’t worry. We’ll have guns, so it won’t be any more dangerous than joining you and the other ladies for tea.”
“I doubt that. Our most dangerous activity is needlepoint.”
Reginald chuckled and left the room in good humor.
After a nap, Darcy strolled down for her daily ritual - tea with the ladies. A terrible storm was brewing, so they met on the west porch instead of the south garden. She took a seat, absently listening to Cora Austen read from a novel about the Civil War.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning split the sky right overhead, followed immediately by a loud clap of thunder. A few ladies squealed with fright and moved their chairs away from the edge of the porch as the rain began to pelt down.
“Have you noticed how fast the weather changes in Florida?” Cora commented. “This morning the sky was bright blue and the sun was shining, but you would never know it by looking at it now. And the truly amazing thing is that it will probably be perfectly clear again this evening!”
Darcy and the other ladies nodded in agreement, continuing to watch the storm from the safety of the large porch. Cora resumed reading from the novel.
Darcy was daydreaming, unaware how long she had been watching the rain, when one of the ladies’ husbands, whose name she could not remember, walked out onto the porch to address his wife and the other members of the group.
“I’m afraid I have troubling news. A short while ago, a bolt of lightning struck out on the golf course, killing a man and giving General Peterson the scare of his life.”
Several ladies gasped and the man’s wife gushed, “Do tell! What happened?”
Feeling quite important to be sharing news that commanded the rapt attention of every lady on the porch, the short, stout man continued with his story. “I hope I don’t upset your gentle sensibilities with my recounting of this event, but apparently, the General had hoped the storm would hold off until he was able to play a bit of golf, so he had headed out with the golf instructor.”
Terrified, Honor turned to face Darcy, who was barely breathing. She felt Darcy’s blood run cold. Darcy could hear her heart beating so loudly, she was worried the other women would hear it as well.
Not Rory, Darcy prayed silently. Please God, not Rory! Desperately, she waited for the man to announce who had been killed.
The man continued, dragging out the details of the story for effect. “The General said the rain was just beginning to come down and they were thinking about quitting, but he wanted to play one more hole before retiring to the hotel. The instructor was giving the General some pointers on the tee box, demonstrating the arc the golf club should take, and just when the club was high above his head --”
The pudgy man demonstrated a golf swing using an imaginary club to create a more vivid picture of the event for his audience before finishing with a flourish. “A bolt of lightning hit the club and killed the boy instantly.”
The man paused dramatically and then added, “Thank God, the General was standing a bit away, so as to observe the motion of the club, or he might have been killed as well. He said he was standing near enough to the unfortunate Collins fellow, that the electrical charge caused every hair on his body to stand on end! ”
Darcy was afraid she was going to begin screaming and wouldn’t be able to stop. She could hear blood rushing in her ears and felt faint. Honor had no idea what to do for her.
Elizabeth Grant speculated, “Why, I myself took a golf lesson earlier this week with Mr. Collins. But for the grace of God, I could have been the one that was with him today.”
Cora replied, “But Elizabeth, unlike those men, you would have had the sense to come in out of the rain before the lightning began!”
The irreverent remark broke the somber mood and the ladies began to giggle. Even the man had to shake his jowls and smile at the macabre joke before concluding his story.
“Fortunately, Collins wasn’t a family man, so at least there is no widow or orphans to worry about.” He casually consulted his pocket watch. “I best rejoin the men in the library now. You ladies have a nice day and let this be a lesson. Stay indoors whenever you see lightning on the horizon.”
Darcy felt as though she was floating outside of her body. Surely this was just a bad dream and she would wake at any moment.
In the distance, someone said, “Goodness, you just never know when you’re living the last day of your life. I had an acquaintance in St. Louis who died a few years ago when a horse suddenly bucked with no warning, throwing him to the ground right on top of a stone. He died instantly, leaving a wife and five small children to fend for themselves.”
A few of the women clucked and shook their heads with empathy; then began telling other stories about close encounters with death.
Darcy stared at her hands, her mind racing. She was afraid to meet anyone’s gaze, for fear they would see the truth in her eyes. All at once, she felt a woman’s strong arm on her elbow, guiding her to her feet and towards the door.
It was Margaret Plant. “There now, Mrs. Loughman. I think this dreadful weather and shocking news might have been a bit much for you. You seem to be suffering from a touch of the vapors. Let’s go inside. Ladies, if you will excuse us….”
The morbid conversation barely missed a beat as Margaret and Darcy made their exit. Darcy was somewhat aware of the conversation fading away as they walked down one of the long corridors of the hotel. Honor cried as they walked, experiencing the same indescribable pain that Darcy was feeling.
Once they were safely tucked away in a quiet corner, Margaret began, “There now, Mrs. Loughman. No good would come from those ladies learning how familiar you were with the dead golf instructor, now would it?”
Darcy stared at Margaret incredulously, still trying to comprehend the events of the morning. She fumbled, unable to form a complete sentence. “How… When… Pardon me?”
Margaret shrugged. “I know many things. Now tell me… how big is the tangle in your ball of yarn? I can help you straighten it out, but I need to know everything.” She paused. “Do you want my help?”
“Yes,” choked Darcy, as the first of her alligator tears began to fall. “I loved him so. We were going away to be a family. We were leaving in a few weeks, before my belly begins to swell.” She looked at her stomach and then raised her horror-filled eyes to meet Margaret’s; the reality of her plight finally beginning to sink in.
When Honor felt herself falling into the fog and leaving this memory, she finally began to voice her horror, “No, no! Not now! Please no! This can’t happen!”
She woke to the sound of someone pounding on her door. Fighting to orient herself, she realized Josh was calling out to her. She sprang from the bed and yanked the door open.
Josh’s face was contorted by fright, but Honor was unable to speak about what she had just witnessed. She fell into his arms, sobbing so hard she could barely catch her breath. Josh held her tight as he stepped inside.
The room was so cold that Josh thought he might actually be able to see his breath. Without letting go of his grip on Honor, he kicked the door closed and pulled her over to the bed. He wrapped the down comforter around her shoulders and sat rocking her, letting her cry until she was finally able to gain enough control over her emotions to tell him what had happened.
When she finished, Josh gave one of his low whistles and tried to comfort her. “I know it was horrible, but remember -- all those things happened over a century ago.” He stopped short when the look on her face told him that for her, no time had passed at all. Just a few minutes ago, she witnessed the death of a man and the heartbreak of a woman in the year 1897. Honor’s connection with Darcy was so strong now that she felt Darcy’s agonizing pain as if it were her own.
Honor closed her eyes and rested against Josh’s strong shoulder. “The more I discover about Darcy, the less I understand what I’m supposed to learn from her.” She thought for a moment. “Maybe she’s trying to teach me that you never know how much time you have with the person you love, so you’d better treasure every moment.”
Josh kissed the top of her head tenderly. “Hard teacher, but good lesson.”