Flora Speer Love Just In Time

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to me if you hadn't been present when I arrived in this time."
"If I were in India, perhaps you would have appeared there," he said, "for I do believe that you and I
were meant to meet and love. I also believe that you will remain in this time."
"So do I." After a minute she added, "I have no desire to return to my old life. I belong here with
you."
"Then," he said, "believing as you do, and in view of the fact that you now know all there is to know
about me, don't you think the time has come for you to reveal your deepest secret to your loving
husband?"
"Jack, I would never for a single minute dream that I know everything there is to know about you,"
Clary said. "Learning to know you is going to take me the rest of my life."
"I feel the same way about you, sweetheart, which is why I need to know the truth."
"What truth?" Clary could not look at him. She was frantically trying to think of a way to avoid
saying what he was going to insist on knowing. She told herself she should have expected
this turn of events.
"About your husband's infidelity," he insisted gently. "I have known since the first time you
spoke of it that you were not telling me the complete story."
"I would rather not talk about it," she murmured.
"You are evading my questions, just as I used to evade yours," he said, "and I am certain
you are doing it with less reason than I had, for there is no one in this time who can be hurt
by what you might say. Clary, surely you know there is nothing you cannot tell me. You are
the one who has always insisted on a marriage based on honesty. Be honest with me now."
She heard the slight crack in his voice that betrayed how important this was to him. Because
she loved him, she felt compelled to do as he asked, to describe the scene that had
shattered her old life.
"It's not a pretty story," she said. "It is the reason why I have always found it difficult to trust
you completely, though I knew from the beginning that you are a very different kind of man
from Rich."
The short December day was ending, and in the gathering twilight, Clary found the courage
to say what might have been too embarrassing to reveal in the bright glare of noon.
"I
have already described to you how I found Rich in our bed with a lover."
"A close friend to both of you," Jack added, giving her a verbal nudge when she paused.
"She could not have been a true friend to you if she would lie with your husband."
"Not she. He." It was hard to say those first few words, but once started, the story poured out
of her. "He was a mutual friend, whom we had known for years. He was Rich's best man
when we were married. He visited our house frequently on Sunday afternoons or Monday
evenings to watch the football games with Rich. I even tried to match him up with some of my
unmarried girlfriends. And all the time he and Rich were a pair. And I never guessed.
"In the twentieth century, we are a lot freer about such things than you are in these days, but
even so, I cannot describe the shock I felt when I walked in on them and saw what they were
doing. Within a second or two my entire life shifted so that I saw myself and my marriage
from a new perspective. Incidents and remarks I hadn't understood before suddenly made
sense to me and I realized how stupid I had been."
"Not stupid. Honest and trusting, and your trust was abused. Clary, you should not have been
witness to such a scene." Jack made no move to touch her, apparently understanding that
she needed to stand alone while she finished what she had to say.
"I thought I was going to die. I couldn't breathe, my heart was banging against my rib cage,
and I
couldn't see straight. I don't know how I got to my car or where I drove before I found myself
on the bridge." She stopped, looking up at him through the blue twilight. She was filled with a
sense of surprise and mounting joy. "It is absolutely amazing, Jack, but telling you after
holding all of this inside for so long, I have just realized that it doesn't matter anymore. I can
remember feeling those terrible emotions, but all I feel about that night right now is
indifference. I am cured of caring about Rich and of blaming myself because my marriage
went wrong. All of it happened literally in another lifetime. I guess you could say that, as of
this day, you and I are free of our pasts."
"Of the harmful effects," he said. "Not of the lessons learned."
"I feel lighter," she said.
"I have recently experienced a similar phenomenon. Truth telling does wondrously improve
one's vitality and one's hopes for the future."
She took his hands, standing there in the snow, and when she smiled at him, she saw his
wide smile flash in response.
"I love you, Jack Martin, and I thank God you found me in time," she said. "You saved my life
in more ways than one."
"Sweetheart." He bent his head to kiss her. '"Twas you who found me by driving into the
canal on the most fortunate day of my life."
Epilogue
The combined christening celebration and Fourth of July picnic was a great success. The
best of Sarah's food was set out upon the tables placed on the lawn in front of the house. A
few of the men who had worked with Jack on the canal and who had then chosen to settle
down in the area rather than move on to some other canal project were present with their
families, as were two neighboring landholders, with their wives and children, and several
businessmen from Bohemia Village. Even Benjamin Wilmot and his wife and daughter had
come from Philadelphia. They all spread out across the open field, sitting on chairs or on
blankets spread on the ground, eating and talking while their children ran about chasing
butterflies or taking turns riding on Justin's pony.
Clary sat in the shade beneath a tree with James Gordon Martin, the
three-week-old
guest of honor, sleeping peacefully in his cradle beside her.
"Do not allow yourself to become overtired, Clary," Philly warned, stooping to look at the baby.
"I am completely recovered. Sarah makes a wonderful midwife."
"She has just told me that Jack is planning to hire more employees for the farm and to put Moses
in charge of them."
"That's right. Jack won't have time to help much with the harvest this year," Clary said. "The
ClaryRose has been so successful that he and Sam are talking about buying a second ship,
which means he will have to spend longer hours with the account books. I will be occupied with
Jamie, so I won't be much use in the fields, though I can still help Sarah in the kitchen. And then,
of course, Luke will be leaving in August." Clary looked across the meadow to where Luke and
Justin were leading the other young people in a rather disorganized game with a large ball.
"I know my brother had something to do with Mr. Wilmot offering to arrange a place for Luke at
that school in Philadelphia," Philly remarked.
"Luke has made such rapid progress that I can't teach him anything more," Clary said. "That
young man is bright. He just needs a chance to show what he can do."
"I hope he will make the most of the opportunity Mr. Wilmot is offering." Philly shaded her eyes,
looking toward the road. "Clary, here come more guests. Is that Mr. MacKenzie?"
"Sam!" Clary hurried forward to meet the cart pulling up where the gravel drive divided and one
branch led behind the house to the barn. "Rose! I was beginning to think you weren't coming."
"We dropped anchor in Back Creek earlier this morning." Sam helped his passenger to alight as
he spoke. "Rose wouldn't let me miss this great event." He broke off to shake Jack's hand and
congratulate him on the birth of his son.
"We have, however, missed the baptism itself," Rose snapped, "which is most improper of us."
"Ah, would ye listen to her?" Sam said to Clary. "Wed less than a week, and already she's naggin'
at her poor husband. I tell ye, Clary lass "
"Married?" Clary asked, interrupting him. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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