Page 24 of A Touch for All Time (For All Time #3)

G ray lay in the dark on Mrs. Darling’s sofa thinking about the last few days with Aria in the twenty-first century. He tried to decide which had been more thrilling, the cyclone roller coaster with its slow, rumbling climb toward the heavens perhaps to meet an extraordinary “plane” soaring through the clouds, only to tip over the top and descend with heart-stopping speed.

Or perhaps watching a movie in a theater was the most thrilling. His ears weren’t used to the extremely loud volume of the various happenings on the “screen”, and even the music bursting forth, but he’d already felt half-deaf from being in the front seat on the roller coaster with someone screaming behind him. He also never thought it possible for people to appear so large that their heads were as tall as his body. And how did the soldiers fly through the skies in their giant contraptions that resembled birds? His multitude of questions had to remain a mystery until after the movie, when Aria could explain it all to him. Ten breaths into the movie he’d found out not to speak when everyone, including Aria, shushed him. He still wasn’t sure how he had felt as if he were there with the “pilot” beyond the clouds in his “jet fighter”, breathing into a mask, and wondering if there would be anything left of him if he fell from the stars.

But lying there in her parents’ living room, Gray knew what thrilled him most. Dancing with Aria in her proper attire of tiny “shorts” that were short alright. They very pleasingly fit her like her own skin, and with her matching lavender colored “crop top”, she danced with more freedom of movement. Gray had believed each time he saw her that he surely had died and gone to heaven. He remembered thinking there was no way his darling could be so beautiful, but there she had been, tempting him beyond reason to reach out and touch her as she told stories with her movement to the hauntingly beautiful music coming from the small box she called a speaker…touch her before she faded away like some fevered dream. Breaking his heart when he let himself think clearly without her on his mind. But she was always there, making him selfishly want more.

When they were escaping Harry Gable, Aria had leaped into his arms. Then, her spine and shoulders were stiff with fear of falling. She hadn’t made the leap again since, even though, now, her bones were unbroken. She had two years of fear to erase. Gray wanted to help her forget. He wanted to dance with her for the rest of his life. But there wasn’t any more time.

He wanted to say that he knew things might end with Aria since last night’s dream, but he’d known before that. It was not by a seer’s power; though that particular “gift” was prevalent on the Blagden side of his family, he, thankfully, did not possess it. He knew he had to leave Aria because he had to go back for the animals—perhaps even for Beatrice, if she wanted to travel to the future with him. He couldn’t leave them all to Cavendish. No matter how much he loved, and lived and breathed for Aria, he couldn’t abandon them again.

There was the risk of being caught and tried and found guilty. Gray didn’t want Aria there if that happened. If he had to leap out of 1795 fast, he might not be close enough to grab hold of her. He’d rather burn than leave her to his enemies.

He didn’t sleep. He doubted if he ever would again, especially after the dream he’d had last night of his friends burning in the forest flames all around them. Kit and his fox mate, Maple, yelped and cried out as they tried to escape the fire with their pups. Matilda the raven and Onyx the alpha wolf from the north tried to escape but Matilda’s wings smoldered, and she scrambled as she fell to the earth. Ash snapped at the embers falling into his fur.

Where is Grayson? He heard a red squirrel squeak.

How did this happen?

Where is Grayson? Has he left us again?

Even now, wide awake as the sun began its ascent, Gray cringed and writhed as one in pain at the memory of the dream and finally sat up. He looked toward Aria’s bedroom door. He wanted to wake her, promise to return to her.

Harper had begged him not to return to the past. She’d never come to him with news of worsening conditions under Cavendish’s rule. He couldn’t wait. What if Cavendish was going to set fire to the forest in the morning?

He squeezed his eyes shut. He should have told Aria yesterday. He could have tried to explain to her that he had to save the animals. They were the only family he’d had for a long time. But she would insist on coming with him—and he had to keep her away.

So, as dawn seeped through the curtained windows and bathed the room in a soft rosy glow, he left the sofa, got dressed in his eighteenth-century clothes, and without looking back at her bedroom door, focused all his thoughts on the forest around Dartmouth castle. Just this one last time, he swore in his heart.

This was no cause for a broken heart or tears. He would be back. Or he would die trying.

*

The phone rang in her ear, along with her pumping heart. The person on the other end picked up.

“Hello, Harper? It’s Aria. He’s gone.” As the words left her mouth and settled on her ears, Aria brought her shaking hand to her nose to wipe it. She wanted to cry, to scream, to swear. “I saw him. I woke up and went to him. I saw the forest where my living room wall was supposed to be. He had stepped over and…and he didn’t even look back. Then the wall returned, and he was gone. Did he leave me? I think I’m going to be hysterical. Please find him and send him back, Harper.”

Aria hung up and looked around. She couldn’t stay here and fall apart in front of her parents.

She could barely think straight. He left. He left. He went back without her.

She pulled on a pair of jeans and a lightweight sweatshirt. Slipped on a pair of sandals and grabbed her sorely missed favorite bag. But not even the ease of dressing without the help of a servant made her happy to be in the twenty-first century without him.

She walked the streets painted amber in the morning sun, wiping tears from her cheeks. He was long dead in her time. So was her brother. The idea of it made her burst into a fit of tears. She thought these last few days of visiting the amusement park, the Empire State Building, the movies, would make Gray want to stay. She had so much more to show him, but he hadn’t even given her the chance. Why? Why had he run home? Why hadn’t he said goodbye? It wasn’t like him. He wasn’t a coward. Had he gone back for Conn?

“Gray,” she said softly, hoping, praying that he could somehow hear her. “Just send me word that you’re coming back to me. Come back to me.”

But no word came.

She remained in bed the next day and refused to eat or speak to anyone when they tried to ask her where Gray had gone. What could she tell them, that Gray had abandoned—?

No. He wouldn’t. How could she have doubted him? Wherever or whenever he was, he would return to her. She’d wasted enough time crying and upsetting her mother.

Resigned to trust that he hadn’t dumped her and left to go century hopping, she got out of bed. The first thing she did was check her phone. She hadn’t missed it. She’d never received good news on it. No missed calls. 8pm. What happened to Harper? Aria was tempted to call her. Had she heard anything from Gray? Was he okay? Was Conn okay? Soon, she’d have to tell her parents something about their son. Had they been caught and accused of being witches? Was Harper and Mrs. B. trying to save them, or was it too late and they didn’t want to tell her? Time did not flow smoothly from century to century. Gray could have returned to Dartmouth a year before he left it.

She put her phone down and wrung her hands, then picked it up again, tapped her pathetically short list of contacts. She was about to tap Harper’s name when the front doorbell rang. She heard her mother walk by her bedroom door to answer it.

She almost rushed out, hoping it was Gray, but she heard Harper’s voice and nearly passed out instead. Why was Harper here? Why hadn’t she called? Did she have news she would only give face to face?

Aria’s eyes stung. She couldn’t go out there. She didn’t want to hear.

Someone knocked. She stared at the door, breath stilled.

“Aria, sweetheart. There’s a woman here named Harper Black to see you.”

Aria wanted to cry for her mother to send their visitor away, but she wouldn’t put her mother in such an awkward situation.

She walked to the door. Had her heart stopped beating? Was she breathing? Her mind had forgotten how to continue living.

Closing her eyes, she closed her hand around the doorknob, turned it, and opened the door.

She saw Harper. Her eyes didn’t appear swollen and red. Their visitor looked toward Aria’s mother, who took the hint and excused herself to make some coffee.

When they were alone, Aria stared at her, waiting for her to speak.

Please. Please. Please.

“Forgive me for making you wait. I wanted to make sure what I was telling you was accurate.”

Aria could feel a thick fog settling over her. “Tell me,” she managed.

“Yes,” Harper breathed out, making Aria sway on her feet. “Alright, well, he returned to his father and things got ugly.”

“Ugly?”

Harper nodded and sighed. “According to my grandmother, Gray warned him not to touch his title or his castle and lands or he would go on a warpath and kill Timothy and his mother—and then he’d come for the duke. I don’t think he meant it. Grayson hated killing in the king’s army, but I don’t know what he will do if the duke tries to give everything to Cavendish.”

“Why did he go back?” Aria asked. “Did something happen?”

“Grandmother didn’t say.”

“You haven’t seen him then or Connall?”

Harper shook her head.

Aria was about to ask her how exactly they stayed in contact and could Aria contact Gray in the same way? But she didn’t want to just speak with him. She wanted to fill her senses with him. To see him smile at her the instant he saw her, to hear him say her name in his soft, resonating voice, to smell his scent—that faint scent of forest and fresh air, to touch him, and taste him while he kissed her senseless. If she didn’t do so soon, she’d go out of her mind.

“Tell your grandmother…tell Mrs. B. to take me to him,” she demanded. Then added a softer, “Please.”

Harper gave her a regretful look and shook her head. “She can’t.”

“Why not? I thought she could do—”

“He doesn’t want you there,” Harper cut her off. “He expressly forbade her from contacting you.”

If he appeared and ran her through with his sword, it would have felt the same for Aria. She staggered against the wall, then turned and clutched it to keep her upright. What had she done to make him just completely cut her off like this? Nothing! She’d done nothing for him to have a change of heart. And even if she had done the most heinous thing, she didn’t believe he would leave in the night without a word.

He didn’t want her to go back in case his enemies hurt her. Here in the future, they were powerless against her.

“I don’t know what his plans are,” Harper continued. “But he requested that my grandmother transfer all his assets to you.”

“He doesn’t plan on coming back,” Aria murmured in a whisper. It was all she could manage.

“Right,” Harper agreed, “and there’s a good chance he’ll die there. The Cavendishes have friends on the council. If Grayson’s caught and charged with witchcraft, they’ll try to burn him. That’s why I’ve disobeyed my grandmother and come here. And that’s why I’ll bring you back to convince him to live here with you. I know he loves you, Aria. This isn’t what he really wants.”

“You’ll bring me to him? Really?”

Harper nodded, and then gave a short, soft laugh when Aria threw herself in her arms and hugged her.

“When should we go? Right now?” The sooner the better for Aria. She couldn’t wait to set her eyes on him. It felt as if a year had passed since she had.

“Alright, go tell your family you’ll be back in a day or two.”

Aria agreed and hurried off to tell her parents she’d be staying with Mrs. B’s granddaughter Harper for a few days. Before they left, she changed into a pair of leggings, a bustier-style top that was most similar to her eighteenth-century bodice, and a cropped hoodie.

She’d agreed to meet Harper outside in front of the building, but Harper wasn’t there when Aria arrived. At first, Aria thought she’d changed her mind and left without her, but then she saw Harper running toward her.

“We have to hurry,” Harper breathed, reaching her. “There’s trouble. A fire.”

Fire? Aria nearly fainted at the thought of them burning Gray…no. Please, God. “Wait!” She hurried to the door. “I have to go back up!”

“What for?” Harper asked impatiently.

“A fire extinguisher. If there’s a fire, we’ll need it. My brother bought one for my father the Christmas of 2021. It should still be in the kitchen. I’ll be right back!”

Aria sweated waiting for the elevator. She tapped her foot while it ascended, then burst out when it reached her floor, and the doors opened. She made up a ridiculous excuse about seeing one of the neighbors who asked to borrow the fire extinguisher. Without explaining further, she procured the extinguisher, kissed her mother on the way out and raced back to Harper.

“My key!” Aria gasped when Harper pulled the gold key from her pocket. “You had it all this time?”

“I couldn’t let you leave him,” Harper explained quickly while she pulled Aria back to the building’s front doors. “I wanted to give you both a few more days together. I knew he was losing his heart to you.”

She moved to insert the key, but Aria stopped her. “The key won’t fit that door—”

“It will fit any door,” Harper said, then turned the inserted key and pushed the door open.

Aria immediately smelled smoke in the air. It was midday and the sun still shone, but a mammoth charcoal cloud was slowly approaching. They stood atop the roof between the parapets of Dartmouth castle. The roof where she’d seen him dance for the first time. From their vantage point, they could see the smoke rising from the treetops in the north.

“Is that a forest fire?” Aria asked, her words snatched away on the wind.

But Harper caught them and pulled her gaze away from the smoke to turn to her.

They both knew in the same instant that if there was a fire that threatened his friends, that’s where Gray would be. Aria also knew that her measly fire extinguisher was no match against a forest fire.

Together they raced out of the castle not stopping to speak to anyone. Harper led her to the stables and helped her mount a strong young stallion. Harper leaped up in back of her and gave the horse a gentle kick with her heels.

It didn’t take them long to reach the tree line north of the castle, and the billowing smoke rising from the center.

Dismounting, Aria pulled the pin on the extinguisher, unlocking the lever. She’d be ready if they came upon flames.

They were about to enter the forest when they saw three men carrying fiery torches and walking along the tree line ahead of them. They were lighting more of the trees on fire! Aria raced forward with Harper close behind. When Aria reached the backs of the men, she lifted her fire extinguisher high over her head and brought the metal canister back across the man’s head. He went down almost instantly. She hoped she hadn’t killed him, but there was no time to check. The second and third men were coming for her. As the third grew closer first, she spun in a pirouette and smashed her foot into his face. When he paused and swooned, she brought the bottom of the metal extinguisher down into his jaw and knocked him out.

The second brute had Harper by the throat, her punches having no effect on him.

“Harper!” Aria called out. When Harper looked at her, Aria motioned for her to duck.

Sinking her teeth into her captor’s arm worked at loosening his grip. Harper was able to lower her head. It was enough for Aria to pull the lever and shoot a quick blast of extinguishing agent into the arsonist thug’s face.

They heard a cry in the air as the second man screamed and coughed and gasped for air.

Aria looked up. Toric! And then she saw movement within the trees.

She ran forward with Harper hot on her heels. She didn’t see many flames, but the underbrush was burning. It would be almost impossible for the animals to run on the ground.

She pulled the lever again and fired the agent onto the ground while she ran forward.

She almost fell over Gray’s body.

“Gray! “Gray!” She screamed falling to her knees to lift his head in her arms. She didn’t wait for Harper to catch up, but quickly checked to see if he was breathing. He was! She felt dizzy with relief.

His eyes fluttered open and he smiled when he saw her. “I dreamed…” He coughed and began again, his voice weak. “I dreamed this. I couldn’t abandon my friends to the fire. I came back to save them, Aria.”

“Ssh, don’t speak, my love,” she whispered gently, holding him.

“I would have found a way back to you,” he breathed out, his eyes closing again. “I love you…” He was quiet. Aria feared he had passed out again. But then, she heard him.…“most.”

Harper appeared beside her and together they hoisted him up and dragged him beyond the trees. She heard Toric cawing overhead and felt as if she could understand him. The others. She turned to look behind her and saw a line of forest critters and a few deer following on the cooling ground.

When they broke through the trees, Aria and Harper collapsed with an unconscious Gray between them.

Aria was no nurse, but she knew Gray could be suffering from smoke inhalation. When she suggested they return to the twenty-first century to get him to a hospital, Harper insisted they bring him to their grandmother first.

“Where’s my brother? Aria pleaded the instant she reached Mrs. B.

“There now,” Mrs. B. said, patting her hand. “He’s well at the Gable holding. He’s been sent for so that he can go home with you.

Aria smiled with great relief, but Mrs. B. wasn’t done. “You disobeyed me,” she admonished her great, great…many times removed granddaughter.

“I know,” Harper said as he was carried away to a sickbed. “I love him.”

Mrs. B. gave Harper a scowl that didn’t reach her eyes and then shifted her gaze to Aria.

“I love him too.”

Mrs. B. broke into a smile. “I’m glad my Gray is so well-loved.

“Our Gray,” Aria corrected, then followed her up the stairs to Gray’s room, where he was being put into bed.

Mrs. B’s gaze warmed on Aria. “He didn’t want to be separated from you, Aria, dear. But he was afraid that if they caught you, they would do the same thing to you that they did to his mother. He told me if that happened, he would step into the flames with you. There would be no point in him escaping.”

Aria felt like bursting into tears. He’d risked his life and their life together to come back and save his friends and she loved him all the more for it. She wouldn’t lose him now that she’d willingly returned to the past for him.

They were quiet while Tessa Blagden examined him. When she stood over him, quiet for a long time, Aria went to her. Was she a healer? Was she healing her grandson?

“What are you doing?” she asked the older woman.

“I’m praying, dear.”

Aria nodded and joined her, taking Gray’s hand while she bowed her head. She prayed first to God, and then,

Gray, my darling love, if you can hear me in that thick beautiful skull of yours, I need you. I need to be by your side as your wife with your seven children around our knees, loving you enough to have seven more. Come back to me, Gray. Come back and dance with me again. Come back and touch me again.

His finger moved over hers, startling her and making her look at his hand. He tightened his grip as she held his hand and then moved his pinkie over hers again.

Tears filled her vision, and she swiped them away to see him. His eyes were still closed, but his touch promised her a lifetime.