No Future Christmas (26 page)

But the world began to heal itself.
Four new CEOs took over
temporarily.
Changes were made, demanded by the public who would never be duped
again.
Each CEO had an oversight committee.
Each had to be elected for a term
no longer than six years.
If a scandal occurred on their watch they were
imprisoned for life, no ifs, ands, or buts.
Independent police organizations
rose once again.
They worked under the same rule worldwide but were headed by
regional officers also elected by the population.
No one would ever have total
control of a worldwide organization again.

Ever.

* * * * *

Mike and Shauna hadn’t had time to be together much since
Switzerland.
Now, a month later they entered Shauna’s apartment back in New
York and fell to the sofa in exhaustion.
They’d been sent all over the world as
ambassadors for The Subversives.
They explained in detail how they uncovered
the biggest scandal in over one hundred years.
Hailed as heroes Douglas and
Louise Wentworth were given the Nobel Prize for Integrity, a new category
developed by the organization that gave out the awards.
Their SubCorp group was
made the oversight company for the CEOs and the regional heads of the police
force.

“So, here we are, alone and not on the run for the first
time since I’ve met you.” Mike pulled Shauna close to him.
He kissed Shauna’s
lower lip and sucked on it until she groaned in surrender.
“What should we do?”
He playfully pulled on her lip, then ran his tongue over it to soothe the red
area.
Shauna kissed Mike and hugged him to her.
The hug felt different to Mike.
Desperate.
“What’s wrong, love?” He put his finger under her chin and forced
her to look directly in his eyes.

“I love you, Mike.
I’ll always love you.”

“Uh-oh, that sounds like a brush-off.” Mike straightened on
the sofa.
His heart sank to his toes.
His knees felt weak.
“Here comes the
I-had-a-great-time-but-now-it’s-over speech.”

“No… I don’t know.”

“I love you, Shauna.
I’ve asked you to marry me.
You said
yes.” Mike couldn’t believe he’d been wrong about her.
How could she leave him
when they finally had a chance to make a life together?
He knew that life
without her would be long and painful and prepared for the worst.

“I would marry you in an instant.
I’ve never loved anyone as
much as I love you.
But here’s the problem.” Shauna sucked in a breath then
blurted out, “where are we going to live?
In my time or yours?”

“I don’t know, Shauna.
The sacrifices are huge for both of
us.”

Tears fell down her cheeks leaving glistening tracks on her
face.
Mike’s heart flipped over at the sight.
He felt his eyes water and
struggled to hold back his own tears.
“Do we have to make that decision right
now?”

“How long can we put it off?
Don’t you want to go home and
see your brother?”

Mike did.
He ached to see Scott.
“I do.
But I don’t want to
leave you either.
I feel as if my heart will break into hard little pieces if I
leave you.”

“Exactly my point.” Shauna sniffled.
She went to the
bathroom and came back with a tissue.
After blowing her nose she tossed the
wadded tissue onto the coffee table.
Mike watched it unfold, clean and ready
for use again.

“We’re both tired, sweetheart.
Let’s sleep on this.
Maybe
we’ll come up with a solution in the morning.” Shauna nodded her agreement.

Mike scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the
bedroom.
He lay with her on the bed for a while and stared at her beautiful
face.
She stared back with love and sadness.
He stroked her forehead, around
her eyes and down her perfect nose then lowered his head and kissed her with
all the love he had in his heart.
When he came up for air he said, “You’re
mine.
You’ll always be mine.”

* * * * *

The force of his words struck Shauna.
She was his.
Would
always be his.
She pulled off her clothes in a hurry and ripped at the buttons
on Mike’s shirt.
“I want you naked.
I need to see you, touch you, smell you.”
They tangled in their attempt to undress him but neither one found it funny.
Once their clothes were a pile on the floor, Shauna kissed Mike.

The kiss told of love, passion and desperation.
Shauna
wanted this night to be perfect.
If she had to remember one night with Mike,
this would be it.
She touched him softly, then raked her fingers across his
back.
Their tongues dueled, a fight to the finish.
Their hearts beat together,
their breaths were one.

She kissed him all the way down to his erection where she
brought him to a fever pitch of desperation.
He cried out her name, begged her
to take him to the end of time.
She did just that when she climbed on top of
him and met him thrust for thrust.

The peak was near, the tension unbearable.
Shauna knew only
Mike, loved only Mike.
At the last second he flipped her over and drove into
her.
“Mine.
You’re mine,” he cried.
They crested the highest mountain, fell
into the deepest valley and their two hearts became one.

* * * * *

The next morning Mike and Shauna sat at the kitchen table
without speaking.
Mike knew this was D-day.
The decision would be made and
there’d be no turning back.
He hadn’t slept much thinking about whether he’d
give up his time and live in Shauna’s.
He didn’t think Shauna slept much
either.
The doorbell rang and Shauna said, “Door open.” She didn’t get up from
the table, which showed Mike that she too felt weighed down by their decision.

“Good morning, my children.” Louise Wentworth breezed into
the room, Douglas trailing behind her with a large basket of fresh fruit.
“Everyone ready for a wedding?”

Shauna burst into tears and fled to the bedroom.

“Good going, Louise,” Douglas muttered.
He put the basket on
the kitchen table and turned to Mike.
“You two have a fight?”

“No.
We can’t decide which time we are going to live in.
I
think the wedding’s off.” The thought scared the hell out of Mike.
“I need her,
Doug.
How am I going to live without her?”

Louise took one look at Mike, frowned at her husband and
stomped to the bedroom.

“I know that look and it doesn’t bode well for Shauna.
Let’s
sit back and watch the fireworks.” Douglas sat in a chair, crossed his arms
across his chest and leaned back on two legs.
He looked like a man settling in
for a good football game.

“I don’t think this is the right time for Louise to scold
Shauna.
This is big.”

“I know.
Just wait, son.
You’ll see what I mean.”

Not one minute later Louise pulled Shauna out of the
bedroom.
The words flowed as Shauna trailed behind her.
“In all my born days
I’ve never seen two people more in love than you two blockheads.
Except maybe
your father and me.
But that’s beside the point.” Louise waved her hand in the
air.
“Sit.
So, you live in different time zones, big deal.”

“What?” both Shauna and Mike said at the same time.

“Mom,” Shauna said, exasperation dripping from her tone.
“They’re not time zones like I’d have to move across the country.
They’re
centuries.”

“I know that darling.
Sit.” Louise pointed to the sofa.
Shauna sat.
“What’s your biggest fear, daughter?”

“That I’ll not see you again.” Shauna jumped back up.
“Mom,
I just found you and Dad.
I can’t… I won’t let you go again.”

“Mike, what’s your biggest fear?” Louise asked him, ignoring
Shauna’s pacing.

“I have two.
One, that I’ll never see my brother Scott
again.
I raised him.
We’re so close.
I feel as if I’d be abandoning him.”
Mike’s throat closed up and he couldn’t speak for a minute.
After clearing it a
couple of times he said, “And two, that if I go back I’ll never see Shauna
again.
I can’t imagine life without her by my side.
It’s a no-win situation,”
Mike said glumly.

“For two highly intelligent people you sure are dense.”
Louise flopped on the sofa and waited with an expectant look on her face.

Shauna stood over her mother glaring.
“Dad, can’t you get
her to make sense?”

Louise stood up and pointed to her husband.
“Don’t you dare
interfere here.
And you sit,” she said to Shauna.

Douglas grinned from ear to ear.
“Oh, I won’t interfere, my
darling wife.
You’re doing a fine job of it all by yourself.”

Louise harrumphed but turned to her daughter.
“What’s that
job you do every day again?”

“You know darn well, Mom—” Shauna stopped.
“Oh my God!
I
hadn’t thought of that.”

“What?” Mike asked.
He saw the look of joy spreading across
Shauna’s face and felt his first sense of hope since last night.
In two strides
he was beside, her holding her hand.

“So, are we having a wedding or not?” Louise asked.
She
looked like the cat that swallowed the cream.

“Don’t leave me in the dark, Shauna,” Mike said.
“I’m only
the groom.
Or am I?”

A blinding radiance filled Shauna.
Mike gaped at her beauty
and wondered why he hadn’t seen her like that before.
For the first time in his
life he felt his legs quiver and knew they wouldn’t hold him up.
He sank to the
floor right in front of her and dropped his head into his lap afraid he might
pass out.

Shauna fell to her knees.
She raised his head and kissed him
all over his face.
With both hands she pulled him up and said, “Mike Forrester,
I’m honored to be your wife and would love to live in your century.”

The unexpected rush of love and relief that filled Mike
surprised him.
Tears slid down his cheeks.
“But how can you give up your
parents?” he whispered.

“I won’t be giving them up,” Shauna laughed.
“You see, I’m
the inventor of time travel.
I can go back and forth, didn’t we already prove
it?”

“There aren’t any side effects from traveling between
centuries so much?”

“No.
I’ve been in your time more than you realize.
I’ve
worked secretly with Planet Care Health Systems to make sure time travel was
safe.”

“Sweetheart, are you sure you want to live between our two
worlds?” He knew it was the only way but wanted to be sure of Shauna’s
feelings.
She’d be doing the traveling most of the time, but Mike vowed he’d
come back to visit her family.
He loved them too much not to.

“I’m positive,” Shauna said.

The glowing look of love that radiated from Shauna was all
Mike needed to see.
He turned to Louise and Douglas and said, “Well?
What are
we waiting for?”

* * * * *

They were married the next day in a small civil ceremony.
Douglas and Louise stood beside them.
The judge pronounced them man and wife
and Shauna launched herself into Mike’s arms.
“I love you, I love you, I love
you.”

“And I love you too, wife.” Mike kissed her long and hard.
He was never letting this woman go.
They turned to her parents.
“I can’t thank
you enough for letting me take your daughter away from you.
I’ll protect her
with my life.
I’ll love her until the day I die.”

“You’d better,” Douglas said.
“I don’t let just any time
traveler take my daughter to another century, you know.” Everyone laughed but
tears flowed freely.

“As soon as we’re settled we’ll be back to visit.
I need to
keep up my skycar practice,” Mike said.

“See that you do, Forrester,” Douglas said.