Authors: Beth Trissel
“It doesn’t matter who
you are,” she
finally
whispered.
“That’s another thing not to say to a man.
He’ll assume he can do as he likes.
”
“You can.”
Will clenched
his teeth in firm
resolve. “No. I can’t.
It wouldn’t be fair to you.”
She looked up at him with a potent blend of yearning a
nd confusion in her expression.
“But, Will,
I love you.”
Smoothing
strands of reddish-gold hair
from the side of her face, he asked,
“Do you r
eally, or is it Cole you long for?”
“Can’t I love both?”
“Yes.
But I can’t
be
both
to fulfill some
strange
fantasy
.”
“So you truly
think I’m addled in the head?”
He blinked against the stunni
ng effect of her entreating eyes
.
“You’re the most enchanting girl I’ve ever known.”
“But a balm pot?”
“Just obsessed with the past.”
“Will, don’t
you see?
We are the past.”
He fought the urge to devour her tempting mouth
and
reason
ed
with her
instead
.
“Where does that leave us now?”
“To learn from it
and rejoice in our happiness.”
“It’s not that simple
,
dear heart,
even if for a
single
moment I believed you.”
Tears welled up in the liquid depths of her green gaze
and she pulled away from him.
He let her go, following with his eyes as she stumbled blindly across the
room.
“Julia
––
”
“No
––
”
she choked out, and
sank
down
in a corner
beside a sheet-covered form where she
sat, hugging hers
elf.
How forlorn
she
seemed sunk amid the
clutter from past centuries
, shaking with
the
sobs she battled to quell
.
He felt like a total cad
.
Perhaps he should simply play along with her del
usion.
It would make her happy
and Lord knows he hung on her every
heart-wrenching
smile.
But how, in all good conscience, could he do that?
Boiling
over
with frus
tration
and
uncertain what to do
,
Will
walked
quietly to Julia
.
He
k
n
elt and
gathered her
, shaking,
in
his arms.
If only he could truly
comfort her as eve
ry part of him hungered to do.
He didn’t dare.
“I don’t know what’s happening between us, but I won’t walk away.”
She sniff
ed, resting her head against his chest
,
then
––
“
Will
,
look,” she whispered
hoarsely
.
The sheet covering the pale shape beside them
was slipping
to the floor
as if drawn by an unseen hand.
There, l
eaning
against the
attic
wall
,
was the
partiall
y completed portrait of a woman, a
highborn
lady.
Not just any lady.
Will saw
at once tha
t this painting was
Cole
’s
work
.
But that wasn’t what struck him so fo
rcefully
his mouth went dry
.
It
was the woman, her sweet
face, wide green eyes, an
d wealth of copper hair
.
Julia gave a small gasp.
Will absorbed the image in disbelief
.
Cole
’s masterful
strokes
had captured
Julia perfectly.
Her
unspoiled
loveliness shone forth
from the canvas
in
luxuriant brushwo
rk and rich color, a marvelous
blend of movement and light
reminiscent of
Rembrandt
.
He’d
admired the hounds and horses painted by his remarkable
ancestor, but Cole’s greatest achievement was this unfinished jewel.
“What on earth?”
he
whispered, shifting
his incredu
lous gaze to Julia’s
enormous eyes.
How was it possible
that this two hundred year old portrait conveyed the essence of the young woman he
gripped
as if she might somehow tumble
into the painting?
She was rigid in his arms.
“Will
,
” she
said
,
as if
squeezing
the words from her tight throat, “i
t must be
true.
I was here before.”
H
is logical mind balked
at the irrationality of it all.
“Are you Episcopalian
or Buddhist
, for Christ’s sake?”
“Definitely Anglican.”
“T
he
n the
re must be another explanation
.”
“Such as
?”
A
fog of unreality
cloaked
everything about this unique girl
and
Will strove to think
.
“Maybe you’re descended from the original Julia Maury who visited
here in 1806...and your
family name was changed to Morrow over the years, or she’s
from another branch of
the tree.”
“Maybe
, though I
’ve
never heard of her before.
At least, my pare
nts never mentioned her to me.
And e
ven if I am
her descendent
,
how does that explain my crazy sensations and
memories of the past
?”
He snatched at something, anything,
the least bit
reasonable. “Inherited memory.
Animals carry memo
ry from their ancestors.
How else d
o birds know where to migrate?
Perhaps
people
have
something similar, o
nly most
folks
aren’t as
attuned t
o this primal sense
as you are
.
”
Julia
didn’t appear persuaded
, but at least
she
seemed to
consider his theory
.
“
I suppose it’s possible.
S
hould
I
call my parents to
ask if there was a Julia
Maury in the family
who resembled me
because
my portrait’s
hidden away in the attic?
”
“That will
land you
on the next flight home.”
“
Anything I say will.
Especially if
I mention the portrait was painted
by the
very
man Julia
was supposed to
wed
.”
Will shook his head to clear some of the
haze
. “Hold on.
Cole and Julia were engaged?”
Julia stopped
in mid-retort
, her eyes deeply pensive.
“Yes, though
I can’t say how I know
they were
.
I just do.”
Will
ran both
hand
s
through his hair.
“Does that make us engaged
?”
She stared at him blankly
.
“Just
following up on your theory
about us being them
,
”
he said.
“In a way,
I suppose it does.
”
He couldn’t resist playing with her a little.
“
What way might that be?
I mea
n, either we are or we aren’t.
And another
thing, did Cole
ever
make love to her
––
I mean, you
?”
The p
resent day Julia colored t
he
hue of pink pearls
.
“
H
e never
even
kissed her, except her hand and cheek.
He was a proper gentleman.
”
Will smiled.
“I’m re
lieved to hear that.
”
“But you don’t really believe any of this, do you?”
“No.
B
ut as you
do, I’m gl
ad
to know
you’re still chaste.
It’s such a
rare
quality
these days
.”
She
opened her
pretty mouth in protest.
“
Stop be
ing cheeky.
Y
ou
still
haven’t explained the portrait.”
Will
slid the dusty sheet back up over the painting
and tucked it around the
sides
. “I’ve attempted to.
If
you don’t accept my supposition
,
then
I suggest a bizarre coincidence between you and
Julia Maury
.
”
“You sound like a lawyer.”
“I should.
I
spent enou
gh time and money in
law school, even passed the bar.
”
H
er chin
jutted out
at an adorable
angle
that badly made him want to kiss her again
.
“Di
sallowed
, barrister
.”
“
My degree or hypothesis
?
” he asked in mild amusement.
She crossed both
arms over her enticing chest. “Come on, Will.
A bizarre coincidence?”
“Very well
, then
.
You’re psychic
.
Satisfied?
”
“Not in the least.”
“It’s the best I can do for now.
We’d better get back downstairs
before people start talking
.
”
“As if they’re
not already
––
”
Julia
broke
off
in mid-argument
.
She paled. Raising a trembling finger, she pointed mutely.
Will turned his head toward
the shrouded painting.
A
gain, the sheet was slipping
back
off the
canvas as if invisible fingers
tugged
at the cloth
.
O
nce more
,
it
lay in a crumpled pile at the base.
A
prickle ran down his
spine
like
scattering
ants
.
The sun still shone
, birds sang...
all was as it had been before...
but some unseen p
resence was
at
work
.
“Good Lord.”