He’d been brought into her life. The woman who had loved him despite the possibility of him being taken from her. Levi relived those last moments. He’d asked her to marry him and she’d said yes. Her eyes had sparkled with tears and joy he had put there. He’d envisioned a long life with her with the children they would have and raise together. Levi wanted happiness with the woman he loved. It had been so close but yet so far, across centuries. Time he had no way of knowing how to overcome.
“Ta-Mara,” he said.
Her name echoed on the wind, resounding back at him. Mocking him with what he could not have. He prayed Ta-Mara wouldn’t mourn him. Levi wanted her to have someone to love even if it could not be him.
Knowing his life wasn’t going to be spared again, he put his head down and wept—for the past he had left and been returned to and for the future. The fleeting love he’d had not once but twice, and had lost. With two different women who had done only one thing—love him. Spikes of pain made him want to curl up and just let them take him. The sound of baying came even closer. Levi raised his head and stiffened his spine. Yes, he would die this night but he would not do so on his knees. It was not in him to give up. He would not do so now. Levi painfully got to his feet and he swayed there, weak from the blood loss and empty from the space where his heart had been. Ta-Mara had his heart now. Shouts echoed through the trees and Levi ran.
Ta-Mara, please forgive me for leaving you.
Levi hoped she would find what he’d left her. Hopefully it would give her some small comfort.
As branches ripped at his clothing, he gasped, his breathing labored. The pain roared through him and he didn’t know how he was still moving. How he still lived when he was dead already inside. The bitter taste of tears wet his lips and he swallowed thickly. Fate had again taken from him. Hate swirled and Levi cursed fate to the heavens. He was powerless to do anything about it. That, above all, enraged him.
Levi stopped and howled into the night. “Ta-Mara.”
* * * *
“Sorry we’re closed,” Ta-Mara said to the customer through the closed door.
My man just proposed and I need to take him home and thank him properly.
She smiled widely, not about to say that.
The patron nodded and walked away. A chill encompassed her body and her knees went weak. Ta-Mara lifted her hand to her head and gripped the door with the other one. Nausea made her almost gag.
Turn around.
Urgency filled her and she did. As if through fog, Ta-Mara stared at Levi at the counter. Automatically, she smiled. He’d asked her to marry him and she’d said yes. He reached out and Ta-Mara looked where his hand was heading, recognizing the yellowed pages. Ta-Mara frowned, wondering how the book had come to be there. She recalled specifically putting it in the back by the radio. Ta-Mara opened her mouth but couldn’t even speak to curse Calliope for putting it there.
She took a step to him, her legs feeling like mush. His finger hovered above the book a millisecond then he touched it. The power over her voice and limbs came back to her in a rush.
“No! Don’t touch the book,” Ta-Mara screamed, running.
She didn’t know why she didn’t want him to. Levi stumbled then shook his head, holding it. His legs folded under him and she reached him, sliding under him and catching him as he fell. Her heart raced and Ta-Mara didn’t know what was wrong. She pushed his hair away from his face. He had to be okay. Levi hadn’t said anything about feeling sick. Ta-Mara gasped as his body wavered, blinking out then coming to form again.
“Levi.” Her shaky lost voice echoed in the store.
He flickered again then faded out of her arms. Shocked, she rose up on her knees. Ta-Mara couldn’t believe he was gone. He’d just disappeared and she could do nothing about it. All the scenarios she had thought of for months about him leaving—she realized in that moment she had been saying he might be taken but she’d never actually believed it. She pressed her hand over her heart, shivering, so cold. It was bone-deep and Ta-Mara rubbed her hands up and down her arms. There was nothing to combat this and she didn’t think she would survive it. His face in all the times they had been together flashed through her mind and her shaking got worse as she relived being with him. And now to him leaving.
“Levi!” she roared, rocking, holding herself and closing her eyes.
“You put aside your pride and went after him,” Calliope said in front of her.
Ta-Mara opened her eyes and glared at the spirit. “You have him. Go to eternity with him and leave me the fuck alone.”
“Fuck you, Ta-Mara!” Calliope screamed. “I don’t have him. His soul will be lost and never to be again.”
“What?”
“When Levi dies, this time it will be forever. His soul will be gone and you will never have the chance to ever meet him in another life.” Calliope hugged herself. “I brought him here to make sure that didn’t happen, so he would be able to meet his soul mate from this point forward. Their paths would cross in many lives. But if he dies in the eighteen hundreds, that will never be. We will never be able to love him—to be loved by him.” Calliope put her hand on her belly. “Never bear his children or grow old and die together when it is time then be reborn and search for each other again and again for all eternity. Our souls are kismet and I will not lose him.” Calliope wiped at the tears on her cheeks. “You have done pride. Now what will you be willing to sacrifice above all else for him?”
“What? But you said he wasn’t your soul mate.”
“Look beyond your eyes and in your soul!” Calliope yelled.
Ta-Mara stared at her and she gasped as realization filled her. “You are my soul.”
“Yes. Oh, God yes.” Calliope reached for her.
“Why all the subterfuge?”
“I have no idea.” Calliope shrugged. “I can only speculate that you created me as the manifestation of your past life so I could remind you to find him. The book was the guide. It’s the beacon that brought his body and soul here intact. You are the reincarnation of Calliope from the eighteen hundreds.”
“Then how did Levi see you?” Ta-Mara struggled to understand.
“His own version of me.” Calliope moved her hand closer. “You know what needs to be done.”
“If I do this, I won’t need you anymore,” Ta-Mara said.
“No.” Calliope smiled gently. “I will always be part of you, inside of you.”
“How do I tell Levi that I am you in this time?”
“There is no need to.” Calliope closed her eyes then opened them. They were glassy with tears. “His soul recognized yours. He knew you were his as you knew he was yours, but you need to go through the journey you did to come to this point. There are strands of fate all around and this is yours and his.”
Ta-Mara sensed every word she spoke was true. She reached for the book and placed her hand against Calliope. A charge of power flooded her and Calliope laughed, joy filling her. She flowed toward Ta-Mara and settled inside her. The sense of being whole made Ta-Mara shake and shut her eyes tightly.
“My love for Levi is strong. I am willing to give my life in this time for him if you will let him live. I will find you, my love, in the next time we are reborn,” Ta-Mara said it out loud, needing to let it be heard to the heavens.
She brought the book to her chest then kept her other hand out and waited. She repeated the words over and over, silently reaching out. Inside her, she sought his soul with her own, willing them to connect. Ta-Mara jerked as pain rushed through her then ebbed. Suddenly her hand was gripped with callused fingers. Ta-Mara held on but was afraid to open her eyes and hope. The touch was faint then it got firmer. The scent of man and rain filled her senses.
“Ta-Mara.” His gravelly voice came from before her.
Ta-Mara shook her head. She couldn’t look at him. It would be cruel to her and him, since she’d given herself for him.
You have made a sacrifice above all else. Live with your soul mate and be happy, Ta-Mara. Tell Levi that fate might not go as he wants but it always, in the end, does as is destined.
She didn’t recognize the voice. Ta-Mara opened her eyes and stared into the blue eyes that from the very beginning had made her heart race. It did the same this time and she lost her breath. Levi had come back to her and she was with him.
Oh God, if this is not real, don’t let me ever find out.
“You brought me back to you.” Levi shook. “I thought I was lost. That I would never see you again.”
“Levi,” she whispered unable to say anything else.
He brought her into his arms, holding her tight. The book was pressed tightly between them. Ta-Mara knew now it was just that, a book. She snuggled into him and inhaled, loving the scent that made up her man—Levi Madison.
* * * *
“I have something for you.” Levi spoke beside her.
Ta-Mara lifted her head from where it rested on his shoulder. They had left the bookstore earlier and come home. They had kept each other close as they’d cooked, eaten then relaxed in the living room.
Levi sat up and she moved over to give him space. He reached for the book but hesitated.
“Go ahead, it’s fine now.” Ta-Mara rubbed her hand up and down his back. She’d told him the book was safe and what fate had said. Ta-Mara wasn’t sure if that was who it had been, but that was what she was calling that voice. The one that had let her know her life with him would go on.
“I touched the book before to put something in it for you.” Levi stared at it. “It didn’t do anything to me except feel hot to my touch.” He picked it up. “Not hot anymore.” He flipped it open, pulled out something then set the book down and turned to Ta-Mara.
He held the item by the chain over his index finger. Ta-Mara gasped at the light from the windows reflected off the pendant—a gold book inlaid with diamonds. Etched on cover was infinity symbol, along with their initials. Levi scooted over and he opened the clasp. She held her hair as he put it on. Ta-Mara touched it and stared at him.
“I got it for you if I was sent back to my time. I wanted you to know I would always be with you.” Levi held her hands. “Now I will be with you and have no fear of being taken again.”
Ta-Mara had told him that much about what happened. She gripped his hand and stared into his eyes.
“Levi. There is more that I need to tell you.”
“What?”
“There is a reason you were brought specifically to this time. To me.” Ta-Mara cupped his cheek. “Calliope brought y—”
“I know she interfered.”
“No she did, but it was because she knew if your soul died in the eighteen hundreds, it would never have another chance to find its soul mate.” Ta-Mara tightened her hold on him. “In the eighteen hundreds, I was Calliope and I wanted to find you again, so I made it possible. Brought you here so you could find me and then we could live happily ever after. From now until we die. Then we will be again reincarnated and find ourselves together again.”
“So you are partially my Calliope from the past in the woman I love today?” Levi’s eyes crinkled. “How did I get so lucky? You save me then and today.”
“You had an angel looking after you.” Ta-Mara laughed. “I guess I’ve always been helpful, even in the eighteen hundreds.”
“A woman who knew she had one chance at love”—Levi pulled her closer, draping her legs over his thighs—“to have her soul mate and she took it. Made time shift to bring him to her so she could have a life that would be happy.”
“Yes.” She stroked her hand down his cheek. “Now I want you to meet my family. I didn’t want you to before because if you were taken back to your time I knew they would love and miss you as much as I did. Knew that they would ask about you when you were gone. And it would hurt to have to answer questions of where you were. I thought if I limited the people you interacted with, that I knew it would be easier when I lost you.” She shook her head. “But I was deluding myself. I didn’t believe you would be taken from me. Didn’t know it would hurt so much.”
“For me too.” Levi stared at her. “I was so angry that I was losing you.”
“Then I interfered again.” She laughed. “I am quite the helpful person.”
“I, for one, am grateful you did so. Then and now.” Levi hugged her. “And I will be from now until infinity.” He touched the necklace. “This is apt for me to give you then.”
“Yes.” She covered his hand with hers. “I will pass it down to our children. Like we will pass down the book. Tell them stories of a love that crossed all barriers of time.”
“Yes, we will. I want to get started on our first child now.”
“Yes.” She leaned forward and kissed him. Levi lifted her and Ta-Mara moaned as she rose over him. His knuckles rubbed against her as he worked off his slacks. Then his strong fingers touched her. Levi rubbed her clit then he pulled aside her underwear. Ta-Mara whimpered as he pushed into her. The bare feel of him inside her set off a wave of need. She dampened and moved against him. Levi stroked into her and she kept her hand around his neck, staring into his eyes.
* * * *
Later Ta-Mara rolled out of bed and sat on the side, staring at Levi. He was sprawled on his back, snoring softly. She rose and stretched before she retrieved her robe, putting it on. She left the room, going down the hall. In the living room, the moonlight bathed the book that had started all of this. She grabbed a pen then sat cross-legged at the center table. Ta-Mara opened the book and flipped to the last page. She read the last few lines then started to write. Ta-Mara lost herself in the words.
“What are you doing?” Levi said softly, touching her.
She jumped, startled, having not heard him. She looked up from the book. He sat by her side.
“Finishing the story.” Ta-Mara went back to writing. “Making sure it is known you didn’t die but traveled through time to find your soul mate.”
“No one would believe us if we told them what happened.”
“They don’t need to.” She flipped the page then went on documenting the moments of what had happened. “We will know. When the book is passed from this generation to the next and through time. The others with our reincarnated souls will know. They will sense the truth behind what happened. Know—”