Thoughts of time weigh on most American minds today because today we shift from Daylight Savings Time back to Standard time. We'll gain the hour we lost last spring but each time we change, I'm momentarily confused. What time is it? Is that the time I've been living for months or is it back to "normal" time? As I gaze out the window beyond my desk at the gorgeous autumn day, I'm struck by the passage of time and also the quality of light. This fall has proven to be one of the most colorful, glorious ones in a long time here in my corner of the Ozarks. The vivid oranges, brilliant yellows, amazing reds seem deeper and better than ever before. Above it all, the sky is a soft, pastel beautiful blue, a shade only appearing in autumn here. The way the light sifts through the few clouds and highlights the seasonal splendor makes me wish I had an artistic eye and could capture it in a painting. Since my skill runs to words instead, I can't.
Thinking of time brings to mind time travel, something I find fascinating and explored in my most recent Champagne books release, A Time To Love. I just began working with my talented and amazing editor at Champagne, Nikki Andrews, on my upcoming May release from Champagne and it also has an element of time travel. The 1950's setting of Long Live The King however is far from the setting of A Time To Love in both geographical distance and scope. My heroine in Long Live The King goes back in time from the present but Annie, my heroine in A Time To Love comes forward more than a century.
I'm not sure which I'd prefer to experience should I find myself able to time travel but here's a little excerpt from A Time To Love to share what Annie experienced:
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Thinking of time brings to mind time travel, something I find fascinating and explored in my most recent Champagne books release, A Time To Love. I just began working with my talented and amazing editor at Champagne, Nikki Andrews, on my upcoming May release from Champagne and it also has an element of time travel. The 1950's setting of Long Live The King however is far from the setting of A Time To Love in both geographical distance and scope. My heroine in Long Live The King goes back in time from the present but Annie, my heroine in A Time To Love comes forward more than a century.
I'm not sure which I'd prefer to experience should I find myself able to time travel but here's a little excerpt from A Time To Love to share what Annie experienced:
Understanding cut through the effects of alcohol. “Oh, my God!”
Samuel ran a hand through his hair, dumbfounded. This woman heated water
on the stove to wash dishes and went to pee in the woods. Shock and
disbelief made him silent for more than a minute. Frustration choked his
throat as he swallowed harsh words, choosing what he wanted to say.
“There’s a bathroom with a commode in the cabin.” His voice
sounded short, even to himself. “You know, flush toilets like they have up at
the damn hotel you work at. I don’t know what game you’re playing but you
can’t tell me you don’t know about indoor plumbing.”
“I do, sir.” With crimson cheeks, she looked ashamed and annoyed.
“It’s sorry I am for not thinking you’d have such here.”
“Who are you? Who are you, Annie Gregory?”
“I’m but a maid at the Queen Wilhelmina, Mr. Baird.”
Her formal address bothered him too. “Call me Samuel, please. And
tell me how long you’ve worked there.”
He didn’t miss the fear in her eyes or the tremble that shook her
shoulders but it wasn’t enough to keep him from questioning her. He was not
yet drunk but the booze short-circuited his courtesy.
“I’ve been in service at the inn since it opened last year with the
grand ball in June.”
Last year?” Samuel asked, making his tone sardonic. He made a
conscious effort to lift one eyebrow, a habit he’d cultivated as an advertising
man. “What year was that?"
Glee made him giddier than the bourbon. He’d sensed something off
about her since the first moment and now he had her cornered. The lodge had
opened in the mid-seventies after the restored version of the original burned
to the ground.
Last year, my ass! Annie should have checked her dates. He
chortled aloud as he waited to hear her answer.
“1898,” Annie said, frowning with confusion at his question.
His laughter died as he shuddered, feeling cold and uneasy. Nothing
in her manner indicated she was joking. Her sober eyes met his and she
wasn’t smiling.
My God, she’s crazy. He rubbed his lips with the fingers of
his left hand. He stared at her so hard that his eyes ached and his stomach
considered rejecting the meal he had enjoyed so much. He belched and tasted
the sour aftertaste of his whiskey.
“That’s impossible.” He croaked the words and turned to the bottle
for more bourbon to avoid further thought. “I don’t know who you are or
what you want, but you’ll be gone tomorrow and I won’t be sorry.”
He retreated into his bedroom on unsteady legs and shut the door. He
pretended he didn’t hear the muffled sound of Annie crying. He went to sleep
sitting upright on the bed but during the night he woke, stiff and muscle
strained, to curl beneath the covers.
~ * ~
Despite the closed door, his rattling snores were audible to Annie,
still awake. With palms clasped flat together as if in prayer, she gasped in
uneven rhythm. Heightened senses made each perception more vivid and
powerful. Her cheeks tightened with drying tears and her pulse beat hard
with her heart’s tattoo. The fingertips that touched her lips quivered as night
breezes cooled her heated skin. Her eyes stared ahead, blind to what they
saw, her mind focused on the calendar on the far wall.
I must be mistaken. To come down the mountain and skip more than
a hundred years is impossible. It could not be—I could not escape my deeds
so easily
But the number in stark black beside the month of May was not 1899
and did not begin with “19” to herald the coming of the new century. The
date marked the time as early in the 21
st century and meant that she had
crossed more than a century during her dash down the mountain.
The impossibility made her skin crawl with dread but as she twisted
her lips together, tasting the dry salt from her tears, Annie felt a rush of
sorrow. If more than a hundred years had gone in the blink of an eye or in a
flash of lightning, all she knew was lost, including her family. Grief twisted
her stomach at the thought but relief tempered it to a bearable level.
The law won’t find me, now I’ll be safe here, no jail nor noose for
me.
She lay down on the rough couch, her exhausted mind closing down for
the night.
Comforted with unexpected salvation, she slept, solaced by Samuel’s
presence, the sting of his words fading away in the country of her dreams.
A Time To Love Master Sheet
October 2011
ISBN # 9781926996561
Champagne Books
Time Travel romance
180 pages
73,500 words
$5.99 eBook format
Blurb:
Reclusive songwriter Samuel Baird lives on a remote Arkansas mountain in the Ouachita forest where he’s drinking his life away. The last thing he wants is a woman to complicate things but during a spectacular thunderstorm a woman arrives just in time to save his life. Annie says she’s from the late 1800’s and Samuel thinks she’s crazy. Even so, Annie manages to gain his attention and affection. In time she convinces him she did travel through time. To reach a happily ever after, Samuel and Annie must overcome several obstacles both past and present. Annie must reveal the secret she’s keeping and it’ll take a trip home to meet his family in Nashville to work out all the issues. The couple shares joy, tragedy, and family ties along the way.
Buy and contact links:
Available at
http://champagnebooks.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=511 Amazon.com and other retailers
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A Page In The Life
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