Along with Discover Time for Love, Book 2 in the Forward in Time Series
Boston, 1772.
Andrew Byrne, a prosperous colonial with rebellious inclinations, loves Mary Elizabeth Strand, but her father, a British official, refuses to allow them to wed. Andrew, a time traveler, knows they will marry in New York City—but how to get them there? It takes a visit to the future to explain all.
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EXCERPT
Andrew stepped through the center of the beacon into Faith’s kitchen. She was standing by the stove and she wasn’t alone. Her sister Liz, mother Chloe, and father Daniel were seated at the table where her lover and now fiancé, Cody, was opening a bottle of wine.
“Andrew!” Faith frowned. “Is there a problem?”
“Of course there’s a problem or he wouldn’t be here,” Daniel said, disgust in his voice.
Cody finished pouring a glass of wine and brought it to him. There was amusement in his eyes. “Your timing is impeccable, Andrew. I can hardly wait to see how my parents react to you.”
“Oh!” Faith put her hand to her mouth. “They’ll be here in a half an hour!”
Andrew sipped his wine as Cody went back to pouring. “I’ll not stay long enough to be introduced to your excellent parents, Master Cody, my friend. I’ve a request to make and then I’ll be on my way.”
Cody picked up two glasses and handed one to Faith. “Since you didn’t know that we were having a family introduction and wedding planning session tonight, is there any particular reason you decided to visit?”
He couldn’t lie to Cody, whom he admired. “It is Mary Elizabeth. Her father has locked her in her room and he is feeding her only the barest of necessities. He has found a suitor for her, but she refuses to accept the fellow’s offer of marriage. Strand wishes to starve her into obedience.”
“That’s terrible!” Liz said.
“You can’t tell him anything,” Daniel said.
Faith opened the oven door and pulled out a cooking tray filled with sausage rolls. “Unfortunately, he’s right. The less you know about your future, the better.”
Chloe sighed. “You have to be patient, Andrew.”
“Patient! How can I be patient when the lady I love, a gentle kind lady who has done nothing wrong but to be born the daughter of a great beast of a man, is being abused by one who should be her steadfast protector?”
There was silence, then Cody said slowly, “That is a problem. I suspect the answer is less than you desire, Andrew. And more than you would allow, Daniel.”
Faith slid the sausage rolls onto a waiting platter, then held it out to Andrew. He took one and munched. The ease of food preparation was one of the best things about the twenty-first century, he reflected. Along with vehicles that moved swiftly along paved roadways and information machines that held all the knowledge of the universe within their depths. “Let me use your computer, Faith. I need to know the date of my wedding.”
“You already know it’s in New York City,” Chloe said. “Why do you want to know the exact date?”
“New York City is far distant and the man Strand wants to affiance Mary Elizabeth to is a colonel of Dragoons—”
“Jonathan Bradley,” Chloe said, thoughtfully. “He becomes a viscount.”
“He is to be a lord?” This was getting worse and worse. “No wonder her brute of a father is so determined to force her into wedlock. I will have to steal Mary Elizabeth away, but to get her to New York without being captured by Bradley and his mounted soldiers is well nigh impossible!”
“I’ve wondered about that,” Cody said.
“If I know the date, I will know if I should try to spirit her away by sea or try the longer, slower overland route. I will also know when we must escape her father’s clutches.” He looked around, deliberately making eye contact with each of them. “Don’t you see? Everything hinges on that date. Everything.”