A Husband in Time (17 page)

“Of course not. I'm not the one who has to wear them.”

Jane glared at her.

“Oh, come now, surely we can be friends.” Claudia hurried on. “In fact, I feel that I can do you a favor, if you'll let me.”

“Oh, really? And just what would that be, Claudia? You going to teach me how to breathe with my waist cinched down to thirteen inches, just so I can impress some male? Sorry. I'm not interested.”

Claudia's smile was one of bewilderment, but she
shook her head and went on with the conversation all the same. “I can warn you about Zachariah. Don't fall in love with him, Jane. He'll never care for any woman the way he cares for me. If you pin your hopes on winning his heart, you'll only be disappointed. He'll never give me up for you.”

“I'd never ask him to.”

“He can't love any woman the way he loves me, Jane. And you already guessed the reason. I'm the mother of his child.”

“You're right,” Jane whispered. “And I have the feeling you're counting on that, aren't you?”

Claudia blinked, and averted her eyes.

“What's the matter, Claudia? Truth hurt? What the hell are you doing here, anyway? Do you want him back? Is that it? Do you think you can abandon him, break his heart, deny your own child, and then just waltz in one day, wanting to take it all back, just because you've fallen on hard times?”

“Yes!” she cried, and she squeezed her eyes shut tight, and made her small hands into fists on either side of her head. “Yes, that's exactly what I want. Now that my husband is gone, there is nothing to stop me. I need a husband to provide for me, Jane. And I'm not going to let some odd little bird like you stop me.”

Jane closed her eyes, shook her head slowly. “Fine,” she whispered. “If he's stupid enough to fall for the same bull twice, then he deserves you. But you know, I really don't think he is.” She waved a hand toward Zach's door. “Be my guest, Claudia. Knock yourself out.” And with that, Jane turned and paced away down the hall, to the room that had been
assigned to her. On her way, she opened Benjamin's door to check on the boys. Cody slept in the cot she'd set up for him in Ben's room. Both were sleeping soundly, but she didn't like the sound of Ben's wheezing. Damn, he should be improving at least a little bit by now, shouldn't he?

Well. Maybe in the morning he'd seem better. She pulled the boy's door closed, and as she did, she heard Zach's open. Heard soft footsteps creeping inside, and heard the door close again. Her heart twisted into a hard little knot.

Lifting her chin, Jane moved on to her own room. She left the door open, though, and then tried to tell herself it wasn't so that she could see when the little tramp left Zach's room. Or…if she left.

And then she wished she hadn't. Because after she'd bathed, and dressed in a borrowed nightgown, and brushed her hair, Claudia still hadn't left. And then she lay awake all the rest of the night, twisting and turning and unable to sleep. Because it was dawn, now, and Claudia hadn't come out. Not at all. She'd spent the night where Jane had wanted to. Wrapped up tight in Zachariah Bolton's arms.

Jane wanted to claw the witch's eyes out.

 

She'd talked herself silly. Talked about all the reasons she'd had for doing what she did to him and Benjamin. Zach hadn't wanted to hear any of it, of course. All he'd wanted to do was get hold of Jane and make her explain herself to him. But Claudia had been insistent and Zach had been weak. So he'd listened to her excuses and her explanations and her apologies. And then her incredibly generous offer to
be a wife to him and a mother to Benjamin now that her wealthy husband had died.

Zach had glanced at her, lifted one brow and said simply, “No.”

“What?”

“No, Claudia. I don't know how I can put it any plainer than that. I don't want you. Neither does my son. I find it intriguing how you didn't want me when I was poor and had no standing, but now that I'm wealthy and respected, and you're the penniless widow, you've suddenly developed tender feelings for me. As for Benjamin, you've known for months he was dying. You could have spent time with him, if you'd wanted to. But you didn't. Now, when he's reduced to perhaps another day or two of life, you show up. No. We're not interested. Now, please, get out of my room.” He yawned, laid his head back on the pillows, closed his eyes.

“It's her, isn't it? That strange woman you brought here from God knows where! It's her. I know it is. You're in love with her, aren't you?”

“Don't be ridiculous,” he said softly. But then his eyes popped open and refused to close. All this time, he'd been lying here pondering Jane's feelings for him. God, perhaps he should have been pondering his for her.

“It's true,” Claudia whined. “I see it in your eyes when you look at her. And it's even more obvious in hers. The way she stares at you when she thinks no one's looking. The way she touched you when she sat here beside you, the things she whispered. Even her voice changes slightly when she's speaking to you. She's in love with you!”

Zach lay still, staring thoughtfully up at the ceiling. “What an intensely interesting theory,” he muttered, and he closed his eyes.

He didn't intend to fall asleep, but he did. With a stupid grin on his face, and an empty feeling in his chest. And when he woke, he was astonished to see Claudia still there. Pacing the floor, peering out of the window, waiting as if for daylight.

“Dammit, woman, what are you still doing here?”

“Leaving,” she said very simply. She opened his door, stepped into the hall, and then, for some reason he could not have explained if his life depended on it, she blew him a kiss and said, “I love you, too, darling. Goodbye, for now.”

She left, but didn't close the door.

Frowning in confusion, Zach got to his feet and went to do so himself. But he froze when he reached the doorway, because he saw, just two doors down, Jane standing frozen in her own. And the hurt he saw in her eyes was almost more than he could bear.

He opened his mouth, but she spoke first. “I'm glad you're up,” she said softly. “Your son has his medication, and you're obviously fine. I think it's time for Cody and me to go…home.”

“But—”

“Ten minutes,” she said, and her words fell like stones clattering from an unreachable peak. “I'll meet you in the workroom.”

Z
ach felt as if she'd slapped him when she closed the bedroom door in his face. Immediately he gripped the knob, shoving the door open again and stomping into the bedroom. She stood with her back to him, near the window. He was encouraged that at least she hadn't locked him out. But then he told himself that might not mean a thing.

“You can't leave, Jane. Not yet.” He closed his eyes and congratulated himself on the stupidest argument he'd ever put forth. “What I mean to say is that it's too soon. We don't know yet what…what…” Blinking, he studied her back, her shoulders, the barely noticeable tremor there. The soft, almost inaudible sound of her uneven breathing. He swallowed hard and stepped nearer.

“Go away, Zach,” she said, her voice unusually deep and very soft.

He didn't go away. He moved closer, and he clasped her shoulder with one hand to turn her around to face him. She refused to budge. So he tried harder, and he managed to move her this time. Then all he could do was stare down at her damp cheeks in shock. “You're crying,” he said, no less astonished than he'd been when he first suspected it. “I can't believe it. You're—”

“I asked you to leave.”

“I can't leave.” He shook his head, continuing his search of her beautiful face, her glistening eyes. Dear God, had he been blind all along? Could it be true, what Claudia had said? He couldn't believe it. She couldn't be crying for him, or because of what she'd seen just now. She couldn't care that much for him. Could she? “Is it Cody?” he asked her. “Is it all the worry, Jane? Are you homesick?” He touched her face, laid his palm against her cheek and tilted her head so that he could see her better. And when he did, she closed her eyes, as if against her will. And he knew.

“My God,” he murmured, taking a startled step away from her. “All this because of Claudia? That's it, isn't it?” She met his eyes, averted hers, and he took another involuntary step backward. He couldn't seem to help himself. It was as if she'd shoved him bodily. The idea that she might…might truly…love him… Frankly, it scared the hell out of him.

She narrowed her eyes. Then her chin fell and she shook her head slowly. “What if it were? It wouldn't matter, would it, Zach? The very thought of it sends you running scared, just like—” She bit her lip, shook her head. “Well, you don't need to panic, Bolton. It's true enough, I fell for the Don Juan routine. You got me into bed. Hell, you even had me believing you might actually…” Lifting her chin, she licked her lips. “Don't worry. I'm taking my son and I'm leaving.”

“But I…” He let the protest trail off, unable to find the words, not even sure what it was he wanted to say.

“You see? You can't even tell me you don't want me to go, can you?”

“Dammit, Jane, why are you so angry with me?”

“I'm angry with myself,” she whispered, turning from him, pulling her freshly laundered jeans and sweatshirt from the back of the chair. “Hell, I shouldn't be. I ought to be congratulating you, wishing you well. It's a fairy-tale ending, isn't it? You and Benjamin and his mother, finally together. A real family. It's storybook-perfect.”

“Dammit, Jane, you think just because she spent the night in my room that I intend to—”

“Don't you pull that love-'em-and-leave-'em routine out of your hat now, Zach. Not now. It's different when you're in love with the woman.”

He tilted his head, skimming her from head to toe with his eyes. “Maybe you're right about that.”

“And we both know there's only one woman you'll ever love, don't we?”

He turned his gaze inward, frowning hard. “Yes. But I'm only just beginning to realize it.”

She swallowed hard. He heard the gulping sound, saw her rapid blinking as she turned away yet again. By God, the woman actually cared for him. It was beyond Zach's ability to understand, but it was obviously true.

“I wish you well, then,” she said. “I hope you'll be—”

“Jane,” he said softly, again stepping in front of her, tipping her chin up with his forefinger, getting lost in her swimming eyes. “We're going to work this out. I don't know how, but we'll find a way. But
first, sweet Jane, you have to know that nothing has—”

“Mom! Zach! Come quick!”

Zach stiffened in surprise, then turned to the doorway, where Cody stood in a nightshirt, breathless and wide-eyed. “What's—”

“It's Ben! Hurry!”

Zach's body went rigid, and utterly immobile. “No,” he whispered. “Please, no, not now…”

Jane started to rush past him, but turned when she realized he wasn't following. The anger that had been in her eyes before was utterly gone now. Now there was only compassion. Empathy. She knew exactly what he was feeling right now and, whether he deserved it or not, she cared. Though she fully believed he'd spent the night in the arms of another woman, she could still feel compassion for him.

“Stop it,” she told him. And when he only stood there, she stood close to him, gripped his shoulders, shook him slightly. “Stop thinking the worst. Snap out of it. Your son needs you.”

He blinked at the strength in her tone, the flash of passion in her eyes. He stiffened his spine, nodded once. Jane turned again, but this time she slipped her hand into his as she did so, drawing him along at her side.

The fear of what he would find when he walked into his son's bedroom gnawed at his stomach like a corrosive. And he knew that if not for the warmth of the small, trembling hand tucked into his own, he'd never be able to put one foot in front of the other. To walk down the hallway, and then to step across the threshold of the open door. With an effort, he
settled his gaze on his son. And then his muscles turned limp with relief. Benjamin wasn't dead. He lay there, sleeping peacefully. As peacefully as Zach had ever seen him sleep. But only sleeping. His little chest rose and fell in rhythm.

Sighing in relief, Zach crossed to the bedside, and gathered Benjamin's hand into his own. He closed his eyes and sank into the chair beside the bed, kissing that tiny hand, battling tears of relief.

“Cody, you scared us half to death,” Jane was saying. “What were you thinking of, saying that—”

“I can't wake him up, Mom.”

Just like that. Five little words, each one hitting Zach in the chest like a bullet. His jaw clenched painfully, and he lifted his head, turned his gaze to lock with Jane's.

Her blue eyes had widened in shock and fear. “I don't understand,” she whispered. “The pills were supposed—”

“He hasn't missed a single dose, Mom. I'm sure of it. He should be getting better, not—”

“Benjamin.” Zach bent over the bed, gripped the boy's shoulders. “Benjamin, wake up. Wake up now, son.”

There was no response. Zach was vaguely aware of Cody moving to the opposite side of the bed, clinging to Benjamin's other hand. And vaguely aware of Jane moving around the bedroom, the sounds of pills rattling as she shook them from the bottle.

And then her voice, sounding dead. “Cody,” she said. “Close the door.”

Zach looked up, saw Cody frowning at his mother,
but obeying all the same. Then he turned to Jane. “Today…is the day he slips into the coma. But I thought, with the pills, he might…”

She held a capsule, one end in the fingertips of each hand. And as he stared, she twisted, and she pulled, until the thing came apart. She turned the ends, looked inside, shook her head. And when she met Zach's stare, she swallowed hard. “There's nothing inside, Zach. You brought back a drug that hasn't been invented yet. It just…it just doesn't exist in this time.”

Zach's stomach knotted, and a feeling of dread slowly chilled every part of his body. “My God…my God, Jane, you were right.” And then his gaze turned to Cody. “Dammit, what have I done? What if my coming back here altered history, as you feared it would? Maybe now that I've returned the cure will never be found.” Lowering his own son's hand to the bed, Zach walked slowly to Cody, searching his face, fear filling his heart. “How do you feel, son? Are you sick at all? Feverish?” He pressed his palm to Cody's forehead, and heard Jane's pain-filled gasp when she realized what he suspected.

“Just a little tired is all,” Cody said. “It's Ben we have to worry about. Why won't he wake up, Zach?”

“Is your throat sore?”

Cody nodded. “Yeah. From all that smoke last night.”

Zach's eyes met Jane's over Cody's head. And he knew they were both hoping to God that it was the smoke, and not something far deadlier.

Jane came to her son, slipped her arms around him and slid one hand, very casually, over his forehead. And she felt the heightened warmth of him, just as Zach had. He saw it in her widening eyes, saw the agony, the fear.

“We have to get back to our own time, Zach,” Jane said, as she sank to her knees and wrapped her arms around her son. “We have to. And if you want to save your son, you have to come with us. Bring him along.”

“And if I'm right? If I've changed the course of things, and my esteemed colleagues didn't find the cure after all? If we return to your time, only to find that the miracle drug known as tryptonine doesn't even exist?”

Jane blinked as moisture filled her eyes at the very possibility of losing her son. Then her gaze turned inward and she gnawed her lower lip. “Bausch and Waterson find the cure because they believe your son died, and that you, their good friend, a brilliant scientist, lost your mind with grief. That's what drives them.”

He turned to stare through pooling tears at Benjamin. “He's slipped into a coma now. It won't be much longer before those very things occur.”

“You have to make them believe it's
already
occurred.”

He swung his head around sharply.

“It's the only way, Zach. You have to convince them all that Benjamin is…is gone. Let them see your grief. And then disappear, never to be seen or heard from again. Everything has to happen exactly as it's supposed to, exactly as it's recorded as having
happened in those books I read about you. Don't you see?”

He nodded slowly. “You're right. It…it might just work.”

“You won't be able to come back here, Zach. Not ever again. You'll be abandoning your work. Your life, your friends. And…and Claudia.”

His brows came together fast as he searched her face in confusion. And then he recalled that she'd somehow come to the conclusion that selfish, grasping Claudia was the love of his life. She must think him a shallow fool. “Do you think I'd trade my son's life for my own happiness? Even if I really did care for—”

“We're going to have to be very careful,” she said quickly, and he had no doubt that the interruption was deliberate. “Plan every single step.” She sent a worried look to Benjamin's still form, and to Cody, who'd returned to the bed and was whispering to the comatose child, stroking his head. “And we're going to have to hurry.”

 

Jane stepped into the hallway and pulled Benjamin's bedroom door closed behind her, just as Mrs. Haversham and the doctor came bustling toward the room. She heard Zach turn the lock behind her. She'd already hustled Cody into Zach's workroom, down the hall. No one knew he was in there, waiting.

Ben was worsening by the minute, and they had no time to lose.

Lifting her chin, drawing a deep breath, she met first one pair of eyes and then the other.

“Benjamin…has passed,” she told them.

Mrs. Haversham bit her lip, crossed herself. “He's no longer suffering,” she said softly. “At peace now, sweet lamb.”

“And Zach?” Dr. Baker asked.

Jane lowered her eyes and shook her head. “Not good, Doctor. He's locked himself in with the boy, says he won't let anyone take him.”

“Oh, my!” the plump housekeeper gasped.

“I think,” Jane added, feeling guilty as hell, but knowing she did what she did to save the child's life. “If we just give him some time alone, to come to grips…”

“Yes, I agree.” Doc Baker nodded hard as he spoke. “Let's go downstairs. Leave him be with his boy for a while.”

Jane cleared her throat. “Where is Claudia? I think she ought to know.”

Mrs. Haversham sniffed. “That one left before anyone was astir this morning. I saw her for just a moment, and she would only say she was off on a cruise to the Continent and to give everyone her goodbyes. Some handsome fellow in a fancy carriage picked her up at the door.”

Jane blinked in shock. Had Claudia found herself a bigger fish to sink her hook into? “But she knew…” It was beyond Jane's realm of understanding how a woman could set off on a trip while her own flesh and blood lay sick and dying. But, obviously, Claudia's interests had been in the boy's father, not in her own son. Zach might spend the rest of his life pining away for her, never realizing what a narrow escape he'd had.

She linked arms with the doctor and led them both
down the stairs, knowing Zach needed a bit more time to accomplish what needed to be done. No one else was left upstairs. Just Zach, Benjamin and Cody. Jane's job was distraction. So she brewed some tea, and made plenty of noise. And an hour later, when the groundskeeper returned with Eli Waterson and Wilhelm Bausch, whom he'd fetched at Dr. Baker's suggestion, everyone insisted it was time to go back upstairs. Eli and Wilhelm would be able to talk some sense into Zachariah, they all concurred. Jane hoped to God everything was ready.

Doc rapped gently on the bedroom door. “Zachariah. It's Aaron Baker. It's time to open the door, Zach.”

There was, of course, no answer.

“I have your friends here with me, Zachariah. Eli and Wilhelm. They'd like to talk to you.”

“Yes, Zach, please, let us in,” Eli called.

Doc tried the doorknob and found it unlocked, as planned. He twisted it, pushed it open, stepped inside…and then froze in place. Mrs. Haversham gasped. The bed stood empty, covers thrown back, sheets crinkled and barren. A breeze stirred the curtains in the open bedroom window. The doctor rushed forward to push them aside, and they all saw the rope that hung over the sill.