Swept Away (14 page)

“Here at the ashram.”

“Okay, Rowan, I know you must be exhausted and I don't intend to wear you out any more than is absolutely necessary because trust me you're going to need to be a hundred and fifty percent for what you'll need to deal with tomorrow,” Ella said as she pulled out a short candle from her nightstand and set it in the dish next to her bed. “But for starters, this is not an ashram. It is a seventeenth century convent.”

She lit the candle with a packet of book matches. She held them up. “I feel guilty about doing it this way but I'm hopeless at starting any kind of fire without them. The Mother Superior says I'll burn as a witch if anybody finds them on me so I just keep them here in the room.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” he said.

She tossed the matches into the drawer. “You know what, Rowan? It's nothing that can't be dealt with a whole lot better in the light of day. Forget I said anything.”

“You're talking like a crazy person,” he said.

“I know I am,” she said. “The thing is, I'm out of my head to see you again. I'm bonkers to be able to feel your hands on me and to be with you after all this time.”

She pulled on the drawstring at the neck of her nightgown. She watched his face relax and then expand into a smile as the nightgown dropped to the floor.

“No problem,” he said softly, reaching for her. “I'm feeling a little crazy myself.”

She moved into his arms and turned her face to feel his sweet breath, the bristle of his five o'clock shadow against her skin. When he kissed her, she moaned and opened her mouth to receive his probing tongue. After a moment, she pulled her face away and he kissed her throat and her neck, his calloused but warm hands caressing her naked back and hips.

“I know it's late, Rowan,” she said, gasping, “and I'll be happy to take it slow tomorrow but for now…” She groaned as he reached between her legs and slipped three fingers inside her.

“Not to worry, Beautiful,” he said hoarsely, holding her bottom with his free hand and leaning her back onto the bed. “I'm way ahead of you.”

T
he next morning
, Ella woke to see her rumpled cowboy was snoring softly with his arm thrown over his face. He was wrapped up in the coarse woolen blanket of her single bed. The bed was too narrow for the two of them and way too short for a US Deputy Marshal, so Ella had slept on a blanket on the floor next to the bed. Now she knelt next to the bed and kissed him on his unshaven cheek.

“I have to go,” she whispered. “Stay here until I get back, okay?”

His eyes opened sleepily and then closed again. “Okay,” he said.

Ella hurriedly pulled on her novice habit and tied her long hair with the strip of rawhide she kept on the nightstand. She ran down the hallway to the kitchen where she was already late for her chores. As soon as she entered the kitchen, she saw Mother Superior standing at the kitchen table, kneading dough. There were big splashes of white flour spoiling her black habit. She was alone.

“I'll do that,” Ella said, moving to Greta's side.

“I'm already doing it. Why don't you check on the oven?”

Ella tried to gauge Greta's affect. She was always fairly cool—very German in that way—but she usually smiled a good deal. Not this morning.

Ella moved to the oven and looked in. She used a thick pad to pull four loaves of bread out of the oven and set them on top of the stove to cool.

She moved to where Greta was kneading the dough.

“You know I have a visitor,” Ella said, standing with her hands on her hips.

“We do not bring men into the convent,” Greta said. “I didn't think I had to tell you that.”

“It's Rowan, Greta.”

The nun stopped kneading. “Your man,” she said with a smile. “He came to you from the future?”

“Yes,” Ella said, grinning. “Yes, he did.”

Greta reached out and grabbed Ella's hand. “Forgive me, Ella,” she said. “I should have known it couldn't be anything else.” She dusted off her hands and pulled her apron off. “Do you have the instant coffee that you brought back?” She moved to the stove and put a pot on top of it, moving the various lids around to direct heat under it.

“Great idea,” Ella said, taking the bread knife and moving to the counter to slice off two large pieces of steaming brown bread.

“He's here to help us, isn't he?” Greta said, clasping her hands in front of her like she didn't know what to do with them.

“Helping people is in his genetic makeup,” Ella said. She put the bread on a chipped saucer and reached for a crockery mug for the coffee. “Now that he's here, we can all stop worrying.”

“Have you told him of our predicament?”

“Not yet. I'm letting him get there in increments.”

“He doesn't know what year it is?”

“Well, he thinks he does,” Ella said, stirring the instant coffee into the mug.

“He will need time.”

“Not as much as you might think,” Ella said. She picked up the mug and the plate, gave her friend a wink and exited the kitchen.

He was awake when she came into the room.

“Good morning, sunshine,” she said, setting the bread plate and steaming mug on the side table by the bed.

“Where'd you go?” he said, reaching for her and pulling her onto the bed with him. “Waking up with a hard-on isn't nearly as much fun alone.”

“Wow, you really are a romantic, Rowan,” Ella said. “Anybody ever tell you that?”

“You're so beautiful, Ella,” Rowan said, still holding her. “I can't believe I've found you. But I'm ready to hear why you're living here instead of at your apartment.”

Ella handed him the coffee mug and smiled ruefully. “Trust me, you're not, Marshal,” she said.

“No, really. Do you have any idea how upset everyone was? You really think you can just disappear like that? I mean, what the hell? Were you just going to abandon all your stuff in your apartment? Your computer? All your clothes? Your
passport
?”

Ella could see he was starting to work himself up. “I can see how crazy it must look—” she said.

“Hell, yes, it's crazy. And then sneaking back to get stuff in the middle of the night? What is this place?” He looked around the room.

“Look, Rowan, I have good answers to all these perfectly reasonable questions. I promise I do. But let's do it in stages, okay? Can't we just enjoy the fact that we've found each other after all this?”

“No, Ella, we can't.” He set the cup down on the table and spilled coffee in the process. “We could have
been together
all along if that had been any kind of goal for you. All you had to do was answer your damn phone or, I don't know, call
me
for a change. You act like it's a fucking miracle we're together and it was always just a matter of a phone call.”

“I wish it were that easy.”

“How the hell is it not that easy? Come on, Ella. I need some answers. Where's my phone? You need to call your father, like yesterday.” He pulled the covers back and looked around the room for his things. He grabbed up his phone from the side table and peered at the screen.

“The reception here isn't very good,” Ella said.

He looked at her in frustration and she leaned over him and kissed him on the mouth. “Everything in good time, Rowan.”

He dropped his phone and pulled her on top of him in the bed.

“Rowan, no,” she said. “We don't have time for this and besides, I look like hell.”

“You look beautiful,” he said, kissing her neck.

She pulled away from him and stood next to the bed.

“You must have been dating some pretty rangy skanks back in Alabama if I look beautiful with this rats nest hair, no razor to shave my legs with and wearing a shapeless nun's habit.”

“Is this your subtle way of asking me if I dated anyone while we've been apart?”

“Was I being subtle? I meant to ask right out.”

“Nobody but you, beautiful. Can you say the same?”

Ella sat on the edge of the bed. “I got backed into a date,” she said. Rowan raised his eyebrows. “Meaning,” she continued, “I didn't agree to go on a date but ended up on one all the same.”

“I see. Sometimes those kind are the most fun.” He drank his coffee and watched her closely.

“This wasn't one of those times,” she said. “Don't be jealous, Rowan. I never got you out of my system, not even for five minutes.”

“Is that why you stopped calling me and started screening my calls?”

Ella sighed. “I don't have a good answer for that,” she said. “I'm just no good at long-distance relationships.”

Rowan put his hand on her back. “Guess I better make sure to keep the distances between us as short as possible,” he said.

“That would help,” she said, taking his mug from him and leaning down to kiss him again. When he reached for her, she pulled back. “We really can't,” she said. “The whole convent is up and on high alert. The Mother Superior already knew you spent the night, which means the others probably know, too.”

Rowan swung his legs out of bed and sat on the edge, scratching his head.

“You never told me what you're doing in a convent,” he said. “Is there a place to take a shower around here?”

“No, and you're going to have to go to the garden to relieve yourself.”

He gave her an incredulous look.

“I tried to explain it to you last night,” Ella said, smiling in spite of herself. “Now I'm going to let the day explain it.” She patted him on the knee. “Finish your breakfast,” she said. “Get dressed and I'll be back in a few minutes to introduce you to your new world.”

As she got up to leave, he reached out and took her hand.

“Ella?”

“Yes, Rowan?”

“I just want you to know that no matter what bunch of crazies or whacked out nonsense you've got yourself involved with here, there's no place on earth I'd rather be.”

Ella grinned and squeezed his hand. “I'm counting on that, Rowan,” she said.

“
I
cannot tell
you how honored we are to have you here with us, Marshal,” Greta said to Rowan as he sat in the convent's meeting hall. All the nuns and the novices were there and stood silent behind her. Ella sat next to Rowan with her hands in her lap.

“Ella has told me much about you. For you to have traveled so far, so far indeed, to help our poor convent, well, we are truly and deeply grateful.” Before Rowan could respond, Greta clapped her hands together sharply and all the novices and other nuns left the room. The three of them were now alone.

“A brandy, Marshal?” Greta asked.

At nine in the morning?
Rowan thought to himself.
He
shook his head. “No, thanks, Sister,” he said.

“She's the Mother Superior,” Ella said.

“Okay,” he said.

“I know Ella hasn't had an opportunity to fill you in on the details of our predicament here, Marshal,” Greta said. “But time is of the essence, and I need to remedy that immediately.”

“Predicament?”

“It's why I went back to my apartment yesterday,” Ella said.

“You mean two days ago,” Rowan said.

“Whenever,” Ella said. “Can I explain, Mother?”

“Certainly, Ella.”

“Okay, Rowan, there is this asshole who practically rules Heidelberg at the moment to the point where none of the laws can touch him and so he pretty much does what he wants.”

“Are you being metaphorical?” Rowan said. “Because it's ludicrous to think someone is publicly
accepted
as being above the law.”

Ella chose to ignore his comment. “This guy,” she continued, “has a son who has decided to eliminate all the Catholic clergy and nuns in town. Don't ask me why. He's already destroyed all the monasteries except one and all the other convents that used to be on the outskirts of town. He has threatened the Mother Superior here. Greta, show him your arm.”

Greta quickly pulled up her sleeve to show Rowan her scarred forearm.

Ella turned to Rowan. “This guy, Axel, the son of the head jerk, did that to Greta a couple weeks ago to show her how serious he is about destroying her and her convent. Are you with me so far?”

“Is this a new movie that's coming out that hasn't hit the States yet?” Rowan said. He looked from Ella to Greta in bewilderment.

“Axel and his band of thugs have a habit of kidnapping the young novices and selling them into slavery,” Ella continued. “And last week, they attacked one of our nuns and beat her. We don't even know if she's alive because they threw her in the Witch's Tower. They abducted the young novice with her and have her in the castle.”

“This would be
Heidelberg
Castle?” Rowan said.

“And so now you know everything, Marshal,” Greta said. “We need your help. Yours and Ella's.”

“So that's what I'm doing here, big guy,” Ella said as she slapped Rowan on the knee. “That's what
we're
doing here.”

“Saving the convent from…?”

“From the wicked warlord, yes, exactly,” Ella said.

Rowan looked at Greta and then at Ella. “You guys haven't missed a beat,” he said.

“Thank you,” Ella said. “I tried to be thorough.”

“Neither of you has broken character once.”

“I do not understand.” Greta looked at Ella with a puzzled expression.

“Never mind, Greta,” Ella said. “I told you he'd have trouble believing the whole time thing. And none of the rest of it makes sense until he does.”

Greta stood up and smoothed the wrinkles out of her habit. “Well,” she said, “normally I would say that time would take care of that but, alas, time is the one thing we do not have.” Then she said, “Excuse me, Marshal,” and left the room.

Ella turned so that she was facing Rowan.

“Rowan, you see this room we're sitting in? Did you watch those very strange women who stood behind Greta when she was speaking? You see how they were dressed? The dull, scared look in their eyes? You ever seen anything like that in 2012?”

“If you're going to try to convince me we've gone back in time, Ella,” Rowan said with a grin, “You have a long and very laborious row to hoe. I don't know where this place is you've landed, but I do know it is 2012.” Rowan looked around the rough, and unfinished interior of the room. “Although that certainly was a very interesting story you told about the evil warlord in Heidelberg Castle. Would make an awesome HBO mini-series.”

“Fine,” Ella said, as she stood. “Come with me.” She led him out of the room, past the kitchen and down the narrow hall to her private cell. On the bed was a neatly stacked pile of men's clothes.

“For this field trip, you'll need to leave your piece in my room and put on the period clothing.” When he gave her a long-suffering look, she said, “Just do it, please.”

As he put on the peasant's outfit, Ella picked up his cellphone.

“You still have power?” she asked.

“Yeah, but no bars,” he said, as he pulled on a stained pullover that was ripped on both sleeves. “Is this blood?”

“I think it belonged to the butcher's son or something,” she said. She powered his phone off. “We'll need to save the battery.”

She watched him standing in his peasant outfit. “Just get rid of the boots, and you're good,” she said.

“I ain't taking my boots off.”

“Peasants in 1620 rarely wore cowboy boots with their rags,” she said. “I don't even have to look it up on Wikkipedia. Here, put these on.”

Rowan pulled off his boots and his socks and replaced them with a pair of simple leather shoes that Ella had handed him.

“Happy?”

“Oh, one last thing, Rowan, and this is very, very important,” she said, stopping him at the door with her hand on his chest. “You mustn't speak. Not a word. Promise?”