The Source: Book III of the Holding Kate Series (4 page)

“Take her into a jump indefinitely?” Corey asked.

“Yeah, why not?”

“Well, because Mattovdzky can follow us, can’t he?” Corey redirected the question to Donnie and Dirk.

“I don’t know. It might have been a fluke that he found Kate the first time.” Dirk leaned his massive muscled arms into his thighs and folded large palms together.

“I don’t buy that.” Corey shook his head. “I can’t take the chance that he doesn’t have a way to trace us.”

“We need remote control so we can jump when we need to,” Donnie said.

“Do we have that technology?” Corey asked Chaps.

He shrugged his wiry shoulders. “Tell ya what, I’m gonna send our best quantum specialist to you at First Cabin. We’ll reactivate the old site, update it, and your team can make your own decisions.”

“Thanks, Chaps.” Corey stood and shook his hand.

“Now, Corey, I’d like to have a word in private if you don’t mind.” He gave a dismissive nod to the others.

They stood and shook his hand and filed out of the office. Trip and Donnie paused at the door and threw Corey curious expressions.

“We’ll wait at the General Store for you, Corey. Just come on over when you’re done,” Donnie said.

“Thanks.”

They shut the door and Chaps motioned at the chair. “Corey, I’m hearin’ rumors of some inappropriate activity up at First Cabin. I don’t wanna interfere with your assignment, but I feel I have a moral obligation to you.”

“Sure, Chaps, what’s the problem?”

Chaps cleared his throat, and Corey noticed his face flush.

Uh-oh.

“Corey, it has come to my attention that Donnie and Mel are sharing an apartment, and that you and Kate are sharing a bedroom. You know as a man of the cloth I cannot condone these behaviors.”

“No worries, Chaps. We’re married.”

His eyebrows shot up in the air. “Married?”

“Yes, Mel and Donnie were married on our two century jump. They have been married for over two hundred years.”

“Two hundred years.” His eyebrows crashed together. “I wasn’t aware of a jump lasting that long.”

“Really? They just dropped you in this position without giving you any history?”

He nodded. “Pretty much. It was Mama Ty’s idea. She requested I keep her absence a secret.” He scratched his strawberry blond hair where a permanent crease had formed from the sweatband of his hat. “So they don’t have papers or anything?”

“We had an official parchment in Jewel City. They framed it and hung it on their wall.”

“Okay, I will take care of the legalities and get them fixed up. Now, what about you and Kate?”

“We were married in the Scriptorium, by the Beautiful One.”

He leaned back in his chair absorbing this bit of information. “The Scriptorium.” He raised his brows in surprise, then pinched them together over a scowl. “So you don’t have papers at all.”

“No.”

“Then you aren’t legally married, Corey. I can’t allow you to remain in the same bedroom, I am sure you understand. You will be 18 in a few days and Kate is still a minor. I am sure your lawyers would have something to say about this too.”

“Chaps, she’s my wife. Our marriage is sanctioned by God.”

“I understand, Corey, I tend to believe that what happens in the Scriptorium is sacred and shouldn’t be refuted, but there is not a court on the planet that would buy into that.” He shook his head. “If word got out that the owner of Chastain Corporation was sleeping with a minor jumper, there would be devastating repercussions for the village.”

“She is my
wife
!”

“No, Corey. In the eyes of the law, she ain’t.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Even in the eyes of the church, she ain’t.”

“Then we’ll get married. You can perform the ceremony right here.”

“She’s a minor, Corey. You would have to get her father’s permission.”

This can’t be happening.
Corey didn’t think Kate’s dad would agree to him marrying Kate. He couldn’t stand the thought of being apart from her.
We will jump. That is the best solution. We will find a safe place and jump there.
It won’t solve anything on this end, we’ll be the same age when we get back
. But maybe it would give them time to work something out and get Mattovdzky off her tail. Corey wasn’t giving up his wife without a fight.

“Chaps, I will take your suggestions under advisement, but my priority right now is keeping Kate alive. These other issues we can work out when she is safe.”

“Corey, listen now—”

“No. You listen. I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Chaps, but Kate and I are not separating. We have been together for a thousand years, and we aren’t children. We’ve been to hell and back to be together and no one is going to separate us. Is that clear?”

“Perfectly.” Chaps face grew somber, and a flash of defiance lit his eyes.

“Aw, now, Chaps, I really like you. You aren’t going to cause problems for us, are you?”

“That is not my intention, Mr. Chastain.”

“Good.” Corey stood up. “Send your best science team and equipment to First Cabin as soon as you can.”

“Corey.” He stood and took Corey’s hand to shake. “Think about this carefully, please.”

Corey locked eyes with the cowboy preacher and saw only good intentions. He nodded and walked out of the office.

He paused on the front porch, seething with anger and frustration. He knew what Chaps said was all true. He knew they needed to fix things, if for no other reason but to make Kate heir to the Chastain fortune. To separate them in the meantime? Unacceptable, even if Mattovdzky’s threat did not loom over them. Flipping open his phone, he speed dialed his lawyer. The quantum fields would be on soon and he wouldn’t have another chance.

“This is Corey. I need to talk to Tom, please.”

“Of course, Mr. Chastain.”

Corey leaned against the rail and watched campers on the softball field as he waited.

“Hey, Corey! How is it going?”

“Good. Listen, Tom, I don’t have much time to talk. I need you to get down here in the next two days, bring a new will and testament and papers for emancipation of a minor, and marriage information for a minor.”

“What the hell is going on, Corey?”

“Just get here. Consider it a birthday present.”

There was a pause on the other end of the phone. Then with strained hesitation, Tom answered, “Okay, will do.”

“You can find me at First Cabin.”

“See you.”

“Bye.”

Well, that was taken care of, now he had to break the news to his wife.
This isn’t going to be fun.

Tara and Kate jogged through the village and saw Donnie, Dirk, and Trip entering the General Store. Trip looked up and waved. Tara nodded cordially as they pounded by and picked up speed heading down the hill. They jogged past the lake and their old cabin, waved at Caitlyn as she exited the screen porch, and continued on around by the stables where every adolescent boy in the area stopped to ogle at the beauty of Tara in motion.

“How do you stand it?” Kate huffed at her.

“Stand what?”

“Being gawked at everywhere you go.”

“What? Those guys?” She threw a hand over her shoulder. “Kate, hon, they were gawking at you just as much as me.”

“Spht. Yeah, right.”

Tara narrowed her eyes at Kate and then said, “Let’s take a breather.” She veered off the blacktop and slowed to a walk toward a white swing suspended from a tall white oak tree.

Kate followed and sat down with her on the swing. Tara toed the swing back and forth while they caught their breath.

Kate gave Tara a sidelong glance, scraped her top teeth over her bottom lip and cracked open the topic she had been dying to broach all morning. “So, you haven’t said anything about you and Trip.”

Tara cut wary eyes to her. “There’s nothing to say.”

“Well, the ice seems to have melted a bit.”

“I just decided that it was too much work to be mad at him. We’re just friends.”

“Tara.”

She turned at the tone of Kate’s voice to confront her with a stoic arch of her brow.

“This is me you’re talking to. I know how you feel about him. Remember I was in your head for a few days. You took great pleasure in letting me know how much you loved Trip.”

“What do you need to hear, Kate?” She pressed her lips tightly together and glared. “Tell me exactly what you want from me.”

She focused the microscope right back on me,
Kate thought. She wanted to be honest with her, and hoped it would open a door of communication between them.

“Okay, I guess I want you to forgive him, and then I will know you have forgiven me.” Kate’s whisper fluttered into the breeze. “I also want Trip to stop hurting. I want him to be happy, and I think you are the only one who can do that for him.”

“So, let me get this straight. You want me to crack open my Pandora’s box of emotions so you and Trip can feel better?” She snorted. “That’s not much incentive, Kate. I’d rather not expose myself to either one of you just yet. The last time I tried it, you both betrayed me.”

Ouch. That hurt,
Kate thought, but whispered, “I deserved that.”

Tara sighed heavily. “Kate, I love you, okay? I do forgive you. Things were just so messed up. Besides
most
of the stuff I was really angry about was the other Kate’s actions. So just let yourself off the hook, okay?”

“You love him. Why won’t you give him another chance?” Kate turned her face away and blinked back the tears that stung her eyes.

Tara ground her teeth, drew a deep breath, then spoke in a tender voice. “Kate, he hasn’t asked for a second chance. Not lately, anyway.” Her face crumpled into a grimace of pain. “I think he’s over me.”

“Don’t place any bets on that.”

Tara exhaled sharply through her nose. “Race you back to town,” she challenged and flashed away in a blur.

Kate groaned then ran to catch up.

They jogged through Main Street, Kate’s attention fixed on the Staying Well and how nice it would feel to splash through it, when an arm reached out and snagged her. She screamed, and then pounded on Corey’s chest.

“Corey Chastain! You scared the liver out of me!”

“You need to watch where you’re going.” Corey grinned down at her.

Kate placed her hands on her knees and bent over trying to catch her breath. Tara made a U-turn, came back and jogged in place.

“Come on Kate, just a few more miles!”

Kate waved her arm. “Can’t go…any…farther…must…go…on…without…me,” she wheezed.

Tara laughed. “Aw! You aren’t going to make me run alone are you?”

“Corey, go with her.” She waved Corey toward Tara while she gulped in great draughts of air.

“Nope, I need to talk to you. No can do.”

“I’ll go.” Trip stepped out of the General Store and unzipped his jacket, threw it to Corey, then fell into step with Tara. She shrugged and they trotted off together.

Corey wrapped Trip’s jacket over Kate, bought her a bottle of water, and they strolled toward the lake, holding hands.