Their Own Time: A Trio of Time Travel Romance Novelette's Read online

  Their Own Time

  A trio of time travel romance novelette’s

  By Jessica McCrory

  Copyright © 2017 Jessica McCrory

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-13: 978-0692850398

  ISBN-10: 0692850392

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, businesses and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places, or actual events is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Happy Birthday Mom! Thank you for everything you’ve done for me! I thank God everyday for choosing you to be my mom. I love you!

  PART I

  Garrett and Carissa

  No matter how broken we feel, the one whose soul we connect with will see us as whole…

  Chapter One

  “How are you?”

  Those three words had come to mean too much to Carissa Stephenson. She had worked so hard over the last few months to make a new life for herself well away from the nightmares that still plagued her at night.

  She looked up from where she watched her young daughter playing with another child and into the deep blue eyes of her only friend, the only one who knew what she had been through.

  “I’m doing okay.” Carissa smiled when she realized that it was true. For the first time in as long as she could remember, she felt okay.

  “How’s Gabby?” Ashleigh Hutchinson asked as she looked over at her daughter who was currently mothering the tiny Gabby.

  “She’s growing so fast. Her nightmares have been nonexistent for the last few weeks.”

  “That’s so good. I’m so glad you got away.”

  Carissa nodded. It had taken her over a year after Gabby was born to finally decide to leave Gabby’s father, Parker. It wasn’t until he smacked her in front of the small child that she realized he was not good for either of them. She had felt the guilt of taking Gabby away from her father but knew it was only a matter of time before he started hitting her as well.

  Carissa clenched her fist at the thought. Then Gabby would have been without both of her parents because Carissa knew she would probably kill anyone who sought to harm her baby. She wasn’t sure she could go through it if it came to that, but she certainly wasn’t willing to stick around to find out.

  “How are things at the hospital?” Carissa asked her. Ashleigh and Carissa met at Medical City of Dallas when Carissa had started working as a neonatal nurse. Ashleigh was a brand new doctor, and the two had hit it off immediately.

  “It’s going. I got moved to the ER, so there’s never a dull moment. Pretty sure that’s a bad thing.” She said with her mouth tight. She had such a kind heart, and the pain her patients suffered ate away at her.

  Carissa looked down at her watch. It was nearing six p.m., and with daylight savings time and the whole fall back schedule, she knew the sun would be going down shortly.

  “We need to get going. I don’t like to be out after dark.”

  Ashleigh nodded. “Us too, it’s a good two hours back home for us.”

  “Thank you so much for making the drive out here.”

  “You’re my best friend, Carissa. The fact that the bastard drove you out of Dallas doesn’t mean we have to stop being friends.” Ashleigh smiled and pulled Carissa in for a hug.

  “Maybe we can get together again next month? At the chicken place down the street? It has a play area inside so the kids will be able to play.”

  “Sounds great. What day?”

  “How about the twentieth about six-thirty?”

  “Sounds good.”

  “Gabby honey, let’s get going!” Carissa called, and Jaqueline, Ashleigh’s four-year-old daughter, brought her over.

  “Thanks, Jackie.” Carissa smiled and hugged the girl.

  “It was great to see you, Aunt Carissa. Miss you Gabby!” She squealed and pulled the toddler in for a hug.

  “Miss you too baby,” Carissa said and then hugged Ashleigh again.

  “Call me if you need me.”

  “You know I will.” They released and walked back to their cars together while neither one noticed the man watching from a distance.

  Chapter Two

  Carissa breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the lock click on the door of her tiny rent house. She hated being outside of the safety of its walls. She and Ashleigh only met at public areas, and Ashleigh had no idea where she and Gabby lived. It was better that way, less of a chance that Parker would find them.

  He had told her that if he ever saw her again, he was going to kill her, and she believed him.

  Carissa knelt in front of the TV and flipped it onto the Disney channel. Gabby loved Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Carissa knew it would keep her busy long enough that Carissa would be able to make dinner.

  After her parents had passed away, she had been left with a large sum of money as an inheritance. She hadn’t touched a dime of it until she had been forced to run away with Gabby. As long as she stayed on a budget, she would be able to stay home with Gabby until the little girl turned thirteen. Carissa hoped that was long enough that Parker would have forgotten all about them.

  Why had she run and not pressed charges like the detective had pushed her to? She knew why, though, she had little faith in the justice system. She had reported Parker the first time he hit her after Gabby was born. It had been a different detective then, and he had told her that there was no proof seeing as how she had no bruises. He said that with her having just birthed a child, he actually said birthed a child as if it were some kind of excuse for anything, that her hormones were running wild.

  She had been so surprised at the fact that he acted so nonchalantly, that she hadn’t even realized he and Parker were friends.

  The department had realized shortly after that incident that he was cutting deals with criminals much worse than Parker, and he was replaced with Detective Wade Cahill. He had come to Carissa and asked her to press charges, but at that point, she was so afraid of what Parker would do if he found out she talked to the police again, that she pushed it off until the day he hit her in front of Gabby.

  Her eyes filled at the terrible memory. Gabby had been watching Mickey Mouse and playing with Legos. He had come in angry about something and accused her of cheating on him. Something she had not done. He started yelling, and Gabby started crying, when he looked at her baby and told her to shut her stupid mouth, Carissa was done. She tried to leave, and he punched her.

  The next day, while he was sleeping off the liquor from the night before, she grabbed Gabby, and they ran. They had been hiding ever since. It had been nearing six months, and Carissa hadn’t seen or heard from Parker. She knew she should have run further than the small town of Howe, Texas. But she couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her home state. Parker rarely left Dallas, and if he did, it was to go to Austin or Fort Worth. He never came up here.

  The knock on the door had Carissa dropping the spoon she was using to mix the mac n cheese. She grabbed a knife from the counter and moved quietly to the door. She always kept the blinds and curtains over the windows so no one could see in. She stood on her tippy toes and sighed when she saw that it was just her landlord on the other side.

  “Hi, Mrs. Kinley.”

  “Hi dear.” The woman smiled at her. Carissa knew the woman was
forty-eight, but she looked to only be in her early thirties. Her deep green eyes twinkled when she smiled at her, and Carissa always felt at ease whenever she was around her.

  She had an Irish accent and told Carissa that she had been born there but moved stateside ten years before. Carissa believed she had been running from someone as well.

  “How are you?”

  “I am well, thank you. Is the house still working out?”

  “Yes, ma’am. We love it.” The single bedroom had been perfect for them, and Mrs. Kinley let them pay with cash and asked no questions.

  “I just came to check on you both, have a lovely evening.” The woman smiled, and Carissa shut the door. She checked on them every night.

  Carissa fed Gabby her dinner, bathed her and then put her to bed. She stood, watching her sleep for a moment before shutting the door to their room gently and stepping out into the kitchen to eat the leftover mac n cheese.

  “Hi, bitch.” Carissa’s back straightened and her blood iced. She would know that voice anywhere.

  “Wha-what are you-uuu doing here Par-Parker?” She stammered, fear taking over.

  “Wha-what do you mean bitch?” He mocked her. “You think you can take my daughter and run?”

  Carissa felt the first strand of anger cut through the fear. He didn't give a damn about Gabby, and she knew that.

  “Thought I was doing you a favor. You didn’t care about either of us.” Carissa turned to face him and reached behind her to grab the knife still on the counter from earlier.

  “Well, as usual, you were wrong. I was just getting used to the little brat.”

  “Don’t call her a brat,” Carissa said angrily.

  “Why not? She is a brat. Just as much as her mother is a spineless bitch.” He spat at her, and she pulled the knife out and pointed it at him. He grinned amused and unafraid. “What do you think you are going to do with that?” He taunted her and took a step toward her.

  “Sta-stay back!” She warned him, but he continued to move toward her until the point of the blade was pressing into his chest slightly.

  “You are going to do nothing, you are nothing.” He smiled menacingly and knocked the knife from her hand.

  Carissa felt the first crack across her cheek, and she bit back the pain. This was not happening again. She would not be a victim again. She kicked him in the groin and ran to the bedroom where Gabby slept.

  Tears streamed down her face as she lifted the little girl in her arms and tried to lift the window. It wouldn’t budge, and her phone was in the living room. They were trapped.

  “Hi, Carissa.” A soft Irish voice filled the room and confused, Carissa looked into the eyes of her landlord.

  “Mrs. Kinley? How?”

  “There’s no time for that.” She said softly, and Carissa saw the fear in the woman’s eyes just as Parker started banging on the door.

  “I’m going to kill you bitch!” He screamed, and Gabby started crying.

  “I can save you both, but you have to know it will be a different world where you are going.”

  At Carissa’s confusion, she continued. “I can make sure Parker will never be able to get to you again, but you have to trust me. Do you trust me, Carissa?” She held her hand out, and Carissa reached for her. She had no other choice, and the woman had never given her a reason not to.

  Mrs. Kinley smiled. “You will be safe. You both will, I’m sure of it. Close your eyes.”

  Carissa felt her hand squeezed and she gripped Gabby closer. “How are we going to get out?” She asked, but before Mrs. Kinley answered, Carissa, heard a whooshing sound fill her ears, almost as if her brain was filling with water.

  When the sound was gone, and Carissa opened her eyes, Mrs. Kinley was nowhere to be found. In fact, Carissa had no clue where they were.

  She held Gabby tighter and looked around. Trees tall as her eyes could see surrounded her and the grass was impossibly green. If it weren’t for the little girl holding onto her shirt, Carissa might have believed she had died. Gabby started shivering, and Carissa realized it was much colder here than it had been in their house. She pulled the dark green tunic over her head and wrapped Gabby in it, leaving her in only her black leggings and tank top.

  Where were they? She wondered. How had they gotten here? Being a woman who read paranormal romance consistently, Carissa couldn’t help but wonder if Mrs. Kinley was a witch of some kind. She snorted at the thought. Yeah right, that stuff wasn’t real, right?

  Carissa heard some men laughing, and she turned to see two men on a horse led cart come into sight on the road she was near. They stopped when they saw her, and her eyes widened. The cart was wooden, and then men dressed as if she were at a renaissance festival. She had only been to one in her life, and although she had enjoyed it, there was always something modern about the actors. These men, however, looked and smelled the part.

  “Excuse me, could you please tell me where we are?”

  The men looked at each other and spoke something in a language she couldn’t understand. When they looked back at her, the look in their eyes had her gripped Gabby tighter and turning to run.

  A second cart came into view, and more men appeared behind her. They all spoke in the strange language, and Carissa backed as far as she could away from them until her back was to a large tree. She knew she couldn’t outrun these men, and being that she didn’t know the area, she could end up attracting more of them and be in bigger trouble. The four that approached her had something in their eyes Carissa wished she could pretend she didn’t see.

  “Please, leave us alone.” She cried. Hadn’t she had her fill of violent men?

  Gabby started crying, and the men laughed. One of them lunged at her, and she fell backward.

  She placed Gabby behind her and covered her with her own body. Another of the men lunged for her and Gabby screamed louder.

  Chapter Three

  Garrett McKinley was angry. Thieves were tearing through his villages, and he had no idea why. He had been to three that they had run through so far. The supplies had been cleared out in a manner of minutes, and none of the townspeople had been able to stop it. The ones who tried were dead.

  He grit his teeth as he rode his horse back to his castle. The only son of the McKinley laird before him, he took over the once peaceful land after his father had passed away. Now it seemed more of a curse than a reward.

  “We will find them.” Leon Donohue had arrived at Castle McKinley fifteen years before and had been Garrett’s best friend since then. He was now the lead of Garrett’s guard, and Garrett trusted him with his life.

  “I believe that as well, but how much damage will they have caused by then?” He wondered.

  “Do you hear that?” Leon asked Garrett.

  Fear and anger took hold of him.

  “I do, sounds like a babe crying.” Garrett nudged his horse into a run, and they raced through the trees toward the sound.

  “No! Please stop!” He heard a woman scream, and when Garrett and Leon burst into the clearing, Garrett’s cheeks flushed with anger.

  A small woman, eyes wide with fear, lay on the ground in front of a screaming child. Her bloody and bruised face was wet with tears, and she was wearing nothing but a pair of britches and a thin tunic unlike any he had ever seen.

  Anger spread through him. “Stop!” Garrett commanded, drawing his sword.

  Leon pulled his out, and they both moved toward the woman.

  “Leave, you have no business here.” One of the men dismissed him in Gaelic, and the woman’s eyes shot between he and Garrett.

  “On the contrary, this is my land. This woman and her child are under my protection.” Garrett said angrily, still trying to get the men away from them. He couldn’t risk attacking, and having them get hurt during the assault.

  The men finally looked away from her and turned to stare at him.

  Garrett dismounted and walked toward the woman. The man closest to him lunged at Garrett with the large knife in hi
s hand. After he fell to Garrett’s sword, the other three attacked and he and Leon took them down easily.

  “Thieves,” Leon said disgustedly as he looked into the cart they left behind. “Tis full of stolen McKinley supplies.”

  “Are you okay miss?” Garrett asked reaching for her. She had clutched the small child to her breast, and it was calming down.

  “Please don’t hurt us.” The woman cried, staring up at him with wide eyes. Her language was strange, and it took him a moment to realize that she spoke English.

  He changed to her language and continued. “I will not harm you.” He held his hand out to help her up, and after staring at it warily, she took it and rose. Garrett noted the way she always shielded the small child with her own body.

  “What is your name?” He asked her softly.

  “Carissa.”

  He looked at her, intrigued. She wore strange shoes on her feet, and her legs were covered with black fabric. She wore a thin dark green tunic that left her shoulders bare and her hair was loose and wild around a face that was beautiful beyond anyone Garrett had ever seen.

  The small child couldn’t have been but a year old, and her legs were covered with fabric similar to the woman’s except hers was pink, and a thick black tunic hung to her waist. Her hair was the same shade of sunlight as her mothers, her eyes the same deep green. She was wrapped in a piece of fabric the same shade as her eyes.

  “I am Garrett, head of the clan McKinley. This is Leon,” he motioned for Leon to join him and he bowed to her.

  “Tis lovely to meet you.” He spoke in English as well and nodded lightly at her.

  “Where are we?” She asked as she looked around them.

  “You are on McKinley land, Miss.”

  “What does that mean?” She wondered, her eyes widening with fear again.