Shattered Moments by Irina Shapiro Read Free Book Online

to us.  Oh, Alec, what have I done?  How could I have been so careless?” 
    Alec opened his mouth to comfort her, but the enormity of the situation crashed over him, making him feel hollow inside.  As much as he liked it in the future, he wanted to go back where he belonged.  He wanted to see his home, hear the children laughing and playing, and have a game of dice with Kit as they stayed up late, talking and enjoying their brandy.  And Louisa!  She would go mad not knowing what happened to them.  Oh, God — Finn and Abbie.  What would they think if they never showed up again?  Alec took a deep breath and forced himself to focus on Valerie.
    “Val, it will be all right.  We will find a way back; I promise you.”   He had no idea what he was talking about, but it seemed like the right thing to say, and his first priority was to calm her and make her realize that she wasn’t to blame.  He could have lost the watch just as easily. 
    “How?  How will we find a way back? And what of the person who found the watch?  What if they transport themselves to God knows when?” Valerie moaned.
    “We can’t worry about some unknown person who found a watch and didn’t turn it in; we have to worry about us.”  And worry he did.
    “Alec, how on earth will we get back?  It’s not as if we can walk into a store and buy a replacement.  People don’t travel through time, at least not normal people.”
    Valerie walked over to Alec and climbed onto the bed next to him, desperately in need of comfort.  Alec wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair in an effort to soothe her, but he felt the erratic beating of her heart and the ragged breath against his chest.
    “I think I have an idea,” he finally said to the top of her head.  “And it just might work.”

June 1626
    Virginia
     

Chapter 8
     
    “Where are you going, Jenny?” Evie whispered, her white nightdress looking ghostly in the moonlight, her face lost in the shadows of the corridor.  “Can you tell me a story?  I can’t sleep.  Millicent would like one too, wouldn’t you, Millie?” she called out to her cousin, who was fast asleep on her trundle, snoring softly, a smile of contentment on her face. 
    “Of course, Evie, but a very short one.  I just wanted to step outside for some air.  It’s so very hot tonight.”
    Genevieve obediently stepped into the nursery, smiling at the sleeping forms of the children.  There wasn’t enough room to separate the boys and girls, so they all slept in the same room, their trundle beds lined up on opposite ends of the wall.  Robbie, Harry, and Millie were all asleep, but little Tom lay quietly in his bed, his eyes huge in the moonlight.  “I want story too,” he mouthed, holding out his arms to Genevieve.  She allowed the children to climb into her lap as she told them an old French fairy tale that Madame Collot had told her many times when she was a toddler and living with her foster parents.  She had been a kind woman, much kinder than most of the nuns who had the care of her after she was taken away from the Collots.  Genevieve still remembered some of the stories and songs that Madame Collot sang to her as she rocked her to sleep, giving her the love that she would so sorely miss in her later years.
    Genevieve’s melodious voice finally lulled the children to sleep , and she scooted carefully off the bed, leaving Evie asleep with Tom, her arm possessively around his belly and her dark curls intertwined with his blond ones.  Aunt Valerie wouldn’t mind as long as they were quiet.  She wondered when Aunt Valerie and Uncle Alec would return.  They’d been gone for close to a week now, and Lady Sheridan was starting to look worried, her eyes scanning the horizon a dozen times a day as she shielded her eyes from the merciless summer sun.  She said Aunt Valerie took her uncle to a physician in another settlement who had some renown in treating stomach ailments, but Genevieve wasn’t