Timeless Heart by Karyn Gerrard Read Free Book Online Page B

of her hoped
that another reason for his disturbed sleep might be
her.
    She could dream.
    She smiled, and quietly closed the door. She
put the chicken in the oven on low, then ran to her computer. She’d
had a brainstorm on the way home. Why not visit one of those
genealogy sites and look up his family?
    Her fingers clicking furiously, she finally
found something on the Ross family.
    Jerrod William Ross, son of William Devlin
Ross...born 1790. Died...May 1821 . Dear God.
    She clicked on the younger brother Vennor, he
married and had children, no doubt inherited Penhen Hall or
whatever it was called. The sister married as well in
1824.
    She clicked on successive generations. There
were still Ross’s in Cornwall, after all this time, but not from
Jerrod. Did that mean that he never returned to 1821? Would it be
as Brian said, he could return to any era...or was he stuck here?
Should she tell Jerrod this?
    But what caught her attention was a link to a
blog about unsolved mysterious disappearances of the 1800’s. The
link took her to an article called “ Cornwall Carriage Disappears
1821 ”.
    She scanned the blog, which quoted papers of
the day saying said a mail coach carrying four passengers and the
driver seemingly disappeared without a trace May 21, 1821. Mr.
Jerrod Ross, prominent landowner of Pendern Hall and the mine,
Wheal Trent, age 31, had been one of the passengers. His family had
hired Bow Street runners from London to investigate, but no trace
was ever found of Mr. Ross, his belongings, or the other
passengers. Even the horses and the carriage itself had
disappeared. After five years, Mr. Ross and the others were
declared legally dead.
    Sandra continued reading through the
speculations for the disappearance. One supposition was Jerrod
Ross, who had just procured a large cash loan to improve his mining
business, had faked the disappearance and had vanished with the
other passengers to the new world. Sandra snorted. She picked up
the gold sovereign he had given her and turned it thoughtfully.
Something occurred to her. She went to Google and searched for the
modern value of an 1821 solid gold sovereign. A few clicks of her
mouse and she was astonished to find that gold sovereigns could be
worth up to two thousand dollars. Apiece. Jerrod had a whole purse
of them.
    All her last few lingering, nagging doubts that
Jerrod wasn’t really from 1821 dissipated like fog in the sunshine.
He was real, and he was from the past. There was no
doubt.
    So if he could travel here through time, then
he could, in theory, leave.
    A bolt of pain went through her as the thought
of him leaving. She did not want him to leave her. Oh no, she was falling for him. And with each passing day, that
horrible feeling that he would leave her all alone was becoming
more intense. She couldn't bear it.
    Slowly, she rose from her chair and went to
rouse Jerrod from his nap.
     
    ****
     
    "Astounding, you can just go out and get food
like this, bring it home already prepared?" Jerrod was incredulous.
He put a couple of pieces of chicken on his plate, he then scooped
out some deli potato salad.
    "Yes, it is called 'take-out' or in England
they call it 'take-away'. I’m afraid it’s a preferred mode of
eating for most people now days,” she laughed, then sobered.
“First, I want to tell you what I found out, Jerrod. I want to be
completely honest with you."
    She told him everything, the entire
conversation with Brian, her looking up his family on the computer,
the article about the carriage disappearance. He did not know what
a computer was. She said she would explain later, it was something
she hadn’t shown him yet.
    Jerrod lowered his head. "Suddenly, I am no
longer hungry. I believe I will retire." He stood and went to his
room.
    He closed the door and slumped onto the bed,
his hands running through his hair in shock and stunned
astonishment. The evidence proved that he did not return home.
There was no record of him, at all. Just a death