The Messenger: Mortal Beloved Time Travel Romance, #1 by Pamela DuMond Page A

chestnut brown horse with a thick, black mane. “Hello, my friend,” she said and let the horse eat from her hand. “Good appetite, Nathan. Are you feeling better today?” He flicked his tail while Elizabeth stroked his mane with her other hand.
    For some reason Mama had insisted I take riding lessons when I was young. Those stopped after the accident. These gorgeous animals seemed too tall, big, skittish, and made me nervous. I didn’t even volunteer at horse rescues. I stuck with the dogs and cats at the animal shelters.
    But Nathan was stunning. I grabbed two handfuls of oats from the bucket. “Do you think he would let me feed him?”
    Elizabeth smiled. “Is Reverend Wilkins an arse?” We giggled.
    I held the flat of my hand out to Nathan who tickled my palm with his lips as he nibbled. When his huge tooth grazed my hand, I yanked it away. The horse looked at me and I swear, he rolled his eyes and quietly harrumphed.
    “Go on now,” Elizabeth said. “Nathan is a good horse. He will not bite you. Give him what’s left in your hand. Everyone deserves a second chance.”
    I held my palm out to the horse again, closed my eyes, and stiffened my shoulders as his lips grazed my skin.
    “I know you are still healing and have these outbursts,” Elizabeth said. “I realize this has been a difficult time. But I have been tough with you for a reason.”
    “Explain, please?” I asked.
    “When your mother decided to re-marry, and move back to England with your brother, you refused to go. You were thirteen-years-old but you declared you would not step one foot on that ship,” she said.
    This was definitely Abigail’s life memory, not mine. But I needed to know it. “Tell me the story, Elizabeth.” Nathan bumped my empty hand for more food and Elizabeth suddenly looked sad. “Please tell me the story, again ,” I said.
    She lumbered back to the feed bucket. Seemed like her pregnant belly grew bigger every day. “You said you felt like you had important things to do here in the Americas. Things to learn, possibly even share with people some day.”
    She grabbed several handfuls of oats and returned to Nathan. “I told your mother I would look after you, school you, Abigail. I even promised her I would marry you off some day,” she said as Nathan nibbled the oats. “Everything was good until you left to live with the Endicotts over a year ago.”
    “Oh,” I said. “Why did I leave?”
    “You do not remember?”
    I shrugged my shoulders.
    She sighed. “You met someone, you would not tell me who. This person encouraged you to be independent and take chances. This person said that you had the power to change things in the future.”
    “That sounds a little crazy,” I said.
    “I know. But you were always very strong-headed.”
    “Me?”
    Elizabeth smiled. “You used to love it here, in this barn. You told me you could think your thoughts and plan your plans without any of us worriers interrupting you. The animals calmed you. It was so quiet, you could even write in the pages of your book.”
    Whoa. Abigail had a book that she wrote in? Even the school kids Elizabeth taught, who I basically babysat, didn’t have actual books. “Where’s Abigail’s book now?” I asked and watched Elizabeth’s face fall from happy to sad. “I mean, where’s my book?”
    “I do not know. You always hid it.” She sighed, walked toward the door and opened it a sliver. “Stay here a while longer. Maybe this place will help you remember who you are, as well as where you left your book. But, you must return before nightfall.” Elizabeth ducked her head, squeezed under the opening of the short doorway, and left.
    For the first time since I landed in the year 1675, I was alone.

Chapter 12
    I stroked Nathan’s mane and gingerly handed him an old apple I had pocketed earlier from a basket of withering fruit in Elizabeth’s food storage area. Abigail had a book. Was it like Mama’s book? Could it have clues to help me get