Forevermore Book #3 of the Time Travel Trilogy

Forevermore

Forevermore

 Heritage Time Travel Romance Series Book #3

 Amazon LinkForevermore

Snippet

     “Okay, so who is gonna hold the rope?” Jeff asked.

     “Wait a minute! Who says you’re going down there?” Dave argued. “I think I should be the one.”

     “Why’s that? I’m the one with climbing experience,” Jeff said.

     “Yeah, climbing around on rooftops,” Dave barked back.

     “Well, I have the safety harness and line and pulley in my truck bed right now so I guess I win,” Jeff countered, trumping any argument Dave might have had in the wings. The testosterone was heavy in the air. I decided I needed to put the kibosh on the direction this conversation was heading.

     “No one is going down there,” I insisted raising my voice loudly. “We are simply going to turn on the camera and lower it.”

     The four of us stood on the precipice of the black void of the abandoned well, with a pile of old wood and a large concrete disk tossed to the wayside. We had found it about two hundred feet back from the road after I had led the way as we had climbed between the strands of barbed wire and up the barely discernible gravel drive. 

     The old homestead was completely gone, but as we walked I was replaying the time warp in my head and mentally recalling when I had looked back toward the drive. I could recall standing before the original house, as I described to them the journey Lindy and Coyle had taken, as the others followed along behind me.

     Just beyond where the house would have once been and walking in the direction the barn had once stood, we found the well fairly quickly. It was covered by a large concrete slab and it took all four of us and two shovels as levers to get it to slide off the cavernous hole.

     The guys were not willing to simply take finding an old well as evidence unless I could find some other traces that would make it indisputable. After an hour of scouring the sites that I felt for sure once held the house and barn, I'd had to give it up. Besides, Allen’s buildings from his 1904 homestead had been razed again at some point after 1981 when I had visited this old farm with my dad. 

      There was absolutely no sign of any structures. So here we stood, as Dave and Jeff had now decided that the best evidence would be to go down the well and see if they could find any of the girls’ physical remains.

     “Risk the camera? Nope! Not happening. We don’t even know how deep it is,” Jeff snapped.

     “Hey, it’s my camera and I don’t care if we risk it. You think it’s better to risk one of your lives rather than a three-hundred dollar camera?” I snapped back. “We don’t even need to do that. Let’s just keep looking for remnants of the barn or the house. The house was back that way about a hundred feet.”

     “Torie, we’ve been looking for an hour and have found nothing substantial. The only way to know if this is the place is to try and get to the bottom of this well and see if we can find anything. If the girls really are here, we’ll find bones; at least a skull,” Dave said firmly.

     “Carrie, help me out here,” I whined. I gave her a wide-eyed silent plea to help me rein in these idiots before it got any more out of hand.

     “Let’s grab one of those large rocks over there and drop it down the well,” she said as she pulled out her smart phone. “We can time it and then I can find,” she paused and turned her phone to show us. “Got it—a calculator. I love technology! It states that it’s accurate to within twenty or thirty feet allowing for the variables of the weight of the item being dropped, gravitational pull…yada, yada.”

     “Carrie! I wasn’t kidding! No one is going down there,” I said again but as I spoke, Jeff went to grab the rock and Dave fell to his knees beside the hole.

     “It’s our best option for being sure we have the right place and proving that your dream really was a warp,” Dave said, and by the tone of his voice I could tell I was going to have an uphill battle to win against the three of them.

     “No, I vote to just dangle the camera down there and pull it back up and see if it catches anything,” I said firmly. “None of you are going to put yourselves at risk.”

     “Hardly a risk if we are lowered in a harness,” Dave argued. “We can back my truck up and hook the line to the trailer hitch and just lower one of us…”

     “No!” I said. “That’s crazy! We have no idea how deep it is. It could be full of water. There could be dangerous gasses. The walls could collapse.”

     “Doubtful,” Jeff called as he came back across the scruffy weed-filled farmyard with several rocks in his hands; he was juggling them as he approached. “Okay, let’s do this, and I’m going to be the one to go down,” he corrected Dave. “It’s my harness.”

     Carrie sat on the ground near the lip of the well and flexed her index finger at me. “Come on, we need your ears, Torie. We all need to listen for it to hit bottom.”

     I resigned myself to accepting the plan and joined the others at the well’s edge and I got goose bumps as I looked down into the pitch blackness. The chill air that wafted out of the depths  smelled eerily familiar. I could recall the cool earthy odor as Lindy Smith crashed through the wooden cover. I could even remember the feeling tightening in her middle as she tumbled. That feeling like when you go down the first big hill of a roller coaster and your stomach seems to be dropping out.

     “First a smaller one just to see if we hear water because if it’s full of water, then any remains of the girls will be history,” I said with a heavy sigh of resignation.

     “I agree,” Dave nodded.

     Jeff crouched beside us and took the smallest of the rocks, about the size of a peach, and dropped it down into the inky blackness. We all listened carefully and heard a flinty dry sound as it landed in just seconds.

     “No water,” Dave confirmed. “So now a large one and I’ll time it.”

     Jeff chose a rock about the size of a brick.

     Dave studied his watch for a few moments and then ordered     “Now.”

     Jeff let it go and the depths returned a loud echoed reverb as it struck bottom.

     “About three seconds,” Dave announced and looked at Carrie.

     She quickly typed the information into her phone. “Okay, with variance for gravity, weight of the rock, and the time it took for the noise to bounce back it’s roughly two-hundred plus feet.”

     “Whoa,” Jeff chuckled and jumped to his feet, slapping his hands together to remove the dust. “Okay, show time."

If I Die Young by The Band Perry and Out of the Past

Out of the Past is FREE for Kindle. http://amzn.com/B009ZZDVJS

 Another great song from the play list of Out of the Past. If I Die Young by The Band Perry. https://youtu.be/7NJqUN9TClM

Excerpt --

Once the family members were seated, a recording of a song began to play over the speakers from some unknown source. It was The Band Perry and their song “If I Die Young” which was perfect but such a heartbreaking choice, and I couldn’t help but think that Claire or maybe one of her close friends had chosen this song for her—someone else who’d known how she’d longed to find her true love.

The crowd all stood as if in one single motion, in a show of respect as we watched the light honey-maple stained casket draped with a large spray of pink roses making its way toward the front of the sanctuary while the words of the song brought tears to the eyes of most of those in attendance.

Heritage Time Travel Series

The meeting of reality with fiction is a unique feature of my time travel series.

The Cedar Township cemetery which is the epicenter of the story is real, and some of the true historical characters created for the story are actual people who are at their eternal rest in that cemetery, such as Dr. Jacob Krout, Samuel McFall (fictional Dave's, 3rd great grandfather), Octavius Waltman, Johnny Baitsell, to name a few. I was able to bring those long gone true historical people to life and give them all parts in my fictional world and also tell a bit of their life stories because with the characters traveling back in time, anything is possible. 

Other touches of reality, Jimmy Thomas, who  is an internationally known book cover model. He is on all three covers of my series, representing my stories hero Dave, who just happens to share a very strong physical resemblance to Jimmy. Jimmy also is the man on the covers of  fictional character Torie Mills' novels and in another twist of the story, Jimmy Thomas agreed to a cameo appearance in the novel Out of the Past as himself, which was great fun and another little touch of reality added to a fictional world.

Julie Demuesy and her wonderful organization Dreamcatcher's Equine Rescue in Fountain Colorado is another real person and place that inhabit the landscape of Out of the Past and who graciously agreed to be part of my story as herself. She just happens to also be my sister who I am particularly proud of and who is making a difference in this world. Now she just happens to be a character in a novel...how novel.

The wonderful downtown Fremont, Iowa, where the street dance in Out of the Past takes place and where Dave and Torie dance the night away was actually transplanted from another small Iowa town and to see the street you would actually need to travel about 60 miles away to a little town called Grimes. The band Toaster who rocks the dance is an actual regionally famous band who agreed to be in my story. 

Another true life character who inhabits fictional downtown Fremont is Bill the barber and those scenes with him, are a fictionalized version of how I met him and what we shared. He graciously agreed to appear as himself.

Bartender, Tim Dinsmore, although a fictional character, is descended from actual Fremont pioneer William Dinsmore and Tim's cousin Keith Dinsmore (another real person) who is a good friend of Torie's was actually someone who I knew and collaborated with briefly on his book Forever Fremont Iowa before his untimely passing and those passages regarding Keith and his life are actually times I spent with him and conversations he and I shared regarding our mutual love of family history.

Almost all of the time travel adventures that Dave lives in Out of the Past and Into the Future are true stories from the late eight-hundreds and early nineteen hundreds of Iowa's past, although the names are changed.  The gun mishap in Forevermore is based on what happened to a distant cousin of mine. I found the story in an old newspaper article.

The death of William McFall in Foreveremore is actually the story of the death of my children's 2nd great grand uncle. Even the Thompson family who are important central figures of the series are a fictionalized version of family members who met their same fate decades ago.

Just a few of the real life touches that make my fictional series unique.

Amazon Kindle links

Out of the Past FREE
Into the Future $2.99
Forevermore $2.99

Out of the Past

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Amazon 5* Review~~
I would never have thought family history could be made this interesting to the point were I could not put it down. The characters were very realistic and lovable. Great read. Left me wanting to read more.

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Torie travels to 1891 and inhabits the body of her great-grandaunt Mahala Wyman

                                            Dr. Jacob Krout and family

        I became aware of the weight, as a person sat down beside me and I looked over to see a man dressed in a black suit. He put a stethoscope in his ears, unbuttoned my gown and placed the disc over my chest, listening to my heart. He was Dr. Jacob Krout. He had been the doctor in Fremont for more than forty-three years. He looked young, and was probably in his early thirties. I had seen several photographs of him which people had added to his online memorial. He was buried in Cedar with his family. His wife Mary Alice was a Dinsmore.

      He quietly listened to my heart as I studied his kind face.

      “Take a deep breath Mahala,” he requested. “And another. Good.” He smiled kindly at me and buttoned my gown. “I will be making the rounds to see your sister Ivy when I leave here. She and Joshua are sure looking forward to that little one. I don’t think I have ever seen a couple more anxious for a child.”

      The doctor looked from me, to some point at my left and I became aware that someone was holding my hand. My great-great-grandma Rose was sitting beside me, in a chair.

      “We are all looking forward to that new grand baby,” Rose said, patting my hand. “I think Mahala more than anyone. How is your family, Dr. Krout? Mary Alice and little Erma,”

      “Everyone is just fine. Erma will be going on ten years next month.”

      The doctor looked back to me and smiled. “I will stop again tomorrow,” he assured, rising and taking his stethoscope from his neck to place it into his medical bag on the floor beside him.

      “I’ll see you out, Doctor,” Rose offered.

      “I can see myself out, Rose.” He patted her shoulder and walked to the door. “Until tomorrow,”

      Rose turned her attention back to me as the bedroom door closed softy and I noticed she had a bible open in her lap. She began reading to me from some chapter. I have no idea what chapter it was. The good book wasn’t one of those on my book shelf. I hadn’t cracked a bible since I was confirmed at thirteen years old. Rose finished the passage and then lifted my hand and kissed the back gently.

      “Mahala, you are the light of my life, sweetheart. I want you to know that. I love you so much. We will read and pray every day until you are well. I have faith in God. You need to have faith and believe.”

     “I will, Mother. Mother, what day is it?”

     “Friday, April 10.”

     “What year?”

     She looked at me as though fearing I was having a fit or something. She touched my forehead gently, searching for fever. I was almost certain I knew the year because the doctor mentioned Ivy being anxious to deliver Katie, but I just wanted it confirmed.

     “Eighteen ninety-one, sweet,”

     Mahala Wyman died on April 11, 1891.

Into the Future

         

       As I looked about the cemetery now, I started at the edge of the line of cedar trees along the south side of the drive. Everything south of this side of the drive was more recent graves, starting from the early nineteen hundreds and on. At the time of the newborn's funeral back in 1873 the southeast corner would have been just down the hill near the current fence line.

              I had assisted Clara with her hand in the crook of my arm as I carried the coffin to the open grave and with Clara's brother Walker’s assistance, placed the child in her final resting place. I had consciously tried to recall the lay of the land so that I could find it when I returned from the warp. It was out in the open part of the cemetery and not under the trees but the line of cedars was easily seen from the grave.

        The sun was shining bright and I didn’t think I should have any trouble finding the stone if it existed because the gems and pyrite would be sparkling on a day like today. I went all the way to the fence line and then turned to let my eyes scan the area. Nothing. I supposed that possibly it was never made. I had felt confident, though as Walker took the sacks of stones and placed them into the saddlebags of his horse that his intentions were to get it done.

          There was a simple white stone that caught my eye because it was broken off at the base and was lying on its side along its edge.  I headed over to investigate what was holding it propped up. When I lifted it I found that what it had been propped against was the headstone of Fairy June McFall.

       Fairy’s stone was about eighteen inches tall and a wedge shape with a thicker base. It was seated on a concrete slab. It had the exact style that Clara had asked of her brother. The entire stone sparkled now and the gems were just beautiful in the sunlight. The edge of the right corner of the monument had been sheared off slightly by the other headstone leaning against it for so long. I decided to lay the limestone monument on the ground. Fairy’s stone was already broken and I didn’t want it to cause any more damage by leaning it against it again. As I let the slab drop I saw the face of the stone.

       “Oh shit!” I whispered.

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Heritage Time Travel Series

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Book #1
Out of the Past
amazon link, Nook, Smashwords

Torie Mills is beautiful, successful and a New York Times best-selling historical romance author. Determined to find some solace from her fast paced and demanding life, she decides to move to Mahaska County, Iowa—a mile outside of the tiny town of Fremont and into her great great-grandparent’s old homestead. Her plan is to restore the property to its 1870 glory days.

She hires handsome, renovation expert Dave Cameron to do the work and together they bring the old Victorian house back to life. When Torie moves in, she discovers that restoring the house has opened a portal into the past. Time traveling each night to the Fremont of old, becomes her wonderful escape and her secret obsession. When she and Dave become lovers, he gets swept into the travels as well—until they both realize, much too late, that there was evil in the past that would have been better left alone…

Book #2
Into the Future
 amazon link, Nook, Smashwords

When author Torie Mills moved to tiny Fremont, Iowa, she found the love of her life and the place where she finally felt she belonged. Five generations of Dave Cameron’s family had inhabited the large idyllic Victorian house he and Torie now called home. They settled in, started a family and seemed to be living the perfect fairytale ending. Fast forward two years into the future. The Cameron family, including little one-year-old Rose, have been chased from their home by the time travels they believed they had left behind. Quiet Mahaska County has become a Mecca for fans of the psychological thriller Where Evil Lived, which Torie wrote concerning the 1959 mass murder of her Mills cousins. It was just meant to be a way to help Dave heal and put it behind him for good. Now it had taken on a life of its own. While Torie searches desperately for the answers that will fix her fractured family and allow them the happily ever after they deserve, Dave struggles to hold on to his sanity and keep a secret from her that will test him to the limits of his endurance as he comes to terms with the time travel gift that neither he, Torie nor their child will be able to resist or control.

Book #3
Forevermore
 amazon link, Nook, Smashwords

Torie Mills Cameron’s world has crumbled right before her eyes. Overnight, her life has taken a terrifying turn for the worse forcing her to make a heart-breaking decision; to leave Dave and the life she always hoped for behind her. To ensure her child’s safety, she will do whatever it takes despite the cost. Dave Cameron is watching everything he ever dreamed of slip from his grasp—and with his loving wife and daughter no longer in his life, what is he left with? His dark secret, the time travels which are becoming increasingly fraught with danger. Soon though, Dave and Torie will learn that the world is not what it appears to be. They will be schooled by a wise and patient old man who will explain the time travel mystery. While all of their futures may depend upon a young child who vanished 120 years in the past and may be the only one who holds the key to—Forevermore.