Free Love Came Just in Time by Lynn Kurland Page B

before. He’d been tempted to blame it on his stew. It had been, in a word, inedible. More than likely it had been sleeping so close to Abigail and not touching her. Garretts didn’t do that sort of thing before marriage—not that he’d expected anything else. He wouldn’t take her until he’d wed her. The thought of it sent a thrill of something through him; he wasn’t sure if it was excitement or terror. He’d always known he would take a wife sooner or later. It had certainly suited his brothers well enough, though the wooing of their ladies had been tumultuous.
    Miles stole a look at Abigail and wondered if the courting of her would take such a toll on him. He didn’t think so. She looked fairly serene as she sifted through his things. Perhaps she would accept him well enough as time went on.
    He watched her and couldn’t help but smile. It seemed a better thing to do than shake his head, which was what he had been doing since she’d started telling him future things the eve before. Airplanes, cars, trains, microwaves; the list was endless. It would take him a lifetime to draw from her all the things she took for granted, things he hadn’t even imagined, well-traveled though he might have been.
    â€œAbigail, what sort of work did you do in your day?” he asked.
    â€œI was a secretary for an insurance salesman,” she said, frowning at a bow. She flashed him a brief smile. “People paid this man a certain amount of money each month just in case they died or their house went up in flames. If that happened, then he would replace the house or pay the family money to compensate for the deceased. I wrote out all his correspondence and things on a machine called a computer. And I watered his plants. I hated it.”
    â€œWhat would you rather have been doing?”
    â€œAnything but that.” She fingered a fig. “I always wanted to be a gardener. I love to watch things grow. A family would have been nice, too.”
    â€œI see,” he said. No wonder she had found Brett so lacking. The man obviously didn’t share her sentiments about marriage. But why was she so concerned with sprucing and giving? Was that all part of it?
    â€œWhy is this Christmassy fuss so important to you?” he asked.
    He might not have noticed her hesitation if he hadn’t been watching her so closely. But he noticed it, and he certainly noticed the false smile she put on for his benefit.
    â€œâ€™Tis the season, ho, ho, ho, and all that,” she said, brightly.
    â€œHmmm,” Miles said, thoughtfully. She was lying, obviously. He looked at her sad little pile of straw bows, then back up at her.
    â€œHow did you celebrate in your time?”
    â€œOh, there’s a lot to it. You have to decorate the house with a tree and ornaments and greenery. All the family gets together and there’s lots of food and laughter.” She gave another piece of straw a hard yank. “It’s the family togetherness thing.”
    Miles reached out and put his hand over hers. “Abigail, I want to know how you celebrated.”
    She looked away. “I went to my grandmother’s. Until she and my granddad died.”
    â€œThen it must have been quite festive. Tell me of your siblings. What a clan you must have been with a houseful of Garretts.”
    â€œOh, it was a houseful, all right,” she said. “I don’t have any brothers or sisters, but I have lots of cousins and aunts and uncles. They would all show up with gifts and things.”
    â€œAnd what of your parents?”
    Abby shrugged. “They usually took me there and left me. They never stayed.” She smiled at him briefly. “They always had other things to do.”
    Miles’s chest tightened. He tried to pull her into his arms, but she wouldn’t come.
    â€œI was something of a surprise,” she said, walking over to the kitchen hearth. “They had me after