Free Faithfully Yours (The Forever Time Travel Romance Series, Book 1) by Carol A. Spradling Page A

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    "Wait!" Faith shouted and ran for the front door.  Tearing out of the house, she turned the corner, and chased after the old woman.  "I need to speak with you.  Stop!" 
    Matching her step for step, Faith was amazed at the speed in which the woman moved.  She maneuvered her way through the garden with agility and a quick stride.  Continuing toward the tree line, Faith ran harder, hoping to catch up to her before she covered too much ground.  If she could prevent a climb to the top of the ridge, Faith could keep the crone from locking herself in her house.     
    Daylight dimmed as Faith entered the dense woods.  In a half-run, she jumped over an exposed tree root and ducked her head beneath a low hanging branch.  She glanced up at the trail ahead of her and searched for any sign that the woman may be waiting for her to catch up.  Leaves swung back in place offering the only evidence that anything had passed this way.  Faith slowed her pace and pressed through the heavy shrubbery.  A pebble rubbed against the outside of her foot.  She would remove it later.  As much as she hated the idea, she would have to follow the trail to the top of the ridge. 
    The rich blue and purple garments the woman wore should be easy to spot, but there was no sign of anything other than the green and brown colors of the forest.  For an aged woman, she seemed to know how to dart through the wooded area like a deer trying to escape a hunter.  Faith leaned her arm against a tree and tried to catch her breath.  While deciding what to do next, she listened for the sound of diminishing footfalls. 
    Birds chirped above her head and there was slight movement in front of her.  She jerked her attention forward, and prepared for an awkward confrontation.  Instead of an intimidating woman, glaring down at her, a furry, brown bunny hopped across the path.  From its diminutive size, this was possibly its maiden adventure from its burrow.
    Faith rested her back against the trunk and raised her gaze up the hillside.  She pursed her lips and blew her breath upward, attempting to cool her brow.  A blue and purple splotch fluttered at the top of the ridge.  The colorfully clad woman had made her way to the crest.  Instead of disappearing from view, she gazed down over the slope.  Faith cocked her head to the side and tried to determine if the woman hoped to be seen. 
    The woman's gray hair hung in front of her shoulders, reaching to her waist.  The tips of it blew back and forth as though it beckoned Faith to follow her.  The woman stood motionless, like a narrow beacon on a rocky coastline, seeming to wait for Faith to continue her pursuit. 
    Faith shook her head, trying to decide the reason for the woman's interest in her life.  She hadn't seemed that concerned with anything she had said yesterday.  The answer seemed to await her at the top of the hill.  This time, Faith wouldn't be dismissed with a pointing finger and a closed door.  She rucked up her skirt, tucked the hem of the material into the front of her waistband, and set her chin in a determined pitch.  She would have the answers she needed before returning home to Aidan.    
    A possible path veered to the right of the main trail.  Faith followed the hazelnut scent and pushed into the narrow clearing.  With her mind set on the answers she wanted, she headed up the incline.  Twigs and brambles pulled at her skirt, a possible foreshadow of what was to come.  Unwilling to be dissuaded from her quest, she whipped loose foliage from in front of her legs, and started upward.  The toe of her shoe dug into the ground as she climbed the bank.  Leveraging her foot against an exposed rock, she grabbed a sapling near its root and pushed herself to a short plateau.  The slope of the hillside was steeper than she had anticipated.   Her lungs burned and she breathed hard, climbing the last steps to the top of the rise.  How had an elderly woman made it to the