Free Mine Tomorrow by Jackie Braun Page B

dream was, after all, the only plausible explanation. Now, it was time for the implausible. She could only imagine how he was going to react.
    He returned with the water, which she drank gratefully. Her mouth was dry, her throat hoarse from screaming his name.
    “Better?” he asked. Reaching over, he stroked the hair back from her face.
    She nodded. His obvious concern made her throat ache more. After he’d heard what she was about to say, would his concern shift from her physical to her mental well-being?
    “What I have to tell you, well, it’s not going to seem possible,” she began.
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean, you may think I’m crazy.” She forced a laugh.
    Meanwhile, he frowned. “Does…does it have anything to do with the watch?”
    Devin glanced to where it was on the bureau. The word “timepiece” took on a new meaning.
    “In a way, I suppose it does. It was in the pocket of the overcoat. I’m not sure how it got there. I don’t remember the watch from the sale. But when I tried on the coat at the shop, I put my hands in the pockets and my right hand brushed against it. I pulled it out to see what it was and…and…here I am.”
    He was still frowning. “In our apartment, you mean?”
    Devin swallowed. “In 1945.”
    He touched her forehead with the back of his hand, no doubt checking for a fever. Great. It was just as she’d feared. He thought she was delusional.
    “I don’t blame you for thinking I’m crazy. I spent the past day convinced that this was all a dream. That was the only explanation that made any sense to me.”
    “A dream?” His eyes narrowed.
    “Yes. I’ve had them since college. Dreams of you, although I didn’t know your name until today, well, yesterday. I would see you in a crowd and even though I would try my damnedest to reach you, I never could get to you before I woke up. But this time…this time I did reach you, only it’s not a dream.…
You’re
not a dream.” She touched his face. His skin was warm and prickled with stubble along the line of his jaw. With no small amount of wonder she added, “You’re real, Gregory.”
    He put his hand over hers and squeezed it gently before drawing it away from his face. The patience in his voice when he spoke broke Devin’s heart.
    “I think I should call a doctor. The past several hours have been, well, very stressful. And the heat hasn’t helped. You fainted earlier.”
    “I know it sounds too incredible to be true, but you have to believe me. Please say you believe me.”
    “Devin—“
    She interrupted him and rushed ahead, desperate to make him accept the seemingly impossible. “I don’t understand how it happened myself. I have some memories of our life together, and more and more of them are starting to come back. I remember how we met and our first date. I remember our wedding day, and how you carried me over the threshold afterward. I remember seeing you off at the train station. After that, I don’t recall much.”
    She rubbed her temple in frustration.
    “You had amnesia?” He looked almost hopeful, probably because that would explain her erratic behavior, both now and while he was overseas.
    She almost wished she could tell him that was the issue. No doubt it would be more palatable than the truth. But she had to be honest.
    “No. I don’t have amnesia, but I think I was…I know I was…” She swallowed. “Reincarnated.”
    His eyes widened and he spoke slowly. “As in you lived in another lifetime.”
    “Yes.” She nodded. “I lived in another lifetime. I lived here. With you.” When he just continued staring at her, Devin rushed ahead. “There were signs all along, even before the dreams. I mean, I’ve always loved the 1940s. So much so that I opened a vintage clothing store that sells garments mainly from that…this era. I thought it was just the clothes and maybe the decorum of the times that drew me. But it was you. You drew me, Gregory.”
    Skepticism. His expression was rife