Spirit of Gettysburg: Soulmates Across Time

Chapter 24

Her goofy statement delighted him and he bellowed with laughter. "I have always shaved. I prefer being whisker and moustache free despite the fact this makes me look singularly nonwarrior like among my compatriots."

Her jitters gone, she smiled.

" I am as warm as you when I inhabit the corporeal world. Our former lifetime exists forever in another dimension and we will soon return there. I love you more than life itself and will love you always and forever."

Her heart waltzed with joy.

He placed her hand on his heart. "You have to do this."

He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it.

She was quiet. Her voice was stuck on the off button.

"You will free my soul, change karma, convince me to sit out Pickett's Charge, take us home and experience our marital happiness despite the war. We will have a second chance to live and love. I have done my duty to the Confederate States of America and have fought honorably in this war for Southern Independence. I want a semblance of our old life back at Wildrose Hill with you."

A thoughtful look crossed his face. "I have often contemplated the period. It was a time, despite the war, when Americans, whether Southerner or Northerner, had values, honor and decency, a time when your word was your bond and you gave your all for your beliefs. It was a time of character, heart, bravery, duty and simplicity. I long for that old America. It vastly differed from this modern immorality and perversion, the blurring of good and evil that presently dominates our culture and the world. We knew right from wrong then. I weep for what America has become. I want that old America back. We belong together in that old America. We belong at Wildrose Hill. We belong at home." His eyes owned her, sealing her with love and determination. He waited expectantly for a response.

She smiled yes. His convictions resonated within her soul. These wholesome sentiments were struggling for survival in the modern era of cynicism, evil, selfishness, corruption and greed, the debasement of American society and the traditional values of patriotism, decency, bravery, honor, duty and self-reliance. She longed for those old-fashioned values that once epitomized the American character.

As for Wildrose Hill? He spoke of a home she'd forgotten existed. The lovely name charmed her.

He touched her arm. "Please save me from myself. Release me from this hellish void I am stuck in."

She found her voice. "I have to time travel."

"First to Gettysburg and then home to Virginia soil. Jefferson County shall always remain Virginia soil, not West Virginia soil, more ways Mr. Lincoln divided us."

He'd said that before. It obviously bothered him. Virginia, West Virginia what difference did it make? He seemed to read her mind.

"Mr. Lincoln created a new state out of western Virginia which was ratified a few weeks before Gettysburg. Interesting how in his world view states could not secede from his Holy Union, but when it was politically expedient and benefited him sections of states could secede from their mother state."

"So that's how the state of West Virginia was formed." She was avoiding the time travel subject.

"I am a Virginian, whether I am alive or dead. My family settled in Virginia in seventeen seventy and carved a home out of the virgin wilderness with nothing but their strong will, courage, brains and brawn. You WILL bring us home." He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. "Where you failed me before, this time you will convince me to avoid the charge and prevent my death."

His thumb stroked her palm. "Alas, the devil is in the details. You will return to the precise moment to save me from my foolish mistake. You will alter fate, release karma and create new karma. This will allow us to reincarnate together or stay in Heaven, whichever the Lords of Karma decide for us, but we will stay together forever."

Time travel, changing fate, reincarnation and karma? She was positive her stare was as off-balanced as she felt. Her husband was one crazy spook, a New Age ghost who understood esoteric issues. Could life get any nuttier? She doubted he missed the questioning expression in her eyes.

His eyes laughed at her. "Read the time travel books I have opened for you in the library, their explanations and theories. They are on the coffee table."

"You've read them." She stated it.

"Oui." Amusement lurked in his one word response.

"Oui? You speak French?"

"Oui." His laughter erupted.

"You're the oddest Civil War ghost ever. Your knowledge astounds me, Johnny Reb."

His laughter ended. Anger edged his voice and flared in his eyes. "Confederate not Johnny Reb; never call it the Civil War because there was nothing civil about it, ever. Call it 'The War Between the States,' 'The War between Brothers,' 'The War of Northern Aggression,' 'The War for Southern Independence' or 'Lincoln's Unholy War.' Never call me a Rebel or Johnny Reb again. Those terms are demeaning. I am a Confederate soldier."

"All righty, will do boss man." She hated to be bossed around but she respected his wishes.

His face brightened. " I appreciate it. I will address your other question. I read constantly. I thirst for knowledge and truth. In my dimension I have nothing but time to read and study. My mind is curious. We can and will change our old fate."

His hands chopped the air like a cutting knife. "We can do it through your faith in God and your psychic gifts."

Her look was quizzical. "You know about them?"

He returned her quizzical look. "I have known you since you were ten and married you when you were nineteen. Your gifts enabled you to see me when I visited you."

He was right. She thought a moment about the quest. It scared her.

His voice was gentle. "You can do this. Heart, mind, body and soul you are the strongest woman I know."

Strong? Her? Many things frightened her. She shook her head like a shaggy, wet dog coming in from a summer thunderstorm. "How?"

Author's Note:  Next Update Friday