Abandonment

{Epilogue} Russ's POV

Josephine Hatfield.

It wasn't a name my family often looked up. Sometimes I'd find our mom deep into as much historical research about her as she possibly could. But her daughter was smart. She had stayed out of the history books as much as possible. One thing was very clear, though. She was the wife of William "Cap" Hatfield, Devil Anse Hatfield's second son and fierce lieutenant during the feud. Their lineage was also listed, but Mom would get depressed about that so we all tried to steer clear of that elephant in the room.

The thing my mom loved and hated the most was that I was the only one who would periodically go back to visit Josie. She wouldn't go back home. It was too hard for her, she'd say. So I would bring letters back and forth and some pictures.

As I learned to time travel better, I got really good at picking one time during the month, or every other month, to visit my sister. It had to be done in secret, so that the rest of her new family wouldn't see me and it wasn't for more than a day—which was never enough. Cap would see me and he was shockingly happy to see me, even the first time I'd come back.

I kept a log of the date I traveled back to so that way I could go back at the correct time for her and not jump too far ahead of go back too much. It wasn't a lot, but it was something at least. Josie had been hesitant at first, but not enough to tell me no. It meant too much to her to say no, and I knew she only worried about me and the affect time travel had on me.

But this visit was very different.

I was later than I normally was. It had been a long time, for me, traveling back to her and I knew I'd messed up our usual meeting time for her. I wasn't sure how badly, though, until I popped into her house.

It wasn't my fault, though. It was an emergency. I felt like shit and I knew I was likely interrupting something, who knew what, but it had to be done. She had to be warned, at the very least.

Without so much as a knock, I burst through her front door and could only pray no one else was home besides her and Cap.

"Josie!" I started. "It's me, Russ. God, please don't shoot—either of you. Look, I know it's been a while but this is important!"

"Russ?" The sound of my sister's voice immediately put a calm over me. "I'm, uh, in the kitchen. Where the hell have you been? It's been months! I was getting worried."

With a sigh of relief at her safety, I started towards the kitchen. "I know, I know. I have a good excuse, I promise. I got caught up in all this pirate drama. And Will—oh my God you won't believe me when I tell you about Will. Prepare to have your mind blown! But that's also not important. What's important is..."

I rounded the corner and there was my sister, leaned up against the counter looking very different than when I had seen her last. "You're pregnant..." The words rolled off my tongue as I took her in—she was freaking enormous. The last time I was here she was her skinny, short self. Now she had two basketballs under her shirt. Was she carrying five babies in there?!

"Holy crap, Josie, you're pregnant!" I exclaimed, forgetting everything and simply running to hug her—well, tried to, anyway. It was rather difficult with that huge belly.

She laughed happily. "Told you it's been a while. If you'd waited another week, you probably would've walked into a newborn screaming."

"Oh my God," I muttered, smiling at her, knowing how much this meant to her. "Congrats! I can't believe you're gonna be a mommy!"

She grinned radiantly. Pregnancy suited her, and she was clearly loving it. "Thanks! I have like a thousand letters written to Mom about it. She's gonna freak. Sad I don't have any ultrasounds to send back, but you'll sneak a pic of the baby when he or she is born, won't you? God it's killing me not knowing if it's a boy or girl yet!"

"I'm gonna be an uncle! Hell yeah, I'm gonna be so awesome and sneak them candy and shit and oh my God there's no time. Josie." I grabbed her shoulders, my mood instantly somber. "We're in danger."

She blinked rapidly. "We? Me and you? Why? Did you get busted traveling here? Russell I swear to God..."

"No, no," I said quickly. "Not just me and you—all of us. Time travelers. We're being hunted."

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A/N Stay tuned for the rest on Russ's story! I don't have a title yet or a release date, but this gives you a little glimpse at what his story might be about (Will? Who's Will?!)

Thank you guys so so much for all your lovely comments and feedback and votes on this series. You have truly been the reason I kept it going as long as I did (and boy, was it long!)

I hope it's been as enjoyable for you as it has been for me. Josie will somewhat return in Russ's story, at least in a small capacity, so we can still be Keeping Up with the Hatfields.

I love you all. Thank you again!

Hannah