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    The Portal
    The Portal
    The Portal
    Ebook123 pages1 hour

    The Portal

    By Cynthia Hickey

    ()

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    About this ebook

    A plain wooden box.

    A travel through time.

    Will Tarin choose comfort or true love? When Tarin Baker's beloved Nana dies, she is left with a letter and a plain wooden box. The letter instructs Tarin to open the box and find true love. When she does, she is transported back to the year 1888. How could her true love possibly be in the middle of nowhere, Texas?

    Travis Kilroy doesn't know what to think when a strange woman with strange hair wearing only a nightgown shows up on his doorstep in the middle of the night. But, when his reputation is threatened, he proposes an idea neither of them is ready for.

    Can these two from different times find the love they're searching for? Full of western charm and Christmas hope, this sweet holiday romance is filled with the magic of the holiday season.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCynthia Hickey
    Release dateOct 11, 2023
    ISBN9798223249221
    The Portal
    Author

    Cynthia Hickey

    Multi-published and best-selling author, Cynthia Hickey, has taught writing at many conferences and small writing retreats. She and her husband run the publishing press, Winged Publications, which includes some of the CBA's best well-known authors. They live in Arizona and Arkansas, becoming snowbirds with two dogs and one cat. They have ten grandchildren who them busy and tell everyone they know that "Nana is a writer."   

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      Book preview

      The Portal - Cynthia Hickey

      Prologue

      2008

      T

      arin Baker lifted the plain wooden cube from a trunk in her Nana’s attic as they went through decades of treasures to donate. Something they did every spring when the church started taking donations for their giant yard sale. The sides of the cube were sanded and stained to show the pine grain. She ran her hands across the smoothness. The wood grew warm at her touch. Upon closer inspection she discovered she actually held a box.

      Do not open that. Her grandmother took the box and set it out of reach on a high shelf. That’s not a toy. Someday, if you’re meant to have it, I’ll give it to you.

      What is it? The box suddenly became a lot more interesting to the ten-year-old.

      A soft smile graced Nana’s face. It’s a portal, she whispered.

      What kind? Tarin tucked her denim-clad legs under her. To another world with monsters and fairies?

      No. Nana tapped Tarin’s nose with her forefinger. To true love. Come now. It’s time to eat. I’ll explain it all to you when the time is right.

      Tarin followed her from the attic but not before taking a lingering glance at the box.

      Chapter One

      Ten Years Later, October

      T

      arin placed a white rose on top of her grandmother’s coffin. A simple pine final resting place as she’d asked. Never one for frills or fancy things, she’d said that type of box used to be all that a body was buried in which made it good enough for her.

      I am going to miss you so much. Until she’d graduated from high school, Tarin had spent every summer at her Nana’s and a lot of spring breaks. After that, she’d made it a point to make the two-hour drive a couple of times a year. She should have visited a lot more.

      Regrets wouldn’t bring her back and now Tarin had the unpleasant task of settling her grandmother’s estate. Since her own parents had died three years before, Tarin was the last of her family. She kissed her fingers and touched the coffin lid. Goodbye, sweet woman.

      This way, Miss Baker. The limo driver lightly tapped Tarin’s elbow. I’ll take you home now.

      No, I’m going to my grandmother’s house, John. I’ll be there until I’ve settled things. I’ve rented a car. Please tell Joshua to relieve you of any responsibility while I’m here. Her fiancé leaned on the side of over-protective. She’d told him multiple times she didn’t need his money, his car, or a penthouse in Dallas. Her needs were much more humble. Her wants, too, if she were honest. While she hadn’t told him so, she needed this time to figure out whether she wanted to go through with the over-the-top wedding—the wedding at all.

      Yes, ma’am. You have my number if you change your mind.

      Tarin nodded and headed to the dark blue Sonata. Inside, she leaned her forehead against the steering wheel and cried. Not for her Nana, but for herself. Nana was worshipping at her Lord’s feet, leaving Tarin here to make difficult decisions.

      She straightened and started the car. The house wouldn’t clear itself.

      She parked the car in the carport and entered the house through a side door. The slam of the screen door brought back so many memories her heart ached. She could hear her grandmother yell not to slam the door as if they stood in the same room.

      How could Tarin let the old farmhouse go? Maybe she wouldn’t. At least not until she figured out what to do about Joshua. If she chose not to marry him, she’d most likely lose her job, which meant the apartment. She’d need a place to live. Maybe she’d get a job where she worked from home.

      She smiled. There were more options than one.

      Her suitcases still sat where she’d left them that morning in the middle of the kitchen floor. She dragged them to the back bedroom where she always slept. There would be no taking over Nana’s room.

      A few minutes later, changed into jeans and an old tee-shirt, Tarin stepped onto the back porch and surveyed all that was hers if she chose to keep it. One-hundred-and-fifty acres stretched behind the house, much of it covered with trees.

      Once upon a time, her family had owned a lot more of it and tried to purchase the neighboring land. Grandpa had done just fine for himself, growing a handful of cattle and hogs to sell. Smiling, Tarin headed to her second favorite spot in the world.

      A small rock cave hid among the trees. Well, it had seemed like a cave to the younger Tarin. Now it was little more than an overhang. Tarin climbed inside and bent her knees, wrapping her arms around them. She’d made a lot of dreams in the cave’s dank interior.

      Her cell phone rang. Sighing, she pulled it from her pocket. Hello, Joshua.

      Sweetheart, why do you constantly turn down what I want to give you?

      She rested her head against the cave wall. I don’t need it. I want to go back to my childhood and remember my grandmother.

      Alright. A month is a long time without seeing you. You should have let me come with you.

      I need to do this. You didn’t know her.

      I understand. What about your kick-boxing class? You can’t just walk away.

      I’ve someone covering for me. She’d agreed to teach the class two nights a week at the community center until a permanent instructor could be found. Kickboxing is not more important than Nana.

      I didn’t mean anything by it. Talk to you tonight. He told her he loved her, but she hung up before saying the words back. She couldn’t. Not until she settled her heart.

      With the peaceful mood shattered, she crawled from her sanctuary and went home.

      She stood in the doorway of Nana’s room. Leaning against the pillow was a white envelope with her name written across the front. Tarin had noticed it that morning, but hadn’t had the nerve to retrieve it. Now, she moved across the room as if in a church and picked up the note.

      The room smelled of her grandmother’s rose scented powder. Tarin breathed deep and closed her eyes. She sat on the edge of the bed and opened the envelope.

      My Dearest Tarin,

      It’s time for you to open the box. I’ve told you before and I’ll say it again, Joshua Madson is not the man God intended for you to marry. Open the box inside that little cave you think I don’t know about. You’ll be transported to another time where your true love waits. When, or if, you return here, you’ll have a decision to make. Stay or go. You can only make the decision once and you must return to your time to make that decision. You can only return back home at winter’s solstice. Trust your heart. You’ve been given a great gift that every woman in our family has received.

      I love you, my darling child. Until we meet again.

      Nana

      Tarin sobbed and clutched the letter to her chest. She didn’t understand a word of it, but she now remembered the box her grandmother had taken away ten years before. A portal to true love, she’d called it.

      Since there was no such thing as time travel, magic, or anything remotely similar, there had to be something in the box that would lead Tarin to meet a man Nana had wanted to introduce her to. She laughed through her tears. Alright, Nana. I’ll play along. I’ll open the box before I get ready for bed.

      She made herself a simple supper of chicken noodle soup from a can and soda crackers from a box. Nana would roll over in her grave if she could see Tarin eating what she considered slop. Still, it satisfied her hunger. When she’d finished, she washed and dried the few dishes. After changing into the cotton nightgown she slept in, she climbed the stairs to the attic.

      The box still sat right where Nana had placed it. Ten years ago, they’d gone downstairs for lunch, then made cookies, and Tarin forgot all about it.

      She reached up and took the box down, then blew the dust from its lid. Let’s go open you up and be transported. She laughed and grabbed a flashlight on her way out the door.

      The flashlight was more than enough to illuminate the small space. She leaned it against the wall and stared at the box. The idea was ludicrous. She laughed again. Here goes nothing.

      She removed the lid. A flash of light shot from inside. Tarin’s insides screamed as if jolted with a large dose of electricity. She crumbled to the ground.

      When she woke, the box sat next to her, its lid a few inches away. The cave sat in darkness except

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