Wellington Cross (Wellington Cross Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

you remember me better.”  He stood, still holding my hand, and
looked at the children again.  He looked back at me and winked.  I
could tell what he had on his mind.  I would call him Jefferson, but I
would not be sharing his bed anytime soon.

Chapter 3
Dreams
    After seeing the children by the river and having the memory of
myself as a child, I began to have dreams of the same children.  Sometimes
we’d be in the water splashing about and swimming on hot summer days. 
Other times, we’d just wade and fish.  Sometimes I’d wake up
laughing.  I was envious of the happiness I’d had as a child.  I
wanted it back.  More dreams came soon after, including one where I was
climbing a huge tree, following the two boys as they climbed higher and
higher.  The boys’ faces started getting clearer in my dreams, though I
would soon forget them after I woke up.  The blonde boy taunted and teased
me as I tried climbing to reach them in that tree.  The other boy looked
amused but slightly concerned as I continued climbing higher.  I watched
his expression turn to horror as I lost my footing and fell out of the tree. 
I hit the ground hard on my hind side.  The boys quickly jumped down out
of the tree, the blonde boy started crying, and the concerned one yelled
“Maddie!” and then picked me up and carried me away.  I could still
remember his amber eyes when I woke up.
    I also thought about the boy calling me “Maddie”.  That
would be a nickname for Madeline. 
    I had other dreams of the three of us, including playing
hide-and-seek in some sort of dark tunnel.  In another dream, it was
snowing hard, and only two of us – me and the blonde boy – played in the snow,
building a snow fort.  In yet another dream, we were with the amber-eyed
boy and sledded down a long steep hill towards the river. 
         When I woke up, I could remember
bits and pieces, so I started writing down what my dreams were about, what the
surroundings looked like, and described what the boys looked like so I could
remember.  I could especially remember those amber eyes of the dark-haired
boy, and began to wonder, again, who the boys were.
     
    Jefferson came by the farm early one morning and took me to
Surry.  I’d been asking him to take me to my childhood home, hoping I
would see the same things I’d seen in my dreams, that I would recognize
something.  When we got to a two-story brick house with the roof falling off
the top of it, I didn’t recognize anything.  We walked around the outside,
looking into windows.  In the dining room, there were cupboards with
missing and lop-sided hanging doors, broken dishes scattered on the floor, no
chairs, and a broken table in the middle.  In the parlor at the back of
the house, a huge tree had fallen onto the second story directly above
it.  The windows were either cracked or shattered.  It was in
terrible condition. 
    The James River was a distance away and down a hill, but it didn’t
quite look the same as what I’d seen in my dreams.  I was
disappointed.  I had hoped I would find some evidence that I’d lived here
before, some memory, but got none.  Jefferson chatted on and on about how
the manor needed to be fixed up, would take a lot of money to do so, and that
that cousin would be coming to try his hand at repairing it soon enough.
    “Would I know this cousin?” I asked Jefferson.
    “I’ve not heard you mention him before,” he said warily. 
“It was something I heard from someone in town.
    “Who?”
    “I don’t recall,” he said.  He began to fidget with his hat
and looked down at it.  A soft rain began to fall.  “Perhaps I should
take you back to the Washingtons.”  I agreed.  “I’m sorry you didn’t
remember your home.”
    “So am I.”
     
    The weather turned cold, and soon it was Christmas. 
Jefferson started pressuring me into marriage.  I still was not ready
yet.  I didn’t love him.  I kept thinking about the man’s voice