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Or he wanted the dream to mean that Ashley needed him
He stood up and walked over to his hoteland looked out over the dark streets of the French Quarter There was so much history here So many lives had been lived; so much drama had taken place Soy of the past didn’t remain Ghosts didn’t have to be old; he knew that hih he hadn’t wanted to accept the truth until he had met Adam Harrison and become a part of the unit Adalad of his ability to feel where people were; to i him to co And sometimes he had heard the voices of the dead, when he hadn’t known that they were dead
His "gift" had cost hi her, adrift, about to be engulfed, and yet reaching for him, even as he reached for her?
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"Ah, daood said
It was there; it had finally co on here surelyto warn her that the day was not going to come without its share of trouble, because it was already proving to be one hell of an afternoon
Morning had brought the business of breakfast, visitors pouring onto the property to spend ti close to the main event of the day, the reenactal Plantation
She’d never expected the real trouble to co faux-Yankee
"Daht that the h she knew that he didn’t really want to argue Not on a day like today He flushed as the words calance of disn the Charles his new role unsettled her a bit Charles Osgood was the newest in the "cavalry unit" of reenactors, which n into a college hazing; they were all friends, and they were usually courteous to one another
"Charlie, co a Yankee will be fun Okay, so they were jerks--well, the ones here--who couldn’t spy on a neon sign, couldn’t hunt, couldn’t shoot… But co a Yank will be fun!" Griffin Grant teased
Ashley shook her head; how could grown h she truly loved the living history that took place at the plantation, she thought the units clinging to so-called glory were nothing more than inane The event had ended with the death of one her ancestors--not a party
"Hey, hey, all of you!" Ashley said, addressing thethe voice she would utilize orking with one of the school groups--the grade-school groups "I know you all like to cling to the ical illusion that the antebellurace and honor--where --but honorable Yes, we reenact as But this is now, and that was then! None of you would seriously want to go back to the Civil War, and no one here is prejudiced The slavery of any person was a horrendous way of life"
"Ashley--you’re !" Cliff Boudreaux coal, was clearly aood time
"Well, of course, Ashley, it’s not like we take this too seriously," Griffin Grant said, staring back at her as if she was the one who didn’t understand the question Griffin was a striking man in his early thirties, sleek and slick, a CEO for a cable coh his ancestors had lived out here, two hours down the road fro city "We know reality--and like it But this is iuys, really
It was playacting, and for the playacting they were able to believe truly with their whole hearts that it had been about nothing other than states’ rights Ashley knew all the statistics about the fightingthe war couldn’t have begun to have afforded a slave--and as seldorandfather had never been the types to overlook the plantation’s coreen eyes, bronze-colored skin and dark tawny hair She knew that half their visitors were immediately enthralled with him He was one of the reenactors on the Southern side because of the Donegal blood that ran in his veins Early on, a Donegal er had fallen in love with a slave, creating the first racial randfather hadthat caused a serious scandal at that tiave both halves of the family a sense of pleasure and pride She wasn’t sure how to count second and third or twice-removed relatives, so she considered Cliff to be her cousin
History was history Donegal was steeped in it, good and bad, and they didn’t hide any of it
"Charles, they’re right It’s a performance, you know," Ashley said "It’s a show, maybe even an important show in its small way It’s where people can see the weapons of the day, the uniforms that orn And, actually, reht started because ht because the as getting underway You’re all exarateful to all of you"