The Allure Of Love (Sample)

Chapter 42

Chapter 45

Juliana POV

I stared in horror. Billows of smoke rose and suffocated the air and all in its presence. The grand train lay sprawled across the tracks. I clutched at my bonnet and pushed at the whisking hairs that wouldn’t stay off my face. So many bodies and so much suffering was everywhere.

 People were screaming and crying. Men were rushing past, and all was chaos. The women and children were being ushered away from the destruction. Survivors were being carried to the doctor and belongings were pilfered by vagrants and thieves.

“It seems the train derailed.” A burly man beside me said to his companion. He was no doubt lazy and a coward, but quick to point out faults and errors of course.

“Sir Do you know where this train came from?” I asked the men with fear quaking through my body. Anxiety washed over me. I knew deep in my heart something was terribly wrong

“Mam you shouldn’t be here,” he said. He pushed me aside and turned back towards the other men.

I raised my voice and in my thickest southern drawl I demanded the man’s attention. “Please, you don’t understand. I need to know where that train came from.”

“Georgia, it came from Georgia.”

I dropped everything, and ran. The men tried to hold me back but their voices were lost in the hysteria. I began to pull and throw the debris. I overturned every piece of wood and shard of glass.

My hands bled, but I couldn’t feel pain.

Where was he? It never occurred to me that he was dead. He was just badly injured. I muttered and whimpered to myself. I rolled through the dirt, and grabbed handfuls of it. I threw it in all directions.

 I then saw a young man being dragged out from underneath the     train. “Mam get back, you shouldn’t be seeing this.” He grabbed me by the wrists and held me tight. I kicked and screamed. “Let me go you animal! I need to see him, I need to see Derek”

“It’s just some kid.”

My blood ran cold and I locked eyes with this evil man. “You let me see him, and get your hands off of me before I yell rape.” He quickly let me go and I threw myself to the ground.

“Derek” I whispered. He lay on his stomach. I couldn’t bear to see those sweet eyes and smirking lips. I stroked his hair and those wide beautiful shoulders. I kissed him and sobbed onto his dead lifeless body. “Wake up, please just wake up. I promise darling if you just wake up we can go home. I love you Derek. Just please do this for me Derek.”

“Please mam,” came the voice of the same man who had held me. He was pulling at my arm, trying to drag me away. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t think, I couldn’t breathe. Derek was dead. Those three words played over and over again in my mind. “Derek please.” I shouted insistently and crazily. “Don’t do this to me. We are supposed to be together forever. Derek just wake up and come back to me. Derek! Please!”

What was life now? I had never considered a scenario where Derek and I didn’t live happily ever after together. Three or four men tried to pull me away. I clutched at Derek, trying to stay with him. I inhaled that sweet manly scent that I had grown to love. I touched those muscles and tousled hair for the last time. I quickly grabbed his hand and held it in mine. I couldn’t bear to leave him. The men finally picked me up as I scratched and hit them in rage. “Put me down now!”

“He was just some southerner mam, calm down.” The men joked amongst themselves how women can’t handle any type of stress or stimulation. Once he set me down I drew myself up and said “Just some southerner. You will never be half of the man that he was. You are despicable and you disgust me. You’re just a damn Yankee.”

With a look of hatred said, “Get your woman Jack, and perhaps you should keep her in line. We wouldn’t want people talking about how your wife is crying over another man. Things like that tend to cause a man to lose some respect.”

With a rough shove I was pushed into Jack’s arms. For once I saw a hint of compassion linger in Jack’s eyes, but it soon vanished. “Come along now.”

“You filthy pig!”

He grabbed me around the waist and hefted me into the buggy. I stopped protesting. I lay slumped against the side of the buggy. I closed my eyes and the tears gently began to fall down my cheeks.

My brief but passionate time with Derek flashed before my eyes. I could recall ever touch, sweet whisper, and promise. I recalled to mind the small crooked scar on his left thumb, the way freckles dotted his slender nose, and of course that glorious smile that had gotten us into to trouble at the start.

My body felt dead to me, and I wished that I to had been crushed by the train. I was withering away. Only my sweet sweet Derek could change that, and I had lost him forever.

“Don’t speak of this Juliana. Whatever you do don’t speak about this.”

“Just let me go home. Please Jack. I can’t do this anymore.”

“You can’t go home.”

“Why not, I don’t understand. I’ve paid my dues. Let me mourn Derek and go back to my family.”

“I'm sorry Juliana. You’re here to stay. When we get back you need to milk the cow and start dinner. I don’t want supper being late on account of this nonsense.”

When we arrived, Jack left me in the buggy. Minutes past or perhaps hours did. I watched the cattle methodically come in, the dinner bell chime, and the sun hide behind the mountains. A soft chill set in and I decided to pull my listless body out of the buggy and to the barn.

I found the cow to be milked, the dinner ready, and the men to be fed and in their bunks. I decided to stay in the barn and attempt to sleep. I couldn’t eat or sleep though. I was trapped in my own thoughts and that was torture. Derek was my life, and now life wasn’t worth living. Perhaps I should just end it all. Who would miss me anyway?