In Brist's Time - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

“Would the lady consider coming with us?” The man who looked incredibly like Brist’s friend Randy asked of her. Brist was standing next to Nicholas, who immediately thought of her as a traitor. The whole family was standing approximately 10 feet from the limp body of Lucas, who was still lying in the exact spot where he had fallen. Regan and Raven were each trying to hide behind an older brother.

“Like hell I would!” Brist answered the thief. He thought about her answer a moment.

“Is that a yes or a no?” He asked, honestly not sure.

“Do you honestly think that I would even consider going with you after you shot a member of my family?” Brist said, giving him a duh expression.

“Well, the way I see it, you should come show us how grateful you are that we didn’t shoot you,” he answered somewhat playfully.

“Well, the way I see it, you should go fuck yourself,” Brist said, stunning everyone. So therefore, it was a moment before the bandit could even think of something to say.

“Search everyone for anything valuable and collect it from them,” he ordered his men.

Of the nine men that responded to that command, six collected the horses and three took everything that they could find of value from the members of the Evans family. Brist just happened to be last, and just moments before one of the men searched her for her valuables, Brist had noticed the others trying to take her horse.

“Stop it, you can’t take my horse!” She called out to the men roughly trying to get her horse to cooperate. Just at that moment, the man removing her valuables from her moved to take the broach from her shawl. She slapped his hand away.

“That’s not mine. Leave it alone,” she growled at him.

The man slapped her across the face, and Nicholas would have punched the man for his action, but Brist beat him to it. Not only did Brist punch the man, but when he tried to punch back, all her kickboxing lessons came to the front of her mind. She strategically blocked his attack, thereby leaving him open to the powerful right jab that knocked the man to the ground, out cold.

For probably the hundredth time, Brist mentally thanked Jesse for keeping her butt in all those classes. She had always loved kickboxing, but it was the strength-training that really helped her now. Without it, she'd probably only be able to daze the bandit.

She looked at him laying on the ground with a smirk od satisfaction. His two partners in collecting the loot immediately forgot that they had guns in their belts and ran at Brist with intentions of putting her in her place.

Brist quickly judged that neither of these new opponents had much fighting skill, other than that acquired by getting into a lot of petty fights. Her level of skill in the art of kickboxing, which had won her many state and two national championships, was more than sufficient to combat these two. She blocked the first man’s attempt at a jab and punched him in the gut, which doubled him over, allowing her time to pick up her skirt just high enough to land a kick in the middle of the second opponents chest.

By this time all of the other thieves, except for the two still attempting to control Cream – and the leader – had gathered around the fight to watch. The entire Evans family stood gaping in disbelief at their newest member.

Brist briefly glanced at her first opponent and determined that he had recovered from the punch to the gut. He was now coming up behind her. She still had her skirts held up, and so she kicked him with her back still turned on him, because she figured that he’d never expect it. Whirling around to face him, she jumped slightly, which enabled her to kick him in the jaw, thereby knocking him to the ground, joining the very first attacker in out cold status.

Now, she quickly allowed her skirts to fall back into place, as she was once again facing away from her opponent. However, she knew that he was running to attack her, his tactic was to add speed as power to fuel his attack. She bent over and swept his feet out from under him with one of her legs, causing him to land on his back. He immediately rolled over and returned to his feet, at which time Brist connected a powerful right jab to his jaw, causing him to join his predecessors on the ground in out cold status.

Just then, one of the men watching the fight decided to give it a try, but he was stopped by his leader, who was both upset and amused by the fight he had just witnessed.

“Enough!” He shouted an irrefutable command for his men to stop. “I would ask you again to join our band, for you would help our cause greatly, but I fear that you would simply refuse once more. So instead, I will ask you nicely to surrender the broach, or I will shoot you between the eyes myself,” he frowned, seemingly to discourage further opposition from her, but really, he was upset at himself for allowing things to get to this point. Brist looked at him and saw that indeed his pistol was aimed directly at her head.

“Please, Brist, just give it to him. It is not worth dying for,” Regina begged the woman who had come to mean so much to her in just a short time.

Brist sighed, unpinned the broach, and threw it straight at the man’s head with enough force for it to cause some damage, but the man caught it, wincing slightly at the pain it caused in his hand. The leader motioned for his men to gather their fallen companions, the discarded bags of loot, and get away as quickly as possible. It was easy to see that his mood about the situation was darkening.

“This dumb animal won’t cooperate,” one of the two men who were still trying to subdue Brist’s horse complained. Brist was silently proud as she watched her horse show every bit of defiance that Brist herself had just displayed. The older image of Randy growled, his mood growing ever darker.

“Just shoot the beast!” He ordered.

“No!” Brist commanded. “If you shoot her, I promise I will hunt your ass down and murder you in your sleep!” She inhaled and exhaled, trying to regain her calm. “If you will allow me to calm her, you’ll find it a thousand times easier to control her.”

The very gorgeous man, who looked incredibly like her much nicer friend Randy, contemplated the suggestion a moment, signaling that the horse should not be shot just yet.

“I will allow you to calm your horse, but if she continues to be uncooperative, than I will not hesitate to have her shot,” he answered after what seemed like an eternity.

Brist ran to her beloved horse, enveloping her in a hug. The two men who had been fighting like hell with the horse were amazed by how quickly the mare calmed for her mistress. Brist whispered instructions in Creams ear for her to go with the marauders, and that she shouldn’t worry, for Brist would rescue her as soon as she had the chance. Then, she handed the reins to one of the two men, telling him to be gentle with her horse or she would remove a very vital part of his anatomy. The man must have believed her, for he treated the horse as if it were the Queen of England herself.

By this time, all of the bandits – except for the man leading Cream away, and the leader – had disappeared into the forest. Soon the man and Cream joined them, heading in the direction of what will be the town, Brist noted. As soon as all his men were safely out of sight, the leader rode off, calling “Until we meet again!” over his shoulder.

“David, we’re stranded, what ever shall we do?” Regina asked her husband.

“Well, my dear, we shall just have to walk home,” he answered her, resigned to the prospect.

“But what about Lucas?” She asked fretfully as Nicholas examined him for life signs.

“He’s alive, and if we can stop the flow of blood, he should make it. I think the only reason he’s unconscious is because of how hard he hit the ground,” Nicholas informed everyone. He then proceeded to shake Lucas to try to wake him. Brist was upset by the way Nicholas was handling the situation.

“You shouldn’t do that, you could make his wound worse!” Brist told him, not understanding why he didn’t know as much already.

“Stop, I’m awake,” Lucas moaned.

“Can you walk?” Nicholas asked him as he helped him to his feet. Lucas took a few test steps.

“Apparently, yes,” he commented after he was relatively certain that he wouldn’t fall.

“Thank God you’re alive!” Regina cried, hugging him as tightly as she could.

“Mother, you’re hurting me,” Lucas protested, obviously trying not to wince.

Brist couldn’t believe these people; they had no sense at all! Here was a man who had just been shot – and was still bleeding fairly badly – and they had him up and walking around!

“You should lie down; movement will only make your bleeding worse,” Brist advised.

“If he lies down, then how will he get home?” Nicholas asked.

“Get home? He should get medical attention, and be allowed time for the blood to stop before he goes home,” Brist argued.

“I suppose that in addition to knowing how to fight, you are a doctor too.” Nicholas said sarcastically.

“No, I’m not a doctor,” Brist muttered matter of factly.

“Then how would you know just what needs to be done?” Nicholas asked with a slight sneer at this highly uppity woman.

“I would think it would be common sense,” Brist sneered right back at him.

“Common sense tells me that it would be far more prudent to get him home as quickly as possible so that the doctor can be fetched to remove the bullet before the wound becomes poisoned,” Nicholas stated, his voice escalating until it near approached shouting.

“Well, you yelling at me isn’t doing him any good,” Brist retorted loudly.

“I am not yelling! If I were yelling, you would be shaking in your boots from fright,” Nicholas explained loudly, but not quite as loudly as before.

“That’s enough!” David ordered, exasperated by their bickering.

“Please, don’t fight you two. I’m fine except for a mild, well excruciating, pain in my arm, and a sore backside. It is after all my body, and I say I will be able to walk home just fine,” Lucas insisted.

“Are you certain?” Nicholas asked.

“Quite,” Lucas answered gruffly. Nicholas unconsciously looked to Brist for approval, and she gave it by sighing and motioning for him to lead the way.

“I suppose that if he had any truly serious consequence to his fall, such as internal bleeding, or a concussion, or even cracked or broken bones, then he would probably not be able to walk or move at all,” Brist reasoned, sighing again. Glancing around, she noticed that everyone was looking at Lucas as if to determine if he really was okay or not. David was finally recovering his sense after the various surprises of the day, and decided to take the matter in hand.

“Morgan, run and fetch the doctor. Hopefully, the two of you’ll be able to reach the house shortly after we do,” David ordered his second youngest son.

“Shall I go with him father?” Curtis asked.

“No. The doctor only has one horse, and the three of you will not be able to ride it,” David replied. Morgan began to run in the direction of the doctor, who lived in the same direction as Atlanta, which is where they had been headed to shop.

“Please hurry!” His mother called out anxiously after him.

“Brist, you said that you knew who was the first person to be buried in the family cemetery. Well, I’ve been wondering, is it me?” Lucas asked his relative from the future.

“No, you have nothing to worry about, the first person buried in that cemetery died after a long life,” Brist lied encouragingly. She really had no idea if he’d die since he wasn’t buried in the cemetery at all. She could only assume that it wasn’t right now. Regina sighed and hugged her son once more, gently this time.

“I’d hate to rush a wounded man, but it’s going to rain soon, and I think we had better be heading home,” Jonathan imparted, calling everyone’s attention to the darkening sky. Regina was never one to be afraid of a storm, but she was worried about her wounded son, and a whimper escaped her before she could banish her morbid thoughts.

“Don’t worry, my dear. Everything will be just fine,” David assured his wife. Then simultaneously, as if it had been rehearsed, the entire family took a step in the direction of their house. Just after Jonathan confirmed that they had reached the halfway home point, it began to rain. Nicholas draped his coat over Lucas so that he wouldn’t catch a cold in addition to being shot.

“My dress! It’s ruined!” Raven exclaimed in dismay.

“I’m getting wet,” Regan whined as she clutched her brother Jonathan’s sleeve.

“I’m sorry love, but you’ll just have to put up with it,” he told her.

“Girls, look,” Regina addressed her twins, calling their attention to the way that she had pulled her over-skirt up to form a makeshift umbrella. Mentally, she was thankful for the custom of wearing a few underskirts, or else she would be showing off her hinny to the whole world! The twins copied their mother happily, thankful to keep their hair from getting wet.

Brist had always enjoyed the rain. Her favorite thing to do was to sit out in her tent – which had a clear roof – and watch it rain and storm outside. In Minnesota, there were usually plenty of storms, and they normally weren’t warm like this one was.

She had a habit of always dancing in the rain, as if giving thanks to the rain and storm Gods for not destroying her home in the beautiful display of power. Mother Nature never failed to amaze her. In fact, her love of the storm had piqued her interest in the nature-based religion, Wicca, but she was still a novice and the most she really did was light a candle to honor the sabbats and full moons.

Brist decided to sneak off, figuring that if anyone noticed her doing so, they would think she was going to relieve herself. As soon as she was out of sight, she began to dance. Normally, she would cheer, shout, and generally make a joyful raucous, but she didn’t wish to call her old-fashioned family’s attention to her. The last thing she needed was for them to think she was a witch. You know, the bad kind that everyone tried to hang.

Nicholas had seen her wander off, and did think that she had needed to relieve herself, but when she failed to return after a sufficient period of time, he whispered to his father that Brist had to be lost. He Promised he would find her and make sure that she made her way home safely.

Now, here he was, staring mesmerized at the redheaded woman as she danced in wild abandon in the rain. Her back was to him, and so she hadn’t noticed him as of yet. Nicholas felt his loins tighten and decided he liked the way her hair brushed the top of her rounded bottom when she tilted her head back and cackled.

Cackled? What on earth had possessed him to compare her joyous laughter to that of a… Come to think of it, it did sound like a soft, sweet cackle.

Brist decided that her family had to be far enough away to not hear her if she started to sing, especially since the rain should add extra sound dampeners to mask the sounds she was about to make.

“I’m singing in the rain, just singing in the rain, what a glorious feeling, I’m so happy again!” Brist belted out in an entirely way too cheerful tone of voice, and in her glee – which seemed to intensify with each moment that passed – she decided to do something she hadn’t done since 10th grade, over two years ago.

She had been in gymnastics then, rather than strength-training, and by now she must be badly out of practice. So, holding her breath and praying that she wouldn’t break her neck, she decided to do a couple back flips before she chickened out. But first, before she could do them, she had to hike her skirt up and tie it out of her way. After she completed two back flips successfully, and nary a stumble, she decided to immediately switch to a cartwheel forward flip combination.

Once her feet returned to the ground after finishing her flips, Brist jumped up and down, cheering herself on proudly.

Nicholas was nearly undone at the sight of her naked legs, which were made that much more enticing by the rivets of rain streaming down them. Is there anything that this woman can’t do? He wondered in amazement.

Brist had caught a glimpse of Nicholas while she had been tumbling around and wondered just how long he had been watching her. Also, she wondered just exactly how long he would continue to watch her before he made his presence known. She figured that as a man, he would probably wait until she had caught him. Deciding that it would be inordinately fun to tease him, she opted to do just that in the only way she could think of at the moment.

Brist unknotted her skirt, slipped it off, and tossed it on Regina’s shawl – which she had placed in a relatively dry spot earlier. Her vest and shirt followed it seconds later. Brist paused a few moments, wondering whether or not she should remove her lacy underwear. She eventually shook her head and also decided that she had no desire to have her breasts flopping around and probably getting bruised while she danced, pranced, and flipped in a showy display designed to tease the man who thought he was spying on her undetected. As a result, she re-donned her vest-like bodice, lacing it up tightly.

Nicholas’ breath ceased entirely as he watched, her now literally half naked body enticed him, enhanced by the bright red panties she wore. Her top was mostly covering her, but her cleavage plumped out over the top of it oh so invitingly. He had also gotten a good look at her breasts from his a moment ago, and wished that he could tear her bodice off and see them again.

As for the other garment, her bottoms were tiny, and disappeared into her luscious buttocks. His body protested the lack of oxygen and began to breathe again, but his breath was erratic and came in gasps. Nicholas began to wonder if she was trying to kill him, but decided that she still had no idea he was watching her. If she knew I was here, she'd squeal in maidenly protest, right?

Then again, how could she possibly be innocent and know how to move her body like that? He wondered.

Brist was dancing as if she was making love to the rain. Or rather, as if the rain were making love to her. She touched her body as if her hands were the hands of a lover. He decided that she wasn’t innocent at all, and that she really was just a slut who had come up with an extremely clever plan to worm her way into a decent family. A plan to never have to worry about money or fitting into society. She wasn’t fit to be anything but a mistress!

Does she hope to entice one of my brothers into marriage? Excluding Morgan and Curtis, every one of his brothers were of a marrying age. Well, I am not going to allow that to happen! She will be my mistress, or I will throw her out onto the streets! Just as soon as his parents and the rest of his family left...

By this time, he was so hard with all his thoughts of her as a mistress – and with her dancing as erotically as she was – that he considered making her into his mistress right then and there. But he was stopped by the look on his mother’s face if she should ever find out. Instead, he stomped off to find some relief from the heat in his loins that was near driving him mad.

Wasn’t cold water supposed to banish a man’s erection? Nicholas wondered. Granted the rain was warm, not cold, but it was much, much colder than the heat emanating from his loins. One would think that it would still have the same effect as cold water, but it seemed to add to the sensation, causing him to hide behind the nearest tree. He needed relief now!

Determined to find relief as soon as possible, Nicholas unbuttoned his britches and took himself in hand. Very upset and embarrassed with himself for having to spill his seed without the presence of a woman – something that has never happened to him before – Nicholas vowed that just as soon as his parents left, he would make this woman his mistress, and once he had had his fill of her, he would toss her out on the streets like the beggar she assuredly was.

Finally, he found relief from the plaguing torment that the redheaded woman with the velvety purple eyes was causing him. He re-laced his britches and returned to the spot where he had left Brist. He firmly buried the little voice that told him that he would never tire of this woman in the back of his head.

Once Brist had discovered that her audience had left, she had given up her dance and took up a reclining position under a branch that offered a small amount of shelter. She felt as if she was tanning in a tankini, only instead of sunshine covering her, it was rain.

“Are you out of your ever-loving mind?!” Nicholas asked in a tone that conveyed his near exasperation with this woman.

“No. Why?” Brist asked, amused by his tone. He must have been very affected by her tease.

“By now, it must be at least 15 minutes since I noticed that you were gone, and my mother will start to worry herself sick if I don’t bring you back soon. Yet, here you sit, half naked in the rain!” Nicholas was wondering if the girl truly was daft. That could explain her whole from the future story. “Get up and get dressed, before I drag you back exactly as you are.”

“Oh your mother would just love that! I’d bet that everyone would think that you’d had your way with me. You’d have a wonderful time explaining that!” Brist laughed.

Nicholas’ expression darkened to the point that Brist wondered if he might try to kill her. Not wishing to get into yet another fight today, she decided to obey his command to get dressed. She shrugged, not caring that he watched. His expression changed as if to say that he wished that he could watch her take the rest of her clothes off, not put them on.

Men! Brist thought. That was okay with her though; she enjoyed being looked at by men. Every one of them thought that she would make a great conquest and she loved proving them wrong. Often a man would come up to her while she was on a date with Muskles and she would boldly send them on their way, threatening bodily harm if they should bother her again.

Muskles always said that he never had to worry about her cheating on him since she was always proving that she only had eyes for him. And now, it would seem, she only had eyes for the man that looked just like him, only much better, if that was possible.

Soon, she was dressed, and they had rejoined the family – who had stopped to rest soon after Nicholas had left to retrieve Brist. Every member of the family cringed at their approach and shook their head in dismay, for Nicholas and Brist were arguing very loudly about whether or not it was healthy to be exposed to the rain for an extended period of time. Especially wearing as little clothing as she was wearing. They had been carrying on the same argument since Nicholas had “discovered” Brist.

“Can the two of you hold a conversation without arguing about something?” Jonathan demanded hotly.

“When this woman can speak of something that makes sense, then I will hold a conversation with her. Until then, every word that comes out of her mouth does nothing but provoke an argument,” Nicholas argued.

“I provoke arguments?! As I recall, it was you that started that particular argument,” Brist countered.

“Only because you don’t seem to possess the sense God gave a frog! Notice that they at least have the sense to stay out of the rain, not seek out the best spot to bask in it!” Nicholas said loudly, pointing to the ground where it was true that there was not a frog to be found.

“Frogs are amphibious, and if they aren’t in sight at the moment, it’s not because of the rain,” Brist laughed. His logic lacked over two hundred years of accumulated knowledge that Brist had been taught in school.

“Enough! The two of you will cease to argue while in my presence! If I catch you at it again, I will personally take you both out back and tan your hides!” Regina commanded in her no-nonsense tone of voice. “Am I understood?”

Both of the recipients of her stern warning nodded in acceptance. Satisfied, Regina turned her back to them so that she could ask David to lead them on once more, and while her back was turned, Brist stuck her tongue out at Nicholas, who started towards her as if he were going to strangle her, but then he caught himself and sighed impatiently. Brist – and everyone else who had seen the exchange – began to chuckle. It was obvious that Brist’s mere presence was driving him to near violence.

Regina whirled around to see what was causing her family to chuckle and received a smile of angelic innocence from Brist. Which caused Nicholas to scowl in irritation.

David decided that he had better move things along before the mischievous Brist did something else to provoke his eldest son. So, hiding a grin, David lead the rain-sodden party back to their house, which wasn’t too much farther along.

Nicholas spent the time thinking about what he would do after he had tired of having Brist as a mistress. He decided that he couldn’t possibly be as cruel to her as he had planned, and that instead of throwing her out into the streets, he would set her up in her own house, just as he had with his prior and current mistresses.

Not that there had really been all that many of them. He had two current ones, which he’d had for about a year, and eight prior ones. He had a habit of keeping a woman for about a year and then tiring of her. His first he took on when he turned 21 – he was now 28 – and in the past three years, as he made more frequent trips to France, he had decided to have a mistress there in addition to the one in London. He figured that now that he was going to be spending most of his on land time in Georgia, he may as well have one here too.

Great! Now I’ll have three women I only see every couple of months! He thought to himself sarcastically. A sailor’s life.. he sighed.

While Nicholas had been considering the benefits of having a mistress in every port, along with the draw-back of not seeing them very often, Brist had occupied herself with the twins. They were debating the coldness of the rain. The twins insisted that the rain was cold and dreary, and Brist informed them that she felt it to be warm and wonderful.

“The temperature and pleasantness of the rain is really a matter of one’s opinion,” David pointed out.

“You mean you really think it’s cold?” Brist asked incredulously.

“Actually, I find it rather warm, but you must admit that the twins might find it rather cold,” David answered her with a wink.

“Yes, I suppose that is true.” Brist smiled at the kindly father who was so very different from her own. She’d be willing to bet that he’d never pay one of his daughter’s boyfriends to never see them again. Just now, he was staring at his wife’s behind with an amused look on his face.

“Wife, you look extremely good with your petticoats in view,” David told his beloved wife.

“David!” Regina gasped, both scandalized and blushing from the thought of what they could do the moment they returned home.

“I’m beginning to think that I should forbid you from wearing anything over your petticoats ever again,” he teased.

“You would keep me half naked? Oh the ton would have a riot with that!” Regina exclaimed with a laugh.

“Sounds like a delightful idea to me,” David laughed.

Nicholas looked at Brist as if he were having similar thoughts. Brist thought that she should mind, but honestly couldn’t think of a reason to protest the idea. In fact, if she were in this time period long enough, she just might have to suggest the idea to the gorgeous man herself. Only, instead of the cumbersome petticoats, she would have to wear nothing but the lingerie that she had in her bag.

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