Welcome to Mandy's Madhouse
Home of Romance Author
Madeline Baker/Amanda Ashley

Time Passages

I saw him in the distance
His image blurred by time and space
I heard his voice
so soft and low
I yearned to see his face

A lonely walk down a deserted street
And I saw him just beyond
I felt his spirit call to me
I reached
But he was gone

I crossed time's dusty threshold
And walking toward me he came
And I knew
Deep within my heart
I would never be the same

A dream, a wish, or was it fate
That scattered
The mists of time
That sent me back in history
To reside within his clime

How or why, it matters not
Together forever we'll be
Our hearts and souls
Now bound by love
For all eternity

~ M. Baker ~

Prologue

She needed a vacation, and she meant to take one. Preferably, a long one. She was fed up with the rut she found herself in, with life, with deadlines, with men. Especially men! If she never saw another one until she was a hundred and three, it would still be too soon.

Leaning back in her desk chair, Shaye Montgomery closed her eyes and pictured the lake at Plumas Pines. The water in Lake Almanor was as deep and blue as a mid-summer sky. Tall pine trees stretched upward, their emerald green branches ever reaching toward heaven. It had been years since she had been up there, but it was a place dear to her heart, and it was time to go back. Time to fish in Deer Creek where the water was so clear, you could stand on the bank and watch the trout take your bait. Power bait, she mused, that was what they liked. Time to take long walks in the twilight, time to feed the deer and the squirrels. Time to go into Chester and wander through the shops, indulge in some of the rich chocolate fudge at The Grey Squirrel, browse the antique stores, bask in the pleasure of devouring one of the huge pancakes at The Kopper Kettle.

She could stop off at Bodie State Historic Park on her way. She had always wanted to go there. The last time she had been this fed up with the demands of her job, she had thought she might give up reporting and try her hand at writing a novel set in the historic ghost town. She had long ago given up on the idea of writing a book, but she loved ghost towns, and Bodie was one that had always intrigued her.

Yes, she thought, a vacation up in Northern California was exactly what she needed. She smiled as she thought how pleased and surprised her mom and dad would be to see her. Her parents had always loved it up north and they had moved there a few months after her father retired from the Los Angeles Police Department. Three months later, they bought a cute little combination antique shop and cafe in Chester. Just thinking about some of her mom’s homemade apple pie made her mouth water.

Reaching for the phone, she dialed her editor’s number before she could change her mind.