Three months passed, and still the sisters had not managed to find a way to get back to their time. But neither one was too concerned about it, for everything was going perfectly, both for them and for Col. Tavington, who was reeking hell and then some on the rebels and loving every minute of it as he continued to hold Benjamin Martin's family captive just for spite. During this time, both Jae and Jula had excelled in their lessons from Lady Tavington, surpassing both her and her husband's expectations. Not to mention the bond between the girls and their 'parental units' had strengthened considerably, particularly between Jae and Col. Tavington, who now went riding regularly together in the woods and on the grounds. In fact, the two had grown so close that Jae had even accidently called the colonel 'Dad' once, and then tried to recover to no avail by saying 'Father' before bursting out in helpless laughter as Col. Tavington smiled and shook his head.
Jula, who didn't quite share Jae's and Col. Tavington's fondness for horses and horseback riding unless it was for the sole purpose of transportation and not leisure, preferred to stay in the estate with Mary where their bond grew stronger with each conversation that the two shared.
"It's time for dinner; we should probably be getting back to the stables and up to the estate." Said Col. Tavington one afternoon while riding through the woods with Jae.
"Oh, please no; can't we race just one more time?" Jae asked, her gray eyes gleaming eagerly in the sunlight.
Col. Tavington rolled his eyes.
"You're not going to win. You haven't won any of the other ones."
"Well that's because you make me ride sidesaddle. If I rode regularly, I could beat you."
"Yes well you're not going to ride normally, as racing is already improper enough. In fact, I should take points off of your report for doing so."
"But you won't because you like it." said Jae, grinning impishly.
"Don't tell Mary that." replied the colonel, pretending to be tight, but then smirked at her. "Unfortunately though, my dear, though I would love to race you one more time, my wife will have a fit if we're late, especially since it would make the third time in a row in five days."
"Does she have to be so strict about time?"
"She's not any more strict than I am. I've just grown a bit lackadaisical about it in the past few days. But she is right. It isn't good for us to be late all the time."
Jae nodded, frowning slightly, and followed Col. Tavington on horseback to the stables, where they released the colonel's stallion, Asmodeus and Mary's mare, Ember, to the stable boys and headed quickly up to the estate and into the banquet hall, just as the soldiers were sitting down to eat.
"Very nice, William." Lady Tavington said with a slight edge in her voice as Col. Tavington quickly took a seat next to her while Jae took one next to Jula, who gave her an impish smirk. "Tell me darling, what ever happened to your famous philosophy of defining 'early' as 'on time'?"
Col. Tavington sighed and replied, "My apologies, Mary."
"Well at least you weren't late."
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Fifteen minutes after dinner, Jae, Jula, and Col. Tavington were heading to the library to meet Lady Tavington for a literature lesson when Jula suddenly looked up at a clock and blanched.
"I have to go."
"You have a lesson to get to." said Col. Tavington. "You'll have to wait until it is over before you can leave."
"No, I have to go. Now."
"Where?" questioned the colonel.
"Just.. never mind. I have to go." said Jula quickly, pushing past her sister and Col. Tavington.
"Jula.." said Jae, trying to grab her sister's arm, but she pulled out of her reach, dashing away and out of sight. "Jula!"
Jae took a step after her sister, but Col. Tavington grabbed her arm.
"Let her go. She can deal with her consequences later."
"No, you don't understand. Colonel, she's been going for rides lately, and.. I don't know.. she never tells me where she is going when she leaves."
Col. Tavington's expression turned cold and foreboding.
"Are you suggesting something?" he asked in a quiet voice with a deadly undertone.
"No, I don't know... I've got to go.." Jae finished lamely, pulling out of the colonel's grasp and hurrying off to find her sister.
"Jae.. JAE!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jula made her way to the stables, and found the horse she used at the estate; he was a medium sized black gelding with a mild disposition named Phantom. Quickly saddling and mounting him, Jula left the stables, staying near the woods to avoid being seen, until she reached a small entrance within them and carefully guided Phantom through it, traveling a good distance into the woods and dismounted, looking around her nervously until she heard a soft whistle.
"Wade?" she whispered, and was rewarded when the tall soldier stepped out from behind a large bush and pulled her into an embrace.
"God, I've waited all day to see you."
"I know what you mean." replied Jula, relishing the feel of his strong arms around her. "But listen to me, Wade. I don't know if we can do this any longer."
"Why not? Has anyone found out?"
"I don't know. But I believe my sister suspects something."
"It's just a suspect, she doesn't really know then."
"You don't understand, Wade." said Jula pulling away from him, a note of urgency in her voice. "Once my sister suspects something, she'll stop at nothing to find the answer."
"Well then, we'll just have to evade her."
Jula shook her head.
"It's not that simple, Wade. She's not easy to evade. And, I'm afraid that we might have more than just her to worry about."
"What do you mean?" Wade asked, a confused look on his face as a look of hurt started to creep into his brown eyes. "Jula, we've done nothing wrong. I haven't betrayed anyone, and neither have you."
"But they won't see it that way. Please Wade, you have to go. I don't want you to get hurt."
"You're... you're serious, aren't you?"
Jula nodded slowly, her eyes beginning to brim with tears as she stepped forward and embraced him tightly.
"I'm sorry..."
Suddenly, Jula and Wade were startled by the sound of a muttered curse and the snorting of a horse, and pulled away from each other, whirling around to see Jae sitting atop Ember, a look of fury in her eyes as tears began streaming down her cheeks.
"Traitor.."