A Love Across Time

By Genevieve Jane

In every story of good and evil, there is a heroine and there is a villain, and it is only fitting that it begins with once upon a time...

Deep within the forests of 19th century Germany, Jacob has forever felt out of place. Focused on his writing, he has no time for love. Feeling suffocated, he flees and when he meets a stunning young woman and makes the wrong decision, he has no choice but to find love.

Present day, in the heart of Toronto, Kathryn enjoys her life. Although happy, she has longed for something more, to be something more. Her life turns into a fairy tale when she is thrown into a tale as old as time, falling in love with a cursed man.

Every heart can be broken.
Every wish has a cost.
Every choice has a consequence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: GenZ Publishing
• Release date: Nov 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005149246

Book preview

A Love Across Time

Copyright © GENEVIEVE JANE 2020

Supervising Editors: Emily Oliver, Caitlin Chrismon

Associate Editor(s): Aleshia Scogin

Internal Formatting: Madeline Ip

Cover Designer: L. Austen Johnson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations and other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to publisher at [e-mail].

GenZPublishing.org

Aberdeen, NJ

Genevieve Jane

For my Mom and Grandma,

who introduced me to Fairy Tales.

And for my daughter, Abigail, who keeps them alive.

Prologue

Germany, 1791

Once upon a time, hidden in the heart of the Black Forest, a woman lived with her daughter.

Their home was a decrepit castle with a tower that reached towards the sky. Draped in ivy and hugged by the forest, the castle remained hidden from sight. Shadows licked at the windows even as the sunlight fell through the trees.

Through a life of heartache and betrayal, the woman tried to raise her daughter to be strong. Even now, as she watched her chase a butterfly across the grass, she saw only weakness.

She saw how open and vulnerable her daughter had become.

How kind.

How full of love.

Love is for cowards, the woman thought to herself as she pulled the last of the flowers from their beds. A few fell to the grass below.

Do not stray too far, Rose, you know what lies on the other side.

Her daughter turned and raised her eyebrows. She was only six and already she wanted more. Unable to give her more, the woman grew miserable, and her unhappiness became her daughter's unhappiness. She watched as her daughter ventured to the edge every morning before turning and running right back to her, burying her face between her hands.

Mother, please, she would beg, I want to see more. There is more there past those trees. I just know it. She would look longingly at the trees, then continue, I can hear them you know. Her daughter wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up at her.

Who can you hear, Rose? The woman tried to keep the anger from her words, but she had heard them too.

Children.

So close to where she thought they were safe.

Sooner or later her daughter would want to leave. To seek them out for companionship. Perhaps even look for love. She had to stop the dream, the hope, now before it had a chance to take root.

Come, my dear, let us break your fast. And she grabbed her daughter's hand, noticing the slight protest, and walked into the small cottage in the clearing on the edge of the forest.

*

That same day, two children were playing at the forest’s edge.

They had a mother and a father and were loved very much. The children would often accompany their father into the forest. The family had all they needed, and if they wanted for more, they always found it.

Then one day, the mother became gravely ill. The sickness came swift and dark, and one morning, upon returning from the forest, the father found his two children outside. Eyes red and swollen with tears, they told him that their mother was dead.

Papa, she is gone, the boy said as he held his sister close. Full of grief, the father buried his wife in the yard below a giant oak tree. The family sat together by the dead mother's grave and wept.

As the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months, their father was increasingly absent, often at the tavern in town. The children had to grow up. The boy, Henrik, took over as the hunter for he was stronger. The girl, Giselle, took over as the gatherer, as she was the most clever.

They would often be left alone for days, and with everything they had and knew, the children fixed their crumbling home. They created a garden with food and brought life back to their decrepit and decaying lives. In their dark, desolate moments, they found solace sitting by their mother's grave under the oak tree.

One day, their father came home, not drunk (as was the usual) but with a woman attached to his arm. He informed Henrik and Giselle that this was their new mother and they were to listen to her and obey her. The children stared in disbelief, but left with little choice, they nodded in silent acceptance.

A few months went by. Spring turned to summer and as summer faded to autumn, the man and his new wife had spent everything, eaten everything, and declared that there was no longer room for the children in the house. The children were not exactly heartbroken by this. Their hatred for their new mother was potent, as she was as useless and drunk as their father.

With only the clothes on their backs and two bags of food (whatever remaining they had hidden away), the children started walking towards the forest. For a year and a day, they lived in the forest making huts to sleep in and hunting and gathering their food. They survived the harsh winter and watched as everything bloomed into spring once more.

Wandering past the trees and following the winding path, Henrik and Giselle found they were on the other side of the forest. Before them was another town. As they approached, they saw that there were other houses around, as well as other families.

Maybe one of them would let the two children rest for the night.

As they passed by the houses, they were greeted by another young boy and girl, both of which looked to be their age. The four children walked around the village, and as fate would have it, towards a house, bright with a warm, welcoming glow as the sun began to fade.

They found themselves seated at an old oak table in the home of the family who took them in. The mother said they could stay as long as they needed, and the children were quite happy to have friends to play with.

As time passed, Henrik became friends with the boys of the family, Jacob and Wilhelm. The boys grew up together, often including their younger sisters in games of chase, hiding, and sword fighting. The girls, Elsie and Giselle, were almost always the fair maidens in need of rescuing from bandits and thieves.

From then on, the boy, Henrik, and the girl, Giselle, forgot about their drunk father in the woods and made a new home with their new family.

Chapter One

Germany, 1810

Jacob did not know how he would get out of the situation he had found himself in, and he felt foolish for running.

His parents had only wanted what was best for him. They said he needed to marry. His Pa was getting older, and someone needed to take over the farm. Why couldn't Wilhelm do it? He was about the same age and would find a lovely wife. Did he not fancy the girl next door? They had always been seen together, laughing and telling stories.

He frowned. How had it come to be that his parents were making him responsible for something he had no interest in becoming responsible for?

Surely, they know that, he thought.

He wanted to write and travel. He wanted more than the provincial life he had grown up in. There was more outside his village. He had seen it before, and he wanted more of it. He wanted to get out of the place where everyone knew him, where everyone loved him, regardless of what he did or did not want.

As he passed the merchants and vendors on the street, he laughed.

Surely, after all this time, he should know better.

He ran past the tents and the crowds. He ran until he could not run anymore, and when Jacob stopped at the edge of the forest and looked behind him, he was glad that he was not followed.

It was not always this way.

He was just trying to get away.

Away from everyone asking him what he wanted for a future. He was getting older, no longer a child, but he was not yet ready to marry. He did not need to take a wife to be happy.

He had his writing and his travelling, and it was all he needed for now. Whenever he felt the need for love, for companionship, and for a woman, he could find it later.

Long ago, his ancestors settled here in the Altsiedelland, which had been the old settlement land since the High Middle Ages. His father was a good man, loved by all and regarded as a sort of king, the ruler of their farmlands.

Looking before him, the vast darkness of the Black Forest swept over him. He had always found comfort here, regardless of the tales. His breath slowing once more, he knelt to the ground and let the smells of the earth and the incoming frost linger close to his face. It was as though the trees called to him.

He was happy to answer their call.

He was happy to be in the forest.

As he stood, he watched the darkness unfold even with the pockets of sun through the trees. Jacob continued running. He knew his way through the trees, out past the slopes and hill, then over the Kinzig, and into the Talschwarzwal. Eventually, he came towards the highest mountain. He stopped and closed his eyes, his breath ragged as he realized he had found it.

A tree.

A tree that he came to every day to write. He would write for hours under its long, deranged limbs. He always ran the same path, and the tree was always where it was before. As it should be. It was something constant in his life.

The sun, now fully risen, had settled its’ rays between the tall trunks of the fir and evergreens that stood, banded together in the darkened forest. The light illuminated the gnarled, twisted branches of a tree so out of place, it fit in completely with Jacob in the middle of the woods.

As he wrote under the tree, Jacob could hear the birds overhead and the sounds of other animals in the forest. The only other sound was his pen furiously writing on the pages. Lost in his dark tales of maidens and dark houses in the middle of the trees, he was startled as he heard his name in the distance.

Jacob, a young woman spoke through the trees, Jacob, where are you? You ran away so fast.

Jacob looked up from his work and saw her. Giselle walked towards him with her dark hair blowing behind her and his mother’s dark knitted shawl over her shoulders. If he were to love anyone at all, it would be her.

It is her, he thought, it has been all this time. He would marry her, but his father thought it would be a better match if he were paired with another girl in town, one who could give more than a lonely, lost girl in the forest could.

Ever since she and her brother, Henrik, came to live with them, Jacob had admired Giselle. She was a strong, fierce young woman who matured from a feisty young girl. He felt his desire stir as he thought of what else had matured. Shaking his head, he flashed her a smile as she walked towards where he was seated. She settled herself down on the forest floor beside him.

His thoughts drifted back to the day she and her brother were found outside of their house, his memory clear as she spoke up, asking for a place to stay for the night. Of course, his mother had taken pity on them; she had even sent Jacob's father and a few neighbouring men on a search for the children's father, but no one found him. A few years later, a drunk man came knocking and insisted on seeing his children.

According to the drunk, his wife had died, and he needed someone to take care of him, so he wanted to take the girl home. Jacob remembered it with distaste - the yelling, and the fighting, and eventually, the front door as it slammed shut. Ever since, Giselle and Henrik had been part of his family, part of his home.

His mother had recently told him that she feared that if she had sent Giselle away, back to live with her father, she would have died. Jacob was happy that his mother and father had made the decision to keep his new friends as family.

As his mind slipped out of the memory, Jacob stretched his arms over his head.

Giselle, he breathed as he took her hands in his, I could not bear it any longer. My mother and father are well-intentioned, but they are constantly in attempts to find me a wife. I fear they will not stop until they have found a suitable match for me.

Giselle shrugged, and her shawl dropped slightly down her shoulder, I am a suitable match for you, she teased and playfully tugged at her bottom lip, tightening her grip on Jacob’s hands. She was always smiling.

Always for him.

He pulled her closer and the two embraced. Jacob brought his lips to hers and smiled as he noticed they tasted of the fruit that she must have just eaten.

As he deepened the kiss, Jacob laid her gently on the ground below them. He hovered over top of her just slightly as he broke the kiss and looked around quickly to make sure they were in fact, alone.

No one is here, my love; we are alone but for the trees. Giselle sighed as she ran her hands through his hair.

Once satisfied, he bent over her again and grabbed her head in his hands, bringing his lips to hers once more. The two remained in each other's embrace.

In the forest.

Surrounded by tall trees and the sound of birds overhead.

I could lay here forever, Giselle whispered as she kissed his chin, and then his cheek. Jacob pulled his shirt over his head and turned to help Giselle lace up the back of her dress. He rested his hands on her back, circled around her waist, and pulled her in towards him.

He brought his lips to her neck and as he kissed her, he breathed, I too wish we could stay like this, just the two of us, without any worries or obligations.

She turned in his embrace, now facing him, and kissed him again, deeper this time. I fear that we cannot, and I also fear that your mother has found me someone to marry.

Jacob pulled back. He swore as he let out a breath. Are you certain of this? he asked, his eyes falling as he traced his fingers along her cheekbone down to the outside of her neck. He felt defeated, a sensation that quarreled with his earlier pleasure.

It will not be for a time, and I have not yet met the man, but your mother seems to believe him a good match and will set up a meeting soon. Giselle sighed, looking at him, We knew this would not be forever, but we have no need to stop. For now, anyway. And with that, she laced her hands in his and kissed him once more.

That night, Jacob, Giselle, Henrik, Wilhelm, and Elsie all made a fire and sat around it, drinking mulled wine and telling tales.

Wilhelm and Henrik were out in the forest earlier that afternoon and brought back a few small rabbits that were now roasting over the fire. Elsie helped them and came back with a basket overflowing with blackberries.

A small copper kettle had been placed over the fire as well, and everyone was eager to enjoy cups of peppermint tea later, made from the leaves in the garden that Jacob's mother tended to. The group had grown accustomed to these evening fires and delighted in the stories they told one another.

Henrik stood and stretched, I shall go get more logs for the fire. He motioned for Giselle to join him. The two found solace as they ventured into the forest alone, reminiscing about how they survived together.

Jacob moved over to Elsie, and the two began to talk of her upcoming wedding.

Well, the man I met is most definitely suitable, she started and then continued talking about his various traits.

She had met and adored the man her parents had set her up with. He was kind and gentle, and he came from a wealthy merchant family in the neighbouring town. As the minutes passed and an hour ticked by, the trio found themselves wondering where the other two had gone. Suddenly, Wilhelm sat up taller on the tree stump he was sitting on.

Jacob? He looked out to the woods as he spoke, they have been gone a while now. Worry laced his words.

Jacob stood. He followed Wilhelm’s gaze out into the woods, now as dark as night. He knew that Henrik had taken a torch, so he looked through the trees for even the faintest of light. When he did not see any, he grabbed himself a torch, hung it over the fire, and as it lit up, stalked towards the edge of the forest with Wilhelm at his side.

As soon as Jacob entered the trees, a cold breeze shook him.

His eyes darted to each part of the forest he could see as he searched for them. The dark branches seemed to descend over him. He felt a malevolence, something dark in the woods. It felt desolate and haunted, unlike the woods he and Giselle had been in earlier that day.

Henrik, Giselle, are you there? he called their names as he walked deeper into the trees, pausing only once as he walked past the tree that he had written below earlier that afternoon. It sat in the middle of the main path with its limbs snaking up towards the sky.

Jacob looked at it for a moment, his eyes fixed on the bark. It appeared to glow in the moonlight. A scream shattered his focus, drawing him back to the darkness and starting his pace again. He rushed past the tree, deeper into the woods. He ran now,