Once in Every Life

He laughed and twirled her around. She clung to him as he spiraled around the crowded floor. Laughing, they swept past the fiddler. Tess saw the whiskey barrels in a blur of brown and black. Another wave of amazement passed through her in a shiver. She was dancing. Dancing.

They moved around the floor in a colorful swirl. The other dancers twirled around them, feet stomping to the fast beat, hands clapping. But Tess and Jack continued to waltz.

Tess looked up at him. Her eyes were shining with all the love in her heart. "I could dance with you forever."

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"You will, Lissa." "Promise?" she breathed. He smiled. "I promise.'

Chapter Twenty-three

Savannah gripped Jeffie's hand and ran beside him through the copse of trees. Moonlight glittered through the dense leaves overhead and illuminated the trampled-down path with eerie blue-white light.

"Hurry up, Peters!" Joey Schmidt yelled from somewhere up ahead. "We don't got all night. It's almost time for the supper break."

Jeffie tightened his hold on Savannah's hand and ran faster. When they reached the small clearing, Savannah let go of Jeffie's hand and clutched her aching side, bending over in an attempt to catch her breath.

"Jeez," Jeffie murmured. "They're great. Where'd you get 'em, Joey?"

"One o' the soldiers from the English Camp gave 'em to me. Too bad they had to leave. Them British had all kinds of good stuff."

Savannah's breathing normalized. Straightening, she stared down at the group of boys huddled in the center of the clearing. "What you guys got there?" she said, moving toward them.

The boys pushed to their feet. Grinning, Joey showed her his treasures. In one hand was a long metal sparkler, and in the other was a small burlap sack.

"This one's called a Brilliant Star," he said, thrusting

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the sparkler toward her. "And I got tons of other fireworks

in the bag."

Fear spilled through Savannah in an ice-cold wave. The world seemed suddenly to tilt and throw her off balance. Her stomach lurched sickeningly.

She brought a hand to her mouth to stifle the scream that crept up her throat.

"Oh, God." The words came out in a strangled-sounding gasp. "No," she said, shaking her head. "You can't?"

"Come on, Vannah. Don't be such a girl." Laughing, the boys pushed past her and ran back down the path.

Toward the hall.

Savannah's inertia snapped. The hall!

She snatched up her skirts in shaking hands. Crying, desperate, she ran after them.

The last echoing notes of a waltz hung in the air. Jack and Tess came to a reluctant stop. She stared up at him, smiling broadly. She was just about to say, "I love you" when the world exploded with sound.

Tess leapt out of Jack's arms and looked wildly around. Streamers of light shot across the open doorway on their way into the sky. Red-gold sparkles glittered against the darkness in a flickering spray.

She let out her breath in a relieved sigh. "Fireworks," she said, smiling. "I never knew they were so loud."

Jack let out a bloodcurdling scream.