"And I missed her, too," William said, picking Rose Anne up.  As he let her play with his nose and long-uncut hair, William looked to Keziah again.  "And I missed you."

He was playful with the toddler for a long moment before setting her down again with his hat as a toy.  He shed his shirt and trousers, wincing occasionally.  One by one, a series of now dirty bandages were revealed: they were wraps or patches on both arms, his chest, his back, a hip, and a thigh.

"It was my fault, actually," William confessed with an embarrassed tone.  "I surprised it ... came up upon it on the trail in the dark ... five feet from the thing before either of us saw the other in the moonlight.  [i]Jesus![/i]  The thing looked huge, though ... I'm sure it was just a black bear, not brown."

As Keziah gently worked the blood-stained bandages from William's body, the claw marks from the bear's attack revealed themselves to be numerous but not deadly.  William had never been in danger of bleeding out.  Infection had been his own real concern.

"They tell you to wear a bell when you're hiking through the woods, so you don't surprise them," he continued, trying to laugh but seriously wondering whether since his initial first aid, he'd developed any infection.  "But hell, in my time, the only bears in Massachusetts are at the zoo."

The topic of why there were no longer any bears in the wilds of Massachusetts would probably come up later.  William would be more happy to discuss that with Keziah.  On the other hand, he would be more uncomfortable about explaining why he'd used the phrase [i]in my time[/i] in reference to the 21st century when he had clearly and honestly told Keziah he had no wish to return to that era.  It hadn't been meant to insinuate his anxiousness to return to 2017 -- which, he guessed, was now 2018, if it worked that way -- but had meant to simply remind her that he'd come from another time.  

"I came across a house in the woods the next morning," he explained as Keziah began cleaning the wounds and bandaging them.  "There was an older man and his--"  William chuckled.  "His [i]very[/i] young wife ... Leah ... I bet she wasn't 13.  They took good care of me."

William had been intentionally avoiding Keziah's question about [i]his travels[/i].  He didn't know how to explain to her that his sudden return required a sudden departure as well.  Over his time with Keziah before leaving for Quebec, William had come to call the history he knew before arriving here in her time as [i]Real History[/i]; and when he talked about current events that were now different because of things he'd done, he referred to them as [i]Alternate History[/i].  It had seemed the easiest way to keep things straight when they discussed what had been, what was now, and what might one day be.

"Real history remembers General Benedict Arnold as a traitor to his country," he began as Keziah continued working on his wounds.  He explained about how after being passed over for specific missions and denied the credit for some great accomplishments, Arnold had become disillusioned with the Rebel Cause and attempted to turn over control of the Fort at West Point to the British.  "His imminent betrayal was uncovered before he could do it and was thwarted."

He chuckled, asking, "Did I really just use the words [i]disillusioned, imminent, and thwart[/i] in the same breath?"

He went on to explain about Canada.  "With Washington's death, I wanted to help the Patriots win at Quebec City.  I thought ... I thought maybe it might be necessary to keep us ... the US, America, the Colonies, whatever you want to call'em ... to keep'em on a roll ... to make up for George's loss.  So ... I helped General Arnold win at Quebec City..."

He winced at the tightening of a bandage around his arm, laughed, then got serious after Keziah looked into his eyes.  He said bluntly and with a hint of regret, not for Arnold, but for himself, "I helped Benedict Arnold, Keziah ... and then I killed him.  

William explained about the horse fall, the broken leg, the hotel hospital; he held off on graphically explaining sticking a bayonet into the General's throat, though, a bloody event that sometimes still woke him from his nightmares.  "I ... I wanted to prevent him from betraying us in the near future ... and ... I thought I could do it without getting caught.  But ... I was.  And now--"

The words stuck in his throat, and he had to look away for a moment.  He'd hoped to come home to his wife and her family farm and live a comfortable life in the soon-to-be United States of America.  But...

"Keziah, Benedict Arnold will go down in Alternate History as the man who captured Quebec City, and -- likely -- the whole of Canada," William continued.  "And I--"  He paused, clearing his throat.  "And my name ... it will go down in that same Alternate History ... in [i]your[/i] history ... in [i]your[/i] history with me..."

His eyes teared up but he fought through them, "I have been branded a traitor to the Rebel Cause.  [i]My[/i] name ... the name of William Kutcher ... will become the replacement for Benedict Arnold as the equivalent of [i]traitor[/i]."