The knock on the door had caused William's heart to leap in his chest.  He'd barely made it home, barely spent time with his wife, barely acknowledged the child he hadn't realized he'd helped create and now -- this quickly and this soon -- it was all over.  As Keziah moved to the door, he faded back out of view to beyond the open door to the bedroom.

[color=tan]"Where is he?"[/color]

William recognized the voice as that of Keziah's former brother-in-law, Garrett.  During his time before leaving for the Second and, ultimately, Canada, William had spent some time around Garrett, mostly at social events such as church, weddings, funerals, and christenings.  Garrett had come by the farm occasionally, and William -- with Edward and Keziah -- had even been to Garrett's.  But while the two had always been cordial with one another and never shied from approaching and speaking to one another at gatherings, they'd never been what you could call overly friendly let alone attempted to become friends in the true sense of the word.  

William had seen the way Garrett glanced at or talked to Keziah, and Edward had told him about the bond between the two brothers and -- after Charles's death -- the changing bond between Garrett and Keziah.  Garrett had wanted Keziah in the way men want any beautiful woman.  Oh sure, that was just William's belief: he had never seen the man do anything toward accomplishing such an end.  But William knew.  Whether driven by loyalty to his dead brother or desire for his dead brother's wife, William had just known that if he hadn't come along in the way he did -- traveling through time with an AK-47 bullet wound to the belly -- Garrett would have eventually found some way to make Keziah his own. 

[color=tan]"What do you want, Garrett?"[/color]

Keziah relented and allowed the man past, and William stepped out of the bedroom to face him.  

[color=tan]"Why?"[/color] Garrett asked, glaring at the slightly shorter William, [color=tan]"Why come back to Lexington at all if you're just going to put them in danger?"[/color]

William could answer the more clarified portion of Garrett's question, [i]if you're just going to put them in danger[/i].  William had known his return would be a problem, yet he'd come home because, "She's my wife, Garrett.  Keziah is my wife ... Rose Anne is my daughter..."

He moved to his right a bit, taking Keziah gently by the elbow and pulling her close enough so that he could lay a hand upon her belly, continuing suddenly with more pride and joy than the shock that had struck him initially, "And this ... this is my son."