A Moment in Time (43 page)

      
He sobered.
 
"All right, I'm ready."

      
She glanced at the sun's angle.
 
"I think we'd better save this until after supper."

      
"Jackie..."

      
"Really, it's a very long and amazing story."
 
She stood on tiptoes and kissed his cheek.
 

      
"All right, as soon as Todd's asleep."
 
Mischief and a familiar fire danced in his blue eyes.
 
"That pile of straw's still there."

      
She laughed again and threw her arms around him, sighing with relief when he gathered her close.
 
The thought of never feeling his arms embracing her again made a tight band of fear clutch her heart and she held him tighter.

      
"There, now," he said, kissing the top of her head.
 
"Everything's going to be fine.
 
You'll see."

      
She leaned back and met his gaze.
 
"I want it to be fine, Cole.
 
More than anything."
 
Drawing a deep breath, she added, "And once I've told you everything, we'll talk about...what you asked me again."

      
He smiled and kissed her forehead.
 
"The word is marriage," he whispered.

      
There she went changing her mind again.
 
Fickle Female R Us.
 
Cole was offering her a dream–a dream she wanted more than anything, but only because she loved this man with all her heart and soul.

      
Marriage to a man I really love.
 
Great sex whenever I want with Mel-Gibson-Only-Better.
 
Children.

      
Love?
 
Did he love her?
 
Could he love her?

      
Dare she dream again...?

* * *

      
Cole could easily make a the habit of these evening meetings with Jackie.
 
A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he tucked his son in bed and kissed him on the forehead.

      
"Did you and Miss Jackie finish
Huckleberry Finn
?" he asked, squatting beside Todd's narrow bunk.

      
"Almost."
 
The boy yawned, then smiled, his eyes drooping.
 
"I like Miss Jackie."

      
"So do I, son."
 
Cole drew a deep breath and rose.
 
"So do I."

      
"I want her to go with us to Oregon."

      
A pang of regret stabbed through Cole.
 
He never should've mentioned Oregon to Todd.
 
Now they'd have to wait.
 
"We'll see what she has to say about that when the time comes."

      
"Goodnight, Pa."

      
"Sleep tight."

      
"Mama always said...that."
 
The boy's eyes fluttered shut and his even breathing indicated he was sound asleep.

      
Todd had very few memories of his mother, because he'd only been five when she died.
 
Cole smiled to himself, then glanced at the rocking chair near the hearth.
 
Remembering...

      
He could picture her there, nursing Todd at her breast

, humming softly.
 
A lump formed in Cole's throat and he drew another huge breath.
 
Memories of Elizabeth always led to the same place.

      
His unkept promise.

      
He walked slowly toward the door, trying to banish the images of his wife on her deathbed, and the sound of her shaky voice begging him...

      
Damnation, Elizabeth...I'm sorry.
 
So sorry.

      
Trying to keep that promise had driven him to break the law.
 
But if he hadn't agreed to do Merriweather's dirty work, he never would have met Jackie.
 

      
Elizabeth would want him to be happy.
 
She'd said as much before her death–told him to remarry one day, and to give Todd a new mother.
 
Elizabeth would always be Todd's mother, but Jackie loved him, too, whether she was ready to admit it or not.

      
Cole shoved aside his memories, deciding to deal with one woman and one truth at a time.
 
His brain was downright overcrowded with worries and promises and dreams as it was.

      
Pity his dreams and promises were so damned contrary.

      
He opened the door and stepped outside, pulling it shut behind him.
 
Jackie turned slowly toward him, pulling her shawl closer against the evening chill.

      
She'd promised him the truth, but for some reason, he feared it.
 
Truth was good, he reminded himself, gazing out at the last smudges of twilight.

      
"Todd's asleep," he said, sliding his arm around Jackie and pulling her against him.
 
"Chilly this evening."

      
"Yes."
 
She rested her cheek on his shoulder.
 
"Well, are you ready for this?"

      
"I'm...not sure."

      
"Get ready, because it's show time, big guy."
 
She sighed and pulled out of his embrace, taking his hand.
 
"Let's sit here.
 
Okay?"

      
He allowed her to lead him to the porch step, where they sat side-by-side, their thighs and hips touching.
 
Everything about this woman aroused him.
 
He couldn't remember being so randy all the time before, but he must have been as a younger man.
 
Damnation, but Jackie made him
feel
young again.

      
And alive.

      
"All right," he said, watching the stars appear across the clear black sky, twinkling like diamonds.
 
He wished he could grab one of them and put it on her ring finger.
 
Damn.
He'd spent far too much time lately remembering his mother's poetry and fairy tales.
 
"I'm listening."

      
She kept his hand.
 
"Promise to listen to it all?"

      
"Every word."

      
"No matter how, uh, crazy it sounds?"

      
He looked at her, though he couldn't see her clearly in the darkness.
 
"No matter how crazy.
 
I promise."
 
Giving her hand a reassuring squeeze, he added, "Honest."

      
"Okay."
 
She released a slow sigh.
 
"First things first.
 
I'm not from around here."

      
"I figured that."
 
He smiled through the darkness, but sensed she wasn't in the mood for jokes.
 
"Go on."

      
"I was born in Texas and raised in a small town in Arizona with my great-aunt."

      
"Pearl?"

      
"Right.
 
Good old not-so-Great-Aunt Pearl."
 
She shuddered against his side.

      
"I gather that isn't a good memory?"

      
"No, though I think she
believed
she was doing a good job, which is really scary now that I think about it."

      
"Sometimes you talk so strange."
 
He shook his head.
 
"I'm sorry, go on."

      
"I talk strange for a reason, Cole."
 
She half-turned toward him.
 
"Here comes the part that will be hard for you to believe."

      
"I'm ready."
 
He narrowed his eyes, wishing he could see hers, but it was too dark.

      
"Growing up in Arizona isn't why I sound strange to you."
 
She sighed again, then gave his hand a squeeze.
 
"Cole, I was born in the year 1967."

      
"That makes you a year younger than–"
 
He gulped, realization making gooseflesh pop out all over him.
 
"Wait, did you say...what I think you did?"

      
"Yes.
 
April 11th,
19
67, Cole."

      
She was madder than a march hare.
 
Nuttier than his mother-in-law's fruitcake.
 
A raving lunatic.
 
"Jackie, you feeling all right?"

      
She threw one hand up and stared at the sky.
 
"See?
 
I knew you'd do this."
 

      
"It's not poss–"

      
"Yes, it
is
possible, because it happened to me, Cole."
 
A bitter laugh erupted from her, containing no humor at all.
 
"It happened to
me
.
 
One day I was hiking down a mountain in the month of June, the next I was back in time over a hundred years."

      
"Jackie, I'm worried about–"

      
"Hey, don't worry about me.
 
I've been vaccinated against half a dozen diseases that are common in this century.
 
You're the one who should worry."
 
Groaning, she pulled her hand free and leapt to her feet, pacing back and forth in front of him.

      
Cole rose slowly, trying to sort this through.
 
"Jackie, traveling back in time isn't possible."

      
"Tell that to God or whoever sucked me into that painting and planted my pitiful ass in your lap, bucko."

      
"First of all, your ass is quite fine, ma'am, and I'm grateful to God for planting you in my lap."
 
He took a step toward her, but she backed away.
 
"And other places."

      
"But...?"
 
She stood with a fist perched on each hip and lifted her chin just as the moon rose, bathing the clearing in silver.
 
"Go on, ask all those questions that are bouncing around in that brain of yours."

      
He took another step toward her, ready to grab her if she bolted.
 
The woman wasn't well, and he cared too much about her to risk letting her wander off into the wilderness and get lost.
 

      
"I'm waiting, big guy.
 
Fire those questions.
 
Let her rip."

      
"All right."
 
He stood less than a foot from her and watched the moonlight play across the planes and angles of her pretty face, wishing he could gather her in his arms and chase her demons away.
 
But he'd promised to listen.
 
"Assuming you really are from the future–God Almighty, will you listen to this?–how did you get here?
 
And what painting?"

      
"Good questions."
 
She started pacing again.
 
"I'll spare you the Blade business and cut to the chase."

      
"Chase?"

      
"Yeah, me and about ten million snowflakes against the world."

 
      
"What?"

      
She paused in front of him, again placing her fists on her hips, lifting her chin as if daring him to doubt her.
 
"Someone took me to a cabin in the mountains, not very far from here, I think, and left me there.
 
He stole my car and all my money."

      
"Car?"

      
"Oh, I guess this is pre-Henry Ford, huh?"
 
She shook her head and made a strange sound.
 
"A car is a horseless carriage, runs with an engine instead of a horse."

      
Cole chuckled.
 
"I reckon if we can have trains, we can have those, too."
 
He tilted his head to one side.
 
"Someday."

      
"Airplanes and space shuttles, too, Cole."
 

      
"You've been reading my Jules Verne novels."