All My Tomorrows (17 page)

CHAPTER 19

"Maggie? Maggie, are you in there?" John called out from the front porch. After waiting several minutes for a response, he turned to walk back toward the barn.

"John?" Maggie said from behind him. "Is everything okay?"

John turned around and noticed Maggie standing behind the screen door. She pushed it open as he approached and he instinctively gasped at her appearance. She appeared to have just woken up, despite the fact that it was ten in the morning. She had dark circles under her eyes, her clothes were wrinkled as though she had slept in them, and her hair was unkempt.

"Maggie, are you okay? You haven't taken Shawny out for his ride for the past two days and I was getting kind of worried about you. Do you need me to call a doctor?"

Maggie looked around disoriented. "What time is it?" she asked.

"It's near ten o'clock." John walked closer and could smell alcohol on her. "When's the last time you had something to eat?"

"I'm okay. Don't worry about me."

Just then, John heard Maggie's cell phone ring from inside the house. Maggie seemed to be oblivious to the sound.

"Maggie, this is Gina. We need to talk. Call me."

"Is there something you need, John?" Maggie asked.

"No Ma'am. Just checking to see if you're okay."

"Okay then. I'm going back to bed."

"Yes, Ma'am."

John went directly back to the barn and looked up the phone number for Delarm Veterinary Clinic. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number.

"Delarm Veterinary Clinic, Melinda speaking," the receptionist said.

"Hi, Melinda. This is John from the Downs farm. I'm looking for Dr. Delarm. Is she in?"

"She's actually out of the office today. Would you care to leave a message?"

"Yes, please have her call me. Oh, and please tell her it's urgent."

"I'll page her right now."

"Thank you," John said, offering his cell phone number.

John hung up the phone and paced back and forth across the barn waiting for Gina to call him back. He didn't have long to wait.

"John, this is Gina. Please tell me Maggie is okay."

"How did you know?"

"Is she okay, John?"

"She hasn't been out of the house for the past two days. Its ten o'clock and I just woke her up by bangin' on her door. Oh, and she smells like alcohol."

"Has she been like this for very long?"

"Just since Jordan left three days ago."

"Damn. I'm on my way, John."

"Thank you, Miss Gina. She's been in a bad way since Jordan left. Damned, stubborn woman. She was a fool to let that one go."

"I hear you, John. I'll be there soon."

* * *

Gina brought her truck to a screeching halt in front of Maggie's farm house, a cloud of dust billowing in her wake. She threw open the door and ran into the house uninvited.

"Maggie! Maggie, where the fuck are you?" she shouted as she made her way through the kitchen and living room. Not finding Maggie in either room, she went directly to her bedroom where she found Maggie asleep on the bed. She immediately noticed the large hole in the wall behind the dresser as well as an array of wine bottles on the floor beside the bed. "What the fuck happened in here?"

Before waking Maggie, she went to the adjoining bathroom and turned the cold water on in the shower. She then went back to the bedroom and shook Maggie awake.

"Noooo," Maggie whined as Gina shook her.

"Let's go. Out of bed, Maggie," Gina said. "Come on."

She pulled Maggie to her feet and dragged her into the bathroom then pushed her into the walk-in shower.

Maggie screamed in protest. "God damn it. Let go of me, Gina. It's cold!"

"You're damned right, it's cold. What the fuck were you thinking, Maggie?"

"Let go of me," Maggie screamed again.

For the next ten minutes, Gina continued to hold her under the cold spray, soaking both Maggie and herself in the process. Finally, she pulled her out of the shower and sat her on the toilet seat. Maggie sat there shivering uncontrollably as Gina grabbed two towels from the linen closest and wrapped one around each of them.

"Don't move," she said to Maggie as she went into the living room and started a fire in the fireplace. She returned five minutes later and found Maggie still sitting on the toilet with the towel wrapped tightly around her. She was shivering so loudly, her teeth chattered.

"Okay, come on. Let's get you out of those wet clothes," Gina said and she led Maggie back into the bedroom and sat her on the bed. Piece by piece, Gina stripped the clothes from Maggie's body until she was totally naked. She then towel-dried her unruly red hair and helped her into a thick terry cloth bathrobe and wool socks.

"All right, in the living room with you," Gina said. She wrapped her arm around Maggie's waist and led her to the wing-backed chair she had positioned directly in front of the fire. "Sit while I find myself something dry to put on," she said. Before going to change her clothes, she added a large piece of wood to the kindling. "There, that should warm things up a bit."

Maggie sat in the chair with a blank look on her face, still shivering from the cold shower.

Gina returned a few minutes later wearing a pair of men's jeans and a button-down flannel shirt she found in the spare bedroom closet. She assumed they belonged to Maggie's father. She squatted down in front of Maggie. "Okay. You wanna tell me what this is all about?"

For the first time since she got there, Maggie looked directly at her. "You wouldn't understand," she said.

"Try me."

Maggie closed her eyes and allowed tears to squeeze between her lashes.

"Talk to me, Mags."

Maggie kept her eyes closed and shook her head.

"This is about Jordan, isn't it?" Gina finally asked.

Maggie's eyes flew open. "How do you know about Jordan?"

"Four days ago I was driving down Bostwick Road toward the village and I came across a woman walking with a duffle bag slug over her shoulder. It was late enough in the day that I knew she wouldn't get to town on foot until dark, so I stopped and picked her up. She was a little reluctant to get into the truck at first, but I assured her I wasn't an axe murderer or anything, so finally, she relented. It was obvious to me from the moment she got into the truck that she was an emotional wreck. I pressed her to talk about it and she finally admitted that she had been working for you and that after an argument, you and she parted ways."

"I'll bet she had plenty to say about how badly I treated her," Maggie said.

"Quite the contrary. When she mentioned your name, I told her that Sam and I were good friends with you. She loosened up a bit after that and told me about your brush with death that morning on the ridge by the lake and about how she saved you in the nick of time. She also made it clear that she thought Jan was behind it. Is that true, Maggie?"

Maggie nodded. "I would have died if she hadn't caught me in time."

"Anyway, it was apparent to me that she's in love with you and that your falling-out pretty much tore her apart."

"Did she tell you why we fought?"

"She mentioned something about you freaking out when she tried to explain to you how she knew you were in danger that morning."

"You don't know the half of it, Gina."

"No, you're probably right, so why don't you enlighten me."

"She's read my diaries, Gina. She was able to quote things from them that not another living soul knows besides me. Gina, my diaries have been hidden between the walls of my bedroom for quite some time now. I tore part of the wall down a few days ago just to verify they were still there… and they are."

"So that explains the hole in the wall behind your dresser."

"Gina, she claims she's from the future. She claims she owns my farm eighty-something years from now and she found my diaries while remodeling."

"Holy shit!"

"There's more. She broke her back in a horse riding accident when she was sixteen, but she has some sort of bionic device in her back that allows her to walk. She's a freaking scientist, for Christ's sake. At least that's what she claims."

"Do you believe her?"

"I don't know what to believe. Apparently, she fell in love with me through my diaries and when she researched the Burlington Free Press archives, she discovered I died four days ago under questionable circumstances. According to her, she's traveled here through time at least four different times, and until this last time, she arrived too late to save me from falling over the cliff."

"How the hell does one travel through time?"

"She has these two friends, Kale and Andi who are quantum physicists or something like that, who helped her."

"My God, Maggie. No wonder you're a mess over this."

"I don't have another explanation for her knowing what's in my diaries, Gina. They're still in the wall where I placed them. They haven't been moved so she would have had to read them before showing up here for the first time. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, John saw her transport here."

"What?"

"Yes. He confessed to me, that six months ago, he was in the tack room when all of the sudden a gust of wind blew up inside the barn even though the doors were closed. When he went to investigate, this blinding blast of light occurred and when it was all over, Jordan was sitting there in the middle of floor. She just appeared out of nowhere. Gina, six months ago is when Jordan arrived at the farm, supposedly looking for work"

Gina stood up from her crouch and walked back and forth in front of the fire. "Well that explains a lot of things," she said.

"What do you mean?" Maggie asked.

Gina stopped pacing and looked at Maggie. "I told you I picked her up from the road four days ago. What I haven't told you yet, is that she's been staying with Sam and me — until today, that is."

Maggie became animated. "You know where she is?"

"Yes, I do."

"Take me to her, Gina. I need to see her."

"I'm not taking you anywhere in the shape you're in, except home with me. Now let's get you dressed then pack a bag and head out."

* * *

"Hey Sam," Gina said as she paced back and forth across her kitchen with her phone held to her ear.

"Hi, love. This is a pleasant surprise. What's up?" Sam said.

"Things are about to get very interesting. I got a call from Maggie's farmhand on my way back from dropping Jordan off this morning. Actually, he called the clinic, but instead of scheduling an appointment like he normally would, he asked Melinda to page me with an urgent call-back."

"Well that doesn't sound good. Is Maggie okay?"

"Great minds think alike, it seems. That was my first thought as well. It turns out that since Jordan left four days ago, she's been holed up in her house, barely eating and drinking a substantial amount of wine, judging by the number of empty bottles on her bedroom floor when I got there."

"I assume you brought her home with you?"

"I did, although she was pretty angry with me over the cold shower I forced her into when I first got there."

"Where is she now?"

"Soaking in the hot tub. She's a mess, Sam."

"Look, its almost closing time here. I'll be home soon then I'll fix us all a nice hot dinner. Maybe we can get her to talk to us."

"Oh, she's talked plenty already, and what she told me about Jordan will knock your socks off. If she's telling the truth, it sure does answer a few questions I have about her."

"You'll have to enlighten me when I get home."

"I will. I hope the rest of your day goes smoothly, love. I'll see you in a few hours."

"Okay. I love you, Gina."

"Love you too."

Gina hung up her phone and slipped it into her back pocket then retrieved two soft drinks from the refrigerator and carried them out to the hot tub on the back deck. She sat down on a wicker chair next to the tub and handed a drink to Maggie. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Much warmer, now. Thank you for the drink," Maggie replied. "I assume you called Sam?"

"Yes, I did. She'll be home in the next few hours. She's as concerned about you as I am, Maggie."

"Well apparently, you've been more concerned about Jordan than about me," Maggie replied, a tinge of bitterness in her voice.

"Not fair, Maggie. Jordan had no where to go. When I first picked her up, I didn't even know she was associated with you. Did you expect us to just turn her out?"

Maggie had the decency to look ashamed. "No, I guess not. It just doesn't feel right that she's being portrayed as the victim here. I mean, how would you feel if Sam dropped in on you out of nowhere and claimed she was from the future?"

"Sam could drop in on me from Mars for all I care, and I would still love her. For me, love transcends all things. The question you need to ask yourself is whether you love Jordan enough to accept her into your life regardless of where… or when she came from."