Once Found: The Pocket Watch Chronicles (22 page)

He gave his name to the security guard on duty at the building.

“Good afternoon, Dr. Soldani. Mr. Sinclair is expecting you. Go through to the private elevator and the security guard there will let the Sinclairs know you’re here.”

Aldous was waiting as Gabe got off the elevator.

“I see you took me seriously about the flowers. Well done. Thistle? That’s a nice touch. Do you have a ring?”

“Yes, sir. I had it before we talked.” He pulled the box from his pocket. “It was my grandmother’s.”

Aldous nodded approvingly. “There is nothing more valuable than love that’s passed down through generations. My daughter is in the library with her mother. Follow me.” Eventually, he stopped outside a room with double wooden doors. Aldous gave him a stern look. “You probably only have one chance at this. Don’t foul it up.”

“Yes, sir.”

Gabe followed him into the enormous room. Elizabeth and Jo Sinclair were sitting at a table. Elizabeth’s back was to the door. “Jo, my darling, someone is here to see our girl.”

Jo looked up. “Gabe, how lovely to see you.”

Elizabeth’s back went rigid, and she didn’t turn to look at him.

“Yes, it’s very nice to see you again, Mrs. Sinclair. How are you?”

“Very well, thank you. I trust you’ve been keeping well?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Well, I suspect you aren’t here to chat with me. Aldous, shall we give them privacy?”

“Yes, my love.”

Jo rose gracefully and left the room with her husband, closing the door behind them.

Elizabeth still hadn’t turned around, so Gabe crossed to her. “Do you mind if I sit?”

“No, that’s fine.” She didn’t make eye contact.

“I brought you these.” He handed her the bouquet.

She accepted the flowers from him, a slow smile spreading across her face. She traced the petals of one of the irises with a finger. “Faith and hope…they are so beautiful.”

“And the red roses represent love. That’s why I’m here, Elizabeth. I love you. I mean, the real you, the girl I’ve spent the last few weeks with. That’s why I became so upset. I knew it was you who I loved, and the idea of you going back, of losing you forever, nearly killed me.”

“No Gabe, it isn’t me. It can’t be me. You were intended for Elizabeth.”

“I don’t believe that. I think I was intended for you.”

“But that can’t happen. Elizabeth will be coming back.”

“For the next few minutes, let’s not think about Elizabeth.”

“Fine. But why are you so sure you love me and not her?”

“Because I’ve only experienced the feelings I have for you once before in my life.”

“With Elizabeth?”

“No. It was for a girl I met several years before I met Elizabeth. A girl I could not have. But for the first time since then, I feel the same profound love. There is a connection between us that I can’t explain, but you can’t deny it. I know you feel it.”

“Yes, I do. But if you felt this before, why did you let it go?”

“It wasn’t my choice. It was when I used the watch. I met a girl in the past who I adored. I had decided to give up everything I held dear to stay with her forever. She meant more to me than my family, my education, my very life.”

“But you didn’t stay?”

“I couldn’t. I was stabbed in the belly. I knew I was dying, so I said the return word. Leaving her was the hardest, most painful thing I have ever done, but I fear losing you will be even worse. More than I have ever wanted anything, I want you to stay and be my wife. If you don’t want to stay or you can’t stay, I will beg Gertrude to let me go back with you.”

She caressed his cheek. “Oh, Gabe, I love you too.” His heart leapt for a moment before she uttered the words he had most feared. “But there is someone in my own time who I think I was beginning to love. And Elizabeth…what she did was so wonderful. If she wants to return, I have to agree.”

“Tell me what it is Elizabeth has done.”

“According to Gertrude, a neighboring clan needed a skilled midwife. The laird’s wife had miscarried four babies and was pregnant again. Her husband hoped a different midwife might know what to do. My Aunt Dolina was the midwife they were seeking, but Laird Macrae had no intention of sending her. Figuring that no one could help, he intended to send me instead, but I was just an apprentice. He thought to gain MacKenzie as an ally simply by appearing to
try
to help.”

Gabe could barely believe what he was hearing.

“I would not have agreed to that deception and, according to Gertrude, I would have been whipped and ultimately died from my injuries. Perhaps because of the accident, the soul exchange happened earlier than it should have. Elizabeth went back when she lost consciousness and arrived before I ever had the chance to refuse my laird’s command.”

“And she wouldn’t refuse because she has more skills even than your aunt.”

“That’s what Gertrude said. So you see, she helped the poor woman and saved my life. I can’t refuse to let her return.”

“My darling girl, I have a story to tell you that I think you will find very interesting.”

“About your experience with the pocket watch?”

He smiled confidently. “Yes. And when I’m done, I think you’ll agree we belong together. It happened a little over eleven years ago…”

Delaware, Route 13, Northbound

11:30pm Monday, December 19, 1994

Gabe was finally on his way home for Christmas. He had finished with classes the previous week, but had stayed over the weekend to get a few more shifts at work. People tended to be a little more generous with tips around the holidays, and he needed every cent he could earn. His car was packed before he started his shift, and he left as soon as the restaurant closed. The old Ford Escort he drove didn’t have a CD player, but he’d driven the route enough in the last two and a half years to know where the good radio stations were along the way. With that knowledge and a large to-go cup of coffee, he was armed for the three-hour drive to his family’s home in New Jersey.

Route 13 was fairly deserted this late on a Tuesday night. He hadn’t been on the road long when he saw a car pulled over on the shoulder. An elderly woman stood beside a very old sedan and waved to him. This was a rural stretch of road with little late-night traffic and no services within walking distance. It could be ages before someone else helped her. He slowed down and pulled off the road behind her.

He got out, but left the engine running and the lights on. Zipping his jacket, he walked to her. “Is everything okay? Do you need help?”

“Oh, thank ye for stopping, lad. Aye, I do need help. I have a puncture.” She had some sort of accent—maybe English, but he wasn’t sure.

“A puncture?” He looked at the car and saw the problem. “Oh, a flat tire.”

“Aye, a very flat tire.”

“I can change it for you. Is your spare in the trunk?”

“I suppose it is. Let’s look, shall we?” She opened the trunk and stepped aside. “Ah, there it is. Thank ye so very much. I don’t know what I’d have done if ye hadn’t stopped.”

“It’s no problem at all.” He removed the jack and put it together.

“What’s yer name, lad?”

“Gabriel Soldani, but you can call me Gabe.”

“Lovely to meet ye, Gabe. My name’s Gertrude.”

Gabe lifted the spare out of the trunk, but as soon as the light from his headlights hit it, he knew they had a problem. “Uh, Gertrude, how old is this tire?”

“It came with the car.”

“And how old’s the car?”

“I don’t pay much attention to those things, but it’s got to be twenty years old, maybe more. Why?”

“The spare doesn’t have enough air in it, and I think it’s dry-rotted.”

“Oh dear.”

“It’s usually a good idea to have the spare checked every time you have it serviced.”

“Serviced?”

“Yeah. You know, changing the oil, checking the fluids, rotating and balancing the tires.”

“Oh, those things. I’ve been meaning to have those things done. I guess I shall have to now,” she said cheerily.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” The car must be new to her. It wouldn’t still be on the road otherwise. “Listen, there’s no point in putting on a dry-rotted tire. How about I put everything back, you get your things, and lock the car. I’ll drive you to where you can get a tow truck. There’ll surely be something open in Dover.”

“That’s a fine idea, lad.”

By the time he’d put the tire and jack back and closed the trunk, she stood waiting with her handbag. He walked to the passenger side of his car and opened the door for her. As he walked around to the driver’s side, he remembered the urban legends of ax murderers disguised as little old ladies. He smiled to himself. He wasn’t sure of many things, but he was confident Gertrude was not an ax murderer.

“I certainly do appreciate this,” she said as he pulled into the road. “Several cars passed me and didn’t even slow down. You’d think I was an ax murderer or something.”

What the hell? God, please don’t let her be an ax murderer.

“So, Gabe, where are ye heading so late at night?”

“I’m on my way home from college for Christmas.”

“College, ye say. What college?”

“Salisbury University in Maryland.”

“And what are ye studying there?”

“I’m majoring in biology. I’m in my third year.”

“That’s fascinating. And what do biology majors do when they graduate?”

“I had planned to go to medical school.”

“Had planned?”

“I guess I still plan to. It’s just…well, I really like music. I play the guitar and piano, and I’ve fooled around a bit with a mandolin.”

“A mandolin? That’s not very common these days.”

“My family is Italian. There is an old one at the house that belonged to one of my grandfathers.”

“I see. So ye like music. Ye can still be a doctor and like music,” she teased.

“I suppose I can. But right after I went to college, some friends and I formed a band. We are getting really good, and sometimes we get paid gigs. They’re talking about going to California after we graduate and trying to, you know, break into the music industry. I think it would be great.”

“Ah, there’s a ‘but’ hovering at the end of that sentence.”

Gabe nodded. “But my family—my parents—won’t understand. My dad’s an electrician and my mom’s a housewife. Neither one of them went to college. They are set on me becoming a doctor.”

“You don’t want to be a doctor?”

“That’s just it, I do. But I want to be a musician, too. I’d like to just try it. I want to see what that kind of life would be like. If it didn’t work out, I could go to medical school then.”

“But yer parents won’t understand.”

“No. When I mentioned it at Thanksgiving, I thought my mother was going to have a heart attack. You would have thought I’d suggested dealing drugs or something.”

Gertrude chuckled. “Surely, it wasn’t that bad.”

“Oh, trust me, it was that bad. She was calling on every saint in the book. Dad’s reaction might have been worse.”

“What did yer dad do?”

“Nothing. He said nothing. He did nothing. He just looked so disappointed. It was terrible. So I assured them it was just a crazy idea and that
of course
I intended to go to medical school.”

“Ah, that is quite a dilemma.”

“I just want to try it. I feel like I’ll always regret it if I don’t.”

“Hmm. What if I had a way that ye could try the musician’s life and it wouldn’t interfere with any of yer plans?”

“I’d say sign me up.”

“I’m serious, lad.”

“So am I. What do you have in mind?”

“I can give ye sixty days as a musician.”

“I don’t have sixty days. I don’t have to go back to school until February, but I’m supposed to take an MCAT prep course in January.”

“Ye needn’t worry about those things. I’ll explain, but ye must promise to set aside yer disbelief and listen to the whole story before ye say anything.”

“Okay, sure.” He wasn’t sure where this was going, but it was entertaining.

“I have the ability to let ye time travel.”

He cast a sideways glance at her. “Are you serious?”

“Remember, suspend disbelief and listen before ye comment.”

“Okay. Sorry.”

She opened her purse and pulled out what looked like a pocket watch on a chain. “This pocket watch is a conduit through time. It allows yer soul to trade places with someone else’s. Ye put it around yer neck or in yer pocket before ye go to sleep. When ye wake up, ye will be in someone else’s body in another time. Ye’ll have all of yer memories. Ye’ll be able to speak whatever language that person speaks—it will sound just like English to ye. A few other memories belonging to that person may leak through as well.”

Gabe could barely believe what he was hearing. The woman was nuts. She really believed what she was saying.

“Ye have sixty days.” She opened the watch. Glancing at it, he noticed it only had one hand that seemed to be stopped at twelve. “Each day that ye’re in the past, the hand will advance one second. Before ye go to sleep, ye must pick a word—one ye wouldn’t use accidentally—and ye tell the watch. It is yer return word. Anytime ye say it within those sixty days, ye’ll be brought back to yer own body immediately. Ye don’t even need to have the watch on ye.”

“But I don’t have sixty days.”
Gabe, why are you engaging a crazy woman?

“I am not crazy, and ye don’t need sixty days. I told ye that. Only sixty seconds will pass here.”

“How? Whose body will I be in and where will they be?”

“Ye will pop into the body of a professional musician. He will have done something that will ultimately result in his death, and you will do something the instant ye arrive to stop that.”

“I’ll save his life?”

“Not exactly. His life was over. You extend it only by the amount of time ye stay there. When ye leave, he will die. His soul will go on, and ye will return to yer own body mere seconds after ye left it.”

Gabe’s mind whirled. She didn’t seem crazy. What she said was impossible to believe.
But, wow, if it did work, how cool would that be?
“All I have to do is put the watch around my neck, tell it a word, and go to sleep. I’ll be in someone else’s body for sixty days. Does it automatically bring me back then?”

“Nay, ye must choose to say the word. If ye don’t, ye’ll stay there forever.”

“If I stay there, what happens to my body here?”

“It will die, and the other person’s soul goes on as it should.”

What harm was there in trying?
The worst thing is that I wake up in the morning with the watch around my neck feeling silly
.

“Gabe, ye said that ye feared ye’d always regret it if ye didn’t give the musician’s life a try. I’m giving ye the opportunity to live the life of a professional musician for sixty days. The pocket watch will take sixty seconds or less of yer time. Don’t ye think ye’d regret not at least trying it?”

It was so tempting. If he could just try it, just taste life as a musician, he’d know what to do with his life. There was no risk with this. “Okay. I’ll try it.”

“Good. I hope ye have a wonderful time and learn a bit about yerself in the process.” She handed him the watch.

He put it in his pocket. “Thank you, Gertrude.”

“Ye’re welcome.”

“How will I get it back to you?”

“Oh, the watch always manages to be where it needs to be. It’ll find me. Ah, now look there, ahead at the next exit. There is a service station. I expect I can get a tow truck there.”

Sure enough, there was a sign in the station window: Carl’s 24-hour Towing. Gabe pulled in. He started to get out of the car, intending to help her out and make certain she could get a tow, but she stopped him.

“There’s no need to get out, lad. I’m sure Carl will be able to help me. Ye’ve got a couple hours left to drive, and I don’t want to keep ye any longer. Drive carefully. Watch out for drunks.”

She was already out of the car, so he leaned across and rolled down the window. “Bye, Gertrude. Thanks again.”

It was after two in the morning when Gabe parked in front of his home. The outside Christmas lights were still on. Mom must have left them on for him. He grabbed his backpack and locked the car. He would unload tomorrow.

He slipped in the house as quietly as he could. Their dog, Chase, met him at the door. That was odd because Chase usually slept with Angela. It only took him a moment to realize why. Angela was curled up on the sitting room couch, asleep.

“She snuck downstairs, did she, boy?”

Chase whined.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got this.” He put his backpack down and lifted his sleeping baby sister off the couch.

She roused a little. “I was waiting up for you.”

He chuckled. “I see. But Chase wants to go to bed now.”

“Okay.” She yawned and closed her eyes again.

He carried her upstairs and tucked her in. Chase jumped onto the bed, curling up beside her.

“Sleep tight, princess.”

He made his way back downstairs to the bedroom on the main floor that he shared with Joey and Nick when he was home. He kicked off his shoes and shrugged out of his jacket, dropping it on the floor by the bed. It hit with a dull thud.

The pocket watch. He fished it out and laid it on the bed while he finished undressing. Climbing under the covers in his tee-shirt and boxers, he held the pocket watch in his hand for a moment. Well, here goes nothing. “
Angela Rose
,” he whispered to the watch before slipping the chain around his neck and going to sleep.

~ * ~

It felt as if Gabe had just barely closed his eyes when he awakened to find himself on the back of a pony on a dirt road in a forest.

Holy shit. A frickin’ pony?

He was supposed to be in a musician’s body. He looked down. What in the hell was he wearing? Was this some kind of joke? Was he some sort of Renaissance Faire performer? That couldn’t be right because it was bitter cold and spitting snow. They weren’t usually held in winter.

He looked up again, and the world spun. For some reason, he found it very funny and started giggling.