by Zoe Matthews
“I would imagine most of them will be happy to find another family member,” Garrett tried to reassure her.
“But I have mixed blood,” Colleen spoke softly; it had almost been a defining feature her entire life. She wasn’t entirely accepted into Indian society because of her father, who was a mountain man. She wasn’t fully accepted into society in Denver because of her Native-American blood.
Garrett pulled the truck over to the side of the road and put it in park. “Colleen, look at me.”
Colleen looked into his eyes feeling as though he could see deep into her and knew just how she felt.
“You are so much more than what your skin color shows. You are caring, compassionate, and gentle. At the same time you are determined, brave. You don’t let people treat others with hate. If anyone can’t see you for who you really are, they don’t deserve to know you.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “It doesn’t seem fair that they can judge me just for how I look.”
Pain mirrored in Garrett’s eyes as well. “It’s not. That’s one of the reasons I hated living in the 1900s. People are rude and unfair. On the other hand, you don’t have to let their attitudes ruin who you really are. You are an amazing, passionate person who shouldn’t be shut down by those who don’t understand the value of life. Don’t let them decide who you are.”
Colleen wiped away the last of her tears and squared her shoulders. “You’re right. I have always tried to be the best person I can be; that should be what matters most.” The opinions of others, who didn’t know who she really was, shouldn’t matter.
Garrett leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips. It was a kiss of comfort, not passion, and it filled Colleen with warmth and courage. “Let’s go,” Colleen said with confidence.
“That’s my girl.” Garrett smiled at her and pulled the truck back onto the road.
After another half hour, they entered the reservation. Colleen looked around to see small houses and some that even had wheels on them. Garrett explained that they were trailers.
Curious people started coming out of their houses some of them looked nice enough, but some were scowling.
Garrett parked the truck, and they both got out.
“What brings you all the way out here?” one gruff man asked.
Colleen’s nerves started acting up again, and she tries to hold onto her courage. “I have come to learn more about my heritage,” she offered in the most open way possible.
“Were you not born on a reservation?” another, kinder woman asked.
“My mother was Indian; my father was not. I have never met him. My mother died shortly after I was born, and I was raised by a family outside of my tribe.”
The woman smiled. “Why don’t you come inside out of the snow, and I can get you something to drink?”
Colleen smiled, feeling more at ease because of the kindness the woman showed. Some of the other people turned to walk into their own houses, but no one said anything. Colleen noticed that most of the glares were now directed at Garrett rather than her. She started to feel protective of him and wanted to get him away from those who were hateful. “That would be nice, thank you.”
She followed the woman into the house, and she could tell immediately that this family hadn’t seen any financial relief in a while. The difference between this house and Keegan’s was big enough to make her feel a pang of grief for the woman. Her family had been forced onto this land that clearly wasn’t supportive of a comfortable life. Garrett stayed quiet, as if he knew this was something Colleen needed to take the lead on.
The woman walked straight to the kitchen and started making some mint tea. “Have you made any contact with your relatives at all?”
“No.” Colleen wanted to talk about her visits with her tribe, but she knew that telling the woman about her early life would raise too many questions. “I do know one of my ancestors though. She was called Fawn Lee. She was from the Mouache tribe.”
“I can’t say I have heard of her, but you have come to the right place.”
Colleen smiled. “That is good to know. Can you tell me a little about your traditions?” She was curious to see how they had changed, and she wanted to be around that comfort had she felt as a child.
The woman talked and let them sit and drink tea with her for about an hour. Colleen listened to the woman tell them about her life. She seemed content where she was living. She talked about how her grandchildren were able to go to school and then to college. She had a grandson who was a police officer and a granddaughter who was a nurse. The woman herself had been a secretary at the local school until she retired a few years previously.
“I am sorry to have to push you out, but I have a meeting I need to keep,” the woman finally said as she looked at a clock hanging on the wall.
“That’s okay, we should be on our way. We have a long drive, and it is almost dark,” Colleen said.
They all stood, and the woman pulled Colleen into a hug. “You are welcome back any time, cousin.”
Tears pricked in Colleen’s eyes. “Thank you,” she said genuinely.
Garrett and Colleen climbed back into the car and drove away. Colleen reached out and again held Garrett’s hand in comfortable companionship. She hadn’t felt this content in a very long time.
****
On the way back to Keegan’s house, Colleen dared to ask the question she had been wanting to voice all afternoon.
“Would you consider coming back with me, Garrett?”
Colleen immediately knew that she had said the wrong thing, but she didn’t want to take her words back. Kimberly stayed in her time with Patrick; Nicky with her father, Shaun. They chose to live in an easier time period because of love. Would Garrett be willing to do the same?
“I’m sorry, Colleen. I can’t return. I like this time period I was born in. I really think I belong here. There was nothing for me to do in your time, nothing that I wanted to do to support myself and to eventually support a family.”
She was disappointed, but she wasn’t surprised; she knew that was going to be his answer. “What are your plans now?”
“I am going to school right now while working building houses with the construction company. I want to get a degree in computer science.”
“What does that mean?”
“I will be able to get a job with programming software for computers. It’s kind of hard to explain, but it’s what I love.”
Colleen didn’t understand what he was talking about, but she did understand that she would never be able to take this man out of his time, and it would be unfair of her to ask him to.
“I’m going to ask the same question of you, Colleen. Would you consider living in this time period?”
Panic flooded Colleen’s body. It was one thing to spend a few days or weeks in the future. But she was in a time period she was totally unfamiliar with. How could she stay here indefinitely?
Garrett seemed to know what she was thinking. He didn’t seem angry, only sad. “Think about it, Colleen. You do realize what I’m asking of you, don’t you?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not sure.”
He picked up her hand with his free one while his other one expertly guided the truck down the road. “I guess this isn’t a very romantic place to pop the question. I’m asking you to stay here and marry me. I know that it will be a huge adjustment, but I can help you and so will Keegan and Megan, I’m sure.”
Colleen was speechless. He finally was asking her the question she had wanted to hear for so long. But the circumstances were so different than she expected. She had wanted him to find a good job in her time, be happy with what he chose, and they would get married, have a house full of children, and live happily ever after. But now it was so different. He had asked her to marry him. He already knew what he wanted to do and was making plans to move in that direction, but it was in his time, in the future. Could she do what he asked?
Garrett leaned over and kissed her gently on the
lips. Confusion filled her. She wanted to marry him, she just didn’t know if she could stay in this time. She leaned forward to kiss him again; she wanted to feel the one thing she was certain of. She loved him.
“I’ll think about it,” Colleen found herself saying. “It will be a huge change for me. I would want to go back to my time for a visit and tell our families our plans.”
“I’m not going back again,” Garrett said stubbornly.
By this time, the truck was in front of Keegan’s house, and Coleen placed a hand on his leg. “I will think about marrying you and staying in this time, like you have asked. I’d like you to think about it, too.”
Garrett nodded, and she hoped that he understood what she was asking. She couldn’t agree to stay in this time without ever seeing her family again.
****
After Garrett dropped off Colleen at Keegan’s house, he headed to his own apartment. When he got up to go to work that day he hadn’t expected it to end the way that it had. But it seemed to be the right thing to do; they both cared about each other and knew each other so well. He had found himself asking her to marry him. They both had many things to think about.
Once he was inside his apartment, he quickly fixed himself something to eat before finding the news article Colleen had given him and read it over again. He tried to find any clues if anyone knew they had traveled through time, but nothing was said about that. He sighed and set the article aside. He had finals coming up, and he needed to study. He found one of his textbooks and opened it to read a chapter, but he couldn’t concentrate. His mind kept drifting to the article. Finally, he gave up on studying and opened his laptop. He had been in the future, in his time, for almost eighteen months. Never once he had tried to find out if anything had been reported about his family suddenly missing. He had been tempted, but it was if he was afraid what he’d find, and he didn’t want anyone to know he had returned. But now he started to feel very strongly that it was time he tried to discover what he could find out.
It was time.
Chapter 15
Colleen kept busy the next few days. She worked in the gift shop, and when she was done, she spent the evenings creating her blanket. It was coming along nicely, and Megan had given her many different colors of yarn to use. She had fun designing a new pattern she had never made before. Megan invited her to a doctor’s appointment, and she was able to see how an ultrasound worked. She was amazed at how clearly she could see the baby in Megan’s womb move just like she will once it’s born. The baby was even sucking her thumb, which made Megan grin.
“Maybe I won’t need to buy any pacifiers,” Megan said with a grin of joy.
Colleen let the unfamiliar word pacifiers float over her, another word that made her remember she wasn’t from this time. But she loved seeing the image of the baby and wondered if she would be still around when she was born.
She kept busy, but always in the back of her mind, she wondered when she was going to see Garrett again. She hadn’t made up her mind yet if she was going to marry him and stay in this time, but she still wanted to spend time with him. Why hadn’t he come visit, or at least contacted her through Megan’s phone?
After the fourth day, she started to feel scared. Maybe he was wishing he hadn’t asked her to marry him. Maybe he regretted telling her his feelings for her. And he never did tell her he loved her. She had just assumed he did, but maybe she should wait until she heard those words. Weren’t they the three most important words in the English language?
Maybe she scared him away by requesting they use the portal to at least say goodbye to her family, their family. He left her once; what if he did so again?
In actuality, Garrett was extremely busy with finals and working almost full time besides. He wanted to see Colleen again, but he wouldn’t let himself until he was done with his classes, which finally happened the following Friday. When he had time to think about other things, he was thinking about his conversation with Colleen. He was beginning to realize that she was right. If they were going to marry, there needed to be compromise.
Once he took his last final, he spent a few hours searching more about information of his family. He didn’t find much more than Colleen had already found, but he did realize that having his family disappear had been a big deal, especially because his father had owned a rather successful gaming business. He had sold it to a large company just before they traveled back in time, but the company was supposed to be giving his father a certain percentage of the sale of all future games, which was supposed to be deposited in an account. Somehow the new owner of the company figured out that the money was just sitting in the account, not being used. Garrett was able to find a small article talking about all of their belongings in their apartment were cleared out and given to charity.
After printing out everything he found, he decided it would be best if he continued to keep the whereabouts of his family a secret. It had been eleven years after all, and he didn’t find anything more recent as of five years ago. Most likely everyone who was wondering about what happened to his family had moved on to more interesting subjects and had forgotten all about them.
When he arrived at Keegan’s that evening, he found a slightly reserved, hesitant Colleen. She seemed happy to see him, but she was quiet and more reserved than usual. She asked him where he had been all week, and she seemed to understand when he told her that he had had his finals to study for and then take, along with work. She showed him a blanket that she was working on. He told her that he thought it was one of her best yet, and she seemed pleased with his compliment.
“I have an idea of what we can do tonight,” Megan said after the dinner dishes were done. “The church we go to is having a Christmas program, and all of the children in our congregation will be participating in it, including the children’s choir.”
Garrett was relieved when everyone agreed, including Colleen. She was acting strange to him, and he couldn’t figure out why. When Megan and Colleen left the kitchen to change into skirts, Garrett turned to Keegan.
“Is something wrong with Colleen?” He asked.
Keegan looked at him steadily for a moment. “I have a question for you. I know you had finals and work, but did you explain that to Colleen before you left her a week ago?”
Keegan shook his head. “No, but I guess I didn’t think I needed to. We aren’t really…” he paused suddenly realizing what it probably looked like to her. The last time they were together, he had asked her to marry him and had kissed her. When she didn’t hear from him, she probably was thinking the worst.
“Garrett, when you were living in her time, in my time, you disappeared quite often. You always came back, but no one ever knew where you were, if something had happened to you, or when you were going to return. Out of all of us, Colleen was the closest to you. Even though she never said anything to anyone, I suspect it was hard on her when you would be gone from her life so sporadically.”
Garrett sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. “I never thought of it in that way, that I was just disappearing from her life like that. I was so messed up when I lived in the past. I don’t think anyone knew how hard it was for me to be forced to live in your time. Sometimes I just had to get away from it all. So, I’d leave Denver for a while until I could handle things again.”
“You were a child when you arrived in my time. You saw things like a child, did things like a child, handled what happened to your family like a child would. But now you are a man.”
Garrett wasn’t sure what Keegan was trying to say. “I’ll make sure she always knows where I am from now on.”
“Has something changed between the two of you?”
Garrett wondered if Colleen had said something to Megan or Keegan. “The last time we were together, I kissed her.”
Keegan nodded in understanding. “And what did the kiss mean to you? Did you kiss her because she was a willing female or…”?
Garrett was starting to grow angry. He didn’t want a
lecture on if he should or shouldn’t have kissed Colleen. “I kissed her because… I love her.”
Keegan didn’t seem surprised by his confession. In fact, he seemed pleased. “I’ve suspected the two of you have had feelings for each other for a long time. Just remember the time period Colleen is from. In her mind, that kiss was a promise.”
“In my mind it also was. I… would like to marry her.”
“And which time period are you going to live in?”
“This one, of course.”
Keegan looked at him with a little frustration. “You had a hard time giving up your time. Are you expecting her to do the same?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know,” Garrett finally admitted. He realized he hadn’t really thought through things.
