A Window in Time

by Carolyn Lampman

  Tom closed his eyes and dropped his chin to the top of her head. “I suppose you’re right. What did I do to deserve such pain?”

  “Maybe it’s a reward, not a punishment.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “I was born more than a hundred and seventy years ago and probably died before your grandfather was out of short coats.”

  “So?”

  Anna smiled softly and raised her hand to his face. “Don’t you see, Tom? We never even should have met. Every minute we have together is a gift, an impossible quirk. You asked what you did to be punished, but I wonder how I got so lucky.”

  He lifted her chin with his finger and looked into her eyes. “Then we’d better make every second count enough to last us a life time.”

  Their breaths mingled for a moment before his lips captured hers and her arms swept up around his neck. Where their first kiss had been tentative and sweet, this was hot and demanding. Tenderness gave way to wanting, gentleness to desire.

  “Tom?” Scott’s voice coming from the other room broke over them like a wave of cold water. They jerked apart and stood gazing at each other, shocked by the power of the emotions that had just passed between them.

  “Tom,” Scott repeated, stepping around the half-closed door. “Will you help me wire the cable into the breaker box? I think we’ll need the extra weight to... Hey, what’s wrong?” He stopped and stared at them in surprise.

  “Wrong?” Tom’s voice held a convincing note of surprise.

  “Yeah, you both look kind of...I don’t know, scared I guess.”

  “I fell off the stool, and Tom caught me,” Anna murmured. “It was a close call.”

  “Geeze, are you all right?”

  Anna looked away, afraid of what her face would reveal if her eyes met Tom’s. “Oh, yes, never better.”

  “What was it you needed help with, Scott?” Tom asked, steering him back into the family room.

  “I’m pretty sure the wire was too light last time,” Scott said as they disappeared from sight. “You can send mega volts through a small wire with no problem, but I think the amperage was way too much for...”

  Shaken, Anna leaned against the counter. In spite of her words to the contrary, Tom was right, it wasn’t fair. Fate had finally given her the love she had craved all her life, but with the wrong man. Heaven help her, but she wanted him. Wanted him in ways that didn’t even bear thinking of. There was no future for her with Tom Shaffer. She covered her face with her hands. No future and no past.

  By the time they sat down to lunch an hour later, Tom and Anna had themselves well in hand. Though neither of them spoke much, Scott didn’t seem to notice as he explained all the innovations he’d come up with.

  Anna glanced at Tom only once. He was watching her, his gaze warmly caressing and possessive. A hot thrill ran through her, and she looked away in confusion. The way he made her feel was immoral, depraved, and completely wonderful. Forbidden images tumbled through her mind in helpless abandon, tempting visions of what would never be. Scott’s words suddenly brought her back with a jerk.

  “We’ll be able to try it in about half an hour.”

  “You mean it’s ready?” she squeaked.

  Scott looked at her in surprise. “What do you think I’ve been talking about?”

  Embarrassed to admit she hadn’t been listening, she murmured something noncommittal.

  “Are you sure it’s safe?” Tom demanded.

  “I think so, but there’s no real way of testing it.”

  “Why not?”

  “If we send an inanimate object back in time, we might be able to tell whether it had arrived, but not the condition it was in.”

  “What about some kind of small animal?”

  “We could send a mouse or something, but there’d be no way of tracking it on the other side.”

  “What if the changes you’ve made haven’t been improvements? Maybe the transfer will be worse instead of better.”

  “If I’m right, the time warp will be far more stable. Besides, last time it all happened by chance. Now everything is built specifically to accommodate Anna and Brianna. By focusing on both women, the process should be much safer.”

  “Should be. But if you’re wrong, you could kill them. Seems to me you have a bad habit of going off half-cocked without testing your theories out. That’s how we got into this mess in the first place, and now you’re going to use the same kind of logic to get us out?” Tom jumped to his feet and paced around the room in agitation. “Christ, Scott, you’re talking about sending people through time, not just one, but two. There’s not a reputable scientist in the world that wouldn’t call you crazy.”

  Scott stared at him for a moment, then dropped his gaze to the bowl of stew in front of him. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” His voice was so filled with hurt it trembled. He suddenly seemed very young to Anna.

  “Don’t mind Tom. He’s just nervous.”

  “He’s got a point,” Scott mumbled. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  “Of course you do. You just spent the last half hour explaining it all to us.”

  “But it’s just a theory. None of it’s ever been proven.”

  “Scott, look at me,” Anna demanded. “I was born in 1841. Do I look a hundred and eighty years old to you?”

  He smiled slightly. “No.”

  “There, you see? That’s proof your theories are correct. So what if no one else has your vision? Maybe you’re just smarter. As for Tom, he told me he thinks you’re the next Thomas Einstein.”

  “Albert Einstein,” Tom corrected gruffly, dropping a hand on Scott’s shoulder. “Anna’s right. I had no business talking to you like that, and I’m sorry. No one else would be capable of what you’ve accomplished. I trust you and your time machine. I’m just worried something will go wrong.”

  “A time machine,” Scott murmured, momentarily distracted by the thought. “It is, isn’t it? I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

  “That’s exactly what it is,” Anna said with conviction, “and it’s going to work perfectly. So, let’s finish eating and get on with it.”

  In the end, it was nearly an hour before Scott was ready. Though he was a bit reserved with Tom at first, his reticence soon disappeared in his mounting excitement. “I’m glad you gave me the idea of making the Mobius strip out of fiber optics. It will focus the laser perfectly.”

  Tom blinked in surprise. “I gave you the idea—Wait a minute, did you say laser?”

  “Yeah, I built it for my science project last year. I got a blue ribbon at State.”

  “This year you’ll probably win a trophy at Nationals,” Tom said with a wry smile.

  At last everything was in place; even Anna had changed back into her own clothes. Tom watched intently as Scott started to feed data into the computer. After a few moments, Scott spoke back over his shoulder. “Are you ready, Anna?”

  Anna picked up Tom’s hand and pressed it to her cheek, then put it back in her lap. “Yes, I’m ready,” she said.

  “All right, then. Here goes.”

  A multicolored Mobius strip appeared on the computer screen and a low whine filled the room. It was reminiscent of the horrible screeching they had heard the first time, but without the volume or the nerve-wrenching pitch.

  “Look at that,” Tom said, pointing to a spot near the window where a small cloud of blue mist suddenly appeared. Before their eyes, it grew until it stretched nearly to the ceiling. Slowly the mist began revolving, gathering near the center. With a tiny pop it became opaque and an image of a woman formed in the middle.

  “Oh my, God,” Tom whispered as she seemed to stare at them from several yards away in wide-eyed shock. The picture wavered for a moment then disappeared in a puff of blue mist.

  “What happened, Scott?”

  “I don’t know. I’m not even sure we were in the right time or place. I couldn’t hold on to it long enough to make an identification.”

  To
m reached over and grasped Anna’s hand in a tight grip. “Oh, we were in the right place all right. Unless these two have a third look-alike somewhere, we just made contact with Brianna Daniels.”

  CHAPTER 28

  (September 1860)

  “Lucas, could I have a minute of your time?” Brianna asked as the men rose from the supper table.

  “As a matter of fact, I wanted to talk to you too.” He glanced toward the apparatus he’d rigged up in the corner. “How did the bathing machine work?”

  “Like a charm. You can’t imagine how nice it was to take a hot shower again.”

  “Again?”

  “I meant a hot bath.” Brianna cursed her slip as she finished clearing the table. Would she ever learn? “Anyway, it’s great. You’ll have to try it.”

  “Maybe I will.” He smiled. “We might even manage to get Billy and Seth into it before the winter’s over. Now then, what was the problem you wanted to discuss?”

  “I’m not exactly sure it is a problem.” She gripped the plates in her hands tighter. He’d been so much more reasonable since the Indian attack. Maybe... “I want to keep the buckskin.”

  “The buckskin? What for?”

  “I want to break him to ride. He’s just the right age.”

  After Brianna’s close call with the Indians, Lucas wanted to wrap her in cotton wool to protect her and never let her out of his sight. The image of her body, broken and trampled by the wild horse, popped into his mind. His stomach knotted at the thought. “No.”

  “Give me one good reason.”

  “Neither Ian or I have time to help you break a horse.”

  “I don’t need your help.”

  “Oh? And just how do you plan to do it? You don’t have the faintest idea how to go about it.”

  “As a matter of fact, I can break a horse fully as well as you can.”

  “I might have known,” Lucas said sarcastically. “Something more from your unorthodox education, no doubt.”

  “My grandfather taught me.”

  “It wouldn’t matter if you’d spent your life breaking horses,” Lucas said, trying another tactic. “The hay and grain is intended for company horses. It’s against regulations to feed others.”

  Brianna gave a slight smile. “Oh, Lucas, you are so predictable. That’s hogwash and you know it. No one has ever said a word about Ian’s horse and Taffy eats just as much as any of the others.”

  “That’s different. Ian works for the company.”

  “All the work I do around here is for company personnel. I don’t get paid a dime for it except for room and board.”

  “That’s all any station master’s wife would get.”

  “But we both know I’m not your wife, Lucas.”

  “So, what’s your point?”

  “I more than earn Oz’s food.”

  “Oz?”

  Brianna shrugged. “It seems appropriate.”

  “What does it mean?”

  “It’s just a name. Don’t try to change the subject, Lucas. Are you going to let me keep him or not?”

  “That’s not my decision.”

  “Whose is it?”

  “James Bromley. He’s the superintendent for this stretch of the trail.”

  “And if he agreed, you’d go along with it?”

  Lucas shrugged. “Of course.” Bromley wasn’t due to come through for another three months.

  “Then I’ll start working with Oz in the meantime.”

  “No, you won’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because company regulations say...”

  “We can’t feed noncompany horses,” she finished for him. “I still say I more than earn the hay he’ll eat. Anyway, he’s already here, and you’re feeding him.”

  “The wild herd will be back.”

  “Not to get Oz. In case you missed it, he’s a male. The stallion would have run him off soon anyway. Face it, Lucas, he’s here to stay.”

  “Then he belongs to the company.”

  “I don’t think so. If you’ll remember, I caught him. That makes him mine. Which brings us back to the question of whether or not I earn his feed. You have a choice. Either you see it my way or I go out on strike.”

  “You’ll do what?”

  “Go on strike. That means I quit working until you change your attitude.”

  Lucas laughed. “Go right ahead. In case you’ve forgotten, we got along just fine before you got here, we can again.”

  “Fine.” She dumped the last of the dishes into the dishpan. “I could use a vacation anyway. I’ll be in the barn visiting with Ian and Seth if you change your mind.”

  Lucas watched her with reluctant admiration as she swept out of the cabin. Too bad her little show of independence was doomed to failure. It had never been his idea to bring a woman out here to do the cooking and cleaning, and he didn’t mind taking the duties back. On the other hand, Brianna would be bored to tears with nothing to do and she wasn’t the type to sit idle. She was bound to give in before he did.

  The dishes were done and Lucas in his bunk pretending to be sound asleep when Brianna returned. He smiled to himself as he heard her walk over to the cupboard where the dishes were before she undressed and went to bed. It wouldn’t take much to win this stand-off.

  Brianna was still sound asleep when Seth came in for breakfast the next morning.

  “Are you sick, Brianna?” he asked with concern.

  “No.”

  “Then why aren’t you up?”

  She rolled over and looked up at him with sleepy eyes. “Because I intend to sleep in. Don’t worry, Lucas is fixing your breakfast. He’ll probably be in soon.”

  “Lucas is cooking?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Oh.” Seth’s voice sounded distinctly unhappy.

  Brianna swallowed a smile as she turned back over and snuggled down into her pillow. “I just decided to indulge myself since Lucas gave me the day off.”

  “I’m sorry I bothered you.”

  “No need to apologize. You’re supposed to be sitting down to breakfast right now. It might not be a bad idea to remind Lucas. You know how forgetful he is sometimes.”

  Brianna was jerked out of a sound sleep when the men came in to eat twenty minutes later. Though Ian and Seth kept their voices low and tried to be quiet, Lucas made a big show of clanging pans together as he cooked breakfast. She pretended to sleep right through it.

  “Put the plates on, Billy,” Lucas said finally. “It’s ready.”

  It was all Brianna could do to keep from giggling out loud as the men sat down to eat. “What is this?” Ian asked in surprise.

  “Cornmeal mush.”

  “It has a crust.”

  “That’s the way Lucas cooks it,” Seth said with a deep sigh. “Don’t ask what the black chunks are. We’ve never figured it out, and he won’t tell.”

  “Shut up and eat,” Lucas growled.

  Unlike most meals, that breakfast passed in near silence. It wasn’t long before Brianna heard the chairs scoot back as Ian and Seth made excuses to leave. When the door swung shut behind them she rolled over and stretched.

  Lucas looked up from clearing the table. “I wondered if you were going to stay in bed all day.”

  “I like to sleep in on my vacation.” She sat up and rubbed her eyes. “What time is it?”

  “Eight-thirty.”

  She swung her legs over the edge of the bed. “Goodness. I didn’t realize it was so late. I’d better get busy if I’m going to have anything for the stage passengers.”

  “I thought you were on strike.”

  “Only against the company. This is my own little business.”

  “You want breakfast?”

  She eyed what was left of the mush. “No thanks, I’ll fix myself something later.”

  “Suit yourself.” He busied himself with the dishes as she stepped behind the curtain where the shower was to get dressed. “Your strike isn’t going to work, you know,”
he said after a moment. “I really don’t mind doing any of this.”

  She grinned to herself. “We’ll see.”

  Lucas pretended not to notice that Seth and Ian were two of Brianna’s best customers both Wednesday and Thursday when the stage came in. He ignored his own hunger and the mess that began to develop on his side of the cabin. Even the other men’s complaints didn’t faze him. What finally began to wear on him was the amount of time he spent cooking and washing dishes. Certain that he was on the verge of a breakthrough with his electric light, he resented every second he was away from his workbench.

  Surreptitiously, he watched Brianna for signs of weakening, but there were none. In fact, she seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself. She was perfectly content to lay on her bunk all day reading his collection of novels, and writing in her journal. He began to wonder which of them was the most stubborn.

  Late on the third day of Brianna’s strike, a traveling peddler named Simon Francois showed up, and Lucas knew his cause was lost. Amid a wagon full of wares there were enough trinkets and gadgets to keep Brianna entertained for days. He might as well admit defeat.

  Predictably, she was fascinated and spent over an hour shopping. “This was almost as much fun as going to the mall,” she said, as she paid for her purchases.

  Francois raised his eyebrows. “The mall?”

  “It’s a big store not far from where I used to live.”

  Lucas glanced at the sun where it hung low in the sky. “It’ll be dark soon. Better set up camp here for tonight. We’ve had some trouble with the Indians.”

  “Don’t mind if I do. It’ll be nice to have some companionship for a change.”

  “We’d be pleased if you joined us for supper too,” Brianna added.

  “I’d be delighted. It’s been a while since I had a home-cooked meal.”

  “Good! We’ll expect you as soon as you’ve looked after your horse.”

  “I dunno if you want to eat with us,” Seth said in a low voice when Lucas and Brianna were out of earshot. “Lucas has been doing the cooking, and to tell the truth he’s not much good at it.”

  Ian nodded woefully. “The worst of it is that he doesn’t seem to realize how really awful it is. Sure wish Brianna would take it up again.”