by Jill Cooper
Time is a strange bedfellow when you control it. When you decide, where you want to be and how long you want to be there, but I choose life.
I choose to be normal and to walk through time like any other person. It’s a conscious decision and one I hope I can maintain. One I hope won’t betray me in my dreams.
I’m wake by someone tickling my nose. Scrunching it up, I roll over and bury my head under the pillow.
“Come on, sleepy head.” Mom laughs and rubs my back. “Today’s the big day.”
Big day? I lift the pillow from my head and peer at her with squinted eyes. She’s all done up in a dress, with her hair up in a twist. “I’ll be up in a minute, Mom.”
“Good.” She kisses the top of my head and messes with my long curls. “Hurry up and get dressed. Donovan, your dad, well they’re expecting to meet us there.”
There? “Sorry. I feel like I haven’t slept in years.” I can’t help a smirk.
Mom puts her hands on her hips. “Are you trying to tell me something, Lara Montgomery?”
“No.” I swing my legs off the edge of the mattress. That’s when I realized I’m not in my room. I’m in a hotel room. I rush to the window and pull back the curtains on a beautiful day.
A beautiful day in DC.
“Mom,” I can’t keep the fear out of my voice, “what are we doing in DC?”
She comes behind me and runs her hands down my arms. “Today’s the day. The day you’ve been working so hard for.” Mom strokes my hair, but it doesn’t make me feel better. I realize I’ve been holding my breath. “They’re swearing in the new time travel commissioner.”
Time travel commissioner? My face twists up in confusion. “What about Rewind?”
Mom laughs and covers her mouth. “Don’t be such a kidder, Lara. You know Rewind was shut down months ago.”
But the senate hearings? She ushers me into the bathroom to freshen up and it’s then I’m finally able to reach back into the time and pull out the needed information. She’s right, Rewind was shut down, and today the government is swearing in a new time travel commissioner to make sure time is never messed with again.
And it’s someone I can’t even begin to imagine. Someone who has been off my radar for the last year.
I almost forgot about her. Almost.
Except she’s the one that got me out of the cage.
****
We gather in the conference hall and everyone is there.
The press and photographers are there, but I’m more interested in those that I love.
Molly and Mike are here in their finest clothes. Mike plays with his ninja turtles and Molly is busy balancing on one foot. I wonder what she’ll be like as she grows up. I know for sure she has a great granddaughter in her future, but can she find love? Like I have?
Jax is there and stands close to Mom, but so does my dad, the amazing John Crane. They’re both amazing. I love them both. I don’t know anymore whom I could be without; I want both of them in my life.
Dad puts his arm around my shoulders and squeezes me in. “Big day. I’m proud of you, Lara. You’ve worked so hard for this.”
“We all have.” My eyes scan the crowd and then I see him coming toward me.
Donovan.
My heart pounds and jumps a few beats. I tear away from Dad and head straight for him. When he sees me, Donovan speeds up until we’re standing right in front of each other. He takes my hands and we squeeze each other’s fingers.
“Sleep well?” Donovan asks.
“Yeah. Comfortable. How about you?”
“Sure.” Donovan gives me a grin. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?” My eyes are wide and innocent.
“Like you haven’t seen me in a week. Like we weren’t just together last night on the plane.”
“I guess I just love you is all.”
“That’s all, huh?” Donovan shakes his head and leans in closer. Our lips meet only briefly because someone is clearing their throat and I realize Dad is standing right beside us.
“Dad,” I blink my eyes.
“Oh, John.” Mom shakes her head.
“What?” Dad puts his arm around Mom’s shoulders. “Can’t a dad be concerned about his daughter’s….social life?”
Mom laughs and I stare at them in shock. Her nose is scrunched up and, well, adorable. I think my parents might be getting back together and it’s clear from the look on Jax’s face that he thinks so too.
“I should go,” Jax says and my heart is torn in two.
“Absolutely not.” Mom says sternly. “You’ve worked for this too. Maybe more than anyone here. You deserve this moment too, Jax.”
She reaches for him.
And Jax takes her hand.
Donovan puts his arm around my waist as the room draws to a silence. I watch with bated breath as Marcus O’Reily steps up. When he sees me, he motions to me. “Lara Montgomery, ladies and gentlemen.”
There’s light applause as I step away from Donovan. I’m uncertain as I get to the stage and Marcus offers me his hand. I grip it lightly and he leans in to kiss my cheek. “Don’t be shy. This is your day just as much as mine.”
I take a deep breath and stand rigidly as she steps out on the stage. Delilah Smith, her red hair done up in a twist. She stands in front of Marcus and raises her hand, ready to take her oath. But first, she smiles at me and winks.
And I smile back.
My mom’s assistant. Once, she’d tried to help Mom escape town before Mom was murdered. Then she’d stood by Mom and her time travel experiments, despite her misgivings. Later, she helped a scared, lonely girl find a way to escape a cage. Delilah was always a good person.
The right person.
I just didn’t realize it, all this time, I just didn’t know.
Once her oath is taken, she turns to the crowd and speaks calmly into a microphone. “Time travel is dangerous; it’s our generations Pandora’s box. We can’t un-ring that bell, ladies, and gentlemen, but we can make sure that no one profits from it. No one tries to tamper with it, and that no government agency tries to use it to their advantage. No experiments. No unlawful technology. Rewind is dead and buried and will not be resurrected under a new name, under any circumstances.”
Giving way to allow the applause, Delilah pauses. “The commission will give birth to a new era of anti-time travel. Where it will be outlawed, monitored, and never used again. This timeline cannot be skewed again.” Her eyes meet mine. “We’ll make sure of it.”
With the speech done, Marcus and I congratulate her. Delilah shakes my hand warmly, pressing her skin against mine. “I wouldn’t be able to do any of this, Lara, without your support. Now it’s your turn, to go do the things kids your age do.”
Sounds nice to me.
****
There’s a big dinner that lasts hours.
A celebration that’s happy and hopeful for the future.
By the end of it, I’m exhausted as I walk through the fancy banquet hall, looking for my boyfriend. Finally, I find him on the terrace, overlooking DC. His blazer is unbuttoned and his tie is loose around his neck. Handsome, sexy. He’s growing into a fine man and it makes me shiver. “Hey there, stranger.” I close the door behind me as I step outside.
Donovan’s leaning on the railing and when he sees me, he straightens up. “If it isn’t the girl of the hour.” He slips his hands onto my hips and pulls me close.
“Oh please, that’s Delilah.”
“And she was your pick. It was your idea.”
I can’t hide the surprise on my face. I hadn’t picked that fact out yet.
He doesn’t miss a thing. His nose scrunches and he scowls at me. “What aren’t you telling me, Montgomery? What’d you do this time?”
I lock my wrists behind his head and pull him in for a tender kiss. “None of it matters anymore. It’s over. And now I’m ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“To live life normally. One day at a time. One hour
at a time, just the way it’s meant to be.”
“Sounds perfect.” Donovan gives me a gentle kiss. Not a goodbye kiss, but a forever kiss.
And that’s what I choose. I want a normal, everyday sort of life.
For the most part.
However, for just a brief moment, I decide to show Donovan. He’s only heard me talk about time travel and he’s been influenced by it. He’s never seen how beautiful it can be. It’s been a curse since the moment I saved my mother’s life, but there is a rare beauty to be found in it, too.
Even if it was corrupted by man.
So, as a pink flower blows off a bush and over the railing, I stretch out my hand. I slow the bloom down. It spins toward me in slow motion and I easily catch it in the palm of my hand. Donovan’s eyes are wide as he takes it from me and I flick a finger, speeding only the flower up, causing it to spin.
Like a ballerina on stage, it pirouettes, caught in the whirlwind of time. It’s a life-changing thing to see. To witness. Even I’m surprised by how it calms my soul.
“I don’t know how you can give it up,” Donovan admits. “I don’t know how you can just go back to being Lara.”
“I’ve always been Lara,” I admit. “With the time travel or not, it hasn’t changed who I am. But can you love me? If I’m just Lara and nothing else?”
He let’s go of the flower and it floats in mid-air, sparkling and gorgeous. Donovan presses up against me. “Pretty sure time travel or not, life with you will always be an adventure.”
My nose crinkles and I press the palms of my hands into his. Our fingers tangle together as if we are one. We watch as the sun sets on DC and there’s only room for hope in my heart. I can be happy in this world. A world I can live in.
“Then I can’t wait to get started.”
Donovan kisses my hand. “And where should our next adventure take us? I think you deserve a long vacation. Fun in the sun?”
It’s hard to resist such an offer. “My mom will never let us take a vacation together. Alone.”
“Oh, c’mon, Rockstar. You know how much your mom adores me.” He flashes the James grin. It’s practically award winning.
I giggle. “My dad?”
“Okay, you got me there. I can work on him.” Donovan pulls me in very tightly. “Promise.” He whispers.
I bit my lip and playfully go up on my tiptoes. “Then once you have my dad under the spell of your charm, where are you going to take me?”
“Maui? Japan? Ohh, Tahiti?”
I shrug. “How about all three?”
“You think I’m made of money, Montgomery?” Donovan’s forehead crinkles. “We lost almost everything.”
“You’ll get it back.” I kiss him.
“Yeah and how do you know?”
I smirk. “I can see the future.”
Donovan chuckles and swings his arm around me. He leads me back into the banquet hall. “And what do you see for us? Anything special?”
“Nah.” I wave him off as if it’s no big deal, even though it is, very much so. A very big deal. “Just happily ever after.”
Time Break: Book 4
Chapter One
“Fifteen more seconds, Ms. Montgomery,” on her knees, the seamstress smiles up at me with a pin clutched in her teeth, “I know how hard it is for the young to stand still.”
In the mirror, my reflection glows as I stand in my wedding dress, with its yards of lace and the softest white fabric money can buy. After years of time-travel scandal, my marriage to Donovan James is the societal talk of Boston, but for me, it’s a dream come true. A fairy tale. One that we’ll pass down to our children.
If I can get through my college graduation first.
Still, I smile down at the kind seamstress. I hope to live long enough to one day look like her, with lines around my eyes and lips. It wasn’t too long ago that I had thought a time-travel adventure might rip the privilege of life right out from underneath me. “It’s like time itself has stopped.”
Her nose crinkles as she gazes up at me and I back down at her. Eight short years ago, I changed the course of the world—used time travel to save my mother’s life. Captivity followed for me, as well a whirlwind adventure into the future—and the past. Nothing is as it should be. Not since my final confrontation with my Uncle Rex, the one who had tried to systematically destroy my life…
Well, let’s just say time travel has some advantages when it comes to an alibi, but now everything has been calm for six years. I finally got the chance to enroll in college. The Time Travel Protection Agency (TTPA) has made sure time travel can no longer be used to change the past or the future. Thanks to my unique brain scans, it’s a future that can be monitored and life is once again a beautiful, sacred thing.
For me, it meant college, life, love. Marriage after hardship. Donovan James and I have fought every step of the way to get where we are now.
“There you go,” as the seamstress struggles to her feet, I grip her hand to help, “I’ve never seen a more glowing bride.” She sweeps my long curls off my neck and stacks them on top of my head. It’s grown long, nearly to the center of my back. “What do you think up? Or down?”
My hand edges to the port at the base of my skull, still affixed to directly into my brain. Some things change, but the technology remains the same. The port can’t easily be removed, so it’s a reminder I live with. A painful memory of the past and one, I hope, won’t give me wonky headaches someday.
“Down, I think. Or partially up. I guess I’ll leave it to the hairdresser.”
“We’re dying to see, Lara,” Mom’s voice rings out behind the curtain and I hear the shuffle of not-so-little feet.
“Come on already!” It’s my fourteen-year-old little sister, Molly. When she pokes her head past the curtain, her blue eyes widen. “Oh, you look like a princess! Mom, she looks like—.”
Mom pushes the curtain open and I pivot on the platform I’m standing upon. Our curls, the three Montgomery girls, are the mirror image of each other. Mom is just beginning to gray around her crown.
“You look like me—when I married your father.” She smiles, but it’s bittersweet. Her face is youthful and tears fill her eyes as she covers her mouth. Her finger is free of a wedding band and engagement ring because…well…things are complicated when you’re a Montgomery.
Maybe even more so than when you’re a Crane.
“You look so beautiful. Donovan is going to flip his lid,” Mom whispers as she takes my hand.
My heart fills with gladness. It’s so full, I might float clear away. I hope when he sees me, time stops. Just as it does every time I see him.
****
Boston in the spring is simply beautiful. We take a walk down part of the Freedom Trail and then skip over to Faneuil Hall for a bite to eat. Sitting outside at a patio table, Mom talks, Molly sips her green smoothie, and I gaze at a butterfly landing on a daffodil. It’s the simplest of things, but it’s one of life’s finest pleasures.
You learn not to take things for granted after you’ve been stalked, kidnapped, and had time-travel assassins lunge after you in the name of revenge. The things that have happened have scarred me. Finding hundreds of versions of me trapped in tight little boxes? It had given me nightmares.
But seeing their smiling faces…. Mom laughs at something Molly says, and seeing my sister without her iPad is a great thing. An amazing thing. This moment is more precious than I can say, and they can never know what I saw. What I felt. It’s better for them, it’s even better for me.
Because one thing I learned is you can travel back and forth through time, but you can never remove the hurt. The pain. Somehow, that keeps spiraling on.
“What about you, Lara?” Mom asks. “How’s your school work going?”
“My last paper is coming due. I’m going to finish it before the wedding. At least, that’s the plan.”
“Aww,” Mom stirs her drink around, “maybe you should’ve decided to get married in the summer instead.�
��
Molly gasps. “Mom, don’t give her any ideas! She can’t postpone. I need this to happen.”
“Don’t worry,” my mouth plays with a sly smile. “I’m not postponing. I’m ready to be a James.”
“You’re sure you’re ready?” Mom asks, and there’s a seed of doubt in her voice I don’t like. I know I’m her first born, her first baby, but I wish she wouldn’t ask me questions like that.
“I won’t waste any more time. I spent a year in that cage…” I reset the timeline. It wasn’t real to anyone…except for me. That year of torture and torment was as real as anything I’ve ever felt. Mom doesn’t know, so I can’t hold it against her. Not really. But sometimes a part of me wants to.
Mom reaches across the table and pats my hand. “I’m here for you. We all are. Now, how about we order dessert? Or are you still existing on carrot sticks and celery to fit into that gorgeous dress?”
I shrug. “Carrot cake counts as a veggie, right?”
Molly snorts. “If it has wheat in it, I’m not eating it.”
Such a teenager. I want to tell her not to waste youth, as if I’m so old at the ripe old age of twenty-four, but my phone rings. It interrupts my thoughts and I pull my phone from my purse. “Just a second, Mom…. Hello?”
There’s static on the other end. “Lara? It’s Delilah. Are you coming tonight…to the banquet?”
Delilah is head of the TTPA, and we go way back. So far back, that once upon a time she was my mother’s assistant at the now-defunct Rewind Agency. “Of course. I already RSVP’d back to you.”
“I need to talk to you.” Her voice is desperate and anxious. My stomach rolls at the sound of it because something about it reminds me of the past. “Meet me tonight in private suite 1001, would you? Before the banquet speech.”
“Can’t you just tell me now?”
“I can’t, darling. I’m sorry. It must be in person.” Her voice strains. Whatever she wants to tell me must be serious, but I try to calm my nerves. Time travel is illegal now. It can’t be done. Not without the experts seeing it way before anything bad happens. So why is Delilah upset?
