by Jill Cooper
I swing my backpack from my shoulder and close the door. Morgan reclines in her office chair and taps her fingers on the table as she smiles too wide. She’s hiding her disdain, either for me, or how I’ve interrupted her day.
“Molly, well this is a surprise, I admit! It is good to see you though, honey. Can I offer you some cookies or a drink? I have milk and tea.”
Shaking my head, I approach her desk. “No thanks, Morgan. I wanted to talk to you. Woman to woman.” I point to the chair in front of me.
Morgan nods and extends her hand. “Please, by all means. Is something the matter?”
I sit down and cross my legs, sitting up straight. I put my hands down on the table and quickly glance over what she keeps on her desktop. A pencil cup filled with pens, a framed photo of some kind, and a paperweight in the shape of an elephant.
Personal, functional. Nothing that would indicate she’s a serial killer.
“At dinner a few night’s ago, I wanted to apologize for Mike. He was pretty rude, he didn’t mean it, we were both shocked. But he’s coming around.”
Morgan laughs in a good-natured way. “I understand and find it perfectly fine. Don’t worry about me, Molly. I wasn’t losing any sleep over it.”
“Well, no I didn’t mean to imply you would. Just…we’ll be family soon and I thought it’d be best to let you know, that’s all. He’ll be a happy camper by the time we have the wedding. When is the wedding?” I tuck my hair behind my ears and internally scowl at how bad I transitioned topics.
This shit is hard.
Morgan shrugs and rounds her lips together. “Your father wanted to wait until your mother’s wedding to Mr. Crane was through. I was hoping to speed it along. I mean, would Miranda really care? It’s not like our guest list will overlap much with hers.”
“I can work on him, if you want.”
Her eyes sparkle as she sits up straighter. “You would do that for me? Oh Molly, you and I are going to be thick as thieves!” She pats my hand and leaves it there. It’s my opening. I decide to take it.
This will be easier than searching through boring filing cabinets.
I place my other hand over hers and pat it, squeezing her skin gently down onto mine. At first there’s a tingle but then a full-on electrical charge. It’s as if I’m racing through a tunnel and the bright light at the end intensifies. The timelines come together and assault my vision all at once into a giant pile, and it’s up to me to separate the strands.
With all my practice, I’m able to do it with a microsecond:
Morgan and Dad have a happy, joyful wedding, but a cloud of sorrow hangs over us as Lara’s life hangs in the balance. She knows everything, what we’ve done, and pulls away from the family. She’s pregnant, alone, and Donovan’s choices have damned not only all of us.
But his child as well.
That can’t be real. That can’t really happen, can it?
I refocus my energy onto Morgan. She’s ruthless in the way she runs her business. Deep below the building is a hidden lab where she’s desperate to discover the secrets to time travel that my family wields. People breathe and eat, but us Montgomerys and Cranes, we slip through the multiverse like it’s nothing.
Morgan wants it for her own, so she can control her own destiny, build an empire, and amass money like the world has never seen. She wants to advance the world’s technology faster than it’s ever has been before.
There’s an elevator that takes you down there and someone works behind the scenes. I don’t know who he is, I can’t see his face, but his aura feels similar. If it’s Rex, I’m not going to be able to face him alone.
I’m going to need Mike and Cassidy by my side.
There are cages down there, but different than the ones Rex has always used. These ones have steel bars with an electrical current to get you to perform. My uncle had always been about mind control, coercing you to do what he wanted. Morgan’s not like him.
She’s ruthless. Out for blood and ready to become my step-mother to get what she wants.
I slowly remove my hand from Morgan’s and she stares at me. I don’t know how much time has passed, but I think it took longer than I thought. I haven’t seen everything, but I’ve seen enough to feel how dangerous she is. It’s not enough. I need proof and if I can get downstairs and take some pictures, get enough to tell my dad what’s going on, he’ll call off the wedding.
Not only that, he’ll help me bury Morgan along with Trident Technologies.
“It was nice of you to stop by, Molly. I’m afraid I need to get back to work. Soon though, maybe lunch? I’d love to help you pick a dress for the wedding.”
I nod and murmur that it would be nice. Gathering up my backpack, I stand. “Thanks for everything.”
“One more thing.” Morgan comes around the desk and puts an arm around my shoulder. “How’d you know I worked at Trident Technologies?”
I blink slowly. I hadn’t thought that part through. Nervously, I swallow. “Is it a secret? Should I not tell anyone?” With a bit of sass, I give her a wink.
Morgan sucks on her bottom lip. “A secret?” She laughs. “Heavens no. I was curious. Most people only know me as a realtor. I like to keep it to myself, that’s all.”
“So, it is a secret. Don’t worry, Morgan. I won’t tell my dad you’re moonlighting here. I wouldn’t want it to get in the way of your business deal. I’m sure you’ll tell him, right?”
Morgan’s eyes flash with anger as she pulls the door to her office open. “Any day now. And you’ll put a good word in for me, to move the wedding forward?”
I nod and offer a sweet smile. I think it’s time I have a little talk with Dad. Find out how he met Morgan and how she’s managed to sink her claws into him, because from where I’m standing, it wasn’t a chance encounter. She’d orchestrated everything and now it is time to beat her at her own game.
I’m a Montgomery. It’s what we do.
****
As I rush across the lobby, Mike stands to greet me. He slaps the magazine closed and slides it back down to the end table. “Anything?”
“A lot.”
“What we feared?” Mike asks.
I shake my head. “Worse. We need to go to dad. Talk to him.” My eyes sweep across the lobby and fall to a panel of wall at the back of the room. A guard stands in front of it with his legs wide, his arms crossed, and he wears a studious, angry expression on his face.
In my visions of the timeline, that’s where the elevator to go down was, and I’d bet anything that’s exactly where it was now.
Sneak in at night and find the hidden lab beneath the city. What could possibly go wrong with that?
“Dad called. Lara stayed with him last night. He’s taking the day off to talk to her.” Mike sighs and his eyes are as sullen as I’ve ever seen them.
Lara spending the night with Dad is a bad sign, a horrible sign. “You think she’s figured it out all right?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not sure I want to go over there and find out.”
I resist rolling my eyes at him. “Grow a pair, Mike, really.”
Mike’s eyes narrow. “Hey!”
“We did this to her. I told you and Donovan this was a bad idea and now look what’s happening. Do you have any ideas on how you can fix her? Fix all of this?”
Mike goes pale and the answer is clear. “Let’s just get there, already. Get this over with.” His shoulders twitch as he walks away.
He’s nervous, scared, and blocking me from seeing past whatever is going on.
I have no choice but to go with him. I want nothing more than to help him, help Lara, but how can I do any of that if Mike won’t share what’s going on?
Chapter Twenty-One: Lara
My headache isn’t gone in the morning, but it isn’t any worse. A small miracle. There’s a twisting of acid and anger in my gut that I’m unfamiliar with, but then it hits me again. With everything that I’ve ever contended with, Donovan has always been reliable. I�
��d always known he loved me and that he would be devoted to me, but now I’m not so sure.
I don’t want to get out of bed. I roll over and pull the covers up high. I want them to swallow me so I’ll disappear and never have to feel what I’m feeling right now. It’s crushing me and for the first time ever, I want it to.
I don’t want to fight, or to win. I want it all to stop.
A knock on the door interrupts my self-pity. “Making your favorite waffles, Lara. Buttermilk and fruit.”
Despite myself, it sounds good. “Yum,” I say from beneath the blanket.
“Your spare clothes are still in the bottom drawer so why don’t you get dressed? Come to breakfast and I’ll put the coffee on.” Jax’s dad voice sounds like understanding, but there’s an underlining stern quality to it. He’s not going to let me wallow in bed until the end of time.
I don’t like it but maybe I need it.
I toss the covers off my head and fix my crazy hair. “Don’t you have to go to work?”
“Not today. Today I get to spend with you. Get dressed, all right?”
“Okay…thanks, Dad.”
I haven’t called him dad in a long time, but he deserves it and that’s exactly what he is. So, I do what he asks. I rise from bed and put on the pair of skinny jeans and the gray sweatshirt from the drawer. It’s not the most glamorous outfit, but it’s cozy. I slip on my sneakers and when Morgan’s business card catches my eye, I sneak it into my pocket.
It bothers me for no reason, like an itch I can’t scratch. I want to find out what this company is, maybe for no other reason than it’ll give me something to focus on that isn’t me.
First stop, the bathroom. I freshen up my hair with the comb by the sink. The lights brighten my skin and it’s the first-time intense lights haven’t bothered me in a few days—that has to be a good sign. Maybe whatever is wrong with me is fixing itself.
I have to hope so.
I wash my face and can’t avoid looking into my eyes. They set me on edge. I can’t shake the feeling that the eyes staring back at me are foreign. Not mine. Craziest thing I’ve ever felt. Heading downstairs, the smell of coffee and buttery waffles entices me. “Smells really good—” I grip the railing as my head feels as if it is cracking in two.
My knees bend and if it wasn’t for Jax grabbing me, I’m sure I would’ve fallen. My vision flashes. I slip down the rabbit hole once more.
****
I’m no longer standing with Jax in his home, instead I’m on the bridge. It feels like I’m floating far above everyone. I stare down at them as they talk about me as if I’m not there.
The mood is edgy, everyone’s on alert, nervous. Their bodies are rigid and in the center of all of it.
Is me. I’m there with short hair, just like mine.
****
The memory rips away from me fast, as if an outside force has torn it away. I’m back in Jax’s condo and holding onto him for dear life as he steadies me.
“How long has this been happening?” Jax scowls, his voice filled with concern and worry. He sounds like a scared father.
“Few days. I’m okay now.” I’m able to walk on my own and I head over to the table. Jax isn’t far behind.
I sit in my usual spot where the waffles and coffee wait for me. Jax sits beside me but is quiet as I take the first sticky-sweet bite of breakfast and wash it down with the comforting warm taste of roasted bean. It’s bitter and sharp, the way he usually makes it.
“Since the seizure then?”
I nod, not sure what else to say. What else to do. I know he wants to help, but I don’t know where to start.
“I’m sure this has put a lot of stress on you and Don. He’s been worried sick about you, Lara.”
He wants to fix things between us, I get that, but I’m in no mood to listen to it. “In the altered timeline, no one remembered me.”
“Or me,” Jax adds. “I was working at a bank across town and didn’t give any of you a second thought. I remembered your mother from her Rewind days, but I moved on after….”
“After her daughter was killed?” Just saying the words haunts me.
Jax nods. “It’s been confusing for all of us. Her the most, even if she’s pretending everything is fine.”
“She’s not the only one pretending.” Thick tears cling to my lashes and I wipe them away so I can’t see. “Donovan was engaged to Cassidy in the altered timeline. They…did the things couples do who are going to get married and that’s not even the worst of it.” I wrap my hands around my coffee mug to stabilize myself and take a long sip.
“His cousin?” Jax’s nose turns up in disgust.
Oh, right. I’d forgotten about. Maybe Donovan wasn’t the only one who had to apologize for telling lies. Maybe I did, too. “She’s not his cousin. She’s my…” My tongue clicks along inside my mouth and my heart swells with grief. “She’s my best friend. And my grandniece.”
“Grand niece?” Jax’s confusion turns to understanding and he turns several shades paler than normal. “What are you…That would make her…?”
“Your great-granddaughter.”
Jax goes paler than I’ve ever seen. “My…? She’s from the future.”
Slowly, I nod. “She’s been her helping me fight Rex, being my friend. And now…I don’t know what to think. They could’ve told me, but they didn’t.”
“They didn’t want to hurt you. They didn’t want to lose you. I’m not saying they’re right, Lara, but what happened…it wasn’t right for any of us. We were exploited. You and Molly worst of all, but you’re back. Everyone wants to move on. Put it behind us.”
“Pretend it never happened.”
Jax nods. “That’s right.”
“So why can’t I? Why do I feel like someone’s punched me? Like they keep punching me?” I try not to cry, I blow my emotions out and Jax slides his chair closer, putting his arm around my shoulder.
“You need time, that’s all. Donovan will understand that, but I think he deserves to know you’re all right.”
“He did some awful things in the timeline.” I think back to the timeline I’d been trapped in and how he’d attacked me, and then how we’d ended up on common ground. “What if he’s not the person I thought he was?”
“We all have secrets, darkness, Lara. I know this better than most. And you were able to look past it. Weren’t you?”
“I forgave you a long time ago, Jax.” I smile briefly. “You know that.”
“And I’m grateful for it every day. More than you know. Donovan has a dark side, we all do, but he fights it. He fights it for you. His devotion to you is as pure as any I’ve ever seen. If there’s something that happened, look at why. Maybe he made some mistakes, but maybe he’s doing the best he can.”
Jax shrugs with a meager frown, like the weight of the world crushes him again after all that’s between done between his family and mine. “I know what it’s like to make the wrong decisions out of love. It sucks, quite frankly. I wish your mother had been able to look past it the way you did. I think we had something great.”
I nod and feel the pain of their divorce all over again, but my mother remarrying my father has always been a dream I’d had. Life is nothing but conflict. “You did. Our family did.” I love him as much as I love my father.
I know it. I feel it.
“I can understand why she couldn’t. I guess what I’m trying to say is, give it time. See him for who he is. Don’t give up on him so easily, huh? He might surprise you yet.”
Sage advice. “I haven’t seen or talked to Cassidy yet. I’m afraid to. I don’t know what she’ll say.”
“You won’t know until you ask. You’re going to have to tell me that story some time and which of my children…”
I smile as I think on it. “Molly.”
“Molly,” Jax whispers with a grin. “Well, I guess I should’ve guessed.” The front doorbell rings and Jax excuses himself to go answer it. I don’t want to be sitting there if he
has guests, so I pick up my half-eaten breakfast and carry it into the kitchen.
I take another bite before scraping the rest into the trash. Turning on the water, I rinse my plate clean and load it into the dishwasher like I’m on autopilot. When I wipe my hands on the yellow and white checkered cloth towel, the phone catches my attention.
With a sigh, I pick it up and dial Donovan’s cell phone number without thinking it through. I almost hang up but a moment later, his husky sleepy voice comes through the receiver. My eyes fill with tears at hearing his voice and I feel so far from him.
“Jax? Is Lara with you?”
Even after everything he’s so worried about me. “It’s me,” my voice cracks, “it’s Lara.” Obviously. I’m so bad at this stuff.
“Lara, hey. Are you…It’s good to hear your voice. I’m glad you’re all right.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt you last night.” I twist the phone cord around my finger and squeeze my eyes shut to keep the barrage of emotions at bay. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have…. Things got out of control and I shouldn’t have grabbed you like that. Things were spiraling. I never meant you to find out. Like that, I mean. If I could take it all back, from the very beginning…”
“Does Cassidy know?” I chew on the inside of my cheek in a fit of anxiety.
“I haven’t talked to her. She doesn’t know. Are you going to talk to her about it?”
“I want to. I don’t know what I’ll say. I don’t want secrets, Don. I thought you knew that.” I slam my mouth shut because getting into it over the phone isn’t something I want to do. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to bring the conversation up that way.”
“You have every right to have your say, you know? Cass and I, we’ve been beating ourselves up over this. I know it doesn’t excuse any of it, but it’s the truth. I want you to come home, Lara. Please.”
I shake my head. “I’m not ready. I’ll be staying here for a little longer.”
