by Cathy Peper
* * *
The incident with the TV remote was just the first battle of wills between Bryce and his newly discovered family. He didn’t particularly care what played on the box. TV was still a novelty to him and a puzzling one at that. But that Ari would defer to a child, someone who in their world should be seen and not heard, over him, troubled him more than he wanted to admit.
Society had changed almost as much as technology in two centuries. During the day, Ari went to work. She called herself a tour guide and explained to him that she dressed in clothes from the nineteenth century and showed tourists around Ste. Genevieve’s historic houses. The nineteenth century, it seemed, was all the rage in the twenty-first.
She took Hannah to “daycare,” a place where a group of women watched children so their mothers could work.
“Like a nanny.” Bryce had grown up with a nanny, a slave woman assigned to care for him until he was old enough for a governess.
“Yes, but only the rich can afford nannies.”
“You don’t employ any servants?”
“Almost no one has servants these days. Not only is it too expensive, it’s unnecessary. We have machines to help with our chores and certain jobs can be hired out. You can pay someone to mow your lawn or even clean your house without having to employ a gardener or a maid. And if you haven’t already figured it out, slavery was abolished over a century ago.”
Bryce spent the first day alone, watching TV, flipping through Ari’s books and examining her gadgets. She had one machine to wash clothes, another to dry them and yet a third machine that washed dishes. Bryce had asked why she couldn’t just put the dishes in the clothes washer, which made Ari laugh.
“I will show you how to work the computer tonight,” she said as she got ready to leave with Hannah. “Don’t touch it while I’m gone.”
Bryce figured out how to turn it on, but the little tiles that filled the screen baffled him and he didn’t want to anger Ari, so he turned it back off after a few minutes.
The house was warm, without having to light a fire, light filled the room at the flip of a switch, and Ari not only had a pantry full of food but a metal box that kept perishables cold. He managed to find something to eat for lunch and he didn’t have to go to the river or even out to a well to get fresh water. It came out of a faucet right there in the kitchen. But despite the miraculous things people had in the twenty-first century, watching the news made it clear that the future was not a paradise.
There were still violent people who took advantage of those weaker than themselves, he learned that when he saved the girl in the park. In general, the future appeared safer and cleaner than the world he had left behind, but the benefits came at a cost. People appeared more restricted and less free than in his world. And everything came with a price tag. With his treasure submerged, Bryce would need to find a way to make a living, and TV shows taught him he lacked the skills for the modern workforce. Some things never changed. He came from a family of merchants and he could probably eventually learn to sell things even here, but first, he would have to learn how to use computers, cars, and other devices.
His plan to work as a waiter was probably sound, but even then he might have to learn how to use the money box, or cash register, as Ari called it.
After exploring the house for a few hours, his initial enthusiasm waned. He felt confined, but also reluctant to go outside where everything was so strange. After lunch, he forced himself to take a walk. Ari’s house was surrounded by similar homes, comfortable dwellings that she described as small, but he considered spacious. Most people in the nineteenth century lived in a small space, only the wealthy could afford sprawling mansions. Bryce had lived most of his life in a large colonial style house, but his early years of travel and his most recent stint as a keelboat owner had accustomed him to tight quarters.
Ari had given him the address of the house where she worked and he walked past it. It looked much the same as it had in the nineteenth century. Ari had stressed to him that houses of this age and design were unusual in this time. Ste. Genevieve prided itself on its history and depended on the tourist trade for much of its income.
He found it amusing to see the old next to the new and wondered why other towns had not followed this pattern. When he saw the little history museum, he stepped inside.
A middle-aged woman sat at the desk and greeted him. She eyed his red shirt and breeches. “Do you work at one of the other historical sites?”
Bryce shook his head. “No, just wanted to get into the spirit of things.”
The woman smiled. “I like your attitude. There’s a small fee to view the museum.”
Bryce still had money from selling his coin, so he paid the woman and looked around. Considering the small space, there were quite a few artifacts.
“Let me know if you have any questions.”
Bryce inclined his head politely, hiding his smile. He probably knew more about most of the items than she did. Items of clothing popular in his time lay in the cases looking old and fragile. One display held Indian items and another held relics from something the placards called The Civil War. Bryce paled as he realized the United States had fought a war amongst itself. How many states now belonged to the Union? He wanted to ask the curator but worried she would think him uneducated.
A few other people came in, barely giving his period clothing a second glance. He began to understand why Ari had chosen to settle here rather than go to a larger town like St. Louis. He wandered into a tavern and bought himself a drink before returning to Ari’s house. He couldn’t remain at loose ends like this for long. It wasn’t in his nature. He would speak to Ari tonight about finding a job.
Chapter 6
It seemed very strange to come home, Hannah in tow, and find Bryce sitting in the living room, frowning at the TV. Strange, but it some ways right. If Bryce hadn’t decided to break off his engagement in person, they would have married and settled in St. Louis. Bryce had come to St. Louis to open a store. His father imported luxury goods from England and sold them throughout the East Coast. Deciding it was time to expand into the frontier, he had sent Bryce to research the area and buy, lease or build a store.
They had met at a party thrown by one of Anne’s cousins. Anne and Sebastien were distantly related to many of the influential members of St. Louis society. They weren’t always included in the social scene, not being as well off as many of their relatives. The family tended to think her mother had married down by falling in love with a simple fur trader, a rather hypocritical attitude when much of the wealth of St. Louis had been built on the fur trade.
Her cousin, Teresa, however, liked Anne and her brother and always invited them to her soirees. Sebastien was often gone, but Anne attended with or without him. Their stepmother, Martha, was not included, a slight that never failed to irritate her. She would usually try to keep Anne from going by pretending illness or inventing some chore Anne needed to complete right away, but Anne never allowed her stepmother to deter her. By attending these parties, she hoped to have the opportunity to marry up, not down.
She had spotted Bryce right off, his formal eastern attire striking amid the more casual dress of the locals. Other girls noticed him too, but to Anne’s surprise, she caught his attention and he’d asked her to dance.
They’d met several more times after that, sometimes secretly, for they had both known a man like Bryce was expected to look higher than a fur trader’s daughter for a wife. Still, they couldn’t deny the attraction they felt for one another. An attraction that had not died during the years they’d been apart.
Hannah appeared no more immune to her father’s charm than Anne. Last night, after winning the battle of the remote, she had basically ignored him. Tonight she ran straight to him. “Hey mister, you watching the news again?”
“I suppose you will want to change the channel?”
“Of course. Nick’s funny. The news makes you look all crabby.”
Anne grinned as Bryce�
��s eyebrows shot towards his hairline. She doubted anyone had ever accused him of being crabby.
“Very well, can’t have me being crabby.” Bryce handed the controller to Hannah.
“I don’t know the number. You punch it in.”
Bryce shot Anne a questioning look and she told him the station number. Once Hannah settled in to watch her show, he followed Anne back into the kitchen.
“We need to talk,” he said as she stared into the refrigerator, wondering what to make for dinner.
“I agree.” Uninspired by what she saw, she pulled out one of the kitchen chairs and sank down in it. “Why did you come here, Bryce? Obviously, you didn’t know I was here, so that’s not it. Did you come on purpose, or was it accidental?”
“I overheard Victoria telling Sebastien she was from the future.” He stumbled slightly over her brother’s name. “After that, I couldn’t get the notion of coming to the future out of my mind. It seemed a wondrous place.”
“It is, but it’s not without problems.”
“I learned that from the news.”
“With the necklace and your knowledge of how to use it, we could go back.” She could see her brother again and Tori. Things could be as they should have been in the first place.
“Why would you want to do that? This world is amazing.”
“I know. I’m not sure I do want to return. I would miss modern conveniences and more than that, I would miss modern attitudes. Here, no one cares I’m a single mother. Even though I’m a woman, I can apply for any job I’m qualified for. I have so much more freedom here than I ever did back home. But part of me understands I don’t belong here.”
“You can belong anywhere you want to be. I expect it will take some work, but I want you to help me get a job. We can get married and be the family we were always meant to be.”
Anne’s heart jolted before resuming its regular rhythm. Although he had insisted he had come for her, intent on fulfilling his promises, part of her had still been unsure. She hadn’t lived through the contempt-filled looks directed her way in her own time or the struggle to adjust to twenty-first-century life and single motherhood without developing some scars. She wasn’t the trusting girl she had been when they first met, but she was also a lot stronger than she had been then.
“You want to get married. Here and now?”
“Of course.” Bryce had remained standing, but now he knelt in front of her, taking her hand. “I have no ring to give you. I planned to give you my mother’s ring and brought it back from Virginia, but when I learned of your death…” He closed his eyes and Anne’s heart lurched once more as she saw the grief etched on his face. He had taken her death hard, or he was a talented actor. “I nearly threw the ring into the Mississippi, but in the end I kept it.”
“But you left it in the past. It should still exist in this timeline, but I don’t know how we would go about finding it.”
“I know exactly where it is.”
“You do? Can you still get it?” Anne’s throat hurt. He might have given it to another woman. After all, he thought she was dead.
“After I decided to come to the future, I buried it along with other valuables I hoped to sell in this century, funding my fresh start.” His hands, more calloused than she recalled, caressed her fingers. A warm melting sensation spread throughout her chest.
“That was clever. Do you think you can find it again?”
“There’s no way to reach it. My hiding place was covered by the creation of Reelfoot Lake.”
Anne slumped in her chair as visions of gold and jewels popped like a child’s balloon. “Ironic, but we can still make this work. I have some money saved. We can buy an inexpensive ring.”
Bryce squeezed her hand before regaining his feet. “I will buy you a ring, Ari, after I find a job.”
“That might prove more difficult than you expect.”
“I haven’t the skills or education of modern men, but until I can acquire them I can work as a waiter.”
“A waiter?” Anne had a difficult time seeing Bryce dealing patiently with customers. “Do you think you have the disposition for that?”
Bryce frowned. “Of course not, but I can manage until I find something better. Or perhaps you could get me a job as a tour guide.”
“You would be better suited there, but getting any job will be difficult since you don’t have any paperwork.” She saw confusion flash across his face. “In this time period, everyone is given a social security number at birth. You need this number to get a job. You don’t exist here. You have no birth certificate, no school transcripts. No one will hire you.”
“How did you get these things?”
“I was confused and very ill when I first arrived, so I had some time to think before the authorities began asking me lots of questions. I told them I was running from an abusive spouse. With the help of the police and Tori’s mother, who took me under her wing, I was able to get a new number.”
“Can I do the same? Well, not an abusive spouse, perhaps, but claim I am on the run from something else?”
“It might be suspicious, especially considering my past. It would be different if you could testify against the mafia or something.”
“The mafia?”
“Organized crime. The same type of thing existed in our day, but we just referred to them as big bad dudes.”
Bryce laughed. “I am certain we did not.”
“Just wanted to make sure you were listening. But seriously, I’ve become accustomed to speaking in twenty-first-century language.” Hearing Bryce’s more formal speech patterns made her feel nostalgic about a time which was cruel and brutal but was also simpler.
“I suppose my father could be considered a big, bad dude.”
“For real? I knew he was rich, but he also wielded power? In not always ethical ways?”
“He lived by the motto that the ends justify the means.”
A shiver shook down her spine, though why she should be frightened by someone long dead escaped her. “I guess I can understand now why you chose to break your engagement in person. He probably gave you a hard time about it.”
“You could say that. Father wasn’t used to having his desires thwarted.”
Bryce didn’t appear inclined to say more, although she could tell he was clenching his jaw. “Well, testifying against your father won’t help in this time frame, but there are other possibilities. People who are in this country illegally often work for cash under the table.”
“Sounds dishonest.”
“It is. Employers can’t legally hire someone without papers, but sometimes they do because they can get away with paying lower wages and they don’t have to pay any taxes on them.” She studied Bryce for a moment and wrinkled her nose. “You don’t look like you’re of Mexican descent, although I know you speak some Spanish. Most of the illegals in this country are from Mexico since it’s so easy to cross the border. It would be easy for Canadians, too, but most of them prefer their own country.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Things are less fluid than they were in the nineteenth century. Back then the United States seemed to have endless land, but it’s all claimed now. So, like Europe in our own time, you have to have a passport to travel from one country to another. You could pass for European. We can say you’re from one of the former Soviet countries.”
“And the other possibilities?”
“You could buy false papers. I know, in theory, that criminals do this, but I have no idea how to go about it. The people who sell the documents are also criminals.”
“But if I had papers, I could eventually work any job, own land, etcetera?”
Anne nodded. Suddenly something occurred to her and her hand flew to her mouth. “You need a license to get married. I don’t know if you can get one without a social security number.”
“Then I need to get papers.”
“I don’t associate with criminals.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll f
igure it out.”
“Mom, I’m hungry.”
Anne had been so absorbed in their discussion that she hadn’t even seen Hannah enter the room. “Sorry, honey. I will get started on dinner.”
“What are we having?”
“How about hamburgers?”
“With fries?”
Anne didn’t usually cook frozen french fries and doubted she had any in the freezer. She would run out and get some. It would make Hannah happy and introduce Bryce to modern American food. “Okay, honey. French fries, too. Stay here with Mr. Bryce and I will run out to the store and get some.”
Satisfied, Hannah skipped back to the living room and her TV program. Bryce, however, looked taken aback. “I know nothing of children,” he said.
“You’d better learn now that you’re a father,” Anne said. She took a package of hamburger out of the freezer and placed it in the microwave to defrost. She stifled a smile as she grabbed her keys and headed out the door.
* * *
Ari called in sick the next day. “I’ve never done this. I have perfect attendance except for one time when I was truly sick. I’ve never lied to my boss.”
Bryce suppressed a smile since she seemed genuinely upset. He’d never worked for anyone other than himself or his father, but suspected he would have no trouble stretching the truth with an employer. “You will come back all the more refreshed tomorrow,” he said. Or next week. He wasn’t sure how long it would take to get things sorted out.
After dropping Hannah off at daycare, she showed him how to use the Internet. “It is an amazing and relatively new technology. You can find information on any topic imaginable. The downside, is that anyone can post something, so you have to consider the source before you accept the information as valid.”
After a few hours of searching, Ari rubbed her eyes. “Although it’s becoming more difficult, since government agencies cooperate and everything is online, it still seems like the best way to get a new identity is to steal one from someone who died young. If you can discover their date of birth and the names of their parents, you can apply for a new birth certificate. With a birth certificate, you should be able to get a social security number, passport, drivers license, everything you need.”
