by Zoe Matthews
He liked Kimberly and he was fine if Patrick wanted to marry her, but there was something weird about her, something he couldn’t put his finger on. He felt she knew way too much about how to heal his injury. She sometimes used words he had never heard of before. There was something about her that puzzled him. He just didn’t know what. He remembered that Patrick talked about some of the medical equipment he had seen that Kimberly had used to help heal his leg. He mentioned to Keegan that she kept it in some type of white box that had a large red cross on it. She had gotten the box from her cabin. He looked around the cabin trying to find the unusual box, but couldn’t see anything.
His leg was starting to hurt a bit, so he sat down on Kimberly’s bed. He picked up the book and realized it wasn’t a book at all, but a bunch of blank papers that had been somehow tied into a book with a spiral wire. He turned to the first page and what he saw amazed him. There were many drawings, some in color and some in black and white. To his artistic eye, the drawings were very good. Evidently Kimberly was an artist. He saw a colorful drawing of a squirrel in a pine tree and a black and white of an interesting rock structure with a river nearby. When he turned the next page, he was confused at what he saw. It was some type of machine, with big wheels. It was a very bright red, brighter than anything he had seen before. It was also extremely shiny with strange, long divots in it. He thought of a small silver candlestick in the kitchen that Bridget would shine for hours before a special occasion, but it never got as shiny as this. A person that looked like Kimberly was inside. He wondered what this machine was used for.
The next one was one of a large space with a lot of people walking. The people were wearing strange clothes that showed a lot of skin. None of the women were wearing dresses, and almost none of them had their hair done up at all. He knew the space was outdoors because there were clouds and a sky, but there wasn’t any dirt or bushes anywhere. More machines like the one in the previous picture were in the distance. This is so strange. Keegan couldn’t make sense of it. He kept flipping through the book, more and more confused with every drawing. What are these things? I know Kimberly is from the city, but I can’t imagine it is that different from our lives here.
The last one was what looked like a young boy in strange clothing sitting on a large soft looking chair. He had some type of device in his hands. The device was small, and fit into his hands perfectly. There was a small box in front of the boy and he was staring at it intently, as if expecting it to change. He had his forefinger and thumb manipulated in a strange way and Keegan wondered why the boy didn’t relax his hands.
Keegan slammed the book shut. He needed to get out of the cabin before Kimberly came back. She would be mad if she thought he was snooping. He would think about what he had seen in the book later. As he walked to the door, he looked out the window and noticed Kimberly in the distance. He stopped to watch her. He stared in amazement as he saw a man in a black suit step out from behind the trees. Kimberly gave him something which he tucked into his coat pocket. Then the man disappeared!
Keegan turned and quickly left the cabin, his head pounding. He had to think about what he saw. He knew he would need to talk to Patrick the first chance he got. He hoped his brother would believe him when he told him what he had seen just now.
Chapter 20
Victoria glanced up from the financial papers she was looking over to see Collin walk into the room. She usually didn’t need to make many changes to her finances; her husband, Charles, had made sure she was taken care of in that area before he had passed. Even still, she felt it necessary to review the numbers now and then to make sure everything was on track.
“Were you able to successfully deliver the letter to Kimberly?” she asked Collins, hoping the letter would help ease Nicky’s concern for her friend.
“Yes Ma’am. I have a response from her to Nicky as well. I will travel to her time as soon as possible to give it to her.” Collins responded in his formal manner; however, there was something in his voice that caught Victoria’s attention. He sounded tired, his words wavered slightly.
Victoria was taken aback. Collins had always performed his duties so perfectly, sometimes she forgot that he was a few years older than she was. Traveling with the key was surely as hard on him as it was on her, although he was doing his best to hide the fact.
“That can wait a few days Collins. In fact, I think it would benefit both of us to take a day or two to recover. It has been quite busy here this week.”
Normally, Collins would have listed things he had wanted to accomplish or insist a break was not necessary. Instead he thought for a moment and replied with some relief in his voice. “I think that would be wise, Ma’am.”
He looked directly in her eyes to convey his appreciation. For the first time since she had met Collins, there was a softness in his features; a tenderness that she had never seen before. Then, as soon as she recognized the emotion, it was gone. “Is there anything else I can do for you?” he said in his normal formal way.
“No, thank you Collins,” Victoria replied softly. “You may go rest.”
She watched him stiffly turn and leave the room and sighed to herself. Even after they all they had been through together, he couldn’t relax around her.
She tried to finish reviewing her finances, but couldn’t seem to focus. Collins had been the same professional man for as long as she had known him. He must be very weary if he had let down his guard like he had a moment ago. She remembered feeling just as exhausted after her last trip through time.
She held the keys, running her fingers over their familiar groves. Maybe it is time to find someone better suited to take over the care of these keys.
****
A few days after Collin’s visit, Kimberly ran out of the cabin with tears streaming down her cheeks. She had asked Bridget that morning to let her cook the entire noon meal by herself. She wanted to prove to herself, as well as to Patrick, that she could cook a meal. Patrick didn’t seem to mind that she hadn’t learned to cook; however, in Kimberly’s mind this was something that was important to learn to do, especially now that she was in the 1890s and living on a ranch.
It took her all morning to cook the meal. She planned to serve fried pork chops, along with mashed potatoes and some spinach greens from the garden. She also wanted to make some rolls and a cobbler for dessert. She had watched and helped Bridget make these dishes multiple times in the last few weeks. She had felt that she was ready to make a complete meal on her own.
There were so many things to remember. She needed to make sure water was boiling for the spinach right before they were to eat. The rolls needed to be put in the oven about 20 minutes before the men were due for the meal, so they would be hot and ready. The pork chops and potatoes could be cooked at the same time, but they each needed to be watched carefully so as not to burn them. The cobbler could be baking while they ate the rest of the meal. She knew it needed to be done when they finished, so the men could immediately have a serving before going back to the ranch.
The entire meal was a total disaster. She fried the pork chops too long and they were completely black on one side. While she was frying the pork chops, she forgot about the boiling potatoes. The water had boiled dry, scorching the potatoes on the bottom. She mashed them anyway, hoping no one would be able to tell, but they had tasted burnt. The spinach was soggy. And the rolls were harder than a rock. No one could even bite into them.
Kimberly left the cabin in the middle of the meal and stood on the porch with her head in her hands. She heard a chair scrape and Bridget say, “Let her be.” Patrick must have been trying to come after her. Wanting to avoid a conversation with him, she took off at a run. She was so embarrassed that she had failed so miserably at cooking what seemed to her a simple meal. Was she kidding herself, thinking she could fit in this time period?
She admitted to herself that Patrick didn’t seem too concerned that she couldn’t cook, probably because Bridget was around to do it. But it was i
mportant to her that she would be able to do something to contribute on the ranch if she stayed.
She had learned over the last few weeks that she had a knack for growing things. She loved working in the garden and Bridget told her that their produce was growing the best it ever had in years. Bridget seemed relieved that she didn’t need to work in the garden as much. She liked being indoors, cooking, cleaning and making things.
Kimberly thought of the dress Bridget had made Colleen and the braided rug she was working on. Kimberly had discovered that Bridget had made all the braided rugs that were in the large cabin as well as in the small cabin she was sleeping in. They were beautiful.
Kimberly also wanted to help Patrick train his dogs. She had been working with Daisy and found that she loved it. She hadn’t dared ask him, though. What if he said no?
As she lectured herself for the damage she had done to the meal, she wasn’t paying attention to where she was walking. She soon found herself quite a ways from the ranch, walking along the river that ran from somewhere deep in the mountains. She slowed down when she saw the river and started to feel calmer. Hearing the running water always seemed to do that to her.
Kimberly promised herself to not offer to make another meal by herself again, at least for the immediate future. There was no reason to throw away good food. She hoped the family was able to get something to eat for their noon meal. She knew she should turn around and go back, but she didn’t want to, not yet. Maybe, if she walked a bit more, the men would be finished, and back at work. That way, she would only have to face Bridget. She saw a large rock near the river and decided to sit on it for a few more minutes. As she headed towards the rock, she heard some rustling of brush and strange noises nearby, so she decided to investigate.
What she saw thrilled and scared her at the same time. She saw two small bear cubs wrestling with each other. They rolled over each other until one got bored and tried to climb a nearby tree. It fell when the other one climbed up after its sibling and tackled it. She laughed at their antics, but then sobered when she remembered Patrick’s warning about the mother bear. Kimberly looked around, but didn’t see her.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t see the mother bear. Maybe it was off eating or something like that. She decided she would watch the cubs for a few more minutes and then head back to the ranch. She noticed that the two cubs looked different from each other. One was totally black, but the other had a white spot on its belly. She laughed silently again as they continued their wrestling with each other, oblivious to Kimberly’s presence.
Suddenly, she heard a loud low growl that made her heart clench in fear. It came from behind her. She slowly turned and sure enough, there was the mother bear. It growled again, showing intense anger that Kimberly was so close to her cubs. Kimberly was frozen to the spot that she stood. She didn’t know what she should do. Should she run? She faintly remembered reading that if someone was being threatened by a bear, that they should curl up into a ball and pretend that they were dead. Would that really work?
She slowly started to back away from the mother bear. In doing so, she inadvertently backed closer to the cubs, who had seen their mother and came running towards her. The mother growled loudly again and stood on her hind legs. She was huge and Kimberly knew that there was nothing she could do. She was going to die, and in 1892, no less.
The mother bear dropped to all fours and started to lumber towards her. Then Kimberly heard a large bang. It sounded like a gunshot. The mother bear turned towards the sound and Kimberly followed her gaze. She could see Patrick nearby, pointing a shotgun to the sky. The mother bear looked at Patrick and then back at Kimberly, as if trying to decide who she should attack first. Patrick fired his gun again, this time shooting a tree trunk that was close to the bear, splintering some of the wood.
The mother bear turned and clumsily ran into the forest, her cubs following. Soon they were out of sight. Kimberly was still frozen to the spot she was standing in, afraid that if she moved the bear might come back.
Patrick ran towards her. “Are you nuts, Kimberly? Don’t you remember that we specifically told everyone to not leave the ranch boundaries? That the bears were still nearby?” he shouted at her. He walked right up to her and she wasn’t sure if he was going to shake her or hug her. Instead, he quickly cleaned his gun and reloaded it. He gave her a lecture the entire time about bears and the dangers that were around them and how she needed to listen to his instructions. Kimberly was still in shock, and her ears rang from the gunshots, so she barely heard what he was saying.
Chapter 21
Patrick stopped talking, mainly because he could tell Kimberly wasn’t listening. He quickly finished reloading his gun, sighing heavily, and tried not to mumble to himself. She was from the city after all. He should have known she wouldn’t understand the danger. He went through the actions of reloading his gun as if it was second nature. He wanted to make sure he was prepared if the bears came back, but he figured they were long gone. He was glad he didn’t have to shoot the mother bear, but he would have if she had gotten any closer to Kimberly. He hoped he scared them away and they would continue to head deeper into the mountains, away from his land.
After he finished with his gun, he leaned it against a nearby tree and looked at Kimberly. She was still standing as if frozen in the same spot. Every so often she would make a small sound that threatened to break through his resolve to lecture her some more. Tears were running down her face. He groaned and gathered her into his arms. At first she held herself stiffly, as if she didn’t know he was holding her. Eventually she started to relax and soon she put her arms around him. He sighed and closed his eyes as he held her. At that moment, he realized he loved her, and he didn’t know what he would have done if he lost her.
Again, he reminded himself that she grew up in the city. She obviously had no idea what threats there were in the mountains. He would need to do a better job explaining them to her, making her understand that she should never go off on her own, for any reason.
“I’m sorry,” Kimberly whispered to him and her words shot straight to his heart. “I know it was stupid of me to leave like I did.”
“Why did you leave?” he asked as he pulled her away from him so he could see her face.
“I ruined the meal.”
Patrick waited for her to continue, and when she didn’t, he felt puzzled. She was upset because she burned a few things?
“I really wanted to show everyone that I could cook a meal all by myself. I have had a hard time learning how to cook on that wood stove. It is so much harder to use than the stove I cooked on back home. I had been watching Bridget very carefully all week so I could make sure I would get it right. Even Colleen knows how to cook better than I. I ruined everything. I wasted a lot of food.”
Patrick shrugged. “We were able to eat some of it and Bridget made beef sandwiches. We didn’t starve.”
“I want you to know I can cook a meal, especially if…” Kimberly hesitated, looking down at the ground.
“Especially if what, Kimberly?” Patrick felt his heart start to pound. Was she starting to seriously consider staying?
“Especially if I decide to stay,” she whispered softly.
Patrick broke into a grin, thrilled that she seemed to be making plans to be a permanent part of his life. “So you would like to stay? I think you are doing great. Bridget is very happy you enjoy working in the garden. You don’t have to learn to cook if you don’t want to, or at least if you want to learn, you can learn a bit slower. If you stay, you have all the time in the world.”
Kimberly smiled at him through her tears. “Are you sure? I thought it would be important that I know how to cook.”
“It is only important if you want to learn. Bridget loves to cook. I am sure she won’t mind if she keeps doing that.”
“Well, if she enjoys it, I won't push so hard to cook. I would still like to learn though. What I would really enjoy is to help with...” Kimberly st
arted to talk, and then stopped.
“Tell me,” Patrick encouraged her. “What do you want to help with?”
“I would like to help you train your dogs,” Kimberly said the words quickly, as if she was afraid he would dismiss her desire.
“That’s a great idea,” Patrick wished he had thought of it on his own. “You have done great with Daisy, just teaching her the few commands I have taught you.”
“I don’t know if I could help train them around the cattle, but I could help train them in obedience.”
“I would like that,” Patrick loved the idea. In the few days since he had given her Daisy, he had noticed that she was a natural around dogs. And it would give them a chance to spend more time together. “After you get more comfortable around the livestock, you may want to help the train the dogs around the cattle, too.”
Kimberly smiled at him, the earlier stress and fear visibly draining from her face. Patrick saw her look at his lips and lick her own, as if silently telling him she wanted him to kiss her. He happily obliged, leaning forward and capturing her lips with his own, cupping her face with one of his calloused hands as he did so. The other hand automatically intertwined with one of her own in such a strong way that seemed to hold them together.
