Train Through Time Series Boxed Set Books 1-3

by Bess McBride

  “Thank you,” Stephen said automatically. The velvet curtains of the observation car had been drawn against the night, and he could not see out.

  He rose abruptly, and strode to the door of the connector, as if he could somehow walk off the train, but he paused, his hand on the door. Jumping off the train would solve nothing. Despite his grief, he could not forget the reason why he and Dani had parted. He needed to return to his sister, and Dani to her mother.

  He pushed aside one of the curtains and stared into the black night. Not even an occasional light blinked in the distance, not in his time. Electricity was not used so freely as it was in the future.

  Stephen settled himself in the library, desirous of being alone, away from the prying eyes of the man and woman sitting in the observation car. He pressed a hand against his chest as if to massage the place where his heart ached. His arms felt barren and empty, his being incomplete. He picked up the newspaper listlessly, and tossed it aside again to stare morosely at the connector door. And so he passed the time until the train arrived in Seattle.

  With no carriage awaiting him, he hailed a commercial conveyance. With money that once again served as proper currency, he paid the driver on arrival at his residence. Mrs. Oakley ran out of the house, and his heart thudded.

  “What is it?” he asked tersely. The older woman’s look of distress warned him the situation was dire. “Miss Susan?”

  “She is well, Mr. Sadler,” Mrs. Oakley said hurriedly. “What has happened? Is Mrs. Sadler with you?”

  Stephen relaxed, but found himself resenting Mrs. Oakley’s well-meaning questions.

  “She stayed behind with her mother,” he answered shortly. He strode past the housekeeper, partially aware of her taken aback expression at his abrupt response, but uncaring at the moment.

  He ran up the stairs to Susan’s room and knocked on the door. From the carriage, he had seen the light in her bedroom illuminate.

  “Enter,” she said. Stephen opened the door, and his sister flew into his arms.

  “Stephen, I heard the carriage arriving and hoped I was not going to have to entertain visitors at this late hour. I am so glad it was you.”

  Stephen embraced her, and held her back to look at her. She wore a dressing gown over her nightgown.

  “I would have rather hoped you were glad to see me, dearest.” She looked well, her cheeks with a slight rose tinge. A huskiness remained in her throat, but he knew that was to be expected.

  “You are back sooner than I expected. I thought you would be gone for several days.”

  “It has been several days, my dear.”

  “Not more than two. Where is Dani? Is she in her room? Can I see her?” Susan turned toward the door, but Stephen stilled her with a hand on her arm.

  “She is not here, Susan. She—she needed to stay with her mother.”

  “Her mother?” Susan’s face paled, and he wondered if he should have lied. “What do you mean her mother? Her mother is in the future!” Tears pooled in Susan’s eyes as the realization of Stephen’s words dawned on her.

  She sat down heavily on the sofa.

  “She has gone back to the future,” she said dully.

  “Yes, I am sorry, dearest.” He sank down next to her to take her in his arms, but she stiffened. “You are angry with me.”

  Susan nodded silently, her body rigid as she fought tears. She had always resisted tears, though she had often had much to cry about in her young life with the loss of their parents, and her own bouts of ill health.

  He sighed. “It is what she wished, Susan. Dani did not want to tell you she had to leave. You see, she was never meant to be here at all.” Even Stephen did not believe his words. “Her mother is seriously ill, and Dani needed to be there with her.”

  “I do not blame Dani, but I do blame you,” Susan said with her face averted. “I could have said goodbye to her. I could have arranged to correspond with her.”

  “Correspond with her? Whatever do you mean, dear? She cannot receive correspondence from us.” Had the fever confused his sister?

  “Yes, she can. I could have left notes in various places throughout the city in prearranged sites. I thought about this while you were gone. Perhaps some part of me knew that you would not embark on another journey only a day after your return. It really did not make sense.”

  “I know,” he said in a gruff voice. “I am afraid I have botched this entire matter.”

  “Yes, you have,” she said without mercy though she reached to pat his hand. “But I see that you are in a bad way, brother, and I will desist scolding you. Did you love her so very much?”

  Stephen slumped back onto the sofa and nodded.

  “I do. Very much.”

  “And is there no way?”

  “I do not know. Even were her mother not ill, she does not wish to lose her only daughter. This time travel is a great deal different than traveling to Chicago. Dani chose to remain with her mother, perhaps indefinitely.”

  “Did you travel with her, Stephen?” Susan turned to him with rounded eyes of awe. “To the future?”

  “Yes, I did. I did not mean to, dearest. I only meant to see her safely on her way, and then I planned to return here to you, but somehow, I was transported forward in time.”

  “Oh, Stephen! Tell me all about it!” She settled next to him on the sofa.

  For the next half hour, Stephen attempted to describe the sights and sounds of the twenty-first century, or at least the limited portion he had seen. He described Montana, Glacier National Park which was not yet a park, motorized vehicles called cars and the streamlined steel train with the secure and safe connectors. He described Dani’s mother, omitting details of her illness, and he spoke of Dani’s desire that they return to the park one day.

  “Oh, yes, we must go there! It sounds wonderful.”

  “Yes,” Stephen said quietly, lost in memories.

  Susan’s hand covered his.

  “I know you are thinking of Dani. If it is possible for you to go there, and for her to come here, can you not be together in some fashion?”

  “Dani is the key to the travel. I have ridden the train many times to Chicago, and have never traveled anywhere but to Chicago. Without her, I cannot go forward in time. Only Dani can return here, if that is at all possible. We do not understand the mechanism of the travel and can only gamble on the outcome.” He patted her hand. “At any rate, I cannot abandon you again.”

  She eyed him with a raised brow. “Stephen, I am not a child any longer. Someday soon, I hope I will marry.” She blushed. Stephen swung his head to look at her. “No, no, I have not yet met a possible candidate, but someday I hope to. And when I marry, what will you do? Moon around the house saying that you cannot be with Dani because you cannot abandon me?”

  He chuckled, surprised that he could. “Yes, my dear, I will moon about the house because I cannot abandon you. I shall be uncle to your children.” He sobered. “The point is moot, my dear. Dani lives in the future, and I cannot reach her from here.”

  “You could if we left her notes where she could find them.”

  For a moment, Stephen’s heart sped up, but then he tamped down his hopes.

  “Even were we to put them somewhere she could find them in the next century, I cannot ask her to come back to me here. She cannot leave her mother.”

  “But you could ask her to return and take you back with her to the future.”

  “Live in the future?” Stephen eyed her narrowly. “Yes, I would live with Dani in the future if that were possible, but I do not think it is. I cannot simply stand around hoping you marry so I can run away to the future, nor can I discover a way to contact Dani. Though your scheme of correspondence has some merit, it is not certain that she will find any notes we leave her. I did not care to tell you how many buildings are destroyed between now and her time—even our favorite restaurant at the Hotel Seattle. I do not even know if this house continues to stand.”

  “There is another al
ternative.”

  “And what might that be, young lady?”

  “That we attempt to contact Dani, to bring her back here for a short while, and that you take me with you to the future.”

  Stephen brought his sister into his arms, and tousled her hair as he used to do when she was younger.

  “Stephen,” she shrieked. “Stop! I have been unwell.” She pushed against him in laughter. He knew she used that as an excuse, but he released her.

  “The scenario grows ever more convoluted the longer I listen to you, child. Get some sleep. We will speak of this again another time.”

  “Soon,” Susan said. “We will speak of this again soon.”

  “Good night, sister. Sleep well.” Stephen left her room and crossed over to his room. His satchel sat on the floor next to his dresser. He opened it, and pulled the new clothing from it. Dani’s eyes had glowed with admiration and something quite improper when he had worn the clothing, and he had reveled in her regard.

  Where was the clothing she had left? He dashed out of his room and down the hall to the room she had occupied. There, on the bureau was her clothing, washed and folded—the jeans, T-shirt and strange little backless shoes that she had worn when he first saw her. He picked up the clothing and returned to his room with them. He set the shoes on the floor, and dropped onto his bed, cradling the clothing in his arms. Sleep descended quickly as he dreamed that he and Dani had never parted.

  ****

  A knock on his door awakened Stephen, and he rubbed his eyes. He unwrapped his arms from Dani’s clothing and set it aside.

  “Enter,” he called, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.

  “You have slept in a long time.” Susan bounced into the room. “Make haste. It is time for us to write our notes and scatter them throughout the city for Dani.”

  Stephen rubbed his chin, whiskered beyond what was proper. “Susan, I did not yet agree to this scheme. It does not even seem plausible. Dani will have returned to her mother in Whitefish at once, as she did not tell her mother she was leaving. As fast as travel occurs in her time, and with the speed of the modern train, I do not think she would have spent the night in Seattle. She most likely would have bought another ticket and returned to Montana at once. I believe it is only a fifteen-hour journey in her time, and not the twenty-four hours it is in ours.”

  “Nevertheless, it will not hurt to try.”

  Stephen sighed. Frankly, the thought of writing love letters to Dani actually appealed to him—anything to feel as if he were still with her.

  “Let me bathe, dress and have breakfast before we set out.”

  “And write the notes!” Susan waved a small stack of white envelopes in her hand. “I have prepared mine already, and I have shamelessly begged her to come back to us.” She grinned.

  “Susan, that is not fair to her. She is already so torn between her desire to stay and her mother’s need to have her only child with her.”

  Susan, turning to leave, paused at the door, her smile fading. “I know, Stephen, I did not really beg her to come back to us, but I did let her know that we missed her terribly.” She left the room, and Stephen rose from the bed and crossed to his desk. He pulled out pen and paper, and wrote, pausing occasionally to choose his words with care. He truly believed she would never see the letters, but like Susan, it made him feel better to speak to her.

  ****

  Several hours later, just as he and Susan were about to set out, a messenger arrived with a note from Ellie asking him to call at his earliest convenience. He had sent a note around to her earlier in the morning advising her of his journey and to tell her that Dani had arrived in her time safely.

  “We must stop by Mrs. Chamberlain’s house, Susan.”

  “Excellent!” Susan said. “If Dani were to attempt to revisit any houses in Seattle in the future, she would go to ours and then to Mrs. Chamberlain’s. We can include her in our scheme.”

  Stephen patted his sister’s hand but said nothing to discourage her enthusiasm.

  “Thank you for your note, Stephen,” Ellie said on their arrival. “If I could figure out how to use this telephone, I would have called you. I thought about running over to your house, but Robert is at work, and you know...rules being what they are, I couldn’t just drop in on the single guy. But I just had to see you for myself since your return.” She ran her eyes up and down his person, much like Dani had done when they first met. He shuddered to think he had taken offense at the time, and would have given anything to see his own dear love eyeing him in such a way once again.

  “And am I all here?”

  “You are,” Ellie grinned. She turned to Susan. “How are you feeling, Susan? I heard you’d been sick”

  “I am well, thank you, Mrs. Chamberlain. We are embarking on an adventure this morning. Stephen and I are going to drop notes off for Dani throughout the city in the hopes that she might find them one day.”

  Ellie’s eyes widened, and Stephen coughed behind his hand. He hoped Ellie would not be blunt in telling Susan that the scheme was farfetched.

  “Well, you know, that’s not a half bad idea!” Ellie surprised him by saying. “A lot of the buildings are torn down—”

  Stephen threw a warning glance in Susan’s direction. Susan still did not know about Ellie. Ellie caught the glance.

  “I would think a lot of the buildings will be torn down in the future, but I would think Dani might stop by your house and my house, if nothing else. So, you must leave a note here. I suspect it will still be standing well into the future.” She tapped a finger to her lip. “I wonder what other locations might be intact in a hundred and ten years where you leave notes so they wouldn’t be destroyed by weather, and yet where Dani could possibly find them.”

  “Stone buildings?” Susan offered.

  “Yes, I think so! Let’s put together a list of stone buildings.” She rose to get paper and pen from a small table in the sitting room. “I think I’ll drop her a short note myself if you all don’t mind.”

  Ellie and Susan wrote down several buildings that held promise. Ellie balked at several of Susan’s suggestions including hotels other than the Hotel Seattle.

  “Well, if you think so,” she said. “Though I think some hotels might be torn down and renovated in the future. I heard the library burned down at the beginning of the year, so we can’t put something there, otherwise, I think that would be an ideal place.” When at last they had a short list of locations, Susan pronounced herself satisfied and ready to venture out.

  “Where shall we put the notes for this house? I can’t guarantee that my descendents would keep a letter like that, or that they’ll own this house in Dani’s time.” Ellie asked. She looked to Stephen. “If I were to visit an old Victorian mansion which might still stand but has probably been refurbished and modernized on the inside, where would I find an old letter that has been protected from the elements? Which I didn’t actually know was there? We can’t very well bury the letters, not even in a tin box, because she wouldn’t have a chance of seeing them.”

  Stephen had wondered the same thing about his house.

  “We should go look for a place,” Susan said. “Outside?”

  “Wait!” Ellie trotted off, and Stephen and Susan looked at each other. She returned quickly with several sheets of paraffin paper.

  “Here, Stephen, wrap them in this wax paper. Maybe they’ll last longer.”

  They left the sitting room and made their way out onto the porch. Stephen looked out onto the city, more aware now than before of the smoke and haze which often hung over the city as it did today.

  “I would think the stone foundation might be the best place to protect something though the building above might be remodeled,” Stephen murmured. He climbed down the stairs and stared at the house from the lawn, scrutinizing the foundation and the steps. Susan and Ellie followed.

  “So, we’re looking for a crack in the foundation, Stephen? To stick the letters in?” Ellie laughed. “T
hat’s worrisome.”

  He approached the house and pointed. “Here,” he murmured. “Just by the stairs. The mortar has fallen out between these two large bricks. May I?” He pointed to a gap between two bricks on the side of the porch, not particularly visible the public, but not hidden either.

  Ellie nodded, her fingers tightly laced. “Oh, yes, please do! I’ll make sure no one touches it while I still live in the house!”

  Stephen removed his letter from his jacket pocket, took the notes Susan and Ellie proffered and wrapped them in the paraffin paper. He worked the remaining bits of mortar from between the two large bricks and tucked the small package inside. He stood back and examined the opening. Ellie and Susan joined him.

  “It looks pretty safe there. I’m not sure if she would ever see it. She’d have to walk around the side of the house to see it,” Ellie said. “Well, let’s hope she does.”

  “Come inside and have some lemonade and tell me about your trip, Stephen. Then you all can finish your treasure hunt.”

  For the next half hour, Stephen described events as best he could understand to Ellie. Susan, sipping on her lemonade eyed them curiously.

  “Mrs. Chamberlain,” Susan interjected.

  “Yes, Susan?” Ellie turned to her with an inquiring eye and a smile.

  “You are from the same time as Dani.” She stated it as a fact, not a question.

  Ellie laughed and threw Stephen a rueful glance.

  “I had hoped to hide that from you, Susan, but yes, I am.”

  “Why would you wish to hide that from me when I already know about Dani?”

  “Susan, dear, do not be impolite,” Stephen said firmly. “Mrs. Chamberlain does not have to explain herself to you.”

  “That’s all right, Stephen. It would probably be easier for her to know.” She turned to Susan. “With Dani gone, I’m the only person I know who has traveled from the future. Well, besides your brother here. If anyone other than us were to find out, I would hate to think what would happen to me, to Robert or my child. Even in my time, a time traveler, for lack of a better word, would be subjected to psychological tests, physical tests, ridicule and disbelief, maybe even a mental institution. So, I’ve kept it a secret. Your brother just found out about me when Dani came. He noticed we use the same colloquialisms and have a lot of the same mannerisms.” She smiled at Stephen.