Train Through Time Series Boxed Set Books 1-3

by Bess McBride

  “Certainly. Right this way.” The silver-haired woman bustled toward the back of the store and pointed to a shelf. “These are all our books on Seattle and Washington State. There are some picture books too, if you like those. I always do.”

  “Thank you,” Annie said. She wished at the moment that she had money to buy a book, but the issue of money hadn’t resolved itself yet. She reminded herself to take it slow. They’d only been in 1906 for a few days. She and Marie had plenty of marketable skills to be able to make a living in this era for however long they were here. Or so she hoped.

  She pulled down a few books and looked at them. The covers were the old-fashioned cloth over a board, although many of the books appeared new. She leafed through a few of the books before replacing them and reaching for one of the larger “picture books,” as the saleswoman called them. She opened the book and her attention was instantly caught by several pictures with stunning views of Mt. Rainier, seemingly hovering above the horizon on clouds—just as she had seen from the train when they approached the city. A name on the page sprung out. Photography by Harold O’Rourke, Jr.

  Annie’s heart raced as she closed the book and looked at the cover. Dreams of Seattle was the title of the book. Rory was listed as both photographer and author. Annie looked up and saw several more pictorial essays by Rory—another of Washington, one of Montana, one of Italy and another of Ireland. With a beaming smile and an inordinate sense of pride, she pulled down the book called Dreams of Ireland and leafed through it. Rory clearly loved Ireland and the Irish, as evidenced by the beautiful photographs of lush green landscape both with and without people.

  The dedication in the book read simply For my Irish mother. Annie scanned the book quickly but didn’t want to appear as if she were looking at all the photographs without buying it, so she replaced it and left the shop.

  Rory was certainly industrious. She didn’t know much about publishing, but it seemed likely that Rory had a contract with a publishing house to produce his pictorial essays. No wonder he traveled so much. She had a sudden vision of being stuck in 1906 with Rory gone for a year on one of his many adventures, and “stuck” it would be. She wasn’t at all sure she could bear to stay in the early twentieth century if Rory were somehow not there.

  She returned to the hotel and reentered the room, closing the door behind her softly.

  “Did you go out by yourself again?” Marie asked as she wandered out of the bedroom in a lovely blue satin wrapper. “You know Rory doesn’t want you doing that.”

  “Well, if I were married to him, I might think that was important, but since I’m not, I’m not overly concerned about what Rory does and doesn’t want.” Annie could have laughed at herself. Of course, she cared what Rory wanted, thought, said, dreamed, desired, ate or breathed. In fact, they all mattered a great deal to her.

  Marie laughed for her. “Oh, please!” she said with a smirk as she dropped into a chair in the sitting room. “You are so hung up on that man, you can’t even think straight. Like about how we’re going to get home.”

  Annie pulled her hatpin and removed her hat and black gloves before dropped into the matching chair in an unladylike heap.

  “Well, it’s just an infatuation with a handsome turn-of-the-century, old-fashioned man with fabulous manners. I’m sure it will pass. As to how we’re supposed to get home, I have no idea. I imagine we ought to jump aboard the train again and see if we can’t reverse the spell.”

  “Spell?” Marie asked. “As in witchcraft?”

  “No, just time travel,” Annie sighed. “How soon do you want to go? Can’t we stay awhile?”

  “I think this is all very interesting, Annie, but if I don’t know that I can get back, then I don’t see how I can visit or stall in trying to return. If I knew we could get back, maybe I wouldn’t stress about it so much.”

  “We don’t even have money for train fare,” Annie muttered. She avoided looking at her sister.

  “Maybe Rory will lend it to us.”

  “Gosh, no! I don’t want to ask him! You’ve heard him. He doesn’t even think we’ve traveled through time. So, imagine—if we ask him for train fare so we can return in time, he’s just going to think we’re going to get lost on the train again, and he’ll want to accompany us to make sure we’re all right. Surely you know him well enough by now to know that’s what he would do?”

  “Yup, you’re right. I’ll bet that’s exactly what he’d do,” Marie groaned. “But if we could get back…if we disappeared on the train, then he would finally know, wouldn’t he? And we’d be out of his hair.”

  Annie shook her head. “And leave him wondering forever what happened to us? That would be awful. I can’t imagine how long and how hard he would look for us if we just disappeared on the train. I don’t want to do that to him.”

  “Annie! We have to do something. We can’t stay here.”

  “I know,” Annie said flatly. “I know.” Annie really didn’t understand why she couldn’t stay, but she resisted saying so to Marie who might very well list a dozen practical reasons why they had to return.

  Marie must have heard something in her tone.

  “Annie? Please say you really understand. I can’t leave you here. You don’t have a job or money here. You can’t mooch off Rory for the rest of your life. Didn’t you say that you thought he was engaged?”

  Annie drew in a sharp breath. “Oh, man, I’d forgotten. What if he is?”

  “You should ask him at some point. I can’t believe you didn’t ask him today.”

  Annie shrugged. “I forgot, what with falling in the lake and all.”

  “So you did,” Marie agreed. “Well, ask him at dinner tonight. If you don’t, I will.”

  “I’ll ask. Did you take a bath?”

  “Yes, I washed my hair with their weird soap and everything.”

  “I know, I’d kill for some decent shampoo. My hair is still snarled from washing it when we got back. I think we’d better start getting dressed.”

  “You’re really getting into this getting dressed thing, aren’t you? Me? I’d just as soon have room service as pack all those clothes on again.”

  Annie grinned and went into the bedroom to rummage through the boxes for a dinner gown. The saleswoman had said there would be two for each of them.

  An hour later, Annie and Marie were perched on the edge of the chairs when Rory arrived. He escorted them down to dinner, complimenting Annie on her peach-colored silk and lace evening gown and Marie on her lavender satin and gauze dress. They entered the dining room and were seated.

  Annie stiffened when she saw Rory’s father across the room dining with a woman not much older than herself, and she looked away quickly in case Rory noticed, but he had already caught the direction of her gaze. He frowned.

  “It is not something I have not seen before, Miss St. John. Please do not trouble yourself.”

  “I’m so sorry, Rory. How awkward for you.”

  “At times,” he murmured. “By the way, I am reminded that my mother did indeed invite you to dinner tomorrow night. Would that be convenient for you and Miss Marie? I specifically requested she limit the guests to family, just my brother and myself, and she agreed.”

  Annie looked at Marie who nodded. “Sure, that sounds lovely,” Annie said. “Your brother was very determined. I’m sure she finds him hard to resist.”

  “She does,” Rory affirmed with a smile. “Most women do. He is a charming young man.”

  “It appears to be a family trait,” Annie said with a grin.

  Rory’s face colored, and he dropped his eyes to his menu.

  “Rory!” a female voice said. “I thought you were off to the Japan and China as soon as you got back from Montana.”

  Rory looked up and rose quickly.

  “Dani!” he said with enthusiasm as he took the hand of a small, but stunning woman with auburn hair. “I did not know you were coming to town. You said nothing when I left.” He nodded toward a tall, blonde
man who approached, as handsome as his wife was beautiful. “Stephen.”

  “We meet again, Rory,” Stephen said in a pleasant voice.

  “Stephen had to come to town for a few days to take care of some business, and I thought I’d come with him. I brought the kids. Mom is still at the cabin along with Ellie, Robert and their children.”

  Rory noted the couple looked expectantly at Annie and Marie.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Sadler, may I introduce Miss Annie St. John and Miss Marie St. John.”

  “How do you do?” Annie enunciated, feeling a bit like Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.

  Marie was more casual in her greeting. “Hi!”

  Dani blinked and looked toward Rory for a moment before returning her attention to Annie and her sister.

  “I don’t think we’ve met before,” Dani said. “Where are you from, girls?” Annie was struck by Dani’s casual lack of formality. It felt familiar in some way.

  “Chicago,” they said in unison.

  Dani narrowed her eyes, and looked at her husband before addressing herself to Rory.

  “Did you meet on the train, Rory? The one returning from Whitefish?”

  “I did, Dani. How did you know?” Rory threw Annie a warning glance.

  “Because I think these girls are from my neck of the woods.” Dani grinned. “Am I right, ladies?”

  Annie stiffened. “2013?”

  Dani grinned. “Class of 2012. I’ll bet you girls are very, very confused right now. How long have you been here?”

  “A little over two days,” Marie said with a broad smile. “I am so glad to meet you, Dani!”

  “I think we should probably sit down with you, Rory. Do you mind? Stephen and I were planning to have a quick dinner before getting back to the kids at the house, but I think our plans have just changed.”

  “Yes, I think they have,” Stephen agreed with an amused smile.

  “Not at all, please do.” In a state of confusion, Rory gestured toward the table. How could Dani possibly know of their story? He signaled the waiter, who placed two more settings at the table and another chair.

  Stephen seated his wife next to Annie and took a seat by Rory.

  “And I imagine you are very confused right now as well, my friend, aren’t you?” He directed his comments to Rory.

  Dani covered Annie’s gloved hand with her own. “Look at you! Only here a few days and already wearing gloves and beautiful dinner gowns. I would never have known you just got here by looking at you. Is this your influence, Rory? Because unless they were wearing fanny packs, which no one does anymore, Annie and Marie arrived without a cent in their pockets, am I right?”

  Annie nodded wordlessly, staring at the exquisitely beautiful turn-of-the-century woman who knew the word “fanny pack.”

  “You’re right about that! Dani, tell me right away. Is there a way back?” Marie asked.

  Dani beamed and nodded. “Yes, you can get back. In fact, up until a few years ago, I went back every year to visit my mother. Now, she’s here with me so I don’t try it. It’s not foolproof, though.” She turned to look at Rory. “Are you all right, Rory? How did you find them?”

  Annie saw Rory swallow hard. His look of incredulity made her want to reach out and hug him to reassure him that the world hadn’t gone crazy. He certainly looked as if he thought so.

  “I met Miss St. John and Miss Marie on the train.” His voice was low, uncertain.

  Dani chuckled. “I’m sure there was more to it than that.” Dani looked around and dropped her voice to a whisper. “Did they tell you they were time travelers?”

  Annie breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, they were! Thank goodness someone believed them. Two someones, she thought from the continuing look of kindly amusement on Stephen’s face.

  Rory’s eyes widened, and then he drew his brows together. He scanned the faces at the table as if they were all strangers to him. He had fought hard against the concept of time travel, and Annie worried that he was going to continue to resist the idea, even in the face of four people who confirmed the facts.

  Rory’s shoulders sagged, and he seemed to relent as he sat back in his seat. “Yes, they did, but I did not believe them.” He looked to Stephen with a faint smile. “Please tell me that you did not come from the future as well, Stephen, before we attended college together?”

  Stephen chuckled and patted Rory on the back. “No, no, Rory. I am like you. I was born in the nineteenth century. However, I have been to the future with Dani. Did you not wonder at my ‘jeans’ when you stayed with us?”

  Rory grinned weakly. “Well, I assumed you preferred a tighter-fitting dungaree than I had seen in the past, that is all. I actually fancied a pair for myself, but I hated to say so.” He turned his attention to Annie and Marie.

  “I apologize for doubting you, ladies. How alone you must have felt when suddenly dropped into the past, and I not able to understand or help.”

  “But you did, Rory. You’ve helped us tremendously. The clothes, the hotel…” Annie gestured toward the dining room. She didn’t miss the look of surprise Dani exchanged with her husband.

  “From the sounds of it, Rory, you helped the girls a great deal, just like Stephen helped me.” Dani gave her husband an affectionate smile, and his love for her showed on his face. Annie’s heart fluttered. Was it possible? Dani seemed to be surviving in the past, and it sounded like she had figured out a way to go back and forth in time. Annie looked at Rory, who continued to study the group as if he’d never seen any of them before. She had the distinct impression he avoided her eyes in particular, though.

  “It was nothing,” Rory murmured. The table hushed as the waiter returned to take their orders. In the confusion, no one had scanned a menu, and there was a moment of chaos while everyone figured out what they wanted to eat.

  “How do we get back?” Marie asked bluntly as soon as the waiter left.

  Dani shot a quick look in Rory’s direction before responding. “Well, I’m assuming you fell asleep and woke up in 1906, right? Just like I did in 1901. You just reverse the process. Get back on the train heading east, make sure you fall asleep again sometime before you get to Wenatchee, and you should wake up back in your time, 2013. I don’t know what Wenatchee has to do with anything, but the area seems to be a catalyst for the time travel. I have a friend who also traveled back in time, and the same thing happened to her.”

  “How many of us are there?” Annie asked with wide eyes. She suddenly had visions of a multitude of time travelers from the future wandering the streets of Seattle in the early twentieth century.

  “Just Ellie, me, and now you two. That’s all I know of.”

  “Ellie?” Rory said in a sharp voice. “Ellie Chamberlain? No wonder you and she seem so much alike. I could not quite put my finger on it.” He leaned his elbows on the table in an uncharacteristically ill-mannered gesture and pressed his face into his hands. “I am overwhelmed.”

  “You will get used to it, Rory,” Stephen said. “We all have.”

  Rory looked up. “I cannot imagine that day.” He looked at Dani. “And you and Ellie chose to stay. Did neither of you wish to return to your own time?”

  “I was wondering the same thing,” Marie said.

  “I don’t think Ellie ever did. I did, but only because my mother was sick. I didn’t want to leave Stephen, but I had to go. He came with me for a bit but had to return to take care of Susan. Now that I have children I really don’t want to travel back. Truthfully, you guys, although I’ve been lucky, there is always a possibility that you either can’t get back or can’t return here even if you want to.”

  “I think it’s very interesting here, but I really want to get back,” Marie chimed in. “The sooner, the better.”

  “And you, Annie?” Dani asked.

  All eyes turned on Annie, and her face flamed. She avoided Rory’s eyes. No, she didn’t want to return. She wanted to stay where Rory was…with him. Her sister would never understand. Rory
would probably be shocked and embarrassed. After all, she didn’t know how he felt about her. He’d never shown her anything but kindness really, and a little flirtation.

  “Well, I’m sure she wants to return, too,” Marie said in answer to Annie’s silence, “though I’m not sure she’s in a particular hurry. Still, you’re right, Dani. We didn’t have a cent on us when we traveled, and neither of us can stay much longer mooching off Rory. It feels kind of weird.”

  Dani chuckled. “I do understand the feeling, Marie. So, you’re ambivalent, Annie?”

  “Yes,” Annie said in a low voice. She kept her eyes on her glass as she took a sip of water. “That sounds about right.”

  “I don’t blame you,” Dani said. “Well, what is the plan? When I traveled back in time, Ellie came to my rescue with clothes, but I can see Rory took care of that. I assume you have enough clothes for a while? That’s a big thing here…the clothes.”

  Annie and Marie nodded.

  “I know Rory is still probably digesting this, but when do you want to return? Marie said ‘the sooner, the better.’ Does that mean tomorrow?” Dani looked from Annie to Marie.

  Annie’s eyes widened, and her heart skipped several beats. She couldn’t bear to look at Rory, unsure of what she might see on his face. Relief? Disappointment? That famous smile of his? No, this wouldn’t be the right time for him to turn on the charm.

  “We haven’t really talked about it,” Annie said. “We agreed to have dinner with Rory’s mother tomorrow night?”

  “Your mother wouldn’t mind if we skipped that, would she, Rory?” Marie said. “I feel like I’ve been away forever.”

  “Marie! That’s not nice. We can wait a day, can’t we? We should talk about this in private, I think.” Annie gave Rory, Dani and Stephen a wry smile. “Discovering you, Dani, and knowing there’s a way back is almost as startling as finding ourselves in 1906.”

  Dani shot a warning glance over Annie’s shoulder, and Annie turned to see the Rory’s father approaching. The young woman with him waited at the doorway.

  “Good evening, Rory. Miss St. John, Miss Marie. Stephen. Mrs. Sadler. You look very refreshed. I thought you were at your cabin in Montana?”