“It’s been a good life for us, we’ve been fortunate. Our ranch is growing and thriving. When the railroad comes, and it’s less than a year away, things will be even better.
“All of it will be his someday and he will be good at running it. He’s a hard worker and the hands like him. He gets in and does everything they do.
“Josiah and I wanted several children, it apparently wasn’t meant to be. Look at the time. You’ve had a couple of long days. You must be tired too. Let me tell you how things operate around here. Tomorrow morning, Josiah and Thomas will be up before sunrise. They’ll put the coffee on, and take a cup with them to the barn to begin their day. About an hour later, they’ll come back and I’ll have breakfast with them. Then, they’ll probably be on the range most of the day. Likely, they’ll take biscuits, cornbread or whatever they can find. They won’t be back until suppertime. I always try to make sure there’s something for them to take with them. Then tomorrow evening, will be a big meal.”
“Could I ask a favor,” Abby wondered. “I normally am up early, but not usually as early as they are. I’d like to be up when Thomas has breakfast. If you don’t mind, would you make sure I’m up?”
“That’s nice of you. I’ll make sure you’re awake.”
Chapter sixteen
The Revelation
After dinner the next day…
“So far, I have told only four people about this; Colonel Hays, Doctor and Mrs. Turner, and Thomas. The others believed me, but I’m not sure about Thomas. First, I’d like to ask you a question, Miss Sophie. You keep a diary don’t you?”
Sophie looked around, a funny expression on her face, She was not aware anyone knew about the diaries. “I do.”
“Except for being asleep last night, I have hardly been out of your sight since I arrived. You made entries in the diaries almost every day on the trail from Ohio, talking about the grass, water and the distance traveled. As you got closer to Fort Laramie, you made note of the graves you passed. You still write in the diary, but just not as often. Am I correct?”
Dumbstruck, Sophie said, “Yes, but how do you know this?”
“I’ve seen them; all of them. If I may ask, did you make an entry yesterday?”
“Yes,” Sophie answered, her voice low and soft.
“Did it say ‘My men got home again today. The girl from Fort Laramie that Thomas has been going on about for three months came back with them.’ There’s more, but that’s all I remember.”
Without a word, Sophie went to her bedroom and returned with a journal. She sat on the davenport and said, “I wrote this last night after everyone was in bed. ‘My men got home again today. The girl from Fort Laramie that Thomas has been going on about for three months came back with them. She seems nice and is very pretty. It’s going to be good to have someone to talk to besides myself.’ That’s it, word for word.”
Abby looked at each of them in turn. “I’m not a witch, nor am I psychic. My grandmother was living on this ranch when I came to visit. It was much larger when I came, than it is now. My mother’s maiden name was Barnes. I’ve been here before.” She then told the entire story she had told Colonel Hays, Doctor and Mrs. Turner and most recently, Thomas.
“I was born in the year 1993. The events I just told you about happened in 2015. That’s one hundred forty-eight years from this time. I can’t explain it. I don’t understand it. I graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in Civil Engineering in June, 2015. Civil Engineering teaches you to design bridges, roads, and dams as well as other types of infrastructure.
“When Mr. Watson found me, all I had with me was the clothes I was wearing. These clothes. She held up the pants and blouse. I can show you the underwear, and you’d find it different from anything you’ve ever seen. It was what convinced Cora Turner, the doctor’s wife. I can show you, Miss Sophie.” She smiled and said to Josiah and Thomas, “I can show you if you’re into that sort of thing.
“That’s all I have. Doctor Turner said I could always come back there and work in the hospital with him. I will return the next time someone goes to Fort Laramie if that is what you want. I’ll leave you to talk about what I’ve told you.”
The Barnes family…
“That is the most incredible story I have ever heard,” Sophie said. “She knows so much about my diaries and she’s dead on. She has to have seen them, and I know that hasn’t happened since she got here. How did she know what I wrote last night?”
“I believe her,” Thomas said. “If she goes back to Fort Laramie, I’m going too.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Josiah said, “and neither is she, unless and until she asks to. The thing that sticks in my mind is, can she go back to the future? Is that possible?”
“If she can go one way, why not the other. Can she go back and forth at will?”
“I don’t think so,” Thomas said. “I believe she misses her family and would have gone back if she could.”
“Go get her son,” Josiah said.
Doubt filled her mind when she came back into the room. How could anyone believe such a story? She still held a faint hope it was a dream and she would wake up at her grandmother’s.
“Sit down, dear. It was a wild story you told us. Wild and unbelievable.” Dismay flashed across Abby’s face. “However, we believe it. Some of it you couldn’t have made up.”
“You believe me?”
“We do. What did you do with the diaries?”
“I found them in the tack room in a big trunk. I took them to the University of Wyoming in Laramie and showed them to a professor. He asked if we would consider donating them to the university. They belonged to grandfather, so I couldn’t do that, but told him I would see if we could lend them to him to study. His specialty was the Oregon Trail. I left them at the ranch… here. I don’t know what Grandma did with them after I… disappeared.
“There has been a lot of research done on the Oregon Trail. It’s a very important part of American history.”
“What’s it like to know the future?”
“I don’t. I mean I know what was there, and a little of what’s here, but there were a lot of steps between the two. Some of them I studied in school, but I can’t foresee what’s going to happen next week. If I could do that, I’d take up gambling and get rich.”
“Do you want to go back to Fort Laramie?”
“No. Unless that’s what you want. I believe my future is here. If I ever go back home, it will happen from here.”
“If you could go back, would you?” Thomas asked.
“If I could go today or tomorrow, I would. Beyond that, who knows? Besides, I don’t think I can.
“I’m not sensitive about this. If you have any questions, please ask. There are a few things I worry and wonder about, and there are a few things that frighten me, but I don’t know what to do about them.”
“What things?” Sophie asked.
“I’m afraid I might accidentally do something that changes the future in a bad way.”
“On the other hand,” Sophie said, “if you believe in the Bible, everything is pre-ordained and under God’s control.”
“I do believe in the Bible, but if you go strictly by that rule, there is no reason for any of us to be here. I believe in a God that lets us make our own decisions and decide our fate in that way. If that’s true, then I decided to go to Fort Laramie that day, and therefore had a hand in what happened.”
“Or,” Sophie said, “He might have found another way.”
“This is way beyond me and is giving me a headache,” Thomas said. “I’m gonna go talk to my horse.”
Both women laughed. “That’s my boy,” Sophie said. “I love him though, warts and all.”
“I could too,” Abby said.
Chapter seventeen
Getting to Know You
“I’ve finished all of my chores, and it’s kind of a slack time for the ranch. Is there anything in particular you would like to do today?” Thomas a
sked.
“Get to know you and your family,” she said.
“How do we go about that? Ask me anything. I’m an open book.”
“I would like to know what makes you happy or sad, whether you like children, or do you even want children? I would like to know what you want in a wife and I want you to know what I want in a husband.”
“Does this mean you would consider being my wife?”
“My answer would depend on the things I mentioned. I only intend to get married one time, and it has to be to the right person. I almost made a monumental mistake last time. I don’t intend to go through that again.”
“I guess I don’t know what to do,” he said.
“That’s simple. Be yourself. Don’t try to be someone you’re not.
“Do you guys go to church?”
“Is ‘guys’ a word from your time?”
“I guess originally it meant only men or boys, but evolved to mean y’all, if I can use a word that isn’t really a word.
“I like to take walks, do you?”
“We do go to church on occasion. Mama goes more often than I do. About walks, when I get in from a day in the saddle, the last thing I think about is taking a walk.”
“Your father owns the ranch. Do you have to work that hard?”
“Harder than the others. Papa doesn’t believe in asking them to do something he wouldn’t do, and I have to do more than they do. I have to work longer and harder, because I want them to respect me.”
“That’s commendable,” Abby said. “Where do you draw the line?”
“What do you mean?”
“Is there anything that has priority over everything else?”
“Right now, Ma and Pa. I try to take some of the load off Pa, but he kicks back. You. You have a priority over almost anything. If someone other than you is in danger, I’ll try to help. I wouldn’t leave you in danger to go to someone else.”
“I would not stop you from doing something you felt you had to. Wait, that doesn’t sound right. I wouldn’t stand in the way of you doing something that needed to be done.”
“Would you like to take a walk?” he asked.
“You’re learning,” she said.
“Do you have good shoes? If you do, let’s walk down to the river,” he said. “It’s a long walk, but it’s one of my favorite spots on the whole ranch.”
“I got these shoes in Fort Laramie. I didn’t want to wear my others out, because I knew I couldn’t replace them.”
At the river, he asked, “Notice anything about the water?”
“No, should I?”
“It’s the only river I’ve ever seen where the water flows from south to north. We trailed the herd out of Colorado alongside it. I reckon it goes that way because of the mountains.”
“You just made my day. I consider any day bad if I don’t learn something new. This is it for today.”
Suddenly he stopped. “Don’t move,” he whispered, “and don’t say anything.” He put one hand over her mouth and pointed up river. Four Indians were letting their ponies. He put his finger over his mouth in a ‘shh’ sign, then removed the hand over her mouth. After a few minutes, the braves moved on.
“Let’s get back to the ranch. Those were Lakota Sioux. I haven’t seen any around here before. I’ve got to tell Pa about it.”
Back at the ranch…
“You saw them where?” Josiah asked him.
“About a mile from here, along where the river shallows up. There were four of them.”
“Were they wearing paint?”
“No, sir, and there were no squaws, only braves.”
“You weren’t wearing your gun were you?”
“No, sir.”
“I want you to go tell the hands they are to have a rifle and a handgun with them from now on. It would probably be a good idea for them to have extra cartridges too. And I don’t want anyone working alone.”
“Yes, sir.”
Abby was horrified. “This is serious isn’t it?”
“It could be,” Josiah said. “It was likely just a hunting party, but we don’t want to take any chances. Thomas did exactly what he should have done. If they had seen you, there just isn’t any telling what might have happened.
“We need to let the neighbors know. If any had been sighted around here before, we would have been warned.”
* * *
A company of Cavalry stopped in front of the ranch house. An officer wearing the stripes of a captain, accompanied by a grizzled sergeant approached Thomas. “I’m Captain Gil Montgomery, Seventh Cavalry, C Company. We received a report of Lakota Sioux in this area.”
“We saw some of them,” Thomas said. “There were four braves. We were down by the river and they stopped to water their horses, but they didn’t see us. That was three days ago, and I haven’t seen any since, but we haven’t been back to the area. My father thinks it was part of a hunting party since they were not wearing paint. A raiding party would probably have had more men.”
“You’re probably right,” the captain said. “Still, they shouldn’t be off the reservation.”
Josiah walked up. “Josiah Barnes. Has there been any activity among them?”
“Yes, sir, since Red Cloud walked out of the negotiating council, there have been some raids along the North Platte and along the Oregon Trail. They attacked Fort Kearny and wiped out the contingent there. Two days ago, there was a raid on a ranch north of here. They burned the ranch and killed the rancher, his wife and two children. They took the cattle.”
“All due respect, Captain, but isn’t your group a little small to be out chasing them?”
“Sir, our guide indicates the force we’re after numbers twenty-five or thirty. They’re poorly armed while we have the new Springfield rifles. We can more than hold our own.”
“The odds get evened up pretty quick if there’s an ambush,” Josiah told him.
“How many people on your ranch, sir?”
“We have eight men and two women folk. All of the men are armed with rifles and handguns.”
“Well, keep an eye out.”
“We will Captain. Good luck and good hunting.”
The captain gave the sergeant the command to mount up and move out. He touched the brim of his field cap and they rode off toward the river.
“I don’t like the sound of this,” Josiah told his son. “Get the men together and let’s see what our situation is.”
When they were assembled, he told them about their recent visitors. “If we are hit, make your shots count. We have enough for a couple of attacks, but it could get dicey after that.”
Late that afternoon, they heard the sound of distant gunfire. “It sounds like the Captain found what he was looking for,” Thomas said.
“Or they found him,” his father rebutted.
Abby came from the house. “What’s happening?”
“We heard gunfire from over yonder,” Thomas told her. “It was likely the Army patrol and the Indians.”
“Do you think they might attack here?”
“Unlikely,” Josiah said, “but we’ll be ready.”
“I hope they don’t come,” she said. “We treated some wounded in the hospital. It was bad.”
“Have you ever handled a gun?” Thomas asked.
“No.”
“You need to have one handy in case.” He went to his room and returned with a revolver. “There’s no time to teach you how to shoot, and we can’t waste the bullets anyway.” He showed her how the gun worked. “All you do is point it at whatever you want to hit and pull the trigger. It will fire and spin the cylinder to put the next cartridge under the hammer. Abby, if they attack, save the last one for yourself. What they do is not pretty. If they come for you, don’t worry about us, we’ll be dead before we let them get past.”
Josiah spoke up. “We’ll want you and Sophie in the root cellar. We’ll call out before we come in. If someone tries to get in, shoot through the door. It won’t be us unl
ess we call out first. Sophie knows what to do. Follow her lead.”
Chapter eighteen
The Attack
The chirping of the birds kept Abby from falling asleep. She lay in the bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering… Would she would ever see her mother and father again. Wondering if they knew she was missing. Knowing there was no way they could know what had happened to her. Wondering if she could be happy on the frontier, knowing so much about the future and so little about the present. Was time travel even possible? Was this a dream from which she might awaken at any time? Or was she stranded.
Exhausted, she finally dropped off, only to be awakened by the sounds in the kitchen. She wrapped the coarse robe around her shoulders and stumbled to the kitchen where she found Thomas making the first pot of coffee of the day.
“You’re up early.”
“I haven’t been asleep,” she told him. “I kept hearing things. I never knew birds to be so active at night.”
He glanced at his father, who had just walked in. His father shook his head in a barely perceptive movement.
“Why don’t you go sit in the other room and I’ll bring you coffee when it’s ready,” Josiah said.
When they were seated, Thomas asked, “Are you having regrets about coming back with us?”
“Regrets, no; doubts… maybe.”
“We’ll take you back the next time we go. I’ll ask Papa if we can make it earlier than usual.”
“I don’t want to be a bother. I…”
“Cheep, cheep, cheroo”; a few seconds later, “cheep cheep, cheroo,” from a different direction
“That kept me awake all night,” she said.
“That’s the first time I heard it,” Thomas said.
“Did you hear that, Pa?” he asked his father, who was pouring coffee for them.
“I heard.”
“Abby said it kept her awake most of the night.”
“What kind of bird is it, anyway?” she asked.
“I think that particular bird is a Lakota Sioux,” Josiah said.
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