The room shimmered and Bonnie stepped back.
“Let’s see if we made it or not,” she said, smiling at them.
She turned and headed for the door to the supply cavern, carrying her supplies. The door was closed and she opened it, going into the cavern ahead of Dawn and Madison.
“I was wondering when you three would show up,” Duster’s voice came from the living area of the cave.
He stood from where he had been napping on the couch and limped toward them, smiling.
Dawn was shocked that he looked older and frailer. Not the Duster that had left the cavern a moment before.
Bonnie rushed toward him and they kissed. Then she pushed him back.
“What happened to you?”
“Horse got spooked by a rattler and tumbled on me three years ago outside of Boise. Broke my foot. I’ve been laid up in the Boise Hotel for most of the last three years.”
“Getting waited on hand and foot, I suppose,” Bonnie said, smiling but clearly worried.
“Great food, good poker games, not much more a man could ask for except the company of his beautiful wife.”
Then he kissed her again and turned to Madison and Dawn. “Welcome to May 1902.”
“How far did we miss,” Bonnie asked.
“It’s May 12th,” Duster said.
“Are you sure you are going to want to do this, Duster?” Madison asked a moment before Dawn could.
He laughed as Bonnie looked at him with a very serious expression. “Of course. I plan on being on horseback most of the time and if I do have an issue, I’ll just work my way back up here and wait for you three to get back.”
Bonnie looked Duster in the eyes.
He smiled at her. “Honest. I can make a summer.”
Dawn didn’t like the sound of that at all. He didn’t look good.
“No,” Bonnie said, shaking her head. “We reset and all come into this year at the same time.”
Duster started to object, but Bonnie would have nothing to do with it.
Dawn suddenly saw the very powerful woman that she was.
“Make sure you got all your supplies in your hands,” Bonnie said as she turned for the crystal cavern.
“Sorry, guys,” he said. “It would have been easier with me going in earlier if this hadn’t happened.”
A moment later the room shimmered and Dawn found herself touching the machine back in the crystal cavern.
Man, that was strange, being in one place and suddenly being in another.
Duster was back to his old self, looking fit and as handsome as ever.
“Thanks,” he said to Bonnie, moving over and kissing her after she finished unhooking the cables from the crystal. “That feels a lot better.”
“After two thousand years, Marshal Kendal,” she said, “I know you. And know when you are just putting on a good face.”
Dawn glanced at Madison, who was just standing there in his long coat and cowboy hat, saddlebag draped over his shoulder, looking handsome.
“So give me some time to pack again,” Duster said, smiling at them as he and Bonnie headed for the supply cave. You can leave your stuff in here if you want.”
“Now that was amazing,” Madison said. “We were in there, then in here. He was healthy, then injured, then healthy, all in the space of a minute.”
“I think flat weird describes it better,” Dawn said as the two of them dropped their supplies and turned to follow the most amazing couple in all of time.
She only wished that some day she would have a relationship half as good as the one she had just watched in action.
She looked over at the handsome man beside her and he smiled at her.
She so wanted to kiss him, but somehow managed to not do that. But instead she said, “I’m so looking forward to spending time with you, getting to know you.”
“I feel the same about you,” he said, still smiling. “And I have a hunch that a summer in the Idaho wilderness in 1902 is going to give us that chance.”
“And the time,” she said laughing. “If we can ever get out of this cave.”
He laughed, his dimple showing clearly, and together they went to see what they could do to help Duster pack for the second attempt at 1902.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
DAWN FELT ALMOST AS SCARED on the second attempt to go back to 1902 as she had the first time, even though she got to watch the return happen firsthand and how she and everyone ended up right back in the cave just a few minutes after they left.
But having Duster get seriously injured reminded her of just how serious this trip was. Of course, any of them could have gotten hurt going into Roosevelt in the Cadillac. And that would have been a forever injury.
On this trip, they got to reset if something happened.
She liked that idea, but it didn’t ease the fear at all because honestly she just flat didn’t believe it.
“Ready?” Duster asked as he checked to make sure all of them were holding their supplies.
Dawn glanced around.
They were a strange sight, that was for sure. All dressed in period clothing, standing in a fantastically beautiful crystal-covered cavern. There would be more supplies waiting for them in the supply cavern, but all that was basic stuff that Duster and Bonnie went back periodically and replenished from the future.
And there were no clothes there that would fit either Madison or Dawn. They all were going to have to buy more on the trip to Roosevelt.
When Duster connected the last wire to the machine, there was a shimmering, but nothing seemed to change.
“Here we go,” Madison said, smiling at her.
Dawn could see the smile didn’t reach the worry in his eyes.
They all moved out into the supply cavern and dumped the stuff they were carrying on the big sorting table. Then Duster headed for the front of the mine to check on the weather and if anyone was out front while the rest of them dug into the stored supplies for more to take with them on the coming ride.
“Looks like we are close to May 1902 again,” Duster said as he came back in. “I’ll go down and into Silver City, see if I can round up some horses to buy. I’ll be back in five or six hours, so you all get some rest.”
With that he turned and headed out, his duster swirling around his legs, his hat pulled low on his head.
“He really loves it back here, doesn’t he?” Dawn asked Bonnie.
Bonnie laughed. “We both do, actually. We tend to start in 1878 and stay as long as health lets us.”
“Do you always stay together?” Madison asked.
Again Bonnie laughed. “Oh, heavens, no. For the first few hundred years we did, exploring the country and different parts of the world, then we started going our own ways. He likes to stay up here in the Pacific Northwest, being a marshal and playing cards and living in plush hotel rooms. I tend to like nice apartments in San Francisco or New York and the life there.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of trust,” Dawn said.
Bonnie sort of smiled at her and then got a faraway look. “What happens in the past, stays in the past. We agreed to that a long time ago if you count that in lifetimes lived.”
Dawn felt shocked, so all she could do was say, “Oh.”
“Makes sense if you look at it,” Bonnie said, smiling at what must have been her shocked look at learning about Duster and Bonnie’s open relationship. “In the present, it’s only the two of us. And no matter what happens in the past, we must return to the present where it is only the two of us.”
There was silence in the cavern as they finished digging out some supplies they could pack on horses, including a number of solid tents that Dawn wasn’t sure she could set up correctly, but she had no doubt she was going to learn how to do it before the summer was over.
Dawn did not want to look at Madison, but from the corner of her eye she could tell he was as surprised and shocked as she felt at Bonnie’s revelation. And she liked that he was shocked.
But who was s
he to judge two people who had lived for two thousand years?
“What was your longest time in the past?” Madison asked.
Bonnie smiled and glanced around to make sure Duster wasn’t close by. “I went back in 1878, then headed for San Francisco. I met this wonderful man named David Carr, a banker. I died of old age and consumption in his arms in 1926.”
“And you never told Duster?” Dawn asked, shocked again to her core. She had no idea where she got some of the beliefs she held, but wow was Bonnie challenging them.
“We came back that time, didn’t say a word to each other. We just hooked up a new crystal and went back. After a few more lives like that, there didn’t seem to be much point in telling him.”
“And you don’t ask about his relationships either?” Madison asked.
Bonnie glanced at him and smiled. “What happens in the past stays in the past. We have that luxury since none of it matters in this timeline. We just come back here as we were two minutes earlier.”
“But with another lifetime of memories,” Dawn said. “Seems like that matters a great deal.”
“It does,” Bonnie said, nodding. “But what matters more to both of us is the time to keep learning and studying as well. Duster and I value learning more than anything it seems, which is the main reason why we’re trying to help you two.”
Dawn nodded.
“And for that we thank you,” Madison said.
“Especially for trusting us with this secret,” Dawn said.
The more she started to believe that all this was real, the more amazing the trust that Duster and Bonnie showed in them was.
When they finished the packing, all three of them headed for the sitting area tucked back in the corner. There were three couches there. Bonnie gave each of them a blanket, then curled up on one couch.
“Try to get some sleep,” she said. “The first couple days on horseback is always tough.”
Dawn stretched out on the couch and looked over at Madison.
“We agreed we wanted an adventure,” she said, smiling at him and wishing she was curled up on that couch with him instead of alone.
“That we did,” he said, smiling back.
Damn she wished she had the courage to just get up and go cuddle with him. But she knew, without a doubt that if she did that, neither of them would get any rest at all.
And she needed the rest. Even though it was only about one in the afternoon their real time, four in the morning in Boise, Idaho, seemed like a decade ago.
Actually, it was about a hundred and twelve years in the future.
She pushed that thought away and with one last look at Madison, she turned over and curled up and went to sleep for the first time in 1902.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
MADISON HEARD DUSTER COME IN and softly move over to wake up Bonnie. She stirred, reached up and kissed him, and then whispered “Get horses all right?”
“I managed to buy just one,” he said.
She stood and moved over with him so that they wouldn’t wake up Madison and Dawn, but he was already awake.
He swung off the couch and gently touched Dawn’s shoulders. She was facing away from him and rolled over slowly, yawning. Then she looked up at him and smiled. “I was having a great dream about you,” she said, then yawned.
He couldn’t believe how beautiful she was as she woke up. He hoped to see that a lot in the future.
“You’re going to have to tell me about that later,” he said, smiling back at her. “Duster’s back.”
She nodded and sat up.
He offered her a hand getting off the couch and again just touching her sent an electric shock through his system.
He could tell she felt something too, but instead of just holding her hand there as he wanted to, he let go and they turned to join Bonnie and Duster.
“In 1902 there isn’t much left down in Silver City,” Duster said to them as they approached. “I managed to buy one horse from the owner of the hotel that a guest a few months back had traded for a room for a month.”
“Not much of a horse, huh?” Madison asked.
“Not much,” Duster said, nodding. “I’m going to need to go down to Murphy and a horse ranch there to get us what we need. That’s going to take a couple of days.”
“We’ll be fine right here,” Bonnie said, kissing her husband. “How much more daylight out there is there?”
“Only a couple of hours and it’s damned cold,” he said.
She nodded. “Bed the horse down in the side tunnel and you can get an early start.”
He shook his head. “No point in that. Let’s just give this one more try, and I’ll go back only a year ahead and be here waiting and healthy with everything we’re going to need when you come back through. That will only take a few minutes for all of you.”
She looked at him, then smiled. “If you don’t mind the year.”
“You know how much I hate it back in the Old West,” he said, laughing.
Madison was just stunned. These two really knew how to deal with all the aspects of time travel.
Dawn was just shaking her head, looking puzzled, clearly not wrapping her mind around what Duster had just suggested.
Bonnie kissed him long and hard, then turned to Madison and Dawn. “Grab your stuff. Make sure you are holding it all. Third time’s the charm.”
They all headed back into the crystal room carrying their saddlebags and supplies.
Duster pulled a wire.
The room shimmered. Madison had been about ten feet away watching. Suddenly, all four of them were touching the machine. Madison had a hunch they were once again back in 2014.
But there wasn’t a darned thing in the crystal cavern that allowed him to easily tell when they traveled over a hundred years.
Then with gloves on, Duster went over to the wall and put the connections on a brand new crystal.
Bonnie motioned for them to all step back. “Be ready to go quickly again,” she said. “Just as we did the first time.”
Madison nodded, as did Dawn beside him. He still had all his supplies on his shoulder and in his left hand. She was carrying all of hers as well.
Duster reset the time on the machine for May 1901 and kissed Bonnie. “See you in a year.”
Madison just couldn’t completely wrap his mind around the fact that Duster would live a year in the next few seconds.
“Try not to break anything this time,” she said.
“I’ll try,” Duster said, smiling.
Then, with one hand on the machine, he connected the wire and vanished.
“Wow! That is just amazing,” Madison said.
“Creepy,” Dawn said, shaking her head.
With gloves on, Bonnie quickly changed the date to May 1902. Then she took off the glove.
“On the count of three again,” she said. “One. Two. Three.”
Around Madison the room shimmered again as he touched the machine.
All three of them stepped away from the machine at the same time and headed back toward the supply room. The door between the crystal room and the supply room was open, so someone was there.
As they walked in, Duster again sat up from the couch and came forward, giving Bonnie a huge kiss. This time he didn’t look any the worse for wear, but he was wearing different clothes than a few moments, and a hundred years, before.
“Any problems?” Bonnie asked as all three of them moved over to the packing table.
“Not a one. I have four great horses and two extra packhorses. And I have a bunch of supplies already, so we don’t need much but the personal stuff you brought through. I got everything out there and ready to be tied to the horses.”
“Perfect,” Bonnie said. “How long have you been waiting?”
“I got back up here on a clear day about the 20th of April. I set up a camp outside like I was just using the old cabin and have the horses there. It’s the first of May now.”
“Perfect,” Bonnie said. “What time of t
he day is it?”
“My guess, about sunrise,” he said. He smiled at Madison and Dawn. “You two ready to see Roosevelt and other parts of the Old West?”
“You mean there’s more to it than the inside of this cave?” Madison asked, winking at Dawn.
“I guess that means they’re ready,” Bonnie said, laughing.
“I guess we are,” Dawn said.
Then she reached over and squeezed Madison’s hand.
It surprised him and felt wonderful.
“An adventure?” she asked, smiling at him.
“An adventure,” he said, smiling and looking deeply into those wonderful eyes of hers.
She let go of his hand and ten minutes later they were out into the biting cold of the May 1st 1902 morning.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
BY THE TIME THE SUN was nearing the horizon in the west, getting ready to set, they were out of the Owyhee Mountains and down on the edge of the Snake River.
Dawn felt like she might never walk again.
Ever.
So far it had been most of seven hours on a horse, plus a few more hours leading a horse, or sitting on logs wishing someone would just come and shoot her.
Duster had picked out a campsite for them near the Snake River and figured they could make it out to it fairly easily on the first day.
Well, it had been easy for him, Dawn could see that.
But for her and Madison and Bonnie, the day turned into a very long journey. She had just kept thinking over the last three hours that at any moment she would just lose all feeling in her legs and fall off the horse.
They had rested every hour. After the first couple of hours, that hadn’t helped much.
The worst part of the trip was coming down off of Florida Mountain right at first. They had actually walked the horses down a scary trail, and Dawn had quickly learned how much the footwear of a “lady” in 1902 was not suited for hiking, even though her boots were modern made.
And the riding outfit she had on wasn’t suited for pee breaks either. The first stop had flat been embarrassing, since Bonnie had had to help her get out of the pants and then also help her button them back up again to make sure she knew how to do it.
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