Steam Over Stephensport: Steam Through Time Series - Book 2

by Carolyn Bond

  “I just wanted to get your opinion.”

  “Sure thing!”

  “I am going to change up the way girls are being taught at the public school in Stephensport. I really feel like it would make a difference. The town council and the families are against it. I just don’t think they see the value of the girls being able to read and write.”

  “Well, that’s it, then. You need to show them it makes a difference.”

  “But how?” Lily asked.

  “I got a lot of flack when I started the school for the disabled kids. The whole town and even some politicians wanted me to quit. They wanted to hide those kids away. I started by teaching them to do simple jobs that help others. I talked to some of the business owners and got them to sponsor a student to work at their business a few hours a day. As people saw the students doing good work and being productive, they eventually got used to them. There are still some who will never come around to progressive thinking, but many people aren’t afraid of the students anymore. They are even friendly to them. And the students are so much happier than languishing in an asylum.”

  “Hm. I never thought of it on those terms.”

  “It really comes down to fear. The people who make the rules are afraid. Help them see how teaching the girls will help them and it will work out.”

  Part III

  Chapter 9 – The Way Things Seem

  Evan met them in the wagon at the train station in Stephensport. Lily saw him immediately when the train approached the curve into town. She couldn’t miss him. His broad shoulders and wavy hair lifting with the breeze made him look like an angel that could protect her from anything. She wondered what he was thinking as he sat there. Two vertical creases between his eyebrows gave him a troubled look.

  The wheels of the train squealed with the brakes. Lily gripped the cushion to keep from sliding off her seat. A final lurch forward of her body punctuated the end of the train ride as they came to a complete stop.

  “Home again!” Bettie whispered to Lily.

  By the time they made it to the platform, Evan had their cases in the wagon. He stepped forward to greet them and gave Lily a hopeful smile of welcome. Kissing her hand, he didn’t say anything. Lily got the distinct feeling he was holding back.

  He turned to William, “Do you mind if Lily and I walk? We will be home shortly.”

  She looked at him with a furloughed brow. The wagon pulled away and left them alone. The street was quiet in the mid-morning hour. Evan held out his arm for her and she looped her hand behind and through.

  “It’s good to see you. I missed you.” She attempted to bridge the gap she felt from him.

  “Yes. Certainly. Good to see you. Was it a good trip?”

  “Very much. Has anything happened here? William spoke of a letter from the elders.”

  “Ah. Yes. I have heard rumblings in town.”

  “Are you worried?”

  “About the rumblings, not really. People grumble. That’s nothing unusual.”

  She turned to face him, stopping him from moving forward. “What is it then? What’s the matter?”

  “That’s why I needed to talk to you. Brian has been busy. He hired a man to go to Frankfort. He has proof there is no Mr. and Mrs. Wallingsford at the address you gave. In fact there is no house there. It’s a vegetable garden.”

  “How do you know he did this?”

  “He confronted me.”

  “What?”

  “He is very pleased with himself. He gave me the opportunity to get out of his way. He felt quite magnanimous about it. He threatened to sue William for everything he has as well as publicly humiliate all of us. Oh, and he reminded me that his influence is quite strong with the judge at the county seat in Hardinsburg.”

  “Oh, dear Lord. William will be devastated. What did you say?”

  “I told him I didn’t care what information he had. He could not hold us hostage and tear us apart.”

  “Okay. What did he say about that?”

  “He laughed in my face and walked away. That’s not all, though. I have an itchy feeling that the attack on the riverboat may have something to do with him. I keep going over it in my head. Then I saw in the Courier Journal that the men that were captured have made a plea deal. Apparently overtaking the boat and causing its demise was not their intention. They are singing like a bird.”

  “Evan! That’s a big accusation. Have they specifically mentioned Brian being involved?”

  “His name hasn’t been mentioned in the paper but I’m wondering if this is how he knows I was not in Frankfort.”

  “So he is using his authority in town to get his way and hoping this story doesn’t get out.” Lily thought.

  He continued, “The day after he tried to intimidate me, I heard the elders had met and they were starting a witch hunt for you.”

  “So, it was him!”

  “Lily, he will tear William and Bettie to pieces and disgrace you until your only option is to acquiesce to his demands. Then he will have you under his thumb.”

  She thought about his words without any expression until, at last, she straightened. “I think not. I’m not accustomed to being under anyone’s thumb. I need to think about how to deal with this, but I know one thing for certain. I didn’t get this far in life by laying down and letting people walk on me. Besides, if he is that dirty, the truth will come out.”

  He searched her eyes, taking in the soft skin of her cheeks and delicate lips. “Lily, how old are you?”

  His question caught her off guard and she laughed. “Oh, sweetheart, I suppose you think I’m about twenty. I can’t lie. I’m a bit older than that.

  “I guess looking young runs in your family.”

  “No. That’s not what I’m talking about. I haven’t said anything because it was just too weird.”

  He looked at her with a scrunched brow.

  “The time travel wasn’t the only supernatural event. I don’t understand it, but somehow, my body didn’t travel with me.”

  His mouth parted slightly like he was looking for the words to say. “But, you have a body.” He reached out and took her hand.

  She squeezed his hand back but pulled it away. Her breath quickened as her nerves made a heavy feeling in her chest. “Somehow in my mysterious journey here, I landed in a different body. My soul is thirty-two.”

  He stood there with wide eyes.

  “I know. It’s crazy. I’m sorry if you feel deceived.”

  “Thirty-two! Were you--. Ah,” he stammered. “Were you married?”

  “Oh! No. I never married. Not that I didn’t want to. It just didn’t work out.”

  “I see. That’s a relief. You’re much older than me. I’m just twenty-six.”

  “That’s not much of a difference, right? And,” she held her arm out gracefully to look at it. “I’m much better looking.” She realized what that sounded like and clarified, “Not better looking than you. Better looking than my old body.”

  He turned his back to her and put his hands on his hips.

  “What is it? Are you mad at me?” She darted around him to face him.

  He looked away. “I need some time. This is too much to take in. I, I need to think. Let’s just get you home.”

  He gripped her elbow firmly but gently and led her down the sidewalk.

  Annoyed with his prodding, she shook herself free and crossed her arms, walking next to him silently. Perhaps she had been too glib about this little fact that she hadn’t told anyone. She could understand how he might feel betrayed. Believing her story about being from another time was hard enough for anyone. Add to that the fact that she was actually someone else than meets the eye and you had a hard pill to swallow. She relaxed a bit and let her arms fall naturally to her sides as she walked.

  She stole a glance at him from the corner of her eye. He was staring dead ahead expressionless. “Evan.”

  He didn’t respond and kept walking.

  “Evan!” She reached for his hand.


  “Don’t touch me. I don’t know who you are.”

  “Evan! I’m me. Did you fall in love with me or my face?”

  He stopped and stared at her before speaking. “Generally, one doesn’t have make a difference. The face and the person are one and the same.”

  “Okay. I’ll give you that. But I’m still the same person in here.” She pointed to her heart.

  He sighed and looked down. “Look. I just need some time.”

  “What does that mean? Do you still want to marry me?” A tear rolled off her cheek as she said the words.

  “Lily, or whatever your name is, I don’t know. There is the house.” He nodded in that direction. They stood near the drive to Black’s Farm. “Let me be for a time.”

  “Lily. My name is Lily. Evan! I love you.” She tried to reach for him again, but he brushed her off and stepped away.

  With a grimace, he turned and dashed away before she could say anything else. She was standing there alone, arms folded against her chest, crying. Alone again, just like with Andrew. Her heart twisted inside.

  “My dearest Lily. Whatever could be the matter? I saw the dashing hillbilly run away. Too much pressure?” Brian stood about ten feet away with a smirk.

  She wiped away her tears with the palm of her hand. “No! It’s really none of your business.”

  He stepped closer and gave her a charitable smile. “It’s quite all right. You have no need to fear. I can make it all fine. Do you really want a husband that runs off when the going gets tough?”

  “You have no idea. If I told you the truth, you couldn’t handle it.”

  “The truth? Fascinating. You are so intriguing. Come now, Lily.” He caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. “I have the means to fulfill your every dream. Why do you fight it?” He dropped his hands and relaxed his shoulders. “Honestly, Lily. Why can’t you see that I only want to love you.”

  She relaxed her arms, too. “Brian, I’m sure you’re sincere, in your own twisted way. It’s just that I’m not sure your kind of love is good for me.”

  He looked around and she realized she was out of view of the house. No one could see them. His arm shot around her waist and his mouth was on her ear before she could try to get free.

  “That’s the thing about women, they never know what’s good for them.” He kissed her neck, alternating small bites and kisses down to her shoulder.

  Yet, again, her body betrayed her and her knees started to buckle. A part of her heart wanted him. She felt like she could let go and let him take over and it would all be alright. He seemed so capable.

  While he gripped her waist with one arm, his other hand locked around her wrists so that she couldn’t move. She lost her balance and lost her footing in the damp leaves underfoot. The shift in weight pulled him forward and they fell to the ground. Trying to catch himself so he didn’t fall on top of her, he let go of her hands and reached for the ground. She tried to grab at the tree branches of the cedar tree beside them and only managed to break off a stem.

  For a brief moment, they were suspended in the air and all sound stopped. No birds chirping. No wind in the trees. The next minute she was on the ground with a teenage boy on top of her. There was no thud of hitting the cold dirt.

  “What are you two doing there? Get a room! Good grief!” An older man in jeans and a tee shirt stood a few feet away with a broom.

  Brian rolled off her and stood up in one motion. He offered his hand. “Lily, please forgive—,” He broke off when he looked at her. “Who are you?”

  She looked down at her clothes. She was wearing jeans and a pair of Converse sneakers. She reached up and felt short crunchy spiky hair.

  “Who are you?” She stood up and looked in his eyes. “What—“

  “This is most irregular. I will not suffer such humiliation,” the boy said as he straightened and place his fists on his hips.

  She knew that posture. It was Brian. She looked past the man and saw down the street. There were no stores, banks, or an inn. Cars were parked in driveways. The road was paved with faded black asphalt.

  “Oh no. No. This can’t happen. Not now.” She looked at Brian who was alternately staring at her and an old man walking toward them. He hadn’t realized he had changed yet.

  “You kids need to get on outta here, ya’ hear?” The man must have felt like his point was made because he turned and walked away muttering to himself.

  Lily stood up. “Brian, look at me. Don’t look at anything but me.”

  “What? I’m not accustomed to taking orders from a--, Are you a girl?” His eyes landed on her breasts. “Is your hair… purple?”

  “A girl. I understand your confusion, but I need to tell you something. We--, we--.” She couldn’t get it out. How could he understand?

  “What are you trying to say?” At that moment a red diesel Dodge truck crossed the bridge over Sinking Creek and sped past them at twenty-five miles an hour. Brian turned and watched it travel down Main Street.

  “What in the world?” He left her now and walked to the edge of the road. He stopped there and toed the black pavement with his shoe. He put his fists on his hips and looked down the length of Main Street, squinting his eyes. He turned and looked back at the metal bridge with diagonal and arching blue-gray supports with bolts and nuts. Utterly confused, he looked back at her.

  “What in the world?” said Brian.

  “Welcome to 2018. Stephensport, one hundred and twenty-eight years in the future. This is why you couldn’t find my parents in Frankfort. They, nor me, had not been born yet.”

  “Your parents? I don’t even know you. I don’t believe any of this. Where is Lily?” He brushed her off with a wave of his hand.

  “Oh, it’s true alright. I’m Lily. Have you looked at yourself?”

  He looked down at his clothes, a black tee shirt with three parallel rips across the chest meant to look like a monster had attacked him, dark blue skinny jeans, and a pair of black Converse sneakers.

  “Oh! Oh my word.” His eyebrows were arched high. He went pale and she wondered if he would actually faint. “But-. How?”

  She looked down trying to think of how to explain something that she couldn’t figure out either. The broken cedar twig lay in the dirt. The sound came to her ears suddenly as though it was affirming what she couldn’t imagine was true. The same sound she had heard from the window in her room in 1889, the low clear one like a wet finger around the edge of a wine glass.

  She knelt down on her knee and picked up the flat green bit of cedar. Raising it to her nose, she breathed in the clear woodsy scent. It brought back the memory of cedar blocks in her chest of drawers back in Frankfort.

  “This.” She said twirling the spring between her fingers. A light breeze wafted through her spikey hair giving her chills. She shivered rubbing her arms.

  “What? What do you mean this? A piece of a tree? What is that supposed to mean?”

  “I suspected it, but wasn’t convinced until now. There is a legend that the cedar tree holds the souls of our ancestors. It’s the tree of life. When I crossed over to 1889, I had been to the cemetery to talk to my grandmother’s spirit. I found a sprig of this in the dirt and tucked it into my hair because it smelled nice. Reminded me of the past. Now here it is again. I was trying to break my fall and grabbed at a tree and ripped it out. It must be what carried us through time.”

  He stared at her with his mouth open. “Are you daft? Are you saying a tree branch took us to the future?”

  If they were in the future, she knew she had to get back to her apartment. She looked toward the bridge to see if she saw her car. Maybe it was still there.

  “Hold on,” she told him.

  “Hold on to what? And I am to assume that you are actually Lily?” He followed her as she walked toward the bridge.

  “Yes. I’m Lily. Same old me. Just different body. Apparently bodies don’t time travel well.” She stepped onto the concrete bridge and walked along the side holding
the top metal railing. Shadows of cross beams flitted over her face. She stepped up onto the narrow curbing, not quite wide enough to use as a sidewalk, but big enough to stand on and look over the side. The muddy creek water swirled past underneath. No car could be seen in the mud.

  “I say, this is a rather sturdy construction, isn’t it?”

  “Well, the state does its best to make good bridges these days. No more wooden bridges.” She sighed with resolution. “We need some money. Apparently my car washed away or something. I don’t know. But we need to get to my apartment. In Frankfort.”

  “Whatever for?”

  “Well, Mr. Everbright, we can’t just sleep here on the side of the road, can we? And I need to figure out how to get us back to 1889. But before we go, I need to do something. If I’m never going to see my parents again, I at least want to say goodbye.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I have plenty of money. Let’s just go to the bank.” He looked down the road and wrinkled up his brow.

  “So you are starting to see the problem?”

  “Where is the mercantile? Where is the bank and the inn? Where is my house, for heaven’s sake?”

  “It’s all gone. Business here dried up long before I was even born. Nearly a hundred years ago. Your house, if it’s still standing, likely has new owners. I would guess your family moved away when the railroad moved much of its work to Hardinsburg.”

  “Then what about my money?”

  “I think it’s safe to say, for the time being anyway, you don’t really have any money. I suppose we could try to find your descendants but they will think you’re a crackpot looking to make a buck off them.”

  If anybody could look so instantly dejected, she hadn’t seen it. It was a hard fall to bear. She actually felt pity for him, especially since he looked like such a delinquent.

  “Come on, look through your pockets. Maybe these two twits we fell into had some cash on them.”

  He reluctantly pulled his pockets inside out. He had a joint, some pills, a wrapped condom, and a $50 bill. “What’s this? He held his hand up with the pocket contents.

  “That would be illegal drugs, birth control, and cash. We will toss the drugs and keep the cash. You can put the condom back in your pocket. Good job!” She tossed the joint and the pills over the side of the bridge.