Now and Forever: Time Travel Romance Superbundle

by Bobby Hutchinson

  She crossed her eyes at six-year-old Jason and he giggled at her, his Kelly-green eyes an echo of her own.

  Matthew was blond and blue eyed, inclined to be a trifle plump, like Sharon, but Jason had inherited the spare Randolph build and Irish looks that she and Tony shared: thick black hair, fair skin dusted with a few freckles, high cheekbones, firm chin, lean body. Tony was a few inches taller than Paige, well over six feet, and his hair was straight while hers was curly, but apart from that, Paige and her brother looked dramatically alike.

  "Are the crops good this year, Tone?" Paige knew that the summer had been unusually wet all across Canada. Maybe Tony was worrying about money again—farming had been anything but lucrative the last few years.

  Tony and Sharon exchanged a long, telling look, and Paige felt more like an outsider than ever.

  "Crops aren't bad, considering all the rain," Tony said shortly, and changed the subject to the coming election.

  The meal seemed to progress in painful slow motion, with stilted conversation among the grownups and impatience between the two boys. They wanted to go out and play with the Chinese kites Paige had brought them. At last, Sharon served apple pie, after which the boys were excused.

  "Change those shirts before you set foot outside," Sharon hollered after them as they hurried away with a huge clatter of boots.

  Sharon began to clear the table, and Paige and Tony got up to help her.

  "Why don't you two take your coffee in the living room? I'd really rather do this by myself." Sharon's tone made it clear that she didn't want help. Paige tried not to feel like an unwelcome guest, although Sharon's manner was anything but warm.

  Tony glanced at her and shrugged, and they picked up their cups and moved into the other room. Seated in a worn armchair in front of the empty fireplace, Paige took advantage of the few moments of privacy to cut through the polite, impersonal facade Sharon imposed. She reached across to the sofa where Tony sat and caught his work-roughened hand in an affectionate grip.

  "What's up, little brother? Anything I can help with?"

  Tony was her only close relative; their mother had died when Paige was five and Tony three, and their father had remarried less than a year later, to a woman Paige and Tony came to despise and fear. Their miserable childhood had forged a bond between them, and until Tony's marriage, her brother had been Paige's best and closest friend. She missed him, most of all when they were together, like now, and the old closeness just wasn't there.

  Tony shrugged and blew out a long, exasperated breath. "I'm just a little on edge today, sis."

  Paige shot him a look. "If my being here is a problem, Tone, I can go back to the hotel. You can level with me, y'know."

  "You?" Tony shook his head. "Hell, sis, it has nothing to do with you. It's this crazy stuff that's happening in my fields that has me freaked."

  Paige frowned and shook her head. "You lost me somewhere, Tone. In your fields? What crazy stuff in your fields?"

  "Crop circles. You ever heard of crop circles?"

  Paige shook her head. "I don't think so. What is it, some kind of problem with the grain from spraying or something?"

  Tony gave a grim laugh. "Don't I wish. Crop circles are unexplained phenomena, according to the stuff I read today in one of my old news magazines. You know, flying saucers and all that garbage. Aliens from outer space." He snorted. "What happens is, a farmer like me finds unexplained flattened down circles in the middle of his wheat fields, big round circles, all the grain bent the same way as if a whirlwind or something came along and blew it all down, but all in the same direction, and all in one small area. Seems it's happened in different parts of the world for years. Hell, the one I've got even has a pattern inside, the shape of a big triangle."

  He shook his head, exasperated. "Y'know, Paige, you go to bed at night and the world's going along normal. You get up in the morning, and there's this mysterious damn pattern in your fields that nobody can explain."

  Paige stared at her brother. "So what you're telling me is that this ... this flattened out ring or whatever it is just appeared out of nowhere in your wheat field? When did this happen?" It gave her a strange feeling, seeing her usually unflappable brother upset.

  "This morning. I was driving the pickup over to where we're bailing. I've been driving past that particular field morning and evening, so I know it wasn't there even last night. I had Bert Myschluk, the hired man, with me. He spotted it first, figured maybe some kids had had a party out there or something. We got out to look, and it gave me the damnedest feeling. Like the area was full of... I don't know, some kind of electricity." Tony's voice was strained.

  "There was this big, perfectly round circle right in the middle of the field. The wheat was all flattened down, but it was flat in a definite pattern, with a triangle shape in the middle." He ran a distracted hand through his hair, setting it on end. "It had to have been done from the air, because none of the rest of the crop was disturbed at all, there wasn't a sign of footprints, and anyway there's no way kids could make anything like that. We spent a good hour checking every inch of the field, and I'd bet my life nobody had walked or driven anywhere near that circle. It was weird. Next thing I knew, Bert up and quit on me, right then and there, right in the middle of harvest. Made me drive him back to the house and settle up his wages. He figures it's the work of the devil." Tony snorted in disgust and took a long sip of his coffee.

  "It's damned near impossible to get another good hired man this time of year, and worse yet, he'll be spreading the whole story all over the countryside, if I know Bert. He's a talker. By tomorrow, I lay you odds we'll have television trucks and reporters all over the bloody place, tramping over my crops, delaying the harvest, upsetting the guys I've still got working, and generally causing me a whole pile of shit I don't need."

  Paige didn't know what to say. The whole thing sounded like something out of a science fiction movie. But she was curious as well. "D'you think I could have a look at this thing, Tone?"

  "Why not? By tomorrow, it wouldn't surprise me to have the whole of Saskatoon out here. Soon as the boys are in bed I'll drive you out." He was quiet for a few moments, and then he said, "I don't want the kids to know anything about this quite yet, so don't mention it to them, okay?"

  Paige nodded.

  "Sharon's already seen it, I drove her out today while the kids were away swimming. She can't understand why I'm upset over the whole thing; she just figures it's exciting."

  Two hours later, Tony bounced them over a rutted road in his battered pickup. The prairie sky was still tinged with the colors of sunset, scarlet and orange and gold, and a wind had sprung up, moving the stifling air without cooling it.

  "I hope Sharon doesn't mind us taking off like this," Paige said, pitching her voice over the roar of the truck motor. It was wonderful to be alone with Tony for even an hour, but she felt guilty as well about leaving Sharon behind. Guilty, and more than a little angry at her sister-in-law for making her feel that way.

  "I don't want to go out there again," Sharon had said. "You two go ahead; I'll stay here and watch TV."

  Well, it might be the only time during her visit that she'd be entirely alone with her brother, and she decided to take advantage of it. She hated to put him on the spot, but the distance that was growing between them frightened her.

  She cleared her throat and forced the difficult words out. “Tony, what can I do to make things easier between Sharon and me? You're all the family I've got, I love being with you, but I can sense that she's not relaxed with me around. Maybe if I knew what was wrong....."

  Tony didn't answer for several moments, but when he did, he didn't try to pretend it was Paige's imagination.

  "Ah, hell, it's lots of things, Paige." He sighed and squinted at the road, little more than a trail across the prairie. "Sharon feels a little inadequate around you, I guess." He thought that over and added, "More than a little. See, you're a career woman, a doctor, a specialist. You earn big money. S
haron graduated high school and then worked in the Safeway until we got married. She figures you lead this glamorous life, wear fancy clothes, buy the kids expensive stuff. She's gaining a bit of weight, you stay thin as a rail." A note of bitter sadness came into his voice. "And maybe it's not as great as she once figured it would be, married to me, stuck out on the farm with two kids and a pile of debts. Maybe she envies you your paycheck, your freedom. You know she was pregnant with Matthew before we were married. I guess she feels like she didn't really have much choice in the whole thing."

  Tony's knuckles tightened on the steering wheel. "Shit. How do I know what goes on in women's heads? Why don't you try to talk to her about it yourself?"

  The thought scared Paige to death, but if he thought she should…...

  "Okay, I'll try. I've never been much good at making friends with other women, you know that. I'm okay with them as patients, but beyond that... well, I've just never had a close woman friend. But I'll do my best with Sharon."

  She added thoughtfully, "Y'know, it's so ironic, her envying me. The truth is, I'd give a lot to have a husband and a couple of kids just like she has. I figured she knew that."

  "How the hell would she know if you never said so?" Tony sounded exasperated. He was concentrating on the road and didn't look over at her, but Paige could tell he thought the problem was at least partly her fault, and it hurt.

  She struggled to keep her voice steady and unemotional. "As far as being pregnant before you guys were married, she must know about me and Nick Morrison, that I was pregnant too before I got married."

  Tony nodded. "Yeah, she knows." He turned and looked at her now. "That was a long time ago, sis. Water under the bridge by now. It doesn't still bother you, does it?"

  Only when babies die.

  "No, like you say, it was a long time ago."

  They'd crested a small hill, and Tony pointed down at the fields that stretched as far as the eye could see. "Over there, on your right. See the bare space in the wheat?"

  Paige leaned forward and looked, but from this angle, it didn't look impressive at all, just a seemingly trampled area in the acres of surrounding grain.

  "Here we are." Tony stopped the truck a few minutes later between two fields of wheat, ripe and heavy and deep gold, ready for harvest. Paige could see where a faint path had been formed into the wheat field on the right.

  She felt a thread of anticipation and intense curiosity as Tony led the way single file, careful not to trample more of his crop than absolutely necessary. When he stopped abruptly, Paige moved to stand beside him, and her breath caught in her throat as she saw the circle.

  It was much larger than it appeared from the road. Just as he'd described, it was perfectly round, as if a giant compass had circumscribed a ring from some invisible central position. The stalks of wheat lay flat in a concentric pattern inside it, all perfectly bent over at the same angle. Superimposed on the giant circle was a triangle, its three corners touching the circle in exact, equidistant points, the stalks of grain folded over as neatly as though some demented artist had painstakingly done the whole thing by hand.

  "Strange, huh?" Tony stepped inside the circle, and Paige had to stop herself from reaching out and pulling him back. She was reluctant to step inside herself, but that was ridiculous. She forced herself to follow Tony, who was walking along tracing the triangle with his footsteps.

  "Do you feel anything inside here, sis?"

  She did. It was the same feeling she'd had once during a particularly violent thunder and lightning display, a feeling of unbearable tension, as if the very air were charged with static electricity. The tiny hairs on her arms and on the back of her neck were standing up, and her feeling of uneasiness grew as she moved further inside the triangular pattern.

  "So what do you think, sis? Any idea what might have caused this?"

  She couldn't think. She could only feel, and what she felt profoundly disturbed her, because it had no rational explanation.

  They stood and looked at the bizarre formation in silence for a few minutes.

  "I'm going to come down early tomorrow morning with the tractor and cut this whole damned field and rake it before anybody else has a chance to see it," Tony burst out. "I should have thought of doing that today, before anybody else got wind of it."

  "Sounds like a good idea." But it didn't, for some inexplicable reason, although Paige didn't want to tell Tony that.

  There was a mysterious force here, one that must have some purpose, and part of her felt it wouldn't be right to destroy it. But she understood how Tony felt.

  She walked to the far side of the circle, where one of the triangular points met the circumference, and she noticed that the energy seemed to fade the further she got from the center. She moved further into the configuration, and the feeling intensified.

  Tony's voice interrupted her before she reached the exact center. "Let's get the hell out of here, Paige. It's going to be dark soon, and I've still got chores to do."

  They made their way to the truck in silence, and they didn't talk on the way home.

  Back at the house, Sharon told them a reporter had called while they were out.

  "What did you tell him?" Tony walked to the fridge and got himself a beer.

  "I didn't tell him anything." Sharon sounded offended. "He said he'd heard we had a crop circle out here, and would we mind if he came out with a film crew and had a look. I just said he'd have to speak to you, and you weren't home. He's going to call back in an hour."

  Tony swore and held the beer up. "You two want one?"

  Both women refused, and he flipped the cap open and tilted it to his mouth, swallowing half the contents in one long draft. Then he walked deliberately over to the phone and unplugged the jack.

  Sharon made a disgusted sound in her throat. "That's not going to solve anything. The thing is, Tony, I don't see what harm it can do to have a reporter just come out and look." Sharon's voice was petulant. "God knows there's little enough excitement around here, and he sounded like a nice guy."

  Tony's face darkened with anger. "Nice guy, shit. I told you before, I'm not having reporters turn my farm into a three-ring circus. I've got a lot riding on this harvest, the bank's on my neck, and I don't have time or patience for this crap."

  "It's always got to be what you want. Don't you ever think that I deserve some say in what goes on around here too? I work just as hard as you do." Sharon slammed open the dishwasher and began banging clean dishes out onto the counter.

  "Nobody's arguing with that." Tony's voice had risen to match Sharon's strident tones.

  The two of them didn't notice Paige get up and leave the room. She hurried upstairs, the sound of their angry voices echoing behind her. Stomach churning, she peeked in at her sleeping nephews and pulled their door shut, hoping they wouldn't be disturbed by the quarrel escalating downstairs.

  She snatched up her housecoat and shower bag and hurried to the bathroom down the hall, turning on the water in the old-fashioned tub and letting it run as she stripped off her slacks and blouse and underwear. The running water muffled the sound of the angry voices.

  She'd phone and change her reservations in the morning, she decided as she stepped into the bath. This wasn't a good time for a visit with her relatives, that was obvious.

  Would there ever be a good time? She'd looked forward to these few days with Tony and his family so very much, deliberately using the promise of a holiday here as a shield against the despair and emptiness that had hovered close ever since the loss of the Jacksons' baby less than a week ago.

  Tears slipped down her cheeks, and she angrily scrubbed them away with the washcloth.

  In bed a short time later, she heard Tony and Sharon come upstairs. Their bedroom was next to her own, and she could hear them talking in quiet tones. Relief filled her. Perhaps they'd resolved their differences, and things would be better in the morning.

  Soon afterward, she heard the unmistakable sounds of them making love.
Paige tried not to listen, but the walls in the old house were thin. She pulled the pillow up around her ears, but she couldn't help but be aware of their passion, and it stirred strong conflicting emotions inside of her.

  She told herself she was glad for them, pleased that their relationship was still a passionate one despite their problems, but the overheard intimacy also underlined for Paige as nothing else could the utter loneliness of her own existence.

  Long after silence had fallen in the next room, she lay awake, painfully assessing her life.

  It had been over two years since she'd had a lover, and even then, both of them were aware it was a transient thing. Her job had to come first in her life, and men couldn't seem to accept that.

  Being a doctor ironically caused her to be party to the most private moments in other people's lives, while at the same time its demands on her time and energy made it impossible for her to have many private moments of her own.

  Still, she knew other doctors who had husbands, wives, and children, doctors who managed to balance out work and family.

  She didn't even have any close women friends. What she'd told Tony was true; she found it hard to relate to women outside of the examining room.

  Oh, she'd told herself that making friends took time, that when the clinic was prosperous enough, when she and Sam could hire another doctor to share the crushing workload, then there'd be time to make friends.

  Well, maybe she was fooling herself. Maybe she wasn't capable of true intimacy, either in friendship or in love.

  She tossed and turned, kicking the sheet off and then tugging it back up again, hot and cold by turns and unable to sleep, marking the hours off on the wristwatch she'd placed on the bedside table.

  She must have finally dozed off sometime after three, because she awoke with a start from a dream that disintegrated as soon as she opened her eyes. It wasn't dark any longer; the room was gray with early morning light, and she felt wide-awake. She reached for her watch once again. It was four-thirty.

  She knew she wasn't going to sleep any more. She got out of bed and rummaged until she found her running strip in the suitcase. She pulled on bra and panties, then her cheery red nylon shorts and matching tank top, and stealthily crept along the hall to the bathroom.