“You’d be able to write them out, maybe, if Bill needed them?”
“I expect so.”
“Because he’s gonna do it, Tom. He’s one of the few guys around who absolutely believes me when I tell him about the Slide and all, and how we got here. He’s horrified at the idea of the mountain burying half the town, but like he says, apart from trying to warn folks, there’s not a whole hell of a lot we can do to prevent it. So we might as well take advantage of it and do the robbery. Nobody got killed or anything during that heist, did they?”
Tom shook his head. “Not that I read about, but you’ve got to remember, a lot of the details were pretty sketchy. There wasn’t exactly video coverage of the whole thing.” He frowned as the import of Jackson’s words sank in. “What do you mean, we might as well take advantage?”
Jackson met Tom’s eyes, his gaze deceptively mild. “That’s what I’ve been tryin’ to tell you, Tom. I’m goin’ along with him. Bill Miner, me, and Schraeger. We’re gonna rob the damned train and split the take. When I bury my share, we’ll know exactly where to look, you and I, either back in our own time, or if worse comes to worst and we’re stuck here… Well, hell, in the confusion after the Slide, we can just leave town, all of us, you and Zelda, me and Leona. We’ll use our share to break free from this damned place, Tommy.”
All of a sudden Tom was wide awake. “God Almighty! Have you lost your mind? Train robberies are a criminal offense. You could end up in San Quentin right along with Schraeger. Or get yourself shot. That shipment is under armed guard.”
“Wake up and smell the gold, partner.” Jackson gave him a withering look. “You know that didn’t happen. You just told me the exact way the whole robbery went down. Smooth as cream, nobody hurt, good guys get away with the loot, bad guys get to talk to the Feds, the whole shipment insured, everybody’s satisfied. It’s not as if you and I haven’t operated outside the law before, Tommy, m’boy. Remember those undercover jobs for the good old U.S. of A.? They weren’t exactly what I’d call Boy Scouting. We knew damned well if we got caught, we’d probably do jail time in some stinkin’ foreign prison, and our own government wouldn’t lift a finger to defend us, because what we were doing was highly illegal. If you ask me, this is one whole hell of a lot cleaner than that stuff was.”
Tom couldn’t disagree, but neither could he approve of what Jackson was planning. “Does Leona know about this, that you’re planning on going along on a robbery?”
“Not yet,” Jackson smile was grim. “But, believe me, there’s not a whole lot she’s gonna be able to say about it.” He rested his forearms on the table and leaned forward. “Tom, don’t get all moral on me here. This is our one big chance to break free, whatever goes down the night of the Slide. If we get to travel back, then hot dog, we know where the gold is. If we stay on this ass end of the century, we clear out of this burg, travel the world again, watching out for opportunity, just the way we did before.”
Jackson slumped back in his chair. “I’m sick to death of slingin’ booze, and you can’t tell me you really want to spend your life workin’ your guts out with a pick and shovel in a coal mine, either.” He raised his hands, palms up. “Far as I can figger, this is our one chance at somethin’ better. You’re the man who always said money’s what really matters when the chips are down. Don’t you remember your theme song, ‘I’ve been rich, and I’ve been poor, and rich is better?”
He grinned, the exuberant, wicked grin that made him look both charming and dangerous. “You write down every single detail you can remember about the robbery and the gold shipment, and after we study it, I’ll go play cops and robbers with Bill the Gentleman Bandit.” He winked. “Technically, how the devil could I rob a train in 1903 when I wasn’t even born till near the end of the ceontury? Way I figger it, if we get back the way we plan, we’re gonna make a mint on movie rights for this whole caper.”
“You can’t even ride a horse.” Tom knew it was a ridiculous objection, but none of the rational ones had worked on Jackson.
“I’m about to learn. Bill’s got a couple of extra saddle horses. He’s gonna teach me. And he’s got a nice little side arm I can borrow as well. I may not be able to ride, but I’m one hell of a good shot, you got to admit.”
“You’ve lost your mind. This is the screwiest idea I’ve ever heard.”
“You got a better one that’ll get us some dough?”
Tom didn’t. Ever since they’d arrived, both he and Jackson had racked their brains to find a grubstake. But the old adage was as true now as it had been in his time. It took money to make money. All the same, this idea was insane.
“Finding lost treasure is one thing. Deliberately stealing it is another. Forget it, Jackson. If we get back, we’ve got enough assets without the damned gold.”
“And if we don’t---which you’ve got to admit is pretty likely---then what, Einstein? We’ll have missed our only shot at living the rest of our natural lives in any sort of comfort.” Jackson’s jaw was set, and the usual easy humor in his voice was missing. “I’m set on this, Tom, so stop tryin’ to change my mind for me.”
Tom lost his temper. “No chance of that! You’re so damned stubborn you’d never listen to reason, anyhow.” He got to his feet and slapped money down to cover his breakfast. “I’m going home to bed.” He walked out of the hotel, acutely aware that for the first time in all their years together, he and Jackson had just had a serious quarrel.
And he’d never even gotten around to mentioning the problem of Eli, either.
A Distant Echo: Chapter Thirty-One
Zelda’s whole body was trembling, her hands most of all. Tears of fury and impotent frustration trickled down her cheeks as she lifted the mug of cold tea, spilling some on the tablecloth before she got it as far as her mouth.
The table was littered with the congealed remains of the breakfast she’d cooked. No one had eaten the eggs or oatmeal or bacon; Tom still hadn’t come home after his night shift and she and her brother had fought bitterly while the food grew cold.
The kitchen was empty now, but it still seemed to echo with the angry words she and Eli had just hurled at one another. There was no sound from her father’s room upstairs. He’d come down during the worst of the quarrel, and when Eli had slammed out of the house, he’d made his way back up to his bedroom, coughing all the way.
“Morning, Zel.” The kitchen door opened and Tom came in, hanging his coat on a peg and setting his lunch pail on the counter. “Sorry about breakfast. I had some with Jackson at the hotel.”
She set her cup down and folded her hands in her lap to stop their trembling.
Be calm, she warned herself. Don’t accuse. Be reasonable. Ask. It might just be Eli, making it sound as if Tom had betrayed her trust.
“I suppose the two of you are making plans, now that April’s almost here.” Despite her good intentions, it came out sounding accusatory.
“Yeah, something like that.” Tom found a mug and poured tea into it, adding cream and sugar and slumping into a chair across the table from her as he stirred it. “Time’s getting on, all right.”
“Did Eli happen to mention that he’s planning on going with you?” She cleared her throat. “The night of the Slide?” She did her best to control her voice, but it trembled. “He wants to try and go along with you, he says.”
“Yeah, as a matter of fact, he did tell me that.” Tom lifted the mug and drank. “I’d have said something to you about it, but he asked me not to.”
So he had known, just as Eli said. Hurt and anger knotted into an ugly ball in her middle, and she pressed her hands against her abdomen. “Were you and Jackson planning to leave me a note perhaps?” Pain made her sarcasm vicious. “Thanks for everything, Zelda, and oh, yes, before I forget, I’ve taken your brother with me?”
“You know I wouldn’t do that.” He sounded exasperated.
“I don’t know anything of the kind.” She glared across at him, choosing to ignore the weariness on his fa
ce, the dejected slump of his shoulders. “I do know that from the very beginning, you and Jackson have filled my brother’s head with---with these preposterous stories about this wonderful place you come from. All along, you’ve lured him into wanting to visit this---this utopia.” Her anger was getting the better of her, and her voice was rising. “How could any boy Eli’s age resist the temptation to go along with you when you spin such tales and encourage him to be irresponsible about his schooling?”
Tom set his cup down with a bang. “Let’s get one thing straight here, Zelda. Neither Jackson nor I have ever tried to talk Eli into coming with us. And I told him he’d have to have permission from you and your father before I’d even consider such a thing.”
“And I suppose you’ve never encouraged him either in this foolishness about running off to become a bugler at some forsaken Mounted Police post?”
“He mentioned that to me, too. Actually, I didn’t think it was such a bad idea.”
“Not a bad idea?” Zelda felt impotent rage building inside her at his callous attitude. “Eli’s a sixteen-year-old child, Tom. He has the opportunity to make something of himself if he’d only buckle down and finish his education. You knew that he’d quit school, too, didn’t you?”
He met her eyes, and he didn’t have to say a word. She read the answer in his expression.
“How could you not tell me?” Her voice was steady, but it felt as if something were breaking apart in her chest. “How could you know such a thing and not do something about it?”
Tom shook his head, rubbing his hand through his hair. “He told me in confidence, Zel. I’ve been racking my brain to figure out what to do about it.”
“Well, you needn’t trouble yourself any longer. He won’t be pestering you to join your little party at the end of April, either. Dad signed the consent form this morning so Eli could go and work at the Mounted Police barracks as a stable boy.”
She set the cup she was still holding down with such force that it broke. Tea spilled across the cloth and dripped to the floor, and she ignored it, clutching her hands to steady their trembling.
“So after all the dreams I had for him, my brother’s going to end up an ignorant, uneducated, bumptious lawman.”
He gave her a long, steady look. “There are worse things for a young man, Zel. The North West Mounted will become one of the most respected law enforcement agencies in the world during the next decade. If Eli wants to join them, he’ll end up having an exciting career.”
“I’ve had about enough of you telling me what’s going to happen in the future.” Her words came out in a hiss. “In case you hadn’t noticed, we lesser mortals live in the here and now, and try to cope with things as they are instead of the way the will be.”
She began to gather up the dishes, viciously scraping the remains of the food into the chicken bucket.
Tom, too, got to his feet, leaning his hands on the back of the chair. “And in case you hadn’t noticed, Eli isn’t a little kid anymore who’s going to do what you tell him.” His voice was cold with anger. “I’ve been trying to get that through to you for months now. Maybe what you want for him isn’t what he wants for himself, you ever once think of that? For God’s sake, Zelda, live your own life and let Eli live his.” He gave the chair an angry shove and walked off down the hall. “I’m going to bed.”
Furious tears rolled down her face as she poured boiling water from the kettle over the dishes in the basin. So his advice to her was to live her own life, was it?
What kind of life did he think that was going to be after he left? Because in spite of his declarations of love, Tom was still doing his level bet to leave her behind forever. The fact that he wanted to do so hurt her even more than this business with Eli. Reason told her it was hopelessly romantic to think that he loved her enough to choose to stay in an age in which he didn’t belong, but she wished it all the same. God, how she wished it.
And if the effort failed and he had to remain here? With the dishtowel she swiped angrily at the tears on her face. She’d spent a lot of time thinking it over. Would she be waiting for Tom the morning after the Slide, ready to resume their relationship where it had left off, if, by some miracle, he was still around?
She sniffed and straightened her shoulders. “Pride, Zelda Ralston,” she muttered. “Your pride in yourself as an independent, self-sufficient woman must get you through this.”
And one thing was certain, she decided as she slammed dishes from one basin to the other, sending soapsuds cascading down the front of her apron and onto the floor.
She was not going to be any man’s humble consolation prize, no matter how much she loved him.
The dishes weren’t finished but she ignored them. She dried her hands on her apron, and on legs that felt like blocks of wood she turned and went down the hall, into her studio.
There, amidst her work, she felt stronger. Here was evidence that she was independent, a career woman, more than just a pathetic old maid who’d fallen in love with the wrong man.
She closed the door behind her and leaned against it, her breath coming in short, hard gasps. She felt so betrayed by Eli, by her father, but most of all, by Tom.
He, more than anyone, knew of the hopes and dreams she’d had for her brother. She’d confided in Tom, allowed him to see how much it meant to her to have Eli make something of his life. Now he’d conspired against her, encouraged her brother in this course of action that he knew would hurt her irreparably.
Her eyes went to the calendar on the wall. April 29 was circled in red crayon, a scant five weeks away. She’d been scoring off the days, not because of the coming Slide and the need to evacuate the house---she’d long ago come to terms with that---but because it would mark the end of her time with Tom. She walked over and ripped the calendar from the wall, tearing it into small bits and letting them fall to the floor.
At least that part of the waiting was over.
A Distant Echo: Chapter Thirty-Two
She didn’t remember going up the stairs, although she must have climbed them.
Tom’s bedroom door was open, and she was relieved to see that he wasn’t yet in bed. He was sitting on the chair by the dresser, his dark, curly head bent, seemingly lost in thought. He looked up at her, and she steeled herself against the naked appeal of his blue gaze.
“I want you to pack your things and leave, immediately,” she said, keeping her voice flat, devoid of any feeling. “I’ll return the remainder of this month’s rent, of course.”
Her tone of voice and her impersonal words brought him slowly to his feet. “So you figure this whole thing is my fault, is that it?”
She turned away from him and wouldn’t answer, but with one quick step he moved up behind her. He took her shoulders and forcibly turned her, so she had to look at him.
“You’re making a big mistake here, Zelda.”
“I made a mistake, yes, but this isn’t it. Now take your hands off me. Whatever there was between us has ended, and I think it best you leave as soon as possible.” She reached up and tried to remove his fingers from her shoulders, but they were like iron clamps. She’d have bruises, some detached part of her reasoned.
“Zelda.” Her father stood in his bedroom doorway just across the hall, concern evident in his face. He’d obviously heard what had been said. “You mebbe want to think this over, lass. It’s not Tom’s fault Eli quit school, now is it? No sense doin’ somethin’ you’ll be sorry for later.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing, Dad. I want Tom out of here, now.” She turned on her heel and marched back down the stairs and along the hallway. She snatched her old brown coat from the peg by the door and walked out blindly into the mocking sunshine of a splendid spring morning.
Tom made a move to follow her, but Virgil put a restraining hand on his arm. “Best let her go, son. Sorry this had to happen. I tried to talk to her before you got home, but I didn’t get no further than you did. When women get an idea in their noggin, there’s n
o changing it sometimes.” His shoulders sagged. “Poor old Zel. She’s real broken up over Eli quittin’ school, and she’s vexed with me fer signin’ the paper so’s the lad can join the Mounted.” He looked into Tom’s eyes. “And you’ll be leavin’ her, too, most likely. That’s what this is all about, I reckon.”
Tom knew it was the truth.
Half an hour later Tom shoved the last of his belongings in a box and tucked it under his arm. One thing about it, he hadn’t amassed a whole pile of stuff, so moving didn’t involve much packing.
“I’m off now, Virgil.” Tom stood in the older man’s doorway, awkward, wondering what in hell to say that would convey even some of his feelings.
Virgil was lying down, the patchwork quilt pulled over him. He struggled to a sitting position, punching the pillows into a backrest behind him. “Well, son, I’m right sorry to see you go. Where you thinkin’ on stayin’?”
“The Miner’s Hotel, probably. I’ve heard they have pretty decent rooms, meals included. Won’t be anywhere’s as good as here. As soon as you’re on your feet, come on over for a game of poker.” The muscles in his throat felt tight, and he forced a smile.
“I’ll surely do that.”
“Good.” Tom set the box down on the bed and scrubbed his face with his hand, weary to the very bone. “I love her, Virgil. I’d take her with me if she’d come, but she won’t.”
Virgil shook his head. “She can’t leave, you can’t stay. That’s the sum of it. It’s a damned shame, but nothin’ to be done. I’ll miss you, son.”
Tom knew Virgil wasn’t talking only about now. Suspicious moisture gathered in the older man’s eyes.
“I’ll miss you, too. These have been some of the best months of my life, living here with you and your family. I can’t thank you enough.“
“Get away with ya. It’s been a two-way street. You’ve worked like a navvy around here, and paid us hard cash into the bargain. Made me ashamed sometimes, lollygaggin’ around in this bed the way I do these days. But won’t be long now till I’m better, what with spring comin’ on.”
Now and Forever: Time Travel Romance Superbundle Page 89
