Time Travel 02 Nothing but Time

by Angeline Fortin

  “You are not that bad,” he said gently as he rolled on to his back, pulling her along until her head rested on his shoulder. “You are a very caring woman. In your defense, I did not grant you the truth of the matter. I vented my anger upon you until it was all you might see.”

  “I can help, Brand,” she assured him. “Once you learn how to use a few simple tools, it’ll be fine. I promise.”

  Brand wasn’t so sure though he appreciated her sentiment. The views of this new time he’d been exposed to thus far had been through windows; the hospital’s and vehicles such as hers and David Fergusson’s. Other than the hospital staff and Fergusson’s interesting associate, he had met no one. The news programs on the television that he watched and the publications he read in the hospital spoke of organizations, people and buildings he’d never heard of. Others mentioned unfamiliar countries, sporting events and innovations about which he would have to educate himself. He might well have been a child for all the tutoring he would require and he hated that feeling of helplessness and inadequacy such ignorance left him with.

  No, it went beyond a few simple tools. He truly might as well have descended into the pages of one of his books in coming here but, unlike his novels, this story was unwritten and he was but a character with an unwritten future.

  Shaking off the trepidation that was descending over him once more, Brand determined to change the subject. In doing so, he recalled something Fergusson had said to him the night before.

  “Why didn’t you tell me that you were engaged to marry Dr. Fergusson?” Brand asked.

  Content as she had been in the circle of Brand’s arms, Kate was so flabbergasted, not only by the question but also by the diversity of Brand’s thoughts in comparison to her own, that for a moment she couldn’t think of a response. “Is that what he told you? We were never engaged. David just thought we should be. In truth, we were only on our first date when we ended up being sent back to your time. He’s so full of bullshit, Brand. You shouldn’t listen to anything that he says.”

  “Should I not listen to him when he tells me that you love me then?” he asked softly and Kate jerked her head up to meet his vivid gaze.

  Kate swallowed back the lump that suddenly formed in her throat, feeling as if a whole swarm of butterflies were trying to beat their way out of her chest. “Would you want to hear it?” she asked in a trembling voice.

  Gently, he pulled her closer to brush a feather-light kiss over her lips. “Several weeks ago you said that if I wanted to avoid the inevitable with you, I should stay out of your personal space. Kate, what if I very much enjoy being within it?”

  Kate swallowed once more, her head beginning to swim dizzily at his tender words. She couldn’t respond at all. Some part of her was convinced she was delusional, that this moment was nothing but wishful thinking. If she spoke, the spell might be broken. Shaking her head, Kate ran her hands up his arms, feeling the muscles twitch in his forearms, feeling his biceps flex until her hands rested on his broad shoulders.

  “You told me that you love me as well. Do you not any longer, Kate? Do you not want me in this bed? Is that why you’ve assigned me a separate chamber?” he asked.

  “I thought…” Kate shook her head yet again before admitting, “I thought you were so angry with me that it had killed whatever affection you might have had for me.”

  “What ‘affection’ did you think I had for you?”

  “Brand…” Kate couldn’t meet his gaze. She felt like a schoolgirl confessing her first crush. The uncertainty, the insecurity. In this instance, given the depth of feeling she had for Brand, it provided ten-fold the pain it had when she was ten.

  “Look at me, Kate,” he commanded. “Tell me.”

  “Oh Brand, you had me from the moment we met,” Kate confessed, still talking to his shirt. “I never thought it could happen so fast. I never knew that you could spend a day with someone and just know…”

  “Know what?”

  “That they’re the one.” The words rushed out. “I do love you, Brand. I never thought I could love someone so much.”

  “Kate, look at me,” Brand commanded, lifting Kate’s chin with his finger until his blue eyes locked with her green ones. She knew everything she felt was written there for him to see. Her apprehension, indecision and her love. “Look into my eyes and tell me what you see.”

  Kate did as she was told, reading the tenderness in his gaze that had been there for weeks. There was appreciation, humor, desire. Love. “You love me.”

  “Yes, you daft girl, I love you as you love me,” he said. “Throughout everything we’ve been through these last few days, I had thought that the one truth that would see us through this mess.”

  “You were so angry,” she argued.

  “And I’m sure there will be days in our future that I will be angry again,” he told her. “But that doesn’t mean that my affection for you flees during those times. The days before me will be the most uncertain of my life. I must grieve the loss of a family I was just becoming a part of, I must face the loss of the status and wealth that had been mine to control. I must come to terms with the fact, that in this time, I am nothing.”

  “You’ll never be nothing, Brand,” she countered feeling confidence returning. “You are an amazing, intelligent, creative man. I know that if you choose to conquer my world, you will. I have faith in you.”

  He felt her arms slide around his neck, felt her press her body against his.

  “Thank you, Kate,” he said drawing her closer to kiss her once more. “I just hope I’m deserving of it.”

  Chapter Forty-Five

  They spent the day in Kate’s flat, an easy enough decision given Brand’s condition. Kate had bought Brand some flannel lounging pants and a couple T-shirts the previous morning so that he could spend his recovery time in comfort. With the pants hanging low across his hips, Kate thought that Brand had never looked more appealing, even the bandage on his side couldn’t take away from the magnificence of his rippling abs as he pulled the T-shirt over his head. Though it fit snugly across his chest, clinging to his pecs, Kate almost regretted buying it because it was a shame to cover such a glorious body.

  With a sigh of regret, Kate showed Brand how to use the electronics available including the television, the stove and her Keurig coffee maker, which Kate had gotten for Christmas from her parents. Kate showed him how to insert the small coffee cartridges into the machine and push the button that allowed Brand to have a cup of coffee in seconds. He tried it again and again throughout the day, trying a different flavor each time.

  At least there was one thing about her time he truly seemed to enjoy.

  Between trips to the kitchen, the day was spent on the sofa with Brand reading from the book Kate had given him while Kate studied her project in preparation for returning to her work. While they read, Kate played music for Brand including the song he had heard her sing before. As the song ‘Imagine’ played into the room, Brand had other thoughts about the lyrics, wishing that fanciful contentment with the world might be his one day.

  Other music in a variety of different styles filled the silence of the room while Brand read the remainder of the time travel book Kate had given him the night before. When he finished it, Kate tried to show him the operation of something she called an eReader. However, Brand wasn’t prepared to explore the world of technology so thoroughly yet, so she pointed him to other books in a small bookcase in the living room. It held not one tenth of the books contained in a single section of his library but it was tightly packed with dozens of books on disease crammed in next to others assembled without any sense of order. Thick, thin, some with paper covers and others in hard cover. Many had pictures on the covers, something that surprised Brand.

  Though the titles and imagery of many of the books appealed to Brand, he settled upon a book intriguingly entitled Shock Wave not only because of the name but because a note on the dustcover stated that the author was from Kate’s home state of Minne
sota.

  He read and ate through the day lounging on the sofa with Kate curled next to him. As Kate read, she wound her hair around her finger in a manner that never failed to bring a smile to his lips. Brand was content there with her, content to ignore the strange world outside the door learning instead through the descriptions contained within the books he read. Much of what was written was a mystery to him but through context and descriptions, Brand felt he understood some of the changes the world had gone through and was feeling more prepared to face the year 2012… when it became absolutely necessary.

  A call came in for Kate around mid-afternoon, prompting a history lesson on the telephone and, when Kate called up the internet on her laptop to provide Brand a visual history, another longer introduction to the computer and the internet followed filling the hours until dinner.

  Later that evening, Kate received another call on her telephone. This one was from her parents. For over an hour, Kate paced the small flat laughing and talking into her tiny cell phone. Brand watched her as she talked, enjoying the way her face lit up as she spoke. There was love written clearly there and over and over, he heard the words, “I’ve missed you so much!”

  “I was thinking of taking some vacation time to come home for a visit… I know I was just there at Christmas, Mom, but… Well, sure, I’d thought to wait for summer but doesn’t everyone know that the best time to visit Minnesota is in the winter? Well, I’ve met someone I’d like you to meet… What’s he like?” Kate met Brand’s eyes across the room with a smile. “Well, he’s very British, devastatingly handsome… no, tall and very… Mom, really!” Kate cast him a wink and a blush. “What? Oh, he’s a writer… Yes, yes, I know.” Kate rolled her eyes but grinned widely at Brand and he couldn’t stop from returning the gesture.

  That he wasn’t an Earl by description didn’t seem to bother Brand when Kate smiled at him that way. In truth, it wasn’t a descriptor he’d ever truly enjoyed. He was a writer now. Nothing more. Somehow, as nothing else had since his arrival, that one detail sat very well with him.

  As Kate laughed and chatted, Brand found himself wishing that Kate had spoken more openly to him about her parents while in his time. Clearly, the loss not only of those several months, but what Kate had anticipated as a lifetime, had caused her more pain than he had realized. He was grateful that they’d come back if only to provide her with the means of communicating with them.

  “Really?” Kate’s excited voice caught his attention once more. “No, that would be great! Are you sure? Oh, I’d love that! Oh, Mama, I’ve missed you so much… Yes, let me talk to Daddy.”

  Kate’s mood was lighter and merrier that evening than he seen in weeks. She rambled on, relaying family news and how her parents were planning to come for a visit over President’s Day weekend – though he wasn’t sure what that was. She prepared their evening meal with laughter and smiles. Brand took a seat on a stool across the counter from her watching and listening, seeing more about Kate than he’d ever noticed before.

  And wondering how, when there was so much here that she loved, Kate had ever chosen to stay in his time with him. Fergusson had told him of Kate’s choice, confirming what she had said herself though he had thought the words nothing but drunken inanities. She had denied herself a return to the people and place that she loved… for him. To stay by his side. She must truly love him to give up so much.

  He was humbled at the thought.

  ***

  “Brand?” Kate’s gentle urging woke Brand and he opened his eyes to find dim sunlight breaking through the darkness outside the large windows.

  “Kate? What is it?” he asked coming abruptly awake only to have the contraction of his abdomen tear at his sutures. With a groan, he bent over into the pain.

  “Oh, Brand, I’m sorry!” she said with remorse.

  “It’s all right, I should have known… My God, Kate, whatever are you wearing?” he asked, taking her in with a look from head to toe. While her blouse was a crisp white, it was tailored to fit snugly to her breasts and torso. It was tucked into a tight grey skirt, and a narrow, dark red belt banded her slim waist. However, this skirt was appallingly short baring her legs and knees. He gaze slid down her calves, her ankles covered in grey hose of some sort down to her feet, which were encased in red slippers with a high, dangerous looking heel.

  The corner of Kate’s mouth lifted as he studied her. She looked down at herself innocently before looking back up at him wide-eyed with innocence. “What?”

  “You cannot mean to go out in public like that!” he protested.

  “Why not?” she asked with a beguiling smile. “Don’t you like it?”

  “If every other man you meet has the same thoughts as I, no.”

  “Although I’d much rather stay here and argue the merits of skirt length with you, I have a meeting with the entire department this morning.” Regretfully, she glanced at the clock. “I need to get going. I just wanted to say goodbye.”

  “You’re leaving?”

  “I have to – at least for the morning,” Kate told him. “I hope to be back after lunch but I might just lose my job if I don’t show up to our weekly project meeting.”

  Brand thought about the day that stretched out before him, long and uneventful without Kate’s company. To say that he was displeased by her departure would be an understatement, but he was not so childish as to argue the point. “I hope you enjoy your day.”

  “Me, too.” She smiled nervously. “It should be interesting. Now, your breakfast is ready and you know how to use the Keurig, right? I’ve left instructions on how to heat up your lunch but hopefully I’ll be home before then. Okay?”

  “I’m sure I’ll manage.” Unwilling to give her up so easily, Brand tugged on her hand until Kate fell into his arms. He kissed her passionately until her arms wound helplessly around his neck and she lay limply across his lap. Only then did he draw back and smile down at her. “I love you, Kate.”

  “I love you, too.” She sighed dreamily and stroked his whiskered cheek. “Mmmm, I guess I know what I’ll be thinking about all day now!”

  Joining her in laughter, Brand got out of bed and walked her to the door for one last kiss before she left. Closing the door behind her, Brand turned to face the empty room. It seemed bleak and unwelcoming without her. With a sigh, Brand went to fix his morning coffee.

  Despite her instructions, both verbal and written, Brand was unable to operate the microwave to heat the food Kate had left him for his luncheon. Multiple beeping sounds ensued but he simply couldn’t get the blasted contraption to operate as it had for Kate the previous day. He couldn’t understand his failure. The Keurig worked perfectly but the correct operation of the microwave eluded him.

  Thankfully, there was enough fruit and vegetables to satisfy him. The refrigerator, as Kate named it for him, was a miraculous piece of machinery, keeping all the foodstuffs inside colder than any icehouse of his day. He had been tempted to empty the icemaker in the freezer again and again just to see it fill up once more.

  With boredom upon him and nothing more than a pile of books to fill his time, Brand explored the kitchen from top to bottom taking out everything that plugged into an electrical outlet and playing with it until he figured out its purpose. As a result, food was sprayed all about the room when he failed to put lids on certain devices.

  When hunger beckoned once more, Brand examined the contents of the freezer more thoroughly, coming upon a variety of cartons containing different flavors of ice cream. What was a rare, summertime treat to him was here, kept frozen for consumption at any moment. It had been a favorite of his childhood and Brand couldn’t help but sample each of the variety available.

  Twilight broke sending shadows across the room before Kate finally burst through the door. “Brand, I am so sorry! Dr. Broyles just wouldn’t let me… What on earth happened in here?”

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Three Weeks Later

  Kate liked to think that things were ge
tting better. She liked the thought so much that she knew she was only deluding herself. They had started out on a high that had been drifting lower with every day that followed.

  In these last weeks, while Kate worked, Brand focused his energies on his writing. Though Kate tried to show Brand how to use the word processor on her home computer, Brand had stated a preference for ink and paper. She had provided him a stack of spiral bound notebooks, a box of new pens (which he loved) and even a book on parallel universes in hoping that the diversion would keep him out of her kitchen.

  She commented that it might be interesting if he wrote a novel about a man who came to the future and how it changed his life. Brand had taken her joking to heart, spending his days filling the notebooks though he wouldn’t let her read anything he’d written. She was curious how he might spin it.

  When she came home from work, they spent their evenings reading together, playing games or watching the television. When the weekend came around, Kate took Brand shopping for clothes, loving the look of him in jeans, modern day Henleys and a leather jacket. She thought he looked like a model or action movie star with his stubbled cheeks and masculine beauty though he still retained his aristocratic bearing. She was proud to walk by his side.

  Of course, when she turned down invitations from friends at work to go out to dinner or movies, they began to suspect she was dating someone. When they discovered it wasn’t David Fergusson, they bombarded her with questions and broad hints about meeting Brand. Part of Kate wanted to give in, to expose Brand to more people, to help him make friends but even she had to acknowledge that science geeks and engineers weren’t the company Brand needed. He needed someone he could relate to, someone with the same interests he had. Having not been in England long herself, Kate couldn’t figure out how to provide that for him.