While they waited for Magda to recover, Allison sat at the table, warming her chilled hands on the ceramic mug of tea, and Joshua paced the floor. At last, Magda ceased moaning and, with obvious effort, pulled herself to a sitting position on the floor. Joshua and Allison waited impatiently for Magda to break her silence.
Slowly, the woman moved to the rocker and wrapped a shawl around her shoulders. She rocked quietly for a few minutes. The only sound in the cottage was the crackling and spitting of the fire and the creaking of a loose board beneath the rocking chair.
Magda took a deep breath and began her story. “I saw what happened to my brother all those years ago. The night José was riding to the convent to take Isa away with him, he was ambushed. I could not see the men’s faces. I doubt José ever saw them, either. They beat and bound him. They took him to a ship and held him prisoner until they were well out to sea. Then he was forced to work as a sailor.”
“Your brother was shanghaied?” Joshua looked appalled. “No wonder he never showed up at the convent.”
“He became very ill but recovered, and spent many years on the ocean, sailing from port to port. Then he was shipwrecked and stranded for years on a small island...”
Allison stooped to pick up the ruby cross that still lay where Magda had thrown it. “Do you suppose he met El León aboard a ship? Maybe they became friends, and he asked El León to bring the cross to Isa.”
Magda pulled the shawl tighter, as if she couldn’t get warm enough. “No, José is not El León’s friend,” she said in a strange voice. “José is El León.”
“I can’t believe it,” said Allison, as Joshua walked her back to the estate. Dusk had settled, and night was descending like a heavy blanket. A few birds still chattered, scolding the unwelcome pair for disrupting their rest. “The man who chases me—or Becky, rather—is Magda’s long-lost brother.”
“I just don’t get it,” said Joshua, wagging his head. “Why would he want to hurt Becky?”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to hurt Becky. Maybe he only wants to talk to her. He kept yelling, ‘Stop, girl,’ but Becky panicked. And she had me panicked. I wasn’t thinking straight that night. Becky was screaming in my head. I had just stumbled over a dead body and was covered with blood. And someone was definitely chasing me. Then I saw that wild-eyed, shaggy man.”
“I don’t blame you for getting spooked, Allison. José—if that was him—does look pretty frightful. I was uneasy with him, myself.”
“I just can’t imagine that the man Magda talks about with such tenderness, the same man Isa loves so passionately, could have turned into such a horrible person.”
Joshua gave Allison a hand as she stepped over a log, lifting her long skirts out of the way so she could see where she placed her foot. “It’s been years,” he reminded her. “People change, Allison. Remember he was shanghaied. Years of living with cutthroats and thugs can turn even the gentlest man into a ruffian. And don’t forget, he was shipwrecked, too.”
“I guess you have to harden to survive that kind of life. Still, it’s sad to think that the man Isa has waited so many years for could be a murderer.”
“Remember, Allison, we don’t know if Sadie’s death is a murder—could be an accident. You said so yourself. We also don’t know if it’s José’s doing.”
“That’s true. And he’s not our only suspect. He’s just the only person I know for sure had the opportunity, because I saw him at the scene. But what’s his motive?”
Joshua shook his head. “That’s a puzzler. After all these years, I would think he wouldn’t even remember Sadie. She was a seamstress at the estate when José disappeared.”
“And he arrives only a few days before her death. It doesn’t give Sadie a lot of time to make a new enemy.”
“But don’t forget,” said Joshua, “Don Carlos has blackmail as a motive. What if Don Carlos decides not to pay her off after all? What if he decides to finish her off, instead?”
Allison sighed. “I don’t know, Joshua. I’ve gotten to know him a bit better. He’s crusty and arrogant and generally dictatorial, but I’ve seen him with Tere. He softens like clay in a warm hand when he’s around her. As nasty as he was with Sadie that night, I can’t imagine him committing murder. Especially when he’s got the money to pay her off.”
“Don’t be too sure, Allison. Magda believes he can be ruthless. She used to believe he was responsible for Jose’s disappearance. He’ll stop at nothing if he thinks what he’s doing is best for his family.”
Chapter 25
Joshua,” Allison said as they ate lunch under the ancient oak, “it’s already April sixteenth. We have to find José. We need to know why he wants to talk to Becky, and, more importantly, we have to find out what he knows about Sadie and whether he has a reason to kill her. Because if he doesn’t, someone out there does, and we have less than two days to stop him.”
“Maybe José will contact Magda soon.”
“Not soon enough,” Allison replied between bites. “Last time, I first met Magda the evening of the seventeenth—tomorrow night. She had no idea where José was. She said she hadn’t heard from him for years.”
“But things are different this time. Now Magda knows José is alive and that he’s back.”
Allison stopped eating and stared at Joshua, taking in what he’d just said. “You’re right. Oh, Joshua, you’re so right!” Allison clapped her hands to her face in disbelief. “Do you know what this means?”
Joshua opened his mouth to speak, but Allison answered her own question. “It’s the first sign of change. It’s a sign of hope for all of us that maybe what I’m doing is working. Because I came to work for Tere and helped Doña Ana start living again, she was able to reach out to Isa when the time came. If she hadn’t done that, Isa wouldn’t have struggled with Tere, and she wouldn’t have found the ruby cross, and Magda wouldn’t have found out her brother is still alive. And maybe, because I insisted that Tere come back from San Francisco before the eighteenth, José arrived in the buggy earlier than he did the last time.” Allison thought about that for a moment. This time when she spoke, her voice was filled with awe. “Joshua, I may be changing history—I may be able to save you and Becky.”
Joshua said nothing. He simply gazed at the vineyards beyond. A look that Allison couldn’t read had stilled the playful grin and brought the barest frown to his face.
“Joshua?” she said. “What is it?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know why I trust you so. You compare what’s happening now to a time I’ve never lived through. You talk about signs and hope. But all I’ve got is your word that anything bad ever happened before or that anything bad might happen to Becky and me tomorrow or the next day...”
Allison felt as though she had been kicked in the stomach. She managed to speak, using all her willpower to keep her emotions under control. “Joshua, you can’t start doubting me now—not now that we’re so close to succeeding. I couldn’t bear it if—” The words caught in her throat. The thought of having to start convincing him all over again was too much.
“If I could remember ... Isn’t there something you can tell me to help me believe?”
“You can’t remember what hasn’t happened. Faith and trust, that’s all I can offer. You have to have faith in me and trust that what I tell you is the truth. Whether you believe I’m a very confused Becky or a girl named Allison who comes from a time far from yours, in your gut, you must feel that something unusual has happened.” Allison took his hand in hers. “Trust your feelings for Becky”—Allison looked down—“if not for me.”
Joshua pulled back his hand and stood, staring again at the vineyards. “That’s the problem, Allison. I do care for you. Maybe if I didn’t believe this crazy story of yours, things would go back to being simple. I’d only have feelings for Becky, and I wouldn’t be faced with having my heart pulled in two directions. I’ve always been true and loyal to Becky, but now...”
Joshua knelt beside Allison.
“Now, whenever I look at your face, I no longer see Becky’s face. I see the image of another girl. A girl who’s strong and caring and smart as a whip. She has eyes that snap like pinesap in fire and a will of iron. And if what you say is true, in less than two days that girl will leave my life forever, and with her she’ll take the sweet, innocent love I had for my Becky. So maybe I don’t want to believe.”
It wasn’t until that moment that Allison realized what she had done to Joshua. She had cared for him since the first moment she saw him in the meadow, his laughing eyes and teasing smile. Maybe she was even in love with him—if you could fall in love in so short a time. But she had been selfish. She had wanted him to like her so badly that she had achieved it, but at what cost? She and Joshua could never be together, and his love for the one girl he’d ever cared for could no longer be pure and undivided. She had to make it up to him. Maybe once history was changed, and he and Becky had survived the earthquake, he’d forget about her, as if she’d never existed.
“Joshua,” she said, “this is your time—yours and Becky’s. I had no right to intrude. Becky sent me here to save you, not to steal your heart. But perhaps we feel so strongly about each other because somewhere, sometime, you and I are meant to have a chance to be together. In the meantime, you must trust me and believe—”
“Allison?” a woman’s voice whispered in her ear. “Sweetheart, can you hear me?”
A gust of cold air seemed to pass through her. Allison hugged her shoulders. “No ... not yet. It’s too soon.”
“Allison?” Joshua said, taking her arms. “You all right? You look like you’re going to faint.”
Joshua’s voice seemed far away and garbled, as if he were speaking from the bottom of a bottle.
“Joshua, I can barely hear you!”
“I’m here, Allison, I’m here.”
Allison could tell Joshua was holding her close, but she could no longer feel his arms. It was as though her body had been injected with Novocain. She felt only a fuzzy, cottonlike sensation in her brain and a whirling in her head as if she were going to pass out.
The next moment, she was floating above Joshua as he held Becky’s limp body in his arms.
The wind tunnel sucks me from the past and hurls me into the future. I stop struggling, knowing now how useless it is to fight the strong force that propels me.
This must really be a nightmare! Hadn’t I just been thinking about how horrible it would be to have to again convince Joshua of the truth? Hadn’t I just been thinking about how close we were to succeeding? How many more times will I have to endure this?
“Allison?” Mom whispers. “I have to tell you something, sweetheart. Please try to listen.”
I peer through a hazy fog and see Mom sitting beside my hospital bed. Pm floating above the scene, and as I concentrate, the images become more clear, as though the fog is evaporating.
“Sweetheart,” Mom says, “in just a few hours, you’re going into surgery. The doctor has to drain the hematoma. You’re going to be just fine if you fight. Do you hear me, Allison? You need to fight to pull through. I know you can do it, darling, you’re the strongest person I know. Fight, Allison, please fight!”
“Allison,” Becky whispers, “did you hear what your ma said?”
Yes, surgery.
“Your ma’s been frettin’. It seems dangerous.”
Becky, what am I doing back here so soon? I had two more days ... I was so close...
“I—I’m starting to weaken, Allison. I had to call you back.”
But I didn’t finish, and now that I’m back here, I don’t know if I ever will finish. It may all have been for nothing.
“You might die in surgery.” Becky’s voice trembles.
And if I come out of the coma too soon, I can’t help you any longer. We don’t have time to waste. I have to go back. You might never find someone else to take my place.
“I can risk that, but I can’t risk your life. You have to stay, Allison. I don’t know if I can fight for you.”
You have to fight for me. I’m fighting for you!
“But I don’t know if I’m strong enough...”
Becky, you have more strength than you realize. You stuck around for decades waiting for someone to help you and Joshua. You fought death.
“And I lost,” she says with a whimper.
But you didn’t give up. Death won the battle but not the war. Death hasn’t won yet. Together we can win. We have to try.
“Twice, Allison,” Becky says in a small, frightened voice, “we have to fight and beat death twice—once for me, and once for you. I don’t know if I can do it.”
You’re wrong, Becky—three times. We’re fighting for Joshua, too. His life is in our hands. If we give up, he’s dead forever. And I can’t stay here and fight for my life knowing it was costing two other lives. Even if I won, I wouldn’t have much of a life with two deaths on my conscience.
Becky gives out a muffled cry but says nothing.
I don’t have a choice, Becky. And neither have you.
I look down at Mom. I can’t help but remember how much I always took her for granted, how I didn’t appreciate the little things she did for me. Instead, I found them annoying, like she was always hovering. The last morning we spent together, the morning of the accident, I was so distracted, so into myself, I didn’t pay any attention to her. I didn’t even hug her good-bye.
I promise, Mom, I promise if I ever get out of this and back to you, I’ll never take you for granted again. Not ever.
My heart bursts with an immense longing to be held by her. I need to feel her touch, to smell the rosy scent of her perfume. I know that just being held by my mother once more will give me the strength I need to return to the past and face whatever is waiting for me. And the courage to risk never returning to my own life.
Let me in, Becky. Let me be with Mom for a few minutes. Then let me go. And don’t call me back until I’ve finished.
PART FOUR
The Truth
The past dissolves into the now.
I take a chance. Will fate allow
the two of us to meet again?
But oh, if so—no matter when—
your love, I shall extol!
Chapter 26
A deafening roar thundered in Allison’s ears; the scent of pine and smoke and moist earth overwhelmed her senses. She felt the heaviness of sleep begin to lift as she stretched her quivering limbs.
“Sleeping Beauty awakes on her own.”
Slowly, Allison opened her eyes. A smile that made her heart lurch and gray eyes that twinkled in the sunlight were the first things she saw. Joshua was squatting at her side, his attention focused fully on her. His eyes spoke of a joke he was dying to tell.
“Don’t you know you’re supposed to let the handsome prince kiss you awake?”
“Shall I go back to sleep, and we can try again?”
“Oh, no you don’t,” Joshua said. “Now that I’ve got you back, I’m not letting you get away so quick.”
“Back?” Allison suddenly realized he might mean getting Becky back after an absence of almost three weeks.
“You’ve been asleep most the afternoon. The problem with Sleeping Beauty is that she’s pretty to look at but not much fun.”
“Oh,” Allison said, laughing. “I’ll try to stay awake.”
She let Joshua help her sit up, noticing for the first time that they were at the waterfall pool. Reluctantly, she looked down at her dress, dreading the sight of the faded calico. She sighed with relief when she saw instead the emerald-green gown. Things hadn’t changed back to how they were before April first. Joshua still remembered her.
“Becky?” he said. “Are you all right?”
A cold hand clamped around Allison’s heart. She felt the blood drain from her face. He didn’t remember.
Joshua wrapped his arms around her. “Becky, what’s wrong? You look like you’re going to faint.”
Déjà vu. Weren’t those t
he last words she’d heard him utter only a few hours earlier? Had he forgotten everything? Would she have to start convincing him all over?
“Talk to me. Are you feeling all right?”
“What”—Allison paused to swallow—“what did you call me?”
Joshua loosened his grip on her shoulders. He stared into her eyes, searching deeply, as though he were seeking her soul.
“Allison?” he whispered.
She let out the breath she had been holding, and like a dam collapsing, her emotions spewed forth. She grabbed him in a fierce hug, sobbing loudly in his ear.
“Whoa, whoa, girl. What’s going on?”
“Joshua! Oh, Joshua, you remember me!”
“Shhhh, hush now. Of course, I remember you. I just didn’t know ... when you went to sleep you were Becky.”
Allison stopped sobbing and stepped back, so she could study his face. “Becky was here? She came back?”
“When you fainted this morning—”
“This morning? Was that the last time you spoke to me?”
He nodded. “First, we’re having lunch at the estate, and the next thing I know, you’re turning pale and falling limp into my arms.”
“So I’ve only lost a few hours.” Allison was barely able to contain her excitement. “What’s today, Joshua? Is it still April sixteenth?”
Joshua nodded.
“In 1906?”
“Of course, it’s 1906. And yes, you’ve only been gone for most of the afternoon.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful, Joshua, just wonderful! I was so afraid—oh, never mind, it didn’t happen.” Then something occurred to her. She bit her lower lip. “What did happen when I was gone ... when Becky was here?”
Joshua sat back. “I panicked at first. I never had a girl faint in my arms for no reason. And it just doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you would do, so I thought you were real sick or something. I laid you back on the bench and put a wet napkin on your head. I was about to run for help, when you started coming around.” Joshua gave Allison a quick sideways glance. “But it wasn’t you.
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