Silence. Gran blinked a couple of times, but it didn’t look like it helped any. Finally she looked at Norm.
“What is she talking about?”
He got up and came to her, taking her hand in his and saying tenderly, “She’s trying to tell you that she time traveled into the past, met Jack—and me, by the way—and they fell in love.”
“Oh.” Her lips thinned. “Now that you’ve had your fun, suppose you tell me what’s really wrong?”
Mel got up and dug in her hopeless chest, removing the picture of her in the past and the copy from the marriage register. She handed both of them to Gran and sat in the chair Norm had vacated.
Gran studied them in silence. A couple of times it looked like she was going to say something, but she either she decided not to or she couldn’t.
Finally Mel had to break the silence. “The marriage wasn’t legal, but it meant something to us to do it. We thought I’d return to the future and he’d live his life. But we were trapped and the only way out was the vortex.”
“You…” Gran cleared her throat and tried again. “You’ve never lied to me, so of course I believe you. Mostly. Actually, I’m having a little trouble with this. How—”
So Mel told her, everything except that it was a fix trip and about the night vision goggles. No sense worrying either of them about illegal time tampering when they couldn’t do anything about it. Even Norm had never heard this much of the story. Mel didn’t cry, though it was a near thing a couple of times. If she’d had time for the swelling to go down before her date, she’d have let ‘er rip. But she didn’t. Vanity and grief were an odd and uncomfortable mix, but apparently not mutually exclusive.
“That’s not a tornado on the plane?” Gran sounded dazed.
“It’s a flux capacitor, or at least Jack’s version of it.” At least they’d both seen Back to the Future.
Gran finally let out a huge, shaky sounding sigh. “I can see why you didn’t want to talk about it.”
Mel saw her grip Norm’s hand and kind of bump his shoulder with hers. Telling her Norm had died hadn’t been easy…
“And you don’t know what happened to Jack?” There was an odd note in her voice.
Mel shook her head. “The vortex could have hurled him anywhere, any time, I suppose. I know he worried about making it unstable, but he, the future Jack, didn’t tell me a lot about the actual process, since I can’t forget anything. And Jack in the past didn’t know yet. Or something like that.”
“Did he…have family?”
“I know he had a sister,” Mel said, “and his parents were living then.” She hadn’t felt like she had the right to contact them and if she’d known they were around…it would have been hard to stay away.
“No brothers. You’re sure?”
Now it was Mel’s turn to turn the bright gaze on Gran. “What’s going on?”
She fidgeted. “I met your blind date for tonight. He came over with Jimmy a couple of days ago. You were both out somewhere, but he said, he said, he was Jack’s nephew—but his last name is Hamilton, so that would be from a brother, not a sister.” She looked at Mel. “His name was Jack…”
Mel was on her feet without realizing she’d moved. As if to a movie cue, she heard the outside door open and Jimmy calling out.
“Hey, we’re here! Present yourself, coz!”
She looked at Norm and Gran. She felt the color drain from her face. It was probably a mess on the carpet around her feet. The edges of the room went dark and she felt herself sway, as if pushed by a breeze…
Norm scrambled up to steady her. “It might not be him, honey girl.”
“I know.” Her voice was a thin thread of sound because her throat felt like it had almost closed.
“Just a minute, Jimmy,” Gran called. “She’s not quite…dressed.”
“I can’t go out there. If it’s him…not in front of Jimmy…” Mel clutched their hands. “If it’s not him, I’ll cry uncle.” She managed a weak grin that faltered, then faded. “Why didn’t he…?”
“It was Jimmy’s idea to surprise you. Don’t think he, Jack, knew about it,” Gran said. “Jimmy knew you had a crush on Jack.” She stopped. “This is confusing.”
“Tell me about it,” Mel said, the sentence breaking in the middle.
Mel realized Norm was looking toward the closed door, too. Jack had been his friend first. They could hear a murmur of voices, but she couldn’t tell. She couldn’t tell…
“I’ll get Jimmy and Blanca into the kitchen. Norm—if it is him, well, figure it out before they—”
Gran went out through the bathroom, emerging into the living room through the other bedroom door. Distantly, Mel heard Gran asking Jimmy and Blanca to come look at something in the kitchen. She heard her door open and was conscious that Norm had left the room, pulling the door to behind him. More murmuring voices. Now footsteps, heading toward her door.
Jack or Norm? She stared at the closed door, afraid to hope, afraid to breathe.
A light knock, then a gap appeared between frame and door. It grew wider and wider. She couldn’t look. She spun around, but she could see the door in the mirror. She closed her eyes.
Norm or…Jack…
* * * * *
Jack stood in Norm’s living room, pretending to look casually around, his heart beating so hard, he was surprised Jim and Blanca didn’t hear it. Where was she? Surely she’d figured out who he was? She had to know that he’d come as soon as he could. Unless…
Maybe she’d had longer to wait? He didn’t know when she’d emerged with her life? What if years had gone by? He didn’t know she had emerged into her life. What if the vortex had thrown her ahead of him?
What would he do if she didn’t know him? He turned, half ready to just leave, but Jim was between him and the door.
When he’d lost his grip on Mel in the vortex, there’d only been a moment to process it, then everything had gone…blank. When he opened his eyes, he was in the hospital. His future self had been in coma, he learned, once he could get his staff to believe he was really Jack Hamilton.
He was still working on a theory for how his memory had updated. He did know he’d merged with himself. He had both sets of memories. It had taken some doing to fit the right ones together—and that had helped convince people he was himself. For a week, he’d been a lab rat caught in a maze. They didn’t want him to contact Mel or anyone else. But then he remembered their last mission and the night vision goggles. Even they could see the importance of tracking down someone tampering with the wrong side of history.
They’d wanted to send someone neutral, but Jack told them he’d told Mel to only release them to him. A pity he hadn’t thought about that, but luckily they believed him. It wasn’t like they could approach her and ask her if she’d traveled through time recently. They’d set up an identity for him and allowed him to meet Jim Morton, Mel’s favorite cousin. Once he’d made the connection between their grandfathers, it had been easy to get Jim to suggest a blind date between him and Mel, though Jim had warned he wasn’t sure he could get Mel to agree. She’d never been wild about blind dates, Jim told him, but she’d really been down on it lately. Jack didn’t dare ask why or press too hard. But she’d agreed. He’d alternated between hope and wondering what she was thinking of to go out with someone she didn’t know.
He finally decided to just go to her house, but she’d been out with Norm.
It was clear Elaine didn’t know what had happened to Mel. She’d been kind and interested to find he was related to…himself…but only in a normal way, not in an I’m-going-to-pin-your-ears-back way he’d expect. As each day passed in his new history, he came to understand more of what Mel had gone through while traveling through time. Was it her? Did she still love him? That was the essential question. She had every right to hate him, he knew. He’d gotten her into this mess, fallen for her, sort of married her, and then disappeared.
Against the odds, they had a chance to be together…if…
Elaine emerged from a bedroom beckoned Jim and Blanca into the kitchen, giving him a long, almost worried look. Did she look a little shell-shocked? He was afraid to hope…
And where was Mel? Why didn’t she come out? It didn’t take that long to dress, did it? It never took her long in the past, but maybe she was different in this time?
Another door opened, closer to him, giving Jack a brief glimpse of a dresser, before Norm closed it behind him. Norm. Old, but still Norm. Of course he was old. It had been sixty-plus years…but dang.
Would his old friend know him? He looked at Norm and didn’t know what to do but wait while he was studied with wary hope.
“Jack?” Norm was older, but the grin that spread across his face was just the same.
“You look like crap, Norm.” They pounded each other on the back, stopped and looked at each other, then pounded each other again. “What you been doing to yourself for the last sixty years?”
Finally they stopped pounding and did some looking, and Norm the buddy changed into Norm the grandfather. He crossed his arms across his chest.
“Just what are your intentions toward my granddaughter? And what were you thinking to send her—” He stopped.
“You should kick my butt,” Jack said. “Right out the door.”
“I would, but then she’d kick mine.” He nodded toward the closed door. “She’s in there, waiting for you.”
Relief shook him. “I was afraid—“
“Afraid of what?”
“What if she hadn’t gotten here yet?”
Norm grinned. “That might have been a bit interesting.” He frowned. “How long have you been here?”
“A couple of weeks. Took me a while to convince everyone I was…me.”
Norm kind of twitched. “I think I’m too old to even think about this stuff.”
Jack grinned. “What about me? I turned eighty-five last week.”
“Well, go put my girl out of her misery, old man,” Norm said. “We can catch up later…as long as you don’t wait too long. That wedding wasn’t legal.”
Jack put out his hand and they shook, gaze meeting gaze.
“Thanks, Norm.”
“You’re not out of it yet, you know. Elaine hasn’t really had time to think about it. She’ll probably be gunning for you when she does.”
Jack chuckled and turned to the door. Sixty years were supposed to separate them, but instead there was a single door.
Mel…
Jack grabbed the knob and turned. He pushed and it stuck. Oh no, you don’t. He pushed harder and it gave, swinging wide.
Mel…
She stood with her back to the door, her fists clenched at her sides. In the mirror, he could see she had closed her eyes and her body was braced. He stepped through and closed the door. She looked so different in her modern clothes, almost unfamiliar. He felt uncertain. He didn’t know this Mel.
“Mel?” It was a question, though he wasn’t quite sure what he was asking her.
Her lashes lifted, slowly but not stopping until her eyes were wide and wondering. She spun slowly to face him.
“Jack…” The answer was in her voice.
One step by each brought them together. Full body contact. For the first time in this century, he felt at home.
“You smell good,” he said shakily as her head burrowed into his shoulder. She chuckled and looked up, her amazing eyes swimming with tears.
“You smell better, too.”
He pulled out a handkerchief and gently stroked the tears from one eye, then the other. Her smile started slow, but expanded to maximum and almost rocked him off his feet.
“I was afraid…” Jack started, then stopped.
“Of what?”
“That you wouldn’t feel the same. That you’d found someone else. That you, the you I knew, wasn’t here yet. Of losing you again…”
Mel’s brows arched. “I never thought of that.”
“What would you have done, the you before, if I’d come calling?”
“Well, duh. I’ve been in love with you my whole life. What do you think I’d have done?”
He laughed and hugged her again. She cupped his face with her hands and looked at him for a long moment.
“Welcome to the twenty-first century, Captain.”
She still had a smart mouth, he thought a bit dazed. Best thing to do with a smart mouth is shut it, and since that’s what he wanted more than anything, he did.
* * * * *
Jimmy looked at Mel suspiciously, when she and Jack finally emerged from the bedroom. Since they weren’t legally married, it seemed like a good idea. Blanca looked amused at the turn of events. Norm looked content and Gran looked like a magician whose magic trick turned out to be real magic.
“We explained to Jimmy that you already knew each other and had a misunderstanding,” Gran said, quickly, a bit too quickly. “When Jack found out Jimmy was your cousin…” She stopped. She’d done a good job with the cover story, but it could easily develop holes with embellishment and she seemed to realize that.
“We need to…talk…” Mel said. “Do you mind if we bail on dinner with you and Blanca? We promise we’ll make it up to you.”
Blanca looked delighted. Jimmy still looked suspicious but let himself be led out of the room. Only when they were sure they were alone, did they all look at each other.
“Well…” Gran began, but Norm cut her off.
“Elaine, I’d like you to meet my best friend, Jack Hamilton.”
Gran took his proffered hand, looking at his face with understandable wonder.
“Then you really are from…” She couldn’t say it. Mel didn’t blame her.
“I’m afraid so, but I’m delighted to finally meet the light of Norm’s life.” He raised her hand to his mouth and lightly kissed it.
She smiled a little, then took her hand back and put both of them on her hips. “Yeah, well, be that as it may, what you did, sending Mel back in to a war, I ought to spank you or something.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jack said, meekly. “I was completely out of line.”
“Well, what’s done is done and I’m glad you’ve come to put it right—” she stopped. “You have come to put it right?”
“Yes, ma’am.” This one sounded like it came with a salute.
Mel bit back a grin. If Gran knew Jack’s idea of putting things right, she’d kill him on the spot.
“We want to make our wedding anniversary official,” Mel said. “Think you could pull together a small wedding on Christmas Eve? We could web cam it for those in our family who can’t make it.”
Gran opened her mouth, whether to object or agree, Mel wasn’t sure.
“No big deal, Gran. Just something quiet and simple. I know it’s short notice.”
Norm grinned, but Gran said, “Are you sure you can? You’re not supposed to be here young. Can you marry? What if you suddenly got old again or something?”
She wouldn’t worry about that, if she’d seen him old, Mel thought. “It won’t change anything if he did, Gran.”
She smiled up with Jack, because she still couldn’t believe he was finally here.
Jack shrugged. “I’m still me, as far as they can tell. My staff still need to finish running some tests and they’d like to interview Mel about her experiences. But we’ll be back in time for the wedding.”
“Sixty years and some change…that’s got to be some kind of dating record,” Gran said. She walked up and hugged Mel, then Jack. “If you keep our girl looking like this, you’ll have no trouble with us.”
Hugs all around, then Mel said, “I’m going to take Jack for a ride in my SUV to get some fast food.”
“Are you sure he’s ready for that?” Gran asked.
“If you thought war was hell.” Norm rolled his eyes.
Mel felt a bit guilty about pulling him away. She knew Norm wanted time with his friend, too, but now there was time, almost all the time in the world. With his arm securely aro
und her, Mel led him toward her SUV.
“So you really think we can take care of the time tampering?”
Jack nodded. “They think they’ve narrowed it down to the week it happened. With your memory of how things are supposed to be, we should be able to narrow it even further. And now that I’ve got the goggles and paper work the Germans had, we might even know who we’re looking for before we go back in time.” He squeezed her shoulders. “Don’t worry. We’ll be back in plenty of time for the wedding.”
Mel stopped and looked at him. “Both of us? At the same time? Forgive me if I’m a little skeptical…”
Jack pulled her into his arms. “I have this theory about that…”
At the moment, Mel decided, she wasn’t interested in his theories, but he’d better have more than one before she was jumping in a vortex again, and she’d tell him so when they finished kissing. If they ever did…
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
I couldn’t have written this book without the help of so many people. First, I’d like to thank the Greatest Generation for their faithful service in the wars of the 20th Century. Without their sacrifice, I wouldn’t have had the freedom to have written this book.
And from the amazing B-17 email list, what can I say to Jim Kissock, Doug Gross, Otis C. Ingebritsen, Lt.Col. USAF Res. (Ret.), Robert W. Livingston; Gene Carson, Paul Roderick, Everett Worrell, Major, USAF Retired, Roy Test, Jerry Hogan, Bob Dun, Earl Pate, Jr., Otis C. Ingebritsen, Jim White, C.W. “Mac” McCauley, Wes Sullivan, Robert Johnson, my father-in-law, the late Chester N. Jones, and my dad, Robert N. Baird. Thank you, thank you, thank you for what you did back then and for all your help now. You’re my heroes. ☺
I’d also like to thank the World War II Writer’s Research Group on Yahoo, in particular Morag McKendrick Pippin and Maria U. Budzynski. Maria not only provided me with information from the German side, but proved how amazing it can be when enemies become friends.
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