She opened the door to the main house and stared at the table set in the center of the large room. It had to be twenty feet long with seating for sixteen. A Chinese man with a long braid down his back was placing bowls on the table and looked up at her standing in the doorway.
"Come," he motioned, and nodded toward the table. "Come, come… you eat, now."
Mairie smiled timidly and slowly walked into the main room. Virginia Gass briskly entered from another doorway, followed by three children. Two girls and Fenton, with Digger still perched over his arms. "So glad you could join us, Mairie. The ranch hands have finished and there haven't been any travelers for a few days, so we're eating early for a change. Please be seated. The men are about to join us. And Fenton, if you don't set that dog out now, you can eat your dinner on the porch with him."
Mairie sat at one side of the table as Fenton immediately scampered to the front door, set the dog outside, then raced back and took the seat next to her. She smiled at the young boy and looked across the wide table to his sisters. Two young girls stared at her with curious eyes until Virginia introduced them. Before Mairie had a chance to say more than hello, the front door opened and a very tall man with a long beard entered. Behind him was Jack… washed, his hair combed behind his ears, and dressed in a pressed white shirt. In spite of her situation, she felt an immediate pang of attraction and looked down to her hands in her lap. He looked so … civilized.
"Mairie Callahan, may I present my husband, Octavius Decatur Gass."
She smiled up at him as the man held his hand out to take hers. She placed her hand in his and he bent over it in a gentlemanly bow. "A pleasure, Miss Callahan. Everyone calls me O.D. Pleased to see you've recovered."
"Thank you, O.D. I appreciate you and your wife's hospitality. I was… desperate, I'm afraid."
"Nonsense. You aren't the first who's come to us in that state, and you won't be the last. Glad we could help out." The man nodded and pulled out his chair at the head of the long table.
"Good evening, Mairie."
Just the sound of his voice sent shivers up her arms. Or could it be the sunburn? It was the sunburn. She was not about to get stupid over a man who had kissed her and then ignored her. However, she was grateful to him for bringing her to this ranch, so she looked up and smiled. "Good evening, Jack. Thank you for all your help."
"Glad to see that you're feeling better."
Why was there this formality now? Was it this place? These people? She actually felt shy in his presence, and even that annoyed her. Part of her wanted to take him outside and tell him about traveling into the past, and another part knew it would add to his conviction that she was crazy. Who would believe her? And could she blame anyone? These people thought she had sunstroke, but not Jack. Yet he was the only one who might believe her. If she could just prove it. But how could one prove she had time-traveled a hundred and twenty-two years into the past? Even she didn't want to believe it.
Jack was seated next to the girls and he stared across the table at Mairie. She looked very lovely in the white dress and the yellow ribbon holding back her dark hair. At any other time with any other woman he would have pursued the attraction.
But not this woman, and definitely not this time, when he was leaving tomorrow and would never see her again. To do so would only cause further distress.
The dinner conversation centered mostly on the proposed annexation of the ranch by Arizona and how O.D. was fighting it. Jack noticed how Mrs. Gass attempted to draw Mairie out by asking for the latest news from the big cities back east. He could see her uneasiness as she fumbled for answers and volunteered the excuse of sunstroke to save her from further pressure. Yet he could not save her as O.D. asked how she had wound up all alone in the middle of the desert.
He watched as Mairie stared down at her plate before raising her face to stare at him with pleading eyes. A moment passed and she whispered, "I don't know."
Jack was grateful to Mrs. Gass for her sympathetic heart, and for the young boy at Mairie's side, who stared up at her adoringly. Young Fenton, it appeared, had one heck of a crush. He understood the lad.
"O.D., can't you see Miss Callahan has been through so much? Let her rest, now," Virginia chided. "You gentlemen take your cigars to the front porch while we clear the table. Lelah, you and your sister come help me."
He rose from the table and felt slightly worried as he looked at Mairie. He had not seen her feisty spirit in some time. She appeared… defeated.
He turned to Mrs. Gass. "Thank you for the most delicious dinner."
Virginia Gass glanced at her husband with one of those looks married people have that speaks in silent communication. She turned her attention back to him and smiled comfortingly.
"Now, Jack Delaney… you know that you are always welcome at our table. Have you thought on the job O.D. offered you? We really could use you here at the ranch."
Jack grinned, knowing that the attractive woman from Missouri had left a wealthy family to travel west and discover her own adventure. She was greatly admired by all, even the Paiutes. Virginia Simpson Gass was one tough woman, and one lovely lady… who knew how to use her charm when it was needed.
"Mrs. Gass," he said with an appreciative smile, "the offer is tempting, especially since I would be feasting at your table nightly. However, my heart is with my brothers right now. I've been away far too long. I will keep it in mind, though, and thank you for the suggestion."
Virginia laughed. "You are a charmer, Jack. Seems a shame to waste those lovely eastern manners living on those hot and dry mountains."
Jack joined in the laughter. "And I'll return that back door compliment to you, madam. You are a rose amid this parched desert."
Nodding, Virginia chuckled, then said to her husband, "Now, this is why you must allow us a trip to Missouri. I miss this bantering, O.D. Need to sharpen my social skills…" She grinned at Jack. "And my wits."
With a pat on the shoulder, O.D. invited him to the porch. "Well, before you charm my wife, and I suffer a month of Sundays hearing about a proposed trip east, come share a cigar. I'd like to show you my new mowing machine for my alfalfa before you leave tomorrow."
Mairie quickly looked up at him. He walked toward the door eager to share a fine smoke, but couldn't quite shake the expression in Mairie's eyes. He had seen arrogance. Anger. Disbelief. He had even seen laughter.
It was the first time he saw fear.
She felt like a robot, helping Virginia and the girls clear the table. When they went to the kitchen, Lee fussed about taking bowls and shooed them out. Still weak, Mairie was grateful to sit in the parlor and watch Virginia sew a vest. She marveled at this woman, so resourceful in this wilderness. And yet … she appeared happy.
Again, Mairie thought of how the crafts of an earlier age were being lost. It was so much easier to run into the mall to buy mass produced goods than take the time to create them. She was as guilty as the next. She remembered her grandmother crocheting pillow covers and baby clothes. The art was lost with her grandmother's passing. Suddenly, Mairie regretted not taking the time to learn. It would have honored her grandmother, and she would have expanded her own abilities. Sighing, she looked at the pleasant family scene. It was something she might never have, and that thought depressed her.
The girls, still shy around her, sat looking at books with pictures while Fenton and Digger played at her side. It was a very domestic scene. There was happiness here, despite the hardships.
It just made Mairie want her own time and place more. Somehow… there had to be a way back. If she had traveled into the past, there must be some way to travel into the present, her present. She was merely an observer here. Would Jack understand? He wasn't like ordinary men, especially men in this time. He was looking at a different picture through the eyes of the Indian. He believed in the unexplainable. Surely what had happened to her was unexplainable.
A sharp pain had closed around her heart when she'd heard that he was leaving tomorrow
. She shouldn't care. But she did… she really did… and now she knew she would have to speak with him tonight, tell him the truth, ask his help, his guidance. How ironic that Jack Delaney was the only person she trusted right now. How wrong she had been about him… and she wasn't above admitting a mistake.
Like that kiss. She should never have allowed it. Best to put it out of her mind and concentrate on more important matters… like finding a way to survive this incredible detour. For that was all she was willing to accept. It was merely a departure from her own world, her own time. She was going to find a way back.
Her opportunity arrived when O.D. came inside to spend time with his children. He appeared to be a good father and Mairie excused herself, leaving the family to their routine. She slipped outside and was grateful to see a wide chair. It was made of rough wood, yet the double seat was worn smooth by use. She sank onto it and sighed as she looked at the night sky, while hearing the faint strains of laughter coming from the cabin of the ranch hands.
Looking up to the huge desert moon, she called out in her mind to him. She must wait for Jack to show up. She knew somehow that he would. In the meantime, she listened to the sounds of the night and tried not to think too far ahead. She could only survive this moment by moment. Anything else would lead to madness.
"How do you feel?"
The familiar voice didn't startle her, for she was expecting him. She blinked a few times, pulling her into the present. "Jack… I knew you would come."
He smiled in the moonlight and Mairie felt that tug at her breast.
"That's what I said when I found you."
She thought of his first words. It felt like a lifetime ago. Returning his smile, she said, "You're right. You weren't sure of who or what I was, and I wasn't sure you weren't crazy. You were right, Jack, and I was wrong. I'm sorry. Sorry for thinking you were the one out of place. It was me. It was me all along."
He came onto the porch and leaned against the railing. "What's wrong, Mairie? It's more than the sunstroke. Something's happened."
Looking up at him, she fought the burning in her throat from unshed tears. This conversation must take place and she must have control over her emotions in order to do it. Tears could come later. "Jack, what I'm about to say is going to sound insane to you, but you're the only one I can talk to about it. You're the only one that might possibly understand … or even if you couldn't understand, you might believe me."
He sat next to her and leaned his elbows on his knees and rested his chin in his hands. Turning his head, he stared into her eyes. "Mairie, what are you talking about? What is bothering you so?"
"Listen, I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time. You saw me fall from the sky and I tried to explain to you how it happened, but you couldn't understand it. Now I know why. Jack, I really am from the future… your future." There. She'd said it.
She waited for a response. When she realized none was forthcoming, she continued.
"I know this is going to sound crazy to you. Now I completely understand your reactions to me and they were justified. How could you possibly understand what an airplane was when you'd never seen one? They haven't been invented yet. But you saw me fall from the sky. You saw it. How could I possibly have gotten there? That far up? Something had to have taken me there to jump in the first place. It was an airplane. A… a vehicle of transportation." She struggled to find the right words, just as she knew he was struggling to grasp them.
"What you say is far too incredible to imagine. If this is true, then explain air… plane. I ask how such a thing is possible. How does it fly in the sky?"
She was afraid he would ask that. "I wish I knew. Something to do with thrust and air speed, air moving over and under the wings—"
"Wait," he interrupted. "They have wings?"
She wanted to laugh at his expression. "Well, yes. There are wings, but they don't flap because there's an engine. Kind of like the engine that powers a train. That's steam, creating energy to propel something forward. This is the same concept, except instead of coal or wood, there's gasoline, an oil from under the earth."
He was shaking his head, as though he couldn't picture what she was saying. "I don't understand."
"I know," she said in a sympathetic voice. "This isn't an easy concept, and how can I explain it when even I don't understand it? I never realized how much I took for granted until now."
"Hold on… you are saying there are trains in the sky?"
She stifled a giggle. "Not trains. Airplanes are single, not linked together. But some are so big that they can hold a hundred or more people at one time. If we were in my time, we could get on a plane in Las Vegas, the Las Vegas that I left in 1999, and fly back east to Philadelphia in five hours."
"Oh, Mairie…" Jack's jaw dropped. "This… this fantasy is too incredible to believe."
Desperate, she clutched his shirt sleeve. "Jack… you saw me! How can you deny what you saw? I did fall from an airplane through the sky and something, I don't know what, but something happened to me while I was doing it. And instead of landing where I was supposed to, in my time, I landed in yours. In 1877. A hundred and twenty-two years before me."
Jack appeared bewildered, speechless.
"It's true, Jack. I just realized it myself when I saw this ranch. It was one thing to think you were crazy, that the Indians were hiding away from reality in the mountains… but this… this is too extensive. This really is 1877." She shook her head. "I'm trapped in the past, and I don't know what to do."
She looked at him and pleaded, "What should I do, Jack? You're the only one I can talk to about this because you saw me coming into this place. You are my witness that I'm not crazy. You, Jack Delaney… you confirm I am sane."
So why was he staring at her as if that were the last thing he was thinking?
Chapter 7
No one so crazy could sound so sane.
Part of him was beginning to actually believe her. He had seen her fall from the sky, and his Indian exposure gave him the opportunity to view things from another side, to accept ideas that might not be grasped by so-called educated people. But this… coming from the future? This was asking too much.
Certain things baffled him. The clothes she had been wearing, the equipment she had been using. Even Wovoka had said she was from the land of tomorrows. It was just too incredible… he had been sitting on a mountaintop, waiting to see a sign of hope, and he had got Mairie Callahan… from the future?
"Then tell me this… if you jumped from this airplane, why didn't you plummet to the ground? The material you used was so thin. It couldn't possibly keep you from crashing. Something about this is beyond belief, Mairie. I mean, I know I saw you… but what you're asking me to accept is unreal."
"Well, of course it's unreal to you. It hasn't been invented yet. To me… it's everyday life. People skydive all the time, for fun. It's even a sport, like … like baseball or horse racing. People compete against each other, though it wouldn't be something I'd personally choose. I was only doing it to please my brother."
"But how do you keep from being killed? I felt that material, Mairie. It was too thin to save anyone."
He watched her think, staring out to the moon as if it might provide her with the answer.
"Okay… have you ever been on a street and seen a lady's parasol get pulled with a gust of wind? It's much like that. I had a huge parasol and could control it with pulleys and handles to narrow it and slow me down."
He tried to picture what she was saying. "So you flew like a bird in the sky and jumped into the air with a parasol for entertainment… for sport?"
She shook her head slowly and grinned. "Now I know it sounds crazy, but that's about it."
"I've seen a hell of a lot in my life, Mairie Callahan. I've seen Indian spirits and I've seen men overcome miraculous odds in death-defying situations during the war. All right, I admit there's nothing else I can do but accept what you're saying, because I saw you fall from the sky with my own eyes. I can't
deny what I saw. And yes… it is crazy."
Her eyes filled with hope. "Then you believe me?"
"I don't know what to believe any longer. Maybe we're both crazy." He turned away and looked at the moon. Why didn't it surprise him that it was full? They were lunatics… both of them. Her for thinking she had come from the future, and him for beginning to believe it.
He turned back to her. "If all that you're saying is true, how do you expect to get back? There are no airplanes, or fantastic huge umbrellas here. What are you going to do?"
Why was she looking at him as though he might have an answer? He didn't know what he was going to do tomorrow, let alone how to advise her. He didn't think much about the future. Especially his own. He was just trying to get through today. He was like an empty barrel, drained by the fragility of life, and he hadn't a clue how to refill it. For that, he needed hope.
He had asked the one question that was uppermost in her mind.
Mairie sighed deeply, and stared up at him. "Oh, Jack… I don't know how to get back to my own time. I didn't even really believe I was out of it until today when I saw this ranch. If I knew how this happened, I'd have some clue about what took place and I'd try to figure out how to reverse it, or something."
"Have you ever heard of someone else falling into another time?"
Mairie couldn't stop the laughter. "No. This is… it's science fiction, or something. I mean, there've been movies about it, books even, but that was fiction. Not real. I'm real, Jack. This has actually happened to me. And I'll be damned if I ever believed it was possible."
"Well, you're here now. So what do you plan on doing?"
"I don't know." Three words, so simple, yet they had such a profound effect. She got up and started pacing, suddenly annoyed with herself and those three words. She was a self-made woman. She had survived a hell of a lot in her time, and had the guts to leave it all and follow her brother. She was a woman of resource. She hated not knowing how to proceed.
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