“I’ll take one,” Connor said.
Rick poured the drinks and handed a glass to Connor.
“You look tired,” Olivia said. “Why don’t we go upstairs? Catch up. Take a nap.”
“Before you go…” Kenzie glanced at David and he squeezed the back of her neck and gave her a look that said his world orbited hers. “We came back because we were worried about Amber and Rick. Now that we know you’re okay, unless you need something, we’re going home. We’re concerned about the crisis at the winery, and David is especially worried about Elliott. We feel confident Rick and Connor can handle everything here.”
Amber almost hated to ask, but she did. “When?”
“Now,” Kenzie said. “I haven’t seen my kids in a week.”
“I hate to see you go—again, but there’s no reason for you to stay,” Amber said. “I’ll be done in Morrison in a couple of days, then we’ll go home.”
“Are you sure?” Kenzie asked. “There’s not anything else to keep you here?”
“I could find plenty to do in Caǹon City, but I’m not sure I could convince Rick to take me there.”
“Isn’t that where Daniel went?” Connor asked.
“He’s guarding the stations along the line from Denver to Caǹon City. I don’t know where exactly.”
She caught the barest flicker of a glance between Kenzie and David, and his brows drew together, knotted in a frown of concentration. Kenzie tapped her fingers on her lap, and the room grew quiet, save for the murmur of the fire and the gentle creak of settling timber. A small, cold shudder of premonition flowed up Amber’s back, making her scalp twitch. She shook her head to clear it, and looked up to find Rick’s eyes on her, soft brown and full of speculation.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “I feel like I’m the only one in the room who hasn’t been let in on the secret.”
“If there’s a secret, I don’t know it either.” Olivia glanced at Kenzie. “Is there a secret? I don’t like being left out in the cold. There have been too many omissions already. We don’t need more.”
Kenzie broke the silence. “I’ve told you both that the brooches have a purpose and we never know what it is until we debrief. It’s possible Amber’s already fulfilled that, but we don’t know. Something important could come from the meeting with Dr. Lakes, whoever he is, in Morrison, or dinner with Adam Hughes and the board of directors, or even with Daniel. We don’t know. I wish we did.”
“Are we in danger?” Amber asked.
“If I thought you were in physical danger, I wouldn’t leave,” Kenzie said.
“We already know our moral code is in the process of shattering,” Olivia said. “Our integrity is shot to hell. We’re all a bunch of liars and trying to rationalize it is a waste of energy.”
“What would you have us do?” Connor asked. “Give the stones to the government and be done with them? Sink them in the middle of the ocean? Bury them under the melting icecap? We didn’t ask for this. Kenzie didn’t ask to be dropped into the middle of an air raid or tortured by the British Secret Service. Charlotte didn’t deserve to be threatened by General Sherman. We were singled out to bear this burden. And if our code of ethics is corrupted because of it, then so be it. I’m sorry I lied to you, Olivia. I’m sorry I had to lie to you.” He finished his drink, refilled his glass, then moved to stand by the window and stared out into the darkening afternoon sky.
Amber knew her sister as well as she knew herself, maybe better, and the tension in the room wasn’t from her or Kenzie or David or Rick. It rippled from Connor and Olivia. From the tears shining in her eyes, it was obvious to all of them that Olivia was in love with Connor, and he with her, and her sister was too damn scared to take a chance.
Amber leaned in to Rick, and he rubbed her neck. He said without words that he understood. Having him there for support helped push past the knot in her throat. Her sister deserved a good man, and if Connor was anything like his brother, then she knew he was exactly what Olivia wanted and needed, if only…
“Ye’ll have two brooches with ye.” David’s statement disrupted the ripples and pulled everyone’s attention away from the undercurrent. “Connor has the amethyst, and Amber has her brooch. If ye don’t come back right away, we’ll give ye a week before we come back again to bring ye home for good.”
“This is turning into a revolving door mission. There’s never been this much coming and going,” Kenzie said.
“I don’t want to come back, so don’t piss around,” David ordered. “Go to Morrison, get yer work done, and come home.”
“If Amber has another breathing attack, I’m taking her home immediately,” Rick said.
Olivia put her hand to her throat and worry wrinkled the bridge of her nose. “How many have you had?”
“I’m fine, and I’m not going to talk about my health,” Amber said.
“You never want to talk about it.” Olivia appraised her with eyes that held a combination of fear and worry and love. “You’re the opposite of a hypochondriac. Instead of having a preoccupation with the belief that you have a disease, you ignore symptoms and warning signs. So far, you’ve lucked out, but that won’t last forever.”
“If I talk about it, it’ll become a self-fulfilling prophecy, just like Granny.”
“And what? You think you’ll die because you’re sick. God, Amber. You’re not going to die. Not now anyway. When you’re older, maybe, but that’s different. You need to see a doctor.”
“I will. As soon as I get home, I’ll go see that specialist Mom wanted me to see. The internal guy.”
Olivia pinned Amber with a look of almost manic intensity. “He’s called an internist.”
Amber scratched her nose, grinning. “I know. I’ve talked to him. I haven’t seen him as a patient, but I’ve met him.”
Olivia put her hands to the sides of her head and grabbed at her hair. “You’re incorrigible.” She dropped her hands and blew out a long breath. “All right, then, we won’t talk about it. Just so long as Rick has it under control, I won’t harp.”
Kenzie pushed to her feet. “If her health issues continue, get Amber home immediately. And please be careful.”
“That’s not a request, ladies,” David said. “That’s an order.”
Amber and Olivia gave him snappy salutes. “Aye-aye, cap’n.”
David wrapped his arm around Kenzie’s waist. “If yer ready, lass, let’s go home.”
“We should leave the room,” Connor said. “We don’t want to be sucked up in the vortex. Safe travels. See you soon.”
After hugs all around, the Kellys and the O’Gradys left the parlor and stood guard at the door until the faint smell of peat wafted out into the foyer through the cracks.
Connor sniffed. “I think they’re gone.” He opened the doors to find the room empty. “It’s just us now. Let’s take care of each other and pray we all get home.”
Amber tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, feeling a deep longing well up in her chest, but she tried not to let it show. Losing Kenzie to the fog again saddened her. Due to Kenzie’s past relationship with Trey, her leaving was also a reminder he was gone, and while the fog could bring Kenzie back, it would never bring him.
Olivia picked up on Amber’s sudden melancholy. “Come on, sis. Let’s go see what you’ve got in your closet. We’ll need to dress for dinner, and Kenzie said you had a dress that might work for me.”
“She doesn’t know you well. If she did, she’d know you haven’t set foot in my closet since I was twelve years old.”
Olivia laced her arm with Amber’s and they strolled through the foyer. “That’s not true. I was in there a year ago.”
“Oh right. I remember now. Not. Are you crazy? You haven’t been in my closet in twenty years.”
“It seems like a year ago. Besides, Kenzie said she picked out your wardrobe and I trust her judgment, even though I’ve only known her for a few hours.”
Amber turned back to look at the guys, st
anding side by side, hands on their hips. “If you both go out”—she wagged her finger at Rick—“keep Connor away from that vampire who sucked the heck out of your neck.”
Connor backhanded Rick in the chest. “What the hell?”
Rick ducked. “She’s making it up. I cut myself shaving and she’s convinced it’s something else.”
“Don’t give me that crap. I’m the one who told you when you were a freshman in high school to tell Mom your hickey was a razor burn.”
“Yeah, and I almost got away with it until she put alcohol on the spot. When it didn’t sting, she knew the truth, and I got grounded.”
“You’re such a dumbass.”
“Don’t leave the house, Amber,” Rick said. “Even if you hear a paleontologist is on the corner selling bones. I know you, you’ll be out of here faster than light drains from a high desert sky at sunset.”
“Coming from a man who’s spent the last two years in the desert, you’d know how fast that is. But I’m not going out. I promise.”
“That goes for me, too,” Olivia said.
Amber and Olivia snickered all the way up the stairs. “What a pair.” When they reached Amber’s bedroom, they went in and she pushed the door closed, rotated the key, and the bolt scraped home. “I don’t want anyone barging in while we sort through the last few days. What’s going on with you and Connor? I know you’re in love with him.”
“Only if you tell me about Rick and Daniel. And I mean everything.”
Amber stacked pillows and settled in on the bed, leaning against the headboard. “You go first.”
Olivia joined her on the bed. “I was worried sick about you. I knew you weren’t fossil hunting. I felt it in my gut that you were in danger. For three days, Connor knew the truth and didn’t tell me. Then I found out where you were, and I’ve never felt so betrayed.”
Amber rolled over and propped up on her elbow. “Would you have believed him?”
“No. But he could have tried. Instead, he let things heat up between us. We were moments from having sex when Kenzie, David, Connor’s sister, and Elliott Fraser showed up at the ranch, and I learned the truth. I was furious.”
“How do you feel about him now?”
Olivia fell back on the bed. “I’m crazy about him. But I’m still—”
“Stop it,” Amber said. “Your excuses are as thin as obleas. Everything’s changed now. You’re part of the brooch lore, and you two are so cute together.”
“What’s the brooch lore?”
“I don’t know. But every story Kenzie told me involved a love affair. She ended up with David. Charlotte ended up with Braham. Kit and Cullen got married, and Jack and Amy are getting married soon. This time it’s you and Connor. It took my disappearance to bring you two together.”
“But what about you and Rick?”
“I adore him. I trust him, but I don’t get excited when he touches me or looks at me with those dreamy eyes. The feeling’s just not there, and no amount of time will make it happen. He’s a friend for life, but not any more than that.”
“Do you tingle when Daniel touches you?”
For a moment, Amber didn’t answer. “Yes, I do. But there’s a problem. He lives in the nineteenth century and I live in the twenty-first. I don’t plan to live here, and I doubt he’ll live there. So nothing can come of it.”
“You won’t know for sure until you ask him.”
“Ask him? How would I go about doing that?”
“I don’t know. Get him in bed, and then right before he…you know… Oh, Amber. I can’t advise you. I can’t figure out my own life. Just do what feels right. It’s not like we have reserved seats for the return trip and only four of us can go.”
Olivia climbed off the bed and crossed the room to the wardrobe, where she swung open the doors and picked through the dresses hanging there on hooks. “I met Noah at lunch. He’s precious and he adores you, which confused me because you’ve never been around kids. What’d you talk to him about? Math and science?”
“Yep. It was a two-player connection, vertically, horizontally, and diagonally.”
“I bet you drew dinosaur pictures. That would have won him over.”
Amber pulled a quilt folded at the end of the bed over her and snuggled down into its warmth. “It’s scary how well you know me.”
Olivia held up a dress. “Ooh. I love this. The gold silk all but melts in my hands.”
“That was my performance dress, a gift from our landlady in Leadville. She insisted I keep it. Before I left, I hid money in her cookie jar.”
“It’s gorgeous. Are you going to wear it tonight?”
“No, you can.” Daniel had seen her wear it so often, there was nothing special about it. He wouldn’t be at dinner anyway, so it didn’t matter. But Olivia would look gorgeous, and Connor wouldn’t be able to resist her.
“Look at the way it glitters in the lamplight.” Olivia clasped it at her waist to check the length. “The bodice looks low and tight. Did you spill out of it?”
“Not really. You’ll look beautiful. If you intend to make up with Connor, it will set the stage for a conversation you two need to have.”
“What are you going to wear?”
Amber yawned. “The emerald silk, I think.”
Olivia hung the dress up and went back to the bed. “Is there an alarm clock? I know they don’t have electricity, but do they have one you wind up?”
“There’s no clock, but Mrs. Murphy will wake us up in time to dress.”
Olivia pulled some of the quilt over on herself and snuggled with her sister. “I’m glad I found you. I was so scared.”
Amber slung her arm over Olivia. “I’m glad you did, too. Now, let’s go to sleep. I’m tired.”
“Oh, I remember what I wanted to ask you,” Olivia said. “Don’t you think it’s weird that Kenzie met Trey’s grandfather when he was a young man in World War II. Then Kenzie became Trey’s best friend. Then she came to rescue you. Like it was all planned out long before we were born?”
“I don’t see how that’s possible.”
“Who would have thought time travel was possible?”
“Touché.” A sinking sensation in the pit of Amber’s stomach told her that she was missing something. Dem bones, dem bones, dem dancing bones. If the foot bone was connected to the leg bone and the leg bone was connected to the knee bone, then she was missing the leg bone—a huge gap of knowledge. There was much more to the brooch lore than she and Olivia had been told.
The threads of their lives had intertwined more than half a century ago. Now, would they weave a beautiful piece of fabric or would they just hang on to the fringe of each other’s hearts?
37
1878 Denver, Colorado—Daniel
Daniel spent the morning with General Palmer in Caǹon City, discussing the litigation and possible showdown at the Santa Fe roundhouse in Pueblo, forty miles away.
“This is the center of our operations right now. We’re badly in need of men we can trust. I’m counting on you,” the general had said, before confirming that the board was considering leasing the tracks to Santa Fe. Daniel pressed Amber’s concerns, and at the end of the discussion, the general requested Daniel return to Denver immediately and personally invite the woman lawyer to Caǹon City to meet with him the next day.
As he rode to Alec’s house from the train station, Daniel wasn’t sure Amber would agree to the general’s request. She’d seemed convinced of her position, but what evidence, if any, did she have that if the railroad followed her recommendation they would ultimately prevail? That was what the general wanted to know. So did Daniel. He also wanted to know how she’d become so entwined with his life, and not just his home life.
A line of graceful carriages stood waiting in front of the mansion. Alec hadn’t mentioned a dinner party when they had spoken briefly that morning. He was a man of means and connections, and could easily plan a soiree with little notice, but what did that mean for Amber and her sister,
the O’Gradys and McBains? Was the event in their honor?
“Evenin’, Mr. Grant.” The groom reached for the reins and ran an expert hand over the horse’s withers. “I’ll take Rambler up to the barn.”
Daniel swung down from the leather as his horse pricked his ears and whickered. “Hope ye’ve got a good currycomb. He trotted through a wee bit of mud today, plus coal dust from two train trips.” Daniel pulled his rifle from the saddle scabbard and held it by the stock, close to his thigh.
The groom clicked his tongue. “Yes, sir. I’ll take care of him.” Rambler heaved the equine equivalent of his owner’s satisfied sigh, knowing he was coming home to a hot meal and a clean bed.
When Daniel entered the house, he handed over the rifle first, then his hat and gloves to the butler. Finally, he untied the thigh thong and unfastened the large belt buckle at his waist. “Who are the dinner guests?” he asked casually as he coiled his cartridge belt around his holster and set the gun rig on the shelf above the hall tree.
The butler placed the rifle and the hat turned upside down with the gloves inside on the shelf, alongside the gun rig. “The Rio Grande Board of Directors and local businessmen, sir.”
“What about the Kelly sisters, the O’Gradys, and the McBains? Are they still here?”
“The McBains mysteriously departed this afternoon.”
“Did they say where they were going?”
“I didn’t see them leave. So I don’t know.” The butler assisted Daniel as he shed his canvas duster. “Dinner is over, and the guests have retired to the library for whisky and cigars. Shall I ask Mrs. Murphy to prepare a plate for you?”
“I’ll pick at whatever is left on the sideboard.” Daniel brushed his coat sleeves, straightened his cuffs, and ran a hand through his hair. When he passed the parlor and found it empty, he assumed Amber and Olivia had retired for the evening.
He entered the closely packed library. The open windows did little to relieve the stuffiness and the scent of whisky. He recognized Colonel Greenwood, Colonel Dodge, former Governor Alexander Hunt, and Charles Lambord, another colonel in the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry under Palmer. There were at least two dozen men in the smoke-filled room, and they all seemed focused on someone standing in front of the fireplace who was too short to be seen over the heads of the crowd.
The Amber Brooch: Time Travel Romance (The Celtic Brooch Book 8) Page 44
