Olivia closed the door and pushed the cart over to the table. “I could get used to this.” She lifted one of two dome lids. “Scones. I could definitely get used to this.” After slipping a wrapper on over her nightgown, she poured two cups of coffee. “Get your butt over here. I’m not serving you in bed.”
Amber found her slippers on opposite sides of the room, with one missing a tassel. It was probably under the sofa, too. She threw open the curtains and draped them around the glass-knob tie backs. The sun poured in through the window. She stood there a minute to let her face soak in some vitamin D. After so many rainy days, a moment or two of sun exposure, sans hat and sunscreen, wouldn’t kill her.
“We’ve got another pretty day.” She sat, staring at the steam as it rose in gossamer curls from the dainty china cup. Then slowly, she raised the coffee to her lips and tested the temperature with a sip of the full-bodied brew. It was scalding. She waited a few seconds before taking another tentative taste. “If you’re starting over with Connor, I guess that means you’re not mad at him now.”
The delicate high-pitched clink of Olivia’s cup against the saucer preceded her answer. “I know why he lied. I don’t like it, but I understand he had no choice. If I hadn’t come on this trip, I never would have known, and I would have thrown away my future with him.”
Amber smiled and gave her sister’s hand a squeeze. “So you have a future?”
Olivia buttered a scone and laid the knife across the plate. “We’re going to go home and see how it goes, but yes, I think so.”
“Is he going to move to Colorado?”
“His base will be at the new ranch, but he’ll still travel within the US. As soon as Rick gets settled, he and Shane will do all the foreign travel.”
Amber spread apple butter on one half of a scone and grape jelly on the other, and did an eeny, meeny, miny, moe to decide which one to bite into first. “How many locations are there?” she asked, wiping jelly from her lips.
“Let’s see.” Olivia counted on her fingers: “Kentucky, California, Scotland, New York, Colorado, Italy, Australia, and they’re looking at Spain and Germany, plus more locations in the US—New Mexico, Florida, and a couple others.”
“Sounds right up your alley. Wouldn’t it be fun to travel through Spain looking for a hacienda to buy? I’m so happy for you.”
Olivia lifted another silver dome to find a bowl of sliced apples. She scooped a spoonful onto her plate. “But what about you and Daniel, and why didn’t you have sex?”
“He’s worried about my health.”
Holding an apple slice an inch from her mouth, Olivia pegged Amber with a steely gaze. “Just so there’s no misunderstanding, so am I.” Olivia’s taffeta dressing gown gleamed in the sunlight and the butterflies embroidered in purple metallic cord seemed to take flight, reminding Amber of her own travel through the fog.
“I promise…” Amber crossed her heart. “As soon as I get home, I’ll go to the doctor and get a prescription that will fix me right up. And I promise to take all my pills.”
“I couldn’t ask for anything more than that.” Olivia took another bite of the scone. “You know, that was honorable of Daniel not to make a move on you last night.”
“He was too honorable,” Amber said. “I didn’t beg, but I came close. Now it might not ever happen.”
“Don’t say that.”
“It’s true. I can’t ignore it. Our relationship is too complicated. I don’t want to live here. God knows what I said last night that could affect the field of paleontology throughout the next century. And what we both know of the Royal Gorge War could screw up the case. We’ve got to be careful, and I’ve especially got to be careful around Daniel. I can’t lead him on and then abandon him.”
“You can take him with you.”
“He’s not Millie the cat.”
“I didn’t mean that,” Olivia said. “I know you can’t pick him up and abscond with him.”
“If Daniel goes home with me, he’ll have to go because it’s best for Noah and for him. And how can he evaluate an unknown? I can list the advantages of living in the twenty-first century—better health care, longer life expectancy, access to unprecedented knowledge, ease of travel, the ability to communicate with anyone at any time, indoor plumbing—but to him, they would be science fiction terms and concepts.” She put her elbows on the table, her chin in her palms, and tried to come up with possibilities. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Give it time. It’ll work out.”
“But that’s just it. I don’t have time.”
Olivia sighed. “We can stay as long as you want. You don’t have to rush.”
Amber picked up her plate to scoop apples onto it and discovered a white envelope with a faint circle imprint from the raised bottom of the plate. Her name was written without flourishes in an elegant and easy to read script.
“Did you know this was here?”
Olivia nodded. “Mrs. Murphy pointed it out before she released the cart.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“We needed to talk before you lost yourself in a love letter.”
Amber slit the envelope open with an unused knife and extracted a single sheet with a few lines of decisive slanting script, dated and signed. And even though the letter was short, it used the entire page. “Ah…” Between the date and the signature, Daniel had written a message of love, and it brought her to tears.
I woke with the taste of ye on my lips. What I feel for ye has taken thorough possession of my wits and makes me almost unfit for anything else. Until we meet again, your devoted servant, Daniel
“Read it out loud,” Olivia said.
All Amber could do was cry and dab at her eyes with a corner of the white cloth napkin with the grape jelly stain.
Olivia snatched it out of Amber’s hand and read it. “‘I woke with the taste of ye on my lips.’ Oh my God. ‘What I feel for ye has taken thorough possession of my wits.’ I think I’m going to faint. How romantic. ‘And makes me almost unfit for anything else.’ Christ, Amber. This guy could write for Hallmark. ‘Until we meet again, your devoted servant, Daniel.’ If you don’t confess your undying love to him, you’re nuts.”
Amber gently tugged the paper from between Olivia’s fingers. “Give me my letter.” She folded it and slipped it back into the envelope and tapped it lightly against her palm. “This doesn’t help.”
Easing out of the chair, she opened a drawer in the armoire and gathered her journal. “I wrote down notes and descriptions of everywhere I’ve been since I came through the fog. I wanted to share this adventure with you.” She slipped the letter into a pocket for mementoes. “Having you here now means everything to me.”
Olivia stood and hugged Amber. “I’d give you the moon, if I could. I’ve worried over you my entire life, and I’ll probably never stop. But if I hadn’t come here, our relationship would never have been the same again. I’ll treasure every note you’ve written, even the details of this room, which I think is gaudy, by the way.” Olivia reclaimed her seat and wiped her eyes. “So what’s the plan for today?”
Amber picked up her napkin and after finding another clean corner, wiped her damp cheeks. “Daniel asked me to go to Caǹon City to meet with General Palmer about the railroad. I can’t go. I want to go to Morrison. Will you go with him?”
“Only if it’s because you’d rather dig for bones and not because you’re too scared to face him.”
“Why would I be scared?”
“Because he confessed his love for you, and you don’t know what to do about it. So you’ll fall back on your MO and run away.”
“That’s not my MO.”
Olivia swatted the air with a flip of her hand. “Whatever…”
Pursing her breath, Amber walked over to the window with the journal holding Daniel’s letter pressed against her breasts. “The mountains are calling my name, Liv. I need to go.”
“You can’t continue to put dinosaurs ahead of
the living.”
“It’s not that. Not this time. I need thinking space. I have decisions to make. Bring Daniel back tonight, and I’ll tell him the truth.”
“I can’t stand to see you so distressed.” Olivia stepped over to the window and they put their arms around each other and pressed their heads together like conjoined twins. “You better tell me everything he knows about you, or I’ll tell him something different, and he’ll be so angry he won’t listen to anything else you have to say.”
“It won’t matter. After I tell him I’m from the twenty-first century, the conversation will come to a screeching halt, a blunt quick jab to the heart.”
At the knock on the door, they both turned as one to stare. “Come in,” they said in unison, their voices melding into one command.
Mrs. Murphy entered with two housemaids carrying pails of hot water for the hip tub. “I have a message from Mr. Grant. He said the general requested his presence immediately and asked that Mr. Connor O’Grady and Miss Olivia join him in Caǹon City at one o’clock. The other message is from Mr. Rick O’Grady. He requested Miss Amber be prepared to leave at nine.”
“What time is it now?” Amber asked.
“Eight,” Mrs. Murphy said.
“Please tell both men we’ll be ready to leave at nine,” Amber said.
“Shall I pour the water into the tub?” one of the housemaids asked.
“We can handle it,” Olivia said. “Thank you.”
Mrs. Murphy and the housemaids left the room and Olivia and Amber stood there looking at the pails of steaming water. “Did I say I could get used to this? I lied. You go first,” Olivia said. “But how do you wash your hair?”
“With a good brushing and a little cologne water.” Amber unstoppered a bottle of eau de cologne she’d purchased from Grandmother Hughes. “Smell.”
Olivia inhaled. “Lavender, rosemary, and something else.”
“Bergamot. It’s a light citrus aroma. The oil eradicates body odor, tames frizzy hair, and gets rid of scalp build-up. Give it a try.”
“Okay, but you know how I am about smells. If I hate it, I’ll have to wash my hair.”
“Just pretend you’re at the cabin without modern conveniences. You survive there without a shower.”
“But only for two nights, and while I’m there I wear jeans and go grubby. Here I’m dressing in yards of silk and lace.”
Amber matched her sister’s eye roll.
Eventually, Olivia took a hip bath and brushed cologne into her hair without complaint, while Amber settled for a thorough sponge bath, realizing her picky sister’s toilette would otherwise make them late.
An hour later, they met Rick and Connor in the foyer, both men waiting patiently by the bronze and ironwork front door, arms clasped behind their backs, talking in quiet tones.
As soon as Connor laid eyes on Olivia, a smile split his face. He followed her progress until she neared the last step, then he walked forward, standing in a ray of sunlight beaming through the stained-glass window, his auburn hair glinting in the multi-colored light.
“You look beautiful.”
Amber thought he did, too, and she was sure her sister, if she wasn’t already hopelessly in love, had fallen splat at Cupid’s feet.
Connor’s arm circled protectively around Liv’s waist, and then he kissed her lightly on the mouth. Her cheeks pinked to her ears.
As Amber’s gaze lingered on Rick, he shook his head smiling. She handed him a rucksack with her extra clothes, field kit, and journal. “Hold this, please.” She crossed the foyer to the over-burdened coat rack, the heels of shoes striking the floorboard in an annoying clack, clack. She pushed the forest of outerwear aside looking for her coat. “I wonder where it is.”
“What? Your coat?” Rick held up his arm, and a small smile teased the corners of his eyes. “Would this be the one?”
“Who are you? Houdini?”
Rick settled the coat on her shoulders. “I’ve been called that before.”
Why wasn’t she surprised others thought of Rick as a master of illusion and an escape artist? Others might have pegged him as a bad boy, just as she had. But in the last few days, she’d seen the real Rick O’Grady, and she’d seen his heart. He wasn’t a bad boy. He was a loyal friend who would do anything in the world for her.
Enough about Rick. Worrying about Daniel was a full-time job right now.
Her fingers moved like dancing feet up and down the edge of her coat, counting the five large buttons to be sure they were intact. She couldn’t breathe in a corset today, so she’d left it off. As soon as she had a chance, she was changing into her jeans, flannel shirt, and canvas jacket. She couldn’t work in all these layers. The clothes were simply too heavy.
“Where’s Noah? Isn’t he going?” Amber asked.
Rick slung her rucksack over his shoulder and gathered up his saddlebags. “He went to the kitchen to get a picnic basket. He’ll be right back.”
“Okay, we’re off.” Olivia gave Amber a peck on the cheek. “Have fun and be careful. And don’t overdo. We’ll see you tonight.”
“Wait,” Connor said. “Where is your brooch, Amber?”
She patted above her breast. “Pinned to my chemise, but it doesn’t work.”
“What stone do you have?” Connor asked Rick.
“The O’Grady stone,” he said. “You take it.” He dug into his vest pocket, withdrew the brooch, and handed it over.
Connor refused it. “No, you keep it in case of an emergency.”
“If there’s an emergency, Amber’s stone will work,” Rick said.
“How do you know?” Connor asked.
Before Rick could answer, Noah, with Ripley snapping at his heels, rushed into the foyer, a picnic basket swinging at his side and a canteen slung over his shoulder. “Sorry it took so long, but you can’t have a picnic without fried chicken.”
“Hmm,” Amber said. “Better keep it away from me, or it’ll all be gone by lunchtime.”
Noah grinned. “That’s what I told Mrs. Murphy, so the cook made a double batch.”
She tugged on the brim of his cap. “How’d you get to be so thoughtful?”
“Pa says to always think about someone else’s needs first. I don’t always, but I try.”
“And you do a darn good job. So are you ready to go on a dinosaur hunt?” Amber asked.
“Sure am. Pa gave me a notebook just like yours this morning, so I could draw pictures and make notes to write my school report.”
She didn’t know if she was more touched that Daniel bought his son a special notebook for their adventure, or worried that the identical notebook was an attempt to forge a stronger bond between Noah and the woman Daniel might want to be his son’s new mother.
Amber linked arms with her sister, and together they walked outside where two carriages stood waiting. One driver was tasked with taking Connor and Olivia to the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad station at 19th and Wynkoop Streets, and the other to take Amber, Rick, Noah, and Ripley to the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad station at Sixth and Walnut Streets.
As the carriage carrying Olivia and Conner took a different turn and disappeared, Amber had the strangest sensation that the roads she and her sister were traveling would take them not only to different destinations, but to different spiritual ones as well.
She tried to smooth the unwanted emotions from her mind and heart as she might smooth folds from a new geological survey, but they kept crinkling up again. She settled back in her seat, every breath a struggle. Today was one of the biggest days of her life—to be in Morrison when dinosaur bones were first discovered. The joy, however, seemed to be slipping away, moment by agonizing moment.
40
1878 Morrison, Colorado—Amber
The locomotive steamed, hot breath coiling from the smokestacks, out of the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad Station at ten o’clock. The train was surprisingly noisy clattering down the tracks, hurtling through the morning. The drawing
room style Pullman car Rick rented for the day smelled of new carpet and wood polish. Red velvet wallpaper covered the walls and a Persian carpet covered the floor. Tasseled silk blinds were discreetly lowered in the event they wanted privacy. Amber raised them to let in the sun. At the far end of the carriage, a washroom gleamed with polished brass.
They were riding in style.
Rick sat in one of the two large armchairs, legs crossed, reading one of several newspapers he’d bought at the station. Ripley slept close by on the carpeted floor. She and Noah sat side by side on the sofa across from Rick, journals in hand.
“This is beautiful,” she said, “but why’d you spend so much money for a forty-five-minute train ride? This is more excessive than the private stagecoach.”
“There was no room available in the semi-private car we traveled in yesterday, and I refused to allow you and Noah to ride in a rattling train with cinders and ashes sifting through windows. You would have coughed all the way to Morrison.”
“Okay, but the cost is going on my tab, along with the private stagecoach, cabs, wardrobe, dining out, and incidentals.”
“Good luck with that,” Rick said.
“Where are we going when we get to Morrison?” Noah asked.
“I have a list of sections along the hogback, plus one non-dinosaur site called the Dakota Ridge Trail that I think we should visit, if we have enough time. The trail is a six-point-five-mile loop with incredible views of the red sandstone formations.” Growing up, she’d biked the trail several times and wondered about its origin. Was it an old mining trail or Indian trail? So far, she hadn’t found anyone who knew. After today, she’d have a better idea.
Noah looked up from his journal, clicking his pencil back and forth between his teeth. “Rick, did you fight for the Union or the Confederacy? I asked Pa, but he didn’t know.”
Rick made a show of folding the newspaper and tossing it on the side table, signaling to Noah that he had Rick’s full attention. “I fought for my country, for the Marines, for my family, and for Lady Liberty. Does that answer your question?”
For an instant Noah look confused, then he asked, “But was that for the North or the South?”
The Amber Brooch: Time Travel Romance (The Celtic Brooch Book 8) Page 47
