by Zoe Matthews
He wondered what the chances were that if he went to Victoria’s house, there would be some letters sitting on her desk from Nicky. If there were, maybe his parents would believe him if he could show them an actual letter from her.
After dropping Garrett off at school, he headed towards Victoria’s house. He glanced at his car’s clock as he drove, hoping he would get there quickly. He had a meeting with a company in a few hours who wanted to purchase his more popular video games.
He smiled to himself as he thought about the specific games in which the company was interested. They were all fantasy games. Sometimes he felt like he was living in a fantasy game, with Nicky and Kimberly using golden keys to travel back in time. Maybe he should consider creating a time travel video game.
He chuckled to himself as he pulled into Victoria’s driveway. He sat in his car for a moment and wondered how it was that this house never seemed to change. The wrap-around porch was still there, along with the gazebo. Even the large windows on the front of the house were still clean. He got out of his car, locked it behind him, and walked down a path that led behind the house. He remembered that Nicky had entered the house through a back door that seemed to be always unlocked, at least for her. Maybe it would be unlocked for him.
Justin breathed a sigh of relief as he tried the door, found that it indeed was unlocked, and he let himself in. As he did so, he wondered what would happen if someone was in the house. Essentially, he was breaking and entering. He spent a few minutes slowly going through the house to ensure he was alone, then headed towards the office where Nicky had shown him how she had exchanged letters with Shaun the year before.
He held his breath as he entered the room and looked at the oak desk that sat in the middle of the room. A grin stretched across his face as he saw a small stack of letters with a gold key sitting on top of them. Striding to the desk, he picked up the letters and saw Nicky’s familiar writing on the front of the top envelope. Another golden key sat on the desk that had been underneath the envelopes. He shuffled through the letters and saw Nicky’s and Kimberly’s writing on two of them. He also saw that one envelope was addressed to their parents.
Good, he thought to himself. Maybe Nicky would be able to clear up this whole mess with those letters.
There was one last letter with his name on it, but he didn’t recognize the writing. Who else had written him? Maybe it was another one from Kimberly, although it didn’t look like her handwriting.
He wanted to sit down and read the letters right then, but some instinct made him realize he needed to leave the house and read them later. Who knew if someone had seen him go into the house? He stuffed the envelopes into his back pocket and started to leave the room. At the last second, he had a sudden strong feeling that he should take the keys with him, so he picked them up off of the desk and slipped them into a deep pocket of his jacket.
He left the house, quickly got into his car, and drove off. He didn’t see a man who slipped out behind a tree and sneaked into the house.
Justin spent the rest of the day in meetings with the men who wanted to purchase rights to some of his games, finally leaving the building close to the time he normally needed to pick up Garrett. His mother had agreed to pick Garrett up from school. Even if she was still frustrated with Justin for telling them about time travel, she wouldn’t ever say no to an opportunity to spend time with her grandson.
Justin was pleased with the outcome of the meeting, but he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to sign off all control of his games. The amount of money they were offering was enough that, if invested carefully, he could live off of it for the rest of his life. But one of the stipulations was that if he created any new games, the new company would have the rights to it. Did he really want to give up all control?
Throughout the day, the unopened letters sat in his briefcase, and he wished he could at least find out who wrote the letter with the unfamiliar writing. He finally shoved the letters behind a pad of paper, hoping that out of sight really did mean out of mind, and forced himself to focus on the rest of the meeting. He couldn’t afford to be distracted; he needed to know exactly what the terms of this contract were.
At the end of the day, he made arrangements to meet with the company in a few days, giving himself time to think about what he really wanted, and to give his attorney time to look over the sale agreement.
Once he arrived at his parents’ house, he parked in his usual spot under a large shade tree. Letting himself into the house, he noticed first thing that it was quiet, which likely meant Garrett was in the family room playing a game. He headed that direction, hoping his mother was able to get Garrett to do his homework before he started a video game.
He was grateful for the close relationship his son had with his parents. He couldn’t have raised Garrett on his own as an 18-year-old young man just graduated from high school. Nicky had also helped quite a bit, especially as she grew older, and he knew Garrett missed her. He was starting to ask hard questions about the whereabouts of his Aunt Nicky, and even Kimberly. Justin knew he would someday need to tell Garrett the truth about where they were, but he also wasn’t sure if Garrett would be able to understand the significance of keeping time travel a secret.
His mother looked up from her crocheting as he entered the room and gave him a small smile, but she didn’t say anything. Justin knew she was letting him know she was still upset and concerned about Nicky and Kimberly. He bent down and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“Hello, Mom,” he said as he sat down beside her. “Thanks for picking up Garrett from school.”
“You know I love having him here,” his mother responded as her fingers continued to crochet the blanket she was working on.
“Garrett, are you about ready to go home?” he asked his son.
Garrett turned around and grinned at his dad, some of his blond hair falling into his eyes, reminding Justin that he needed to get his son to a barber for a haircut.
“Hi, Dad. Can I play for a few more minutes? If I quit now, I’ll get a penalty.”
Justin nodded. “Ten minutes.”
He watched with fondness as Garrett grinned at him again and then turned his attention to the game. Justin looked at his mother and made an instant decision. “I just received a letter from Nicky. Would you like to read it?”
His mother looked at him sharply. “And I assume it miraculously came from 1893?”
He glanced at Garrett and was glad to see Garrett was too involved in his game to hear his grandmother’s words.
“Yes, but I don’t want to talk about it here. Can we go into the kitchen?”
For a moment, he wondered if his mother was going to refuse, but then she nodded and set the blanket aside. She rose and followed him out of the room. Justin let Garrett know where he would be and then ran out to his car to grab the letters out of his briefcase.
“Where’s Dad?” he asked his mother as he entered the kitchen. If he was around, he wanted them both to see the letters.
“He’s out in the garden, as usual,” his mother told him.
Justin slid onto a chair and gave his mom one of Nicky’s letters. He watched as she slowly took it from him. She looked at Nicky’s handwriting on the envelope. Justin saw tears form in her eyes and he sat back in his chair, putting two fingers on the bridge of his nose.
Again, he felt anger towards his sister for leaving him with this mess to deal with. It wasn’t just his parents who wondered where Nicky was. A few of her friends had come to his townhouse asking questions. What in the world was he supposed to tell them?
His mother slowly opened the envelope and took out the letter. She started to read and, as she read, tears slid down her cheeks. Nicky had clearly written a long letter; there were several sheets of paper. He set the others on the table and slipped from the room to go find his dad.
He left the house and headed towards the vegetable garden his dad kept at the back of their property. He could see his dad bending over, picking large
tomatoes and placing them in a box at his feet. His dad loved gardening and spend most of the summer months tending to his plants. He even grew some vegetables during the winter in a small greenhouse he had designed.
“Hi, son,” his father greeted him with a huge smile as he approached. No matter how mad his dad got, he was still able to remember the fondness the two had for each other. “How was your meeting?”
“It went well. I’m still thinking about things, though. I’m not sure I want to give up total control over my games.”
His father nodded his understanding. The next few minutes were spent in small talk about the garden and Justin’s meeting.
“I got some letters from Nicky and Kimberly today. Mom is reading one of them right now.”
His dad’s eyes darkened. “I don’t understand any of this. You must know how upset your mother is. Why can’t you just tell us where she really is?”
“Why don’t you take a break?” Justin suggested as he suddenly remembered he had both gold keys in his pocket. Maybe it would help them understand if he showed them the keys. “Come and read the letters.”
His father hesitated, but eventually nodded. He placed a few more tomatoes in the box, picked it up, and carried it over to where several boxes were sitting on the grass in the shade, all full of produce picked from the garden.
They went inside together and found his mother clutching Nicky’s letter in her hands, weeping.
“Oh, honey,” his father murmured, placing his arms around her in comfort. He glared at Justin.
Justin looked at his father with honest, sympathetic eyes, trying to get him to understand that he hated this as much as they did. Justin handed his father the letter Nicky had written to him.
Justin picked up the other letters and decided to open the envelope with the unfamiliar handwriting while his father read Nicky’s letter.
After pulling the paper out of the envelope, he turned it over to see who signed it and was surprised to see the name of Bridget. He knew Nicky’s husband, Shaun, had a younger sister named Bridget. He could only assume this letter was from her. Why would she be writing him? Curiously, he began to read.
Dear Justin,
Nicky and Kimberly are busy writing letters to you in hopes that the keys will still work in the cave the same way they worked before. I thought it would be fun to write you also.
My name is Bridget Callaghan. I am Patrick’s and Shaun’s younger sister. I live on the ranch with my brothers, Nicky and Kimberly, and my brother’s children. It has been fun having Nicky and Kimberly join the family and especially fun being an aunt to Richard and Katherine. I can imagine you miss Kimberly and Nicky now that they have come to our ranch.
Life is busy here. It is fall and most of my time is spent harvesting the vegetables and canning them for winter. I also help Shaun’s daughter, Colleen, with her schooling. I used to help my younger brother, Keegan, with his schooling, but he is now attending school in Denver. Since it takes so long to get from our ranch to Denver, and it is especially difficult in the winter due to the snow, he is living with Victoria and her new husband, Collins.
If you would like to write back, I would love to hear from you. I expect this winter to be a long one and would like a different distraction. I would love to hear what your life is like. Nicky and Kimberly have explained some of what their life in the future was like. They mentioned you have a job in making games, on a machine they called a computer? I am not sure what that means, but would love to hear more about it. Shaun has even talked about what he saw when he went to get Nicky from your time. I am sure you would have a refreshingly different description of the future.
Sincerely,
Bridget
Justin smiled as he set the letter aside. He didn’t know what to think of getting a letter from Bridget. He hoped she wasn’t writing him with the idea that he would also go back to 1893, like Nicky and Kimberly had. His place was in 2006, and besides, he had his son to think about. And his parents. He didn’t want to add to their sorrows if he also disappeared.
He glanced at his parents who were sitting next to each other as they read Nicky’s letter together, so he opened the other letter and saw that it was from Kimberly. He enjoyed reading about her life and how much she loved being a mother to her two little ones. She had enclosed a drawing of the babies. They were dressed as babies would have been in the 1890s, both in dresses, although Katherine’s dress was feminine with lace. Kimberly had drawn a mischievous grin on Richard’s face. He set both the letter and the drawing in front of him, knowing his parents would be happy to get a glimpse into Kimberly’s life. Once they accepted the idea of time travel, that is.
“Justin,” his father started to speak, and he glanced up from his letter. “I can’t believe I am saying this, but I’m starting to consider that what you have been telling us may be true. It’s just hard to understand.”
Justin glanced at his mother, who looked at his dad in shock. “But Doug, how can you believe that?”
“Honey, there is no way Nicky could have, or would have, made up what she wrote in her letter. I know you wish everything would go back to the way things were, before Kimberly even answered that confounded ad. But she did, and for whatever reason, they both were able to travel back in time. Maybe there are many things that happen in our world that no one can explain, but somehow they are true... like time travel.”
Justin’s mother picked up Nicky’s letter and started to read it again. Justin was still feeling confused that Bridget had written him, so he sat back, letting his mother have the time she needed before he showed them the keys.
“What letters do you have, son?” his father asked him.
Justin pushed both of them towards his dad. “A letter from Kimberly and another from Bridget.”
“Nicky talked about Bridget in her letter. She is Shaun’s sister, right?” his father asked.
Justin nodded. “I don’t know why she wrote me. I guess she just wanted someone to write.”
His mother looked up sharply. “You aren’t going to write her back, are you? What if she tries to talk you into following Nicky and Kimberly?”
Justin would have smiled if the situation weren’t so serious. Based on his mother’s words, she did believe about time travel, at least a little bit. He shook his head.
“I don’t know if I will even write her back. Go ahead and read it if you want to.”
A few minutes later, all the letters were read and stacked together on the table. Justin decided now was the time to show his parents the keys. Before he could say anything, his father spoke up.
“How did you get these letters?” his father asked. “I doubt they just appeared out of thin air.”
“The same way Nicky communicated with Shaun last winter. She went to Victoria’s home that is located in an older part of Denver. Evidently, this home was built in the 1880s and has been restored, although no one lives there right now. I went to the house this morning to see if there were any letters and found these sitting on a large oak desk, along with these.” Justin pulled both keys out of his pocket and placed them on the table, being careful to not let them touch each other.
After studying the keys for a few moments, his father asked, “Can I pick one up?”
Justin nodded, watching his father carefully as he did so. He knew Doug felt the zing, the vibration of the key, the moment he picked it up.
“Amazing,” his father whispered. “Do both keys vibrate like this?”
Justin nodded again. “I guess when someone holds one of the keys and thinks or says the time period they want to go to and the exact location, the key will take them there. Both keys do the same thing, but they also work together. When Nicky sent these letters to us, she placed one key down, the letters on top of the key, and then placed the second key on top of the letters. Somehow, the keys know to transport the letters to the last location they were at.”
“Do you want to feel it?” his father asked his mother.
S
he shook her head fiercely. “I don’t want anything to do with them.”
Justin looked at her. “If you want to stay in contact with Nicky and Kimberly, you are going to have to trust that what I’m saying is true, Mom. I promise I am telling you the truth. You know I would never make up something like this up, even if I were trying to protect Nicky.”
“Are we ever going to see her again?” his mother asked softly.
Justin shrugged. “I don’t know. To tell you the truth, I am a bit angry with Nicky for putting me in this position, for not telling you about Shaun and the keys herself before she left. I know she was told to be careful who she tells because there is a danger involved with this kind of knowledge. But she left me to deal with this, and I’m not very happy with her. But I can also tell you that I did have a chance to get to know Shaun. I can assure you that he is a good man and he will take care of her. I could tell that he loved her deeply.”