Winds of Time

by Zoe Matthews

  Collins also stood and took one of her hands in his own. “I know the man wants the keys, but I do think it will be okay to continue with our plans to visit with them. They are safe in the cave. We will visit with the Callaghan’s and retrieve the keys just before we are ready to come back to Denver.”

  Victoria felt relieved at Collins’ words. She had been looking forward to this trip for the last few months. Kimberly and Nicky treated her and Collins like honorary grandparents and she loved the idea of thinking of them as family. She thoroughly enjoyed having Keegan stay with them during the winter months and she had learned to love him like a son. Now that the school year was ending, she was looking forward to seeing the rest of her new family.

  She felt bad that she hadn’t followed the man’s instructions about the key, but she admitted to herself that she didn’t regret it. Those keys had brought her a family.

  ****

  The evening that Bridget went to the cave found the rest of her family gathered around the kitchen table eating leftover stew she had prepared, with the last loaf of bread.

  “I hope Bridget is alright,” Nicky commented as she sliced the bread. “I thought she’d be back a few hours ago.”

  Shaun glanced at Nicky. “I’m a bit worried. We shouldn’t have sent her on her own.”

  “She knows these mountains like the back of her hand,” Patrick commented as he helped Richard eat a spoonful of stew.

  “What if she ran into a bear?” Kimberly asked with worry in her voice, remembering her own run-in with a mother bear the summer she’d first arrived at the ranch.

  Colleen gasped with fear and turned to Shaun. “Have you seen bears around the ranch, Pa?”

  Shaun shook his head. “I haven’t seen any sign of bears this spring. Don’t worry, honey. Bridget is fine. She probably just decided to take the long way home.”

  “Maybe she went to visit my Indian village,” Colleen said.

  “Could have,” Shaun agreed, although he knew that if Bridget had plans to visit Colleen’s Indian family, she would have told them. It made sense, though, for the cave was located close to where the Indians spent their summers, and he knew the Indians had returned from their winter grounds just a week prior.

  After dinner was cleaned up, Patrick and Shaun went to the barn to finish some chores. The brothers had made an agreement with each other that if Bridget didn’t show up within the next hour, one of them would start searching for her. An hour later, while Shaun was saddling his horse, Colleen ran into the barn clutching a piece of paper in her hand.

  “Pa, look what I found,” Colleen said as she thrust the paper into Shaun’s hands.

  Shaun took the paper and opened it. “It’s a note from Bridget.” He scanned the letter and then gave it to Patrick with a sigh. “Where did you find this?”

  “Under Aunt Bridget’s pillow,” Colleen said breathlessly. “I know I wasn’t supposed to snoop. I went into her room to get a new reading book she’d promised me. I saw that she didn’t tuck her pillow under her quilt like she usually does when she makes her bed. I went to do that and found it.”

  “Did you show it to Nicky or Kimberly?” Shaun asked.

  Colleen shook her head as Patrick crumpled the paper angrily. “I can’t believe she’d do that!”

  “Do what, Pa?” Colleen asked curiously.

  “You didn’t read it?” Shaun asked incredulously. He had a hard time believing her curiosity didn’t get the better of her.

  “No, I didn’t. I promise. It had your and Uncle Patrick’s names on it.”

  Shaun turned his attention to his brother. “I’m not surprised.”

  Patrick frowned at him before looking at Colleen. “Maybe you should go help Kimberly with the babies.”

  Shaun could tell Colleen wanted to argue, but in the end, she skipped off towards Patrick’s home, excited with the idea of playing with Richard and Katherine for a few hours.

  After Colleen left, Patrick looked at Shaun. “Did you know she was going to leave like this?”

  Shaun shook his head and started to brush a new horse he had been training over the winter. Its new owner was scheduled to come purchase him in a few days and Shaun wanted to make sure the horse was ready for him. “Of course, I didn’t know. But you must admit, she has been asking quite a few questions over the last month about the future and about the keys. Nicky and Kimberly have been more than happy to give her the answers.”

  Patrick continued to frown. “Bridget has always been so level-headed. She has never wanted to leave the ranch. I remember right before Kimberly came I suggested to her that she go live in Denver and get a job in a restaurant. That way she might be able to meet someone, a man who would want her as his wife. She absolutely refused, saying she was perfectly happy to live on the ranch for the rest of her days.”

  “Obviously, she changed her mind,” Shaun drawled. Even though he was trying to say anything to calm Patrick down, he was very concerned about Bridget.

  What if the keys didn’t work? What if she didn’t make it to Nicky’s home? Nicky had explained to him that Justin was supposed to go through her belongings and then rent her home to someone else. What if this had already happened and Bridget just appeared in some stranger’s home? Would she be able to quickly return to their time, or would it put her in danger?

  “I wish she had just told us what she wanted to do and not sneak off like this,” Patrick muttered.

  “And what would you have told her if she had? Would you have supported her idea?”

  “Are you saying you would have supported her going to the future?” Patrick demanded angrily.

  Shaun sighed. “No. I would have been just against it as you are. I’m just saying I’m not surprised she used the keys.”

  Both brothers were silent for a few minutes, each thinking his own thoughts. Shaun came to the conclusion that they needed to go to the cave to see if Bridget had taken both keys when he heard footsteps coming into the barn.

  “Colleen just told us that Bridget is gone and that she left a note,” Nicky said breathlessly. “Is that true?”

  “Did she go to Denver by herself?” Kimberly asked. “I was wondering if she was having a hard time being here, now that you both have married.”

  “Did everyone see the signs except me that she was no longer happy here?” Patrick wondered with a groan.

  Shaun stepped closer to Nicky. “She used the keys to go to your home, Nicky.”

  “What do you mean?” Nicky questioned with concern.

  Kimberly saw the crumpled sheet of paper on the floor of the barn and bent to pick it up. She quickly read it and then handed it to Nicky.

  “Oh, no,” Nicky said with disbelief.

  “I think someone needs to go to the cave to see if she left one of the keys. If she did, maybe one of us can go and bring her back.”

  “We should have just gotten rid of those keys,” Patrick told everyone. “We shouldn’t have kept them. They are too dangerous to have around.”

  “The keys are what brought us together,” Kimberly reminded him. “And Nicky and Shaun. They aren’t dangerous, just powerful. I do agree, though, that we shouldn’t keep them.”

  Nicky also slowly nodded her head in agreement. “I agree. Once we have both keys in this time, we need to give them back to Victoria. Maybe she and Collins can figure out a way to hide them, for good.”

  ****

  Late May, 2007

  Bridget woke up to the sun shining through the open drapes. At first, everything looked strange and she couldn’t remember where she was, but she quickly recognized the large soft bed she had settled into the night before. She had traveled through time into the future and she had just spent her first night in Nicky’s bed.

  And how soft that bed was. She had never slept so well. If she’d been at her ranch, she would have been up hours ago, cooking breakfast for her family and then making bread that would hopefully last at least two days. But on this first morning in the future, she didn’
t want to get up just yet. She wanted to think about what she had experienced so far.

  She had been very glad to find out she’d made it to Nicky’s townhouse. She knew she had shocked Nicky’s brother, Justin and his son, Garrett, with her sudden appearance, but after they realized who she was, they’d been nice enough. Thankfully, Justin agreed to let her stay in Nicky’s home for the time being, and although they left her alone soon after, she knew Justin would keep an eye out for her.

  After an hour of lazily enjoying Nicky’s bed, she decided she should get up and start her first day in the future. She wanted a bath, but couldn’t figure out exactly how the water for the tub worked, so she decided to just put on the skirt and shirt she had worn from Nicky’s closet. She was hungry so she ate a few slices of bread she had found in the cold box the evening before. The bread was tasteless and she realized that she definitely preferred her own bread. After finding a jar of strawberry jam, she ate three slices even though they didn’t taste very good, but at least she wasn’t hungry anymore.

  Bridget spent the next few hours exploring the townhouse while she waited for Justin to show up. He had said he would come by that day. She just didn’t know what time it would be.

  She walked towards a large bookcase that sat against the wall by the sofa. She marveled at how many books there were. Back at home, she only had a couple of books she read for enjoyment. The rest were for educational purposes. There were also some interesting trinkets on some of the shelves. They reminded her of Keegan’s wood carvings on her mantle place. She felt a pang as she thought of her brother. It had been a long time since she had seen him. He used to spend most his days at the kitchen table, studying while she cooked. They had gotten very close until he started living with Victoria during the school year.

  With a sigh, she moved on to see what else she could learn about the future. She walked into the bathroom and opened the first drawer she came to. There were several things she saw that Bridget could not figure out. There was a colorful stick with bristles on the end. It was so small; she couldn’t imagine it would be good for cleaning anything. She found a couple of small tubes and boxes filled with colored powders. She imagined this was makeup, which she had heard of but never seen before. Having no desire to try it on, she moved on to the next drawer. She was able to find a hairbrush, and figured out how to turn on the water in the sink, and she quickly washed her face and arms, afraid the water would run out if she left it on too long.

  She finally settled down on the comfortable sofa, after experimenting with the large black rectangular box Nicky had called a TV, with a book in her lap. She was thrilled to find a leathered copy of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Carefully opening the book to the first page, she started to read, marveling that her favorite book in 1894 was also available in the future. She could tell the book had been well read, although it had been treated with care. There was a fancy flowered bookmark about half-way through and small square sheets of paper that stuck to the pages were scattered throughout the book, with words written on them. Whoever owned this book had made comments about the book on these papers. She looked more closely at the papers and recognized Nicky’s careful handwriting.

  Bridget was able to read for about an hour when the door opened and Justin walked inside with Garrett right behind him. She was very glad to see him.

  “Hello,” Bridget greeted them both with a smile.

  “It looks like you made it through your first night in the future,” Justin commented with a drawl. “Were you able to figure out something to eat this morning?”

  Bridget tried not to grimace. “I found some bread and jam.”

  Justin nodded and stared at her for a moment. Bridget wondered what he was thinking. He probably thought she was crazy to have left her time for his, just for an adventure. Was he going to insist she return to the ranch as soon as possible? She noticed that he looked at her skirt. Did he recognize that it was Nicky’s?

  Justin’s hair looked wet like he had just taken a bath and a lock of dark blond hair fell over his eyes. Bridget suddenly had an irresistible urge to push the hair back in place and she gripped the book in her hands to keep herself from following through with her urge. Bridget noticed all over again that Justin was the most handsome man she had ever met.

  “What do you want to do today?” he asked as he settled himself down beside her.

  Bridget looked at him in surprise. Did he really want her to decide?

  Taking him at his word, she made a quick decision. “I would like to take a walk and see what your life is like in 2007. Maybe go to a restaurant or go to a store.”

  Garrett spoke up with excitement. “I can show you lots of things; my school, the park where I play soccer, and we can eat at Nicky’s favorite restaurant. Then afterwards we can…”

  “That sounds like a full day just doing some of those things,” Justin interrupted his son with a grin. “Maybe we should give her a choice of what she wants to do.”

  “What Garrett suggested sounds fun,” Bridget said as she smiled at the boy.

  “Are you really from 1893? Do you live with Nicky and Kimberly? Why can’t they come and visit like you did?” Garrett asked.

  “Well, I am actually from 1894 now. I live on a ranch that is in the mountains about 30 miles outside of Denver. Nicky and Kimberly live there. They married my two older brothers. They can’t come and visit because it wouldn’t be safe. What if they came and couldn’t return?” Bridget asked him.

  “Yeah, just like you might not be able to go back to your time.” Justin looked straight at Bridget when he said those words and she looked away for a moment.

  “I needed to see what is out there besides my world,” she said as she looked back at him.

  He looked at her for a moment and then nodded. “Well, we don’t know how long you are going to be here, so we might as well make this day the best one you could possibly have in the future.” He clapped his hands and then ruffled Garrett’s hair.

  The next few hours were the best Bridget had spent in a long time. Justin offered to drive her around, but when she saw the cars, trucks and other vehicles drive by so fast, she decided she’d rather walk. The building Nicky’s townhouse was in was surrounded by other buildings that looked just the same. There were small play yards where children played between each building and Bridget was pleased to see children were the same in her time and in the future. They ran and yelled as they played, enjoying being outside.

  As they moved along a busy street, Bridget was glad she had opted to walk as the vehicles sped by her. She marveled that the people who operated the vehicles knew where to go and didn’t crash into each other. Justin tried to explain the rules of driving, but she didn’t understand them. She didn’t see any horses or wagons and quickly discovered that the only people who rode horses were those who lived outside the cities.

  They ate at a Mexican restaurant and Bridget discovered she loved the food. It was the first real meal she had eaten since she arrived. She loved the chips and salsa. Garrett suggested she order the beef enchiladas which she thoroughly enjoyed.

  After lunch, Justin took her to what he called a shopping mall. She discovered that it was a huge building that housed many smaller stores, although she couldn’t call most of the stores small. Justin offered to buy her something that she could take back to the ranch with her and she opted to purchase a leather journal and fancy pen.

  After spending a few hours in the mall, they decided to head back to Nicky’s townhouse. They walked leisurely along while Garrett acted like a tour guide, telling Bridget everything that he thought she should know about the future. She could tell he thoroughly enjoyed being able to show her his world.

  They entered the townhouse and Bridget felt cool air blow on her face. When she commented on it, Garrett proceeded to explain to her about air conditioning and then something called a furnace that heated the air in homes during the winter. She started to feel very overwhelmed and sat down on the sofa and closed her
eyes.

  “Did we wear you out?” Justin asked with a grin.

  Bridget shook her head. “There is just so much to learn. It’s making my head spin.”

  Garrett turned his attention to the TV, and Bridget watched silently as he turned it on and started to play with a device that moved figures on the screen. She watched fascinated for a moment before Justin sat down on the sofa next to her.

  “Can I ask you a question?” he asked as he looked intently at her.

  Bridget nodded, wondering again what he was thinking.

  “If I can arrange for Garrett to spend the evening with a friend, would you be willing to go out with me?”

  “Go out with you?” Bridget asked, confused at the term.