by Zoe Matthews
“Can I ask you a personal question?”
“Of course.”
“Why haven’t you married? I know that most women your age are married in your time, aren’t they?”
Colleen suddenly felt very uncomfortable, and she wasn’t sure how honest she should be. It was true that most of the girls she had gone to school with when she was a teenager were now married. Most of them had at least one child.
“I don’t know if I will ever marry,” Colleen confessed.
“Why not?” Megan looked shocked. “You are a very beautiful woman. I’m surprised you don’t at least have someone you are dating.”
“Dating?” Colleen asked, confused at the term.
“Courting, I guess you’d call it.”
Colleen looked down at her hands. How could she tell Megan the real reason why most men in her time tended to avoid courting her? She decided to be upfront.
“Most men aren’t interested in me because I’m half Indian.”
Megan almost looked shocked at Colleen’s explanation, but then understanding flooded her face.
“Well, you will find that in this time that will generally not be a problem for you.”
Colleen remembered Garrett telling her the same thing a few times. She had had a hard time believing it, but now Megan was saying the same thing.
“There are a few people who are prejudiced, but there are actually many biracial couples; black and white will marry, Hispanic and Indian. It is very common to see in this time.”
“I did notice that no one looked at me strangely when I was at the library today. When I needed to rent a hotel room, I didn’t have any problem doing so.”
Colleen knew that this was one reason she enjoyed being around Garrett. He didn’t care she was half Indian. In fact, as he grew older, he would often compliment her, especially when she wore a dress that offset her dark features.
“In fact, you might be interested to know that we no longer refer to your race as Indian. You are called a Native American, because your people were here in America long before white people ever arrived.”
Megan repeated the new term to herself. Native Americans. She liked the sound of it. It was much better than half Indian or even half-breed, which she had sometimes been called.
Keegan entered the room holding a few bags. Colleen could tell there was food in them because of the aroma. She watched almost enviously as he greeted Megan with a long kiss.
“I brought home dinner,” Keegan said as he held up the bags. “Fried chicken.”
Megan looked relieved. “Oh, thank you. I wasn’t in the mood to make dinner and was trying to decide what to fix when Colleen came home from the library.”
Keegan turned to her with a smile of greeting. “Did you have success finding anything about Garrett?”
Colleen shook her head. “No, but I did find something else that might interest everyone. I can tell you about it during dinner.”
Megan stood. “I’ll go make a garden salad really quickly to go with the chicken.”
“I can help as soon as I clean up,” Colleen offered.
She went to her room and looked longingly at the dress she had brought with her hanging in the closet. She had been wearing some of Megan’s pants, and they were a bit bigger than the ones Kimberly had given her, but Colleen was still uncomfortable in them. She made a mental note to ask Megan about the dresses she mentioned.
Within a few minutes, the three of them sat down at the kitchen table to eat. After Keegan offered a prayer on the food, Colleen filled her plate with chicken, salad, mashed potatoes and gravy, and something Megan called coleslaw.
Colleen enjoyed the meal, but was bothered by the article she had read. She wanted to see what everyone else thought.
“While I was at the library, I found an article about Justin right after they had all traveled back in time.”
Everyone stopped eating, captivated. Keegan leaned forward with curiosity and a little concern. “What did it say?”
“Just that they went missing. They had linked the disappearance with Justin’s parents and Nicky a year before. The police were baffled. They found Justin’s car up by the trail the portal is at and figured they got lost and died while hiking.”
Relief was apparent on Keegan’s and Megan’s faces. “So, they weren’t suspicious at all?”
“It sounded like they were, but they didn’t have a clue as to what actually happened.”
“It would be interesting to see if they did any follow up articles about them,” Megan commented as she started eating again.
Colleen scowled. Reading the article and talking about it so much had brought back memories of when she realized that the tribe she was born into would never come back. Worry, hurt and confusion clouded her mind every time she thought about her grandma and uncle.
She hadn’t seen them for years and never planned on seeing them again. Would she end up feeling the same way about Garrett? Sadness hung over her as she lost her appetite.
She poked at her food, while she thought, not realizing that Megan and Keegan had finished their food, while hers was barely touched.
Megan touched her arm. “I will do whatever I can to help you find him, I promise.”
Tears pricked her eyes, and she tried to blink them away. “Thank you.” She stood up. “Do you mind if I head to bed?”
“Of course not. Just let us know if you need anything,” Megan said with concern in her eyes.
Colleen headed up the stairs to her room and curled up on the bed. She had to come up with a better way to search for Garrett. But how?
Chapter 10
The next day Megan woke up with renewed energy and offered to go to the library with Colleen. Megan had clearly thought about ways to find Garrett, and she directed them to a website that helped find people’s phone numbers and addresses. Colleen didn’t say much, preferring to stay quiet so Megan could concentrate.
After about ten minutes, Colleen was about to ask Megan how it was going when she spoke first. “Okay, so I have four different Garretts I think could be him. Only three are connected with phone numbers; let me write them down, and we can call them to see if they are the one we are looking for.”
Excitement coursed through Colleen. “That was really fast!”
The look on Megan’s face was less than excited. “I wouldn’t get my hopes up too high. There are a lot of people in Denver, and there is a chance that Garrett may have even moved to a different city. Keegan tried this before, and it didn’t help him at all.”
Colleen tried to tell herself to calm down but was too hopeful. She just had a feeling that this was going to work out; traveling to the future couldn’t be for nothing.
The two of them went home and fixed sandwiches for lunch. Colleen wanted to wait to eat and try calling the numbers first, but Megan’s pregnant stomach had other ideas. After they both ate quickly, Megan grabbed her phone and started to make the calls. Colleen waited anxiously while Megan blocked her own number from being seen on the other person’s phone - Colleen didn’t care enough to ask what that even meant - and dialed the first number.
“Hello, is this Garrett?” Megan asked.
Colleen could only hear one side of the conversation, but she could tell by the look on Megan’s face that she immediately knew this wasn’t our Garrett.
“Oh, yes. Sorry, sir. Okay, sir. Thank you.” Colleen could hear someone yelling in the background as Megan quickly hung up. “That was one grumpy old man.”
“Here, try another one.” Colleen insisted, not wanting to give up hope. She started picturing seeing Garrett again. What would he do? Would he be happy she found him or be upset that she was invading his privacy?
Megan dialed, and after a few seconds she hung up. “That number is no longer in service.”
Again, Colleen didn’t understand what Megan was saying, but she trusted her enough not to ask questions.
“There is one more. Cross your fingers,” Megan said with a sigh.
Colleen held her breath.
“Hello, is this Garrett? … Yes, hi this is Megan from the Denver Tribune. I just have a couple questions regarding your satisfaction of your current residence. This should only take a minute.” Megan began using the script they had previously talked about using to make sure this was the right person. Colleen’s heart was practically soaring. “How long have you currently been living at your home? Yes, one year. Perfect. Are you married? You are? Wonderful.”
Megan kept up her cheerful voice, but shot a surprised look at Colleen. Just as quickly as the excitement flooded her, Colleen’s heart dropped. Had he already found someone to marry? Disappointment overwhelmed her at the lost possibility of marrying Garrett. She was also somewhat surprised at her disappointment; she hadn’t even considered marriage an option for a long time.
“And do you have children? You do. How old are they?”
Colleen tried to push her disappointment aside. He was married and already had children. He must have really found someone he loved, and so quickly too. Although how could have he become a father to more than one child so quickly?
“Okay. Thank you for your time, Garrett.” Megan said as she hung up the phone. “That wasn’t him.”
Colleen was so confused at the whirlwind of emotions, she couldn’t even decipher what she was really feeling. “How do you know?”
“His children were twelve, nine, and five years old,” Megan stated.
“Oh.” Was all she could say, as relief flooded through her.
“So, it looks like we are back to the drawing board. We can try again tomorrow,” Megan said with a sigh. “If you don’t mind, I need a break. I’m going to go try to take a nap.” She slid off the chair, and hobbled up the stairs, muttering about babies keeping their mother’s awake before they were even born.
Colleen couldn’t sit still. She was so confused at all the emotions she had felt in the last hour: hope, excitement, disappointment, a little hurt, and finally despair. How were they ever going to find Garrett?
Chapter 11
Over the next couple of days, Megan walked with Colleen to the library every morning. She started to give a more in-depth explanation of how to search for Garrett herself. Once Colleen started to feel more confident, Megan decided she would start staying at home again. She could feel her Braxton Hicks contractions stronger, and she was a little nervous about going into labor before the baby was ready to be born.
One day Colleen went to the library on her own and did her best to search for Garrett herself. She had tried several different websites that were supposed to find people, and none of them offered any new results. She finally got fed up with searching for Garrett. He had somehow managed to hide from the entire world. Keegan was right; Garrett did not want to be found.
With a sigh, she started closing down the computer. She stopped herself at the last second and thought for a moment. There was so much knowledge available to her with this computer. Couldn’t she search for her tribe to find out what happened to them?
Colleen hesitated; she then typed in the name of her tribe: Mauache. She held her breath as the pages loaded, and she clicked on the first one that seemed to have a lot of information. As she read, shock and anger coursed through her. She had no idea through her childhood that her family and entire tribe had been threatened with being forcibly removed. She kept reading about the fifty-year war and how her tribe had eventually been forced to move to a “headquarters” in 1895, which was the year she had noticed her family wasn’t traveling to their summer grounds.
They were supposed to be given land, but most of it was sold to other people who had the money to buy it. She scrolled through the page, reading more, and seeing sketches of what had happened to Native Americans all through the 1800s and early 1900s.
Colleen’s tears finally grew too thick to read, so she shut down the computer, and left the library with her head down. She had never realized just how lucky she had been to grow up with Shaun as her father. If she had stayed with her tribe, she would have been an outcast for being half white, and she would have been forced out of her home to live somewhere unfamiliar to her. The injustice of what happened shocked her and made her all the angrier at the people who would glare at her back in the Denver she knew. How dare they look down on her, when people like them were the ones forcing her family to live somewhere else!
She finally stumbled back to the house, and was able to make it up the stairs and into her room without being noticed. She lay in her bed thinking of everything she had learned.
She should never have come here. This knowledge was not meant for her. She was so blissfully ignorant at everything around her a couple of weeks ago. Now, she knew things that she could never forget. Tears fell down her cheeks until she finally fell into a restless sleep.
****
The next evening, Colleen poked at her food during dinner. She hadn’t left the house that day. She knew she wasn’t going to find Garrett, and she couldn’t shake off the knowledge of what happened to her family. She had stayed at home, in her room, for most of the day.
After hearing the concerned questions from Keegan and Megan, she had finally agreed to join them for dinner. As she stared at her food in thought, she heard a loud bell ring through the house, and jumped.
Megan grinned at her response to the bell. “That’s the doorbell. Someone is at the door.”
“I’ll go see who it is,” Keegan offered as he stood. “You guys keep eating.”
Colleen lost interest in who the person at the door might be as she got lost in thought. She had been looking for Garrett for a week, with absolutely nothing to show for it. Maybe Keegan was right, and she should just go home. She could have sworn that she heard Garrett’s voice. Was she now hearing him because she wanted to find him so badly?
“Megan! Colleen! Come see who’s finally shown himself!” Keegan called.
Megan walked from the kitchen as quickly as she could, considering her advanced pregnancy, but Colleen followed more slowly. She was afraid to hope it really was Garrett. When she entered the living room, she stood in shock, almost not believing her eyes. It was Garrett! He was hugging Megan, but his eyes were on her, and he looked almost as shocked as she felt.
“Colleen?” Garrett asked in disbelief. “You are here? In my time?”
Colleen just nodded her head, standing there looking at him for a moment as intense feelings flooded through her at the sight of him. He looked so good! She ran to him and practically jumped into his arms, and they held each other for a long moment. She was so glad to know that he was okay, and he was doing well. Nothing had happened to him. Tears pricked her eyes as joy and other emotions she couldn’t even name flooded through her. She didn’t ever want to let go, but she also knew it wouldn’t look good if she kept hugging him so closely, so she stepped back reluctantly. They looked into each other’s eyes and for a moment everything in the room faded as they silently communicated. Colleen knew that Garrett could read her feelings for him, and his eyes widened in understanding. Then he smiled softly at her and her heart did a flip in her chest.
“It’s so good to see you,” Garrett told her, and she smiled back.
“We are just sitting down to eat. Why don’t you join us?” Keegan offered. “You can catch us up on what you’ve been doing for the last 15 months while we eat.”
“Oh, I don’t want to impose,” Garrett said. “I can talk to you while you eat. I didn’t realize it was dinnertime, or I would have waited a few hours to show up on your doorstep.”
“It’s not an imposition,” Megan argued. “Come on. There’s plenty.”
Garrett finally agreed and soon the four of them were sitting around the kitchen table. Colleen couldn’t take her eyes off of him. He had filled out and looked like he was in the sun a lot, even though it was November, and there was snow on the ground. His hair was cut short, no more than an inch long all over, with the top standing on end. He seemed so happy and content. She could immediate
ly tell that he was very comfortable in the future, in his time.
“Why are you here, Colleen?” Garrett asked her.
“To find you. Uncle Justin and the rest of the family were very concerned about you. We searched for you for three days, and we finally figured out that you had found the portal and figured out how to use it. When we never heard from you, your dad was going to come try to find you, but I volunteered instead.”
Surprise and then regret flooded his features as Colleen gave a brief description of what had happened in her time.
“Why haven’t you contacted us, Garrett?” Keegan asked. “You’ve been in this time long enough to be able to find us.”