Christmas in Time

by Zoe Matthews

  “I am sorry I haven’t come before now. I did have reasons, good reasons in my mind, but they sound like excuses now.”

  “Tell us what you have been doing,” Megan said, trying to defuse the growing tension in the room.

  Colleen listened silently while Garrett talked about his life in this time. He had worked on a farm for the first summer, trying to earn as much money as he could. Patrick had paid him some wages right before he figured out how to work the portal, so those coins were in his pocket. He was able to sell some of them to coin collectors for quite a bit of money, which helped him until he started to make his own. He was able to get copies of his identification papers that people seemed to need in this time period and was hired on with the company he worked for now building houses. It sounded to Colleen that he worked many hours a day and spent his evenings taking college classes on the computer. He had his own place to live, and he was getting ready to go to college to get a computer science degree.

  The more he talked, the sadder Colleen became, and then she realized that she was also feeling intense anger. It must have shown on her face, because Megan touched her arm.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  Colleen shook her head, as she glared at Garrett. “I’m glad that you’re okay and that nothing bad happened to you. But don’t you realize how many people have been worried about you? It was like you just disappeared off the face of the earth! You could have at least come back to let us know you were okay. It’s been 15 months! Here we were worried and wondering if we would ever see you again, and you were going on with your life like we didn’t even matter. “

  “Colleen…” Garrett started to say, but Colleen continued.

  “No. Don’t say anything. I don’t want to hear excuses. Maybe I’ll be able to listen later, but right now I’m so mad at you I could just…”

  Tears filled her eyes, and she jumped up. Grabbing the coat Megan had lent her from its hook by the back door, she stormed from the house. The door slammed behind her, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t believe how angry she was. Her emotions were so mixed up right now. How could she be so happy to see him, yet so angry with him at the same time?

  Chapter 12

  Garrett looked at the back door with regret, as it slammed behind Colleen. For the first time, he was starting to see what his actions had done to his family. He wished he could go back and do things differently, but it was too late. Now all he could do was try to make amends.

  He looked at Keegan and Megan to see if they were as upset as Colleen was. They didn’t seem angry, but Garrett could still see sadness and questions in both of their eyes. The three of them sat in silence for a few minutes.

  “Why didn’t you try to contact us?” Keegan finally asked the question again. “I really want to know. Did something happen so you couldn’t?”

  Garrett shook his head. “When I first arrived, I couldn’t figure out where Victoria’s house was. When I was able to buy a truck, I did some research and found the house. I even drove there and almost went inside, but in the end, I drove away.”

  “Why?” Megan asked. “Don’t you know you would have been welcomed?”

  “At the time I was struggling to support myself. I didn’t want you guys to feel you had to take care of me. I wanted to prove to myself that I had what it takes to live in this time, my time. It’s been hard, but I’ve done it. I’m not rich by any means, but I’ve saved every spare penny I could. I was able to get my GED. I now have enough money to go to college.”

  “It’s easy to see that you are doing much better in this time,” Keegan commented. “I just wish you would have let us know you were okay. We would have understood if you had wanted to do things your way.”

  “Would you really have?” Garrett asked.

  “Yes, I would have. I don’t think your father would have, but then he’s your father. It’s natural for a parent to want the best for their child, even when that child is really an adult.”

  “I regret now that I didn’t, but I can’t do anything about it. All I can do now is try to fix things.” He looked fiercely at Keegan. “I don’t want to go back through the portal though. I don’t want something to happen to it to make it stop working, like what happened to the keys. I don’t want to be stuck in the early 1900s again.”

  “Megan and I have used it a few times, at least until she became pregnant. The family has used it to come here as well.”

  “But something could happen to make it stop working.”

  Keegan shrugged. “I guess it could. I can understand where you are coming from. Since you ‘disappeared’ we started a ‘mailbox system.’ I had a waterproof stone box made, and it is buried just under the surface of the portal. When we put mail in it, they receive it, and then they send letters to us. If we had known where you were, we could have at least let them know through this system.”

  Garrett sighed. “I don’t know if it will help, but I am sorry. I can now see I should have let you know I was okay.”

  “I know that you weren’t happy living in the early 1900s. I am glad to hear you are doing well in this time.”

  Garrett stood. “I better go after Colleen and apologize to her.” He looked at the back door in concern. “It’s dark out there. Where did she go?”

  “Let her be,” Megan suggested softly.

  “But something could happen to her. She knows nothing of the future. What if she gets lost? What if…?” he stopped at Keegan’s look.

  “Kind of ironic, isn’t it?”

  Garrett knew what Keegan was trying to say. Garrett was concerned about Colleen like she had been about him. He wanted to argue that it was different, but was it really?

  “Colleen has actually done very well since she arrived. She seems very eager to learn all she can,” Megan commented. “She found her way down the mountain from the portal by herself, was able to stay in a hotel, and figured out a way to contact us. She is actually very resourceful and bright.”

  “I still should see if I can find her,” Garrett said with concern.

  “Let her have some time to process things. I think it was a big shock to have you suddenly appear at our door,” Megan advised. “If she doesn’t come back within the hour, Keegan will go after her.”

  Garrett didn’t want to follow Megan’s advice, but in the end, he sat back down to finish his meal. Over the next 30 minutes, he continued to update Keegan and Megan about what he was doing. He could tell Keegan was pleased with what he had accomplished and his plans for his future. He also knew Keegan understood, even though Colleen might not, that he didn’t want to go back to the past. He wondered if that was Colleen’s intent, to find him and drag him back to her time.

  As soon as he finished eating and helped clean up the dishes they used, he left with the promise that he’d be back the next evening. Now that he had finally made contact with his family, he found he wanted to spend some time with them. Megan told him about his mother and her marriage to a man from the early 1800s, and he was eager to hear about that story and meet them. He thought it was very strange that time travel seemed to be such a big part of his family member’s lives, when other people didn’t have that experience, at least as far as he knew.

  He drove to his apartment and went inside. After spending a few minutes signing up for the college classes he wanted to take and paying for the tuition, he opened up his online math class to listen to the current lecture but found he couldn’t concentrate. All he could think about was the shocked look on Colleen’s face when she first saw him. He remembered how she had run to him and they had held each other.

  All of the emotions he’d had for her in 1905 came flooding back. He had never felt like he could act on those emotions; he had been an alcoholic with no steady income. Now, he was supporting himself, he had overcome his addiction, and he was a happier, more caring person. He didn’t know if she would forgive him for hiding himself for the last 15 months, but he knew he would do everything he could to make it up to her. Finall
y, he had a chance to be with the woman he had loved since he was young.

  ****

  The next morning, Garrett called his boss and requested the day off. It had been slow the fast few days, so luckily his boss was fine with it. When he mentioned a member of his family had come for a surprise visit, his boss almost sounded relieved. Garrett knew he worked a lot and clearly never talked about his family. It felt good to know his boss wanted him to have a good home life too.

  Garrett wasn’t sure how long Colleen would stay, so he also mentioned he might ask for more days off that week. Now that she had found him, would she want to immediately return to her time? Garrett didn’t want her to leave so quickly and hoped he would be able to talk her into staying longer. He didn’t think it would be very easy to hike back to the portal anyway.

  On the way to Keegan’s house, he impulsively stopped at a mall. He figured that Colleen was probably wearing some of Megan’s clothes, and he knew that she’d be more comfortable in her own. He decided he’d find her a skirt. He walked into a women’s store, and a saleswoman immediately asked if she could help.

  “Yes,” Garrett responded. “I am looking for a full skirt and a blouse to go with it for a friend of mine.”

  The sales lady, whose name tag on her shirt said she was Sarah, led him over to a rack full of skirts.

  “Do you know what size you need?” Sarah asked.

  Garrett’s mind went blank for a moment since he had no idea. Sarah seemed to sense this, and smiled.

  “How tall is she?” Sarah asked.

  “About this tall,” Garrett said putting his hand on his shoulder. “She is about your size, I think.”

  Sarah nodded. “I can help you pick something out, and then if she doesn’t like it or if it doesn’t fit her, she can come back and exchange it for something else.”

  Garrett nodded in relief. Sarah helped him find a full skirt in a variety of light summer colors that looked long enough that it could touch the floor. She then helped him pick out a light turquoise blouse that matched some of the colors in the skirt. He added a few pairs of socks and a beautiful stone necklace that matched. He knew the clothing he chose would be beautiful against her dark hair and eyes.

  When he was ready to pay for it, he noticed the gift certificate cards sitting near the cash register. “I’ll get one of these, too.”

  He put a few hundred dollars on the card so Colleen could come back and get some more clothing if she wanted to. The sales lady assured him that if Colleen didn’t want to use the card, he could have his money refunded as long as he had his receipt.

  When he arrived at Keegan’s house, Megan answered the door. She seemed to know that he wasn’t there to visit her. After inviting him in, she told him, “Colleen is in her room getting ready for the day.”

  “I would like to talk to her,” Garrett said, clutching the sack of clothes in his hands.

  “I’ll go tell her,” Megan said and left the room for a moment.

  While Garrett waited, he walked around the room and looked at the pictures on the walls. He recognized Keegan and Megan and could tell most of them were wedding pictures. There was also an older woman holding a baby with a tall man standing behind her. It didn’t take Garrett long to figure out that this must be Megan’s mother with her new husband and baby.

  When Megan returned alone, Garrett’s heart dropped. What if Colleen refused to see him?

  “She said she’d be out in a minute,” Megan assured him.

  Garrett released a sigh of relief. She seemed so angry the night before at him, and he knew she had every right to be upset.

  “We are so glad to know you are doing well here,” Megan commented. “I know the ranch family has been concerned. Keegan somehow knew you were okay, though. He kept telling them you’d show your face when you were ready to.”

  “The ranch family?” Garrett asked with a grin.

  “It’s what we call them. It’s kind of awkward to keep saying ‘the family who lives in the past.’” Megan grinned back.

  “We call you guys the Millennial family. It’s kind of hard to keep saying ‘the family who lives in the future.’”

  They both laughed for a minute.

  “I can tell Keegan is very comfortable here,” Garrett said.

  “Yes, he is. I guess love can change anyone. He’s had to make some major adjustments, of course. But he has done well and is very eager to learn all he can. It does help that we have the store he can work in.”

  Garrett nodded. “Since Keegan was a doctor in his time, I’m sure it has helped that he can at least help people with the herbs that are available.”

  “He’s actually been able to help quite a bit. There are quite a few herbs we didn’t know the use of that he has been able to help us find for our customers.”

  Garrett knew that Keegan would never be able to practice as a doctor in this time, since he would need so much more schooling to do so.

  “We’ve been able to get him a driver’s license and a social security card, so he could pursue his education to be a doctor if he wanted to, but he is content to help out in the store for now.”

  “How were you able to get him an ID?”

  Megan hesitated. "My mother found someone who was willing to help him get one and a birth certificate, for the right price of course.”

  Garrett grinned, knowing she was saying in a roundabout way that anything could be purchased for the right amount of money. He saw movement in the corner of his eye and turned to see Colleen enter the room.

  “Hi,” he said softly to her. She was even more beautiful than he remembered. Her dark hair shone in the light, somehow making her chocolate eyes sparkle even when she was upset. He barely noticed Megan leaving the room discreetly.

  “Hello, Garrett,” Colleen greeted him more formally.

  For a moment, they both looked at each other, and Garrett found he wished she’d run into his arms again. He held up the sack of clothes.

  “I bought you some clothes.”

  Colleen glanced at the plastic bag. “You didn’t need to do that.”

  “I figured you’d be more comfortable in your own clothing,” he said, gesturing to the jeans and t-shirt she was wearing. “Just look to see what I bought. If you don’t like them, or if they don’t fit, we can always return them.”

  Colleen hesitated before reaching out to take the bag. She sat on the couch and pulled out the blouse, then the skirt, and then finally the necklace and socks. Garrett could tell she was pleased with them because she ran a hand over the fabric and smiled.

  “Thank you, Garrett,” Colleen said. “I’m not very comfortable wearing pants. I did bring one of my own dresses but…”

  “But it would look out of place here,” Garrett finished for her. “I know what you mean.” He thought about the clothing he had worn when he first arrived and the strange looks he got from more than a few people.

  “Why don’t you go try them on?” he suggested. “Then I’d like to take you out to lunch. Maybe I can show you a bit of modern-day Denver, too. My boss has given me the day off.”

  Colleen hesitated, but then she nodded her head in agreement. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  After Colleen left the room, Garrett breathed a sigh of relief. That went better than he thought it would. She didn’t seem very angry at him anymore, and, although she had hesitated when he offered to take her out to lunch, she did agree. He finally allowed himself to feel excitement that he was able to spend the day with her, and he promised himself he wouldn’t think about her leaving, at least not today.

  ****

  Colleen slipped into the room she was using and quickly took off the tight pants and shirt. Megan had given her some underclothing which Colleen didn’t like to wear. She was used to her underclothing coming down to just above her knees and fitting much more loosely, and felt she had lost an extra layer by wearing undergarments so small and tight.

  When Megan first told her Garrett was in the living room,
part of her wanted to refuse to see him. She was still angry at him for not letting the family know he was okay. She did understand why he wanted to return to his time, and she didn’t fault him for that. From the little she had already seen and experienced of 2018, she understood why Garrett wasn’t happy living in her time, at least a little bit. How did Kimberly and Nicky willingly live in her time so easily? In her heart, she knew it couldn’t have been easy for them to give up what they had. Garrett had been forced to, along with Justin and Garrett’s grandparents.

  She slowly put on the blouse and then the skirt and instantly fell in love with them. The skirt had intricate swirls in pastel purples, blues and a little yellow. She recognized the colors as the ones Garrett would always compliment her on when she wore them. There was a loosely fitting, button up lavender blouse that she tucked into her skirt. Once she was finished, Colleen sighed in relief. Garrett had clearly known what she would need to feel more comfortable.