River of Time

by Zoe Matthews

  Justin nodded with a scowl. Of course he remembered.

  “Victoria’s butler, Collins, came to fetch me. Kimberly wanted me at her wedding, so, using the key, Collins took me back with him to 1892. I was able to meet Patrick and his family. I witnessed Kimberly’s wedding. Just before I left, Patrick’s brother, Shaun, asked me if we could write each other. I agreed. I mean, what would be the harm?”

  Justin’s eyes narrowed again.

  “Collins was supposed to travel back and forth between his time and ours and deliver the letters, but we discovered that, if the letters were put between these two, powerful keys, the letters transported themselves. I have been writing Shaun and Kimberly all winter with the help of these keys.”

  Nicky stopped talking and nervously waited for Justin’s response.

  “You are talking about time travel. Are you really trying to tell me you have access to two keys that travel back and forward through time?”

  “Yes,” Nicky confirmed.

  “Nicky, time travel isn’t possible.” He was agitated now and ran his fingers through his hair.

  “I promise you, it is. I wouldn’t just make up something like this. It is real.”

  “So let me get this straight. Are you telling me that Kimberly now lives in 1892? With a man who was born in the 1800’s?”

  Nicky nodded. “Actually, it’s 1893 now. She’s also expecting their first child, due in July.”

  Justin rubbed his hand over his face. “I don’t know what to think. Why are you writing Shaun?”

  “I thought it would be fun, you know, to write someone who lived over 100 years ago. It’s been fun getting to know him. They live very different lives than we do. He also has a daughter about a year younger than Garrett.”

  “So what are you going to do?” Justin questioned her. “Write him for the rest of your life? What’s wrong with the men in our time?”

  Nicky ignored his question and asked one of her own. “So do you believe me?”

  Justin looked at her for a minute. She couldn’t read his expression and fidgeted as she waited. She wasn’t known for her patience. Finally, he sighed and shrugged. “You’ve never been one to make up stories. In fact, you have always had a hard time believing anything you couldn’t see or understand. But this is hard to believe. And even if it is true, I don’t understand why you’d want to write a man who lives… lived over 100 years ago. He’s not even alive anymore.”

  “He’s not alive in our time, but he is in his own time.”

  “If this really is true, why didn’t you just tell me all this when you disappeared last summer? Don’t you know how worried I’ve been? You’ve never hidden anything from me before. Then suddenly, Kimberly left and married some man we don’t know, and then you disappeared. You came back, but we have never seen or heard from Kimberly since she left. What was I supposed to think?”

  Nicky sighed. “I never thought about it in those terms. I’m sorry I have worried you so much. I didn’t tell you, because, at first, I wasn’t sure if I was even allowed to. Later, Victoria told me I could tell you and Mom and Dad, if I felt I needed to, but you were so angry and demanding, I didn’t want to. It was childish of me, and I’m sorry.”

  It was Justin’s turn to sigh. “I’m sorry, too. I guess I need to trust you more.” He gave her a one-armed hug, and Nicky enjoyed getting a hug from her brother. He pulled away. “Time travel? With keys?”

  Nicky smiled with delight. “Yes, really. I could show you how it works, if you want me to.”

  “Right now?”

  Nicky shook her head. “We have to take a drive first.”

  Justin looked suspicious again. “Where?”

  “Not far, trust me.” Nicky stood, picking up the letter to Shaun. “Where’s Garrett?”

  “He’s spending the afternoon with a friend. They went swimming at the community pool.”

  “Can we go now then?” Nicky asked.

  “Go where? You aren’t taking me back to 1893, are you?”

  “Justin, of course not. Just trust me,” Nicky said exasperatedly.

  “Alright. Let’s go,” Justin said, jumping up off the couch.

  Soon they were on their way, and Nicky insisted on driving. For some reason, she wanted to keep where they were going a secret. Justin was silent during much of the drive. She knew he would be surprised when they pulled up in front of Victoria’s home. He hadn’t been there for about a year. The last time he was there, both he and Nicky were worried for Kimberly’s safety, and they were looking for Mrs. Hilton for answers. All they had found was an empty, old home covered in sheets.

  Nicky knew that Justin was going to have many questions, especially after she showed him how the keys worked with her latest letter to Shaun. She was very surprised he believed her. Or maybe he was just humoring her.

  She tried to start a conversation about Justin’s latest, video game, but he answered her with one-word sentences. She tried to ask about Garrett, but he responded in the same way. She finally decided to keep quiet for the rest of the drive.

  When she pulled into Victoria’s driveway and parked, Justin left the car before she did. She watched, as he looked around, and she knew he recognized where they were. He started to walk towards the front door, but she stopped him.

  “We need to get in this way,” Nicky gestured to the side of the home.

  Justin shrugged his shoulders and followed her, as she walked to the back of the house and opened the back door, letting them into the kitchen.

  “You can just walk in?” Justin questioned.

  Nicky smiled to herself. He actually asked a question! “Yes. I know you remember coming here last year when we were looking for Kimberly. This is Victoria’s home, the woman who placed the ad in the paper Kimberly answered. She…. lives here, but, since she lives in 1893, that is the time period she’s in right now.”

  Nicky placed her large bag on the kitchen table and led Justin to Victoria’s office, keeping the letter to Shaun in her hand. She smiled, when she saw a stack of letters on the oak desk with one of the keys on top of them. She dropped the letter to Shaun on the desk and picked up the other letters, noticing that there were three of them. Turning to Justin, she smiled and held up the letters.

  “See? These letters came from 1893, from the ranch where Kimberly is living.”

  Justin looked at her with concern. “Are you feeling okay, Nicky?”

  Nicky’s heart dropped. So maybe Justin didn’t really believe in her story of time travel after all. “I’m serious, Justin.” She held out the letter from Kimberly. “Read it.”

  Justin ignored the letter in her hand. “Come on, Nicky. You have to admit that the idea of time travel is a little weird.”

  Nicky quickly opened the letter and scanned it. “Kimberly says that Patrick and his brothers moved their cattle to the summer range. She hasn’t had her baby yet but is very uncomfortable. She is spending her days making baby clothes and diapers. Sometimes she draws.” She held out the letter again.

  “Look at the type of paper she wrote on, the ink she used. It isn’t anything like we use in our time.”

  “Nicky…” Justin sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

  She sighed with frustration. Normally when she came to Victoria’s house to retrieve the letters, she would read them immediately and then write another letter before sending the ones she had already written back, but this time she set Kimberly’s letter aside and picked up the two keys. She held one of them out. “Hold it.”

  At first, Justin just stood there, but then he took the key from her. Nicky watched, as his eyes widened, and she knew he could feel the vibration of the key.

  “You felt it,” Nicky said to him in triumph.

  Justin held the key in his hand, looking at it carefully. He then shook his head and tossed the key on the desk where it landed with a clank. “Just because a key… moved in my hand doesn’t mean...”

  Nicky left the key where it landed and placed the letter she
had written to Shaun on top of the key, then placed the second key on the letter. “Watch.” She pulled Justin closer to her, so she could make sure Justin could see what happened. Both of them watched, as the keys and the letter vibrated for a moment and then disappeared.

  “What?” Justin asked in amazement. “Where did they go?” He turned around, as if searching for the keys and the letter.

  “They traveled to 1893.”

  Justin sank onto a nearby chair. “Explain everything to me again.”

  Nicky sat beside him and told him everything she could, repeating most of what she had told him already in her apartment. Justin seemed to understand more of what she was saying.

  “Let me ask one question,” Justin said, when she finished. “What are you going to do about this? Just keep writing Kimberly and this Shaun guy? That’s fine that Kimberly decided to go and live with Patrick, but you live in 2006. You have a life here.”

  Nicky looked at him, hoping he’d understand. “I want to spend the summer with Kimberly.”

  “Oh, Nicky...” Justin groaned. “You can’t just up and leave like that. I know Kimberly did, but she doesn’t have a family like you do. Don’t you think Mom and Dad are going to know something is going on when you don’t show up for Sunday dinners? And what about Garrett? He loves going to your townhouse and spending time with you. What are you going to tell him?”

  “I can just tell Mom and Dad that I’m going on a trip for a while. I can also probably use the keys to travel back and forth, if I need to. At least I think I can.” Nicky turned her body, so she could look at her brother straight in the eyes. “Justin, I want to be there when Kimberly has her baby. She’s due in just a few weeks. Do you know what medical care was like in the 1890’s? She’ll be having that baby at the ranch. They live too far away to have a doctor’s care, and, even if they could get to a doctor, it wouldn’t be in a hospital like it is in our time. I feel like I should be there, like I should help her.”

  “And what is the other reason you want to go back?” Justin questioned. “Do you think you’re going to fall in love with Shaun?”

  “Of course not,” Nicky brushed his words away with her hand, although deep down she knew she wasn’t being quite honest with him. “Shaun and I are just friends. I am writing him, because I am also writing Kimberly. His daughter also sends me letters.”

  Justin looked at her suspiciously, and Nicky did her best to keep a neutral expression on her face. It wouldn’t be good, if her brother suspected she had feelings for a man who lived in another, time period.

  “When would you leave?”

  “I’d like to leave in the next day or so.”

  “And you’d be back before summer is over?”

  “I have to be back at the beginning of August, since I need to get ready for my class that I will be teaching.”

  “Do you promise you will be back? That you won’t decide to stay there like Kimberly did?”

  “Are you saying you believe me?” Nicky asked with excitement.

  Justin opened his mouth to answer her, but, at that moment, a whirling sound could be heard, and suddenly a key appeared on the desk with another letter underneath it. Justin stared at it in astonishment.

  “See!” Nicky exclaimed with excitement. “The keys really do work! It transported another letter from their time to ours.”

  Justin stood and picked up the letter. Nicky could tell that it was from Kimberly. Her letter must have arrived, and Kimberly had noticed it. Nicky knew that Kimberly spent much of her time in the parlor of the large, family home making baby items. She must have seen her letter appear and had sent back one of her own.

  Justin opened the letter without permission, and Nicky let him without complaint. She watched, as he read the letter and then handed it to her.

  Nicky quickly read what Kimberly had written. Evidently she was starting to have contractions, and she wondered if the baby was going to be coming in the next day or so. Nicky had not expressed her desire to travel to Kimberly’s side and spend the summer with her, but she could tell her friend wanted to see her.

  “Okay,” Justin stood and started to pace the room. “It seems the keys do at least transport letters from where Kimberly is to this house. It’s obvious she wants you with her.”

  “They really do travel to 1893,” Nicky insisted.

  Justin kept talking. “Why don’t you pack your bags? I’ll handle Mom and Dad. Go help Kimberly. But promise you will be back by the first of August.”

  “I promise,” Nicky told him with a grin and threw her arms around her brother. “Thanks, Justin.”

  “Do you have to travel from this house? How do the keys work? What if you end up in a different time period than where Kimberly is?”

  “From what I understand, all I need to do is hold the key in my hand and picture exactly where I want to be. The key will take me there.”

  “From what you understand?” Justin questioned suspiciously.

  “I... I haven’t actually done it by myself. When I traveled back in time to Kimberly’s wedding, Collins came and got me,” Nicky admitted.

  “So it could happen? You could end up in a time and place you weren’t intending?”

  “No. Kimberly explained to me exactly how it works. That won’t happen,” Nicky insisted, but deep down this was something she was worried about. What if that did happen? What if she ended up somewhere she didn’t want to be, and she wasn’t able to come home? But her desire to be with Kimberly was strong, and she was determined to try it.

  “I can see I can’t talk you out of this. I am holding you to your promise, Nicky.”

  “I’ll be back when I said I would be,” Nicky promised again.

  “I have one more piece of advice to give you,” Justin said, looking at her seriously.

  “Yes?” Nicky asked a bit impatiently, when he didn’t continue.

  “While you are visiting Kimberly, don’t try to control everything. Many of the issues you had with Kimberly when she left were because you tried to control her. Let life happen, with Kimberly and with… Shaun.”

  Nicky wanted to argue with her brother in defense, but she just nodded her head in agreement instead. She knew the main reason Kimberly hadn’t told her about her plans to travel and meet Patrick was because Nicky always insisted she was right, about everything. She remembered that Kimberly answered the ad in the first place, because she had encouraged her to do so. This entire scenario started because of it. And, when she had gone to see Kimberly’s wedding, Justin had reacted like he did, because she hadn’t been upfront with him from the beginning.

  Chapter 10

  After reading the letter she had received from Kimberly and seeing she thought the baby would be coming soon, Nicky decided to leave that day. With Justin’s agreement, she took both keys home with her and quickly packed a small bag with clothing and other things she might need in order to help Kimberly with the birth of her child. If the baby was really coming now, it would be at least a month early. She grabbed some bandages, painkillers, and something she knew would ease Kimberly's discomfort after the birth.

  In her studying on childbirth, she tried to learn how to prepare for any outcome that could arise during labor. She knew she didn't have a lot of the equipment she would need if something went wrong, but at least she had as much knowledge as possible. Even though she knew she wasn't supposed to bring modern-day things back in time, she couldn't help herself; she had gone shopping for some things to help the baby, such as diaper cream and lotion. She didn't want Kimberly to deal with a fussy baby over something so simple as dry skin. She also placed one of the keys in a small compartment of her bag for safekeeping.

  Justin stayed with her, while she packed. They talked of other things, and Nicky was glad that he wasn’t trying to talk her out of going, though she would be going anyway regardless, and she suspected Justin knew that.

  She gave Justin access to her bank account in order to pay her bills for the summer, along with a key
to her townhouse. She also quickly cleaned her home, even though she had just cleaned a few days before. Finally, she felt she was ready. After giving Justin a hug goodbye, she clutched her bag in one hand and the key in the other. Closing her eyes, she tried to picture the ranch as Kimberly had described it and whispered to herself, “I want to travel to June 10, 1893, to Patrick and Kimberly Callaghan’s ranch in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.” She felt a vibration, and she was gone. Her arms started to prickle and itch in an oddly comforting way. She could see her apartment blurring in front of her, and she closed her eyes, not wanting to get dizzy.