River of Time

by Zoe Matthews

  Colleen started to shake her head, but Shaun saw her hesitate, and he smiled to himself. He knew Colleen wasn’t going to turn down a chance to ride her horse.

  “Okay, Pa,” Colleen agreed.

  “I’ll be in the barn. Come out after you help with the dishes,” he instructed her, and he was glad to see a glimmer of excitement in her eyes.

  Almost an hour later, Colleen appeared at his side. “I’m ready, Pa. Can we ride down by the river?”

  Shaun agreed and soon the two of them were riding side by side until they reached the boundary of the ranch. As they entered the forest, Shaun allowed Colleen to move in front of him. He expected that she would start her usual chatter, but she was quiet. After riding together for awhile, he decided it was time to have a talk with his daughter.

  “Let’s stop at that rock boulder for a bit,” he called to her, pointing to a cluster of rocks that sat next to the river. Colleen nodded her head, letting him know she had heard him. Soon they arrived at the boulder, and Shaun swung himself out of his saddle and tied his horse to a tree. Colleen slid off of her horse herself and handed the reins to Shaun, so he could tie her horse near his.

  “Let’s sit under that tree and chat,” Shaun suggested. Colleen shrugged and followed him. After they were both comfortable, Shaun started to ask his daughter questions about what she had been doing. After a few answers where Colleen just responded with only one or two words, Shaun sighed and slid his arm around her, pulling her close.

  “I understand that you miss Nicky,” he told her.

  Colleen didn’t say anything, but her shoulders shook, and he knew she had started to cry. He held her for a few minutes, allowing her to cry on his shoulder.

  “Why did you send her away?” Colleen asked.

  “I didn’t send her away. You knew when she arrived at the beginning of the summer that she wasn’t going to stay.”

  “But Kimberly stayed. I thought that, if you fell in love with her, like Patrick fell in love with Kimberly, she would stay.”

  “Oh, Colleen,” Shaun said, his heart clenching at her words.

  “Why couldn’t you have fallen in love with her? She is nice. She doesn’t care that I’m half Indian. I asked her once why she didn’t care, and do you know what she said?”

  Shaun shook his head.

  “She said God made me exactly right. God gave me an Indian grandmother who cared enough to make sure I had a good family, even though she couldn’t raise me. “

  “Nicky is right,” Shaun told her.

  “She said I was blessed to live where I was. She even told me the color of my hair looked like velvet to her in the sun. She said I was pretty.”

  “Nicky is right,” Shaun said again. Suddenly something inside him started to change. He knew Nicky had been very kind to Colleen, but he attributed it to her love of children. After all, she was a school teacher. But it was obvious that Nicky did love Colleen, and she meant more to Nicky than just another child did. He noticed that Colleen talked about Nicky in the present tense, as if she was still in their lives.

  Colleen stood up looking at the river. “Can I go play in the water, Pa?” she asked.

  Shaun smiled at her and nodded. He watched, as she ran over to the water’s edge. She bent down to put her hands in the water. As he watched his daughter play, he thought about what Colleen had told him. He finally admitted to himself that Nicky was very different from Delia, the biggest difference being she had accepted Colleen for who she was.

  Thinking about Nicky in this light also made him realize how much he loved her for her personality. She was a hard worker, but she knew when to laugh. She was always up for a challenge. He had noticed that when she had asked for a horse other than Honey. She liked to push herself and commit herself to new things. It suddenly made sense to him; Nicky would have no problem giving up her previous life. She liked challenging herself, and he should have seen that sooner.

  Shaun had been watching Patrick with Kimberly more frequently this summer, since Nicky had arrived, and he had found that trust was important in a marriage. Nicky had told him that she was willing to leave her time and live in his. He knew that he needed to trust her word. He made an instant decision.

  He stood up and walked towards his daughter who was busy throwing small rocks into the river. “What would you say if I went to go get Nicky and ask her to marry me?”

  “Really, Pa? You would marry her? I could have a Ma?” Shaun had never seen Colleen so excited, not even when she had been given Spirit for her birthday the year prior. Shaun had not realized how much Colleen wanted a mother.

  “Yes, I will go and get her. Now, you must realize that I could be gone for a while, since she lives where Kimberly used to live.”

  “That’s fine, Pa,” Colleen agreed, as she continued to bounce up and down in her excitement. “I’ll be really good while you’re gone. I’ll help Bridget and Kimberly and…”

  Shaun laughed and interrupted her. “I know you will be good; you are always good.” It was the last thing he was worried about. He was more worried that there might be a chance he wouldn’t return, but he knew he needed to think positively. He needed to trust the key. He needed to trust Nicky.

  ****

  That evening after dinner, the family gathered in the living room. As usual, everyone was doing their own thing. For the first time since Kimberly had given birth to the babies, she joined them. They were getting older now and didn’t need constant care. Shaun watched, as Kimberly held one baby and Patrick held the other. He thought about the possibility of having a child with Nicky, and the thought thrilled him.

  Shaun had asked Colleen not to say anything until he was ready to tell the rest of the family his plans. Colleen sat next to him on the sofa with an open book in her lap, but she was not reading it. Shaun knew that she was too excited to concentrate on the words.

  “I have something I need to talk to everyone about,” Shaun announced. Colleen’s eyes lit up, as she gasped with excitement.

  “It looks like Colleen knows what you’re going to say,” Bridget commented with a smile at her niece.

  “Yes, she does,” Shaun admitted. “We had a long talk today, and we have decided that I should go get Nicky and bring her back.”

  Shaun laughed to himself, as he watched his family’s reaction to the news. He could tell that everyone wanted Nicky to come back.

  “What makes you think she wants you?” Patrick joked.

  Kimberly lightly slugged Patrick’s shoulder. “I have it on good authority that she does,” she informed her husband.

  “When are you going to go?” Bridget asked.

  “I would like to leave as soon as possible. I would need to know how to use the keys and how to get to Nicky.” He looked at Kimberly, who nodded.

  “I can help you with that,” Kimberly said.

  Shaun looked at Patrick. “I don’t know how long I will be gone. I will need you to take over my responsibilities until I return.”

  “Of course, I can take care of your horses, although I think I will still leave the training of them to you,” Patrick replied.

  “And I’ll watch out for Colleen.” Bridget offered. “But, I am wondering, if you don’t…”

  Bridget didn’t finish her sentence, but Shaun knew what she was going to say.

  “I will return,” he said firmly. He had to believe that there would be no problems and that he would come back, with Nicky by his side.

  Kimberly nodded affirmatively. “If he follows my instructions, there should not be any problem with him returning.” She looked at Shaun intently. “Just be very careful who sees you. The fewer that know you are there, the better. “

  “I will,” Shaun said. “We definitely do not want anyone else to know about the key, and we definitely do not want Golin to know I’m using it.”

  Shaun and his family continued to make plans. When the subject came up of building a new cabin for Shaun and Nicky, he had to comment, “Maybe we should wait on tha
t. After all, Nicky might have changed her mind about me.”

  “But, Pa,” Colleen protested.

  Kimberly interrupted. “She would not change her mind. She would not have offered to come back in the first place, if she hadn’t thought it through, and if she hadn’t fallen in love with you.”

  The next morning, Shaun left the ranch early. Everyone had gotten up to see him go. Bridget had given him a small bag of food. Kimberly gave Shaun a letter she had written to Nicky, with instructions to give it to her when he arrived.

  Kimberly had spent quite a bit of time the evening before with Shaun explaining how the keys work and how to travel directly to Nicky’s apartment. She did her best to describe what would happen, and what he would see when he arrived. She suggested that he travel directly to a building that was located in the same area as Nicky’s apartment. This building had a room full of what she called exercise equipment. Once he arrived, he could leave the building, and follow a map that Kimberly drew that would take him right to Nicky’s front door. If she wasn’t home, Kimberly instructed Shaun to wait on the porch and not go anywhere else.

  Kimberly warned him that he would see many things that were amazing and strange, but he was not to go anywhere by himself. He should wait until he was with Nicky. Kimberly also helped him choose the clothing he should wear. She did her best to find pants and a shirt that would look close enough to the clothing the men wore in the future. She told him that Nicky would most likely find some clothes for him to wear, so he would not look out of place in her time.

  After goodbyes were said, Shaun headed on foot to the cave. It took him most of the morning to get there, since he was walking and not on horseback. Patrick offered to come with him, but Shaun felt it would be best if he went alone. Once he was in the cave, he quickly uncovered the box. He carefully took out one of the keys and unwrapped it. Stuffing the cloth that the key was wrapped in into his pocket, he held it in his hand. He could feel a slight vibration.

  He took a deep breath, briefly wondering if he was crazy for doing this. Then he shook his head to clear it, and said the name of Nicky’s apartment complex, the building he wanted to end up at, and the year, as Kimberly had suggested.

  His heart pounded, as the world before him began to spin and disappear. He felt sick for just a moment, then the shapes started to change into images he hadn’t seen before, and everything stopped. He looked around in amazement at the future.

  Chapter 21

  Nicky woke up early Saturday morning. It had been a week, since she had returned to her time, and she knew that she needed to move on with her life. There was no possible way she could get back to Kimberly and to Shaun, even if she wanted to. She needed to focus on her future. She hadn’t been into the school yet to start preparing her classroom. Mentally she made plans to go first thing Monday morning.

  Justin and Garrett came over around midmorning. It was the first time Nicky had seen Garrett, since she had returned, and she was glad to see him. Garrett seemed more hyperactive than usual, but he settled down after Nicky spent some time talking to him about her summer, carefully leaving out any time-travel terms.

  Justin set Garrett in front of the TV, so he could test a new video game he had been working on. Justin wrote video games geared to older children, and he often used his son to test new ideas. Nicky was making plans with Justin to go see a new movie that had just come out, when she heard a knock on the door.

  “Can you get that, Garrett,” Nicky called from the kitchen. She heard the front door open and a deep voice ask, “Is this where Nicky Foster lives?”

  She recognized the voice and gasped. I’m just hearing things, she told herself. She felt frozen to the chair she was sitting in.

  “Who is that, Garrett?” Justin asked, as he went to see who it was for himself.

  “My name is Shaun Callaghan. I’m looking for Nicky Foster.”

  Nicky gasped again and ran into the living room. “Shaun? What are you doing here? How did you get here?” It was incredibly good to see him, but he was the last person she expected to see. She had spent all week convincing herself that she would never see him again, and now here he was, standing on her porch step.

  Justin looked at Shaun with confusion. “Who are you?” he asked, suspicion in his voice.

  Nicky ran to Shaun and threw her arms around his neck. “I’m so glad to see you.” Shaun wrapped his arms around her, and for a moment they just held each other.

  “What’s going on, Dad?” Garrett asked.

  “I think this is Kimberly’s brother-in-law,” Justin said, and Nicky was glad he had figured out what was going on.

  “You might as well come in,” Justin said dryly.

  Nicky giggled, as she stepped away from Shaun. “Yes, come in.”

  She introduced Shaun to Justin and watched as they shook hands. After introducing Garrett, she invited Shaun to sit down on her couch. She watched, as he looked around her apartment in amazement. She wanted desperately to show him her world, but first she wanted to know exactly why he had come.

  “Did you just get here?” Nicky asked. It was so good to see him.

  “Yes,” Shaun said. “The key worked just like Kimberly said it would.”

  “So you did travel from…” Justin glanced at his son and then at Nicky. She could tell that Justin didn’t want Garrett to know about the keys. “From where Kimberly lives?” he finally asked, as he leaned against the wall, watching them both.

  “You are dressed funny,” Garrett commented.

  Shaun looked down at his clothes. “I guess I am.” He glanced at Nicky. “Maybe I can borrow some clothes, if I’m going to be here for any length of time.”

  “We can buy you some new clothes, if we need to,” Nicky agreed. “I’d ask Justin to lend you some of his, but you are taller than he is.”

  “Where are you from?” Garrett asked curiously.

  Nicky glanced at Justin, silently asking him if they should tell Garrett. She watched, as her brother shook his head slightly. “Shaun is from a place far away,” she finally explained simply.

  Nicky glanced at Shaun and noticed he was looking intently at her television screen; the video game Garrett had been playing was on pause. She could tell he was trying to figure it out.

  Justin pushed himself away from the wall. “Come on, sport. I think we should let your aunt talk to Shaun privately.”

  “Ah, Dad,” Garrett complained, but he obeyed and started to gather up his belongings.

  After Justin and Garrett left, Nicky turned to Shaun and invited him to sit down on her couch. “I am very surprised you came, but I am so glad to see you.” She wanted to throw her arms around him again, but she restrained herself.

  “I came to ask you a question, with the idea that I would return immediately, but, now that I have seen some of the future, I think I’d like to hang around for a few days and see more of it.”

  Nicky focused on the fact that Shaun came for a specific reason. “What did you want to ask me?”

  Shaun’s face turned serious. “First of all, I want to apologize for letting you go like I did.”

  Nicky looked down at the clasped hands in her lap. “You didn’t even say goodbye,” she whispered.

  “I know. But I thought a lot about our last conversation. And then I realized something.”

  “What was that?” Nicky asked, when Shaun didn’t continue.

  “I realized that I have fallen in love with you. Colleen helped me see that I was a fool to let you go before at least telling you how I felt.”

  “So you came all this way, you time traveled from your time to mine, just to tell me that?” Nicky asked, telling herself to not get her hopes up. Even though he had figured out he loved her, it didn’t mean he wanted her to go back with him.

  “Yes and to see if you are still willing to live in my time. I am asking you to marry me.”

  Nicky’s heart started to beat quickly. The last thing she expected was for Shaun to ask for her hand in marriage
.

  “Before you answer, let me at first say that it would be very difficult for me to live in your time. I can already see in just the few minutes that I’ve been here that things are very different, but, if you have changed your mind about wanting to stay in my time, we can talk about the possibility of me learning to live in your time.”

  “You would do that for me?” Nicky asked incredulously.

  “Yes. One thing that I have learned, since you left, is that life is empty without the ones you love. Colleen helped me see that, too.”

  “And what about Colleen? If you stayed here, what would happen to her?”

  “I would want to bring her with me.”

  Nicky leaned back against the sofa with her eyes closed. She was tempted to pinch herself to see if she was dreaming. She would never ask Shaun to stay in her time. She knew that Shaun would be miserable, if he wasn’t able to live on his ranch and work with his horses. He was a man that needed to be outdoors doing what he loved. But the fact that he had offered let her know that he really did love her.

  Nicky opened her eyes and looked at Shaun. She reached out and grasped one of his hands with hers. “Shaun, I would never ask you to stay in my time. I meant what I said that I was willing to stay in your time. I know there will be adjustments, but I think I’m up for the challenge. And Kimberly can help me.”

  “What are you saying?” Shaun asked.

  “I’m saying yes; I would love to marry you!” She jumped into Shaun’s arms again and planted a big kiss on his lips, laughing. He was taken by surprise and didn’t react at first. After a moment, however, he cupped her face and kissed her sweetly. His fingers found their way into her hair, and, after he pulled away from the kiss, he rested his forehead against hers.

  “Are you willing to be a mother to Colleen?”

  “Of course,” Nicky said. “I already love her as my own. She’s a sweet girl. And she’s another reason why I should be the one to travel to your time.”