Touched by Time

by Zoe Matthews

  But a few months ago, Victoria finally admitted to herself that she was bored. She had helped Charles with the bookkeeping end of things with their business, and missed the thrill of helping to run a company. One day, she saw an ad in the newspaper from a man asking for a woman to travel to where he lived in Montana and marry him. Over the next few weeks, she searched all the newspapers she had access to and saw many ads advertising for women to marry men who lived in the west. She soon decided that she would start a mail-order bride business where she would help men and women get together and marry. She named the business Mrs. Hilton’s Matchmaking Services. She did her best to make sure that the men who were looking for a wife were good and hardworking and would treat a woman well. She also made sure the women who wanted to marry a man they hadn’t met before were doing it for the right reasons and were honest women who would keep their promises. She made sure both the men and women had Christian values.

  She did have one criteria for her business. She only helped men who lived in Colorado. She insisted on meeting each one of them and with Collins’ help, she was able to screen the applicants, and make sure they were each matched to the best possible candidate. She couldn’t expect to meet all the women since quite a few of them came from back east, but she corresponded with them a number of times before she matched them with a man. Collins had an uncanny ability to look a man in his eyes and be able to tell if they were being honest, if they were who they claimed to be, and if they were upstanding citizens. She had already turned two men away because Collins could tell they were just looking for a woman to cook and clean for them, and not to eventually form a good marriage.

  She was grateful that Collins had agreed to stay on after Charles died. He always kept to his role as butler even though they now lived in the United States. He was a very formal man and would rarely relax in her presence. She also had a woman who worked for her as housekeeper, a maid and a gardener, but she had let everyone else go after Charles’ death. She had a difficult time having so many people around her.

  There was one part of the business that only she and Collins knew about and that part they kept secret. Victoria picked up two gold keys that were about three inches long. Even though they were old and tarnished around the edges, she kept them shined so it was easy to see the intricate design of the handles. One showed just slightly more age than the other. She remembered when she found the first key. One of the activities she enjoyed was to hunt for old items in stores, and one day while she had traveled with Charles to a nearby city, she had spent part of her day shopping. In one store, she had found this key. She remembered when she picked it up, it vibrated in her hand, and she set it down again in shock. The storekeeper noticed and approached her.

  “That is a beautiful key, isn't it?” he had asked her, as he looked directly in her eyes as if trying to read something in them. “I just found it a while ago and have been trying to find the right owner for it.”

  “I…I am not sure I am interested in buying a key,” Victoria had said to him.

  “It isn’t for sale. A key like that can't be bought. It is a special key.”

  Victoria had started to walk away from him, but his words sparked her curiosity. “What do you mean, a special key?”

  “The key picks its owner. I think it picked you.”

  “How can a key pick an owner?” Victoria had scoffed. “A key can’t make decisions like that.” She had started to think the storekeeper was crazy in the head.

  “You felt it,” was all he said.

  Victoria started to deny it, but then slowly nodded her head. “I felt a vibration, a tingling sensation, when I held it. It was strange.”

  “You may take it if you wish, but remember…” the storekeeper hesitated and did not say anything until Victoria looked at him, letting him know she was listening.

  “Remember that you can only use this key for good. It has powers that you cannot override. I am giving you this key to your safe keeping. Use it wisely and always keep it in a safe place that no one knows about when it isn’t with you.”

  “Powers?” Victoria questioned. “What powers?”

  The storekeeper ignored her question. “You may tell one trusted person about this key, but no more.” He then turned away and went to help another customer who was looking at a rack of dresses.

  Victoria remembered standing there, wondering what she should do. “What a strange man,” she had thought. He didn’t look like he even belonged in the 1890s. He was short and stocky. He had a bald head with a little bit of white hair that curled at the base of his neck. His clothes were almost what she would imagine a wizard would wear. He had on black pants with white shirt and a velvet purple vest. There were gold buttons on the vest. She could see he had a timepiece in his pocket, the chain hooked to a button. He wore strange looking black pointy shoes.

  She watched him for a moment, wondering if he would come back to her when the customer left, but he ignored her, and acted almost as if she wasn’t even there. She turned her attention to the key. She wondered if she picked it up, if she would feel the tingling sensation again. She slowly picked it up and sure enough, the sensation went from her hand through her entire body. The tingling was even stronger than before. She kept the key in her hand and looked at it very carefully. It was almost as if it was calling her name. She made an instant decision and slipped it into her dress pocket.

  As she started towards the shop door, the little man turned and looked at her. He smiled as if he was telling her she made the right decision, and that he was happy she had taken the key. Then he turned away to straighten some goods on a shelf and she left the store.

  When she returned to the hotel where she was staying with Charles, she decided to write down everything the man had said to her so she wouldn’t forget any of the instructions. She remembered he told her she could tell one trusted person; so of course, she told her husband.

  Charles had laughed when she told him her experience that evening, but when she showed him the key, he told her that she had acquired a pure gold key. When he held it, she could tell he hadn’t felt the vibrating and tingling that she felt, so she felt reluctant to mention it to him. She had put the key away in a pocket of her dress bag and had not taken it out again. Even when they had returned home to Denver, she left it in the bag.

  A few weeks after they returned, Charles again went on a business trip, but this time Victoria had stayed home. She had been sick with a cold and hadn’t felt good enough to travel. A few days after Charles had left she was feeling better and was sitting on the sofa in the sitting room reading a book when Collins had approached her.

  “Ma’am, I was emptying your bag that you took with you on your last trip and found this.” In his hand was the gold key.

  “Oh, yes. I acquired that in Boulder at a shop. I will put it away.” She held out her hand for it, but Collins kept ahold of it.

  “There is something strange about this key,” Collins told her in his formal voice.

  “What do you mean?” Victoria had been curious. Had he felt the vibration and tingling she had felt?

  Collins looked at the key that he held flat in his hand with his palm up. “I feel a tingling sensation when I hold it.”

  Victoria was surprised and tried not to show it. “So do I.”

  “What does it mean?” Collins had asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Victoria hesitated because she remembered that the little man had specifically said she should only share her information with one person and she had already told Charles. She held out her hand and Collins reluctantly gave her the key. She knew Collins wouldn’t ask any more questions because he always did his best to respect her privacy.

  Over the ensuing months and years, Victoria learned exactly what the key’s power was. It was a time travel device. When clutched in a person’s hand, that person traveled to a specific time or place that they were thinking of.

  Victoria remembered when she first discovered its power. She had been holdi
ng the key in her hand when she received news that her father had passed away. She had cried and felt very sad that she no longer had the option of seeing him again in this life. She started to think about her childhood and some fond memories she had of her father, mother, and her older brother. She clutched the key in her hand as she cried and thought about her memories. She pictured her old childhood room and the vibration and tingling she always felt when she held the key grew stronger.

  Suddenly she was there! Victoria was in her family home in England, in the bedroom she had when she was a girl. The room looked exactly like it did when she lived there. The bed was small, with a homemade quilt she had loved, spread out to reach the floor. Her desk was in a corner, where she remembered propping a mirror up to try different hairstyles.

  She remembered hearing voices and something told her she shouldn’t allow herself to be seen, so she quickly hid in the closet her clothes had been kept in. She closed the door, but kept it slightly open, and she saw her mother come into the room. Her mother looked much older than she had when Victoria had married Charles and moved to America. Victoria wanted to leave the closet and greet her mother, but again something told her not to, so she stayed hidden.

  "We are going to need to remove the bed; it is much too old. The desk can stay, but you will need to sand and polish it so it looks nice. Now that my husband has passed, we need to liven up this house for my son and his family. It must look its best." A maid trailed behind her mother, taking notes about what needed to be done.

  Victoria was amazed at what she was hearing. Had she really traveled to England? Did the key have something to do with it? She had put the key into her pocket when she had arrived in her old room and she pulled it out. She heard her mother instructing the maid to make sure the clothes closet was emptied out and she heard footsteps coming her way. She knew she couldn’t let them see her, so she clutched the key and pictured her own house in Denver, and just that quickly she was back home.

  Over the next few years, Victoria tested the key many times. She never used it when her husband was home. She only used it when he was gone on business trips and when she could not accompany him. She learned many things about the powers of the key. She could go back in time if she wished. She could also travel into the future. All she needed to do is pick a specific date, say the date out loud, and picture the location she wanted to be in her mind.

  When she time traveled, she was always very careful to let as few people see her as possible and she never let the key out of her sight. She had a specific dress she always wore when she time traveled with a hidden pocket. This is where she kept the key. She never stayed long and no one in her own time ever knew she had left. There were a few times she suspected Collins knew something was going on, but he never asked, although he would mention that he had been looking for her for a certain reason, and wondered where she was.

  She always kept the key in a secret compartment of her bureau when she wasn’t using it. No one knew of the drawer and so it was safe.

  Because Charles hadn’t felt the power of the key, she never told him what she did and where she went when he was gone on his trips. She loved her husband dearly, but he was a practical man and would have never believed her. She sometimes wished she could confide in Collins, but didn’t dare because the little man had specifically told her to only tell one person.

  About five years before Charles had died, she had time traveled to Ireland. She had always been interested in that country because her mother’s parents were from Ireland. She had never met them, but remembered receiving letters and small gifts from her grandparents, and she had always wanted to meet them. She decided to time travel to the early 1800s, to her grandparents’ home, and meet them, even though she wouldn’t be able to tell them who she really was.

  One of the things she learned very quickly was she needed to dress of the time period she was traveling to. She started to collect various clothing from the time periods she traveled to and kept them in an old wardrobe in a spare room that she kept locked. She learned to not stay very long, no more than a few hours at a time. She had also done her best to gather small amounts of money of the different time periods she liked to visit, so she had a way of purchasing things if she needed to.

  On this particular trip, she had been able to meet her grandparents and some of her cousins. She pretended she was on her way to a nearby village. Her grandfather owned a small general store and so it was easy enough to pretend to shop for supplies while she visited with her grandparents. Then she saw the second key. It had been tossed in a small basket of other odds and ends. There was a sign on the basket saying all the items were being sold for a penny.

  The key looked exactly like the first key, except it was a bit smaller. The design and gold color were exactly the same. She had picked it up and felt the same tingling sensation she felt when she held the first key. She knew she had to somehow purchase that key. She remember reaching into her pocket and felt relief when she pulled out a five cent piece. Her grandmother had looked at her strangely when she bought the key and she had left soon after, almost afraid that her grandmother would want the key back.

  When she returned back to her own time, she compared the two keys. Sure enough, they did look the same. She took a piece of wire and tied both keys together. When the two keys touched each other, a small spark would appear. When she had her next opportunity to test the new key to see if it had the same time travel powers, she discovered that it did indeed work exactly the same as the first key.

  A month after Charles had died, she had a deep desire to go back to England again. She decided that now was the time to tell Collins her secret. She was never sure how time was when she was gone. Sometimes when she returned, it was almost the exact time that she left, but other times it was a few hours later, and one time an entire day had passed. She wanted to see her beloved England again and she wanted to be gone longer than a few hours. She knew she needed to tell Collins so he wouldn’t wonder where she disappeared to.

  Collins accepted her story as truth right from the beginning, and she suspected it was because he knew that sometimes she would disappear and then suddenly be home again. Collins always knew what was going on in her home. He agreed to keep an eye on things while she was gone. This time she took a suitcase with her. She wasn’t sure if it was going to arrive with her, but she held onto the case in one hand while she clutched the key in the other. She arrived in England with the suitcase clutched in her hand. She had pictured herself arriving on her family’s property, in a small house that she had played in as a girl. The house was still there, but it was falling down around her, and unsafe to stay in. She spent a glorious week in England seeing and exploring places she remembered from her childhood. She made sure no one saw her that would recognize her. She wanted to see her brother and talk to him, but didn’t dare. She did watch behind a large tree one evening while he played with a few children on the lawn. She knew they were his grandchildren because they called him grandpa.

  When she returned, she told Collins all about her trip. Collins accepted all she told him and she felt relieved that someone else now knew about her secret. Collins had no desire to use the key himself, but he was the one who came up with the idea to advertise in a future newspaper for mail-order brides and see what happened. Victoria had told him about some of her trips into the future and how hard it was for some young women to find good men to marry.

  Later, when Victoria had her business set up and running, Collins did agree to accompany her into the future every once in a while. Sometimes he would use the second key at the same time she did. They also discovered if they held hands while one of them held a key, they were both transported into the future together. This soon became the main way they traveled together, holding each other’s hands.

  ****

  Victoria took the letter out of the envelope she held and glanced briefly through it. She had organized the letters in certain piles. One pile was for potential men and one was for wo
men. She also had a pile for the letters she didn’t want to respond to because she could tell they weren’t writing for the right reasons.

  All of the letters where from her time period, except one. She could tell the letter was from the future because the envelope and stamp looked different. She slid the letter out and saw that it was brief and written on lined paper. She read:

  Dear Mrs. Victoria Hilton,

  I am writing in response to the ad placed in the Denver Rocky Mountain newspaper on April 25th. I would like some more information about being a mail-order bride. Please send it to this address.

  Kimberly

  Victoria smiled as she read the short note. “Collins,” she called out, hoping her butler was nearby, and of course he was.

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he came into the room and stood at attention like he always did. Victoria wished he would relax around her. After all, he had been working for her for almost 50 years. And because people didn’t act like butlers did in the England she once knew.