Touched by Time

by Zoe Matthews

  Patrick had left the cabin as soon as the meal was over and Kimberly hoped she would be able to find him in the barn and that he would be alone. She let Bridget know she was leaving and walked quickly to find him. Just as she hoped, he was in the barn brushing his favorite horse, Apache. Patrick hadn’t heard her come in, so Kimberly stood and watched him for a moment. He ran the brush over Apache’s back and murmured something. The horse nickered back and shook his head as if responding to Patrick’s words.

  Kimberly then studied the man. His cowboy hat was on his head as usual, which shaded his face. She could see his auburn hair touching the collar of his shirt. His hair was getting long and she remembered Bridget mentioning to her brothers at dinner that she would cut their hair the next day if they wished. Both Shaun and Keegan kept their hair short, but Patrick’s was long and Kimberly liked it that way.

  She saw his muscles tighten through his shirt as he brushed the horse and something stirred inside her heart. She prayed again that this conversation she was going to have with Patrick would go well. She was so nervous. How did someone tell another that they were from the future? She took a deep breath, portraying her nervousness, and Patrick turned at the sound.

  He looked at her intently for a moment, but did not smile like he usually did when he saw her. He patted Apache on his neck and then stepped out of the stall, walking towards her.

  “I would like to talk to you,” Kimberly told him, trying not to stammer. “Is now a good time?”

  Patrick was silent as he put the horse brush away, but then he turned to her. “I think it is time you tell me your secret.”

  Kimberly nodded at his words. She started to feel even more nervous because he seemed so serious and solemn. What if it was too late? A few weeks ago, she had asked him to trust her. She promised she would tell him her secret when the time was right. What if she had waited too long?

  “Can we walk?” Kimberly requested. It might be easier to talk to him if she didn’t have to look at him. He nodded his agreement and then held out his hand. Her heart swelled with happiness and she slid her hand in his. He still wanted to touch her. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

  They left the barn and walked towards the river. Kimberly was silent for a few minutes, trying to calm her nerves. She tried to let herself enjoy the dusk as it settled across the ranch and the twinkling stars that were starting to appear. She took a deep breath again.

  “Just tell me,” Patrick said in the still of the coming night. She could hear frustration laced in his words. “I think I need to know what you need to tell me if our relationship is going to go any further.”

  "Yes, I agree. I just don’t know where to start or how to tell you.”

  “Start at the beginning.”

  “Before I start, I would like to ask you to not say anything. Please don’t ask any questions until I am done. Will that be okay? I might say some things that will not make sense to you. I will answer any questions you may have when I am done.”

  Patrick scowled, but nodded his agreement at her request.

  She waited a beat, scared of what could happen if Patrick did not believe her. Deciding that the longer she took to tell him, the worse it would get, she took a breath, and started talking.

  "Around the middle of April, I saw an ad in a newspaper. I live with my best friend, Nicky, and she was collecting newspapers to use in her classroom. She is a school teacher. I saw the ad for a mail order bride from Mrs. Hilton. It intrigued me and I decided to send away for more information.

  “I really didn’t think I would hear back from her, but I received a response about a week later. She had sent me some information about how to become a mail-order bride, as well as a questionnaire to fill out and send back to her. I filled out the papers she sent and took them to her house. She looked them over and then gave me your introductory letter.

  I wrote my first letter to you that day, in her library. I enjoyed each letter I received from you over the next few weeks. I decided I wanted to meet you and so I told Mrs. Hilton. She made the arrangements for me to come.

  I was working at a hospital in the ER department as a trauma nurse. I love taking care of people, but I hated my job. My supervisor didn’t like me and she was doing everything she could to make work miserable. I think she wanted me to quit, which I did right before I decided to come meet you.

  “When I told Mrs. Hilton that I wanted to come, she was very pleased. She felt we could be good together.”

  Kimberly could tell that Patrick was starting to look confused, but was doing his best to not ask any questions. She realized she had used a few words that must not recognize and knew she had better hurry with her story.

  “She told me something that was strange to me, something that she also said I couldn’t tell you unless I decided to marry you when the 30 days were up.

  “She told me she lived in 1892, and so did you.”

  “Why is that so strange?” Patrick couldn’t resist responding incredulously.

  Kimberly hesitated, and then she said as quickly as she could. “Because I live in 2005. I am from the future.”

  There was a long silence. “Did I just hear you say that you were from the future?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s impossible. Listen if you don’t want to tell me what you’re hiding, then I think…”

  “You promised not to ask questions until I was done,” Kimberly said firmly. “I’m not finished.”

  Patrick clamped his lips shut and nodded at her to continue.

  “Mrs. Hilton showed me two keys. She told me that they were magic keys. When a person held one of the keys in their hand and pictured a place and time where they wanted to be, the key would transport them to that time.” She cringed when he sighed, and looked away, clearly still thinking she was making this story up.

  “She told me that if I wanted to meet you, I would need to use one of the keys to come from my time, 2005, to her time. To your time, 1892.

  “At first I didn’t believe her. I had heard about time travel, but just in stories. It wasn’t supposed to be real. But she showed me proof. She held one of the keys and disappeared right before my eyes. She came right back, but she was gone for a few seconds.”

  When she said that, Patrick whipped his head around, and stared at her. She continued on, glad to have his full attention again.

  “I wasn’t sure what to do. Did I really want to leave my time? There would be a lot of things I would miss, especially Nicky and her family. Then I realized I didn’t have a job. Besides Nicky, I didn’t have anything or anyone to hold me to my time. I loved your letters and I wanted to meet you. So I agreed to leave my time and go to yours.

  “Mrs. Hilton helped me get ready. She has this room full of things she has collected over the years as she used the keys. I guess she has been

  going back in time and into the future on a regular basis. She gave me the carpet bag and some dresses from your time.”

  Patrick looked away, and started to walk towards some trees. She could tell he was angry with her.

  “Patrick, wait! I’m not done yet!” Kimberly called and tried to catch up to him. The skirts of her dress wrapped around her legs, so she couldn’t move as fast as he was moving. She almost fell to the ground as she tried to follow him. She still hadn’t gotten used to those darn skirts.

  He turned around and faced her, an angry look on his face. “Couldn’t you come up with a better story than that? Traveling from the future to my time using a key? That’s ridiculous!”

  “You have to believe me.” Kimberly reached out to grab his arm, but he shrugged her hand away. “I wouldn’t make something like this up. I can prove to you that I am from the future.”

  “I think your secret is that you have actually met someone else. Keegan saw you meet a man in the forest. I have no idea how he got here, but Keegan told me how you left your cabin and ran to meet this man. You gave him a paper. Are you going to deny that?”

  Kimberly shook her
head. “I did meet a man yesterday. It was Collins, Mrs. Hilton’s butler.”

  Patrick looked confused. “If he came to visit, why didn’t he just come to the cabin? He would have been welcome. Why didn’t he stay? It’s a long ride from Denver.” He then looked suspiciously at her. “Why did he come to see you?”

  “He came to give me a letter Nicky had written. What Keegan probably saw was me giving him a letter I had written to Nicky, so he could deliver it to her. Nicky has been very worried that I left like I did. In the future we have these devices that…”

  Patrick interrupted again. “I don’t understand why he didn’t just wait until we went to Denver again. Our 30 days are up in a week and…” He paused as if he realized what he just said. Kimberly wondered if he was rethinking what he wanted now. Maybe he wasn’t sure he wanted to marry her.

  The thought of Patrick changing his mind devastated her; however, she knew that if she did marry him, she would want him to know all about her previous life. She definitely would not want to hide where she was from.

  ****

  Patrick was angry at Kimberly. Why would she make up such a ridiculous story? But Keegan had told him that he had seen the man Kimberly had met with disappear. What did that mean? And somehow, it coincided with the story Kimberly told. How could it be?

  And what about the box Kimberly had used to help Keegan? Was that why the box had so many things in it that he hadn’t ever seen before? He thought about some of the different words Kimberly had used. He had never heard words like them before; online, ER, trauma nurse, and just now she used the word device.

  He shook his head in disgust. Was he really thinking her story could be real? Time travel?

  He turned and looked at Kimberly. She had wandered away from him and was sitting on a rock near the river. Her head was bowed and she had tears running down her face. Seeing her tears made him want to gather her into his arms, and he had to harden his heart to keep himself from doing just that. Then he realized that they had walked to the exact area where he had saved her from the bear and he hadn’t brought his gun with him.

  “We’d better head back, Kimberly,” he told her gruffly. “We are too far from the ranch and I don’t have my gun.” He didn’t know if the bears were nearby, but he didn’t want to take that chance.

  Kimberly nodded and tried to stand up, but she got tangled in her dress. He had noticed that this happened quite often with her. She seemed to have a hard time with her skirts. Was this another sign that her time travel story was true? What kind of clothing would people wear in the future? Bridget never seemed to have problems controlling her skirts. He reached down and took her hand to help her up.

  When he pulled her to her feet, she looked at him deeply. He suddenly wanted to kiss her, like he had before. Even though he didn’t believe her story, he was still attracted to her. What was he going to do? Her eyes looked straight at him, and seemed to be pleading with him to believe her. He could tell that she really believed her story.

  “I will need to think about what you told me,” Patrick finally told her. He stepped back and dropped her hand after she had gotten to her feet.

  “I would like to make one request,” Kimberly told him.

  “What is it?”

  “Can we travel to Denver and talk to Mrs. Hilton, before you make any decision about us?”

  Patrick hesitated and then nodded. It was a fair request. He would make arrangements for them to travel to Denver in a few days. In fact, he felt the entire family should go. It would be a nice break for everyone. He would ride into the mountains and ask Running Deer, Colleen’s uncle who lived in the Indian village, if he would watch over the ranch for a few days.

  Chapter 24

  The next morning, Kimberly watched as Patrick rode off on Apache into the mountains. He hadn’t told her where he was going, but she knew that Shaun was aware of why he was leaving. She did her best to keep the tears from her eyes. She knew his reaction to her story was normal. Wouldn’t she have reacted in much the same way if the situation was reversed?

  She was glad he agreed to the trip to visit Mrs. Hilton. She hoped he would be able to keep an open mind until he could talk to her. She turned to Bridget and tried to smile. She didn’t want Bridget to know something was wrong.

  “I would love it if you could show me how to make those braided rugs,” she requested of Bridget. If things weren’t going to work out between her and Patrick, she wanted to bring back one new skill to 2005. She wanted to be able to make a braided rug for her room.

  Bridget seemed pleased that she asked. “Sure. Today is a good day. We are caught up on the weeding in the garden, the house chores and the laundry. I think we can take a few hours so I can teach you.”

  They were soon sitting at the kitchen table, with a large pile of scrap fabric between them. Colleen stayed with them for a while, chattering in her usual fashion until Bridget sent her outside. Kimberly loved having the child around, but she was glad Bridget found her something else to do. She was having a hard time following the conversation with the child.

  “Colleen, why don’t you go find your father?” Bridget suggested. “He mentioned he was going to work with one of the new colts.”

  “Really?” Colleen jumped from the table. “I know he will want my help.” She dashed outside.

  Bridget showed Kimberly how to take the fabric and tear them into thin strips. She then sewed the end of each strip together until she had a large pile of strips all sewn together.

  “When we get enough, we will braid them together as tight as we can.” Bridget told her.

  The women worked quietly for a few minutes and Kimberly couldn’t help but let her mind drift to Patrick and their talk the evening before.

  Bridget finally broke the silence. “A few days ago, you and Patrick seemed to be getting along great. Now, you two will barely look at each other. What happened?”

  Kimberly didn’t know what to say. She knew she couldn’t tell Bridget about herself. She also knew that all three of Patrick’s siblings suspected she was hiding something, especially since Keegan had seen Collin disappear. She wondered if Keegan had mentioned what he had seen to Shaun or Bridget.

  “I told Patrick something about my past and where I am from. He is having a hard time with it.” Kimberly finally felt it was safe to say. “I’m sure we will work things out.” She hoped the last sentence was true.

  Bridget stopped her sewing and laid a hand on top of Kimberly’s. “Do you love Patrick?”

  Kimberly immediately nodded her head. “Yes, I do love him. I didn’t expect to fall in love with him so quickly, but he is a good man.”

  “I can tell he loves you, too. He has been different since you came. He is happier, more willing to laugh and have fun with us. He doesn’t work so much. He used to always be working. The only time I would see him was at meal times and even then, he would eat as fast as he could, and then leave to work some more.”

  “I can tell your ranch is doing well,” Kimberly commented.

  “It isn’t my ranch. Although Shaun, Keegan, and I live here, the ranch will never be ours. It is Patrick’s. He is the oldest son.”

  Kimberly was surprised at Bridget’s words. Why couldn’t the ranch belong to all four of them?

  “Does that bother you?” she finally asked. Bridget worked just as hard as Patrick did around the ranch.

  Bridget shook her head. “It’s the way it has always been in our family. Patrick will never make any of us feel we have to leave, but someday we will. Shaun is saving his money he earns from training his horses to buy his own land. Keegan will likely never want to own land. I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes a doctor. And I will marry someday, leave, and start my own family.”

  Kimberly felt surprised there were no hard feelings about Patrick inheriting the family ranch. “Tell me about how your family was able to purchase this land.” This was one of the subjects she was very curious about. Why did they have land in the middle of the mountains,
so far away from the nearest city?

  “My grandfather and grandmother lived in Ireland during the potato famine. They lived in a small cottage and were forced to work for a rich man. They barely made enough to feed their children. Then there was the potato famine. It lasted for five years. By the time it was over, they had lost all of their children, except for my father. He was ten years old.

  “They decided they wanted to move to America. They had a set of china dishes that had been passed down to my grandmother. She was smart enough to bury the dishes in their small garden, so their landlord didn’t know they had them. If he had, he would have insisted they give them to him as part of their payment they had to pay him every year.”