Touched by Time

by Zoe Matthews

  “Wow,” Nicky breathed. “Seriously?” It was starting to make sense that she wasn’t able to find out where Kimberly was. She had always wondered about time travel, if it could be true. The only time she had heard about time travel was in movies and books, but she always believed in the back of her mind that sometimes movies and books could have some truth to them, even though they portrayed the truth as fiction.

  “Yes.” Collins continued to watch her and she realized he was waiting to see if she believed him or not.

  “Okay, so let me see if I understand this. She answered that mail-order ad and started to write Patrick through Victoria. She decided she wanted to meet him, but she had to travel through time, back to 1892, in order to meet him?”

  “Yes. Does this seem strange to you?”

  “It probably should, shouldn’t it? After all, time travel has never been proven. But to answer your question, no, it doesn’t seem strange. I know Kimberly well enough to know she wouldn’t have done something that she didn’t feel good about.”

  Collins smiled at her, and Nicky noticed when he smiled he looked very handsome and distinguished, not at all formal and stuffy liked he seemed to portray himself.

  “So, what time is Victoria from? What time are you from?”

  “We are both from Patrick’s time, from 1892.”

  Nicky sat back and looked closely at Collins. “Why are you telling me this?”

  “Because Kimberly would like you to attend her wedding. Victoria and I felt it would be for you to come if you believed my story.”

  “Really?” Nicky jumped up from the sofa. “I can go to Kimberly’s wedding? Can we go now? I want to see her. I’ve missed her.”

  “Yes, we can go now if you desire. I have been sent to fetch you.”

  “I have to do a few things first, if you would be willing to wait,” Nicky said.

  “I will wait. I just ask that you don’t tell anyone you are leaving. You should be back before anyone misses you.”

  “Okay, I won’t tell anyone,” Nicky assured him. Not that anyone would believe me anyway, she thought to herself.

  She picked up her cellphone and dialed the man who was over her summer class. She was glad he didn’t answer, and she quickly left a message that she wouldn’t be in to teach for a few days. Then she went into her room to pack a few things.

  Once she was inside her room, she did a little celebration jig. She felt so excited that she was going to be able to see Kimberly, and that she was going to be able to experience time travel. What would it be like? Well, she would know soon enough. She pulled a small suitcase out from under her bed and quickly put a change of clothes and some toiletries inside it. She took her favorite dress off of its hanger and carefully folded it. It would be the dress she would wear to Kimberly’s wedding. What else would she need? She looked around, but couldn’t see anything. The last thing she did was leave her cell phone on her dresser. She wouldn’t need it while she was gone and she didn’t want anything to happen to it.

  “I’m ready,” she announced as she walked back into her small living room. Collins was standing near her TV and entertainment center as if trying to figure out what everything was for and how they worked.

  He turned around at her words. “Good. Now, we will be traveling together, using this one key. We will need to hold hands and we cannot let go from each other no matter what.”

  Nicky gave a nervous sigh. “What would happen if we did?”

  “I’m not sure, as it has never happened, but I don’t want to find out, do you?”

  “No,” Nicky denied. She would make sure she hung onto him with everything she had.

  “I will take your bag for you,” Collins held out his hand for her suitcase and she gave it to him. She then grasped his other hand lightly. The golden key was wedged between their two hands. She saw Collins close his eyes, so she did the same. She felt a tingling sensation that started in her toes, then spread inward. It grew to feel almost like the pins and needles she would feel if she had fallen asleep on a limb. When it got so strong and it was almost unbearable, it suddenly stopped. Just like that, they were whisked back in time.

  Chapter 32

  Patrick went to find Shaun. He knew he had some damage control to do with his brother. Shaun tended to just see things in black and white. He wanted his brother’s support. He knew he needed to help Shaun see that marrying Kimberly was what he wanted, and that the time travel issue didn’t matter. He loved Kimberly. Sometimes love can travel through time.

  “Let’s take a walk, brother,” Patrick suggested to Shaun when he found him in the library, pacing up and down the length of the room in agitation.

  “I’m fine with your marriage to Kimberly, Patrick,” Shaun insisted. “We don’t need to talk about it.”

  “If we are going to live on the ranch together, we do,” Patrick insisted.

  Shaun hesitated as if he was going to argue again, but in the end he followed Patrick outside into the night. They started to walk down the street in silence.

  “Tell me what your concerns are about me marrying Kimberly,” Patrick invited his brother.

  “How about time traveling from, what was the year? 2005? To our time? Do you really believe that? I have never heard of such a thing.” Shaun said scornfully.

  “Just because we haven’t heard of something doesn’t make it not true,” Patrick argued. “For your information, I do believe it. There is too much about Kimberly that is different. I can't not believe it.”

  “Yes, like the way she knew exactly what to do to help Keegan,” Shaun stated.

  “Yes, like that. What if she hadn’t been around? You know Keegan very likely wouldn’t have made it.”

  “I am glad she was able to help Keegan, but that doesn’t mean you need to marry her,” Shaun told him.

  While they were talking, neither of them realized they were being followed. This person did his best to stay in the shadows so he wasn’t seen, but he stayed close enough to be able to hear every word the two brothers were saying.

  “I’m marrying her because I love her,” Patrick told him.

  Shaun scoffed again.

  “Look, Shaun. Like I’ve said before, not all girls are like Delia. You seem to judge every woman by what happened with her. I don’t think it’s very fair.”

  “I know all girls aren’t like her, but I still think you need to be cautious. Let’s say I do believe this story that she is from the future. What’s going to stop her from finding one of the keys Victoria has and send herself back to her time, when she gets tired of this one?”

  “She has told me she won’t do that. She likes our time period. She likes living on the ranch.”

  “And you believe her?”

  “Of course I believe her. She traveled a long distance to take a chance with me. How can I not believe her?”

  Shaun just shook his head and abruptly turned to head back to the house.

  The man who had been following them quickly hid behind a large tree. Shaun didn’t seem to notice him, but Patrick thought he saw some movement in the corner of his eye and turned his head to look, but didn’t see anything in the darkness. He turned his attention again to his brother.

  “Look, all I’m asking is that we have your blessing. If you are so against our marriage, it is going to be hard to live together.”

  “Okay, if that is what you want, you have my blessing. I will do my best to be polite to her. She is the one you chose and I respect your decision. Just don’t ask me to believe in this time travel business.”

  “Thank you,” Patrick told his brother with relief. “I would like to ask you to be my best man.”

  For the first time, Shaun turned to him and smiled. “Sure, I guess I can do that.”

  When they returned to the house, it was in a small uproar. Patrick could see Kimberly laughing and crying at the same time as she hugged a woman dressed in strange clothes. The shirt was a bright blue, and seemed to be cut like a men's shirt, the only differ
ence being that it was more form fitting, and the sleeves were quite short. The pants looked like riding pants, but were also more form fitting, and were made out of denim, which was also normally worn by men. Patrick found it odd that the clothes were men's clothes, yet somehow more revealing.

  “Nicky, I’m so glad you came,” Kimberly told the woman she was hugging. He watched as Kimberly then hugged Collins. “Thanks for bringing her for my wedding. This means so much to me.”

  Collins patted her back awkwardly as if he wasn’t used to hugs from a woman. “It is my pleasure.”

  Kimberly noticed that Patrick and Shaun had come into the room. She ran up to Patrick, pulling the strangely dressed woman behind her.

  “Patrick, this is my best friend, Nicky. Collins traveled to my time to bring her back for our wedding.” She turned to the woman who hadn’t said a word. She was looking around her in amazement of what she was seeing. “Nicky, this is Patrick.”

  Patrick watched with amusement as Nicky focused on him and then smiled. She held out a hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

  “I’m glad you were able to come,” Patrick said. From what he could gather, Collins must have taken a trip to the future to retrieve Nicky. He would have like to hear the conversation Collins must have had with Nicky to try to convince her to travel in time. Unless, time travel was more accepted in the future?

  ****

  The man watched as Patrick and his brother entered Victoria’s home. He smiled to himself. He finally found the location of two other keys. Now he just needed to get them for himself.

  He had been looking for them for years. He almost had one of them when Victoria had bought it from her grandmother in Ireland before he could get to it. She had left so quickly, going back to her own time, and he couldn’t follow her. It had taken a long time to figure out what exact year Victoria was from and where she lived. But now he finally knew.

  Now, he would need to figure out a plan to steal the keys. He didn’t know how he would accomplish it, but he would have them in his possession, soon. Then he would be able to put his other plans into place.

  The man laughed under his breath quietly and then pulled a key of his own out of his pocket. He disappeared with a smirk on his face.

  Chapter 33

  It was late before everyone finally went to their rooms for the night. Kimberly made some tea and then settled in the parlor with Nicky, both of them ready for a long talk.

  “I can’t believe you’re here,” Kimberly told Nicky. “I was so surprised to see you with Collins.”

  “I can’t believe I’m here either,” Nicky told her. “Kimberly, I need to tell you, I’ve been very worried about you. You just… up and disappeared. I know, you left a letter and money to cover expenses, but it scared me. You didn’t even take your cell phone.”

  “Well, I left it because I don’t exactly need it here,” Kimberly said with a smile.

  “I wished you had just been honest with me. I had no idea you were writing Patrick.”

  Kimberly looked down in her lap. “I didn’t tell you because you thought the entire idea of being a mail-order bride was stupid. I didn’t want you to try to talk me out of it.” She scooted closer to her friend and squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry I disappeared the way I did. I didn’t mean to worry you. I just wanted to meet Patrick. I really thought I’d be back before the month was up.”

  “But you fell in love instead,” Nicky said with a smile.

  “Yes, I did,” Kimberly said. “Patrick is wonderful. I am glad I came to meet Patrick and I get to stay. Nicky, I love it here.”

  “I can tell. You are happier, more peaceful. If you want to marry Patrick, then you have my blessing. I just hope we will be able to keep in touch after the wedding, when I have to return to our time.”

  “I’m sure we will be able to, although it wouldn’t be through the usual ways,” Kimberly told her friend with a grin.

  “Obviously Patrick is incredibly attractive, so I've got to congratulate you on that! What else do you like about him? Tell me more about Patrick,” Nicky encouraged Kimberly.

  For the next hour, Kimberly happily told her friend everything that had happened in the last month. She told about Keegan getting hurt and how she had been able to help. She told her about Daisy and the run-in with the mother bear and her two cubs. She talked about each of Patrick’s siblings and noticed that Nicky showed quite a bit of interest when she talked about Shaun.

  “Shaun is a good guy. He hasn’t been all that warm to me, but I think he just has a hard time trusting. He is a good father to Colleen.”

  “I’m glad Patrick’s family has accepted you.” Nicky told her. Nicky then caught her up with the events happening with their time, including what Justin was doing. Evidently, he was starting a new computer game and was very busy getting his crew together to start writing it. Garrett was glad school was out for the summer and was enjoying his summer program.

  “I’m so glad you are here,” Kimberly told her again. “We probably should think about going to bed, but I have one more question. Are you really okay about the time travel?”

  “Sure,” Nicky waved her hand. “There was always something strange about Victoria’s house, you have to admit. When I was looking for you, I went to her house. It was this house, only in our time. It looked the same, only quite a bit older, you know? No one was home. When I looked into the windows, everything was covered with sheets, as if the house had been empty for years. Dust was all over everything. The grounds were well cared for, though. It was all very strange.

  “When I talked to Collins, all three times, it was almost like he just appeared. Time travel isn’t a new idea. It isn’t considered a true idea, but movies were good at telling stories, making fiction look real. I think sometimes the movies in our time portrays something as fiction, when it really is real.”

  “Well, I’m glad you believed him.”

  “For some reason, Collins isn’t hard to believe.”

  ****

  The next day turned out to be one of the happiest days of Kimberly’s life. She was marrying Patrick, the man she traveled so far to meet. She was very excited to start her life with him.

  She had learned to love Patrick’s family. Bridget was quickly becoming like a sister to her, as well as Keegan a younger brother. She couldn’t say the same about Shaun, but he hadn’t glared at her since Nicky had arrived. In fact, it seemed he was fascinated by her friend. He hadn’t said anything, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. Kimberly found it amusing, and wondered what he was thinking. She knew that it was just a matter of time before Shaun accepted her as family.

  The wedding was scheduled for early that afternoon. Kimberly had risen early that morning even though it had been late when she had finally fallen asleep. She had risen early, wanting to enjoy every moment of her wedding day.

  She headed towards the kitchen, but heard voices coming from the parlor, so he went that direction. She thought she was the first one up, so she was surprised to hear others were up.

  She found Colleen in the room, Nicky sitting next to her.

  “You wear funny clothes,” Colleen was saying. Kimberly stayed in the doorway, watching Nicky interact with the child. Nicky loved children and they always responded to her.

  “I do, don’t I?” Nicky smiled at her. “I guess I better change into clothes like what you wear, don’t you think?”

  Kimberly noticed that Nicky wore a pair of jeans and t-shirt, just like what she would have worn at home.

  “Yes, you should wear a dress. Women should wear dresses, not boy pants.”

  Kimberly wondered how Nicky was going to explain her jeans, but she just changed the subject.

  “Tell me about the ranch you live on,” Nicky invited the child.

  Colleen’s eyes lit up. “I just turned nine. Pa gave me a horse for my birthday.”

  “Really? That sounds like a great birthday gift. What is your horse’s name?”

  “I named he
r Spirit,” Colleen told her, leaning against Nicky as she talked. “She is beautiful. She’s mostly brown, but has some white spots. Pa calls her an Indian pony.”

  “Spirit is a beautiful name for a horse.”

  “You should come see her. Can you come visit after Patrick marries Kimberly? Then I can show her to you.”

  “I think I will have to go back home after the wedding, but thanks for inviting me.”

  As Kimberly watched Nicky talk with Colleen, she felt a presence behind her. It was Shaun. He must have been looking for his daughter and stopped beside her in the doorway to watch Nicky talk with Colleen.

  “Colleen is fine with Nicky. She’s a school teacher and loves kids,” Kimberly quickly explained to Shaun. “In fact…”