Jewel took the wallet and inspected the wallet-sized print. “She’s a brunette. I was expecting a blonde.”
He smiled. “I like all girls. Blonde. Redhead. Brunette. I’m flying out to the front in a few days. I hope I come back.”
“You’ll come back.”
“I don’t want to ever see the hurt in my girl’s eyes that I saw in yours last night. I think it’s harder on the ones left behind than on the soldiers that die.”
It was true. Jewel had nothing more to add to that statement so she tried to lighten the subject. “How about I write to you when you’re gone? Any letters from the home front are good.”
“That would be great and thanks for the dance last night. It was nice to hold a girl in my arms one last time. Thanks again for the photos. I gotta get back to the airfield.” He kissed her cheek, winked, and then left.
Jewel finished her hours at the darkroom. She bowed out of dinner and went back to the barracks. The room was still stifling hot from the day’s heat, but it didn’t matter. Shaking an extra sleeping pill out into her hand, she swallowed it dry.
****
Glenn fought to stay awake. He’d downed nasty tasting drinks with bulls on the label. The man at the corner store told him the drink would help keep him awake. But he was heading toward twenty hours, and it was silly to think he could stay alert forever.
He’d studied the data and found a correlation in the points. In the morning he would tell Hadley.
He propped himself up in the living room chair but his eyes felt heavy and itchy.
A warm body snuggled next to him. That smell. Skylark.
Somewhere in-between
He opened his eyes and Jewel was next to him on the couch of the apartment. She looked up and smiled.
“Fancy meeting you here,” she said.
Glenn looked around. She was here, in his apartment… and he was asleep. Wasn’t he? Good God.
He wanted to push her away, but he couldn’t force himself to do it. It wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t either of their faults. His heart slammed in his chest. One of them needed to stay in control, but she was so close…
“I love you,” she whispered.
He kissed her, possessed her mouth, claiming what was once his. The kiss seemed to go on endlessly, deeper, until he thought he would die from wanting.
Jewel gave him a sweet kiss with such emotion it shook him to the core. Her moist lips opened to take in the tip of his tongue. He took advantage and ran it along the seam. A tiny moan escaped her mouth.
Glenn knew this was wrong. He pushed away. “We have to stop. We can’t do this anymore.”
She didn’t open her eyes but smiled a vacant Mona Lisa smile. “You’re wrong. This can go on forever.”
Okay, she was scaring him now. He grabbed her by the upper arms and gave her a little shake.
Finally she opened her big green eyes. “I thought joining the Marines would make a difference, but it hasn’t. More young men are just going to go off to war, one at a time, and then are gone.” She snapped her fingers in the air.
“You need to stop this and move on.”
“I can stop it anytime… the doctor gave me pills…”
A rock dropped through the bottom of Glenn’s stomach. “That’s not what I meant.”
Her eyes finally focused on him. She shook her arm free. “You can’t tell me what to do. You’re dead. I make my own decisions! If I go back to where it all began… our place, maybe things will change and then you’ll be there.”
“Don’t do anything stupid. You have your whole life ahead of you.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I have no one. Soon, I’ll be here with you.”
Glenn went to reach for her but her image shimmered and faded.
“No!” he cried and fought to hold on to her but it was useless.
He woke up alone. She was gone. This time she left the dream, and the dread he now felt told him that he didn’t have much time.
Glenn grabbed the stack of papers off the table and ran for the door. He barely remembered driving his new car to Hadley’s house, but the next thing he knew he was pounding his fist on the front door.
A dog barked in another room as Hadley opened the door and rubbed sleep from his eyes. Glenn pushed past him into the living room.
“My God, what’s the matter?” Sam asked as she hurried down the stairs to meet them. She pulled her robe closed over her pajamas and stopped when she was beside them.
“It’s Jewel. We have to do something. She’s going to kill herself to be with me. There was another dream tonight… she’s going… you have to help me.” Desperation tinged his words.
Sam wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “Oh Glenn, I’m so sorry.”
“There has to be something we can do,” he pleaded.
“We can’t travel in dreams, only through the bookstore,” Hadley said, and looked grim.
Glenn ran toward the dining room table and threw open the file he’d carried under his arm. He shuffled through the papers until he stopped and pointed. “Here!” he shouted. “I checked the numbers. If you add them together I found that they are longitude and latitude. The bookstore. It’s in Portland, Oregon. We have to go there.”
“You’re sure about this?” Hadley asked.
“No, but I’m as sure as I am about anything anymore. It’s worth a chance. I think I have it pinpointed to the area and maybe even the block. Please… we have to try and stop her!”
Hadley looked over at Sam. She nodded and said, “I’ll check the internet for a red-eye flight to Portland while you get dressed. Let me throw on a coat and I’ll drive you.”
Chapter Nine
The flight to Portland felt as though it took days, when in reality, it had only been a few hours. A cab dropped Glenn and Hadley off at the address from the map.
Hadley looked across the street and shook his head in disbelief. He couldn’t believe that the coordinates were correct. “You did it. You were right. It’s here.”
Crossing the street they stopped in front of Second Chance Books. The large window displayed an array of antique books from the last one-hundred years.
“I never thought I’d see this place again,” Hadley said with an audible swallow. As they moved closer, his pulse kicked up.
“Come on, don’t back out on me now. We need to go inside,” Glenn urged.
There was a tremble in his fingers as he extended his arm toward the front door. He turned, looked at Glenn and then asked, “Samantha… what if I can’t get back through? She’s having our baby.”
Glenn stopped. “God… I’ve only been thinking of myself. You have as much if not more at stake here than I do. It’s too dangerous. I understand. I’ll go. You stay here.”
Reaching for the heavy wooden door, Glenn drew it open. It creaked under its weight. Glenn looked up in disbelief. A wall of bricks filled the doorway. “Dammit!” he cried. “This isn’t fair.” He punched the bricks and pulled away bloodied knuckles. Stepping back, he scrubbed his hands over his face. “There has to be another way.”
“Glenn?”
Hadley stood on the inside of the door frame with a shimmer of bricks between the men.
“How did you…” Glenn’s words trailed off.
“I’m a Dimension Keeper. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but obviously, it will. Though it’s past my time, I was hoping that I would still be able to move in and out of the bookstore.”
“I can’t let you do this. It’s too dangerous. What if you can’t get back?”
Hadley smiled faintly. “I took an oath over a hundred years ago to help travelers, and that doesn’t end. If I don’t come back, you…” He closed his eyes for a second as a lump formed in his throat. “You have to promise me that you will
watch over Samantha. Do not leave her alone. There is a bank key in the wooden box in my desk with more money than she will ever need to keep her and the child supplied. I love her as much as you love Jewel. Please… promise me.”
“I promise to watch over Sam, but you can’t do this!”
“I’ve made the choice not you. I have faith in the Ancients. I have already paid my time and I can only hope that the portal will not keep me. But, Glenn, how will I find Jewel?”
“Try the Marine base and then…” he paused. She said ‘where it all began.’. There’s a little park at Lombard and Fillmore. It’s where I proposed. Maybe she’ll be there.”
Hadley bowed his head in a short nod. “I will come back when I find her.” He let out the breath he’d held and closed the door solidly behind him.
Arthur looked up and started to say, “We weren’t expecting...”He stopped in mid-sentence. He stood so quickly, he knocked over a cup of pencils on the edge of his desk. They fell with a clatter to the floor and rolled in different directions.
“Hadley! My dear boy… how… how did you get here?”
“I came through the front door. Like everyone else.” A grin stretched across his lips.
“But you left… you’re back.”
“No, I am not back. I am hopefully just passing through. I am helping a friend. There was a grievous error committed with a traveler, Glenn Miller.”
Arthur turned the ledger and flipped back multiple pages. “Yes, in 1942?”
“Is Clayton still here at the bookstore?”
“Yes.” Arthur shook his head “This is unheard of. A Dimension Keeper returning? Is there more of an issue? Say, a problem with your current life?”
“No. Samantha and I are having our first child. But I can’t be a good father with a clear conscious. Glenn suffered great injustice and misunderstanding when he traveled. I am here to make it right.”
“You’ll only be able to travel if the Ancients permit it.”
“I will take what Fate deals me.” Hadley started to move off, but stopped. He smiled at Arthur. “You look well, old friend. I see that you are still here.”
“Where else would I be? But you’re telling me that you’re happy in your new life?”
“My life is perfect… but occasionally I miss our games of chess.”
“You were like the son I never had.” Arthur smiled. “Clayton is awaiting the arrival of another traveler. He’ll be surprised to see you.”
“I’m sure of that.”
Hadley reached for the railing and stepped onto the first wood stair that led to the second landing. If he wasn’t allowed to travel by the Ancients, would they stop him now? What would they do? Would they shoot him back to his current time, or would he disappear between dimensions. A shiver traveled up his spine. He’d made it through the front door— a good sign— but what about the next level?
When he reached the section he was looking for, he spotted Clayton in a long black coat and his hair tied in a queue. His back was turned away from Hadley. Who knew how many years Clayton had been in the bookstore? Had it been over a hundred years like his time, or longer? They’d known each other as children in England and neither he nor Clayton aged. Their fathers were Dimension Keepers. He’d always wondered if Clayton would be his replacement. Now he knew.
“I never expected to see you again,” Hadley stated.
Clayton spun around and his mouth dropped open wide when he saw him. “Hadley, what the deuce are you doing here?”
“I’m just as surprised as you are. I’m back, because I need your help. You took a man through, a Glenn Miller?”
Clayton looked confused. Hadley realized many years had passed since the travel. He clarified, “It must have been a long time ago. 1942. He said that you were in a hurry and did not ask the Dimension Keeper questions that are required by the Ancients. This man, Glenn, had no idea he was traveling.”
“I remember now. I’ve fretted over that for a while, but you can’t spend time with all of them.’ ” He shrugged and gave a sideways grin. “What’s done is done.”
“You arrogant prig. You turned this man’s life upside down.” Hadley stalked toward him and grabbed the lapel of his coat. He pulled Clayton close and glared into his eyes. “You’re lucky right now that I don’t break your jaw. When we were in training, you never cared about your travelers. I’m in 2013 now, hoping to pick up the pieces that you or other thoughtless Keepers left behind. It ends here. I’m going to right a wrong so I can live with myself.”
“I’m not sure what you want me to do.”
“There is a young woman still back in 1942. Glenn believes she is going to end her life. You are the guide. You’re going to take me back to 1942 so I can find her.”
“But…” Clayton looked around in a nervous way. “The Ancients. What if they disagree?”
“Let them decide. If they keep me, send me to another time, or make me disappear, so be it.”
“Why are you helping this…Glenn? He’s my traveler, not yours.”
“They are all our travelers. Don’t you see? He’s a good man. He paid with his life and I owe this to him.”
“It must mean a lot to you to make such a sacrifice.”
“It does.”
“Why don’t you go by yourself?”
“You’re the current Dimension Keeper. I think that I’ll need you to travel, and also if there’s any chance for me to return to my current time.”
“I see.” Clayton nodded. He started to walk to a door, and then stopped. “No, this is the wrong time.” He motioned to Hadley and then they moved down the hall to another door. The large planked wooden door stood in front of them.
“Are you sure about this? That I am the key?” Clayton asked. “What if you are blocked from returning?”
“I need to try.”
Clayton pulled it open and took Hadley by the wrist. They stepped over the threshold. Hadley’s ears snapped and the pressure ballooned inside his head. He closed his eyes and awaited his fate.
A man with an overcoat buttoned tight pushed past him and a large blue car blasted its horn.
“Every time I return to this era, it is much louder than I remember,” Clayton said his hand still on Hadley’s arms. “Are you all right?”
“I believe so.” Hadley looked around. He had indeed traveled back in time. He walked over to a corner stand and lifted the top newspaper on the pile. November 26, 1942. He couldn’t quite believe it worked.
“I need to find Glenn’s fiancée and bring her back. You need to come with me.”
Clayton shot him a look. “Why do I need to come with you?”
“If you leave...”
“You think that I would leave you here?”
“Would you?”
“The bookstore will not move; it’s time is slow. It will wait for us. I’ll be here. I’m not as much of a ‘prig’ as you believe me to be.”
Hadley paused. “I have your word?”
“Yes. Now stop wasting time. Go.”
Hadley realized that he’d started to fit into the modern world he now lived in. He missed the GPS in his cell phone, because right now, he had no idea where the hell he was. He was fortunate that the bookstore deposited them in San Francisco or it would have added more hours of travel onto the precious time he had. After getting lost several times, he decided to flag down a taxi. .
First, he checked the air base, but according to their information, Jewel was on leave.
In the back seat of the taxi, Hadley rolled the window down a few inches. The strong smell of tobacco clung to the interior of the car as the cabbie lit another cigarette. Funny, now that he lived in an era where hardly anyone smoked, the smell nauseated him.
“How much longer?” Hadley asked as he strummed hi
s fingers on the door sill and tried to calm his stomach.
The cabbie’s eyes flicked up to the rear view mirror. “A few minutes. Why, is it the end of the world if we’re not there on time?”
Hadley didn’t answer. Instead, he watched the scenery glide by. Glenn was right. San Francisco hadn’t changed much. Sure, the people wore different clothes and the cars were larger, but many of the buildings from this era still stood seventy years in the future.
The cabbie pulled off the road and turned in his seat. He pushed his weather cap back on his large, balding forehead. “That’ll be forty-two cents.”
Hadley stared at him for a second. “Bollocks…” he swore under his breath. He’d been in such a rush, he hadn’t remembered to take any money. He thought he’d be traveling with Glenn. Glenn had the hundred dollars in cash Samantha gave them at the house.”
The cabbie rolled his eyes. “Great… another deadbeat. Just what I need today. I got a family to feed, mister.”
Hadley’s mind raced. Then it came to him. “My cufflinks are gold.” He fumbled with the screws until the right one dropped into his palm. “Solid gold… and antique.”
The man frowned. “How do I know you ain’t givin’ me a line and that they’re real?”
Hadley handed it to the man. “Look at it. If you have a brain you can tell it’s gold.”
The cabbie examined it, and then finally said, “Okay.”
“I’ll give you that link. It must be worth twenty times the cab fare. If you wait and return me to where the fare started you will get the other cufflink for payment. You have my word.”
The man blew out a snort. “A man’s word ain’t worth nothing these days.”
“I come from a place where it is.”
When the man nodded, Hadley stepped from the cab and trotted out into the park. It was still early in the morning and because of the fog few people milled around. If Jewel wasn’t here, how would he ever find her? The damp, cold droplets of mist clung to his coat and hair.
I'll Be Seeing You Through Time (The Dimension Keepers) Page 5