“Thank you, Chancy,” she said. “I may need to go back very soon. Will you take me again?”
“Yes,” he said. “Definitely.”
Jamie got in her car and waved at Chancy. She backed out of the little driveway and drove through the network of roads that led her out of the backwoods. When she got home, she went straight to the fridge and made a sandwich. She hadn’t eaten all day and she was starving. She poured herself a glass of wine and went to her computer.
“Full moons in 2013,” she typed. A website came up immediately and she saw when the next full moon would be. July 22. Bobby was getting married on August 17. At least he had been getting married that date. She needed to check with her mother if that was still the date or if Bobby was even getting married in this timeline that was so close, but different from the last 2013. Next, she keyed in “full moons in 2001.” July 5 and August 4 were the next two, or, she thought, had been the next two in 2001.
After she completed her full moon research, Jamie called her mother.
“I was wondering about Bobby,” she said. “How is he?”
“He loves his job,” her mother said. “Just loves it. Dad and I are very happy and relieved.”
“Relieved?”
“We were worried about him for a while when he was playing all those video games. We didn’t think he’d amount to anything, but we were wrong.”
Jamie chose her words very carefully then. “How’s his personal life?” she asked.
“He said he’s started seeing someone named Michelle. We don’t know much about her yet. I guess time will tell.”
So, Bobby was not engaged in this timeline! Blackbird had been right when he said it was like a shaken jar of water. The only constant seemed to be that when she went back to Tommy, it picked up where she had left him the last time she had been with him. Every time she returned to 2013, it was a different world. Jamie didn’t think she’d ever understand the shifting sands of time or how she had been able to navigate them. She was still navigating them, but now she had a compass.
“I was thinking of coming home for a visit next weekend,” she said.
“Are you worried about your dad?” her mother asked. “Because he’s doing fine. Of course, we’d love to see you,” she added hastily.
“I just want to see y’all,” Jamie said. “Is that all right?”
“Of course, honey. That’s just fine. See you then.”
Jamie had no choice but to continue working at the clinic for the next week. It was her life in this time. She worked, she went home, she ate, and she went to bed. There was nothing else to do.
On Wednesday, she mentioned to Nate that she was going home that weekend.
“Oh,” he said. “I was hoping we could go back to Buddy’s place. But we can do that another time.”
“That would be fun,” Jamie said. She liked Nate. If she ended up stuck in this time, she might be able to find a way to love him again. But not as long as Tommy was waiting for her in some other time. And he would always be waiting. She knew that now.
On Thursday, Jamie went to the clinic as usual. Something was nagging at her mind but she couldn’t focus on it. Couldn’t nail it down. She was getting some sample medications from the supply room, not really thinking about anything, when it hit her. If she went back to Tommy in 2001, Chancy would not be able to take her to Blackbird. Chancy would be twelve years old and he wouldn’t know her. He would still be living with his mother in that cabin in the woods. Panic filled Jamie’s heart when she realized that. How could she possibly get back to Blackbird without Chancy to show her the way? She had not taken notes when they drove to Blackbird. She didn’t know she needed to.
Jamie walked into the front office. Tiffany sat at her desk looking at her computer.
“Tiffany, do we have a number for Darma’s mother? Lela?”
“Let me look,” Tiffany said. She punched some keys in and pulled up a database. She scrolled down to the Ts for Thomas.
“Yep, here’s a number. Want me to write it down for you?”
“Yes, please,” Jamie said. Tiffany wrote the number on a sticky note and handed it to Jamie.
“Thanks,” Jamie said. “I wanted to check on Darma.”
When the long day was over, Jamie went home and called the number. Lela answered.
“Lela,” Jamie said. “Could I talk to Chancy?”
“He’s not home yet,” Lela said. “He’s still at the mill. He should be home soon, though. Want me to have him call you?”
“Yes.” Jamie gave Lela her number, though it was unnecessary with cell phones these days, assuming Lela had a cell phone.
“How’s Darma doing?” Jamie asked. She hated that it seemed like an afterthought. She really did care about the little girl.
“She’s been doing great,” Lela said. “No more problems.”
“Please feel free to call me on my cell phone at any time of day or night if you need to,” Jamie said. She owed Darma and her family that much, and so much more.
“That’s very kind of you, Dr. Walters,” Lela said. “Very kind.”
Jamie wished that she cared about what she ate or how her house looked, as she had before she time traveled. But now she really didn’t care. She had one goal: get back to Tommy. Everything else was incidental and unimportant.
But she did have to eat so she heated up a can of vegetable soup. She was sitting in the living room watching TV when her phone rang. It was Chancy.
“Chancy,” she said. “Do you think you can draw me a map of how to get to Blackbird’s cabin? I know you said you would take me next time, but I realize that I need to know. Just in case.”
“I know you need to know,” Chancy said. “I’ve been thinking about that, too.” Why was Chancy thinking about it? Had he overheard her talking to Blackbird? Had Darma said something to him? She didn’t know how Chancy knew, but he knew.
“I’ll draw you the best map I can,” he said. “I’ll show you where my mother’s cabin is on the map, too. Just in case.”
“Thank you,” Jamie said. She couldn’t possibly express her gratitude to Chancy. There were no words for it.
“I’ll need to go over it with you to make sure you understand where you’re going,” he said. “Could you come over tomorrow evening when I get home? I’ll have it drawn by then and can help you.”
“Yes,” she said gratefully. “I’ll be by right after I get off tomorrow. And, Chancy, thank you. You are saving my life.”
“I’m just giving you the part of the puzzle you need,” he said. “Darma told me today to help you. The ancestors speak through her. I can’t deny them.”
When she walked out of work the next day, Friday, she waved goodbye to Nate. He waved back. He looked kind of sad and Jamie felt sorry for him. He had lost his father and he seemed sort of lost right now. Jamie would help him, if she could. If she didn’t love Tommy.
She drove for the third time to Lela and Chancy’s cabin and found it easily. She knocked on the door and Lela let her in. Darma was watching something on TV, but she looked up when Jamie walked in. “He’s going to help you,” she said.
“Thanks,” Jamie said. “How are you feeling? Are you breathing all right?”
“I’m good,” Darma said before turning back to the TV.
Chancy got two beers out of the fridge and opened them. “Let’s go outside,” he said. He had a piece of paper in his hand.
Jamie looked at Lela, who was stirring a pot on the stove. “Don’t forget you can call me anytime if Darma has a problem,” she said. Lela looked at her and smiled.
“That makes me feel so much better, like there’s someone there if it’s at night or on the weekend.”
Jamie walked out onto the porch where Chancy was smoking a cigarette. She sat in the only other chair and waited. Chancy threw his cigarette off the side of the porch.
“I’ve drawn the map,” he said. “It’s complicated, but I think you can follow it.”
Jamie got up and
went to Chancy’s side. He showed her every road and side road and named them. He had put down the mileage between each turn.
“Here’s where it’s going to get hard,” he said. “When you get to the spot where you go in the woods up to Blackbird’s cabin.” Jamie remembered that it didn’t seem like a path at all. It had seemed so random, but Chancy had found his way.
“If you follow the oak trees, you will be on a path,” he said. “They are only on that path and not in the deep woods. If you watch for them, you will find your way.”
Chancy handed her the map. “If I can take you back, I want to do that,” he said. “But if I can’t, this map and the things I’ve told you are your guide.”
Chancy stood up from his chair and Jamie hugged him. “Thank you,” she said. “You are changing my life.”
Chapter Thirteen
Jamie left Grahamville at nine on Sunday morning and arrived at her parents’ house around eleven. She took her suitcase out of the back seat and walked up to the house. She hoped it would be the last time she walked up with a suitcase like that. She prayed that she would be getting back to Tommy this time.
Her father was in the living room watching a black and white movie. Must be the classic movie channel, she thought. “Hey, hon,” her father said when he saw her. He had a bowl of popcorn in his lap. Jamie hugged her father and walked into the kitchen where her mother seemed to spend most of her time. And there she was, stirring a big pot on the stove.
“I’m going to put my suitcase upstairs,” Jamie told her mother. Her mother looked at her absently. “Okay, hon,” she said looking back to her pot. Jamie dropped her suitcase in her old room, so changed now through several timelines. She sat on the bed. Monday, the next day, was July 22nd, the full moon. She would be at the overhang, which she now understood was a sacred place. A place where the full moon ruled. A place where time was fluid. She wondered how she and Tommy had escaped the effects of the full moon on all of the times they went out there—before he had died. That first timeline of her life. Their lives.
Jamie still didn’t understand how time changed, but she had learned a lot. She had learned that there were a lot of timelines, based on every little and big decision that a person made. There were so many lives to live, lives that were lived. What was different for her was that she was keeping her same mind as she moved through the timelines. It was the Moon Cave and the moon that enabled her to move from one timeline to another. What guided her was her everlasting love for Tommy. She didn’t want to live in a timeline, with her conscious mind as it was, without Tommy.
After a while of thinking about the timelines and the conundrum that she was in, Jamie went back downstairs and sat at the kitchen table. Her mother was adding sliced carrots to her pot.
“Mom,” Jamie said. “When you saw Mrs. Grisham, did she say anything about Tommy? His wife?”
Her mother put the top on the pot and looked at her. “What wife?” she said.
“I thought he had gotten remarried,” Jamie said.
Her mother whirled around from the stove and looked hard at Jamie. She looked angry.
“You know Tommy hasn’t gotten remarried. He’ll never get remarried,” she said.
“Why not?” Jamie said. She realized then that in this 2013, Tommy had not remarried and did not have children. She had made assumptions based on the last 2013 when she had seen Tommy. When he was remarried and had two children and a third on the way. She should have known that if Bobby wasn’t getting married and Nate and Stacie weren’t engaged, that Tommy’s life could be different, too.
“You know why not. Because he’s never loved anyone but you. And you left him.” Her mother turned back to the stove and lifted the lid on the pot. She stirred it for a few seconds, then she put the lid back on with a slam and walked out the back door.
Jamie sat at the table stunned. Tommy wasn’t remarried. And it was because of her. How could she have left Tommy? Jamie didn’t know the answer to that, and she thought she never would.
Jamie walked out the back door. Her mother was sitting in the swing that was attached with chains to the porch ceiling. She looked out over the garden and didn’t look at Jamie.
“Mom,” I’m sorry,” Jamie said gently. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Her mother turned her head and looked at Jamie. She had been crying, that was easy to see.
“Jamie, sometimes I don’t understand the things you say,” she said. “It’s like you don’t know things that you should know. But one thing that you should know is that you left Tommy when you went to college. He was broken-hearted and he’s never gotten over it. I’m sorry to say it so bluntly to you, but please don’t act like you don’t know that.”
“I do know that, Mom. And I know a lot more, too. If I felt like I could talk to you, then I could tell you things. But I know you would think I’m crazy, so I can’t tell you about the most important thing that has ever happened in my life. Because you won’t understand.”
“How can you say that?” her mother said. “I feel like I’ve been a very understanding mother to you.”
“You’ve been the best mother,” Jamie said. “I love you and Dad so much. But something’s happened to me that I can’t explain very well. Not in a way that you’ll believe. Or understand.
“Try me,” her mother said. “You might be surprised what I can understand.”
Jamie wanted so much to tell her mother what she had been through over the years, the timelines, the going back and forth.
“Let me think about it,” Jamie said. “Let me think how I can possibly explain the impossible to you.”
Her mother sighed as she stood up from the swing. “Okay, Jamie. When you think you can explain it, then I’m all ears. I’ll listen to what you have to say and I won’t think you’re crazy.” She walked back into the kitchen. Jamie looked out over the pasture and saw the opening in the woods in the distance. She stepped off the back porch and started walking that way.
It was July 21, one day before the full moon, but Jamie wanted to walk down the path. Her mother probably saw her leave and wondered where Jamie was going, what Jamie was doing, why her daughter was so strange now. Maybe Jamie would be able to tell her mother, maybe not. Maybe she wouldn’t need to.
She walked through the pasture, then along the edge of the woods. The July sun beat down on her, but as soon as she stepped through the opening, it was shaded and cooler. As she walked, pushing aside branches, Jamie wondered how long the path was. She knew it took about ten minutes to get from one end to the other. An old Native American path, Tommy had said long ago. Surely the path had been much longer in those days before the pastures and open land had been carved out of the wilderness by the settlers who eventually took over the land, her ancestor’s land. The path probably had gone on for miles and miles, maybe from one Native encampment to another. Only her ancestors knew the answer to that.
Jamie glanced at the lake to her left when it came into view. Her ancestors no doubt had fished in that lake, drunk water from it, made bows from the trees that grew there. When she reached the midpoint, she kept walking all the way to the other end. She left the cool darkness and stepped out into the bright sun. She shielded her eyes for a moment until she was used to the sun again.
She listened for the sound of the tractor, but all was silent. The tassels of the tall corn swayed in a wind that had suddenly come up. The corn went on as far as her eye could see, and as the wind blew across, she saw the tassels come alive. And then the breeze was gone and the corn stood tall and straight.
Jamie jumped off the little hill in front of the opening and landed on the path that surrounded the fields. Rows of tall corn were on her left and the woods on her right, so that Jamie was walking in a maze of sorts, one with a straight line that would end up at Tommy’s garden. She needed to see that garden, the one she had worked in and grown plump vegetables in with Tommy’s special organic fertilizer. The one she had married Tommy in on that long ago day that was o
nly a few months ago for her.
When she reached the end of the path, she peeked around the corn into the garden. It was lush like she remembered. Suddenly a figure stood up where he had been hidden by tall, leafy plants. Tommy. His hair was short and he was clean-shaven, like he had been when they were first married. But this Tommy had lived a decade of loss.
Her heart was beating so hard Jamie thought she might pass out. She was trembling. She wanted to touch Tommy so bad. She needed to feel his arms around her again. She stepped forward.
“No!” the little girl voice, Darma’s voice, said sternly in her head. But Jamie ignored it because she was going to Tommy. A freight train couldn’t stop her.
Tommy looked up as Jamie entered the garden. Jamie stopped, afraid to go any further. She really didn’t know how Tommy would receive her. He might still love her, like her mother had said, but his pain at losing her may have become bitter and angry in the ten years since he had seen her last, the years since their divorce in this timeline.
“Jamie?” he said.
Hearing his voice caused tears to form in Jamie’s eyes. If Tommy came closer, he was going to see her tears.
Tommy did come closer. He walked all the way up to her and stood there.
“What’s wrong?” Tommy said. She reached out for him and he encircled her with his arms. He pulled her to his chest and she felt his heart beating, fast like hers. She smelled him and knew she was home. Jamie began to sob against his chest and he smoothed her hair. When she finally was able to stop crying, she looked at Tommy’s face and saw that his eyes were full of tears. His face was older, like her own, but still just as handsome, if not more so.
“Let’s go somewhere we can talk,” Tommy said. “I think Granny’s looking out the window at us.”
Jamie wanted to see Granny so much, but she needed to be with Tommy more. He took her hand and together they walked down the wide path beside the corn. Tommy stepped up the little hill in front of the opening, then turned around and took Jamie’s hand, pulling her up. Silently, they walked down the path and, with unspoken agreement, pulled aside the willow branches and crawled into the overhang.
Come Down In Time (A Time Travel Romance) Page 13