Come Down In Time (A Time Travel Romance)

by Jennifer Ransom

  “I’m listening,” Tommy said.

  Jamie lay back down and took his hand again. He pressed his fingers against her hand and she kept talking.

  “Let me backtrack,” Jamie said. “I left out something very important, the key to all of this. Before I came back home, a little girl came to the clinic with asthma. A little Native girl named Darma. While I was treating her, she said, ‘Tommy loves you. He’s waiting.’”

  “It was very upsetting because Darma had no way of knowing your name or anything about you. But I somehow pushed it all out of my mind and chalked it up to a little girl’s delirium due to lack of oxygen.”

  “So, back to the story. You agreed not to pick me up for graduation and I saw you at the high school. We were so happy, Tommy. I was so happy to be back with you. We got married, just like we planned and we went on a honeymoon to the coast. We lived in the cottage and you worked on the farm and I helped Granny everyday.”

  “Then one day, Grandpa had a heart attack. I was a doctor in my mind, even though I was only eighteen years old and had never been to medical school in that world, and I pumped Grandpa’s heart. He survived and you were so grateful. Everyone was so grateful, but I had only done what I was trained to do.”

  “Grandpa never had a heart attack,” Tommy said.

  “Not in your timeline now. He never did. But in that timeline, he did have one.”

  “This is freaking me out,” Tommy said.

  “I know this is hard to believe, Tommy. I know that.”

  “Just keep talking,” he said.

  “Okay,” Jamie said. “So, shortly after that, I had a dream about Nate. He was giving me the sapphire ring and I told him I couldn’t marry him because I was already married. When I woke up, I was back in my childhood bed. You were gone and it was 2013 again. But it wasn’t the same 2013 I had left before. In that timeline, I had divorced you. I hadn’t abandoned my parents and the house was completely different looking. My parents had updated everything and I was a part of their lives.”

  “This is the hardest thing to say,” Jamie said. “But you had remarried and had two children and your wife was pregnant with a third child. I was devastated.”

  “That wasn’t me,” Tommy said. “I would never have done that.”

  “But it was you, Tommy. In a different timeline. We can all do stuff we wouldn’t think we would, depending on the circumstances.”

  Tommy didn’t respond and Jamie kept talking.

  “I went back to the clinic and everything was different. I wasn’t engaged to Nate anymore.”

  “I’m glad,” Tommy said with a note of jealousy in his voice. Jamie didn’t blame him for that.

  “I was glad, too. Because I didn’t want to be engaged to someone else when I was married to you. Had been married to you. He was engaged to Stacie! After a while of being back, I decided I needed to get back home. That the overhang somehow had something to do with what was happening to me. So I came back home and took some sleeping pills with me and I fell asleep out here.”

  “When I woke up, my hair was long again and it was 2001. I lived with you for several months. Granny and I were planning Thanksgiving when I went back to 2013 again. I woke up in my old bed after making love with you just hours before. I tried so hard over the next week to get back to you, Tommy. I took all of my father’s sleeping pills over that time, coming out here, falling asleep and waking up again in 2013. Finally, I had to give up and go back to the clinic.”

  “Were you engaged to Nate again?” Tommy asked.

  “No!” Jamie said. “But Nate and Stacie weren’t engaged either! Stacie was engaged to her old boyfriend and Nate’s father had died and he was gone for a while.”

  Jamie saw no point in telling Tommy about the night she had gone to the juke joint with Nate. It served no purpose for him to know that.

  “Anyway,” Jamie said. “Darma, the little Native girl, came to the clinic with another episode. She told me that she knew I had seen you but I had lost you. I had been through so much at that point that I believed Darma. She told me I needed to see the dream weaver, someone named Blackbird.”

  “Blackbird?” Tommy said. “That sounds like an Indian name.”

  “Yes,” Jamie said. “He is a Native. So, Chancy, Darma’s father, had heard of Blackbird. He remembered the name from his childhood. He took me deep into the mountains to see Blackbird. He lives in a very secluded place in the woods. I think he might be over a hundred years old.”

  “Blackbird knew everything without me telling him. He said that this, this very cave we are in right now, is a sacred place. It’s called the Moon Cave. Blackbird told me that I time traveled during full moons. He said that it was unstable and that I need to decide what time I want to be in and bring him some things from that time.”

  “What things?” Tommy asked. Jamie could tell Tommy was intrigued enough with her tale to not question her at that moment. He wanted to hear the end. Then he would decide if she was crazy.

  “He said to bring him a jar of water from the lake, a jar of dirt from the cave, a branch from the willow, and the writings on the ceiling of the cave.”

  “I’ve never seen any words in this cave,” Tommy said.

  “Me either,” she said. “But we’ve never looked. We’ve always been doing other things in here.”

  “That’s true,” he said.

  “I’m almost finished,” Jamie said. Tommy squeezed her hand again and she squeezed back.

  “Before I left, I realized that I needed to get good and clear directions from Chancy. Because if I went to see Blackbird in 2001 with my jars of water and dirt, Chancy would only be twelve years old. He wouldn’t be able to help me. He wouldn’t know who I was. So, I got those directions from him and I’ve got them back at the house right now in my suitcase.”

  “I think my parents wondered why I was visiting so much. When I got back just today—it seems like a lifetime ago now—I found out that you had never remarried. I didn’t realize that when I left before. Even though other things had changed, I didn’t realize that you had never remarried in this 2013. My mother said it was because you still loved me. She was angry at me for leaving you.”

  “I was angry, too, for a while,” Tommy said.

  “I’m sorry, Tommy,” Jamie said. “I never left you in a time that I have any memory of. Please believe that.

  “I believe you,” Tommy said.

  “So, I walked on the path and I found you in the garden,” Jamie said. “And now, here we are, in the Moon Cave.”

  Tommy didn’t say anything.

  “Tommy, if you don’t believe me, then I’ll understand. I will come out here tomorrow for the full moon and I will go back in time and be with you again, hopefully. I will take the things to Blackbird and I will stabilize everything.”

  “What will happen to us now if I walk away and think you’re crazy?” Tommy asked. “Where will you go? Where will I go? Will this time cease to exist?”

  “I don’t know the answer to that. I just know that I have this one consciousness that has carried me through all of this. I’ve come to realize that time is a very fluid thing and not linear like we think of it. I’ve learned that there are timelines all over the place, with slight variations and with drastic variations. I think every decision creates another timeline of possibilities. It’s infinite. But what I know is that what you do, what you decide, does matter. But I don’t know why I’m keeping my original mind through all of this.”

  “So, somewhere out there in the infinite timelines, there is every possibility you can think of,” Tommy said. “There’s even a timeline where you died and I didn’t.”

  “I think so,” Jamie said.

  “But right now,” Tommy said. “I’m here with you. I’ve got a history with you, but you don’t remember all of it. You don’t remember that you divorced me. Because you’ve come to me now from a different timeline.”

  “That’s right,” she said.

  “I’m so blown
away right now, I can’t wrap my head around it,” Tommy said. “The only thing I know is that I love you, I’ve always loved you, and I can’t imagine a timeline where I married someone else and had children with them.”

  “And I can’t imagine a timeline where I ever divorced you, because I love you more than my own life,” Jamie said.

  Tommy sat up and Jamie sat up beside him. He looked deep into her eyes.

  “What are we going to do?” he asked.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Do you believe me?” Jamie asked.

  “I believe you. I don’t think I’d believe anyone else, but I believe you.”

  “Thank you,” Jamie said. She put her arms around Tommy and hugged him. “Thank you.”

  “But I’m me right now,” Tommy said. “I don’t know anything about a time when I died or when you saved Grandpa. I don’t know any of that. I’m me and I want to stay me. If I walk away from you now, I’ll live a miserable and lonely life, always wondering if what you are saying is the truth. And you’ll go back and be with me in another timeline where I’ll be happy, but I won’t know it. Not the me now.”

  “The way I see it, we’ve got two choices,” Jamie said. “Because I think I may have screwed things up by seeing you today, being with you. I’m not sure because I don’t understand anything, really. But Darma told me to stop and I didn’t.”

  “But, we can choose to stay here, in this time,” Jamie said. “We’re only thirty years old and it’s not too late for us to have children and have a good life together.”

  “That’s true,” Tommy said.

  “Or, if we want to go back and pick up at the beginning of our marriage, then we’ll have to take a big risk. Now that I’ve revealed everything to you, I think we’ll have to go back together. I don’t even know how that works. I don’t know the mysteries of the Moon Cave.”

  “Let’s find the writings,” Tommy said. “Let’s see if they’re here before we decide anything.”

  “I’ve been thinking about it,” Jamie said. “And they must be in the back, in that little opening.” She looked behind them and gestured with her hand. “We never looked back there,” she said.

  Tommy reached over for his jeans and pulled his iPhone out of his pocket. “I think we should get dressed now,” he said. They both pulled their clothes on. Tommy took his phone out of his pocket and put it on the flashlight setting. He crawled away from Jamie and stuck his head through the opening at the back of the overhang. He shined the light all around and on the ceiling of the tiny cave he found himself in. Well, where he found his head and shoulders in.

  “I see something up there,” he said. “I can’t tell what it is, but there’s definitely some kind of scratching on the ceiling up there. I’m taking a photo. I don’t know how good it’ll be, though.”

  “We need to get something to write on,” Jamie said. “I’ll go home and get something and I’ll bring the map with me.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Tommy said.

  “Really?” Jamie said.

  “I’m not letting you out of my sight,” Tommy said. “No matter how long this takes, I’m sticking by you like glue.”

  “I love you,” Jamie said.

  “I love you, too, sugar.”

  Tommy brought his head out of the little opening and together they left the overhang. Tommy started off down the path, but held her hand as she walked behind him. “I’m not letting go,” he said. “I’m not taking any chances with this.”

  They walked hand in hand through the pasture on Jamie’s side of the woods. They walked into the kitchen and her mother looked up. She was wiping the countertops with a sponge. When she saw Jamie and Tommy come in the door, she dropped the sponge on the floor and put her hands to the side of her cheeks.

  “Tommy!” her mother said.

  Tommy walked over to Jamie’s mother and leaned down to hug her. He felt like a giant next to Jamie’s five-foot tall mother. Jamie’s mother hugged Tommy and started to cry a little. “Everything is okay now,” Tommy said.

  Jamie’s mother looked over at her. She looked confused, but she was happy, too. “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “I told you it was impossible,” Jamie said. “But all you need to know is that Tommy and I are back together. We’re getting married again.”

  “But you just got back here today,” her mother said.

  “I know,” Jamie said. “I said it was impossible.”

  Her mother sat down at the table. Tommy put his arm around Jamie and they both looked at her, smiling. Jamie’s mother put her head in her hands and cried. Jamie walked over to her and put her arm around her. “It’s okay now, Mom. Everything is going to work out like it was supposed to.”

  Tommy held Jamie’s hand as she talked to her mother. He wasn’t going to let go ever again.

  “Your father’s going to be so happy,” her mother said.

  “I’m going to get some things from my room,” Jamie said. “I’m going to stay with Tommy tonight in the cottage.”

  Her mother nodded as she wiped her eyes with a tissue.

  Tommy followed Jamie up to her room and she grabbed her suitcase and purse.

  “Make sure it’s there,” Tommy said.

  Jamie put the suitcase on the bed and opened it up. She drew out the folded paper that had the map on it. She unfolded it and Tommy looked over her shoulder.

  “This is it,” she said. “We need to learn it like the back of our hands if we decide to go back. This is all we’ve got. It won’t be there in 2001.”

  Tommy picked up her suitcase and Jamie put her purse strap over her shoulder. They walked down the stairs and back into the kitchen. Her mother still sat at the table.

  “Mom, tell Dad I love him,” Jamie said. She didn’t know what might happen to this timeline if she went back to 2001, but for now she could do everything right. “I love you both, for all time,” she said.

  Her mother waved at them as they walked out the back door. They waved back, then shut the door. The rest of their lives was beginning. They walked to the opening in the woods and walked all the way through to Tommy’s side.

  Jamie followed Tommy down the path beside the cornfield and the woods. They walked through his garden and up to the farmhouse. Tommy opened the door and stepped inside. Jamie was right behind him.

  Granny was already standing there, right inside the door. She held her arms out to Jamie. Her hair was completely white now, but she looked as strong and sturdy as ever. Jamie went to her and hugged her. “I know you’re back,” Granny said. “I saw you through the window today. I know you’re back.”

  “Yes,” Jamie whispered in Granny’s ear. “I’m back, and I’m never leaving again.”

  When she and Granny pulled away from each other, both were crying soft tears. Jamie had missed Granny so much. She didn’t know why she had left her in that other timeline, or maybe several timelines. She didn’t understand it. She only understood that she was here now and she wasn’t going away. She never wanted to go away again.

  “Is that you, Jamie?” Grandpa said. Jamie looked up and Grandpa was standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

  “It’s me, Grandpa,” she said. He looked surprised, but he also looked very pleased. A smile started at his mouth, and then he was grinning. Jamie walked over to him and hugged him.

  “It’s good to see you, Grandpa,” she said. “I’ve missed you and Granny so much.”

  “We’ve missed you, too, girl,” Grandpa said. “What brings you here?”

  Jamie looked over at Tommy, then back at Grandpa. “Tommy brings me here,” she said. “We’re getting married again.”

  Grandpa whooped the loudest whoop Jamie had ever heard. These were her people, this was her family. She cried as she hugged Grandpa again.

  Like in the early days of her marriage to Tommy, Jamie helped Grandma set the table. Grandma lit candles, which meant it was a very special occasion. She got out her fine china from the china cabinet and put the plat
es carefully on the table. She brought a bottle of blackberry wine up from the cellar and put it on ice.

  Jamie helped Grandma put the chicken and dumplings in a big soup tureen, which she placed in the middle of the table. She got the biscuits out of the oven and put them in a basket lined with cloth napkins. She stirred the green peas on top of the stove and added butter before she put them in a covered bowl. Granny took tomatoes out of a bowl and sliced them up onto a plate, then set them on the table. It was a celebration.

  When they sat down at the table, Granny sat between Tommy and Jamie and grabbed her hand and Tommy’s hand. Grandpa sat at the head of the table, and Jamie grabbed his hand with her other hand. They all bowed their heads to the higher power.

  “Thank you, God, for bringing Jamie back home to us,” Granny said. “You have answered our prayers, and we are thankful.”

  “Amen,” Grandpa said.

  “Amen,” everyone else said.

  Grandpa poured the blackberry wine into their glasses. “This is from my best year,” he said. “2001.”

  Jamie ate a lot at supper. It seemed such a long time since she had tasted Granny’s chicken and dumplings. The tomatoes were fresh and sweet in her mouth. Grandpa’s blackberry wine was smooth as she drank it. They laughed and talked during supper, just like they used to do. Granny asked about the wedding and Jamie and Tommy looked at each other and laughed. They had made no plans.

  “What do you think, Granny?” Tommy asked.

  “I think you should get married in the garden,” Granny said. “Like before.”

  “I think you’re right, Granny,” Jamie said. “We’ll just make it family this time, and everything will be easy.”

  “I’m going to want to make a cake and some other things,” Granny said.

  “Of course,” Jamie said. “I’ll help you.”

  After supper, Jamie put the food up and washed all of the dishes. She and Tommy hugged Granny and Grandpa, then walked down the road to Tommy’s parents house.

  “I should have asked,” Jamie said as they walked. “Is your dad alive now?”

  “Yes, he’s alive and doing well. My brother and sister have been gone for years, but Dad’s still alive and kicking. Mom’s doing well, too.”