"The Dodgers play in Brooklyn."
David smiled.
"They don't anymore."
Margaret pouted.
"I'm not sure I like this world."
David chuckled.
"You'll like it. You may even come to love it."
"I hope so," Margaret said.
David let the topic drop. As he did, he noticed Margaret had not even touched his four-course culinary masterpiece. He released her hand and got up from his chair.
"I should go and let you eat while your breakfast is hot."
"Don't leave just yet," Margaret said.
"Why not?"
"I want to give you something."
David smiled.
"Did you get me baseball tickets?"
"No," Margaret said. "I got you a baseball."
"Oh?" David asked.
Margaret nodded.
"I left it on the vanity. Go take a look."
"OK."
David walked over to an oak vanity against the far wall and noticed a slightly scuffed baseball next to two hairbrushes. When he picked up the ball and looked at the signature on the cover, he smiled. In a week filled with surprises, this ranked right near the top. He turned around and walked toward the bed, where a blond-haired baseball fan beamed.
"Hank Greenberg sends his wishes," Margaret said. "I saw the Tigers play the White Sox on September 3, their last game before a long road trip. I had just one chance to see Mr. Greenberg play and wanted to make the most of it."
David looked at her with wide eyes.
"You did that even knowing you would never see me again?"
Margaret nodded.
"I planned to mail it to your post office box here."
"How did you get the address?" David asked.
Margaret smiled sheepishly.
"I memorized it."
David laughed.
"I think it's time to find a new babysitter. The old one's a snoop."
"I'm sorry," Margaret said.
David leaned over the bed and kissed her again.
"I'm not. This means a lot to me. Thank you."
Margaret met his gaze.
"You're welcome."
David paused for a moment to consider what she had done. Two weeks after burying her fiancé, Margaret had gone out of her way to get a silly souvenir for another man — a man she would likely never see again. What kind of woman did that? A very special one, he thought. He decided then and there he would never let her go.
"I'm going to leave now," David said.
"OK."
"Before I go, though, can I ask you a question?"
"Of course," Margaret said.
"Have you decided on your living arrangements?"
"I have. I'm going to stay here."
David frowned.
"Is it because of convenience?"
"That's one reason," Margaret said. "Geoffrey and Jeanette want to keep me close until I'm ready to spread my wings. So staying here now makes sense."
"Is that the only reason?" David asked.
Margaret shook her head.
"I'm also staying because I think it's the right thing to do. I don't believe men and women should live together unless they are married. I guess I'm a little old-fashioned."
"There's nothing wrong with that," David said.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive."
"I'm glad to hear you say that because I do want to live with you," Margaret said. "I want to build a life with you. I just want to do it the right way."
David smiled.
"I understand."
"Why are you smiling?" Margaret asked.
"I'm just thinking if that's how you feel about me and relationships in general, then maybe it's time to update your status."
Margaret looked at him warily.
"I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds good."
David laughed.
"It is."
Margaret scolded him with a smile.
"Run along, Mr. Baker. My food's getting cold."
David laughed again.
"I'll leave you to your bacon and come back in a bit. In the meantime, I'm going to visit with the others and see what I can do to improve your lot."
"Thank you," Margaret said.
David leaned over the bed and kissed her one last time.
"It's my pleasure."
CHAPTER 77: CLAIRE
Santa Barbara, California – Wednesday, December 27, 2017
The reunion venue radiated opulence and taste. With oil paintings on the walls, plush turn-of-the-last-century furniture, a massive rock fireplace, and Berber rugs on a polished hardwood floor, the El Camino Room at the Pacific Winds Resort and Spa looked more like the stylish parlor of a British duke than a meeting spot for guests at a California hotel.
Claire soaked up the sights as she carried Hell on Wheels Hannah through the lavish room. She admired the art, the interior architecture, and even the lighting. Four ornate chandeliers cast a warm-and-friendly glow over a warm-and-friendly gathering.
She had to hand it to Geoffrey. Given the choice of hundreds of venues to host this unlikely reunion, he had picked one that made everyone feel comfortable. If any of the thirty or so people assembled in the room were ill at ease, they did not show it.
Like most of the reunion guests, Ron, Claire, and Hannah had checked into the hotel around three, grabbed some pool time, and enjoyed a sumptuous buffet. Like the others, they had no idea what to expect. They knew only that Geoffrey Bell had paid all of their expenses and mapped out five days of fun in Southern California.
Claire pondered the coming attractions as she carried Hannah to an empty Victorian love seat in the back of the room. A moment later, she sat down, pulled out a small plastic bottle of juice, and let her daughter quench her thirst. She enjoyed about a minute of motherly bliss before she saw three people approach from the side.
"There you are," Ron said. He walked to the love seat with David and Margaret. All held drinks in their hands. "I thought you had left the room."
"We did for a minute," Claire said. "Hannah needed a change."
"Do you want me to take her?"
"Can you manage a beer and a restless daughter?"
Ron chuckled.
"I think so. If she gets grabby, I'll give her a sip."
Claire looked at him with scolding eyes.
"Don't even think about it."
"I'm just kidding, dear," Ron said. "Get yourself a glass of champagne. These two seem to think it's pretty good."
Claire glanced at David and Margaret.
"What is it?"
"It's this French stuff," David said. He grinned. "Geoffrey calls it Dom Pérignon."
Claire stared at her brother.
"You're awful."
David laughed.
"Get some before it's gone. I saw a line form."
Claire hardened her stare and handed Hannah to Ron. Then she rose from her seat and walked to a small table on the east side of the room, where Geoffrey poured glasses for some guests. She wondered if there was a special place in hell for brothers who hoarded the world's finest wine. She approached her uncle as he emptied a bottle of champagne.
"Please tell me it's not gone," Claire said.
"It's not. I knew you would want some, so I saved you a glass," Geoffrey said. He reached behind a table setting, retrieved a full flute, and handed it to Claire. "Enjoy."
"Thank you."
"Are you enjoying yourself?"
"I am," Claire said. "We all are."
"I'm glad to hear that. It seems the others are as well."
"So is this strictly a social gathering?"
"No," Geoffrey said. "We have some business to attend to. I'll say more when I meet with you and some of the others later this week."
Claire offered a puzzled look.
"I see."
"In the meantime, enjoy yourself," Geoffrey said. "Grab some more food, if you like, but don't leave the room. I
'm about to formally introduce you to the other time travelers."
"OK."
Claire sipped some champagne and then carried her flute to the back of the room, where Ron, Hannah, David, and Margaret sat in facing love seats and visited. She smiled when she finally reached the group.
"Geoffrey saved me a glass," Claire said to David. "It appears the uncle I rarely see is more thoughtful than the brother I grew up with."
"That's how it works," David said. "Relatives are like a box of chocolates."
Claire dismissed her sibling with a shake of her head. Then she looked at the quiet member of the group and saw she seemed to have much on her mind.
"Are you all right, Margaret?"
"I'm fine," Margaret said. "I'm just a little overwhelmed."
"I am too. This reunion is incredible."
"Have you talked to anyone?"
Claire nodded.
"I spoke to the ladies from Chicago earlier."
"I'd like to meet some of the others, but I'm afraid to approach them," Margaret said. "This is not like a school reunion where you actually know most of the people."
"I know what you mean, but I think Geoffrey is going to fix that problem in a minute. He's going to introduce us to everyone else."
"He said that?"
"He did," Claire said. She looked at Margaret and then at her uncle as he left the wine table. "In fact, I think he's going to do it right now. He's walking to the microphone."
Geoffrey greeted a man with a mustache and then continued toward a small lectern in the front of the room. When he arrived a moment later, he tapped the mike a few times, smiled, and looked at his wife, who stood by two doors in the back of the room.
"Are all of our guests in the room?" Geoffrey asked.
"Yes," Jeanette said in a loud voice.
"Are only our guests in the room?"
"Yes again."
"Then I'll begin," Geoffrey said. He turned his attention to the group. "Let me start by saying how pleased I am to see all of you here. I know many of you have family and jobs you did not want to leave, so I am doubly grateful for your presence tonight. Is everyone having a good time?"
The guests answered in the affirmative.
"That's good. I want you to have a good time. That's why I brought you to Santa Barbara this week. I want you to meet your fellow travelers, do things together, and take advantage of this unique opportunity. I think the more you get to know each other, the more you will find you have an awful lot in common.
"I plan to meet with all of you during the week to catch up on your lives and answer any questions. As you can see from the information I provided, a few of the events will take place at the mansion in West Adams and my vacation home here in Santa Barbara. If any of you have any transportation concerns, please speak to Jeanette or me at your earliest convenience. Does anyone have a question for me before I move on to the introductions?"
No one made a peep.
"OK," Geoffrey said. "Then let me begin by asking the Tennessee contingent to step forward and the rest of you to return to your groups. Please gather in a way that makes it easier for the rest of us to see you and your families."
Within seconds, Claire, David, Ron, Hannah, and Margaret stepped toward the host and the others divided themselves into four groups. Two families assembled on opposite sides of a black grand piano in the center of the room. A couple with an infant remained on a sofa by the wine table. The other family gathered near the fireplace. Jeanette spoke to a hotel employee by the door, as if asking for privacy, and then joined her family in front.
"Thank you," Geoffrey said. "I think this will make things easier. Let me get things going by introducing the newest members of our fraternity. The charming woman to my left is Claire Baker Rasmussen. She is here with her brother, David Baker; her husband, Ron Rasmussen; their daughter, Hannah; and a special friend, Margaret Doyle. Claire and David are my niece and nephew.
"Claire, David, and Ron took the plunge just last month. They traveled to Tennessee in 1945, where Claire and Ron adopted Hannah, David worked for an attorney, and the whole family became friends with Margaret. She is the lovely lady in the blue dress.
"Ron and Claire operate a coffee shop in Chattanooga. David teaches social studies at a high school in Long Beach. Margaret did the same in Tennessee before joining the rest of us in the twenty-first century. She currently resides with Jeanette and me at the Painted Lady and hopes to build a new life here in Southern California. Please welcome them all."
The others clapped and smiled.
"Now it's time to turn the spotlight around," Geoffrey said. "Claire and David and the rest of you, let me introduce you to those who traveled before you. Let me start with the other party in this room that I consider family."
The professor motioned to the couple on the couch. He resumed his speech when they rose to their feet and smiled at the others.
"This is Cameron Coelho, his wife Candice, and their daughter Marjorie. Like all of the families here, they represent a blend of the past and the present. Cameron was a doctoral student last winter when he stumbled upon the papers of Candice Bell, a society editor who worked at a newspaper in Evansville, Indiana, in 1925.
"Cameron did some digging and soon learned that my great-grandfather, Percival Bell, and his brother Henry had some time-travel secrets. He also learned that Candice, Henry's daughter, was a distant cousin of mine. Inspired by Candice's writings and a fetching photo of her, he tracked me down and asked me to send him to 1925. I granted his request.
"Cameron, in turn, did me a favor. He located the cave containing the crystals you have all seen and used. I expected him to return to 2017 and finish his dissertation, but he had other ideas. He fell in love with Candice and stayed behind. The two now run a farm near Evansville. In fact, they harvested their corn crop early — in August 1926 — to be with us this week. They hope to someday open a school for underprivileged children."
Claire smiled at the Coelhos as the others greeted them with applause. She could not help but think the Rasmussens had much in common with the handsome dark-haired graduate student and his pretty, wavy-haired wife. At least one person in each family had traveled through time and walked away with a baby, a significant other, or both.
Then Claire turned her attention to the first group by the piano and realized that time travel and family creation went hand in hand. She saw a middle-aged couple, a twosome in their early twenties, a raven-haired girl, and a dashing fortyish man with a mustache. The older woman held an infant. The younger one was at least six months pregnant.
Claire could see they were a blended family. Two of the men looked like products of the digital age, but the others did not. The women wore conservative clothing and hairstyles. So did the man with the mustache. Claire guessed that at least a hundred years separated some of the group's members when the master of ceremonies confirmed that guess.
"Next up is the Townsend clan," Geoffrey said. "I met Charles Townsend, the man on the left, and his son, Justin, on a cruise ship nearly two years ago, when I first decided to share the gift of time travel with others. Each was looking for something in life. Each wanted an adventure — and I gave it to them in the form of a trip to 1900.
"Chuck and Justin started out for Chicago but ended up somewhere else. They traveled to Galveston, Texas, where they tried to save a distant uncle, the man at the right, from a hangman's noose. Needless to say, they succeeded, but they found even more trouble along the way. They battled a horrific hurricane and fell in love with two librarians."
The others in the room laughed.
"Like Cameron Coelho, Chuck and Justin remained in the past. Chuck, an editor, runs a weekly newspaper in nearby Simi Valley," Geoffrey said. "He and his wife, Charlotte, welcomed little Megan into the world eight months ago. Justin and his wife, Emily, have a child on the way. They live in Los Angeles with Emily's sister, Anna, who was unfortunately orphaned in the Galveston hurricane. Justin and Emily are currently finishin
g their undergraduate studies at a local college. Each plans a career in medicine.
"The Townsends came here from December 1901, where they intend to stay. Wyatt Fitzpatrick came here from December 2017, where he intends to stay. A shipping tycoon in the 1890s, he is now a successful real estate agent in Santa Barbara. He is also a good friend of mine — one who has asked me to preside at his wedding next month."
Claire smiled again. She could only imagine the tales this family could tell. She made a point of speaking to them as soon as possible. She started to whisper something to Ron but stopped when Geoffrey moved on to the next group of time travelers.
"Standing on the other side of the piano are three remarkable women and a man they retrieved from the past," Geoffrey said. "I met Elizabeth Campbell; her daughter, Susan; and her granddaughter, Amanda, in this very hotel sixteen months ago. I gave them a lecture on time travel. They gave me a lesson on life. When it became apparent I could satisfy the dreams and aspirations of all three, I sent them to Princeton, New Jersey, in 1938."
Claire needed no introduction to this clan. She had visited with Elizabeth, age 79, at the pool and spoken briefly to Susan Peterson and Amanda Peterson Schmidt. She found the striking, sociable, intelligent blondes as fascinating as any women she had ever met.
"Once in Princeton," Geoffrey said, "these women jumped into the thirties. Elizabeth met her parents, refugees from Austria, and her infant self. Susan, a romance novelist, befriended an admiral and helped him write a book that changed World War II. As for Amanda, she struck up a romance with the son of the German military attaché, a man who secretly worked with our government to defeat the Nazis.
"Kurt Schmidt, the man next to Amanda, lost his father, mother, and twin brother in 1939, but he gained a new family. He married Amanda last June. The two currently live in Arlington, Virginia, and work as analysts at the State Department."
Geoffrey paused for a moment as the others welcomed all four with applause. Then he smiled at the group of four and resumed his introduction.
"I would be remiss if I didn't mention one more thing. All of these ladies are long-time and long-suffering Chicago Cubs fans who saw their team play in the 1938 World Series and dreamed of watching it win a series. Last year their dream came true. Each was at Wrigley Field when the Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians."
Hannah's Moon (American Journey Book 5) Page 31