"They forgot something. They just left the restaurant."
Mary Beth pressed her temples as her head started to pound.
"I can leave and come back," Mark said.
"No. I don't want you to leave," Mary Beth said. "I want to know what you're going to do if those men are still at the house."
"You don't want to—"
"Mark!"
"We're going to get a gun, Mary Beth."
"No!"
"We have to!" Mark said.
A familiar voice rang out.
"You don't have to do a thing."
Mary Beth glanced at the door and saw a ghost.
"Mrs. Ryan?"
Donna Ryan smiled at her son as she entered the room.
"You don't have to do a thing, Mark."
"Mom?" Mark asked. "How did you get here?"
Professor Bell, Ben, and Piper followed Donna into the room. Bell grinned. Ben beamed. Piper smiled through a veil of tears.
"I'll explain the how and when and why in due course, Mr. Ryan," Bell said. "I'll explain it all. I'm Geoffrey Bell, by the way. It's nice to meet you."
Mark hesitated.
"You too."
Mary Beth gripped the sides of the bed as her head started to swim and her body grew weak. She looked at Bell, Donna, and finally her sister.
"Piper?"
Piper stepped forward. She stopped at the edge of the bed, took Mary Beth's hand, and spoke to her sister in a soft, loving voice.
"They get to stay, Mary Beth. They get to stay."
Mary Beth gazed at Piper and then at Mark. She looked to him for answers but saw only bewilderment, enlightenment, and finally a smile.
In a matter of seconds, hopes had replaced fears, happiness had displaced sadness, and a never-ending nightmare had become an impossible dream. Mary Beth pulled Mark in, gave him a hug, and then turned to face the others.
This was real, she thought. It was real. She smiled and took a breath. Then she wiped away a tear as a burden lightened, the truth took hold, and a trickle became a flow.
CHAPTER 57: MARK
Huntsville, Alabama – Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Mark looked at three things and tried to decide which was more impressive: his host, his beloved, or the view from Geoffrey Bell's seventh-floor hotel room. All three inspired.
Bell continued to deliver. For nine days he had helped Donna, Mark, and Ben adjust to both 2017 and the sovereign state of Alabama. He had seen to their needs, dealt with their concerns, and answered several of their many inquiries. He planned to answer the rest of their questions and offer them a glimpse of the future today.
Mary Beth continued to amaze. She had recovered from her nearly fatal wound and resumed a wide range of activities in her hometown of two hundred thousand.
She sat next to Mark on one of the two sofas in Bell's suite. Ben, Piper, Donna, and Jeanette Bell occupied the other. Each managed cups of coffee that sat on tables in front of the couches.
Professor Bell did not sit. He stood in front of a picture window that offered a glorious view of a 363-foot-high rocket. The Saturn V Dynamic Test Vehicle, the signature exhibit of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, loomed over its lush surroundings a quarter mile away.
"Do you like the view, Mark?" Bell asked.
Mark laughed.
"I think you know the answer, Professor."
Bell smiled.
"I do. I know the answers to many questions, including questions you have asked for days. I intend to answer those questions this morning and perhaps make some sense of a situation that remains unsettled and fluid."
"I appreciate that," Mark said.
"Have all of you had breakfast?" Bell asked.
Mark and Mary Beth nodded. Donna and Ben did the same. Mrs. Bell, an attractive redhead with a warm smile, simply looked at her husband with amusement.
"I haven't," Piper said. She glared at Mary Beth. "My sister yanked me out of the house before I even had a chance to grab a glass of orange juice."
Bell laughed.
"I left some pastries in the kitchen. Please help yourself."
"I may do that," Piper said. "Thank you."
Bell looked at the group as a whole.
"Does anyone want to get things rolling?"
"I do," Mary Beth said. "Why are my parents not here?"
Bell smiled.
"The answer to that question is as simple as is it complicated. I did not ask your parents to join us because I don't want them to know about the tunnel. That is particularly true with your father. As a military man, he might feel obligated to report our little secret to the government. The government could then confiscate my property and use time travel for ignoble purposes."
"I understand," Mary Beth said.
Bell looked at the other couch.
"Do you have something, Ben?"
"I do. I'd like to know how you knew we were in trouble," Ben said. "It's not like we sent any signals or left any clues."
Bell chuckled.
"You did though. You left a big clue. I knew something was up the moment I walked through my home a few hours after the shooting and noticed a newspaper on a living room table. It was a copy of the Los Angeles News from March 21, 1959."
"I'll bet Piper left it there," Ben said.
Piper glared at Ben.
"I'll bet Piper did too."
Mark laughed. He loved watching Ben and Piper bicker almost as much as he loved watching them shower each other with affection. He had no doubt they would find a reason to stay together long after this difficult transition was over.
"I'm glad you did leave it there," Bell said to Piper. "Your 'carelessness' is the reason we are all safe, sound, and gathered here today. We all owe you a debt of gratitude."
Piper grinned.
"Thank you, Professor."
Mark looked at his host.
"How did you figure out the rest? How did you know the newspaper wasn't something Mary Beth or Piper had borrowed from a library or bought at a curio shop?"
"I didn't," Bell said. "I didn't at first. So I did some research. I went to the public library, dug up some microfilm, and started reading newspapers from the spring of 1959."
"What did you learn?" Mark asked.
"I learned a lot of things, including one thing I already suspected," Bell said. "I learned that time flows in streams that often diverge and sometimes combine. In the first running of the twentieth century, you and Ben did not encounter men with guns on May 2, 1959. You did not entertain two young women from 2017. As best I can tell, you spent a quiet, uneventful weekend at home with your mother. You did not, to my knowledge, make the news."
"Are you saying we changed history?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying. You certainly changed the history of my house. When Jeanette and I purchased the Painted Lady in 2000, I inquired about its past. I wanted to know, among other things, if the mansion Percival Bell had built in 1899 had any skeletons in its closets. I learned it did not. I was told that the most eventful thing to happen at the house was a small fire in 1988. I knew nothing about mobsters or a shooting or a family named Ryan."
"I see."
"I uncovered a different history when I went to the library twelve days ago. I learned not only about your family but also about a violent incident on May 2, 1959. I learned from news articles that three gunmen chased four young adults into the mansion and left minutes later in a black Lincoln. The adults, including residents Mark and Ben Ryan, were never seen again. Nor was the owner of the house. Your mother returned to the mansion later that evening from a trip to San Diego, but she too disappeared. She vanished before the police could ask her a single question."
"What did you do then?" Mary Beth asked.
"I dug deeper. I learned as much as I could as quickly as I could because I suspected that lives were in danger," Bell said. "It was then I concluded that at least one of the young people in this room had discovered the tunnel and used it to travel through time."
"How did you know that Mark and Ben had come with Piper and me to 2017? How did you know they were even alive?"
"I didn't. I guessed as much after speaking to Piper and reading the police report. The report mentioned a male voice in the background during Piper's emergency call. I concluded that the voice belonged to either Mark or Ben and that both had accompanied you to 2017."
"How did you save Mrs. Ryan?" Piper asked.
"I saved her by traveling to the past. I reprogrammed a portal I have used many times to take me back to the early afternoon of May 2, 1959."
"Why then?"
"I selected that time of day because I knew no one would be home. I knew from reading official sources that the cops had finished inspecting the mansion at noon. I also knew that Donna had not yet left her sister's home in San Diego. So I called her from a house phone, asked to meet her at a nearby restaurant when she arrived in Los Angeles, and went from there."
Piper looked at Donna.
"You agreed to meet a total stranger?"
Donna smiled.
"I agreed to meet a man and his wife at a safe public place. Professor Bell introduced himself as one of Mark's instructors and said he needed to speak to me privately – and at the earliest opportunity – about a matter of great importance. So I drove straight to the restaurant."
Piper tilted her head.
"I would never do that."
"Of course you would," Mary Beth said. "You ran off to Vegas with two boys you didn't know from a hole in the ground. You would meet a professor in a New York minute."
The Bells, Mark, and Ben laughed heartily. Mary Beth grinned. Piper sulked. Donna smiled warmly at Piper and placed a hand on her knee.
"I understand where you're coming from," Donna said. "I really do. People don't trust each other like they did sixty years ago. From what I have learned about this time, they don't trust each other like they did ten years ago. Times have changed."
Mary Beth looked at Donna.
"So what happened at the restaurant?"
"The professor told me everything," Donna said. "He said he was a time traveler from 2017 who had come to 1959 to save me and my boys."
"Why would you believe him?" Mary Beth asked.
"He showed me newspaper articles. The first, from May 4, 1959, reported Mark and Ben's disappearance. The second, from May 5, 1959, reported mine."
"That's all it took?"
Donna nodded.
"I believed the professor. I trusted his wife. I looked them both in the eyes and saw their fear and concern. It's hard to fake that."
"What happened then?" Mary Beth asked.
"We waited until dark and then drove to the mansion. We wanted to make sure we could enter a crime scene without drawing a lot of attention. I knew at least one of my neighbors would watch the house closely. He was that kind of person."
"Was anyone there when you arrived?"
Donna shook her head.
"The house was empty. It was also a mess. The men who chased you into the mansion had broken windows, overturned furniture, and pulled out drawers."
"What did you do then?" Mary Beth asked.
"I went through the place. I grabbed a large handbag from a closet, walked into every room, and looked for small belongings I could take to 2017. This was where my faith in Professor and Mrs. Bell was tested the most."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I gathered more than photos and items with sentimental value. I collected jewelry, cash, and stocks and bonds from a safe in my bedroom. I put myself in a vulnerable position at a time I was distraught and not thinking clearly."
"Did you call anyone?"
"No," Donna said. "That was the hardest decision of all. I wanted to call my brother and my sister and tell them goodbye, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I didn't know what to say. I also didn't know if I would ever return. That was still up in the air."
Mary Beth took Mark's hand. She looked at him with great affection and then turned to the woman to whom she owed so much.
"So you gave up your siblings for your sons?"
Donna took a deep breath.
"That's one way of looking at it. I look at it differently. I gave up maybe twenty more years with my siblings, whom I love dearly, for a lifetime with my boys."
"There's more to it though," Mary Beth said. "I can see it in your eyes."
"There is more. There is much more," Donna said. "Truth be told, I did not want to stay in 2017. I told the Bells I wanted to get the boys and bring them back to 1959. I wanted to deal with the hoodlums through the police and try to resume life as we had always known it."
"So what changed your mind?"
"You did. So did Piper."
"I don't understand."
"Then let me explain. I did a lot of thinking between the time I traveled through the tunnel and the time I met you at the hospital. I thought about how miserable Mark and Ben were the night you said goodbye. Then I thought about how happy they might be if I gave them a chance to be with the women they loved. So I decided to stay."
Mary Beth offered a tearful smile.
"Thank you."
"I would do it again, dear," Donna said. "I wouldn't even hesitate."
Mary Beth nodded but said no more. She wiped a tear, leaned into Mark's side, and let the group conversation head into a different direction.
Ben looked at Professor Bell.
"What about the mobsters?"
"What about them?" Bell asked.
"Were they ever arrested?"
"They weren't in your case. They were arrested and prosecuted in another case. Tommy "The Handler" Parkinson, the man with the bad ear, was convicted of homicide in 1962. His associates went to prison the next year on racketeering charges. All three were part of a crime syndicate that operated in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Phoenix."
"So Ear Man was a killer?" Ben asked.
"Ear Man was a killer. Your family was lucky," Bell said. "Parkinson and his men would have killed all of you to obtain the sports book Mary Beth told me about."
"What happened to the book?" Piper asked. "Did anyone find it?"
"I don't know," Bell said. "None of the news stories mentioned the book. Nor did Parkinson or his associates at their trials. It's probably stuck in a drawer somewhere."
Mark laughed.
"What's so funny?" Bell asked.
"I was just thinking that's how all of this started," Mark said. "I opened a stuck drawer one day and found time-travel instructions from Percival Bell. They came with two clear crystals and a key to the basement door."
"Do you have the items with you?"
"I still have one crystal and the key."
"Where is the other crystal?" Bell asked.
Mary Beth tentatively lifted her hand.
"It's at home. I put it with my seashells."
Several people laughed.
"I'm happy you found a place for it, but I'll need to collect it before I leave," Bell said. He smiled at Mark. "The same goes for yours."
"You can have it," Mark said.
The group laughed again.
Bell stepped to the windowsill, picked up a cup of coffee, and took a sip. He studied the others, looked at them with satisfaction, and resumed the conversation.
"Are there any more questions?" Bell asked.
"I have one," Mark said.
"What's that?"
"Did your father ever time travel?"
Bell cocked his head.
"Why do you ask?"
"I'm just curious. When Mary Beth and I were back in 1959, we attended a lecture, a lecture on time travel, and spoke to a couple named Joshua and Julia Bell."
"You met my parents?"
"We did," Mark said.
"What did you talk about?"
"We talked about time travel."
The others laughed.
"That makes sense," Bell said. He smiled. "How did you meet?"
"Your father approached us after the lecture,"
Mark said. "He liked the questions Mary Beth had asked the speaker and wanted to get her thoughts on the subject. Then he told us he had a diary and some letters from his grandfather that suggested he had traveled through time."
"I see."
"Do you know anything about that?"
"I know quite a bit," Bell said. "I inherited the diary and the letters from my father when he died in 1996. It was then I learned the secret you learned by opening a drawer."
"Did your father do anything with the documents? Did he travel?"
"He did not. Unlike you and me and Percival Bell, he was a cautious man. He respected knowledge and power and handled both with great care."
"I sensed that," Mark said. "I also sensed that someday he would share the documents with someone who could do something with them. It appears he did in a roundabout way."
Bell nodded.
"Do you have any more questions?"
"No," Mark said. "I'm done."
"How about the rest of you?" Bell asked. "Do you have more questions?"
Four people shook their heads.
"Let's move on, Geoffrey," Jeanette said. She smiled at Donna, Mark, and then Ben. "I think our fifties family is more interested in tomorrow than yesterday."
"Then let's shift gears," Bell said. "Let's go from the past to the future and discuss how we're going to integrate the three of you into the twenty-first century."
CHAPTER 58: MARY BETH
Gulf Shores, Alabama – Sunday, October 8, 2017
On the fifth day of her engagement to Mark Ryan, Mary Beth McIntire walked west along a white sandy beach and noticed that God had misplaced the setting sun. He had placed the orange ball along the coast, not away from it, and dropped it near Biloxi.
"It's different here," Mary Beth said. "It feels different."
"It should," Mark said. He smiled. "It's Alabama."
She spanked him with an open hand.
"You know what I mean."
Mark laughed.
"I think I do. But maybe you should explain."
"All right, smart guy, I will," Mary Beth said. She smiled and shook her head. "It feels different here because it feels permanent."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Mark asked.
"It is if things remain permanent."
"You lost me between 'different' and 'permanent.'"
Class of '59 (American Journey Book 4) Page 26