Time Travel 02 Nothing but Time

by Angeline Fortin

  “Come with me!” he commanded more fiercely.

  Kate leaned back in his arms and reached up to stroke his cheek. “I loved you right from the start, Brand. Never forget that.”

  “Damn it, Kate!”

  “Go, please,” she whispered. “David isn’t the type to wait forever.” She would though. There would never be another who could replace Brand in her heart. She thought of his nephew Nathan and their talk about meeting again in Heaven. She could only hope it was true so that she might see Brand again one day.

  With a push, she sent Brand out the door into the predawn darkness and down the steps to where David waited in his car. She was tempted to close the door, to block out the sight of him leaving. Unable to help herself, though, she looked back in time to see Brand opening the passenger door to the car only to see him pause as well and turn to meet her gaze.

  The burn in her chest was so painful, Kate had to grit her teeth against the overwhelming agony of watching Brand walk out of her life. Her heart breaking, she raised her hand in a final farewell. Brand returned the gesture with a nod and lowered himself into the car. In moments, they were speeding off. “Goodbye, Brand,” she whispered into the winter air.

  ***

  “I’m disappointed in you, old chap.”

  Brand shot Fergusson a glare that dared him to say more.

  “Not only is it ethically wrong to return you – without Kate and myself you would have died, I’m sure you know – I’m still not certain I should do it at all. I don’t understand how you cannot see the larger picture here. Your life in the past was over, can’t you understand that? If Kate’s theories on non-interference are correct, it would be wrong for me to return you.”

  “My nephew needs me, the earldom needs me.” They were the only reasons that made sense at that moment because his heart being ripped from his chest certainly did not.

  “Yet without you is how they were meant to go on,” David insisted. “Your return will only change the destinies of so many others.”

  Brand pondered those words wondering at the truth in them before shaking his head. “Is it not equally wrong for me to be here then?”

  David just rolled his eyes as if the truth were obvious. “Our future isn’t written yet. Yours was. Besides what did your time have to offer you, eh? A stifling existence? An eventual marriage to a woman you despise? A life where your writing would go unrecognized? Yes, Kate told me. She also told me you are quite good. What have you here, then? A chance to live a life pursuing that passion with a woman who loves you by your side. Possibilities beyond imagination. As I said, I’m disappointed in you.”

  “You cannot talk me out of this,” Brand ground out. “My nephew…”

  “Save it for someone who believes you.”

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Kate sat in silence for ten full minutes before the tension become so unbearable she couldn’t stand it. She couldn’t look around the flat without seeing Brand everywhere. She couldn’t bear the thought of returning to her bed alone. She wanted to run after Brand and beg him not to leave her but knew the decision to stay had to be his own. She couldn’t keep him by her side with tears or guilt that would eventually drive them apart. He had made his choice. He had chosen his life over sharing hers and, in truth, she couldn’t blame him. Her world was an ugly place to a man from another century, even Kate had felt the difference since their return.

  She had asked too much of him, Kate realized as she grabbed up her coat and car keys, unable to stay in her flat, their home, a moment longer. Speeding out of Oxford, Kate unconsciously headed south toward ISIS berating herself all the while. She expected him to give up his family when she could not relinquish her own, asked him to give up his wealth, his title… so much more than she had. Generation Me, indeed. Because she loved Brand, she expected him to sacrifice for her when she didn’t want to make the same sacrifice for him.

  Kate dialed David’s cell phone but it went straight to voicemail.

  But she had sacrificed, Kate argued silently. She had intended to stay in the past with him when she’d sent David away that day. Only Brand’s illness had changed that. She had done what was needed to keep him alive and, that accomplished, all she wanted now was his happiness and that rested in the past. However, if he believed that her presence there as well would make him more content…

  She needed to catch them, needed to stop them before they left without her.

  Swiping her authorization card at the unmanned guardhouse at the front gate, Kate waited until the cross bar rose and sped into the parking lot. She found David’s car parked alone near the entrance to the building that housed his sector. Parking, she raced to the door and swiped her card again… and again and again. But it was no use. The cards only worked where an employee was authorized to go. She knew that.

  She was too late. They were gone and Kate had no way of going back to Brand on her own. What a fool she’d been!

  Kate returned to her car, dropping her forehead against the steering wheel. Too late. As always, denial had kept her from seeing the bigger picture and now it was too late. Starting the car, Kate left Didcot and, instead of heading back to Oxford, went east castigating herself the entire drive into London and all the way to the Bank of London. For hours she sat in her car waiting for the bank to open, cursing herself for a fool all the while. The moment the bank opened, Kate was inside finding the manager who could provide her with her one last connection to Brand.

  She was shown to the vault where the safety deposit boxes were kept and, once David’s box was retrieved, left in peace. Kate stared at the box for several moments before she opened it finding it filled with gold coins, jewelry, ancient stock certificates and, to Kate’s surprise, two of Brand’s completed manuscripts as well as the one he had been working on when they left. Kate stroked the familiar handwriting on the aged pages wondering why they were there.

  At the bottom of the box was an envelope with her name on it. Kate picked it up taking in the yellowed paper and her hand began to shake. Though he’d only been gone a couple hours, Brand was long dead now. How could she not have considered that?

  A bubble of agony welled up in her chest as Kate clutched the letter. Gone. He was forever gone! Regrets and heartache were nothing when compared to the sorrow flowing through her. What had she been thinking? How could she not have realized? Better a life in the past alone knowing that Brand was there too than living a life without him at all!

  Now she was a million miles and more than a century away with nothing.

  How could she have made such a terrible decision?

  Ten minutes later, Kate wiped her eyes knowing she could not mourn Brand forever in the vault of the Bank of London. Opening the letter, Kate wondered at the life Brand had lived. How had he died? Had he lived a long life? Had it become a happy one? And what of David? Had he gotten from life everything he’d been looking for?

  She looked down at the crackling paper. It was dated June of 1925.

  Dearest Kate,

  This is now my fifth replacement of the original letter I wrote almost fifty years ago. I had determined to place a letter safely in the box straight away as your earl’s illness has been a constant reminder that one’s life could end at anytime.

  I’m in my seventy-eighth year now. Imagine that! This trip to the bank shall likely be my last. I led the life I was looking for, Kate. I want you to know that and know that I also looked out for Harrowby’s interests as best I could.

  At Harrowby’s request, I offered my services as a tutor and counselor to your young student, Nathan Ralston. I believe I helped him become a great member of the nobility, a leader for progressive causes. He is an excellent earl, a knowledgeable businessman. He grew up happy, Kate, with a loving mother and now a wife, children and even grandchildren of his own. Though we only keep in contact these days by post, I gather he is an excellent and loving father.

  As for myself, a few years after my return, I did finally wed the old-fashione
d girl I was always looking for and raised a small family myself. I hesitate to mention that it was Susan Ralston I wed but please be assured that she was ever happy.

  I kept my knowledge of the future to myself though I will admit that I might have exploited that knowledge for my own monetary gain to some extent, I am sure your world will remain unmarred from my financial maneuvering.

  The items in this box are for you to make the most of. Some were Harrowby’s personal items. Overall, it should translate into a tidy fortune and future for you.

  Enjoy your life, Kate, as I have enjoyed mine.

  Your partner in time,

  David Fergusson

  Kate flipped over the page looking for more information but that was it. She stared at it in disbelief. Where was the news of Brand? What had happened to him? Surely she hadn’t been mistaken in assuming David meant to leave her word of how Brand fared as well! Or was the illness David referred to not the appendicitis that had nearly taken Brand’s life when she was there but rather, another illness that had ended his life too soon?

  Stunned, she dropped into a chair and stared at the letter as if the burning of her eyes would produce words previously unseen, but there was nothing. Brand was truly gone.

  Fifteen minutes later, Kate roused herself from her grief-filled stupor enough to gather up the items David had placed in the box and shove them into her purse. Placing the box back into its slot, Kate exited the vault and nodded her thanks to the manager before leaving the bank. In a daze, she drove blindly back to Oxford, lost in grief and mourning for the love she had briefly found and censuring herself for letting it go so easily.

  She would never forgive herself for not embracing a life with Brand on any terms. She would never forget the love that had fulfilled her in a way she had never imagined.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Kate parked on the street in front of her flat and stared out the window. She didn’t want to go in but where else was she to go? To work? God help her, she hadn’t even thought to call in sick today. She’d be lucky if she still had a job.

  She could go back to her parents, maybe. Kate shook her head. Even her dad couldn’t fix this. She was on her own.

  Sighing heavily, Kate got out of the car and headed up the walk.

  “Thank God, I thought you were never going to get out of the car.”

  Kate’s head shot up in surprise to find Brand sitting on the steps in front of her flat, his elbows propped on his knees and a huge smile gracing his handsome face. “Brand?” Kate stuttered uncertainly. “What are you doing here?”

  “Thanking the Lord that the day has been a relatively mild one,” he answered cheerfully as he stood. Gone were the summer clothes of his time. Instead, he wore jeans and a light wool sweater under his leather jacket. He looked heavenly. “I’ve been waiting for you for hours. Where have you been?”

  “London.” Kate thought of the bank and David’s letter with little mention of Brand. Could that be because Brand hadn’t gone with him after all? Exhilaration surged through Kate making her head swim dizzily. “You stayed here?”

  “I stayed where my heart is,” he corrected, rising to meet her on the walk since it seemed she wasn’t going to come any further. Reaching her, Brand drew her into his arms and hugged her tightly against him. “I couldn’t go without you. My life is wherever you are, Kate. I’ve known that for months and should not have forgotten it so easily. I will find my way here with you.”

  “What about Nathan and Susan?” she couldn’t help but ask. If Brand had regrets, they would eat away at him in time.

  “They will move forward with their lives as they were destined to. Without me. I wrote a letter to Susan explaining that I would not be returning home and asking her to hire Fergusson as Nathan’s tutor. He agreed to teach Nathan everything he knew about business and investments so that the earldom would prosper and grow,” Brand assured her. “As for their more personal lives, Susan and I had a long talk before my solicitor came that evening to rewrite my will. She and Nathan will be free of my mother’s influence. I believe they will be truly happy.”

  “They were,” Kate said with a chuckle before digging in her purse for David’s letter and handing it to him.

  “I wish now I could go back and wring his neck,” Brand said without heat after he read it. “When I told him to look after my sister, that wasn’t quite what I had in mind.”

  “Oh, Brand!” Kate chuckled in relief and pressed her cheek against Brand as she hugged him tightly listening to the solid thumping of his heart, feeling the steady rise and fall of his chest against her. He was truly here! He stayed for her! “I should have gone with you, Brand. I’m so sorry. I’ve known for months, too. I love you so much.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “I just wanted you to be happy,” she said.

  “I will be. We will be. Together.”

  With Brand’s urging, Kate tilted her head back to receive his kiss of promise. His lips traced hers tenderly, poignantly relaying all the love and passion in his heart bringing tears to Kate’s eyes. They weren’t tears of sorrow and pain this time but tears of joy. She looked up at him, seeing blue eyes filled with love and tenderness and smiled, welcoming his smile in return. She had him forever now. She would never let him go.

  “Oh, I just figured it out!” Kate said suddenly then chuckled. “David put your manuscripts in that safe deposit box, Brand. He left them not for me but for you so that you could finish them here!”

  Brand thought of his life’s work, the heart and soul he had poured into those books only to think them lost to the past. “That’s surprisingly thoughtful of him.”

  “I know, right?” Kate hugged him again.

  “What else did he leave?” Brand asked with sudden urgency. “Might I see?”

  “Of course.” Kate led the way to her flat – their flat – and dumped her purse out on the kitchen counter.

  Brand dug through the pile until he came up with his hand clenched tightly. “Clever devil, that Fergusson.”

  “He said there were some things of yours in there, Brand,” Kate said curiously. “Do you have everything you need to be happy here now?”

  “Not everything. There is only one more thing I need and I will ask you for it now,” he said softly, opening his hand to reveal a ring thick with diamonds in an old-fashioned but elegant setting. It was stunning. But no more stunning than the sight of Brand dropping to one knee. He took her hand in his, his thumb caressing her tenderly. “I bought this back then. I knew even then that I would never be content until I was free to show my love for you to the world. You have given me everything that was lacking in my life. Love, laughter, companionship and contentment. Across all time, I will love you. Will you marry me, Kate?”

  Kate’s heart melted at his tender, heartfelt words and with the knowledge that he had planned to marry her in his time as well, proving that he had been prepared to take more risks for her than she had ever considered. “Brand, are you sure?”

  “Will you marry me, Kate?” he asked as he stood, brushing a lock of hair from her temple before tucking it behind her ear.

  “I don’t want you to feel as if you have to, Brand.”

  “Will you marry me, Kate?” came the third, more intent repetition of the question and Kate’s green eyes glowed with happiness.

  “Well, I suppose so.”

  Brand slipped the ring on her finger and pulled her into his arms, kissing her passionately. He lifted her up into his arms and spun her around as she clung to him with a squeal. With a laugh, Kate curled her fists into his hair and pulled him down to meet her lips once more.

  “What’s all this, then?” a deep voice rang into the room and Kate dragged her mouth from Brand’s to find her parents framed in the doorway.

  “Daddy!” Kate cried out. “Mama! You’re here!” Urging Brand to drop her feet back to the floor, Kate ran into their arms, hugging and kissing them before stepping back with a wide grin. “Guess what? I’m getti
ng married!”

  Sarah Kallastad trading a knowing look with her husband before smiling broadly. “I always told you, Mark. When she finally fell, it was going to be hard and fast.”

  Kate’s father shrugged philosophically. “Like mother like daughter.”

  Author’s Note

  First off, I’m going to say, as a native Minnesotan, that this is just how we talk. I’m sure that there will be a few people out there who try to deny it but, face it, I toned it down and you know it ;) It could have been a lot worse. Oh, ya, you betcha.

  Others might say that it’s not realistic to say that a girl would spend her childhood fishing or camping. I had a dad who did all the things that Kate’s father did and before my brothers came along, my sisters and I did all those things with our dad. We went camping, fishing, ice fishing, hunting… I even remember checking traps with my dad. They were great times. Of course, my dad wouldn’t let me go deer hunting with him again after he caught me up in my perch reading a book and drinking hot chocolate but… well, I guess it’s a good thing my brothers were there to take my place and, hey, there was always the fishing, right?

  Collecting old reels is a pretty big deal. You wouldn’t believe what they can go for. The J.F. & B.F. Meek company produced what was one of the earliest examples of the Kentucky reel beginning in the 1850s. By the 1870s, the company had become Meek and Milam and eventually to B.F. Meek and Sons. Regardless of their evolution, all Meek reels are considered rare and collectible.