by Bess McBride
No, as much as she wanted to share her own compulsion with the delusional stranger, she thought it best to keep that to herself.
“Listen, Mr. Carpenter...Nathan. I don’t know what to say. You scared me half to death. What you did—assault me, hold me against my will, even board the train without a ticket—are all illegal and will land you in jail, if not prison. I don’t want to press charges, so I think you should just hop off the train at the next stop...and hope they don’t see you.”
Nathan almost smiled, almost. The corner of one lip turned up.
“I do apologize, Amanda, for assaulting you as you say. Most sincerely. You cannot know how much. I realize my appearance is changed and that I am not immediately recognizable as the man you knew. I was uncertain of your reaction, and I wanted a chance to speak to you before you summoned the authorities. You see...when I lost you—when I arrived in your time—I discovered very soon that the date was prior to the date you came to me. I suspected that if I were to find you, you might not know me.”
“What are you talking about?”
Nathan did smile then, a wry smile that charmed her.
“It’s difficult to explain, my dear, even more difficult to explain than when I first found you on the train, lost in time. You had traveled from your time, 2013, to mine...to 1906. We met, fell in love, and you agreed to stay in my time…and to marry me.” His voice took on a rough note, and he cleared his throat. He threw her a quick look and ran a hand across his beard before he continued.
“Through friends, we discovered it is possible to travel back and forth in time. You wanted to show me your world—the twenty-first century—but something went wrong, and we were separated. I have been trapped in your time, unable to return to 1906 without you. We were warned that without you, I could not travel in time. But it seems, my love, that when you returned, you must have returned to a time before we met. Is this as clear as mud?”
Amanda shook her head and stared at him in awe. What a nut! But a handsome nut. She almost smiled. Did he do this often? Follow women onto the train? She would have thought he’d have been caught before now.
“Nathan,” she began without any idea of what to say. “While I appreciate the complexity of your story, I find it hard to believe any of it.” She hoped he wouldn’t burst into a fit of rage or anything. “I don’t know anyone who has ever traveled in time, and I’m pretty sure I never have, nor would I be likely to be the first person to do so.” She paused, gauging his reaction, which seemed sad but not angry. “Have you done this before?”
“Done this?” Nathan asked. “Ah! You mean accost a woman on the train?” He smiled softly, and Amanda’s heart thumped loudly under his gaze. “No, I have not. I was waiting for you...not to accost you, that is,” he finished hastily.
Amanda found herself smiling, surprised that she could after fearing for her life only a few moments ago.
“Did you say you’ve been waiting at the station almost every night for a year? I’ve never seen you there.”
Nathan’s head shot up. “What do you mean? Have you come through Spokane before? Been on the train?”
“No, no,” Amanda lied. “Well, okay, once.” She realized she couldn’t cover her mistake.
“You came through, and I did not see you? Was it long ago?” The grief in Nathan’s voice hurt her soul, if such a thing were possible.
“Oh, sure.” She tried for a nonchalant tone to diffuse his fantasy. “About a year ago. Haven’t ridden the train since.”
“I did not see you,” he said. “How is it possible?”
“Well, I’m sure you haven’t been here every single night, right? You must live somewhere. And I’m sure I didn’t get off the train. It’s late at night. Not a lot of people get up to wander the platform at this hour.”
“I missed only a few nights, only a few.”
“Are you homeless?” Amanda wasn’t sure she knew what the implications of the question were. After all, she’d never really asked someone that question. What did homeless mean?
“I have been called that,” Nathan said with a rueful half smile. “I do not live in the street panhandling if that is what you are asking. It was difficult to adjust to your time as you can imagine. I had no currency from your time but was able to sell the money I had in my wallet for a small profit. It seemed my money was worth more than its face value. When I first arrived, I was able to rent a room, little more than a hovel really, but I ran out of funds and have used the kind services of shelters on occasion. However, they lock their doors at night, and I am at the train station as much as possible.”
Amanda felt as if she was getting lost in his fantasy, and she thought she ought to put a stop to it.
“Well, look, Nathan, how can I help you? I can give you some money if that’s what you need.”
Nathan stared hard at her, as if he were thinking. Perhaps she shouldn’t have asked the question.
“I need to go home...and I need you to come with me.”
Chapter Two
“Come with you!” Amanda exclaimed. Her brown eyes widened, and she stared at him as if he’d lost his mind.
Though the incredulity in her tone cut straight to his heart, he eyed her steadily. She was the same woman he had come to love a little over a year ago, though she clearly did not remember their time together. He would not give up. He hadn’t given up waiting and lurking about the train station every night for the past year, although there had been times lately when he felt the situation hopeless...that he might never see her again. That he hadn’t been able to return home without her help had been a secondary complication. He could no longer imagine his life in 1906 without Amanda.
“What on earth are you talking about? I’m not going anywhere with you!” Her eyes flashed, and a corner of his mouth lifted. Oh, he had missed her terribly...especially her beautiful dark eyes which inevitably failed to conceal her emotions.
“The gentleman in me might say, ‘I beg your pardon, my dear. I have no right to ask you to return with me,’ but I seem to have left my manners behind in 1906. I need to return to see to my grandfather. He must have been devastated at my disappearance...at our disappearance. He did like you very much. I have matters of business to attend to—my house, my properties. Though you might have changed your mind and wish to remain here in the twenty-first century, I must at least have funds to begin anew.”
Amanda shook her head, her eyes wide again, and Nathan cursed himself for attempting to rush her. This was perhaps not the best time to tell her that he would never be parted from her again, that if she wished to stay in her time, he had every intention of returning to watch over her though she may want nothing to do with him. The thought pained him, and he took a deep silent breath to ease the constriction in his chest.
“This is crazy,” Amanda whispered. “You really believe all this, don’t you?”
“I do,” Nathan said firmly. “I know how it must sound to you. Believe me, when you appeared on the train in 1906—lost, dressed much as you are now in clothing that would cause a scandal in my time—I thought you must be quite mad as well, but your plight tore at my heart, and I soon realized that you had traveled in time, as fantastical as that still sounds to me.”
Perhaps he’d found the right words for Amanda’s expression of skepticism eased...somewhat.
“You are so believable,” she said with a shake of her head as if she wished he were not.
Nathan was encouraged, but he bided his time.
Amanda looked at him as if she wished for more information, but he resisted the urge to recapitulate the entirety of their meeting, their romance and their vows to marry. Too much, too soon, he thought. After all, had he not just attacked her on the train? Unpardonable, but he had not thought clearly. When he had awakened from a doze and saw her on the platform—after all the months of waiting and hoping—he had reacted instantly and run after her.
“So, time travel,” she murmured with an expectant look in his direction.
“Is that all you have to say?” she asked in a peevish tone.
Nathan pressed his lips together to refrain from smiling.
“For now.”
“Are you kidding?”
Nathan shook his head. She always did wish to see proof for herself, never relying solely on anyone’s word. When she first appeared on the train in 1906, she hadn’t believed she’d traveled in time until she had seen the date on his train ticket.
“Well, how did we meet?”
Nathan formed his words carefully. “We met on the train in my time—in 1906. I was returning from visiting friends in the Glacier wilderness area of Montana, when you appeared suddenly in my sleeping compartment on the observation car. It was most awkward, but I deduced quite quickly that you were not from my time, given your unusual clothing, language and mannerisms. I have long had an open mind regarding matters of science fiction, and confess I was delighted to discover that time travel was possible.”
Amanda crossed her arms in a stubborn fashion which he recognized well. She was resisting the idea—as she had then. He fell silent and watched her as he had yearned to do for so long—the delicate lines of her face, the hazelnut brown of her eyes, the silky chestnut hair that he had loved to caress.
“And?” she asked.
“And what?”
“Then what?”
“Ah! You wish me to continue. I thought by the mutinous expression on your face that you preferred to hear no more.”
“I’m not sure why I’m listening to you, but it is fascinating. If nothing else, you have a very vivid imagination. Perhaps you should write stories. Go on.”
“Thank you, I think. Well, after I convinced you that you were no longer in the twenty-first century, and after some tears on your part, you agreed to let me help you. I brought you to my home where my housekeeper took charge of you. I made some excuse for your presence with my grandfather, who still does not know of your origins.”
Nathan paused. He did not wish to describe the period of their courtship and engagement in such brief terms, as if dispassionately reciting some dry history lesson.
Amanda brushed back a few strands of wayward hair which had escaped the band at the back of her neck.
“You said...” She hesitated and her cheeks turned a becoming rosy red—one of the features he most loved about her. “You said something about...love...and marriage.” She shrugged almost nonchalantly. “What was that about?”
Nathan winced. In his dreams of seeing Amanda once again, he had never imagined she would not remember him, would not know him.
“Yes, we fell in love and I asked you to marry me, but you must not concern yourself with that just now. I can see this has all been too much for you, and I think you must have time to think about what I’ve said.”
She narrowed her eyes and regarded him from under veiled lashes.
“Just supposing that there was some truth to your story, how can I help you get back?” She gave her head a quick shake and looked away. “I can’t believe I’m even discussing this with you.”
“You are the only one, Amanda, who can travel back and forth through time. I can only accompany you, but I do not have the power to travel in time without you.”
“Why can’t you?”
“Amanda, I would have returned to my own time long ago to see to my grandfather had I been able. And as I mentioned, we have friends who are aware of this phenomenon. In fact, we know several women who have traveled to the past and have chosen to remain there.”
“There are more? Are you serious?”
“Yes, there are three other women who have traveled back in time to the Seattle area. There must be more in the world, but I have not heard of them. Each woman relates that she was as disbelieving as you.”
“Well, do they travel back and forth?”
Nathan nodded. “They have, although none do so now. There was always some concern that they could not return—as we know now that is a very real possibility—and they worried that they might become separated from their husbands and their children.”
“Husbands and children? Are you saying they married men from your time...and never wanted to return to the present?”
He shrugged. “I cannot speak to all their emotions, but they have each assured me that they are content to remain in the past.”
“This is insane!” Amanda breathed. “You know, I really can’t believe all this.”
“I understand,” Nathan said in a resigned tone. Amanda’s reaction was not unlike that when he first found her on the train in 1906. He never expected he would have to convince her twice that time travel was possible.
“Oh, now you’re going to be the calm one?” she muttered to his amusement. “Well, what would I have to do to get you back, not that I believe any of this?”
“I am not quite sure. As was explained to us, we were to take a compartment in the observation car, there to fall asleep before we reached Wenatchee, Washington. We were to remain close...” Nathan blushed like a schoolboy himself. “That is, we were to hold hands or rest in each other’s arms while we slept. We had to touch at the time of travel so I could go with you. Otherwise, I should have simply traveled on to Chicago, and you would have stayed with me or traveled in time.
“But something went awry. We may have slept too long, we may have lost contact with each other, I am not sure. I awakened on this modern gleaming train about an hour before arrival in Spokane in the year 2012, and you were not with me. I did not know if you had remained in my time or...” His voice roughened. “I had no idea what happened to you, my love, and I have searched for you for the past year, but I could not find you. I hopped a freight train like a hobo and made my way to Seattle. But I had no way to find you. In 1906, should you inquire after Nathan Carpenter, it is likely someone has heard of me, but I could find no one who had heard your name.
“I even thought to procure one of those mobile telephones you mentioned but alas I did not have a number for you. So, I returned to Spokane and waited, hoping you would find your way back to Spokane, back to me.” Nathan bit his lip on the last words. He sounded much too forlorn even to his own ears, too desperate. Of course, he had been distraught ever since he lost her, but it would not do to harp on the matter with her. To her, he was some deranged homeless stranger who had assaulted her in her compartment.”
He knew he was right when she seemed to retreat further against the wall of the compartment.
“I-I don’t know what to say.” She looked at the watch on her wrist. “The next stop is Ephrata in about an hour. Then Wenatchee an hour after that. The train is running late, but you know that, don’t you?”
Nathan nodded, wondering what she was about to say.
“I think you should get off at Wenatchee. They don’t open the doors at Ephrata unless someone is detraining, and that’s not likely tonight. Hopefully you won’t be seen, but I think you should go. In fact, you should leave this compartment now. There’s an empty compartment across the aisle. I think the cabin attendant is probably asleep by now, so he won’t check on anything for a few hours.”
Nathan’s heart sunk. She didn’t believe him. He didn’t blame her, but she seemed so distant from him. He rose from the edge of the bed to stand. There was little room between the bed and the door, only the width of his body. Would she call the authorities when he left? He didn’t know. He couldn’t very well jump off the train while it was still moving. He couldn’t lose her now that he had found her. He must find a way to convince her, but at the moment, the best thing he could do was retreat. It was the gentlemanly thing to do.
“As you wish, Amanda. It would be best if you do not call the authorities. Best for me, that is,” he said with a faint smile. “I cannot imagine that I will be able to sleep, but at least I shall be warm.”
He turned away lest she see the pain in his face. He unlocked the compartment and stepped across the hall to enter the next room. The seats had not b
een folded down into a bed for the night, but he didn’t care. Sleep was truly the furthest thing from his mind. He locked the door and sat down in the darkness, watching the occasional lights pass by.
Over the past year, he had not been able to ride the passenger train back and forth to search for Amanda as he’d wished. Though he had sufficient means from the sale of his money to do so, he had discovered upon inquiry that he needed some form of identification. He had witnessed passengers in the stations holding out small cards with photographs on them, but he had not been able to procure such for himself in the absence of a birth certificate.
It galled him to know that Amanda had been so close, that she had indeed ridden on the very train he watched so closely. He leaned his head back and listened to the rumbling of the train on the tracks and the occasional whistle. He imagined a scenario in which Amanda crept out of her compartment and alerted the crew that she had been attacked, and that her assailant was still aboard. An outcry would ensue, and they would likely stow him in some sort of locked cargo facility until they could turn him over to the authorities.
He tilted his head and listened intently. There was no sound. He did not hear Amanda’s compartment door open, nor did he hear an outcry from the crew of the train. With a finger, he pushed aside the curtain on the door to view her compartment. The door was still tightly closed, and the light was still on. She did not sleep.
Nathan dropped the curtain and turned to gaze out of the window into the dark night. What on earth was he to do? Follow her back to Seattle and camp out on her doorstep? As ridiculous as that sounded, he no longer had any reason to remain in Spokane. He thought he must press on to Seattle and try to find work there. His money would not hold out much longer.
He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. He must have fallen asleep because a soft rap on the glass window of the door awakened him. He held his breath and waited.