by Bess McBride
Faith’s voice rose an octave. “That is it then,” she said, pulling Sarah away from the counter and searching for an available seat. “You’re leaving us!”
Jeremiah drew in a sharp breath. As tightly as he had controlled himself that morning, was Faith’s histrionics going to undermine him? Would he fall to his knees sobbing, as he truly wished to do?
“Oh, Faith,” Sarah murmured. “Don’t say it like that.”
“I agree, Sister,” Agnes said. “The girl is just going home. Nothing wrong with that.”
Faith lowered Sarah onto a bench seat, but Jeremiah didn’t think he could relax. Agnes stood with him.
“Sorry, Jeremiah,” she said under her breath. “You know Faith. Always dramatic.”
“She only says what I feel,” Jeremiah responded in a low voice. He watched as Faith talked to Sarah, hardly hearing their words. For the next fifteen minutes, he struggled with wishing the time would fly and that it would drag. If time flew, Sarah could leave, and he could possibly begin to search for solace. If time dragged, he had more time to look at Sarah and wish that she were his.
A whistle in the distance signaled the arrival of the train, and people in the station rose, picked up their bags and moved out onto the platform. The seconds suddenly raced, and Jeremiah felt he could not stop the movement of time.
Only a few passengers disembarked, and Henry rushed outside to manage the loading of cargo and luggage. A conductor stepped off the train to coordinate with him.
Faith kept hold of Sarah, and Jeremiah had all he could do not to rip her out of Faith’s arm. He pulled a twenty-dollar bill out of his pocket and slipped it into Sarah’s hand. She took it with wide eyes directed at him. He didn’t think her look was about money, and he suspected she was frightened of what might come.
“Faith, please, I need a moment with Sarah.”
“Of course, Jeremiah. Of course you do.” Faith released Sarah and moved away with Agnes.
Jeremiah took hold of Sarah’s shoulders. “Please take care and send me a telegram if and when you arrive in Virginia. If you find yourself stranded, get word to me. I will come get you.”
Sarah covered Jeremiah’s hands with her own. “I know you will, Jeremiah. I know you will.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Jeremiah saw the young would-be bridegroom staring at the train, his shoulders slumped in dejection. His heart went out to the poor man. He returned his attention to Sarah’s words.
“Please take care of yourself. If I travel forward in time, I’ll do something about the hotel. Maybe I’ll buy it.”
“It is the least of my concerns at the moment.”
“No, it’s not. The hotel needs you.”
Jeremiah shook his head. “I do not choose that building over you. I need you.”
Sarah’s eyes glistened. “Please don’t,” she whispered. “You promised you wouldn’t.”
“Did I?”
“All aboard!” the conductor called out.
“I have to go,” she said, her voice breaking. “Thank you for everything, Jeremiah. I am never going to forget you.”
“Nor I you, Sarah.”
Jeremiah released her, and Faith moved forward to plant a kiss on Sarah’s cheek. Agnes hung back but nodded.
“Good luck, dear! Do write to us!” Faith said, letting her go. She lifted her hand in a forlorn wave, and Jeremiah shook his head at her melodrama.
Tears ran down Sarah’s face as she turned away, and Jeremiah grabbed up her hand and tucked it under his arm as he escorted her to the railway car door. The conductor took her ticket and punched it.
“Good day, miss. Watch your step.”
“I cannot watch you go. I love you, Sarah,” Jeremiah said, his voice breaking as he released her to step aboard the train. Unwilling to watch her leave, he whirled around. Through blurred eyes, he saw Faith and Agnes walking away and rounding the corner of the train station.
He strode across the street and eyed the front door of the hotel. Unable to force himself to enter and engage with guests and staff, he sagged against the wall and leaned against it. Crossing his arms, he refused to lift his head. He would wait to hear steam escape the train, the rhythmic clicking sound as the train rolled over the tracks, the mournful sound of the whistle as the train faded away into the desert.
Passersby greeted him, but fortunately none stopped to visit. He nodded but listened...listened with every fiber of his being.
Steam hissed. Wheels clicked on the tracks. Jeremiah waited—how long he didn’t know, his chest aching from tears that could not be shed. All too soon, the train’s whistle faded away in the distance.
He struck his fist against his chest once, twice, then no more. He turned to enter the hotel that had somehow become his prison. A flash of movement across the street caught his eye, and he turned back.
Sarah stood there on the station platform looking not toward a train she must have missed but at him. She walked to the street purposefully, not at all like someone distraught.
Jeremiah couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think straight. What could have happened? What could have gone wrong?
Though his desire was to go to her, he stood still, fearful she would run away. She crossed the street and stepped up onto the boardwalk, coming to a halt in front of him.
“Do you still love me?” she asked, her voice breaking. “Because if you don’t, I’m stranded here. I just gave my ticket away, and he’s happily on his way to El Paso to get married.”
“Oh, my dear love!” Jeremiah cried out. He pulled her into his arms and never let her go.
Epilogue
Sam and Jenny jumped off the train in Benson, Arizona, one of many stops along their coast-to-coast train trip from New York City to Los Angeles. Based on recommendations from a travel website, they had previously booked reservations at a quaint historic hotel called the Benson Arms. Fortunately, it was right across from the train stop.
Though they had seen pictures of the hotel from its website, they paused to admire it from across the street. A two-story white-painted facade with white pillars harkened to the nineteenth century. It had an elegant grace that seemed unlikely in the dusty desert of southeast Arizona.
Shouldering their backpacks, they crossed the slow-paced asphalt road and climbed concrete steps to the hotel. They stepped inside to see a lobby done in beautifully varnished dark woods, ruby-red carpets, furniture and wallpaper accents, and exquisite bronze lighting fixtures that cast a warm glow throughout.
“This is beautiful,” Jenny breathed. “Just beautiful.”
“It is,” Sam said. “Good choice.”
They stepped up to the counter to greet a young woman with shoulder-length black hair and amber eyes. A dazzling display of brass-framed photographs decorated the wall behind her, and Jenny could have sworn she saw the woman’s face reflected in some of the photographs.
“Good morning,” the woman said.
“You look just like several of those people in the pictures behind you. Is that just a coincidence?” Jenny asked.
The woman laughed and turned to look at them.
“No, not at all. Those are my great-grandparents and grandparents. My mom and dad too, as well as people who have worked here and stayed.” She pointed to one photograph of a good-looking couple in which the seated woman wore a high-necked lace ivory dress and the tall man wore a dark tailored suit. “These are my great-grandparents, Jeremiah and Sarah Stone.”
“Well, that explains it,” Sam said. “Family business?”
“I’ll say,” the woman said. She reached out to shake hands. “I’m Sarah Stone.” She grinned. “Yes, I’m named after my great-grandmother. My family has owned this hotel since the 1880s.”
“That’s some longevity,” Sam said approvingly. “No one ever wanted to sell it to one of the big-box-store motel chains?”
“Funny story that. To hear my grandfather tell it, I think my great-grandfather did want to give it all up for love of a woman. My great-g
randmother was just passing through on her way to or from Virginia—I can’t remember which. Anyway, they fell in love, but she didn’t think she ever wanted to stay in Benson.
“Word is she was robbed and kidnapped, ending in a shootout, so I guess I couldn’t blame her. Anyway, there she was at the train station—same one, don’t you know—getting ready to leave my great-grandfather, holding the last ticket on the train, when some poor guy shows up on his way to his wedding the next day but no ticket.
“So my grandfather said my great-grandmother decided she was way too much in love to leave handsome Jeremiah Stone up there (thank you very much, Grandma), and she gave the guy her ticket, and long story short, here I am.”
Sarah beamed at them, both in person and from a portrait on the wall.
“Who is in the other photographs? Anyone famous?”
“I don’t think so,” Sarah said. She pointed out various photographs.
“That’s Nancy and her son, Eric. They worked here for a long time. Nancy was the cook. Eric married. That’s his wife and children in that picture. The restaurant here is called Nancy’s Place. My grandparents said she was a great cook. As Benson grew, people came all the way from Tombstone and Tucson to eat here. They especially loved her baked goods.”
She pointed to another photograph that showed two middle-aged women in festive straw hats. “Those ladies are Faith and Agnes Williams, friends of my great-great grandparents.”
“Are those horses?” Jenny asked about another photograph. “Their ears look big.”
“Those are mules,” Sarah said. “That fellow with the mules is Elias Marchant. It looks like one of the Williams sisters is standing with him, holding a small posey of flowers. That looks like a wedding picture, doesn’t it? I keep meaning to ask my grandparents about that.”
“Who’s that handsome fellow?” Jenny asked, pointing to a picture of a tall, distinguished silver-haired man standing with two beautiful young women in lacy ivory dresses.
“That’s Samuel Treadwell. His descendants still own half the valley, I think.” Sarah laughed. “That’s his younger daughter, Tabitha, in the picture with Eric, and their children. My grandparents said that Serena married a mining magnate somewhere near Bisbee.”
A phone rang somewhere, and Sarah excused herself and picked up a cell phone. She got off the call quickly.
“Sorry about that! Okay, let’s get you checked in so you can go eat. They still use Nancy’s recipes in the dining room, so you’re in for a treat!”
Sarah held out her hand with a broad smile.
“Welcome to the Benson Arms.”
Books by Bess McBride
Time Travel Romance
The Earl Finds a Bride
(Book One of the Fairy Tales Across Time series)
The Viscount Finds Love
(Book Two of the Fairy Tales Across Time series)
The Baron Finds Happiness
(Book Three of the Fairy Tales Across Time series)
The Marquess Finds Romance
(Book Four of the Fairy Tales Across Time series)
Finding Your Heart
(Book One of the Town Lost in Time series)
Finding Your Love
(Book Two of the Town Lost in Time series)
Finding Your Forever
(Book Three of the Town Lost in Time series)
A Ship Through Time
The Highlander’s Stronghold
(Book One of the Searching for a Highlander series)
The Highlander’s Keep
(Book Two of the Searching for a Highlander series)
The Highlander’s Home
(Book Three of the Searching for a Highlander series)
My Laird’s Castle
(Book One of the My Laird’s Castle series)
My Laird’s Love
(Book Two of the My Laird’s Castle series)
My Laird’s Heart
(Book Three of the My Laird’s Castle series)
Caving in to You
(Book One of the Love in the Old West series)
A Home in Your Heart
(Book Two of the Love in the Old West series)
Forever Beside You in Time
Moonlight Wishes in Time
(Book One of the Moonlight Wishes in Time series)
Under an English Moon
(Book Two of the Moonlight Wishes in Time series)
Following You Through Time
(Book Three of the Moonlight Wishes in Time series)
A Train Through Time
(Book One of the Train Through Time series)
Together Forever Across Time
(Book Two of the Train Through Time series)
A Smile in Time
(Book Three of the Train Through Time series)
Finding You in Time
(Book Four of the Train Through Time series)
A Fall in Time
(Book Five of the Train Through Time series)
A Summer in Time
(Book Six of the Train Through Time series)
Train Through Time Series Boxed Set
(Books 1–3)
Train Through Time Series Boxed Set
(Books 4–6)
Across the Winds of Time
A Wedding Across the Winds of Time
(Novella)
Love of My Heart
Historical Romance
Anna and the Conductor
The Earl’s Beloved Match
(Novella)
The Dishonest Duke
Cozy Mysteries by Minnie Crockwell
Will Travel for Trouble series
Trouble at Happy Trails (Book 1)
Trouble at Sunny Lake (Book 2)
Trouble at Glacier (Book 3)
Trouble at Hungry Horse (Book 4)
Trouble at Snake and Clearwater (Book 5)
Trouble in Florence (Book 6)
Trouble in Tombstone Town (Book 7)
Trouble in Cochise Stronghold (Book 8)
Trouble in Orange Beach (Book 9)
Trouble at Pelican Penthouse (Book 10)
Trouble at Island Castle (Book 11)
Trouble at Yellowstone (Book 12)
Trouble at Devils Tower (Book 13)
Trouble in El Paso (Book 14)
Trouble in Diablo Canyon (Book 15)
Trouble in Santa Fe (Book 16)
Will Travel for Trouble Series (Books 1–3)
Will Travel for Trouble Series (Books 4–6)
Will Travel for Trouble Series (Books 7–9)
Will Travel for Trouble Series (Books 10–12)
Mirror Pond Mystery series
Death at the Gazebo (Book 1)
About the Author
Bess McBride is the best-selling author of over twenty time travel romances as well as contemporary, historical, romantic suspense and light paranormal romances. She loves to hear from readers, and you can contact her at [email protected]. She also writes short cozy mysteries as Minnie Crockwell. You can visit her website at www.bessmcbride.com.