Beyond Time

by Wendy Stone

  Her mother preferred to entertain in the living room, and soon she would usher in Mattie’s parents and brother. Just the thought sent chills through her. How could she look his mother in the eye when she survived and her son didn’t? How could Lauren look at Cadie and not resent her for her son’s death?

  Cadie held up her hands, staring at her shaking fingers even as her mother rose to get the door. Her father reached out and took her hands, bringing them to his lips before he sank down next to her. “They love you. You are important to them so don’t be afraid. Your mother and I will stay with you, baby.”

  She tried to smile at her father but it felt fake even to her. She let out a long sigh and then rose when Lauren and a young man walked into the room. Lauren came right to her, pulling her into a hug. “Oh, Cadie, I’m so glad you are okay.”

  Cadie hugged her back. This woman had taken her in and made her feel like family the very first time Mattie had taken her home. Hugging her felt natural, it felt warm. Cadie felt tears starting in her eyes. “I’m so sorry about...about Mattie. It should have been me, not him. He was such a good person.”

  “Yes, he was,” Lauren said, sniffling just a bit. “But don’t ever think that we would sacrifice you to have Mattie back, Cadie. You are as much mine as he was. Jackson and I love you. Mattie would have wanted you to keep living. He died trying to protect you, to keep you safe so that you could continue on. Don’t you even think about throwing that gift away. That may be the one thing that would make me infinitely sadder than I feel now.” She sank down in one of the two upholstered chairs. The young man took the other one. Cadie returned to the couch, flanked by her mom and dad.

  “Well, Cadie, you look a hundred times better than when Jackson and I stopped by the hospital to see you.”

  “I don’t remember much of it.” Cadie turned her eyes to the man sitting next to Lauren. He was incredibly handsome, his features kissed by the sun, his hair very short or ‘high and tight’ as she’d heard Mattie refer to it. “You’re Jack?”

  “Yes, and you’re Cadie. I’ve seen your pictures all over the house. They don’t do you justice.”

  “Thank you,” she said very softly, her gaze falling to her hands that were pleating the skirt of her summer dress.

  “Maybe Jack would enjoy a walk down to Papasan’s Ice Cream, Cadie? I know you could use the fresh air.”

  Cadie managed, barely, to keep her disgusted sigh from sounding too loud. She would enjoy getting to know Mattie’s brother, the brother he’d idolized so much. They didn’t need to push her on him. Before she could open her mouth, Jack spoke up.

  “I’d love some ice cream if you’re up for the walk, Cadie. You look as if a strong wind could carry you away.”

  “I’m made of sturdy stuff.” She rose and took the money her father handed to her, shoving it in the pocket of her skirt. Then she excused herself to grab a warmer sweater and shoes. By the time she was ready, Jack was waiting for her on the porch. They started down the sidewalk. Cadie waited until the house was out of sight before she spoke. “I’m sorry about this. My parents are concerned that I’m alone too much. I guess they thought I couldn’t say no to showing Mattie’s brother around town.”

  “Well, I don’t know many people around here. Mom and Dad moved here after I’d left for boot camp. So I do appreciate you taking me around, showing me places. Maybe we can use each other a bit. I’ll take you around so your parents stay off your back and you can do the same so my folks don’t drive me into an early section eight. What do you think?”

  “Mattie always said you were a regular type guy, not a typical jar head. He was really proud of you, Jack.”

  “He talked about me a lot?”

  “God!” She rolled her eyes at him. “Your folks got a letter and that’s all I would hear about for two days. How you were a marine and worked with snipers, how hard it was going through that kind of schooling. How he couldn’t wait to get in himself so that he could do all the fantastic things you’ve done and all the traveling.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said but the grin on his face was teasing. “I didn’t know I was such a rough act to follow.”

  “I used to threaten to hunt you down and bury you so I didn’t have to hear it all the time, but it made Mattie happy. His happiness was all that really mattered to me. Even if I had to put on a backpack and follow behind him on foot, I would have been glad to do it.”

  “I heard a lot about you from him,” Jack said. “You were always the student he was never ever going to be. He was so proud of your college plans and then how you two would plan a wedding so that it would land after your graduation and his re-upping.”

  Jack didn’t say anything of all the pictures that Matt had sent him, or the one picture that he had in his wallet even now. He’d felt guilty, especially as he had carefully cut his brother out of the picture, leaving only Cadie to stare at him. She was incredibly pretty, even more so than Mattie had ever written to him, and Jack knew why Matt was so proud of her. “Mattie was a lucky man, Cadie.”

  Tears fell from her eyes and she whisked them away with annoyance. Jack took a step closer, and the gardenia scent of her shampoo rose to fill his head. “There’s no shame in tears, Cadie. None at all, especially when shed for someone you love.” He touched the soft skin of her cheek, gently brushing her tears away.

  Cadie felt a shivery spark-like sensation from his skin against hers, and her eyes flew up, staring into his face that was so much closer than it should have been. Pulling away gently, without making him feel bad, she moved on toward the ice cream place. It was always full off kids, no matter what the hour. A lot of them called out Cadie’s name when she walked in.

  There was a line at the counter and Cadie pulled the tiniest bit closer to Jack. Her fingers clutched at his shirt.

  “This was too much, Cadie.” He pulled her out of the line and out a side door that led into one of the side alleys. “Why did you bring me here if you knew it was going to be too much?”

  Her hands were cold as ice and she was shivering. He hugged her tight to share the heat of his body with her.

  “You’re warm,” she whispered through chattering teeth.

  “And you’re an idiot, Cadie. This was your first trip into town since you got out of the hospital. Why didn’t you tell me that? We could have gone for a short walk and then back to your parents’ house. It would have been enough to make them happy. All they want is the thought that you’re getting out.” He could tell she was warmer, but he didn’t want her to move or to step out of his arms. She felt right there. He wondered if she could see through his ruse of being a caring friend and perceive what he really wanted. “Better?”

  “Yes, thank you, Jack. My parents want me to go back to the same girl I was before all of this happened, before I lost Mattie. I don’t think I know how to do that, how to be without him. I can’t stand their worrying.” Her forehead came to rest against Jack’s chest.

  “I could help,” he offered almost shyly. “I could come and get you and we could hang. I know my folks would like it if I were out more. You can always use me to warm you up or hide you when you don’t want to be seen. What do you think?” He pushed her bangs out of her eyes, something that Mattie used to do.

  “I think it would be pretty one sided, Jack. You wouldn’t get much out of the deal.”

  Jack chuckled. “You’re wrong. Just getting them off my case will save my sanity. It’s a win/win deal.” He didn’t wait for her to say anything else. Pulling a pen from a pocket he held her hand out and wrote down his cell phone number. “You call me when you feel like the gates of civility are about to collapse on your head and I’ll come rescue you. I’ll call you when I think parental pressure is going to pop my head like a grape. What do you say, Cadie? Comrades in arms? Shall we fight for young people everywhere?”

  Cadie couldn’t quit giggl
ing. “Everywhere? One thing Mattie said about you was right on the dot, you’re a buffoon.”

  Jack lifted his arm and climbed on top of a dumpster they were passing making ape noises before doing a complete somersault in the air. He landed back next to her. “We aim to please.”

  “Jack, I said buffoon, not baboon. Buffoons are clowns, jokesters. Baboons are monkeys.”

  He slapped his forehead. “I always get those two mixed up,” he said with a self deprecating sigh. “So can I be your knight in somewhat tarnished and banged up armor?”

  Cadie smiled and for the first time, it felt absolutely fantastic. “Yes, as long as I can return the favor.”

  “Cadie, I can’t think of any situation where your armor is tarnished and banged up.”

  “It feels it right now.” She jumped when she felt his hand take hers and hold on tightly.

  “Nope, your armor looks beautiful.” He used his free hand to trace a strand of hair that kept falling in her eyes and pushed it behind her ear. “I shall be your knight gallant and you shall be my lady fair and together we will kick ass.”

  She bumped her head against his shoulder. “Your brother was right about something else, Jack. He always said you were touched with just a bit of the Irish magic. You always knew how to take any situation and make it easier to handle with a bit of malarky. Thank you.” She lifted on her tiptoes and planted a kiss against his smoothly shaven cheek.

  “Aww shucks, milady, you’re going to have this knight blushing like a schoolboy.” He tugged on her arm, walking her away from the ice cream shop. “Any place else you might like to see today? London? Rome? Nice? I have to stay away from the Vatican since...well, I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you.”

  Cadie couldn’t stop laughing, but as he waited for her answer she realized there was a place she wanted to go. She should stay away from but it was the only place she felt so incredibly drawn to. “Do you know of the clearing with the stream?”

  Jack’s tone changed as he realized which clearing she was speaking of. “The clearing where you were attacked?”

  “Yes. I want to go there.” If there was anywhere she would be able to feel Mattie it would be there, at their special place.

  Jack let her pull him forward and down toward the edge of town where a path led to that clearing. He wasn’t too sure of taking her there. He didn’t know if she’d be able to handle the place. “Whoa, hang on a minute.”

  “What?”

  “Why do you want to go here? It can’t have that many good memories for you.”

  “You’re wrong. Mattie made love to me there for the first time. He asked me to marry him there. We spent a lot of time down here together. I can’t let the evil that happened there change this place and the good memories. I just can’t.” Her face was turned up to his, her eyes pleading up at him. “Please, Jack. No one else would ever allow me to come out here and I really need to do this.” She lifted her hand and placed in on Jack’s chest. “I need to feel him again. I didn’t get a chance to say good-bye. I need that.”

  “Your folks are going to skin me alive.” He sighed and tugged on her hand. “If you get scared or—or anything like that, you’ll tell me, right away?”

  “I will.” She leaned up and kissed his cheek again, leaving a cloud of gardenia scent around his face. Then she was tugging on him, getting him to move a little quicker than he wanted. Reverse would have been the quickest he wanted to do this. He knew how much this meant to her, though, so he couldn’t regret giving in.

  “So, my brother proposed here?”

  “Yes,” she said with a wide smile. “He had to allow one condition before I would accept his ring. He had to make love to me first.”

  “My brother always did have all the luck,” he muttered under his breath. She glanced back at him but didn’t say anything more. She pulled him through a copse of trees and saw all the crime scene tape still hung from the branches around the entire clearing.

  “I didn’t think they would still have it taped off.” She let go of his hand, slipping under the tape. At the wide stone, she sank down, pulling off of her shoes and kicking her feet in the warm water. “This place always felt so magical to me, a place without time, without horror, with no wrong ever being done. It doesn’t feel like that now.”

  Jack sat next to her and he took her hand, weaving his fingers with hers. “It is a pretty place, Cadie. I can see why you and Matt liked it so much.”

  She drew her feet out of the water, pulling her skirt over them and hugging her knees to her. “Not anymore. It feels tainted. Can we go?”

  Jack helped her with her sandals then drew her to her feet. A man came crashing into the clearing. His eyes were wide with fear and he held a gun in his hand. When Jack saw the gun, he pushed Cadie behind him. “Whoa, we’re just leaving.”

  The man seemed to ponder Jack’s words then his eyes went to Cadie. “I know you.”

  Cadie shook her head. “No, no you don’t.”

  “Wait, I do. You’re the reason I have to run. You’re why Ricky and David got snatched. They almost got me but I ran too fast. Now I gotta leave town. Maybe you should get over here, on your knees and give me something to remember you by.”

  Cadie’s hands were fisted in the shirt at Jack’s back. He turned. “It’s all right, Cadie. Just stay here, okay?”

  Jack took a couple steps toward the tough, blocking his view of Cadie. “Why don’t you try me first, asshole. I’m not a young kid or a little girl. What do you think you’d be able to do with me?”

  “How about this?” The kid brought the pistol up but before he had a chance to pull the trigger, Jack had it out of his hands. He slid the safety on the gun and pushed it under his belt.

  “Want to try and get it back?”

  The man made the mistake of taking Jack up on his offer. Jack slammed him in the head with the ball of his hand, following it up with a good round house kick to his ribs. He went down hard and didn’t get up. “Cadie? Take my phone and call the cops. I think this loser is probably being searched for.”

  Cadie took the phone but her hands were shaking too badly to push the three numbers. Jack took it back from her with a small smile. He approached the man on the ground, and put his foot on his back. “Hi, my name is Jack Bestry. Yes, I am. I think I’ve found the third of the trio you’re looking for. We are out at the stream. Yes, that one. Thanks.” He flipped the phone closed and pushed it back into his front pocket. His eyes were dark and sad, as if the cops had said something to take the sunshine out of the sky.

  “Are you all right?” Cadie asked softly, walking up behind him to touch his arm. She could feel him shaking and she wrapped her arm around him. “Jack?”

  He buried his face in her neck. “I wanted to kill him. If you weren’t here, I’d have killed him.”

  “No, Jack.” Cadie knew a single instant of fear. She could feel the tension in him in the way his muscles stood out and the grip he had on her. “You’re not a killer, Jack. Not like them, never like them.” It didn’t take long before they heard the far off sound of police sirens and then the crash of the officers coming through the woods. As soon as they were close enough, Jack turned his back, and Cadie watched as he wiped his eyes on his hands before facing the officers.

  “He had this,” he said, holding the gun gingerly between two fingers. “I thought it might be best to hold him until you got here.”

  “You’re Jack Bestry. Man, I am so sorry for your loss.” The cop pulled a black note pad out of his breast pocket while his partner cuffed the still barely conscious attacker. He wrote down what Jack told them. The shock in his eyes when he heard Cadie’s name was almost ridiculous. He finally let them go with a promise that the prisoner now in the back seat of a police cruiser wouldn’t trouble them again. Then he let them go.

  “I hope my parents aren
’t worried.”

  “Would you like to call them?” Jack asked, holding out his cell phone.

  “No, I just kind of wish we didn’t have to go back there.” She tucked her hand under his arm, resting her cheek against his shoulder. “This is the first time I’ve felt alive since that night, alive and safe.” She looked up at him.

  “I make you feel safe?” His other hand came up and curled over hers.

  “Yes. I don’t think you’d let anything hurt me.” She met his eyes, a pink blush staining her cheeks.

  “You’re right, Cadie. They’d have to go through me first.”

  They were almost to her house and she pulled him to a stop. “W-would you like to go for a walk with me?” She said the words quickly as if that was the only way they’d come out.

  He smiled. “Um, Cadie, I hate to break this to you but we are walking.”

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it. I wanted to know if you’d like to come back tomorrow to go for a walk with me.”

  His brown eyes sparkled and his smile lit up his face. “I’d love to.”

  “I could pack a picnic; we could find some place, if you want?”

  “Oh, I want, Cadie.” His voice grew deeper as he said her name and she felt a small thrill and then guilt because he wasn’t Mattie and she loved Mattie. “Around noon?”

  Cadie nodded and then she smiled up at him. “Thank you.”

  He smiled and patted her hand. Then he walked her the rest of the way home.

  Chapter Four

  Cadie sighed, staring out the window of her bedroom at the bright lights of the stars and the moon. It was one of the great things about living in a small town. The town couldn’t come close to the majestic and awe inspiring sight in the sky. Cadie had always wondered when that moon hung so low, if perhaps she was looking for a lover, for someone to share the dark nights with her.