by Mary May
Two hours later we are crouched behind the livery stable trying not to be seen.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Eli whispers in my right ear, sending tingles down my neck. I reach up and rub my ear.
“No, I absolutely am not sure this is a good idea, but it’s the only idea I got so we are going with it. Besides, exactly how do you think I am going to get a dress with no money? Steal it? You do remember they hang people in this century?” I shoot back. As desperate as I am not to be ogled at every corner, having my neck stretched is far less appealing.
“But Martha won’t know you. What makes you think she will just hand over one of her dresses to a total stranger?” he oh-so-wisely points out.
Ok, I admit I actually hadn’t made it that far in my plan yet, baby steps, right? “Look, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. First I have to find Martha.” The words were no more out of my mouth, when I see her leave the general store or mercantile or whatever they call the thing. My mouth literally drops open at how beautiful she is! She was pretty enough as a ghost, but give her a little oxygen and a beating heart? Major wow factor! I glance over to see Eli’s reaction and strangely enough he doesn’t look as knocked out as I would have thought. Go figure? As she crosses the street, I whisper as loudly as I dare.
“Martha! Martha! Over here!” She stops and looks around, finally spotting me in the shadows behind the livery stable, waving my hand like a lunatic. Raising her hand to shade her eyes, I can tell she is trying to figure out who I am.
“Martha, please! It’s an emergency!” I wonder if they even use the word emergency in the 1800’s? I guess they do because she lifts the hem of her skirt up with one hand so she can walk faster to where I’m waiting. I step back to give her room to move into the shadows out of view from people passing on the street.
“Yes? What’s the matter?” Her concern quickly turns to fear when she sees Eli standing behind me and looks at my unfamiliar clothing. I know she is about to run, so I say the one thing I know will keep her here.
“Martha, Jesse is in danger!” Sure enough, that stops her, but it also has Eli giving me the stink eye. Oh, well, we play the cards we are dealt. I had to get her to stay somehow.
“Jesse is in danger? What do you mean? Who are you? Have you done something to Jesse?” Her sky blue eyes start to fill up and her lower lip trembles.
Eli steps in and tries to correct what he thinks is my mistake. “Martha, what she meant to say is that Jesse might be in danger. It’s just a possibility right now.”
I push him aside to stand in front of Martha. “No! It is more than a possibility! He is in danger, Martha. Trust me, his life is at stake and so is yours!”
Eli grabs my arm, dragging me a few feet further down the alleyway. “What do you think you are doing?” he hisses at me. “You know we can’t change anything!”
I yank my arm from his grasp. “I don’t know that at all, Eli! All we have to go on is guesses and theories based off of books and movies. Tell me why we were sent back if not to stop Jesse’s death?”
A gasp from behind makes us turn our heads. Martha has walked closer and has heard every word! “Stop Jesse’s death? Sent back from where? Who are you?” Her pretty face is white with fear, her lips pressed together tightly as her eyes search our faces for some clue as to what we are talking about.
I look up at Eli. “We have to tell her.”
Thirty minutes later we are seated in Martha’s house. She assures us that no one will see us. Apparently her folks are visiting a family member that isn’t feeling well and aren’t expected back until later in the evening. Being the gracious host that she is, she offers us a plate of cookies and a pitcher of lemonade, which I try not to gobble up like a total pig. The cookies are actually pretty good, although the texture is different than what I am used to, and they are not as sweet. The flour probably wasn’t ground as fine and smooth as it is in my time, I think. The lemonade, however, tastes like heaven and I drink two glasses. Setting the glass down on the table, I look up to find both Martha and Eli staring at me. I wipe off my mouth and then rub my hands down the side of my jean-clad thighs self-consciously.
“What?” I ask.
Eli just shakes his head while Martha politely smiles, asking if I would like some more. Oh… Maybe I did gobble… just a little. I feel my face turn red, but I quickly shake it off. I just traveled back in time two hundred plus years! That works up an appetite. I can dang well be hungry if I want! Squaring my shoulders, I look at Martha. Might as well get this over with.
“Ok, what I am going to tell you will sound like a made-up story; believe me, I know. But it’s true. Please just listen until the end.” As quickly as possible, I tell Martha the story of how I met Jesse and all the events that happened that ended with me sitting on her couch hogging her cookies. When I finish, she sits there blinking at me a few times before her lips twitch suspiciously as she quickly covers them with her fingers.
“Oh. Oh, my… Well, now that would be a frightful thing. You poor dear.”
I can tell she is trying hard not to laugh in my face, and I can feel my temper start to simmer. I am trying to save Jesse’s life and keep her from living a life of total misery with a man that was without a doubt the king of all jerks, and all she wants to do is sit there and laugh at me? I cross my legs, leaning back against the horsehair sofa, which, by the way, is really hard to do without sliding off because it’s super slippery, and I have no idea how I know it’s horsehair. There must be some remnants of knowledge from a Little House on the Prairie episode rattling around in my noggin. I ask Martha the one question that wipes that smile right off of her lips quick, fast, and in a hurry!
“So do you plan on telling Jesse that you’re pregnant before the wedding or after?”
Sure enough, her smile disappears faster than the plate of cookies I just inhaled. To give her credit, she tries to cover her reaction.
“I’m sorry, but what did you say?”
I can see her pulse fluttering at the base of her throat and it doubled when I asked her my question. So I know she has to be pregnant right now as we sit there. Asking that particular question was a bit of a gamble because I had no way of knowing just when in Jesse’s past we are.
“You heard me, Martha. I know you are carrying Jesse’s baby and I also know you have no intentions of telling him until after you’re married. How do I know this? Because you yourself told me while standing in my barn two hundred years in the future!” Martha looks at Eli as if to verify what I as saying is true.
He nods his head. “I’m sorry, Martha. I know that Shelby has all the tact of a stepped-on rattlesnake, but everything she has told you is the honest truth, as crazy as it sounds. I am against telling anyone anything about their futures because of the ripple effect but…”
“I’m sorry… the what effect?” Martha interrupts.
Getting up, Eli brings his half empty, (or half full if you’re an optimist,) glass of lemonade over to where Martha is sitting. “The ripple effect is where one small action can create a much bigger action on down the line like this.” He drops a small crumb of cookie into his glass.
“See how the initial ripple is small? Do you notice how every ripple after that gets increasingly bigger? That’s the ripple effect. Any changes we make during your time, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem, can produce huge changes in our time.”
Martha looks up at him with her brows knitted tightly together. “But surely saving someone as kind and good as my Jesse would only produce good changes. How can anything bad come from it?”
I lean over, touching her knee. “So you do believe us?”
She nods her head, slowly placing her hand on her stil- flat stomach. “I don’t think I really have any choice, Shelby. I’m the only one who knows about the baby, so I’m the only one who could have told you.”
A few minutes later she takes me to her bedroom to loan me some clothes. I cannot believe the amount of clothing wome
n were expected to wear! It was ridiculous! Layers upon layers of material and it had to be pushing ninety degrees outside and nearly that inside! Shifts and petticoats and bloomers, oh, my!
“Ok, enough! I think I’m going to keep some of my own underwear and just wash it every day. Maybe I can make some more or something, because there is no way I’m walking around in all of that! I’ll have a meltdown,” I say, pointing to the pile of clothing she has spread out on the bed.
“But, Shelby, you can’t wear…what are you wearing?” I look down at my jeans and I imagine they do look pretty scandalous from her vantage point.
“They are called blue jeans, and pretty much everyone wears them in my time, both men and women.”
She reaches over, feeling of the fabric. “But they are so snug and they show…everything!” she whispers in a scandalous tone.
I laugh at her shocked expression. “Well, mine are a little tighter than normal because I like to eat, but yeah…basically this how everyone wears them. Seriously, though, no way I’m wearing that mountain of clothing in this heat. I don’t know how you do it.” I go over to the bed, tossing everything but the dress itself, which is actually pretty in a pioneer kind of way. It’s light yellow with tiny white daisies scattered all over it. The collar, cuffs and along the square neckline have white eyelet edging. The back has small white buttons that start at the back of the neck and end right at the top of where my bottom would be.
“Alright, I’ll keep my bra and undies and just wear the dress. That should work and might even be cooler than my jeans.”
I turn to see Martha looking at me with big round eyes. “You’re truly not going to wear any undergarments?”
I snort with laughter again. “Yes, so stop looking at me like I’m some kind of hussy. I’m going to wear my own undergarments, thank you very much.” I take off my boots and then strip off my sweater. Martha is immediately captivated by my pink polka dotted bra, coming over to inspect it, which has me crossing my arms to cover myself. “Whoa! Hold on there, sister!”
“Oh! I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean…I’ll just leave you alone to change. Excuse me.” Her face is blushed pink and instead of making her look all blotchy and afflicted like it does me, it actually makes her look prettier. Which really isn’t needed, like… at all.
“Oh, alright…I know you’re just curious. You just took me off guard. Wait a minute and I’ll take it off and let you inspect it closer. I pull my sweater back on then. Slipping it out underneath, I hand the undergarment to her. She looks at it like it is a modern marvel, which, come to think of it compared to that pile of unmentionables she has to wear, it is!
“This is all you wear under your clothing? Truly?” She asks in astonishment. I nod my head.
“Yup, well, except for my undies, but I refuse to take them off, so you are just going to have to take my word for those. But that is it!”
“And you don’t wear dresses or long skirts?”
“Sure, but only if we want to. The last dress I wore was for Halloween and…” I stuttered to a stop, suddenly realizing what I nearly said. She looks up at me.
“And what?” she asks.
I hold out my hand for my clothing. “Nothing -- it’s not important.” I wiggle back into it under my sweater; then I once more pull my sweater off. I slip the dress over my head before I step out of my jeans. As nice as Martha is, I am not about to have her closely inspecting my underwear. Have to draw a line somewhere!
I turn around so she can button up the row of buttons down my back. The dress actually is a lot more comfortable than my tight jeans. Sighing in pleasure, I bend down to pull on my boots when I hear Martha giggle.
“Oh, my, Shelby! That’s not a good idea!”
I look up at her as I tug on my right boot. “What’s not a good idea?”
“Honey, look down.” I look at the floor but I don’t see anything.
Martha giggles harder. “No, Shelby… look down!” This time she points to her chest and I glance down at my own. Oh, my, is right! I quickly stand up straight. Bending over like that in a dress with a square neckline is really not a good idea! I see I will have to think about things like that before I do them. I may not need a crash course in frontier living, but a crash course in how to live in a frontier dress may be required.
We walk back downstairs and Eli gives me a wolf whistle as I walk into the living room. I roll my eyes but I feel my cheeks get warm. I kind of think I look ok in the dress myself. It hides all my negatives and brings out my positives. I look at Eli with a critical eye. While his clothing may not be as glaring out of place as mine, it is still going to get him noticed eventually. He needs a change as well.
“Eli can borrow some of Jesse’s clothes. I’m sure he won’t mind.”
He shakes his head, giving her a skeptical look. “I wouldn’t count on that. I don’t think Jesse cares for me too much. The living or the dead version.”
At Martha’s puzzled expression, I explain that Jesse thought Eli had hit me, leaving the bruises. When her face turns pink and she glances at Eli with an apologetic look, I realize that she too thought he was responsible.
“I’m sorry. I guess Jesse and I both jumped the wrong fence, Eli, but if you didn’t leave those marks on Shelby, who did?”
“I would rather tell you that story when we can talk to both you and Jesse together. Somewhere private where we won’t be overheard.”
Martha nods her head while twirling a lock of silky sand-colored hair around her index finger as she ponders something. I do wonder how she keeps her hair looking so soft and shiny. I’m pretty sure deep conditioner doesn’t show up for another hundred and fifty years or so. Finally, she looks at us.
“There is a cave maybe two miles west of town. Follow the road until you see a big oak tree that splits. There is a trail that goes back into the woods. Follow it until it dead ends; then look up at the bluff. You will see the cave opening. It looks like a dark shadow, but if you know what you’re looking for, you will see it.”
Eli nods his head. “Millers Cave, I know where that’s at.”
Martha’s brow wrinkles and she opens her mouth as if to ask a question but she just shakes her head and starts gathering up some food into a small basket. “Here, this will hold you until later when I can come up to the cave with Jesse. There is a stream not far where you can get some water, but I guess you already know that?”
Eli smiles and then we head out to find the cave…
CHAPTER 4
After a few minutes of walking, I finally ask the question that has been rattling around in my head ever since it became official that we are in the past.
“What do you think is happening in our time? Do you think they are looking for us? Or is it like I read in one book once and they won’t know we are gone? But what if we can’t get back? What if it’s like it was in Back to the Future and we start to disappear?” I take a quick peek at my hand to make sure I’m not going Casper like Jesse used to do. Nope! Still all here! So clearly I have a lot of questions rattling around in my mind! I figure it is okay; this is a major question-asking situation!
Eli stops walking and looks down at me before shaking his head then walking forward once more.
I frown at his back then jog to catch up. “Oh, what? You can’t tell me that at least some of those same questions haven’t popped into your mind at some point today! Be honest, Eli!”
He takes a few more steps before stopping and staring up at the sky that is starting to cast its evening glow. “Alright, I’ll admit I have thought of some pretty crazy theories, from time space continuums to worm holes to rips in the fabric of time.”
I feel my nose crinkle up. “All of your ideas sound really intellectual. Don’t you ever just think crazy sci-fi channel stuff? I mean, if everything happens for a reason, then we were sent back to do something. I know with all my heart that reason is to save Jesse. That’s the only thing that makes any sense.”
Eli stops once more, but this tim
e he takes my shoulders and makes me look into his eyes that have turned very serious.
“Shelby, I understand how you feel about Jesse. But there are three people in this crazy triangle and so far he is the only one you have mentioned saving. What about Martha and Robert?”
“If we save Jesse, then we will save Martha! It’s by saving the one that we will save the others. Why am I the only one who can see that?” I whisper.
I don’t know what Eli’s reply would have been because we suddenly can hear the steady clip clop of horses’ hooves and men’s voices. Jerking my arm hard, he pulls me into the bushes where we freeze just as the two men ride by discussing the upcoming planting season. Eli glances over at me with raised eyebrows at our near miss. We continue on up the side of the hill without further conversation until we reach the cave. I throw my small bag of food down at the opening and step inside to look around. There isn’t much to see, actually. I had grand ideas of a deep cavern that traveled deep inside the heart of the mountain for miles where we could stay hidden forever if need be. But this is just a small hole about the size of my room back home. Thinking of home and my mom and Josie triggers an automatic flood of tears that catch me off guard. I swipe quickly at my wet face, hoping Eli won’t see.
Fortunately, he is bent down looking at something on the dirt floor.
“What are you looking at? Animal tracks?” I bend down next to him, being careful of my now much lower neckline. He lifts his head to look at me and it is then that I realize how close we are. I can see the golden flecks in his green eyes I have never noticed, or the way his lashes grow lighter at the tips almost to the same shade of dark blonde as his hair. Feeling the warmth of his breath on my face has a crazy tingly chill going across my skin that has nothing to do with the coolness of the cave.
I stand up, putting some much-needed distance between us. I know Eli sees my move for what it is because his eyes narrow slightly. I point to the ground. “So are you looking at animal tracks?” I ask again.