Call of the Canyon

by Nancy Pennick

  “I think you’ll like it. I came up with a solution to your problem.”

  “Oh, you have. So this is a different kind of present.” Kate smiled at her.

  “Yes, you should get married here at the ranch.” Anna seemed proud of herself.

  “I’m not getting married. I’m only seventeen. I’m waiting until I’m done with college. You know that.” Kate was a little disappointed.

  “No, you’re not hearing me. Get married here at the ranch.”

  “Yes, I think I heard you correctly,” Kate laughed.

  “Not now, back in 1927. I’m sure I will help you,” Anna explained.

  “Ooh, that is different. If Drew thinks we’re married, then he would...” Kate didn’t finish because she knew Anna understood. “It’s not like a real marriage. It would be Kathryn Roberts marrying Andrew Martin in 1927, not Andrew Kelly in the present.”

  “Yes, exactly right. Then if Drew thinks or feels like you’re married, then...” Anna did not finish either.

  “Anna, you’re a genius! I’ll get on this right away. This was the best birthday ever!”

  The day sadly came to an end. Thomas and Drew promised to keep in touch. The Hasting cousins loved Drew and said next time everyone should stay with them. Kate found a way to take the picture of Thomas and Drew showing it to him after everyone left.

  “Thank you, Kate! I love you! Happy birthday!” Drew handed her his present.

  “I love you, too.” Kate took his gift and then said, “I have a present for you as well. I will marry you sometime this year.”

  “Did I just hear that right?” Drew picked Kate up, swung her around in the air and gave out the loudest cowboy whoop that made everyone come running.

  “Everything’s fine,” Kate announced. “We’re just having some western fun!” She knew only certain people could be in on the final plan and hadn’t told Drew the details.

  They went outside so she could open her present. It was a tiny box. Kate hoped Drew didn’t get the dreaded ring. Slowly, she opened it and couldn’t believe her eyes. Drew was, again, the most thoughtful man in the world. “You got me another horse. Canyon, right?”

  “That’s right. Now let’s plan our wedding.” She eased into his arms and he kissed her softly as the sun set behind them. Kate couldn’t think of a better way to end her birthday.

  Chapter Four

  The trip home was uneventful, except for the fact Drew wanted to talk about Thomas and the wedding the whole way home.

  “You go first.” Kate told him. She wanted to save the announcement that they’d get married in 1927, not the present, until last.

  “Thomas is a great guy. He’s so much like his grandfather. I wish I could tell him. He knew all about me. Did you know that? He told me how his grandfather had a best friend, Andrew, who died at a young age. Lost to the river, he said. It’s hard to hear about your own death.”

  Kate slipped her hand into his as he continued on. “He knew about my cabin and how Thomas and I did everything together when we could. Thomas worked a lot... oh, forgot you knew that. The sad thing was my friend blamed himself for my death. He said he should have gone with or at least stopped me. I feel bad about that, Kate. It was my own stupidity and stubbornness. He takes no responsibility for that.”

  “No, he doesn’t. You can make it right.”

  “I plan on it. He also said Rachel and his grandfather got married during that Christmas season. Surprised they married so soon. He was still saving up for the ring, as far as I can remember.”

  “I remember Thomas telling me he was working that day to get money for the ring. The day I came back to look for you.”

  “Rachel and Thomas end up having three children, Josie, Thomas, and Deborah. The girls are still living, only Thomas’ father has passed. I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around it. It’s strange to know everyone’s future.”

  “But it’s really their past, Drew.” Kate could see it from both perspectives. It was funny her dad and Drew referred to this as the future. She hoped in time, Drew would embrace living in the present and feel like it was normal. Obviously, her father hadn’t done that yet. The trip and having Drew there may help him.

  “Now, let’s talk about our wedding. How about next summer, after we graduate?”

  “Well...that’s not exactly what I had in mind.” Kate looked down at her hands. “I was thinking late summer. Anna offered for us to get married at the ranch.”

  “Really? And you’re okay with that?” Drew’s expression changed to one of shock.

  “Yes, because we’re getting married in 1927.” Kate watched for his reaction. He didn’t say anything for a few minutes and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

  “I like it. It’s like we’re married, but we’re not.” Drew said more to himself than to her.

  “Exactly! It’s perfect, isn’t it?” Kate was glad he understood. “I was thinking we can’t get married before my great-great aunt Lucinda. She needs her moment at Circle H with Henry. It has to be after that. Since she got married on September third, I think mid-September would be a good time for a wedding...as summer turns to fall.”

  “We have some planning to do, don’t we?” Drew looked as if he was thinking about things, too. “And we’ll only make love in the past...that would have to be part of the agreement.”

  “Drew! You’re so exasperating! Fine, if that’s what you want.” Kate thought she could change his mind at a later date. “We’ll tell my parents when we get home... and Maya and Carl. Oh, I almost forgot, I have to call Lindsey. She’ll want to be there...but there’s no way she can come.”

  “There might be a way. Let’s think about it.” Drew looked out the window of the plane. “Looks like we’re about to land. We’re home, Kate.”

  * * * *

  Kate and Jordyn made plans to get together the day after Kate returned from the ranch. Jordyn was coming over for a girl-talk session. She had a great junior year as far as Kate could tell, making the basketball cheerleading squad and meeting her boyfriend, Matt Parker. They met at Kate’s back-to-school pool party and dated ever since.

  Kate was glad to have a distraction because her dad and Drew left for another New York City trip, this time in the present. She and her mom would have loved to tag along to sightsee and shop, but for some reason they could tell it wasn’t that kind of trip. The two men appreciated their understanding and headed off without them. Still, it seemed a little mysterious to Kate. Maybe she read too much into it.

  Kate heard her mom’s voice. “Jordyn’s here. I’m sending her up.”

  “It seems like ages since I had you all to myself!” Kate grabbed Jordyn and hugged her as she entered the room. Jordyn didn’t seem like her usual bouncy self. “Hey, are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m okay. Well, not really.” She plopped down on the bed. “We better get Lindsey on the phone before I start spilling my guts.”

  Kate quickly speed dialed Lindsey. “Hey, guys! I’ve been waiting for this call. How’s it going back in Ohio?”

  “Lindsey, Jordyn says she has something to tell us and doesn’t look too happy.” Kate got right to the point.

  “I’m pregnant!” Jordyn wailed.

  “What?” Lindsey’s voice over the phone sounded like she didn’t quite believe what she heard.

  “I can’t say it again. You heard me!” Jordyn cried.

  “Are you sure?” Kate asked.

  “Matt and I bought five pregnancy tests at the drugstore and they all came out positive. He took me to a free clinic and they confirmed it.”

  “How far along...”

  “Almost two months.” Jordyn said it like she couldn’t believe it herself.

  “So you and Matt...had...sex.” Kate struggled with the words.

  “That’s how it happens, Katie.” Jordyn let out a sad half-laugh as she said it.

  “When did you start sleeping together...?” Kate’s head spun with the news.

  “The night of H
omecoming. We took you home, remember? You just broke up with Tyson and he left you at the dance. I was pretty upset about the whole evening. Matt was being so sweet and it just happened.” Jordyn looked at Kate with tears in her large brown eyes.

  “Do your moms know?” Lindsey’s voice came over the phone.

  “Not yet.”

  “Your moms will be great about it.” Kate patted Jordyn’s knee.

  “Yeah, they will be. They’ll probably try to take over and have the baby for me.” Again Jordyn let out a small laugh. “They’re so good to me, even taking me back to China to explore my roots. Now I have to tell them that their little China doll is pregnant!”

  “Oh, that’s so cute! You never told us they called you that.” Lindsey’s voice piped in. “Sorry, go on.”

  “To top it off, Matt wants to marry me. I don’t want to get married. I’m too young and not sure I want to marry him. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great guy, but I never thought about him like that.”

  “I know what you mean. I feel like that, too,” Lindsey said.

  “About Matt?” Kate was confused.

  “No about Charlie and me...oops.” There was silence.

  “Lindsey Campbell, did you sleep with Charlie?” Kate couldn’t believe her ears.

  “No, no, I didn’t. Things got a little serious between us last summer. I was leaving the next day and we were alone in the barn. One thing led to another, but I put on the brakes.” Lindsey paused. “No questions about the relationship, Kate. Promise?”

  Kate was surprised Lindsey held back information and was a little hurt. “I wish you’d confided in me.”

  “Hey, this isn’t about you...or me now.” Lindsey scolded her. Then her voice softened. “It’s hard having a long distance relationship. I didn’t want one. So I talked myself into believing we were better off friends.”

  “We’ll talk later.” Kate promised.

  “Got to go anyway, they need my help out in the kitchen. Jordyn, I’m here whenever you need me.”

  “Bye, Linds.” Both girls said at the same time and then stared at each other.

  “What are you going to do, Jordyn?” Kate finally broke the silence.

  “I thought about a lot of things, but I decided to have the baby. I guess I better tell my moms. I don’t want to get married. I don’t want to be Jordyn Taylor-White-Parker! Not yet, anyway.”

  “I don’t blame you.” Kate could sympathize on the marriage part. “I think you should tell them today. Do you want me to go with you?”

  “No, I can do this on my own. Wish me luck.” The girls hugged each other tightly and Kate wished there was more she could do for her friend.

  After Jordyn left, Kate could not stop thinking about the situation Jordyn was in. She definitely did not want to have a baby that young and it made her think about marriage to Drew. It was time to talk to her mother.

  “Mom? Where are you?” Kate looked through the house and found her on the deck. She was reading and sipping an iced tea.

  “Mom, Jordyn’s pregnant.”

  Her mom choked on the tea and almost dropped the glass. “Oh, my gosh, Katie! Is she okay? Do her moms know? Is Matt the father?”

  “Calm down, Mom. Yes, Matt’s the father. He even wants to marry Jordyn. She’s going home now to tell her moms.”

  “Wow.” Her mom put the glass down. “No offense to Jordyn, but I’m glad it’s not you.”

  “There is something I want to talk to you about.”

  Kate’s mom put her hand to her chest. “Not you, too!”

  “No, stop it, Mom. You should know Drew better than that. We want to get married...in 1927.” Kate went on to tell her mother ideas for the wedding. She wanted to get married at the Circle J ranch in mid-September. “I want you to be my maid of honor.”

  Her mother got tears in her eyes. “Oh, sweetie, I’d be honored.”

  “You have to go back with me to pick out dresses and everything we need. I know traveling to the past isn’t your favorite thing to do but we can’t shop here. I don’t think dresses can time travel and I don’t feel like sleeping in a wedding dress.”

  They both laughed and then her mom grew quiet. “Shouldn’t you have your two best friends from the boardinghouse in your wedding, Anna and Lucinda?”

  “Yes, of course, I plan on asking them. Drew’s going to ask Dad to be his best man and will probably have Thomas and Daniel as groomsmen. That’s as far as we got with the plans. Oh, I want to have Lindsey there, too.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Dad won’t approve, I’m sure.”

  “Well, too bad. If Lindsey wants to come, I’m somehow getting her there...with your help or without.”

  “Let me think about this.” Her mom got up and went in the house.

  “By the way, Mom, it’s Kate now. Just in case you forgot.” She called after her mother. She decided to stay outside and enjoy the sunny day. She closed her eyes and reflected on the day until her thoughts were interrupted.

  “Hey, li’l sis! Mind if I join you?” A familiar voice rang through the air.

  “Carl Jr.! You’re home!” Kate jumped up and hugged her friend and neighbor. “Sit down and tell me what you’ve been up to.”

  “Well, I’m home on an extended visit. I’m going to take some courses over at the college this summer. I took a sabbatical from my job.” Carl stared straight ahead as if he couldn’t make eye contact.

  “So there are no Swedish-African-Americans in California now?” Kate teased him with their inside joke.

  “Nope, the one and only left the state and there better not be one taking my place.” Carl turned and looked at her. He was barely smiling.

  “What’s wrong? You’re not telling me something.” Kate took off her sunglasses and stared him down.

  “Okay, between you and me, I quit my job and came home. I felt unfulfilled.”

  “Unfulfilled as a marine biologist living in California?”

  “That’s not all there is to life. Look at you. You lived more in your seventeen years than I have in thirty.”

  “Carl, that’s not true. Our lives are just different, that’s all.” Kate felt bad for him. He was like her brother and always looked out for her. She hoped she could do the same for him.

  “Look, Kate, don’t tell my mother I quit my job. I saved up a lot of money and can live on it for quite some time before I need to find another job...and I’m not really taking courses, either.”

  “You can count on me. You know I think of you as a brother. I want what’s best for you. I think I know how I can cheer you up.”

  “Let’s hear it.”

  “You need to come back to 1927 with me just once. You need to see your dad and the boardinghouse and the horses. We won’t tell anyone. It will be our secret. That might help your state of mind.”

  “I don’t know. My mom never wanted me to time travel. She stayed in the present when I was a child and brought me up in the here and now, letting my dad go back for visits. She said it was tough enough being an interracial couple in the late sixties when they first met, let alone the twenties. They worked hard to be accepted there.”

  “You’re a grown man now, Carl. You can make your own decisions. It will just be one time so you can see everything. Your dad won’t know you so we’ll have to come up with a name and background for you. We’ll have to wait a few more days because I didn’t show up until July.”

  “My middle name is Joseph. I could use that.”

  “That’s good. We could say you’re a long lost cousin of Maya’s and that’s the reason you’re at the boardinghouse.”

  “I have to be related to Maya because she’s black?”

  “Carl!”

  “I know, I’m teasing. I’d love to see my dad one more time although we’ll probably be the same age. I could be younger, right? My mom goes back to being twenty-four, doesn’t she?”

  “I have no answer for that. I know my dad is the age he was in 1927, which makes sense. You to
ld me Maya is always the same age. She was seven years younger than Carl when she met him so that makes her twenty-four when she’s in 1927. So confusing! I’m just myself so maybe you will be, too. It will be fun to see.”

  “Agree, confusing at times. You may be right about whatever age you are when you first travel; you’ll always be that age. I’ll think about it and let you know in a few days.”

  * * * *

  Kate talked to Lindsey every day while she was at the ranch and filled her in on her wedding plans, Carl’s soon-to-be visit to the canyon and her return to the boardinghouse in July. She couldn’t resist asking about Charlie either.

  “Kate, how many times do I have to tell you, we’re just friends. We haven’t hooked up this year. Charlie knows how I feel. We’re casually dating, that’s all.” Lindsey sounded like she was tired of explaining. Kate knew all their conversations started off with the same question. “Are you and Charlie a couple yet?” and she needed to stop.

  “I know, I’m a pest and you hate me.” Kate said into the phone.

  “No, I love you and you know that. You’re just getting the wedding jitters. I want to come. I’ll be good and stay in the background. If anyone asks who I am, I’ll say I’m your best friend from Ohio...which is true.”

  “I really want you to come. We’ll make it happen. I want you to see my world.” She wanted Lindsey to be there more than anything. “I wish you could be in the wedding, too.”

  “Not a good idea. I’ll have enough trouble avoiding young Anna and even great-grandpa Daniel. I do look a lot like Grandma J, you know.”

  “Yes, why did that have to happen?” They both started to laugh.

  “Have you talked to Jordyn?” Lindsey suddenly changed the subject.

  “Not too often. She told her moms about the baby and they were supportive. They said if she married Matt, he could move in so they could finish high school. Matt’s all for it. Jordyn’s so preoccupied. She doesn’t have time for gossip or visiting. I hope that changes soon.”

  Kate heard the doorbell and wondered who it could be. “Lindsey, I’ve got to go, that could be Jordyn. Talk to you later.”