Call of the Canyon

by Nancy Pennick

  Drew obliged and carried her into the bedroom.

  “There! Happy now?” He laughed.

  “Not yet!” Kate pulled Drew down on the bed next to her. She laid her head on his chest, hearing his heartbeat. Then she slid on top of him, feeling his heart beat faster. “I love you.” She said as she kissed his mouth.

  “Kate.” Drew rolled over onto his side and placed her next to him. “I love you, too. Your mother will be...”

  “You said I could do whatever I wanted today, didn’t you?”

  “Yes,” Drew mumbled. Kate wrapped the quilt of the bed around them. “Let’s stay like this forever.” She murmured as she snuggled closer. His mouth was suddenly on hers, kissing her like it was going to be the last time. It made everything so passionate yet sad. Kate didn’t want to feel sad, not yet. She wanted to remember everything about Drew that she could soak in.

  * * * *

  As the day wore on, Drew grew restless and began pacing through the cabin, looking out the front window, watching and waiting.

  “Will you sit down? You’re making me nervous.” Kate ordered him.

  “Can’t.” He continued the pacing. After what seemed like an hour, Kate saw him perk up and rush to the window. “Finally! I see someone coming through the woods.” He placed his hand on the glass. “I see her, Kate.” He went to the door and opened it, waiting for Kate’s mom to grow closer. “She’s waving something in her hand.”

  Her mom ran through the door, smiling. “At least he’s alive!” She waved the paper around in the air. “We did get a telegram. Jackson said he was detained due to the flooding in Pennsylvania and is doing everything he can to get here. He ended his message with ‘keep the faith’.” She got tears in her eyes. “We only have one more day to keep the faith, kids. Then we go home, Katie.”

  “No, Mom, I’m not leaving.”

  Drew stood in front of her. “Your mother and I discussed this. I agree with her. The best thing to do, if your father doesn’t return, is for you to go home.”

  Kate couldn’t believe her ears. Drew was sending her home. “Then, you’ll be coming back with us?”

  “No, I think it’s best if I stay.”

  Kate started to scream and then sob. “No, that’s not the way it’s supposed to end. We still have our whole lives together.”

  Her mom and Drew sat with her until she calmed down.

  “Kate, your father and I planned everything before he left.” Her mother put her arm around her. “This is what your father wants us to do. If he didn’t make it back, Jackson wanted you and me to stay in the present. Little did he know his stubborn daughter would insist on coming back here to look for him. He agreed it was the safest and maybe the best way to save your life...for you to be home in Ohio. If, for some reason it doesn’t work, then Andrew is better off here. Your father made the best decision...for everyone.”

  Drew looked at Kate with tears in his eyes. “I don’t want to do it. Jack knows best. He’s afraid Joanna won’t know who I am if you disappear and her life as she knows it ceases to exist. I would be in a world where no one knows me.”

  “Just like I might be in a world where no one knows me if I stay here.” Her mom says gently. “We’re all sacrificing here. Your father’s willing to give up everything to save you. He’s not willing to take a chance with your life.”

  “And neither am I.” Drew took Kate’s hand and Joanna’s hand. He placed them together. “Please, do this for me and Jack.”

  “If you came back to Ohio, all you’d have to do is use the book to get back here if I disappear.”

  “No, Kate. Think about it. I wouldn’t know about the book, even if I had it with me. Jack was the one who told me and your mom about it. I’d wake up and be a stranger in a strange house, not knowing how I got there.”

  “Then Maya!”

  “Maybe...eventually. She might not recognize me from the canyon because you never met me. There would be no you to connect us all. There are too many ‘what ifs’. Jack doesn’t want me to take the chance.”

  Kate nodded through her tears. She couldn’t look at anyone. She didn’t care if she died or faded away or whatever was going to happen to her if Drew wasn’t with her.

  “What will be, will be,” she whispered.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  It was New Year’s Eve day, the last chance for Kate’s dad to come home. She and her mother would return to the present that night. Lying in bed, Kate’s head started spinning round and round and then it slowly stopped.

  Just like the ballerina, Kate quickly made the comparison. I’m not going to make it. The ballerina was a sign. When she stopped spinning that night, it was a sign my life will stop, too. I am not going to let anyone know. I will just make this the best last day of my life.

  Kate knew Drew was already up and making breakfast in the kitchen. He loved doing that. She tucked the memory away. If they were at home, her mother would be drinking her morning coffee and reading the newspaper, so routine, yet another great memory. As she got up, Kate felt a little woozy. She fell back onto the bed and called for Drew.

  “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” He came running into the bedroom.

  “I’m just a little groggy.” Kate patted the bed and gave him a weak smile. “Stay with me.”

  Drew sat on the bed next to her and placed his hand on her forehead. “You seem warm to me. I wonder if you’re getting sick.” He lay down next to her. “My beautiful Kate, please don’t leave me.” He began to cry.

  That was the first time Drew let his emotions show. Until now Kate assumed he tried to remain positive for her, clear-headed so he could make good decisions. It appeared like he gave in. He clung to her and sobbed. Kate lay there motionless, letting him cry.

  “I love you, Drew. I hope you’ll always remember that. I’m only scared about the future because you won’t be in it. I’m not afraid of anything else. If my dad doesn’t return today, I plan on staying until the final minute of the year. I don’t want to miss a second with you.” She placed her hand over his. He grasped it tightly. “I’m so afraid you won’t remember me.”

  “Kate, don’t even think that. I will always remember you. I will be by your side the whole day. I’m not letting you out of my sight. I love you across the miles, across time. I’ll love you forever.”

  Kate stroked his head. “I thought I invented that saying.” She tried to get out a small laugh.

  “Yes, you did. It will always belong only to us.”

  “Drew, would you get my mom?”

  “Sure, be right back.”

  Kate’s mom entered the room a few minutes later. “I heard you’re not feeling well.”

  “Mom, I feel really weird. Don’t tell Drew, but I feel like I’m fading away.”

  Her mom ran to her bedside. “Don’t say that, don’t ever say that!”

  “I’m just telling the truth. Let’s all tell the truth today. It could be my last day.”

  Kate’s mom put her head in her hands. “I’m not going to cry anymore. That’s what I did all last night. I haven’t slept a wink.”

  They held hands and were silent. Kate finally broke the silence. “Mom, will you help me get dressed?”

  “Sure.” She got Kate’s things from a drawer and then paused. She turned and said, “Remember the day of your wedding when you promised me I wasn’t going to lose you? You have to stick to that promise now. Fight your hardest to stay with us.”

  Kate recalled the conversation and slowly nodded her head in agreement.

  They came out to the great room together. Drew was sitting in front of the fireplace with cups of coffee waiting for them. Kate sat next to him and placed something in his hand. “Something to remember me by.”

  He looked down at his hand and saw the charm bracelet he had given Kate. It only had four charms on it; the idea was to fill it with more over the years. He closed his hand around it and placed it in his shirt pocket.

  “I want to go to the train station tod
ay. I want to wait for my father to come home,” Kate announced.

  “Good idea.” Her mom looked at both of them. “We’ll do whatever Kate wants. Let’s get ready and go. The morning train should be arriving soon.”

  After arriving at the station, Kate stood in quiet anticipation. She had a good feeling about the train and just knew her father was on it. As it slowly pulled in, she couldn’t wait for it to come to a stop. The stairs were finally let down and passengers began filing off the train.

  Kate held her breath. There were many people coming toward them and it was hard to see. She overheard two passengers complaining about their trip.

  “It took me a week to get out here from back east.” The portly gentleman shifted a bag from one hand to the other. “Can’t believe I made it.”

  The other man, taller and less stocky, replied in the same fashion. “I hope those stranded passengers I met also found a way out. I had to travel by car from Pennsylvania to Ohio and hopped a train to Chicago. Don’t know what happened to a lot of them. I was lucky enough to get on this train last minute.”

  Kate found the courage to interrupt. “Excuse me, sir. I couldn’t help overhearing you were stranded in Pennsylvania. My father was, too, and I wondered if you met him. His name is Jack Woods.”

  “The author? Why, yes, we were all in the train station together and then went our separate ways. He was desperate to get here for some reason. We were all trying to find other means of transportation to get out of there. I hope he made it, dear, for your sake.” The man continued on with his travel partner.

  For all our sakes, Kate thought. She turned to her mother. “Did you hear that? Dad could be on the next train. I have a feeling he’s not on this one. That gentleman knew him and would’ve told me if Dad was on the train.”

  “I agree. Let’s make sure though.”

  They waited for every passenger to disembark but there was no Jack. Kate was upbeat although she still felt very weak.

  “Let’s head back to the cabin and celebrate!” She grabbed Drew’s hand and pulled him along. Her legs were wobbly and she was still lightheaded, but it wasn’t going to stop her from feeling positive.

  Back at the cabin, the mood was better than before. Kate was exhausted and melted into the nearest chair. Drew put a blanket over her.

  “I’ll get you something to eat so you get your energy back.” He smiled at her. “It’s good news that people from back east are finally making it out here. I pray Jack’s on the next train.”

  Kate’s mom sunk into a chair and smiled at her. “One more train and I have a feeling your father is on it. We’ll all be back in Ohio to celebrate the new year together, I just know it.”

  “And if not, you’ll wait for the new year to pass and come back to the canyon to look for Dad again. You can just bring him back home again. Kidnap him, if you must.” Kate gave her mother a faint smile.

  Her mother let out a huge sigh. “If only it was that easy.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Think about it, Katie. If I brought your father back to the present, he’d be looking at a forty-something year old woman. Time has moved on since I first met him.”

  “But wouldn’t Dad just be his usual age in the present?”

  Drew slid in next to Kate on the sofa, placing a plate of sandwiches on the table. “I think I can answer that, Joanna.” He leaned back, resting his head on the back of the couch as if deep in thought. “Jack and I had a discussion about this. He told me Carl Sr. thought long and hard about it. He came to the conclusion that everyone had just one chance to make the choice...live in the present or stay in the past. Once you made that choice, you’d continue to age in that era. Jack has aged in the present, not the past. There’s no starting over in Ohio. His life ends there if he doesn’t make it back and his original life will resume...in the past.”

  “That’s confusing.” Kate covered her face with her hands. “I’m trying to process it.”

  “Okay, let me try to explain it another way. Say Joanna goes back to the canyon and since she’s been there before, she’d look like her younger self. Even if she met Jack and they fell in love, he’d make the choice to stay in the past. It would be like she’s meeting 1927 Jack, not our Jack. He’s continued on in the past. Does that make sense? Carl felt you got one chance and that was it. Joanna could visit the canyon like we all do but Jack would never come to Ohio. It’s like you visiting Lucinda or Molly or Ruthie...”

  “I get what you mean, Drew, it makes sense. I see my friends here and they never grow older. It’s like they’re just waiting here year after year for us, never aging but really they did. They went on to have lives, families, got older. So it would be the same for my father. We could visit him but we’d be part of his history, just some people he remembered from the canyon back in 1927. We wouldn’t have a place in his future. Although that’s just a theory...”

  “One we hope we never have to test out.”

  “And I would try.” Her mom broke in. “I would come back and try to bring him back to Ohio. You know it’s not my favorite thing to do, travel back and forth in time.”

  “Why, Mom, why does it scare you so much?”

  “I’m always afraid I won’t make it back home. It always amazes me when I wake up in my own bed, in my house in Ohio.”

  “I didn’t know. I’m so sorry. I trust in the books and never have a moment of doubt.” Kate rested her head on Drew’s shoulder. “I love this life,” she whispered as she nodded off to sleep.

  * * * *

  The afternoon train was scheduled to arrive at four p.m. Kate and family were there to greet it. They laughed and talked more since arriving at the canyon although Kate had to hide the fact of how weak she felt. She put on a brave face and clung to Drew for support. They were so sure her dad would step off the train and when he didn’t it was quite a shock.

  “No, he has to be on there.” Her mom tried to board the train but Drew held her back.

  They stood on the platform for the longest time in disbelief, long after the last passenger left the station. That was not the ending they expected. If Kate’s dad was on his way back, it was too late.

  “Girls, we’re heading back to the cabin for a few hours. Then we have to make arrangements to get to the boardinghouse and send you home.” Drew took them by the arms and guided them toward the path to the cabin.

  “No, I’m not leaving until one minute before midnight!” Kate screamed but knew he was right.

  Kate and Drew went straight to their bedroom when they returned to the cabin. They were going to hold each other until it was time to leave. Kate was very tired and had to fight to stay awake.

  “Talk to me, Drew. Tell me how we met, describe our wedding,” Kate whispered. She could hear his voice in the distance telling her all the stories of their life together. It sounded too perfect, too magical. It shouldn’t be a story that ended this way.

  “Kate! Are you awake?” Drew sounded concerned.

  “Yes, of course, I was just enjoying the stories,” Kate mumbled.

  “Can you sit up? You’re not sick, are you? Something else is wrong. It’s like you’re not all in this world.”

  Kate obediently sat up and smiled at Drew. “It’s time to go, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it is, love.”

  They headed out of the bedroom to the main room in the cabin. Kate’s mom was standing nervously at the door, ready to go. Somehow Drew had Canyon and Flicka outside the cabin.

  “Flicka.” Kate hugged the horse. “Mom, she’s gentle. Do you think you can ride her alone?”

  “Yes.” She mounted the horse.

  Drew pulled Kate up behind him. “Come on, boy. We’re taking the girls home.”

  The boardinghouse came into view before Kate was ready for it. Dusk had set in and it was almost dark. Dusk had such a different meaning this time around. It was an ending to all things she loved. She felt Drew’s heart pounding as she clung to his chest. He guided the horses into the
barn and helped Kate and then her mom down. Kate stumbled toward the house. Finding her too weak to walk, Drew picked her up and carried her.

  “Kate. My Kate.” He placed her on the porch. She watched him feel in his pocket for the bracelet. “It’s still there.” She saw how terrified he was, but didn’t let on as he picked her up again.

  Her mom snuck upstairs and Drew took Kate to her old room. She grabbed his hand as he set her on the bed and put the book in her arms.

  “Stay with me, please, until I’m gone.” She barely was able to whisper.

  They kissed one last time, one last sweet kiss that would have to last them a lifetime.

  “Drew, go back to New York City. Marry Gia or whomever you wish. I can’t deny you a life, I only pray you remember me. I don’t really care what happens to me now.”

  “Don’t say that, Kathryn. I would never marry Gia or anyone else. I’m married to you.”

  “You will return as a widower, Drew. That’s what you say.”

  His eyes were clouded over with pain. “I can’t do that.”

  “Yes, you can. If it helps, I will tell you if I do live, I’ll start dating Tyson again, maybe even marry him.”

  Drew’s eyes flashed with anger.

  “There’s the Drew I know. I would never do that to you, but if it helps you forget me or be mad at me, then pretend that’s what I’m doing.”

  They touched their left hands together, their wedding bands lightly tapping together. “Our love is across miles...time.” Kate struggled to stay awake but she could fight it no more.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Kate sat up with a start. Her head felt much clearer. She looked around her beautiful sky blue room and smiled at the butterflies. Her father had helped her decorate the room just a few years ago. It was his idea to mount the butterflies on the wall and now it was the last reminder of him. Like those delicate creatures, Kate’s life would come to a sudden end after today. It was a short life but a good one. She smiled as she remembered the past year. She felt like she already lived a lifetime. It was good she knew everything and accepted her fate.