A Fall in Time (Train Through Time Series Book 5)

by Bess McBride

  Sara had given the same speech on more than one occasion in her life, in elementary school and in high school, to girls whose parents were unhappily married or divorced. She shouldn’t have been surprised to find shock on the face of a turn-of-the-century man.

  Matthew’s cheeks bronzed, and he ran a hand across his face.

  “My expression betrayed me, I see,” he said ruefully. “Forgive me, Miss Reed. Truly. I do not mean to sit in judgment upon your beloved mother. I was merely surprised, that is all.”

  Having channeled some of the demons from her childhood, Sara calmed down instantly at the sincerity on Matthew’s face.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m defensive about my mom, about my parentage. I took a lot of flack in school about being ‘illegitimate,’ as they say. It’s hardly an issue anymore though. No one cares.”

  She looked up from a contemplation of her knuckles to see Matthew chewing on his lower lip. What a stupid statement! Of course, people still cared...in nineteen hundred.

  “Well, not so much in Spokane anyway,” she amended.

  “At the risk of incurring your displeasure, I must say that I did not realize Spokane was such a broad-minded city,” Matthew said with a twitch at the corner of his lips.

  “Oh, yes,” she said airily. Of course, it wasn’t. Spokane, a city on the east side of Washington state, formerly centered around farming and ranching, was known to be fairly conservative, unlike the more liberal Seattle on the West Coast. She hoped Matthew would drop the subject.

  “I see,” he said, but he didn’t look as if he agreed. “Tell me about your family in North Dakota. These are relatives of your mother?”

  Sara laced and unlaced her fingers under the table. “Yes,” she said with a nod. “My mother’s aunt and some cousins.”

  “Are you close to them? Do you see them often?”

  “Yes,” she said without thinking.

  “I wonder why you got off the train but did not continue on to North Dakota.”

  Sara, her mouth suddenly dry, drank some water while she thought of a response. She was running out of imagination.

  “Well, I...I...” She took another drink. Matthew watched her carefully. Unable to come up with anything, she jumped up and crossed the room to look down at the street below. For a small city, traffic bustled in the form of wagons, horses and pedestrians.

  “Do you mind if I don’t talk about it?” she finally turned and asked.

  Matthew rose and came to stand beside her.

  “But of course, Miss Reed. I should not insist. I am only concerned for your future welfare. I cannot stay in Kalispell for long, and I am loathe to leave you here without protection, without income and without family.”

  Sara wanted to say she would be fine, but she didn’t think she would. She knew she couldn’t get a job anywhere else, not with a reputation as a thief. At some point, Matthew would have to return to his home, his job, but she hadn’t thought that far ahead.

  “I have to admit that I’m ‘loathe’ to see you leave, Matthew. Truthfully, I got myself in such a pickle here I don’t know what I’m going to do either.”

  “Then I must ask you about your family again,” he said. “I do not know why you left the train, but can you reconsider and go to them now? I can purchase the fare for you. Do not concern yourself with that.”

  Sara shook her head. Her earlier foolish notions of trying to survive in Grand Forks, North Dakota, in the coming winter months had been foolish. She hadn’t made it twenty-four hours in Kalispell, Montana, without being arrested. Even if she found an abandoned shack to live in, she had no idea what the laws were or if she would be arrested for loitering or vagrancy. And she didn’t think she could survive without heat, even if she could find food.

  “No, I can’t,” she said. She turned to him. He stood close, and she had to crane her head to look at him. “I lied about family in Grand Forks. I don’t have any. My mother was the last of my family.”

  Matthew eyed her for a moment, then unexpectedly took one of her hands in his and brought it to his lips. The gesture sent a tingle through her arm, and her knees buckled for a moment.

  “The look of despair in your eyes moves me, Miss Reed. Do not worry. I will take care of you.”

  Sara fought her way back from the spell of his blue eyes. She pulled her hand from his, not quite sure why Emily didn’t want to marry him.

  “As a modern woman, I should argue that I don’t need to be taken care of, but I have to admit that sounds just about perfect right now,” she said with a faint smile. “But only for a bit. I just need to figure a few things out.”

  “A modern woman,” Matthew repeated with a lift of his lips. “Yes, you do appear to be quite progressive. Very well then. Until you ‘figure a few things out,’ as you say. How may I help?”

  Sara, her knees still weak, thought it best to put some distance between Matthew and herself. She moved to reclaim her seat.

  “I have no earthly idea right now. So much has happened today. I feel overwhelmed.”

  “Yes, of course you would,” he said. “I will not press you further but will give you time to think. I can only stay in Kalispell a few days and then must return to Seattle. Perhaps you would like to return to Spokane?”

  “I don’t know,” Sara said. “I just don’t know.”

  “Very well. I think you must rest now,” he said. “You look very tired.”

  Sara felt tired, but she knew she would never be able to sleep. She was too keyed up, had too much to think about. For the past two weeks, she’d done little else but dwell on the mysteries of time travel and why she had traveled in time. She had hoped and prayed that she would wake up in the twenty-first century, but with each passing day, that had seemed less likely.

  Incarcerated as she had been with no idea how long she would remain in jail, Sara had spared herself the heartache of working on a plan to return to her own time. She knew it probably involved the train, but she didn’t know how. Without knowing why she’d been thrown back in time, she had no idea how to travel forward.

  “Can we take a walk?” she asked. “I mean, I can walk by myself if you’re too tired, but I think I’d rather get out and get some fresh air.”

  “Certainly,” Matthew said.

  “Good,” Sara said. She walked to the door, and Matthew cleared his throat and hesitated.

  “What is it?”

  “A hat perhaps? To cover your hair? I think it might be chilly outside. Perhaps your shawl?”

  “Oh!” Sara exclaimed, running a quick hand to her hair. “Wait!” She ran into the bathroom, found the strip of red cotton she had ripped off her T-shirt and wrapped her hair on top of her head.

  Self-consciously, she returned to the bedroom and rummaged in the boxes for the hat he had bought. She stepped over to the mirror above the dresser and settled the broad-brimmed, rose-ribboned velvet hat on her head, fumbling with the hatpin enclosed in the box. She winced as she stabbed her scalp, but she finally managed to secure the hat. She tilted her head to the left and right, but the hat seemed securely affixed to her bun.

  Matthew picked up her shawl and set it around her shoulders. He held out his arm.

  “Are you ready?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  They walked down the stairs and into the lobby. Sara was pleased to see the lobby was empty.

  “Good afternoon, sir, miss,” Gerry said as they rounded the corner of the stairs. “How was your lunch?”

  “Very good, thank you, Gerry. You can have someone pick the tray up now from Miss Reed’s—from my sister’s room.”

  Sara looked up quickly. Matthew’s jaw tightened. He seemed annoyed at his slipup. She certainly understood, having her own lies to deal with.

  “Sure,” said Gerry.

  “Oh, I am reminded,” Matthew continued. “I need to send a telegram to Seattle. My parents will have expected my return and will worry.”

  “Our parents,” Sara whispered out of the corner o
f her mouth.

  “Our parents,” Matthew corrected hastily.

  “Sure! You can write down the message and the address, and I’ll have the boy run it over to Walter at the train station to send out.”

  Sara jerked at the mention of Walter’s name. Under her hand, she felt Matthew stiffen.

  “Yes, that would be fine,” he said. Releasing Sara’s hand, Matthew took the paper Gerry handed him and scribbled some things down. He gave it back to Gerry, and he took Sara’s hand under his arm again.

  “As fast as they can send it, Gerry.”

  Gerry nodded. “I’ll get the boy now.”

  Matthew nodded and led Sara out of the hotel.

  “That got complicated,” Sara said as they stepped outside into the golden light of the late autumn afternoon. The streets had settled somewhat as people probably started to head home for the evening. With her free hand, she pulled her shawl more tightly around her shoulders before tugging at her hat to make sure it was still secure.

  “Yes, it did,” Matthew said. “I never lie, so this is proving difficult for me.”

  “I’m sorry, Matthew,” she said. She had tried never to lie either, but by necessity, she had been forced into it. She had no intention of announcing that she was some sort of time traveler, not in Matthew’s time and not in her time, if she ever got back. Either era would see her medicated or locked up for observation.

  He looked down at her with a lift of his lips. “That is not your fault, Miss Reed, but the dictates of society. There was little way for me to help you either on the train or here if I did not claim a familial relationship with you.”

  Sara heard a gasp and swung around to see Mrs. Feeney standing on the boardwalk, several other ladies at her side. The shocked expressions on their faces made it obvious that they had heard Matthew’s words.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Mr. Webster, had I known when you attempted to bribe me into dropping the charges against this woman that she was not your sister, I would never have entered into the agreement!”

  Instinctively, Matthew set Miss Reed behind him to shield her from the vituperation in Mrs. Feeney’s face and words. He thought quickly but felt quite inept at lying. Nevertheless, he must do so for Miss Reed’s sake.

  “I am not certain what you think you overheard, Mrs. Feeney, but you were well compensated for the trouble my sister caused you. I did not attempt to bribe you. I succeeded, and your husband prepared the document to prove it.”

  A rage such as Matthew had never known took hold of him at the censure on the women’s faces. Clearly, Mrs. Feeney had not desisted in spreading gossip about Miss Reed.

  “If there is nothing further, you will excuse us.” He pulled Miss Reed close to his side as he stormed past the sputtering face of Mrs. Feeney and her gaggle of wide-eyed female friends.

  Miss Reed kept pace with him silently until, his anger spent, he slowed. He turned down a street and came to a halt to gaze down upon her.

  “Forgive me, Miss Reed. Truly. I cannot believe that I dragged you down the street so unceremoniously. I do not know what overcame me.”

  Slightly winded, her cheeks were red from exertion. She adjusted her hat and smiled tentatively.

  “That was pretty brutal back there,” she said. “I’m guessing I won’t be settling down in Kalispell, that’s for sure.”

  “I think not,” he agreed. “Had you thought about staying here?”

  Miss Reed surveyed the street and shook her head. “No, I guess not.” She returned her gaze to his face. “What did you bribe her with, by the way? And what was this about a document?”

  “I am a businessman first and foremost, Miss Reed,” he said with a smile. “I never conduct business without proper documentation. I offered Mrs. Feeney a sum for her troubles, and she accepted. That is all.”

  “How much of a sum?” she pressed. “I intend to pay you back someday, if I can. So, how much?”

  Matthew took her hand under his arm and prepared to resume their walk, albeit at a more leisurely pace. Miss Reed resisted and crossed her arms over her stomach.

  “How much?” she insisted.

  “Mrs. Feeney accepted a shopping trip to Seattle at my expense,” Matthew said with reluctance. “Although in hindsight, perhaps I should have sent her on a trip to Chicago. I do not wish to think what gossip she might spread in Seattle.”

  “A shopping trip to Seattle? With hotel, no doubt? Good gravy, Matthew, how much did that cost? Certainly more than the skirt, blouse and the price of her anger.”

  Matthew shook his head. He had been prepared to pay much more for Miss Reed’s release, much more.

  “It is nothing, really, but as I said before, I also regret that I did not include a nondisclosure agreement. I really should have. I thought Mrs. Feeney might conduct herself as a lady, but I can see that I was wrong. I have not done well by you.”

  Miss Reed reached out a hand and laid it on his chest.

  “Oh, yes, you have, Matthew. You have most certainly done well by me. I can never thank you enough.”

  Matthew covered her hand with his own. A shock went through his hand at the contact, a delightful tingle that seemed to run up his arm and into his chest.

  They stared at each other for a moment, and Matthew lost himself in the golden flecks of her brown eyes. His heartbeat slowed, and his breathing grew shallow. Time stood still, and he willed the moment to continue.

  Miss Reed drew in a deep breath and blinked. She pulled her hand from under his with a shaky laugh.

  “Shall we try our walk again? Or should I return to the room and hide out there until I manage to get out of town? I feel like I’m in high school all over again.”

  “Hold your head high, Miss Reed,” Matthew said softly. “Do not let them best you—not those women and not your memories.”

  She smiled then, a breathtakingly bright smile that warmed his heart and brought a lump to his throat.

  “Well then, let’s finish our walk,” she said as she tucked her hand under his arm.

  They explored the town on foot for the next hour until Matthew felt Miss Reed lagging. She seemed remarkably inept with her skirts, tripping over them often, though the length appeared appropriate. He wondered again at her origins and the long johns in which she first appeared.

  Matthew guided her back toward the hotel, hoping that Mrs. Feeney and her posse had moved on. On their return to the hotel, he delivered her to her room to rest until dinnertime.

  “Do you mind if I eat dinner in my room?” she asked as she dropped into a chair in less than genteel fashion. He waited just inside the door.

  “Not at all,” Matthew said. “Shall I join you?”

  “Do you want to?” she asked. “I don’t mind, but you might be more comfortable dining in the restaurant. The desk isn’t the best substitute for a dining table.”

  His appetite restored, Matthew smiled.

  “I quite enjoyed our private meal. Let us eat here. In the meantime, I must make arrangements for train passage. Have you decided if you want to return to Spokane or... Do you have a home there?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  Matthew still had many questions for Miss Reed, but he hesitated to press her.

  “Shall I book passage to Seattle then?”

  She looked up at him. Her bemused expression gave him the answer he needed. No matter what her words, he knew what he must do.

  “I will book passage to Seattle. You will return with me.”

  Her knuckles whitened as she clasped her hands together.

  “What will I do there? Where will I stay?”

  “You will stay at my house. My parents will welcome you.” Privately, Matthew was in some doubt about his mother’s reception, but he hoped for the best.

  “Are you sure? Just for a while. Really!”

  “For as long as you need, Miss Reed. Now, you must rest.”

  Matthew left and went downstairs to speak to Gerry.

  “Gerry,
I need two tickets on tomorrow’s train to Seattle,” he said. “Two private compartments in first class.” He laid some money on the counter.

  “Certainly, sir. I’ll send the boy to buy those for you. I’m sorry to hear you are leaving so soon.”

  “My sister is not well. I think I need to get her to Seattle to see our physician as soon as possible.”

  “Oh, I am sorry to hear that, sir.”

  Matthew nodded.

  “Please have dinner for two sent to her room in two hours,” he said. “She is resting at the moment.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Thank you, Gerry.”

  Matthew returned to his own room to pace. He did not normally rest during the day and could not do so now, especially given the underlying current of tension that ran through him.

  He had no idea what his parents’ reception of Miss Reed might be. He imagined his father would greet her with his usual impeccable manners, as would his mother. His mother, however, would most certainly question his decision to bring Miss Reed home, and Matthew had no concrete explanation to offer her regarding the origin of Miss Reed’s troubles.

  She was still unwilling to discuss the events that led her to take shelter in his compartment on the train, or what instinct prompted her to leave the train without reaching her destination. She had only confused him further by revealing that she had no family in Grand Forks, and he assumed that had not been her final destination. In fact, she seemed to have had no particular destination at all when boarding the train.

  Regarding her eccentricities—her odd clothing, the careless grooming of her hair, even her casual speech—he did not know what to make of those either. Matthew had spent enough time in Spokane to know that the residents dressed, behave and spoke with no significant difference than did the residents of Seattle.

  It was almost as if Miss Reed had been dropped from the sky, or more whimsically, had fallen from a nest, perhaps an eagle’s nest, given the golden flecks in her eyes.