Walk with Me Through Time (The Dimension Keepers)

by Jennifer Conner

  He gathered his strength and made his way down the stairs to the front of the bookstore. She was gone.

  Hadley walked over and touched the brass knob, afraid to open the door. “Arthur… who the bloody hell was that, and how did she come through the front door? She’s the woman I dream of night after night, but I have never met her in person until this moment. In the dream we are outside, on the street, and something… happens… to her.”

  The old man cocked a wiry eyebrow his direction. “The woman? Is she injured?”

  “I’m not sure. I wake at the same exact moment every night. Who is she and why does she haunt my dreams? And for the first time since I have been at the bookstore, my watch hands moved. You seem to know a whole lot more about this than I, so tell me what is going on.”

  “Oh dear, dear, dear.” Arthur shoved away from the counter and used his cane to come around to stand before him. “I’m going to make us a nice cup of hot tea and honey. All news is better with tea.”

  Hadley grumbled, but he sat in a chair and waited for the old man to return.

  Arthur propped his cane against the table and settled in. “How much did your father tell you about your position?”

  “I am a Dimension Keeper, like my father, or whatever you wish to call us. I am here to guide people meant to exist, but living a century or two off, to the proper times in history. Guide them to where they should be.”

  “Your father told you the crux of the job, but what did he tell you about living your life?” The question confused him.

  “My life? I… I don’t know. I assumed this is my life for a predetermined block of time.” He waved his hand around at the bookstore. “I assumed I was to be here until… well, something changed.”

  A sad smile tipped Arthur’s lips. “Your family has always been a problem. They are notorious for not notifying the young ones coming in with the proper information. I hate remaining silent, but I always feel it is the family’s duty to talk to their kin, not I. This is a gift given to you to help others, but the portals are not prisons. When your guide arrives, you can leave any time and others will eventually take your place.”

  “If that’s true, what about you? Why don’t you leave here?”

  “I never had the desire to see more, to be more, like you. Adventure fills you. This bookstore is not to be your life. A guide arrived to show me out, but I decided to stay.”

  “A guide? You’re telling me that woman who was just here is the one sent to show me out? That’s ridiculous.”

  “What year is it?” Arthur asked.

  “1889.”

  “Well yes and no. People who arrive are in 1889, but you and this portal have moved ahead in time. If you leave this place permanently through the front door, it’s the year two-thousand and twelve. I’ve lost track myself. I wasn’t sure what year it was until I asked the young woman, Sam.”

  Hadley tried to comprehend what he heard. “It can’t be 2012. That’s insane. I’ve only been here a few months. I got here in July and now it’s…” he tried to remember, but couldn’t seem to pull out a date. Strange. “September or October. But you are telling me that I have been here— in this bookstore for—” he calculated, “a hundred and twenty-three years?”

  “Yes.” Arthur nodded.

  “We have been here, all this time, and you have not said a word?”

  “Time feels suspended for us here in the portal or we would go mad. The people come and go through time, but time is stopped for us. Days feel like minutes, and years are hours.”

  “I want to go home to 1889 and be with my family.”

  “I’m sorry.” Arthur looked grim and shook his head. “Many generations have passed since that time. You can’t go back.”

  “They are dead? My family?” Unsteady, he sat the teacup on the table before he dropped it to shatter to the floor.

  “You can guide lost ones forward and back but you cannot return to the time the portal began. Another thing they did not tell you. When the girl came in today, I knew this was the chance for you to move on.”

  “But she’s gone. I didn’t follow her. What if she never returns? Will I spend all of my days here in the bookstore, damned like you?” Anger flashed through him.

  “To stay was my decision. I wished to remain here and be a guide.” Arthur levelled his gaze at Hadley. “She will return.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “She will be drawn here. Compelled for a reason she can’t explain even to herself. Like your mother.”

  “My mother? What the bloody hell does she have to do with this?”

  “Again, I see you’ve been left in the dark. Your mother came through the door in 1863 as the guide for your father. Your father was from the year 1687.”

  “1687? My mother… year…” Being speechless had never happened to Hadley before, but he could not pull together his thoughts to complete a sentence.

  “That woman today was not a traveler so she must be your guide. She’s not mine—I lost my chance.”

  “You have not told me why you chose to stay.”

  “Someone must stay to guide the lost. I have chosen that role in life. The woman came through the door for you, she just doesn’t know it yet. She is your guide. In order to leave, you must leave with her.” Arthur pointed to his watch. “Have the hands of your watch moved?”

  Hadley nodded. “They have never moved as long as I have been here.”

  “Then time is of the most importance, it only moves at a normal speed when your guide is here. Now that the hands of your watch have moved, you have until the hands hit twelve.”

  “What will happen at twelve?”

  “If she returns and has not taken you with her, you will be in this portal for the rest of your days. I am not sure how long that will be, since I am still here. There may or may not be another guide sent.”

  Eternity? Even though Arthur made his decision, another guide had never arrived to grant Arthur another chance to leave. Would his fate be the same. A cold feeling balled in the pit of Hadley stomach.

  Chapter 3

  “Are the children asleep?” He asked as he rolled towards her and yawned. “I thought that warm milk and cocoa would help, but they are still a little high energy after all that sugar they ate at the birthday party.”

  Sam sat on the edge of the bed. Even after four years of marriage, she never tired of seeing him in her bed. He still took her breath away and made her tingle all over. When she read the kids stories, he took a shower and now wore pajama bottoms and a thread bare T-shirt. Closing her eyes, Sam leaned in and inhaled his scent. She lost herself in him. Running hands under his shirt she explored the broad expanse of muscle and let her fingers caress each and every dip and ripple. From his abdomen up to his neck, she explored and then pushed his shirt over his shoulders and let it drop to the floor. She opened her eyes and watched his eyes flutter closed as she gave him love bites across his shoulders and down his waist.

  With his eyes still closed, he shot her the lop sided grin she adored. “I thought I was ready to fall asleep, but I think you can persuade me to stay awake a little longer.”

  In a fluid motion, he grabbed her wrists, flipped her on her back and was on top of her in seconds.

  Sam squealed.

  “Hush or you’ll wake the children,” he whispered.

  “Get off me, you big galoot.”She laughed, struggling to try and roll out from under him.

  “I’m not familiar with that word, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. I’ll look it up in the dictionary. Now… I have other plans.”

  She tried to protest again, but then he was kissing her and all coherent thought left her brain. His strong hands gently held her head, his long fingers threaded through her hair.

  This time when his mouth found hers there was no hesitation and she sensed his burning need, it was urgent and physical. He peppered kisses across her lips and down the side of her neck. Pushing her nightshirt higher, his tongue dipped in and swirled
around her navel, then back up to her breasts. Gently lifting one breast, he flicked his tongue across the tip.

  “Do that again,” Sam said, followed by a moan.

  “Whatever my wife wants.” He sucked her nipple between his warm lips.

  She felt his erection poised at the entrance of her body and the anticipation was killing her.

  “Yes,” she breathed. “I want this. I want you.”

  “Who do you want?” He slowly eased a quarter of an inch inside her and muttered against the skin of her neck, “Say my name.”

  “Oh…please…”she begged.

  “That’s not my name.” Deep and dark promise filled his laughter.

  “Hadley.” The word was more of a breathy exhale.

  He captured her lips in an urgent kiss and surged forward burying himself in one powerful thrust.

  A climax began to wash over her. She closed her eyes tight and let herself go. She wanted to feel every nuance of his body pressed to hers.

  Harder, deeper, he drove into her again and again.

  “I love you, Hadley,” she cried, and tumbled over the edge.

  There was a cool breeze against Sam’s face. She opened her eyes.

  She was alone.

  “Hadley?” she called his name. He’d never told her his name at the bookstore. Had she made it up in the dream or was that truly his name? Confused, Sam sat up and looked around the room. She flipped on bedside lamp expecting to see him come out of the bathroom, but the room remained dark.

  She’d been dreaming?

  You must return to the bookstore. He needs your help. You are the only one.

  Voices spoke in her head. Clear and carrying precise instructions. Over and over like a recording.

  Sam swore she still smelled the essence of his soap and sandalwood. Getting out of bed, she carefully searched the bedroom but found nothing. A sense of loss washed over her. This was crazy, how could she be sad he was gone if he’d never been there?

  “Hadley… or whatever you name is,” Sam mumbled. She sat on the edge of the bed and scrubbed her hands over her face. The handsome, strange young actor she met in the little bookstore. Why had voices told her she needed to help him? She had a crush on the guy at her office, Chris, not this Hadley guy. Why hadn’t she had a sex dream about Chris needing her help?

  She’d never had a dream this vivid. Sam still felt Hadley covering her, filling her. At least the disturbing nightmares from past weeks changed to this. The sex dream was much more acceptable.

  But it wasn’t just a dream about sex, though the sex was amazing … she had been in love with him. She felt his love in every kiss, every caress. They were married.

  Had he said kids? As in two?

  Chapter 4

  Hadley spent the next, what he assumed calculating the time in his head, a day or two studying everything he could find on the century he was to enter. If Samantha returned, he’d be ready. He was afraid to ask Arthur how he came about owning these picture books of the twenty-first century, but was grateful to have them. In this century, there were few horses. Machines with wheels and metal birds that flew in the sky replaced them. He could spend the next hundred years studying the times and would never feel he knew enough. All these scientific advances happened in a little over a hundred years… amazing.

  If the woman, Samantha, never returned, it would be a relief. He would just stay at the bookshop… forever. A strange sadness twisted his gut. Hadley never guessed this day would come, but he wanted more. More than his life here. He saw what was out there and wanted a taste.

  He dreamed of Samantha the previous night. A dream so real he woke painfully erect, wanting the feel of her body wrapped around him. He almost embarrassed himself on his cot. He hadn’t done that since his youth.

  With a sigh, Hadley walked back to the front of the store. He felt a blast of air at his back. Before he was able to turn, Samantha nearly bowled him off his feet. He caught her by the upper arms to keep both of them from tumbling to the floor.

  “I see you have come back.” He needed to play this with nonchalance and not scare her off. He needed her much more than she needed him.

  Samantha regained her balance, righted herself, and brushed the front of her dress.

  Hadley remembered the dream of them as lovers and wished it was his hands touching her, caressing her. Their eyes locked and her cheeks flushed crimson. That was when he knew.

  Good God—had they shared the same dream?

  He knew travelers dreamed of the portals and the times they were to travel to, but making love with their guides? How could he and the woman share the same dream? If it wasn’t exactly the same, it was something bawdy enough to make her pretty cheeks blush.

  He fought to regain his composure and extended his hand. “Good to see you again… Samantha, am I right?”

  She nodded but avoided eye contact. “Is the other guy here? The older one, who was behind the counter?”

  “He must be in the back resting. Can I help you with anything? Have you come back to buy more Dickens?”

  “Yes… I mean no.” Samantha looked exasperated. “That’s what I need to talk to the shop owner about. The paper of Dickens’s I bought in here the other day? I took it in to have it framed.”

  “Was there a problem?”

  “Yes, there is a problem. It’s not a reproduction, it’s an original.”

  “I see.” Hadley tapped his finger to his chin.

  “No, Hadley, I don’t think you do.” She threw her hands in the air.

  He’d never mentioned his name in their first meeting. Interesting.

  Reaching in her oversized black bag, she took out a heavy folder and placed it on the counter. “I paid five pounds for this. It’s still in the original green wrappers which the framer valued this one Dickens work in the ballpark of eight to ten thousand pounds.”

  “Pounds?” he asked. “You don’t say. So do you wish to purchase another? I’m sure there are more in the back.” He came around the counter.

  “I don’t wish to pick up any more. I am leaving this one. I could never live with myself if I took advantage of someone like that. He seems like such a nice elderly man, he could sell this one paper and retire.”

  Hadley smiled and shook his head. “I don’t think he will be doing that anytime soon.” He grew serious and knew he had to be honest. “I need to talk to you about something which is very important. I know what I am about to say will sound farfetched but…” He reached for her hand.

  Samantha pulled back, her brown eyes wide. “I can’t stay. I have to go… work. I hoped you wouldn’t be here.”

  He tried to reach for her again, but she was at the door.

  “Please,” he called out, “just let me explain. The situation gravely depends on....”

  She cut him off. “No. I can’t help you—so stop asking me!” She threw the door open.

  Then she was gone… again.

  Stop asking her? He’d never said he needed her help. Arthur was right. More than the dream of the two of them making love, Samantha knew she was to help him. He couldn’t force her into something which she did not understand, so all he could do was wait and see if she was drawn back here to the bookstore.

  Hadley retrieved the watch from his pocket, popped open the cover and stared at the frozen hands. The watch hands moved ahead another five minutes.

  When the hands reached twelve-this bookstore would be his home forever.

  Chapter 5

  “No, you saved me,” he said barely above a whisper as the back of his fingers stroked her bare thigh.

  From the first time they met, she could never decide the true color was of Hadley’s eyes. In the bookstore, they looked dark, but now, here in the sunlight, they were bright sapphire blue. Gorgeous, sexy, alluring.

  “You keep saying that, though I wasn’t exactly sure what I did.”

  “Samantha, you listened to your heart.”

  “This is insane. People don’t have life mates. Th
at’s all a bunch, as they would say here in England, cock and bull. What if I was your guide and I was an eighty year old man with baggy pants.”

  “I would have been grateful to whoever my guide was, but I wouldn’t be drawn to make love to an elderly man with baggy trousers.” His hand never stopped touching her, it was as if he needed to keep contact. “One of my regrets is that my father was not truthful with me when I was younger.”

  “Would you have still done it?”

  “Been a guide?” Hadley nodded and shifted a broad bare shoulder so she could cuddle closer. “It always felt good to help people. They are so blissful when they arrive to their destiny. But to give up so much time in my own life…”

  “But you told me time never seemed to move.”

  “I never suffered, it’s only now I feel the loss.”

  She watched him rise from the bed and pad naked to the window. He pulled the drape to the side and gazed out. She got up and built a quick fire in the hearth to warm the room, then went to meet him. She wrapped arms around his torso.

  “Why you. Why are some of us guides? Can anyone be?”She asked.

  “No, I don’t believe so. The people who are the guides in the portals are different. Before Arthur stood guard, his mother was a guide. Maybe someday, we can travel and find others such as ourselves so we can pass information on to our children so they are informed.”

  “Children?” Sam asked, cocking an eyebrow.

  Hadley turned and kissed her gently on the tip of the nose. “You already know that we are to have two children. A boy and a girl… in the future.”

  She chuckled. “At least we only saw a short distance into the future. I wouldn’t want to know too much. I want to live everyday and don’t want to know if it will be my last.” She paused. “To be a guide in the portal, maybe you are special. Maybe you’re a green man from outer space, and your ‘people’ sent you here.”