Forever Layla: A Time Travel Romance

by Melissa Turner Lee

  The man grabbed the cash, reached over to the wall beside him, and pulled a key off a hook and slapped it down on the counter. “Five minutes. After that, I’m calling the cops myself before you do. I’d rather them think I’m innocent.”

  I took the key and walked out of the office and up the steps to room 209. I slid in the key and turned the knob before pushing the door open slowly. There, staring at me wide-eyed was my mother. I hadn’t seen her in years. Her face was strained and blue.

  I covered my eyes and turned away. Emotion enveloped me and bile rose up. The smell of death in the air turned my stomach. I reached for a waste can, unable to control the retching for a few moments. When I’d stopped, I grabbed a bunch of tissues from a box and cleaned myself up. I tried to look at her again, but she didn’t look the way I remembered. And I knew why. Without looking at her again, I pulled the sheet up over her face. The little four-year-old girl in the bathroom didn’t need to see her mother like that. I walked toward the bathroom and opened it. Big brown eyes stared up at me, and my breath caught. The little girl there lying on a dirty towel, wrapped in another, was me. Memories I’d kept suppressed as much as possible came rushing back to the front of my mind.

  I swallowed and forced a smile. I remembered how scared I had been in that bathroom. The regular noises, but then scarier was the long silence that had followed. I was hungry and frightened. I remembered exactly how the nice lady had comforted me. “Hey sweetie, are you hungry? Your mommy sent me in here to get you.”

  “Where is she?” The little girl stood and rubbed her eyes. Her hair was matted together from sleep.

  How many hours had she spent there? How many times had I been locked in a motel bathroom while my mom visited her boyfriends? The sounds. The smells. The fear. I searched the little girl’s face and choked back the emotions as I answered her. “She’s not feeling well. I’m going to take you to your grandmother while she sleeps. Want to stop for pancakes on the way? She told me pancakes were your favorite.”

  “I’m not supposed to go with strangers, and I don’t have a grandma.”

  I extended my hand. “You can trust me. I know all about you and your mom. She loves you. She always makes you stay in the bathroom when she can’t find a sitter, and you are a good girl and obey. You never open the door. You always wait for her to come get you. It’s her way of protecting you from what she does to provide for you. Then she takes you to get something to eat and always tells you how you are worth it…all of it.” I spoke the words as I realized the truth of my mother and my childhood. She wasn’t a perfect mother, but she had tried…in her way.

  The little girl still looked unsure.

  “She calls you her little pumpkin pie.”

  Her eyes grew wide before she put her hand in mine, and I grasped it. I was extending her a lifeline, one that would save her…for now, and one that would rescue so many others in the future. I had to prepare her…me. “And yes you do have a grandma, and she loves you very much. You just don’t remember her. You haven’t seen her since you were a baby. But she is going to be so happy to see you. She’s going to take good care of you.” We stepped out to the room together and little me stopped and stared at the bed.

  “See, she’s sleeping. We need to leave her to rest right now. She wants you to get something to eat.”

  The little girl looked up at me with concern. “I hope she feels better after her nap. She’s been really sick lately. Her tummy was hurting before we came, and she threw up all day yesterday.”

  I looked down at her…me and then back toward the bed. I’d forgotten that part. Mom probably died of dehydration. I smiled at the scared little girl. “She isn’t hurting anymore. We need to leave so she can rest in peace.”

  It was then I remembered the next step. “Stay right here, so you don’t wake up your mommy.” I walked to the nightstand beside the bed and pulled out a wallet. I flipped it open. There was my mother’s driver’s license and social security card. The picture was close enough to pass for me and the age would pass too. I put the wallet into my purse and walked back to the little girl who would grow up to be me.

  “Let’s go get those pancakes.” We walked out to the car and I buckled her in. Then I pointed to the motel. “I need you to look at that motel and the sign. You have to remember this day. This is the Beach Bum Motel in Camden, South Carolina. We are going to say it over and over on our way to the pancake house. If you can say it all back to me after we finish the pancakes, I will take you to buy a pretty new dress to go meet your grandma in.”

  The little girl’s eyes grew wide. “I like new dresses.”

  I smiled back. “I know. Let’s get busy. You are such a smart girl and a strong girl, and you can take care of yourself. Remember that always.”

  The little girl finished her pancakes, and the waitress came to take the plates off the table. I pulled the page from my day planner, took a pen, and circled the date. Then I wrote the name of the motel on the date before handing it to her.

  “I want you to keep this. Hang it up in your new room at your grandma’s house. Take it with you when you move from there. Look at it every single day and always keep this day fresh in your memory. It will save your life one day.”

  The little girl took it and looked at the paper, her eyes large and dark. I could see her shoulders slump like she suddenly felt the weight of what I was saying pressing against them. I hated it for her but she might as well get used to it.

  “Can you read yet?”

  She shook her head.

  “Well, you will soon. Your grandma will put you in a good school and feed you good foods and teach you lots of good things. You were a good girl for your mommy. You obeyed and stayed in the bathroom, no matter how scared you got.”

  The little girl nodded.

  “Now I need you to listen to me and to your grandma just like you listened to your mommy. Do what your grandmother says. Keep the promises she tells you to make. Pay attention, learn and always be ready to work hard. Life isn’t easy and no one is going to take care of you except you. Today, I came and rescued you from that bathroom when your mommy got sick, but no one else is ever going to come rescue you again…ever.”

  The little girl’s eyes grew wide.

  “I’m sorry, but it’s the truth of it. From now on you have to always be ready to save everyone else around you. No one will ever do that for you again.”

  A lonely look filled the little girl’s eyes, and I saw her shake a bit. But she had to know the truth of it. The truth of her life.

  I reached out and took her hand. “If you do what I tell you and listen to your grandma, everything will work out just like it’s supposed to. That’s your job. That’s why you are here. Someday, you will understand why you were rescued today. Someday, it will all make sense and when that happens, you will meet the most handsome man with dark hair and blue eyes and you will find out who you were meant to be.”

  She smiled and her shoulders relaxed. “Like a handsome prince?”

  “Yes, only you will have to save him and everyone else. It will all be on you to do the rescuing. And when you feel scared or sad in the future, you have to swallow it and keep a smile on your face. It’s so important. They can’t know how much you hurt or how scared you are.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it isn’t fair to make them suffer too.”

  She seemed to miss the last part. “I have to rescue the prince? That’s funny.”

  Not really. But I just smiled. I was already overwhelming her.

  “Will we get married?”

  I shrugged and smiled at her. “That’s the way the stories go, right?”

  She giggled and nodded her head. “Will we have a baby?”

  “The most remarkable baby ever.” I held back the tears that formed as I swallowed. I knew too much. I knew the good and the bad. That was the curse of my life. “Now let’s go and get you that new pretty dress and take you to your grandmother’s house.”

  *
>
  I SAT IN THE CAR staring at the old familiar house and swallowed. How long had it been since I’d seen my grandmother? How I missed her.

  “Is this where my grandma lives?”

  I looked back at the little girl. “Yes it is.”

  I stepped out and opened the back door. I took the bag of clothes and items we’d purchased when she got the dress she was now wearing. I remembered how tight things were. This would at least get her started.

  I took the little girl’s hand and walked up the steps to the porch. I knocked and held my breath. The woman opened, and my heart was in my throat. I wanted to throw my arms around her. I wanted to feel at home. I hadn’t felt that way in so long.

  “Can I help...?” she grabbed at her throat. A joyful look of desperation came over her. “Lisa?”

  She thought I was my mother. “No ma’am. I’m…” I choked for a moment and had to swallow. I’m with DSS. I…I’m sorry but your daughter, Lisa Kelly Parker is…I glanced behind me at the little girl and then back and my grandmother. I’m sorry. She got sick and didn’t make it.”

  “No! No! No!” A yell from her gut followed as she braced herself in the doorway. “Not my Lisa.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I failed her. I failed her. Over and over I failed her. It’s my fault. Not my baby. I didn’t do enough. I didn’t…” She turned wild eyes at me. “I didn’t protect my baby. I didn’t believe her when she said he touched her. I didn’t want to believe that’s why he had moved in with me.”

  I swallowed as I realized what she was saying.

  “She wouldn’t bring the baby back to live at home if he stayed. We argued about it. I refused to believe it. I thought he loved me but after she ran off, he didn’t want to stay anymore and then I knew.”

  I swallowed, not remembering any men ever hanging around grandma’s house. “Is he gone now?”

  “Yes. Long gone. In prison, last I heard.”

  I looked at my grandmother and swallowed back the emotion. There was so much I’d not realized as a kid. “Before Lisa passed, she relinquished custody of her daughter to you.”

  The old woman’s gaze followed down my arm to the little girl, seeing her for the first time since we’d arrived. “She looks just like Lisa, but with darker hair.” My grandmother bent down and grabbed hold of the little girl and held her to her chest. “Thank you, Jesus, for giving me a second chance to do this right. Thank you. Thank you.” She wouldn’t let go of little me as her chant changed. “I won’t let you down this time, Lisa. I won’t let you down. I’m changed.” Tears still poured down the woman’s face as she stepped back to look at me.

  “I will do it right this time. I know better. I know better. I was too broken to help anybody back then. Not even myself.” She shook the emotions away. “I’m sorry about all that.” She swiped at her tears and then her nose and sniffed a bit. “Please come in.” She pulled the little girl into the house, kissing her cheek over and over as I followed, looking around the living room, swallowing back the memories. I had to hold it together and act professional and detached.

  Chapter 11

  Layla

  I PULLED INTO THE PARKING lot of the office, parked in Drake’s normal spot, and walked in. Mr. Duke was hunched over some paperwork. He glanced up when I dropped the keys on his desk. “I’m glad you came back. I was worried.”

  “You shouldn’t be. Wasn’t the first time I stole your car and your money.” I plopped into the seat in front of him. “You still keep a bottle in your desk?”

  He shook his head. “Sorry. I stopped bothering since someone kept throwing it out.”

  I shrugged. “How was the office without me?”

  “Busy. Do you know how much traffic we get now? How often the phone rings? How many customers and potential customers now walk through that door? Nearly drove me to lock the doors and pull out my bottle.”

  “You just said you don’t have one anymore.”

  “I don’t. That’s why I didn’t.”

  I half laughed. “Yeah, actually I do know. I’m the one who deals with that on a daily basis... remember?”

  “Well, you’re promoted to office manager, and you’re finding another you to add to the office.”

  “I’m one of a kind.”

  “That you are.”

  “That reminds me,” I reached down into my purse and pulled out the cards. “Speaking of becoming an actual employee—I have my documentation now.” I handed the cards to him. “But I still want to go by my nickname, Layla.”

  He took the cards and looked them over. “Driver’s license pictures are the worst. You look like a drug addict on this.”

  I shrugged. “I had a bad case of the flu.”

  “And in need of a hairbrush.”

  “Hey, I was sick!” I shouted, indignant.

  “I thought you said you were from California. This is a South Carolina license.”

  “I lived in South Carolina first, then moved to California. Now back to South Carolina.”

  “I guess I’m not the only one who has cleaned up lately. Maybe that’s why you knew how to help me.”

  He stood and took the cards over to the copy machine. “Well, I’m glad you are ready to come on board.” He glanced down at the license. “Lisa Kelly Parker.”

  I stood and snatched the card from him. “I told you to call me Layla.” I took a deep breath as I accepted who I was fully. “I’m changing it legally as soon as I can. Lisa Kelly Parker is dead.”

  *

  I TOSSED AND TURNED ON the sofa that night, recalling the day I’d seen my mother’s dead body and my grandmother alive again. I’d gone home and even eaten Grandma’s chicken stew again. She’d been so happy about getting her granddaughter, she’d hugged me. She smelled just like I remembered. Her scent, a mixture of baby powder and liniment. Maybe I could visit from time to time. Did I remember my “case worker” visiting after delivering me to Grandma? No, I didn’t.

  I choked back a sob. I had to let that part of my life die again, and it hurt. It hurt the first time I realized my mother was gone for good, but it tore me to bits the day I lost Grandma. I sucked in the pain and emotion. I didn’t like overwhelming feelings. My normal response to them was to swallow them down into the pit of my stomach—find busy work and ignore the feeling and put a smile on my face. That gnawing pain in my gut was easier to deal with than the emotions. That’s where they stayed because there was no need torturing others with my heartaches.

  I rolled over again and thought of David. He was my promised dark-haired, blue-eyed prince. I sat up and gasped for air. I knew his future…our future, and I knew what we would create together. There was potential to change the world. I swallowed, thinking of the timeline of it all. Little me was four. I would go back in time at age twenty-four. I sat up and started counting on my fingers. My rules for the guy I would give my heart to had ventured off the path. What was it I told my younger self today? It was my job to rescue everyone else. I had to work hard. I had to provide. I could do that. I was good at it. It was his job to discover time travel. And the world would be forever changed by what we would become.

  I lay back down and took in the thoughts. I thought of the years ahead and pushed them aside. The only way I could live with any joy at all would be to take most days as if I knew nothing and lived in the moment. If not, I’d live in dread. But I did know some things and realized I had to take action on them soon or everything would go off course.

  *

  I WOKE WITH A JOLT and sat up on the sofa. It took me a moment to remember where I was when I heard more tapping on the door. I pushed the comforter from me, stumbled to the door, and looked out the peephole to see David, before opening.

  I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I spoke, “Hey, what are you doing here?”

  “I was worried about you. I went by the office after school yesterday, and you weren’t there. Drunk Duke was scrambling around the office and couldn’t give me an answer about where you were or w
hen you’d be back. I came by here later and you weren’t here either.”

  I shut the door behind him and took in a deep breath as I thought of how to answer him. I stalled with, “Don’t call him that. He’s cleaned himself up.”

  “Where did you go?”

  “I just had some personal matters to take care of.”

  “Like?”

  It was then I noticed he had a bag and a drink carrier with coffees. “You brought breakfast?”

  “Yeah, and stop dodging.”

  I followed him into the kitchen and leaned against the counter where he spread out the biscuits and hash browns. There still wasn’t any furniture in that room. “Mr. Duke needed me to turn in a driver’s license and social security card so I could be hired officially. I went and got those.” That was the truth, just not all of it.

  “Where did you get them from?” David took a bite of his biscuit.

  “I…remember the idea that I’d find the social security number of someone deceased. Let’s just say I knew where to look because of where I’m from.” I pulled the egg and bacon from the biscuit and nibbled on it before heading to the fridge for some cut up fruit to go with it.

  “Ah, I see. So what’s your new name?”

  “Layla. I’m having my name changed legally as soon as I can.”

  “But what if the family of the deceased comes looking for you or finds out.”

  “They won’t. They don’t even know she’s dead. With no ID on her, she became a Jane Doe.”

  “Then how did you know?”

  I shook the image of my mom’s naked blue body from my mind and had to step away from my breakfast. “My childhood wasn’t like yours. I was around things. I saw and heard things no child should. Please, don’t make me say more.”

  David shook his head. “I won’t. I’m sorry.”

  “I’m putting that behind me. I’m looking toward to the future. OUR future.”

  David moved closer, placing his hand on the small of my back. “I like the sound of that. I promise, I will find a job and find a way to do that and school so you feel secure in this.”