“Are you going to kick the tires, too, McBain?”
“Are ye sassing me?” he asked.
“Kenzie might think you’re paranoid,” Amber said, “but I appreciate your attention to detail. Does it look safe enough?”
“Aye, the trek over the mountains and then nineteen hours from Fairplay to Denver riding in a stagecoach sounds unbearable to me. Are ye sure this is what ye want?”
“I’ve ridden that long across the desert in a jeep with worn-out shocks. It’s not so bad,” Amber said.
“It’s not too late to change yer mind and go home with us.”
“I know how long the trip will take, the conditions of the road, and the dangers ahead. Call me crazy, but I still really want to go to Morrison. At lunch the other day, Grandfather Hughes gave me an exhaustive mile-by-mile, blow-by-blow of what I can expect to find on the road. Once we get past the Weston Pass to Fairplay, it won’t be so bad.”
The stagecoach driver came around the coach, smoothing one end of a long drooping mustache covering compressed lips. His eyebrows, bleached nearly white by constant sun exposure, were furrowed in a frown. He tipped back his wide-brimmed hat and pulled up the neckerchief that protected mouth and nose from the elements. Under his arm, he carried a U.S. Mail pouch. After nodding to a man polishing one of the parked stagecoaches, he climbed up into the driver’s box and settled in.
He glanced around the yard and nodded toward David. “All aboard. Departing in five minutes.”
“We’re waiting on two more passengers,” David said.
“Just one.” David, Kenzie, and Amber whirled to find Daniel at the rear of the stagecoach tying a horse’s reins to a boot support. “Do ye have anything to go back here?”
“My bags are already stowed,” Amber said.
A street urchin with curly blond hair tufting from under a faded red cap ran up to Daniel. “Mr. Hood over at Western Union sent me to give you this telegram, sir.” Daniel flipped the lad a coin, which the boy pocketed before running down an alleyway.
Daniel stuck his finger under the seal of the sharp-cornered envelope and removed a slip of paper, but prior to reading the telegram his eyes fixed upon Amber, and he smiled. The attraction between them was indeed mutual. An unexpected wave of protectiveness rose in David, and he wanted to stop a relationship from developing before Amber risked more than she could afford to lose.
He made a sound deep in his throat. Kenzie squinted a question at him. He twitched his finger. He had taught her only a couple of the signs he and Elliott used to secretly communicate. Wait, the sign said to her. A beat passed between them, and she returned her attention to Daniel with a slight lift of her chin. Understood, her nod said in return.
Daniel read the telegram then shoved the paper into his jacket pocket. His eyes turned dark. “Wait for me,” he shouted to the driver, then withdrew to the mouth of the alley.
“Hurry up,” the driver said. “We have to get through the mountains before dark.”
Daniel pivoted and, throwing out a Gaelic curse, “Faigh muin,” followed the street urchin down the alleyway.
“What’d he say—?” Amber asked.
“Why so secretive?” Kenzie asked.
David tilted his head down and gazed at her, as if looking over a pair of glasses, a not so subtle look.
“Oh,” Kenzie said, glancing at Amber. “It’s none of our business.”
Amber opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. Then her concerned expression softened. “I hope he won’t be in a dark mood during the trip. That won’t be much fun.”
“He’s a professional. He’ll manage,” Kenzie said.
“Ye best get aboard,” David said to Amber.
Her eyes glistened as she hugged Kenzie again. “I have something for you.” She dug into her reticule and placed a coin in Kenzie’s hand.
“I don’t need twenty dollars. You keep it.”
“It’s a Proof Liberty Head double eagle worth at least two hundred thousand dollars, in our time. It’s from the money thrown on stage that David, Rick, and I divided. Take it to a coin collector. If I’m right, it’ll pay for your children’s college education.”
“You found it,” Kenzie said, trying to press it back into Amber’s hand. “You keep it.”
Amber braced her hands behind her back. “I have one in a lock box in a Denver bank. A collector would be suspicious if I showed up with two. Hold on to it.”
“We’ll talk about it when you come back,” Kenzie said.
David kissed Amber’s cheeks. “Remember, lass, ye promised not to take any chances with yer health and safety. I know the altitude is bothering ye. Now I know about yer joints. If yer condition gets worse, I expect ye to come home. Don’t make me regret leaving ye behind.”
“I’m fine, but maybe you should say the same thing to Rick. Where is he, by the way?”
Kenzie scratched a place behind her ear, ducking her head slightly. “Ah, I believe his fan club was demanding another, shall we say, curtain call.”
David glared, and irritation crept into his voice. “Why didn’t ye tell me?”
She imitated him, looking down her nose. And for a brief second, he thought they were discussing Jack Mallory, not Rick O’Grady. The men were nothing alike. Rick was a warrior, and Jack was a pain in the ass.
Kenzie checked the time on her watch pin then glanced in the direction of the alleyway. “Here he comes. Right on time.”
Rick waved, a cigar perched between two fingers. His saddle bags tossed casually over one shoulder, and his horse trailed behind him.
“Five more minutes and ye’d been left behind.”
“Come on, McBain. Do you see all Americans as lesser mortals, or is it just me?” He cinched down the bedroll tucked under his arm to the D ring on the saddle.
“It’s not just you, Rick,” Kenzie said.
“Aren’t you riding inside the coach?” Amber asked.
He put his arm around her shoulder. “Are you saying you’d miss me, sweetheart?”
She patted his chest. “Not as much as the members of your fan club.”
“Aw shucks, ma’am.” He tied his horse to the rear of the stagecoach. “Where’s Daniel?”
“A street urchin brought him a telegram and he hustled off, cursing,” Amber said.
“Sounds encouraging.” Rick opened the stagecoach door. “Hello little guy. I didn’t know you were coming with us.”
“Yes sir, Mr. O’Grady. My grandpa in Denver asked me to come for a visit. Can we sing during the trip?”
“Sure. We’ll have a first-class hootenanny.”
“What’s that?”
“A gathering of entertainers performing for their own enjoyment.”
“It’s a shame Mr. McBain isn’t coming with us. He could play the sax.”
David hooked his hand over the lip of the window, its leather side curtain rolled to the top. “Maybe next time, lad. Ye take care of Miss Amber for me. Will ye do that?”
“I sure will, sir.”
“There’s no heat in there, so snuggle up with her and stay warm in that brown bear coat David bought.” Kenzie said. “And if you’re still cold, the bear rug should cover all four laps if you sit close together.”
“Wasn’t the point of renting the entire coach to give us room to stretch out?” Rick asked.
Amber laughed. “Five days ago, you were freezing just standing out on the boardwalk. You’ll be cozying up to me before we get out of Leadville.”
Rick winked at her. “Babe, save me a seat on the other side of you.”
Kenzie pulled him in for a hug. “Your sister will kick my ass for leaving you here, so don’t go Rambo on me and get yourself hurt again.”
“I’ve already assured David, I’ll take care of Amber and get us both home safely in a couple of weeks. You don’t have to worry, and neither does JL. Keep her calm, will you?”
Kenzie squeezed him again in a tighter hug. “I’ll still worry, and so will she.”
“There’s Daniel,” David said, nodding toward the alleyway. “From the way he’s stomping through the mud, he doesn’t seem any happier than when he left.”
Daniel handed Amber an envelope. “I got this at the telegraph office. It’s for ye.”
“Who’s sending me a telegram?”
“Open it and ye’ll find out,” David said.
Amber slipped a piece of paper from the envelope. “It’s from Mr. and Mrs. Adam Hughes. They’re picking Rick and me up at the train station and have invited us to stay with them while we’re in town.”
“Isn’t that lovely,” Kenzie said. “I’ll be sure to stop by the store and tell Mrs. Hughes you received an invitation from her son.”
“Oh, will you do that? Thanks. Tell her I’ll write from Denver.” A wistful expression crossed Amber’s face. “When you see Olivia, tell her I love her.”
Kenzie stepped closer to David’s side, and he put his arm around her waist. “We will. Please be safe.”
“I can’t wait to see you again and share news,” Amber said.
From the expressions on their faces, David knew the women shared secrets. Kenzie never divulged anything told her in confidence, so he’d never hear Amber’s news. But his bride would eventually tell him hers. This time, though, he already knew.
Daniel shook David’s hand. “I hope to see ye again. Have a safe trip west.”
David pressed his other hand on top of Daniel’s, and what passed between them in that instant said more than any conversation ever could. Kenzie had already accused him of starting a bromance with Daniel, and he had laughed it off. But the friendship they had developed could, aside from Kenzie, be David’s longest-lasting affair.
“We’ll meet again,” David assured him.
Daniel boarded behind Rick. “What’s this?”
“She jumped in, Pa. I couldn’t send her back.”
“What if yer grandpa doesn’t want her?”
“How could he not, Pa?”
Daniel pounded the side of the stagecoach. “I don’t know, lad, but we’ll soon find out.”
The driver slapped reins on the horses’ haunches and they took off at a trot with the coach’s wheels slogging through the red mud of Leadville.
David and Kenzie stood in the stage lot watching the stagecoach long after it had disappeared. Sniffling, she said, “I hope we’re doing the right thing.”
He hugged her tighter. “I hope so, too, lass. Now let’s go home. If we don’t see Rick and Amber in a few days, we’ll have to come back after them.”
“The way the brooches work, they could already be there.”
David and Kenzie turned toward the street that would take them back to the boardinghouse to pick up their personal items and Amber’s guitar. After a tearful goodbye with Mrs. Garland, they stopped by Hughes Store for another goodbye with Mr. and Mrs. Hughes.
“I wish we all could have stayed here longer,” Kenzie said as she and David walked down the boardwalk toward the livery where the horses were boarded.
“Now I know what it takes to get ye away from the twins and Laurie Wallis.”
“Oh yeah. What’s that?”
“A girlfriend.”
“Are you jealous?”
“Me? The man who’s had more sex in five days than I’ve had in the last five months?”
Kenzie stopped and glared at him. “Months? Think again, McBain. Two weeks, maybe. But I’ve never neglected you. Not even when I was pregnant.”
He rolled back his head and laughed. “Aye. Ye’re right, lass.” Then he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and unfolded it.
Kenzie glanced at the small object nestled in the handkerchief, her mouth wide open. “Where’d you find that?”
“In the bed. Do ye want to explain what this means?”
She groaned. “You know damn good and well what it means.”
He counted forward nine months, smiling. “What are the odds ye’ll have twins again? Maybe two wee lassies this time.”
She covered her face with her gloved hands and shook her head. “Geez, McBain. Don’t put me through that.”
“What I don’t get is how yer wee thing came out?”
“Expulsions happen in three percent of cases. This isn’t the first time I’ve been a statistic, and if my luck holds, we’ll have another set of twins.”
“Did ye know?”
“I couldn’t feel the strings, so I thought I might have lost it in the privy. I’m glad you found it and not Mrs. Garland.”
He pulled her aside, out of the path of foot traffic. “I don’t know much about this, but should we wait a few days, ye know, to give the bairns time to settle in yer womb before we go through the time tunnel again?”
His wife had the decency to bite her cheek instead of laughing outright. “They’ll be fine, but if something happens, I’ll give you another chance.”
He kissed her right there on Harrison Avenue, and he didn’t give a damn who was looking their way. His heart took off like a balloon full of helium. “I love ye.”
They continued their stroll to the livery, holding hands as if time didn’t matter. In a way, it didn’t. He collected their horses, paid the boarding bill, and watched over his bride as she mounted up.
“Let’s go home,” he said.
He directed them toward the wide road leading down Third Street, out of town until traffic thinned, listening to the animals’ rhythmic pounding of their hoofs in the mud-covered macadam. For a moment, David relaxed into the motion, letting go of worries and concerns.
Another bairn, possibly two. He couldn’t be happier, and then worry slipped in as he remembered the dangerous circumstances of Kenzie’s last pregnancy. As soon as he got to a phone, he’d call her OB/GYN and ask if it was safe for her to go through it again. No matter how many kids he wanted, he would never put his bride’s life at risk.
He reined his horse over to a scrim of trees, dismounted, and helped Kenzie to the ground.
“Don’t lose me in the wormhole,” she said.
“I won’t.” With both sets of reins wrapped around his hand, he hugged Kenzie to his side, and pulled the diamond brooch from his pocket. “Are ye ready?”
She nodded and closed her eyes. “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.”
Laughing, David kissed her again. “Don’t forget to click yer heels.” Then he spoke the magic words that would take them to the future.
24
The Present, MacKlenna Farm, Lexington, Kentucky—David
When the fog lifted on a crisp, sunny day full of autumn aromas, Kenzie and David were standing on the bank of MacKlenna Farm’s lake, the water reflecting a rich shade of teal. Gold, red, and orange leaves of the woodland pasture provided a dramatic backdrop for the stallions lazing in their white painted-fenced paddocks.
Kenzie tilted back her head, closed her eyes, and smiled with the warmth of the sun on her face. “Time to break out the tweeds and enjoy a warm cup of burgoo.”
David took advantage of her canted head and pursed lips, and he kissed her. The kiss was only a touch at first, then a burst of hunger as his tongue caressed her lips. They’d made love before she’d gone out for breakfast with Amber, but he wanted her again. And wanted her now. If the grounds around the lake weren’t covered by video surveillance, he’d take her here. The eagerness with which her breasts and hips pressed against him, was all the reassurance he needed that she wanted him as well.
He nibbled lightly on her bottom lip. “Welcome home, lass.”
She reached down and rubbed his erection. “Hmm. Is this patch of ground surveilled?”
“Afraid so,” he groaned. “Can we freeze this moment for about an hour and meet in the shower?”
“We could try. But I think it will thaw before either of us can clear our calendars of what’s waiting for us.”
“I thought ye did that before we left.”
“Nope. I assumed we’d only be
gone a few minutes, and I could pick up where I left off.”
He kissed her once more. “Let’s see how long we’ve been gone.” He dug into the bottom of his saddlebag where his mobile phone was hidden in a leather pouch, and he turned it on. “Same day, five minutes later.”
“Five days in the past, five minutes in the present.” She held on to his arm and dunked her booted feet, one by one, into the lake to rinse off the top layer of mud. “I don’t understand how that’s possible, but I’m glad it is.”
He pulled up his recent call list and clicked on Elliott’s name.
Kenzie dragged her feet in the thick grass to dry her boots. “Who are you calling, Connor?”
“Not yet. I want to talk to Elliott before I email the video, and I want to email the video before I call Connor. I’m just checking messages.”
“Wait a minute,” Kenzie said. “You gave Rick the amethyst brooch. So why aren’t they here? They should be. Right?”
David rubbed the base of his neck, thinking. “If they’re traveling with the amber stone, they could arrive today, tomorrow, next week, next month. We don’t know that stone’s properties.”
“But wouldn’t Rick use the amethyst since he knows how that stone works?”
“I would,” David said. “Maybe the amber is more powerful. Until we understand the inscription on the stone, we won’t know for sure. That’s why we made the video—to explain Amber’s absence.”
“It sure will be easier when we get all the keys to the cave door in the castle and can just walk in and out without worrying about which brooch we’re carrying and when it will bring us home.”
“God, I hope that day comes long after I’m dead. I don’t want the responsibility of guarding that door.”
There was a quaver in Kenzie’s voice when she said, “Which leaves us with the responsibility of ensuring all the kids have a clear understanding of what’s at stake.”
The Amber Brooch: Time Travel Romance (The Celtic Brooch Book 8) Page 28