Rick blew out a tense breath. “Charlotte, this is Rick O’Grady. I have an emergency and need your help. I just arrived back from 1878. I’m inside your wire—”
“You’re where?” she asked.
“Sorry. Military term. We’re on hospital property. A grassy area near the Emergency Department parking lot. I have a thirty-two-year-old skinny white woman with severe breathing complications, a frightened ten-year-old boy, and a dog with a head injury.”
“Stay put. I’ll be right there. I’ll call Braham to help with the dog.”
“Tango Mike.” Rick disconnected, wondering why he was reverting to military slang. “Charlotte’s coming out. Help is on its way, sweetheart.”
“Where are we?” The tremor in Noah’s voice said he was fighting back tears.
Rick hugged him again. “I’d sugarcoat this for you, if I could. But we don’t have time. We’re in Richmond, Virginia, in the twenty-first century. This is a temporary stop for you. I’ll get you back to your pa as soon as we get help for Amber and Ripley. Okay?”
“Did…did we fall down a rabbit hole?”
“Like Alice? Probably seems like it. If your stomach is doing flips of fear that’s normal. But you’re not in danger. There’s a lot going on that you don’t understand, but no one is going to hurt you. You’re not going to be stranded. There are people here who will walk across hot coals for you.” Rick pulled a business card from his phone case. “Put this in your pocket. It has all my contact information. You’ll always be able to reach me if we get separated.”
Noah grabbed Rick’s hand, held it tightly, and in a panicked voice asked, “Aren’t we staying together?”
“I’m not leaving you, buddy. This is for an emergency. Hold on to it.”
Noah relaxed his grip and studied the card. “You’re a director?”
“Yep, but it’s only a fancy title. No big deal.” Rick had a flashback to being in the hospital when he returned from Afghanistan. A mental health professional had handed him a card with contact information and told him to call when he was ready to talk. He never lost the card. He never made the call either.
Two minutes, forty seconds later, three people in scrubs pushed a gurney out of the ED and hurried across the parking lot toward them. Rick had never seen Charlotte in scrubs and a white doctor’s coat, and at first, he didn’t recognize her.
“Let’s get her on the gurney,” Charlotte said.
The two attendants bent to pick Amber up off the grass, but Rick wouldn’t let them. “I’ll do it.” He laid her gently on the stretcher then tenderly cupped her cheek. He wanted her to know she was in good hands.
To Charlotte he said, “Her name is Amber Kelly. She’s from Denver. She’s complained of breathing problems for the last ten days and believed she was suffering from altitude sickness.”
“From the way y’all are dressed, it looks like you’ve been involved in a nineteenth-century reenactment,” Charlotte said, in a wink-wink sort of way. “We have reenactors show up in the ED all the time.”
He glanced down at his trousers, vest, and jacket, and almost crossed himself in grateful thanks that his gun wasn’t strapped to his hip. “Right. That’s what we were doing.”
“I didn’t know there was one going on right now,” one of the attendants said.
“Must have been a small one,” Charlotte said, offering cover for Rick.
“Probably weren’t a hundred people there.” Rick never thought he’d have to lie about the adventure once he came home. Was there no end to it?
“Breathing…worse today,” Amber said. “Couldn’t wear my corset.”
“That was a wise decision.” Charlotte nodded to the two attendants. “Take her on in. I’ll be right behind you.” The attendants, one pushing from the end of the gurney and the other at Amber’s side, headed back across the parking lot.
“We’ll take it from here,” Charlotte said.
“I need to go, too. David told me not to leave her. I did for a couple of hours, and this happened.”
Charlotte gave him a clear-eyed look and spoke directly to him so there was no misunderstanding. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her yet, and I don’t know what happened earlier, but—”
“Two men entered her room and stole her journal while I was gone,” Rick interrupted. “It must have been hell trying to breathe when she was so scared.”
With the knot lodging in his throat, he wondered about his own next breath. After David got hold of him, it wouldn’t matter. Hell, not only David, but Pops, too. His father could give a tongue lashing worse than any sergeant Rick ever met in the Marines. And he’d deserve every bit of the punishment.
The attendants reached the ED entrance and disappeared inside the hospital.
“There’s nothing you can do for her right now,” Charlotte said. “We need to do a workup first.” She knelt in front of Noah, gently rubbed Ripley’s belly with one hand and laid the other on top of Noah’s. “What’s your name?”
“Ripley.” Noah’s fingers, clamped tightly on his sharp-boned kneecap, visibly relaxed beneath her touch.
“That’s a lovely name,” Charlotte said, “So, Ripley, what’s your friend’s name?”
Noah gave her a shy smile. “I knew you weren’t asking about Ripley. I was just being funny. Amber laughs when I do that.”
Charlotte smiled in return. “You’re quite the jokester. Are you going to tell me your name?”
“Noah Grant, and I’m not from here.” He nodded toward Ripley. “Neither is she.”
“You know what? My husband isn’t from here and neither is my nephew.”
Rick tousled Noah’s hair. “Did you reach Braham?”
“He’ll be here shortly.” She smiled. “My son Lincoln and my nephew are about your age. They’ll be here in a few minutes.” Charlotte stood, still smiling warmly at Noah. “The boys were going to soccer practice but they’re coming here instead. Braham will take Ripley to the vet and Lincoln and Patrick will take care of Noah. As soon as things are settled here, go to the ED waiting room. I’ll come out as soon as I have news.”
“Don’t keep me waiting long. I have your number if you do.” As soon as the words were spoken, he wished he could reel back the demand and the impatient undertone, but it was too late.
Charlotte’s expression sobered, and she said simply, “Amber is my chief concern.” And with that, she turned and jogged after her patient.
Rick sat on the ground with Noah and Ripley. His relief, if there was any, evaporated. Today was just a Groundhog Day. No matter what he did to try to change it, another bad day was coming. Amber was seriously ill. Pleasing her instead of protecting her had been a mistake and ignoring his responsibility had created this mess.
“I don’t think that lady in the funny clothes understood what I meant when I said I’m not from here.”
Noah’s musing interrupted Rick’s consternation. “She knew exactly what you meant. Her husband fought in the Civil War. In 1869, he came to this time. And her nephew, Patrick, arrived last year from New York City in 1909.”
Noah visibly swallowed hard. “Oh, then I guess she did understand. Does that mean there are other people like me, like them?”
“I don’t know the answer to that. We’ll have to ask David.”
Noah smacked his forehead in a comical exaggeration. “David and Kenzie are from here, too?”
“And Connor and Olivia.”
“Does my pa know where you’re from?” Noah’s musical voice trilled up the scale an octave or more.
“No,” Rick grumbled, “and he won’t like it at all.”
“Why not?” Noah’s voice descended to the lower register faster than it had ascended to the upper register. Why Rick was thinking in musical terms was as confusing to him as why he was using military slang.
And then he knew.
Hospitals reminded him of his musically talented mother and her death, and military terms reminded him of his own weeks of painful recuperation. He just didn’t want
to be here.
“Why not, Rick?” Noah repeated the question.
Rick watched a black Suburban pull into the parking lot. He should have asked Charlotte what kind of vehicle Braham was driving. The Suburban moved slowly through the lot toward the grassy edge. It had to be Braham.
Noah elbowed Rick, waiting for an answer. “Oh, sorry. It’ll complicate his life.”
The Suburban pulled to a stop in front of them. “Hey, man. Ye looking for a ride?” Braham swung open the driver’s door and two boys climbed out of the back.
The boys rushed over to Rick and squeezed him in a clamshell hug. “You’ve been on an adventure.” Lincoln tugged on Rick’s jacket sleeve. “Your jacket smells like peat. Where’d you go?”
“Hunting dinosaur bones in 1878 Colorado, and I brought Noah back with me. Can you guys help him out?”
“Sure.” The boys released Rick, plopped down on the grass with Noah and Ripley, and introduced themselves.
After Braham and Rick gave each other a quick guy-hug and slap on the back, Braham stepped over to the dog and looked at the cut on her head. “What happened to her?”
“She must have been hit on the head and might have a concussion. Will you take her to a vet? I need to go see about Amber.”
“She’s the injured woman ye brought back?”
“Yep. She can’t breathe. Charlotte said she’d let me know after they did a workup on her.”
Braham picked up Ripley, carried her to the Suburban, and laid her on the back seat. When she whimpered, Braham hitched his hip on the edge of the seat and gently rubbed her belly. “If Amber’s from the past, she’ll find the hospital a scary place.”
“She’s a lawyer in Denver. Have you heard Connor mention Olivia Kelly, the Realtor he’s been working with to find Elliott a ranch in Colorado?”
“Ye mean the woman Connor’s in love with? Aye, David mentioned her recently. Is Amber related?”
“She’s Olivia’s sister. She found an amber brooch. David, Kenzie, and I went back to help her. Same story. Different players.”
“I don’t get it. Kenzie and David said they’d never travel again. What’s up with that?” Braham asked.
“It was personal for Kenzie. Trey Kelly was Amber and Olivia’s first cousin.”
“The soldier who saved Kenzie’s life?”
Rick nodded.
“Ah. Makes sense now. So, was this yer adventure?”
“Mine? No. Not mine. The hero of this story is Noah’s dad. He’s a Pinkerton agent Amber met in Leadville.”
“A Pinkerton, huh? What’s his name? I knew most of the agents a decade earlier. Unless they died, most of them are probably still working.”
“Daniel Grant.”
“Crap,” Braham said. “What does he look like? How old is he?”
“Looks like David, sounds like him, too. Few years younger.”
“That description fits a Pinkerton I knew. He was on Lincoln’s detail when the president was assassinated.”
“He told me he was there the night Lincoln was shot.” Rick nodded toward Noah. “That’s his son.”
Braham turned and looked at the three boys sitting in the grass. “How’d ye end up with him?”
“We were in Denver. Amber wanted to spend the day in Morrison hunting dinosaur bones and Noah asked to go with us. We took the train and spent a few hours there. Then the day turned into a Charlie Foxtrot.”
“A what?”
The situation shadowed Rick’s concentration, and he automatically used what was familiar—military slang. “Sorry. It’s a clusterfuck.”
“Ye gotta take the lad back.”
“He won’t leave without his dog.”
“The lad’s got to be scared to death.” Braham walked over to Noah, knelt, and extended his hand. “I’m Braham McCabe. I was a major in the Union Army on special assignment to President Lincoln. I knew lots of Pinkertons, including yer pa. He’s a good man.”
Noah shook Braham’s hand. “Mighty proud to meet you, Major McCabe. My pa’s still a Pinkerton man, but he doesn’t like to talk about what happened to the president.”
“I know, lad. I don’t either. We all failed Mr. Lincoln that night.” Braham stood and tapped Lincoln on the back. “I’m going to take Ripley to the vet. Ye boys going with me?”
Noah glanced at the car, turned his eyes toward the hospital, then back to the car, his loyalties obviously pulled in two different directions.
Patrick sensed Noah’s divided loyalties and said, “Lincoln and I can stay here with Noah while you take Ripley to the vet. Is that okay, Uncle Braham? I know what it feels like to just get here. It’s scary. And Noah doesn’t want to leave his mom.”
Rick watched Noah to see if he was going to correct Patrick’s belief that Amber was his mom. But Noah let it slide. He did, though, shyly glance at Rick, which put him in an awkward place. He was now Noah’s designated guardian. He had to protect him, and if he failed Noah as badly as he had failed Amber, then God help them all.
“Ye know yer boundaries in the hospital, Lincoln. Send yer mom a text and let her know ye’re staying here. If ye go to her office, ye know—”
“Not to read any patient files. We know, Dad.”
“Do ye have money to go to the cafeteria?”
Lincoln held out his hand and Braham handed over a few bills. “Don’t load Noah up with sugary foods. It’ll make him sick. Bland food. Maybe a hamburger and fruit. No pizza. No Mexican. No Chinese.”
“We got it,” Lincoln said. “Patrick knows what to do and what to eat.”
“And we won’t flirt with the nurses,” Patrick said.
Braham folded his arms and glared down at his nephew. “What do ye know about flirting with nurses?”
“Come on, Uncle Braham. We’re old enough to know stuff like that.” Patrick slapped Lincoln’s arm. “Let’s get out of here before your dad changes his mind.”
Lincoln grabbed Noah’s arm. “Let’s race to the door.”
“We should FaceTime James Cullen,” Patrick said. “He’ll want to know about Noah.”
“No. Wait.” Rick funneled his fingers through his hair. “Lincoln, you can’t tell JC. Elliott, Kenzie, and David are flying to Denver late this afternoon. They’re planning to go back to 1878 with Connor and Amber’s sister. There are reasons why they have to go. We can’t stop their trip. If they know we’re here, they won’t go back, and that could screw everything up.”
“Elliott’s going?” Braham asked.
“No. He plans to meet up with Meredith in Reno.”
“James Cullen will be pissed when he finds out,” Patrick said. “We’ve taken a blood oath to tell each other everything.”
“Hey, wait a minute,” Lincoln said. “This is like the Amy-Effect?”
Rick wasn’t sure what he was talking about. “Explain, please.”
“When Amy came home from 1909 before Patrick and the others,” Lincoln said, “she couldn’t contact them for months until after they were supposed to return. Remember? Uncle Jack didn’t think Amy loved him because she didn’t call. It got really screwy.”
“This is a similar situation,” Rick said. “So let’s keep it to ourselves for now.”
“What am I going to tell my parents?” Patrick asked. “And what if James Cullen calls us? He’ll know we’re hiding something.”
“Tell him ye’re out of school today, that ye have plans with a friend, and ye’ll call him later. That’s not a lie. As for your parents, Patrick, I’ll talk to them. Jack and Amy will understand,” Braham said.
Rick put his head in his hands. It gave him a headache thinking how convoluted it was. Why couldn’t it be a simple mission—there and back?
Because brooch adventures were never simple.
“We’ll keep Noah a secret for now,” Lincoln said. “Come on, let’s go.” The boys crossed the parking lot, two in soccer uniforms and the other wearing nineteenth-century trousers and jacket. Noah glanced back briefly. After Rick waved to
him, he ran off with the others.
“He’ll be acclimated within an hour, and no one will ever know he’s from the nineteenth century,” Braham said.
“Getting that acclimated will make it harder for him to return home,” Rick said.
“That’s not today’s problem. Amber and Ripley are. Let me get the dog to the vet. If ye want to clean up, I keep a change of clothes in Charlotte’s office. She has a bathroom with a shower. The jeans might be a little big around the waist.” Braham slapped his stomach. “I’m not as thin as ye are, but they won’t fall off. At least ye can put on clothes that don’t smell”—Braham scrunched his face, sniffing—“like peat.” He reached into the back seat and grabbed the boys’ soccer bags. “There are clean clothes in here if Noah wants to clean up.”
“Thanks. I’ll take you up on the offer. Noah and I visited a dinosaur dig this afternoon. The dust there was almost as bad as the moon dust in Afghanistan.”
“Is that like sand?”
“Heavy construction vehicles rip up the earth around combat outposts. When the dust dries it turns into the consistency of flour. You can’t get rid of it. I feel like I spent a day in an outpost.”
“Ye smell like it too. Clean up before ye go back to see Amber. I’ll send Lincoln a text. They’ll meet ye at the door.”
“Will you take our gear? I’ve got a couple of guns in my saddlebags. I better not try to go inside the hospital with them.”
They loaded Amber’s belongings, Noah’s bag, and Rick’s saddlebags into the front seat of the Suburban. “Thanks for doing this.”
Braham checked the time. “I’ll be back in about an hour.”
Rick watched Braham drive away before he made his way to the Emergency Department. The boys were waiting there for him, and he handed over the soccer bags.
“We’ll take you to Mom’s office, then we’re going to the cafeteria,” Lincoln said.
The bathroom was complete with the necessary amenities, and the office included a pullout sofa if he wanted to take a nap. Braham’s jeans were only slightly loose, but the long-sleeve polo shirt fit perfectly. He folded his dirty clothes and stowed them in a shopping bag he found folded up on the window ledge. He’d pick the bag up later.
The Amber Brooch: Time Travel Romance (The Celtic Brooch Book 8) Page 54