TWENTY-SIX

 

 

May 9th, 1902

Boise, Idaho

 

SOPHIE SAT ON a chair in the top floor suite of the Idanha Hotel in Boise Idaho, looking out over the hard-packed dirt of Main Street below. She had noticed this old historical building a couple times when in the downtown area, but had given it no thought, since it had a restaurant and a bar and apartments in it in 2018. Nothing she was interested in.

But now, in 1902, she and Wade, traveling under the names Sophie and Wade Olsen, had a top floor suite and were getting ready to go down for dinner with Duster and Bonnie and Dawn.

The suite was wonderful, with a living room of overstuffed furniture and a large stone fireplace. Hardwood floors were polished to a shine and in places covered by tan area rugs. The trim was all painted a dark brown and a round area on one corner with a table in it gave them a wide range of vision over the growing city.

The bedroom had a massive feather bed, two dressers, and a closet. And the bathroom had running water and an actual toilet with the tank about six feet in the air.

Stunning luxury for 1902 as far as Sophie knew from her research. She had liked the hotel instantly, from the first moment walking into the high-ceilinged lobby to the wonderful smells of fresh bread coming from the restaurant.

For two days, after getting established in 2218 and returning to 2018, she and Wade had talked and trained with Bonnie and Duster and Dawn. Sophie could have never imagined herself riding a horse. Just not something she had ever thought of doing in New Jersey. But they had taught her how to ride on a saddle from the 1880s. And ride like a woman of the time would ride.

And they had gotten both of them a wardrobe. She would be allowed to wear her own underwear, and the pants and dresses they had made for her used modern materials, even though they looked authentic to 1885. They were about as comfortable as possible, considering the fashions and constraints of the time on women of means.

By the morning of the second day, both she and Ward were so nervous, they couldn’t even eat breakfast. With every passing minute she had come to love him and depend on him more and more.

And he said he felt the same way, that without her beside him, he never would be doing any of this.

They had walked hand-in-hand from their condos to the institute along the river walk, both carrying small bags of personal stuff. They both knew they would only be gone from here for a few minutes, that later today they would make this walk back along the river, but there was no telling how long they would live in the past before that.

Bonnie had told them a story about how she and Duster, when they first started going into the past, had taken so many trips, done so many lifetimes one after another, that when they finally had decided to stop going back and actually go home, neither of them could remember how to drive.

They had laughed at that, but the idea of that had scared Sophie more than she wanted to admit, and that night, both she and Wade had talked and agreed to only a few trips into the past at a time before coming back to grounding and their work in this time.

But even with that, Sophie had no doubt she would be a different person the next time she walked this sidewalk.

And Wade would be different as well.

“Do you love me?” she had asked Wade right before they got to the institute.

He had stopped and faced her and taken her in his arms. “I love you more than anything.”

“So you want to spend a lot of time with me?”

He had smiled and kissed her.

Then he said while holding her, “I can’t imagine not being with you. In any time.”

That had been what she had needed to hear.

Exactly what she had needed.

They had jumped to 1902 instead of all the way back to 1887 for more training.

For Sophie, the ride into Boise along the wagon trail that was Warm Springs Avenue was amazing and scary at the same time.

Sophie had spent her entire adult life researching the past she now was in, trying to imagine it, trying to imagine how women felt living in it.

For the moment, all she felt was total fear combined with a feeling of awe that she was actually here, in 1902.

Wade asked her at one point how she was doing and she had said, “Scared to death.” He had asked of what.

“Riding into an unknown situation and falling off the horse,” she had said. “Take your pick.”

For the entire ride she couldn’t decide which fear trumped the other.

Besides that, the leather and cloth riding clothes of the time pinched her in places she didn’t realize could be pinched.

She wore her wide-brimmed hat to keep the sun off her fair skin. She had brought suntan lotion in a bottle from the time, but not a lot and Bonnie suggested she not use it unless in an emergency.

Beside her on the ride, handsome on his horse, Wade looked both worried and fascinated and seemed to be taking in everything with his wonderful green eyes. He had on dark jeans, a wide black belt, a light blue dress shirt, a long oilcloth coat, and a black cowboy hat.

He hadn’t ridden a horse either before, but had taken to it faster than Sophie had. He almost seemed at ease. She hoped she got to that state.

The plan was to spend a week or two in Boise in 1902, keep up their training, before jumping back to 1887. As Bonnie had said, the difference in Boise of 1887 and Boise of 1902 was stunning. Clearly she and Duster loved 1902.

Duster had jumped back a few seconds ahead of them from a different crystal, but about six months ahead of them in historical time, to get details ready such as making sure they all had horses and equipment for their short stay in 1902. Bonnie and Dawn had also used a different crystal and gone together.

They would all be gone only just over two minutes, but by taking different crystals, they could leave 1902 when they wanted.

So when they all reached the Idanha Hotel’s beautiful stone and mahogany lobby, Duster had made sure they had room reservations

Now, after checking into the hotel and going to their suite on the 4th floor, Sophie was staring to relax and see the charms of being rich in the Old West. Especially with a wonderful room like this one.

But living in those mining camps was going to test her and Wade more than she could imagine at the moment. She wasn’t sure she was up for it. She had never done any camping as a child and still hadn’t spent a night in a tent. All of this was totally new, but she sure wasn’t going to back out now.

She had studied the past most of her adult life. Now she got to be a part of the past, to actually start a western mining town. Fear of making a fool of herself or falling off a horse wasn’t going to stop her.

Besides, this was where Wade was and being beside him, having him as her partner, just felt perfect.

She could have never imagined loving one person as much as she did Wade.

Ever.