Chapter 18

Sam grimaced and held up a hand when Robert offered her a brandy in his private office. “There’s not enough alcohol in the world to calm my nerves.”

Eddie burst through the doorway, cursing at the sight of them together. “Oh, this is rich. Will someone please tell me what’s going on?”

“I’ve already explained.” Robert leveled a calm but severe stare on him. “You saw Samantha appear, and she’ll disappear again, no doubt.”

“I can’t,” she said, wedging herself between them. “You’ve got to listen to me. You’re going to die. I’ve seen it. But maybe we can change things if we—”

Eddie cut her off. “Why should we believe any of this drivel?”

“Because I know things.” She focused only on Robert, promising, “I will never lie to you.”

He held her gaze. “Leave us, Eddie.”

“You cannot be serious.” His friend gave a disbelieving snort. “Granted, I’ve never seen anything like it before, but this is ridiculous.”

“Now,” Robert’s voice spiked with anger.

Eddie snagged the brandy decanter from him before heading for the door. “Very well, but I want a full account when you two are through doing… doing…whatever crazy people do. Perhaps I’ll summon someone to cart you both away. Won’t the sanitarium be fun?” He slammed the door leaving them alone.

Sam gripped Robert’s arm. “Don’t interrupt. I’m getting this out.”

He gave a humorless laugh, shrugging her off. “We all die, my love. Is it not best to remain ignorant of the details?”

“Not when your entire family is going to die, and I can stop it.” She had his attention then. “There’s a shipwreck…the Columbia. My guess is it’s going to happen soon.”

Concern flashed across Robert’s face. “The Columbia leaves Boston Harbor tomorrow. With my entire family on board. How could you know?” His expression turned solemn. “Of course, you know. You know everything about us. We are but bits of history to you.”

“That’s not true,” Sam cried. “You’re so much more to me. I—” She hesitated not wanting the first time she told him she loved him to be mixed with death and disaster. Yet the inference was there, and she watched as countless emotions settled over him.

He didn’t challenge her again. Instead, he dropped his head. “I’ve been selfish. The burden you must bear, knowing all that is to come for us.”

“Snap out of it, Robert. We need to do something. Tell them the truth. Tell them lies. Tell them anything. Just keep them from boarding that ship.” She shook him when he hesitated. “You’re all going to die, and it’s not pleasantly from old age. The ship sinks, and it’s like a chain reaction. They die, you die. End of story.”

He turned away from her, marching toward the door.

She chased after him. “Where are you going?”

“Boston. I may yet stop them.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“No, you can’t. What if something happens? You disappear? Or worse, get lost along the way? I’ll not risk it.”

“I don’t care. I’m going. I won’t sit here alone.”

“Eddie will look after you.” Robert opened the door, startled when his friend fell in at his feet.

Eddie turned crimson as he was caught eavesdropping. “Right you are, old man. You run off to Boston whilst I look after Samantha. Never fear. We shall be great friends by the time you return.”

Robert scowled. He looked back and forth between the two of them before speaking directly to Sam. “How soon can you be ready?”

She held her arms open, showing off the borrowed nightclothes she wore. “Does it look like I’ve got packing to do?”

“Very well.” He huffed in resignation. “We’ll travel up the rail line. Catch the first northbound train. We must find a telegraph office.”

“Good thinking.” Eddie went to follow.

Robert held him back. “Oh no, not you. You had your chance.”

“Fine.” Eddie straightened his lapels, looking smug. “Then I won’t tell you my brilliant idea.”

****

Robert watched as Samantha put a hand to her chest. She looked miserable wearing Rebecca Kingston’s gown.

“It’s all right, miss,” Emma offered in a hushed tone. “It’s not too awful a fit.”

The statement earned the maid a groan of frustration from Samantha.

“Aren’t we lucky?” Eddie blurted out, causing everyone to look his way. “Samantha is similar in height to my sister. A nip here, a tuck there and voila, a proper frock. A banner idea, if I may say. Just don’t tell Rebecca that Samantha is, shall we say, better provisioned in all the right places.”

“Enough,” Robert warned. He glanced at the others huddled in the confines of the pitching carriage. They were odd traveling companions thrown together on a mission of life or death. Turning away, he studied the graying landscape. Dark clouds loomed on the horizon. The weather worsened, but was it enough to sink a ship? Fear and uncertainty plagued him. “The station is coming up,” he couldn’t help but say. “Boston should be only hours away if we—”

“We’ll catch the train,” Samantha finished his statement, her expression telling him she would accept no other outcome.

He smiled at her determination. Without her, there would be no chance.

“I’m going straight to the ship,” he informed them. “No one is to say a word to anyone until I’ve had a chance to explain things to those in charge.”

“I don’t envy you that conversation.” Eddie gave a snorting laugh. “Whatever will you say?”

Robert’s jaw worked. It felt as if he’d been chewing nails since learning their fate. “Anything I can to stop an entire ship of passengers from perishing.”

The carriage suddenly gave a violent lurch to the left, sending them all banging together until they reached a hard stop.

Robert cursed, rushing out the door.

****

Sam swiped at the foggy windows of the tipping carriage trying to see.

“We’ll never make it now,” Eddie remarked dryly.

She shot daggers at him with her eyes. “Why don’t you try helping instead of sitting on your sorry ass?”

His brows shot up. “Cheeky, aren’t you? I’m sure Robbie can manage. He always does. I’ll just be in the way.” He opened the carriage door and stepped down, holding a hand out to her. They found Robert and the driver assessing a damaged wheel.

“Can it be fixed?” Sam asked.

“Not soon enough. There’s a farmhouse up ahead. Perhaps with the right tools…” Robert met her worried gaze with one of his own. “We’ve not travelled far. Eddie will see you and Emma safely returned to Highland House once the wheel is fixed.”

“What about you?”

“I’m going on,” he said with grim determination.

“Oh no you don’t, you are not leaving me with these two. I’m going. In fact, we’re all going. We started this together, we’ll finish it together.”

“Best listen to her,” Eddie cautioned as he pulled a silver flask from his coat pocket. “She’s already resorted to name calling. Fists are next.”

Robert snatched the flask away with a dark scowl.

After leaving the carriage and driver, they procured an open cart from the farmhouse. The ragtag group reached the train station, standing numb and silent as the stationmaster delivered bad news. The only northbound passenger train was long gone. Even the telegraph office was closed.

The stationmaster wiped an oily rag across his brow. “Boston’s a long way. You’ll never make it in that there open cart.”

Sam spoke up. “When does the next passenger train leave here for Boston?”

“Not till tomorrow, miss. There ain’t much use for them there trains here in winter.”

She chewed her bottom lip before presenting the man her most dazzling smile. “Can we spend the night?”

Eddie choked on a snorting laugh when Robert cautioned, “Samantha…”

She waved him off, sliding closer to the man.

The stationmaster shot a nervous glance at the two gentlemen. “There ain’t no inns open this time of year. But…” He grinned showing several missing teeth. “I might be persuaded by a bit o’ coin to keep the stationhouse open tonight. You could rest on them there benches. Me missus could bring ya some broth and bread. ’Taint what a fancy bunch like you be used to, but it’ll do in a pinch.”

“Done.” Eddie stepped forward to open his wallet.

The man shrugged a boney shoulder. “Not sure you’ll be travelin’ tomorrow though. There’s a storm brewin’, and my rheumatism says it’s a big ‘n.”

****

Sam tugged her borrowed cloak tighter shifting on the hard bench as the corset dug into her ribs. “How do women wear these things?” she grumbled, looking to where Emma lay content, curled up sleeping on another bench in the dingy stationhouse. The girl had fallen asleep using her arm as a pillow as if accustomed to the unpleasantness.

Sam pushed her untouched bowl of soup aside, the thick greasy liquid turning her stomach.

Robert loaded more wood into the potbelly stove and returned to his seat beside her. He wiped his hands on his trousers before looking to where Eddie lounged in a corner. “I’m afraid he’s a bit of a lazy sot these days. As you so tactfully reminded him.”

“Sorry,” Sam grumbled feeling heat rise to her cheeks. “I suppose he paid dearly for these stellar accommodations.”

“Don’t be sorry. Candor is refreshing in a woman. I admire you for it. However, he’s better than you think.”

She offered him a soft smile. “Tell me about you two. You’ve been friends since you were boys?”

His expression turned pensive. “We became fast friends around the time I discovered my father was a very bad man. I stood up to the old bugger when he beat my mother during a particularly heated argument. I stepped in to stop him and ended up taking the brunt of his anger. A sound thrashing and a one way ticket to boarding school in England was my reward.”

Robert drew Eddie’s silver flask from his breast pocket and took a mouthful. Sam shook her head when he offered it.

“Eddie was sent with me,” he explained. “He’d been at odds with his father since the day he was born. A thing we share, I’m afraid. Our mothers—steadfast friends—teamed up to send us abroad together. At least we’d have each other in our exile.”

He took another long swallow from the flask, closing his eyes as if to savor whatever liquor was in it. “Rebecca had arrived you see. Their father had his golden child to dote upon.”

Sam released a sigh of understanding. “No wonder those two fight. They’re pitted against each other at every turn. Even with you. I’ve seen how she vies for your attention.”

Robert shifted in his seat. “Your turn. Tell me about the woman who has taken my world by storm.”

“Not much to tell,” she dismissed with a terse laugh.

“Start small,” he encouraged. “Where does your family hale from?”

Staring at her clasped hands, Sam allowed the past to invade. Even here, over a century away in a lonely train station, the pain still stung. “I never knew my real parents. I only have a vague memory or two of them.”

“Who raised you then?”

“An older couple—the Merrills—adopted me around the age of four. I never wanted for anything with them. I was happy, except…”

“Except?” He hung on her every word.

“I’ve always wanted to know who I am, where I came from. Everyone tells you it doesn’t matter. ‘Your new family loves you. They chose you,’ they’d say.” She met Robert’s riveted stare. “But I can’t stop wondering. I don’t even know my real birthday. Why would someone abandon a child to wander the streets of New York City?”

“Dear Lord.” Shock spiked his voice. “Is that truly what happened to you?”

Sam shushed him when the others stirred. “The only clues to my past were a stone in my pocket and the tiny silver bracelet I was wearing. The bracelet had the name ‘Samantha’ on it. My adoptive parents kept the name. I kept the stone. I call it my ‘wishing stone.’ I still hold it sometimes, hoping to remember where I came from.”

“Do you have it now?” he asked with rapt interest.

She reached for the little cloth bag she’d been given to use as a purse. “It was in the pocket of your robe when I jumped.”

“Jumped?” he asked as she handed the stone to him.

“That’s what I call it. The time travel.”

Robert studied the stone, turning it over in his hands before announcing, “I’ve seen others like it before. Believe it or not, Eddie and I found stones like these as children, up on the hilltop surrounding Highland House.”

“You’re joking?” she shot back not caring who she woke.

“I’m quite serious. I’ve also seen this symbol—like an hour glass—on great stones scattered throughout Europe. I believe it’s a rune symbol.”

“Highland House, Europe, and New York?” She shook her head when he gave her back the stone. “Can’t be.”

“God’s truth. I’ve been told rune stones date back to ancient times.”

Sam’s mind struggled to grasp what he was saying. “Do you think it has something to do with all this—you, me, the time travel? It’s weird, right? You found stones like this, and I just happen to have one.”

“Agreed, it seems too great a coincidence. Yet I cannot begin to imagine what the connection might be. Perhaps a meeting with Eddie’s university friends would shed light on the stones and this symbol.” Robert motioned to where his friend now slept. “Don’t let him fool you. He’s quite brilliant. Like a scientist. He’s traveled the world studying everything from lost tribes to ancient artifacts.”

“You guys could show me the stones then,” she rushed with hope.

His expression turned grave. “After we stop the ship.”

There was yawning silence then as the direness of their mission settled over them again.

“What if we don’t make it?” he murmured.

“We will. There’s got to be a reason for all this.”

With a sad smile he said, “You’re a strong woman, Samantha. I’m grateful for your help.”

She dropped her gaze to her hands and the stone she held there. “I don’t feel strong. I feel confused. Lost. But I want to be strong for you.”

He leaned against her, shoulder to shoulder in the lonely stationhouse. “Perhaps you’ve found your place after all,” he offered in a gentle tone. “Beside me.”