Chapter 6

 

 

Everything was disorienting.

Her forehead was cold. In what seemed a distance she heard whimpering, the sound of a plaintive cry. Something in her wanted to stop it, to help out, and she struggled from the deepest sleep she could ever remember. Her lids barely opened and she squinted at the sun through a glass that was veined and bubbled with imperfections. A fine dust added to the distortion of the setting sun.

The whimpering began again and she turned her head slightly. A young boy stood at the foot of the bed, his golden hair matching the fur of the small puppy. She saw two warm brown eyes, two big paws, and a fat pink belly dangling underneath the arms of a sweet-faced child.

An innocent voice called out, "Momma… she's awake!"

Mairie couldn't figure out where she was, or how she got into this bed. Her head ached, as if a steel band were tightened around it. Raising her fingers to her face, she felt a cold compress had been placed on her forehead.

"Let me help you with that, dear."

A tall woman dressed in a long white dress hurried to her side. A cameo brooch was attached to the high collar. She had dark eyes, dark hair pulled up in a bun, and a kind face.

"Where am I?"

The woman smiled and her slightly worn features appeared almost pretty. "Hush now, my dear, you've had an awful time of it, haven't you? Suffering sunstroke and falling off the horse. Rest now. You aren't the first one the desert has brought to their knees."

"Where am I?" Mairie repeated. Her confusion deepened as the woman removed the cold cloth and dipped it into a basin of water on a nightstand.

"You're at the Las Vegas ranch, dear. Jack Delaney brought you in from the mountains. He said you were lost." She placed the refreshed cloth on Mairie's forehead.

Mairie stared up at her as everything started falling into place. Delaney. The Indian encampment. The pool of water and the kiss. The shock of seeing that where the glittery town of Las Vegas was supposed to stand was merely a rundown farm. She was lost… definitely lost… in someone else's time.

"Do you have a phone, a telephone?" Mairie whispered.

The woman stared down at her. "I'm sorry… you mean a telegraph?" She laughed lightly and shook her head. "No. The nearest one is in Fort Mojave. There will be a wagon train corning in from the fort in a couple of days and you could send your message back with them."

This couldn't be happening. It simply couldn't… Jack couldn't have arranged this. He wasn't a delusional executive having a nervous breakdown and living in the past. The Indians weren't isolated in history. She was the one… she was out of place, and out of time.

Her time.

"Please," she whispered to the woman. "I am so lost. I need to get to modern civilization. Can you help me? Do you know what's happened? I don't belong here." She started to rise and the woman appeared worried. "Please… help me."

"Now, now… lie back down and rest, my dear. I took your clothes, and Lee, my Chinese man, is washing them. Strange clothes for a woman, but I say, never judge another person by appearances. You may use one of my dresses, until you're well enough to travel again." Her smile deepened in friendliness. "I'm Virginia Gass, by the way. And we already know that you're Mairie Callahan from back east. We can talk later and you can fill me in on everything that's news. Besides, you can't go anywhere yet, so you just might as well take advantage of the situation and recuperate while you can. Supper will be ready in about a half hour. Fenton here will keep you company until then. If you feel up to it, you can join us. Or I'll bring a plate in here for you."

The woman patted her son's head and left the room as efficiently as she came into it.

Totally confused, Mairie looked at the child and the puppy.

"What's his name?" she whispered.

The young boy grinned. "I call him Digger, cause he digs in the yard all the time and Momma says if he touches her vegetable plants again, she's gonna plant him pure and proper. But he's a good one. Really…"

Mairie tried smiling as the boy came over and let the puppy rest on the edge of the bed. Immediately the dog scampered up to kiss her face and she grabbed his golden fur to stop him. "It hurts too much."

Fenton collared the pup and scolded him. "You had best behave or I'll have to put you out again. Momma says this here's a special visitor and we have to be nice." He looked up to Mairie and grinned. "You want me to show you my kittens, too?"

Children were innocent. Children this age didn't lie. She looked into his big blue eyes and asked, "What year is it? Do you know the year?"

"The year?" Fenton scrunched up his nose and looked at the beamed ceiling. "It's… uh… it's… Momma, what year is it?" His voice carried throughout the house.

Virginia stuck her head in the room and scolded her son. "Now, you just leave if you can't speak in a proper tone of voice. We do not yell in the house."

"But what year is it, Momma? The lady wants to know."

Virginia looked from her son to Mairie and smiled in sympathy. "Sunstroke confuses you, doesn't it? Had it myself once, the first year I came here. It's 1877, dear. Now, rest easy, and Fenton, if you can't be pleasant company, then you must leave."

"I'll be good, Momma. I promise."

When they were alone, Mairie simply stared at the rough planked wall. How could this have happened? How could she be in 1877? This… this was impossible, insane! Yet even as she thought it, everything started to make sense. No wonder no one was looking for her. No one she knew was even born yet! Bryan… her brother… dear God, she would never see him again… what must he be thinking? Did anything of her life in the future exist? She wanted to cry out at the unfairness, to scream at the universe for this trick. Was she insane?

This just didn't happen in her world.

But as she gazed into the true eyes of the child, Mairie realized she wasn't in her world any longer. It wasn't some massive elaborate plot to trick her. Somehow, in some way, she had traveled into another dimension. What was happening in her world, her time? What happened to Bryan, her friends, her life…? Everyone she ever loved, everything that mattered possibly never existed. She was alone. Terribly alone, abandoned into the isolation of the past. Was it her past? Was her life in the future all a dream? It was impossible to consider anymore. It was too overwhelming to comprehend. She stared at the wall, wondering if she could stay in this bed and just die. Nothing seemed to matter.

"I could show you my secret place if you want."

Blinking, Mairie shifted her gaze to the child. She almost forgot he was in the room. "Maybe later, okay?"

He smiled shyly and nodded. "I always go there when I'm sad and it makes me happy again."

She couldn't help it. In spite of all the bizarre circumstances surrounding her, she smiled back. He was so innocent, so sweet… how like a child to come to her rescue in this moment. And how like her to respond. If she trusted anyone right now, it might as well be a child. "Later. I would love it if you'd show me your secret place. How long have you lived here, Fenton?"

He shrugged and stuck his finger into his mouth, as if thinking really hard. "I just always been here. Lee tells me of magic places across big oceans, but I ain't never been there. Just here."

"You were born here, then."

"I guess."

Mairie smiled and looked down at the white cotton nightgown she had on. "Is this your mother's?"

"I guess." He shrugged again shyly.

She reached out and touched his freckled cheek. "Tomorrow you can show me your secret place, Fenton. I would like that."

Lifting the patchwork quilt and stiff linen sheet to the side, she eased her legs to the edge of the bed and began slowly to raise herself with her arms. Pain shot through her entire body and into the crown of her head.

Fenton backed away as she grimaced and grabbed her skull.

"Ahh, I've had better hangovers than this."

"Huh? Are you gonna be okay, lady?"

Her eyes still closed, Mairie began to stand. The throbbing in her skull increased as she gained the altitude of her height.

"I'll be fine, just give me a second to get my bearings." She opened her eyes and gave Fenton a forced reassuring smile. Mairie saw there had been a house coat placed on the end of the bed. As every muscle in her body ached, she pulled it over her shoulders.

"Can you show me to the bathroom, Fenton?"

"You wanna take a bath? It's not Saturday. We always take baths on Saturdays."

"I need to use the… the bathroom, Fenton. Can you tell me where it is?"

"Oh! If ya gotta go, ya hafta use the pot there, under the bed."

Mairie resigned herself to the situation. She couldn't think about it now. Later… much later, she would settle it in her mind, but right now her attention was focused on a priority. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do…" she muttered. "Will you excuse me, Fenton?"

"Oh, sure." Fenton grabbed the puppy from the bed, nearly pulling the quilt with it, as Digger had begun to chew on the fabric. Balancing the pup under his arms, he went out the door and before he shut it poked his head back into the room. "You gonna eat dinner with us at the table?" he asked softly.

Mairie turned to the boy and nodded, her face describing the pain that wracked her head and body as she lifted the heavy ceramic pot onto the bed.

Fenton closed the door quietly, then, from beyond, she heard him shout, "Ma, I don't think that lady's doin' so good. But she says she's gonna eat with us at the table."

Staring at the chamber pot, Mairie let the tears come.

Her body was jolted by the ring of a loud bell. She rose and wiped tears from her tight cheeks. She slipped into the soft white cotton dress with tucked pleats on the bodice and shoulders. It was actually comfortable and the cool fabric felt soothing against her skin. Barefoot, Mairie pulled her hair back with a ribbon she found on the night table and took a deep breath as she saw her reflection in a small discolored mirror. Her face was red and parched from the sun. Sighing, she realized that a day at Elizabeth Arden's was out, so what was left? She'd just have to find more of that aloe and hope she didn't peel. Nothing could be done now about anything. And what did it really matter any longer? She steeled herself to meet her uncertain future in the mysterious past and walked out of the room.

She opened the door to the main house and stared at the table set in the center of the large room. It had to be twenty feet long with seating for sixteen. A Chinese man with a long braid down his back was placing bowls on the table and looked up at her standing in the doorway.

"Come," he motioned, and nodded toward the table. "Come, come… you eat, now."

Mairie smiled timidly and slowly walked into the main room. Virginia Gass briskly entered from another doorway, followed by three children. Two girls and Fenton, with Digger still perched over his arms. "So glad you could join us, Mairie. The ranch hands have finished and there haven't been any travelers for a few days, so we're eating early for a change. Please be seated. The men are about to join us. And Fenton, if you don't set that dog out now, you can eat your dinner on the porch with him."

Mairie sat at one side of the table as Fenton immediately scampered to the front door, set the dog outside, then raced back and took the seat next to her. She smiled at the young boy and looked across the wide table to his sisters. Two young girls stared at her with curious eyes until Virginia introduced them. Before Mairie had a chance to say more than hello, the front door opened and a very tall man with a long beard entered. Behind him was Jack… washed, his hair combed behind his ears, and dressed in a pressed white shirt. In spite of her situation, she felt an immediate pang of attraction and looked down to her hands in her lap. He looked so … civilized.

"Mairie Callahan, may I present my husband, Octavius Decatur Gass."

She smiled up at him as the man held his hand out to take hers. She placed her hand in his and he bent over it in a gentlemanly bow. "A pleasure, Miss Callahan. Everyone calls me O.D. Pleased to see you've recovered."

"Thank you, O.D. I appreciate you and your wife's hospitality. I was… desperate, I'm afraid."

"Nonsense. You aren't the first who's come to us in that state, and you won't be the last. Glad we could help out." The man nodded and pulled out his chair at the head of the long table.

"Good evening, Mairie."

Just the sound of his voice sent shivers up her arms. Or could it be the sunburn? It was the sunburn. She was not about to get stupid over a man who had kissed her and then ignored her. However, she was grateful to him for bringing her to this ranch, so she looked up and smiled. "Good evening, Jack. Thank you for all your help."

"Glad to see that you're feeling better."

Why was there this formality now? Was it this place? These people? She actually felt shy in his presence, and even that annoyed her. Part of her wanted to take him outside and tell him about traveling into the past, and another part knew it would add to his conviction that she was crazy. Who would believe her? And could she blame anyone? These people thought she had sunstroke, but not Jack. Yet he was the only one who might believe her. If she could just prove it. But how could one prove she had time-traveled a hundred and twenty-two years into the past? Even she didn't want to believe it.

 

Jack was seated next to the girls and he stared across the table at Mairie. She looked very lovely in the white dress and the yellow ribbon holding back her dark hair. At any other time with any other woman he would have pursued the attraction.

But not this woman, and definitely not this time, when he was leaving tomorrow and would never see her again. To do so would only cause further distress.

The dinner conversation centered mostly on the proposed annexation of the ranch by Arizona and how O.D. was fighting it. Jack noticed how Mrs. Gass attempted to draw Mairie out by asking for the latest news from the big cities back east. He could see her uneasiness as she fumbled for answers and volunteered the excuse of sunstroke to save her from further pressure. Yet he could not save her as O.D. asked how she had wound up all alone in the middle of the desert.

He watched as Mairie stared down at her plate before raising her face to stare at him with pleading eyes. A moment passed and she whispered, "I don't know."

Jack was grateful to Mrs. Gass for her sympathetic heart, and for the young boy at Mairie's side, who stared up at her adoringly. Young Fenton, it appeared, had one heck of a crush. He understood the lad.

"O.D., can't you see Miss Callahan has been through so much? Let her rest, now," Virginia chided. "You gentlemen take your cigars to the front porch while we clear the table. Lelah, you and your sister come help me."

He rose from the table and felt slightly worried as he looked at Mairie. He had not seen her feisty spirit in some time. She appeared… defeated.

He turned to Mrs. Gass. "Thank you for the most delicious dinner."

Virginia Gass glanced at her husband with one of those looks married people have that speaks in silent communication. She turned her attention back to him and smiled comfortingly.

"Now, Jack Delaney… you know that you are always welcome at our table. Have you thought on the job O.D. offered you? We really could use you here at the ranch."

Jack grinned, knowing that the attractive woman from Missouri had left a wealthy family to travel west and discover her own adventure. She was greatly admired by all, even the Paiutes. Virginia Simpson Gass was one tough woman, and one lovely lady… who knew how to use her charm when it was needed.

"Mrs. Gass," he said with an appreciative smile, "the offer is tempting, especially since I would be feasting at your table nightly. However, my heart is with my brothers right now. I've been away far too long. I will keep it in mind, though, and thank you for the suggestion."

Virginia laughed. "You are a charmer, Jack. Seems a shame to waste those lovely eastern manners living on those hot and dry mountains."

Jack joined in the laughter. "And I'll return that back door compliment to you, madam. You are a rose amid this parched desert."

Nodding, Virginia chuckled, then said to her husband, "Now, this is why you must allow us a trip to Missouri. I miss this bantering, O.D. Need to sharpen my social skills…" She grinned at Jack. "And my wits."

With a pat on the shoulder, O.D. invited him to the porch. "Well, before you charm my wife, and I suffer a month of Sundays hearing about a proposed trip east, come share a cigar. I'd like to show you my new mowing machine for my alfalfa before you leave tomorrow."

Mairie quickly looked up at him. He walked toward the door eager to share a fine smoke, but couldn't quite shake the expression in Mairie's eyes. He had seen arrogance. Anger. Disbelief. He had even seen laughter.

It was the first time he saw fear.

 

She felt like a robot, helping Virginia and the girls clear the table. When they went to the kitchen, Lee fussed about taking bowls and shooed them out. Still weak, Mairie was grateful to sit in the parlor and watch Virginia sew a vest. She marveled at this woman, so resourceful in this wilderness. And yet … she appeared happy.

Again, Mairie thought of how the crafts of an earlier age were being lost. It was so much easier to run into the mall to buy mass produced goods than take the time to create them. She was as guilty as the next. She remembered her grandmother crocheting pillow covers and baby clothes. The art was lost with her grandmother's passing. Suddenly, Mairie regretted not taking the time to learn. It would have honored her grandmother, and she would have expanded her own abilities. Sighing, she looked at the pleasant family scene. It was something she might never have, and that thought depressed her.

The girls, still shy around her, sat looking at books with pictures while Fenton and Digger played at her side. It was a very domestic scene. There was happiness here, despite the hardships.

It just made Mairie want her own time and place more. Somehow… there had to be a way back. If she had traveled into the past, there must be some way to travel into the present, her present. She was merely an observer here. Would Jack understand? He wasn't like ordinary men, especially men in this time. He was looking at a different picture through the eyes of the Indian. He believed in the unexplainable. Surely what had happened to her was unexplainable.

A sharp pain had closed around her heart when she'd heard that he was leaving tomorrow. She shouldn't care. But she did… she really did… and now she knew she would have to speak with him tonight, tell him the truth, ask his help, his guidance. How ironic that Jack Delaney was the only person she trusted right now. How wrong she had been about him… and she wasn't above admitting a mistake.

Like that kiss. She should never have allowed it. Best to put it out of her mind and concentrate on more important matters… like finding a way to survive this incredible detour. For that was all she was willing to accept. It was merely a departure from her own world, her own time. She was going to find a way back.

Her opportunity arrived when O.D. came inside to spend time with his children. He appeared to be a good father and Mairie excused herself, leaving the family to their routine. She slipped outside and was grateful to see a wide chair. It was made of rough wood, yet the double seat was worn smooth by use. She sank onto it and sighed as she looked at the night sky, while hearing the faint strains of laughter coming from the cabin of the ranch hands.

Looking up to the huge desert moon, she called out in her mind to him. She must wait for Jack to show up. She knew somehow that he would. In the meantime, she listened to the sounds of the night and tried not to think too far ahead. She could only survive this moment by moment. Anything else would lead to madness.

"How do you feel?"

The familiar voice didn't startle her, for she was expecting him. She blinked a few times, pulling her into the present. "Jack… I knew you would come."

He smiled in the moonlight and Mairie felt that tug at her breast.

"That's what I said when I found you."

She thought of his first words. It felt like a lifetime ago. Returning his smile, she said, "You're right. You weren't sure of who or what I was, and I wasn't sure you weren't crazy. You were right, Jack, and I was wrong. I'm sorry. Sorry for thinking you were the one out of place. It was me. It was me all along."

He came onto the porch and leaned against the railing. "What's wrong, Mairie? It's more than the sunstroke. Something's happened."

Looking up at him, she fought the burning in her throat from unshed tears. This conversation must take place and she must have control over her emotions in order to do it. Tears could come later. "Jack, what I'm about to say is going to sound insane to you, but you're the only one I can talk to about it. You're the only one that might possibly understand … or even if you couldn't understand, you might believe me."

He sat next to her and leaned his elbows on his knees and rested his chin in his hands. Turning his head, he stared into her eyes. "Mairie, what are you talking about? What is bothering you so?"

"Listen, I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time. You saw me fall from the sky and I tried to explain to you how it happened, but you couldn't understand it. Now I know why. Jack, I really am from the future… your future." There. She'd said it.

She waited for a response. When she realized none was forthcoming, she continued.

"I know this is going to sound crazy to you. Now I completely understand your reactions to me and they were justified. How could you possibly understand what an airplane was when you'd never seen one? They haven't been invented yet. But you saw me fall from the sky. You saw it. How could I possibly have gotten there? That far up? Something had to have taken me there to jump in the first place. It was an airplane. A… a vehicle of transportation." She struggled to find the right words, just as she knew he was struggling to grasp them.

"What you say is far too incredible to imagine. If this is true, then explain air… plane. I ask how such a thing is possible. How does it fly in the sky?"

She was afraid he would ask that. "I wish I knew. Something to do with thrust and air speed, air moving over and under the wings—"

"Wait," he interrupted. "They have wings?"

She wanted to laugh at his expression. "Well, yes. There are wings, but they don't flap because there's an engine. Kind of like the engine that powers a train. That's steam, creating energy to propel something forward. This is the same concept, except instead of coal or wood, there's gasoline, an oil from under the earth."

He was shaking his head, as though he couldn't picture what she was saying. "I don't understand."

"I know," she said in a sympathetic voice. "This isn't an easy concept, and how can I explain it when even I don't understand it? I never realized how much I took for granted until now."

"Hold on… you are saying there are trains in the sky?"

She stifled a giggle. "Not trains. Airplanes are single, not linked together. But some are so big that they can hold a hundred or more people at one time. If we were in my time, we could get on a plane in Las Vegas, the Las Vegas that I left in 1999, and fly back east to Philadelphia in five hours."

"Oh, Mairie…" Jack's jaw dropped. "This… this fantasy is too incredible to believe."

Desperate, she clutched his shirt sleeve. "Jack… you saw me! How can you deny what you saw? I did fall from an airplane through the sky and something, I don't know what, but something happened to me while I was doing it. And instead of landing where I was supposed to, in my time, I landed in yours. In 1877. A hundred and twenty-two years before me."

Jack appeared bewildered, speechless.

"It's true, Jack. I just realized it myself when I saw this ranch. It was one thing to think you were crazy, that the Indians were hiding away from reality in the mountains… but this… this is too extensive. This really is 1877." She shook her head. "I'm trapped in the past, and I don't know what to do."

She looked at him and pleaded, "What should I do, Jack? You're the only one I can talk to about this because you saw me coming into this place. You are my witness that I'm not crazy. You, Jack Delaney… you confirm I am sane."

So why was he staring at her as if that were the last thing he was thinking?