June 20, 1895
Esme Sparrow knelt in front of her hope chest—the hope chest she’d been given years ago when her destiny had been revealed. She traced the chest’s intricate carved floral design lightly, then raised the cover. Inside, lay five shiny items: a gleaming pistol, a shiny five-starred badge, a polished brass nameplate, an unbroken gold chain, and a pair of handcuffs, which she touched gingerly.
The nick in a link of the cuffs gave evidence to how close Esme had come to failing. If that link had been severed completely, so would the final link of her destiny have been broken, and her own soul mate would never have been born.
She shuddered, not wishing to dwell upon such horrible consequences especially on the day she and her true love would pledge their lives and hearts to each other for eternity.
The five happily married couples, also brought together despite time’s errors, would witness that which they had made possible. Even now, Drake and Gina’s eight-year-old son, Jess and Corrie’s six-year-old daughter, Delgatto and Emily’s three-year-old son, and Dimitri and Cynda’s two-year-old daughter were mending the rent in time’s fabric. The new life Jared and Trish had conceived seven months ago would add his pattern to the weave to complete the design—the lineage that brought to life her soul mate in the year of our Lord, 1979. He had been brought back with the winter solstice, but there had been no confusion. He had been waiting for her, just as she had waited a lifetime for him.
Esme gently lowered the hope chest’s lid and straightened. She adjusted her flowing veil and smoothed the bodice of her wedding dress. Picking up the bouquet of white roses from the bed, she paused and plucked one flower from the bunch. She laid it atop her hope chest, a symbol of true and enduring love.
The past was fulfilled and the future set right before her. The present now beckoned to complete the circle.