Forever Angels Read online

  Tess straightened and lifted her gaze to Stone's face. Though her hands continued to twist the handkerchief, she took a decisive breath.

  "It wasn't Doctor Calder. It was my doctor back where I live."

  "In West Virginia?"

  "No. New York City."

  Stone walked over and lifted her skirt hem, exposing the tennis shoe on Tess's right foot. "And do they wear funny looking shoes like that in New York City these days? I noticed it when your skirts flew up out behind the barn. When I kissed you and when you kissed me back."

  "It's...it's a Reebok. It's a very expensive running shoe. I've also got a pair I wear in my aerobics class."

  "That's not what I asked you." Stone dropped her skirt and slipped his fingertips into his back pockets.

  The handkerchief gave with a rip. "Oh, I'm sorry," Tess murmured. "I'll wash it and sew it up for you."

  "Quit with the sorry's, Tess. Answer my question."

  "No," Tess barely whispered. "It's not what they're wearing in New York these days. But it's what women and men both are wearing in 1993."

  Stone sat on the swing and tenderly placed an arm around Tess. "Honey, I'm the one who's sorry now. Look, I didn't mean to push you like this, and if you're not ready to talk right now, I can wait. Just...."

  "Darn it, Stone!" Tess jerked away from his arm and turned to face him. "Listen to me! Rain wasn't lying to you up on the hill. Neither was I — not really. I did fall, but it wasn't from any horse. I fell off a mountain in upper New York State on July 31, 1993 and the next thing I knew I was sitting on a hillside in Oklahoma Territory on July 31, 1893!"

  "Tess, honey...."

  "Don't you Tess honey me in that patronizing voice! I don't have any more idea how I got here than you do. Things like this don't happen, except in books. Shoot, there's probably a Loch Ness monster and a Bigfoot, too!"

  "Let me take you in for a rest, Tess. I'll have Flower fix you something to eat, and then you can take a nap."

  Tess threw the handkerchief at him, a look of exasperated fury on her face. "Flower believed me! Why can't you?"

  "You've been telling the kids this stuff? Look, Tess. Let me get Doc Calder back out here. He really didn't examine anything other than your ankle when he came out before."

  "And I suppose you want him to examine my head this time, right?"

  "Well, when people get injured, sometimes things don't show up right away."

  Tess almost laughed aloud at the look of concern on Stone's face. But instead, she nodded her head.

  "O.K. Hand me my crutches, so I can get into the bedroom."

  "I can carry you...."

  "Hand me those darned crutches, Stone Chisum," Tess said through gritted teeth. "I'm perfectly capable of getting in there under my own power."

  "All right. All right," Stone said as he rose to his feet. He picked the crutches up and held them out to her. "Or...O.K., which is what you're always saying. I assume it means the same thing as all right?"

  "Yes." Tess grabbed the crutches and wobbled to her feet. "And there really are things like jeeps and movies, too — in 1993!"

  Tess levered herself over to the door and leaned on one crutch to pull it open. Half way through the opening, she paused and looked back at Stone.

  "Aren't you going to come with me? Keep on eye on me, so I don't fall?"

  "Huh? Oh, sure, if you want me to."

  "I do," Tess said under her breath. As she swung down the hallway, she passed two doorways on her left. "Are those yours and Rain's bedrooms?" she asked Stone.

  "Uh...yeah. I guess you haven't seen the rest of the house, have you?"

  "No, only the kitchen and Flower's bedroom."

  When she entered the kitchen, Tess saw Flower and Rain with their heads bent over their books on the table. She stopped for a second, glanced at Stone, then back at the children.

  ""What are you kids studying?" she asked when the children looked up.

  "History," Rain answered. "We're making a list of the presidents and the most important thing that happened while they were in office."

  "Who's president now?" Tess asked.

  "Grover Cleveland," Rain said promptly. "He beat Benjamin Harrison and General Weaver last year."

  Tess thought for a moment. Although history hadn't been one of her best subjects, she still had a good recall of the various dates and lists she'd had to memorize.

  "Cleveland will get beat by William McKinly in 1896," Tess said in a decisive voice. "With Theodore Roosevelt as his vice president." No sense telling them that poor McKinley would be killed by an assassin's bullet in Buffalo, New York, shortly after he began his second term.

  "Tess," Stone murmured in a warning voice.

  "Look, kids," she said, ignoring Stone. "You about ready for a break here? There's some things in the bedroom I want to show you."

  Flower immediately jumped to her feet. "Oh, have you told Pa? Are you going to show him the plastic and tell us about some of the other things in the future? Pa, Tess said there's an oven that can cook things in a flash. Wouldn't that be neat? I wouldn't have to spend half of every day just cooking meals."

  A thunderous look spread over Stone's face. Probably her derangement wasn't Tess's fault, but she had no business filling his kids' heads with her wild ravings. But before he could voice his disapproval, Tess and the children had disappeared into the bedroom.

  "Are you coming, Stone?" Tess called through the door in that sticky-sweet voice she had used on Tillie Peterson.

  "Damn right!" he muttered, then for some reason quickly corrected the word to darn in his mind.

  Tess had the pack on the bed beside her, and Flower and Rain sat on the floor. Nodding at the empty ladderback chair, Tess waited until Stone slumped into it, stretched his legs out and tucked his fingers into his front pockets, before she began unbuckling the straps on the pack.

  "I guess you and Rain have probably been discussing the things we talked about yesterday, haven't you, Flower?" Tess asked.

  "Well, yes," Flower admitted. "You didn't say Rain and I couldn't talk about it. You just wanted me to wait and let you tell Pa yourself."

  Stone snorted and slumped down even further in the chair, but Tess disregarded his glowering face.

  "That's right, honey," she told Flower. "And did you believe what Flower told you, Rain?"

  "Sure," Rain replied. "It made sense to me. I'm the one who saw you appear out of thin air, remember?"

  "I remember," Tess agreed. She dug in the pack and laid out several items on the bed, then set the pack on the floor. Picking up her inexpensive instant camera, she flipped up the flash attachment and held the camera to her eye.

  "Smile, you guys."

  The flash exploded and Stone surged upright in his chair. Tess pulled the picture from the bottom slot and aimed the camera at Stone, clicking the shutter again. She giggled softly when he bit off his growl of anger and blinked owlishly at her, fighting the flash spots in front of his eyes.

  "Now," Tess said in a determined voice. "If my travel through time didn't hurt the film, we'll have pictures of all of you in less than a minute."

  "Really?" Flower said in awe.

  "Really," Tess said. She picked up the two cardboards and handed one to each child. "Here. You can watch them develop. Hold them by the bottom here, on this white space. That way you won't get fingerprints on the picture."

  Rain and Flower stared at the cardboards with rapt attention. Almost immediately, Rain let out a gasp.

  "Something's happening," he said. "It's...look, Flower! There's a picture appearing here. Look. It's you and me!"

  "And this one's Pa," Flower said in an excited voice. "You ought to see the look on your face, Pa," she said with a laugh. She scrambled to her feet and thrust the picture under Stone's nose. "And look. It's changing into color. I've never seen a camera picture come out in color. They're always just black and white."

  "Bull," Stone said. But he reached for the picture, staring down into his own
face. It was all there. His brown eyes and hair — the blue shirt he had on — the look on his face that mirrored the anger and protectiveness he felt towards the kids when Tess pointed that black box at them and exploded that light.

  As he watched, the colors deepened and the focus on the picture sharpened. He glanced at Rain, and Rain passed his picture to his father. Two images of his kids stared up at him, identical to Rain and Flower.

  "This doesn't prove a darned thing." Stone tossed the pictures on the bed. "So there's a new-fangled camera. The newspaper articles I read about the last World's Fair reported all kinds of new inventions these days. There's even something called a telephone, where people can call up a different person miles away and talk to them."

  "In my day," Tess said with a smirk, "you can even see the person you're talking to on the other end of some of the telephones. It doesn't matter if you're calling from New York and talking to someone in California."

  "Bull," Stone repeated.

  Tess gave a sigh and picked up a plastic lighter from the bed. She flicked the roller and a flame spewed from the top.

  "I'm not sure what that liquid is inside this," she said. "But I guess it's some kind of liquid gas. When it runs out, you just throw it away and get a new one." She released the lever and the flame died. "See, I always bring at least two with me, in case the fuel runs out in one. I use them to light campfires."

  Tess handed Flower and Rain each one of the plastic lighters and picked up a can of soup and her can opener. Fitting the opener to the rim, she squeezed it. It burred softly as the can circled under the opener and the lid fell free.

  "The opener works on a battery," she explained. "I usually just bring freeze-dried food with me...." She showed Stone one of the packages of freeze-dried vegetables. "But for some reason the canned soup just tastes better. It's a little heavier to carry, but it's worth it on a chilly evening."

  Stone sniffed tentatively at the soup. He dipped a finger in and licked the moisture. "Flower's chicken soup tastes a heck of a lot better than this."

  "I agree," Tess said with a smile. "Granny's tasted lots better, too. But when I go backpacking, sometimes I'm gone several days. I don't think it's practical for me to carry a live chicken with me and make soup from scratch, especially when there's all this other, lighter food available."

  "You're not proving anything, Tess." Stone set the soup on the beside table. "You haven't shown me one thing that couldn't just be stuff that's in use back east that hasn't made its way out here yet. There's all kinds of canned goods in the stores in town. And so what if someone's figured out an easy way to open the cans? Probably some guy got tired of his wife always griping about how hard it was to open them."

  Tess shook her head and leaned down to the pack. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to show you these. Maybe Flower and Rain shouldn't...."

  Before Tess could finish, Flower reached for one of the objects in her hand. "New books! Great, Tess. I've read every book we have at least three times. Sometimes I get so desperate for something to read that I even read ahead in our lesson books."

  Flower flicked open the step-back cover on the paperback book in her hand and her eyes widened. "Oh! Oh, isn't he handsome!?"

  Stone ripped the book from Flower's hand and threw it back at Tess. "What the hell are you doing carrying around filthy stuff like that? And how dare you show it to my daughter?"

  "This is perfectly suitable reading material in my time!" Tess spat at him. "And it's not pornographic. It's a love story — a time travel romance! The heroine in this novel had something happen to her just what like happened to me. I haven't read it yet, but I've read other books along this line. And the picture is not erotic. It's meant to convey the deep love that the hero and heroine have for each other, which includes physical love."

  "You get those damned books out of my house!"

  "Oh, Pa, hush up." Flower reached for the book again, while Stone stared at her in amazement. "That's a beautiful picture — a lot prettier than the one over that bar in town where you drink sometimes. That lady in the bar is as naked as the day she was born, and she's got a look on her face that...."

  "Mountain Flower Chisum, go to your room!" Stone roared. "You will not sass me!"

  "I am in my room, Pa," Flower said in a mild voice as she flipped another page in the book. "Oh. I guess this is what you want us to see, huh, Tess?"

  Flower held the book open and pointed at the copyright on the inside page. "It was printed in June of 1993."

  After casting a worried look at Stone, Tess nodded.

  "Let me see that!" Stone grabbed the book and stared at the page. An incredulous look replaced the anger on his face. Strain his eyes as he might, he couldn't make the date change. Etched in black and white were the copyright symbol, the words June, 1993, and the author's name.

  ***

  Chapter 15

  "Go on back to your lessons, kids," Stone said, his eyes never leaving the book. "And shut the door on your way out."

  One glance at their father's face told both children any further sass or disobedience would end in one of his rare episodes of discipline. They rose to their feet, and Rain started to hand the plastic lighter back to Tess.

  "You can keep that if you like, Rain," Tess told him. "And here." She handed Flower the pictures. "We'll take some more pictures later. I brought a couple extra boxes of film with me."

  "Thanks, Tess," Rain said, a huge grin splitting his face.

  Flower's thanks were more hesitant. She accepted the pictures, but glanced at Tess, then back at her father. "Uh...Pa, you aren't going to yell at Tess, are you? I mean, it's not her fault this happened to her. And I won't read the books, unless you say I can."

  "Hum?" Stone turned another page on the book, his face now creased into a mixture of grimness and interest. "No, I won't yell, honey. Go on now."

  As soon as the door closed, Stone looked up at Tess. "Pretty good writing here, for a book like this. But I don't see anything about traveling through time."

  "Read the back cover."

  Tess sat quietly while Stone closed the book and turned it over. She watched the scowl on his face deepen as he read. For a moment longer than it would have taken even a slow reader to read the back cover blurb, he continued staring at the book.

  "Well?" Tess finally prodded.

  "This is fiction," Stone said at last. He raised his head, gripping the book tightly in his fingers. "Isn't it?"

  "Up until last week, I'd have agreed with you totally, Stone. But that was before the exact same thing happened to me."

  "How?"

  Tess shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. If I did, maybe I'd know how to get back to my own time."

  "Do you want to go back that bad?"

  "Why, of course. I mean...I mean, that's where I live. My apartment's back there — my job. I'm a lawyer and in line for a partnership in the firm I work for. If I get it, it means a lot more money and a secure future for me."

  "Women aren't lawyers," Stone scoffed. "At your age, you ought to be raising your own children and letting your husband take care of you!"

  "Women are too lawyers! Just as good as men. And will you quit with the references to my age?" Tess demanded angrily. "In my time a woman's not considered a spinster at twenty! In fact, she doesn't even have to get married, if she doesn't want to! If she wants a child, she can have one on her own — raise it on her own!"

  "Is that so?" Stone quirked an eyebrow. "And just what marvelous invention do they have in your time to take a man's place in getting a woman with child?"

  Tess couldn't help it. Her anger dissolved into a giggle as she stared into the obvious disbelief on Stone's face. "You...." She gasped back a laugh. "You'll definitely never believe me if I tell you the truth about that!"

  "Try me."

  Green eyes sparkling with suppressed laughter, Tess gazed directly into Stone's eyes. "It's called artificial insemination. For years, veterinarians used it on cattle and horses. Then they disc
overed a man's sperm could be frozen and used later, too. Or, in some cases, the man comes to the doctor's office first, then the woman comes in a few minutes later and has the sperm implanted in her uterus."

  "Bull crap!" Stone snorted. "And I suppose the doctor knows just what day a woman can conceive."

  "Yep." Tess grabbed for her camera. "Oh, Stone. You should see the look on your face."

  Before she could bring the camera to her eye, Stone jerked it from her hand. With a quick motion, he turned it on her and pushed the shutter button. The flash filled the room and he pulled the cardboard from the bottom of the camera, as he had seen Tess do, hoping the image before him was captured accurately.

  The wildly curling hair, backlit by the sunlight coming through the window. That beautiful mouth, open in a smile of gay laughter. Those emerald eyes sparkling in mischief and delight.

  Handing the camera back to her but keeping the picture securely in his fingers, he said, "Sounds like a cold-blooded way of lovemaking to me."

  "Tit for tat," Tess murmured. She took her own picture of him and cocked her head when she lowered the camera. "It is," she agreed. "Cold-blooded, I mean." She safely secured her own picture behind her back when Stone tried to reach for it. "But sometimes a woman wants a child awfully bad — and she just can't seem to find the man she wants to share the rest of her life with."

  "Must be a pretty poor crop of men back in your time."

  Tess nodded absently.

  "Especially if you're still unmarried," Stone continued. "Must be a bunch of fools back there. Or is there something else besides your job you want to get back to? Someone, maybe."

  "No, not any more," Tess denied.

  "Then there was someone," Stone prodded.

  "Well, yes, I was engaged for a while," Tess admitted. "But it didn't work out."

  "What happened?"

  "Stone, it would take me a long time to explain that to you. Let's just say I found out we had different values in our lives. I wasn't about to spend the rest of my life with a man who thought more of his purse strings than he did me."

  "Rich, huh?"