Chapter Fifteen

Amanda awakened to a tapping on her door. She blinked in the darkness. Where was she?

“Spokane in ten minutes, Miss.” The cabin attendant’s voice was hushed, as if he didn’t want to awaken anyone else.

Amanda gasped and pushed herself upright to peer blearily out of the window. Glowing lights twinkled in the distant darkness. A jolt of the train indicated that they had switched tracks, and the familiar screeching of the brakes suggested they were slowing.

Acute grief coursed through her veins. She hadn’t traveled back in time, had she? The glass of the window, the small twin bed, the cabin attendant’s voice, even the lights in the night all indicated she had done nothing more than travel from Seattle to Spokane...in the present. She hadn’t managed to wish herself back to 1906. Wenatchee had come and gone, and she’d slept through the entire trip.

She pressed a fist against her mouth to fight back a scream. No! No! If she hadn’t traveled back in time, it was because Nathan was really dead, wasn’t it? He was no longer there waiting for her. Why hadn’t she made it to 1906? Or even 1905, before Nathan disappeared? He’d said the women he knew traveled at will. Well, two of them did. Why couldn’t she? What had she missed?

Amanda blinked back the ready tears, took a deep breath and lifted her chin. That was okay! She’d ride the train again and again and again until she managed to go back in time. And if she managed to get back to 1906, and Nathan was still dead, she’d find a way to travel back even earlier.

She was no stranger at riding the train, that was certain. That would not be a problem. She took a deep breath and stood, pulling the door open and peering out into the hallway. The cabin attendant stood by the car door in preparation for their arrival. He spotted her, nodded politely and returned his attention to the train car window. She had only paid fare through to Spokane, and he would open the door for her to detrain. No other passengers huddled in the hall beside him, so she assumed she was the only one getting off in Spokane. Where she was going to go, she had no idea. She hadn’t planned on arriving in Spokane in the middle of the night in the twenty-first century.

“What time is it?” she asked as she came to stand by the young man.

He checked his watch. “Three-thirty, ma’am. We’re running about two hours late.”

She leaned against the wall next to the luggage rack to balance herself against the jostling while the train switched tracks again.

“I don’t remember. Did you have any baggage?”

Amanda shook her head. “No,” she replied briefly. “What time does the train going west come through?”

He pulled a plastic card from his back pocket and consulted it.

“It’s supposed to arrive in Spokane at one-forty and leave at two-fifteen,” he said, stowing his card, “but I think I see the train right over there.” He peered out the window as the train slowed to a crawl. “They must be running late, too. I’m sure they’ll pull out soon.”

Amanda noticed a stack of Seattle newspapers that had been stashed in a spare spot on the luggage rack. A large headline caught her eye, and she craned her neck to see it. Something about politics, the same story they had been covering for weeks. Nothing new. How many days had they covered the story? Her eyes strayed to the date of the newspaper, and she stiffened. It wasn’t possible. The date was October 15, 2013. She had boarded the train on October 22nd! With a shaking hand, she fished in her skirt pocket for her ticket.

Yes, October 22, 2013. The ticket was dated October 22, 2013. She had traveled back in time, just not far enough. She eyed the cabin attendant. He was the same young man who had taken her ticket when she boarded...last week.

“Hey, I was wondering, do you remember taking my ticket when I got on the train in Seattle?”

He turned a distracted eye to her. “Yes, ma’am.”

“What day was it?”

His eyes narrowed, and he looked down at her skirt before raising his eyes to her face. “Tuesday.”

“No, I mean what was the date?”

He shook his head as the train stopped. “The date? You mean yesterday? October 15th.” He turned away from her and pulled open the door. Grabbing the metal step, he set it outside. Stepping down, he held out a hand for her.

“Thank you for traveling with us, ma’am,” he said as he nodded and moved away down to the track toward the station.

Amanda stood in the cold, staring around the train depot in the diffused lights from the lampposts. The train heading west toward Seattle hugged the track on the other side of the concrete platform, poised as if it were ready to leave. Workers still filled the cars with potable water, and several insomniac passengers loitered near the doors.

She wrapped her arms around herself and thought quickly. Should she hurry down to the station to buy a ticket for the other train? Was there time? What on earth would she do in Spokane until the train heading west came through tomorrow night?

She turned to hurry for the station. She would buy a ticket now.

“Amanda?”

As she neared the entrance to the upper level of the station, she thought she heard a voice. She stopped, instinctively looking for Nathan huddled by the station. She turned in that direction, but no one leaned against the brick wall of the building.

“Amanda?”

The voice was female. Amanda swung around. A woman stood on the platform looking at her, a backpack slung over her shoulders. Though she wore a jacket, black leggings and knee-high boots, something about the upswept style of her hair seemed out of place. Amanda raised a hand to her own hair, now hopelessly bedraggled and half hanging down her back in a ponytail.

The stranger moved forward to grasp her hand.

“You don’t remember me, do you?”

Amanda shook her head carefully. Beyond the small woman, she saw the passengers of the westbound train boarding. She galvanized into action.

“No, I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ve met you. I have to go. I have to get a ticket for the other train. I have to get on that train.”

“Wait, Amanda!” the other woman said. “My name is Dani Sadler. Are you sure you don’t remember me?”

Amanda froze and turned to face them again.

“Dani?”

The petite woman nodded, a smile bursting forth. “Do you remember me now?”

Amanda shook her head. “No, I’m sorry, I don’t, but Nathan mentioned you.” Her voice broke at the mention of his name. “I’m sorry,” she choked. “He’s dead. I don’t know if you knew.”

Dani gripped her hand more tightly. “Don’t cry, Amanda. Don’t cry, honey. Nathan is alive!”

Amanda reared back and stared at Dani. Her heart thudded so loudly in her ears, she thought she must have misheard.

“What?”

Dani bounced her head up and down. “He’s alive! I know you thought he was dead, but he’s not.”

Amanda’s knees shook and she fell against the brick wall for support. All her hopes and dreams had come true. Nathan was alive! She had no idea how or why, but he was alive.

“Where is he?” Amanda scanned the platform beyond Dani as if she could spot him, but of course, that was silly. He was in 1906. But why was Dani here? Hadn’t she married someone from the early twentieth century herself?

Dani winced and shook her head. “Well, the thing is...I lost him in time somewhere. I don’t know where he is. But he’s alive.”

Amanda stared at Dani in a daze. The ups and downs of the past twenty-four hours had taken their toll. She was on the verge of hysteria. How many times could she possibly lose one man in her lifetime?

“I don’t understand,” she whispered.

“I know you don’t, and I’m sorry, Amanda. This is all so awkward. Come, let’s go into the station and get out of the cold. We don’t have time to catch that train anyway. It’s pulling out.”

Amanda turned to see the train pulling away, and she almost ran after it, but Dani dragged her relentlessly into the upper level of the station and down the escalator to the empty main lobby. She steered Amanda toward a plastic bench and they sat down. Amanda burst into a torrent of questions.

“Why were you with Nathan? How did you lose him? How did he survive the wreck? Where did you come from?”

In the light of the lobby, she could see that Dani was beautiful—small with bright red hair which struggled to stay within the bun at the crown of her head.

“Hold on, hold on. I know you have questions. Let’s see.” Dani narrowed her eyes. “Well, I was with Nathan because he asked me to help him get back here to find you. I lost him because I don’t know why. I’ve traveled back and forth quite a few times to see my mother and to bring her back, and several times with Stephen. Stephen and I had an accident once...ending up in the wrong times. I haven’t traveled for a while though. I’ve got kids now, and Stephen and I agreed I wouldn’t travel in time anymore.

“But you guys broke my heart. You’ve both been missing for a year, and when Nathan showed up yesterday in Seattle without you, I knew I had to offer my help. I normally live at Lake McDonald in the future Glacier National Park, Montana, but Robert cabled to report that you and Nathan had been found, so Stephen and I packed up the kids and headed for Seattle. Then we heard he’d been killed in a boat accident!” She paused for breath.

“Anyway, Robert Chamberlain said he’d brought you back to Seattle, but you had disappeared from the train. He assumed you had traveled in time but no one knew where or when. Then we heard that Nathan was alive, that he’d managed to swim ashore and made his way back to Wenatchee on foot. When Nathan finally reached Seattle though and discovered that you’d disappeared on the train, he was so upset, so distraught, I didn’t know if we could calm him down.”

“We didn’t know what to do—any of us. Only Ellie, Annie or I could have brought him back to find you, but Ellie hasn’t traveled on a train since she first arrived, and Annie and her husband, Rory, are in Asia photographing the ‘Orient.’ That left me. Stephen said it was up to me, and I couldn’t bear to see Nathan suffering so much, so I volunteered. Nathan was grateful, that’s for sure, but I have no idea how he feels now. I don’t know where he is.” She shrugged her shoulders, but her voice held a note of worry.

Amanda took Dani’s hand in hers. Though Dani sounded flippant, her eyes showed her concern and unhappiness.

“If there’s one thing I’ve discovered about Nathan by now, Dani, it’s that he is a survivor. I’m sure he’s all right, wherever he is. Hopefully, he packed enough money from both 1906 and 2013 to get by.”

Dani nodded. “We made sure he had enough of the current stuff. I had a stash from when I was last here.”

“So, what happened?”

Dani shook her head. “I don’t know. We did the old ‘hold hands and go to sleep’ thing near Wenatchee. It always worked with my mother, never a slip up, but when I woke up on the modern train in 2013, he was gone. I got off in Spokane.”

“What should we do?” Amanda asked.

Dani shook her head. “I’m not sure right now. I got in last night, and I took a nap in a nearby motel before coming back to the station tonight. I had a ticket for the westbound train, but then I saw you.” She peered at Amanda closely again. “So, you still don’t remember me?”

Amanda shook her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t. I feel awful about that, too.”

“No, don’t,” Dani said. “I understand. You can’t help where you end up with this traveling thing sometimes.”

“In fact, I traveled again,” Amanda said. “I boarded the train in Seattle on October 22, 2013, trying to get back to 1906. Look! Here’s my ticket.” She produced her ticket. “But it’s only October 16th now, isn’t it? I saw a Seattle newspaper on the train dated October 15, 2013.”

Dani nodded. “Yes, it is. This was the date that Nathan wanted to travel to...something about getting here before October 15th. That’s when you two traveled to the future, right? When you became separated the first time?”

Amanda’s heart rolled over in her chest, and she nodded. “That’s so sweet. He was trying to get back here to find me when I still remembered everyone, when we were still engaged.”

“Yes, I think so. Although I take it you’re in love with him...again?” Dani chuckled. “You two were definitely meant to be together if you fell in love with him not once, but twice.”

Amanda’s cheeks heated. “I’m so glad to hear you say that, Dani. It helps, kind of verifies it. Yes, I love him...again. Always, I guess. I think we were meant to be together though I wish I remembered our first romance...the day he asked me to marry him.”

Dani nodded sympathetically. “I’ll bet.”

“How do I begin to look for him?” Amanda asked with a heavy sigh. “Where do you think he is?”

Dani shook her head. “I wish I knew. For all I know, he might still be in 1906, might have caught the train back to Seattle.” She drew in a quick breath. “I actually hope not. If he comes back, and I’m not with him, Stephen will have a heart attack.”

“Stephen is your husband, right?”

Dani turned to her and nodded. “Yes, you know him too.”

Amanda shook her head. “How was Nathan? Was he well?”

Dani quirked an eyebrow. “Well, he’s a little beat up from his survivalist gig. Apparently, he walked more than a day and a half without shoes, so he’s limping a bit, but other than that, he’s fine. He misses you and he’s very worried about you. I think he’s worried that he won’t be able to find you again.”

A painful knot formed in Amanda’s throat. “I’m pretty worried about the same thing, to tell you the truth.”

“What do you want to do, Amanda? Do you want to stay here and hope he shows up? Or do you want to come back with me...to 1906?”

Amanda wrapped her arms around herself. “I don’t know. When Robert took me back to Seattle, all I wanted to do was return to our time...to 2013. But when I did, all I wanted to do was get back, to see if I could travel to a time before Nathan died. I would stop him from getting on the sternwheeler. And now? I don’t know what to do, because I don’t know where he is. I just want to be with him. I want to find him in time.”

Dani nodded. “Well, the train doesn’t leave until late tonight, in about ten hours, so give it some thought. In the meantime, I think we should probably get some sleep.” She looked at Amanda’s skirt. “And maybe get you something to wear. My skirts are packed in my bag. I changed on the train after I traveled forward in time.”

Amanda smiled wanly. “I wondered about that.” She looked down at her dark blue skirt. “No, I’m fine with this outfit. Nathan bought it for me.” She swallowed against the lump in her throat.

“Come on. I’ll just check back into that fleabag motel again. It’s not too far, which is why I didn’t mind counting the fleas. You look beat.”

They rose, and Amanda followed Dani toward the nearby motel. Although not of the best quality, Amanda saw none of the fleas to which Dani referred, and she assumed Dani had been kidding. Amanda dropped down on one of the double beds and laid an arm across her eyes to block out the streetlights filtering in through the sagging curtains.

“We’ll find him, Amanda,” Dani murmured from the other bed. “We have to.”

“I hope so,” Amanda whispered. “I hope he’s all right.” Exhausted, her earlier optimism regarding Nathan’s survival skills dissipated.