Chapter Two

“Come with you!” Amanda exclaimed. Her brown eyes widened, and she stared at him as if he’d lost his mind.

Though the incredulity in her tone cut straight to his heart, he eyed her steadily. She was the same woman he had come to love a little over a year ago, though she clearly did not remember their time together. He would not give up. He hadn’t given up waiting and lurking about the train station every night for the past year, although there had been times lately when he felt the situation hopeless...that he might never see her again. That he hadn’t been able to return home without her help had been a secondary complication. He could no longer imagine his life in 1906 without Amanda.

“What on earth are you talking about? I’m not going anywhere with you!” Her eyes flashed, and a corner of his mouth lifted. Oh, he had missed her terribly...especially her beautiful dark eyes which inevitably failed to conceal her emotions.

“The gentleman in me might say, ‘I beg your pardon, my dear. I have no right to ask you to return with me,’ but I seem to have left my manners behind in 1906. I need to return to see to my grandfather. He must have been devastated at my disappearance...at our disappearance. He did like you very much. I have matters of business to attend to—my house, my properties. Though you might have changed your mind and wish to remain here in the twenty-first century, I must at least have funds to begin anew.”

Amanda shook her head, her eyes wide again, and Nathan cursed himself for attempting to rush her. This was perhaps not the best time to tell her that he would never be parted from her again, that if she wished to stay in her time, he had every intention of returning to watch over her though she may want nothing to do with him. The thought pained him, and he took a deep silent breath to ease the constriction in his chest.

“This is crazy,” Amanda whispered. “You really believe all this, don’t you?”

“I do,” Nathan said firmly. “I know how it must sound to you. Believe me, when you appeared on the train in 1906—lost, dressed much as you are now in clothing that would cause a scandal in my time—I thought you must be quite mad as well, but your plight tore at my heart, and I soon realized that you had traveled in time, as fantastical as that still sounds to me.”

Perhaps he’d found the right words for Amanda’s expression of skepticism eased...somewhat.

“You are so believable,” she said with a shake of her head as if she wished he were not.

Nathan was encouraged, but he bided his time.

Amanda looked at him as if she wished for more information, but he resisted the urge to recapitulate the entirety of their meeting, their romance and their vows to marry. Too much, too soon, he thought. After all, had he not just attacked her on the train? Unpardonable, but he had not thought clearly. When he had awakened from a doze and saw her on the platform—after all the months of waiting and hoping—he had reacted instantly and run after her.

“So, time travel,” she murmured with an expectant look in his direction.

He nodded and watched her.

“Is that all you have to say?” she asked in a peevish tone.

Nathan pressed his lips together to refrain from smiling.

“For now.”

“Are you kidding?”

Nathan shook his head. She always did wish to see proof for herself, never relying solely on anyone’s word. When she first appeared on the train in 1906, she hadn’t believed she’d traveled in time until she had seen the date on his train ticket.

“Well, how did we meet?”

Nathan formed his words carefully. “We met on the train in my time—in 1906. I was returning from visiting friends in the Glacier wilderness area of Montana, when you appeared suddenly in my sleeping compartment on the observation car. It was most awkward, but I deduced quite quickly that you were not from my time, given your unusual clothing, language and mannerisms. I have long had an open mind regarding matters of science fiction, and confess I was delighted to discover that time travel was possible.”

Amanda crossed her arms in a stubborn fashion which he recognized well. She was resisting the idea—as she had then. He fell silent and watched her as he had yearned to do for so long—the delicate lines of her face, the hazelnut brown of her eyes, the silky chestnut hair that he had loved to caress.

“And?” she asked.

“And what?”

“Then what?”

“Ah! You wish me to continue. I thought by the mutinous expression on your face that you preferred to hear no more.”

“I’m not sure why I’m listening to you, but it is fascinating. If nothing else, you have a very vivid imagination. Perhaps you should write stories. Go on.”

“Thank you, I think. Well, after I convinced you that you were no longer in the twenty-first century, and after some tears on your part, you agreed to let me help you. I brought you to my home where my housekeeper took charge of you. I made some excuse for your presence with my grandfather, who still does not know of your origins.”

Nathan paused. He did not wish to describe the period of their courtship and engagement in such brief terms, as if dispassionately reciting some dry history lesson.

Amanda brushed back a few strands of wayward hair which had escaped the band at the back of her neck.

“You said...” She hesitated and her cheeks turned a becoming rosy red—one of the features he most loved about her. “You said something about...love...and marriage.” She shrugged almost nonchalantly. “What was that about?”

Nathan winced. In his dreams of seeing Amanda once again, he had never imagined she would not remember him, would not know him.

“Yes, we fell in love and I asked you to marry me, but you must not concern yourself with that just now. I can see this has all been too much for you, and I think you must have time to think about what I’ve said.”

She narrowed her eyes and regarded him from under veiled lashes.

“Just supposing that there was some truth to your story, how can I help you get back?” She gave her head a quick shake and looked away. “I can’t believe I’m even discussing this with you.”

“You are the only one, Amanda, who can travel back and forth through time. I can only accompany you, but I do not have the power to travel in time without you.”

“Why can’t you?”

“Amanda, I would have returned to my own time long ago to see to my grandfather had I been able. And as I mentioned, we have friends who are aware of this phenomenon. In fact, we know several women who have traveled to the past and have chosen to remain there.”

“There are more? Are you serious?”

“Yes, there are three other women who have traveled back in time to the Seattle area. There must be more in the world, but I have not heard of them. Each woman relates that she was as disbelieving as you.”

“Well, do they travel back and forth?”

Nathan nodded. “They have, although none do so now. There was always some concern that they could not return—as we know now that is a very real possibility—and they worried that they might become separated from their husbands and their children.”

“Husbands and children? Are you saying they married men from your time...and never wanted to return to the present?”

He shrugged. “I cannot speak to all their emotions, but they have each assured me that they are content to remain in the past.”

“This is insane!” Amanda breathed. “You know, I really can’t believe all this.”

“I understand,” Nathan said in a resigned tone. Amanda’s reaction was not unlike that when he first found her on the train in 1906. He never expected he would have to convince her twice that time travel was possible.

“Oh, now you’re going to be the calm one?” she muttered to his amusement. “Well, what would I have to do to get you back, not that I believe any of this?”

“I am not quite sure. As was explained to us, we were to take a compartment in the observation car, there to fall asleep before we reached Wenatchee, Washington. We were to remain close...” Nathan blushed like a schoolboy himself. “That is, we were to hold hands or rest in each other’s arms while we slept. We had to touch at the time of travel so I could go with you. Otherwise, I should have simply traveled on to Chicago, and you would have stayed with me or traveled in time.

“But something went awry. We may have slept too long, we may have lost contact with each other, I am not sure. I awakened on this modern gleaming train about an hour before arrival in Spokane in the year 2012, and you were not with me. I did not know if you had remained in my time or...” His voice roughened. “I had no idea what happened to you, my love, and I have searched for you for the past year, but I could not find you. I hopped a freight train like a hobo and made my way to Seattle. But I had no way to find you. In 1906, should you inquire after Nathan Carpenter, it is likely someone has heard of me, but I could find no one who had heard your name.

“I even thought to procure one of those mobile telephones you mentioned but alas I did not have a number for you. So, I returned to Spokane and waited, hoping you would find your way back to Spokane, back to me.” Nathan bit his lip on the last words. He sounded much too forlorn even to his own ears, too desperate. Of course, he had been distraught ever since he lost her, but it would not do to harp on the matter with her. To her, he was some deranged homeless stranger who had assaulted her in her compartment.”

He knew he was right when she seemed to retreat further against the wall of the compartment.

“I-I don’t know what to say.” She looked at the watch on her wrist. “The next stop is Ephrata in about an hour. Then Wenatchee an hour after that. The train is running late, but you know that, don’t you?”

Nathan nodded, wondering what she was about to say.

“I think you should get off at Wenatchee. They don’t open the doors at Ephrata unless someone is detraining, and that’s not likely tonight. Hopefully you won’t be seen, but I think you should go. In fact, you should leave this compartment now. There’s an empty compartment across the aisle. I think the cabin attendant is probably asleep by now, so he won’t check on anything for a few hours.”

Nathan’s heart sunk. She didn’t believe him. He didn’t blame her, but she seemed so distant from him. He rose from the edge of the bed to stand. There was little room between the bed and the door, only the width of his body. Would she call the authorities when he left? He didn’t know. He couldn’t very well jump off the train while it was still moving. He couldn’t lose her now that he had found her. He must find a way to convince her, but at the moment, the best thing he could do was retreat. It was the gentlemanly thing to do.

“As you wish, Amanda. It would be best if you do not call the authorities. Best for me, that is,” he said with a faint smile. “I cannot imagine that I will be able to sleep, but at least I shall be warm.”

He turned away lest she see the pain in his face. He unlocked the compartment and stepped across the hall to enter the next room. The seats had not been folded down into a bed for the night, but he didn’t care. Sleep was truly the furthest thing from his mind. He locked the door and sat down in the darkness, watching the occasional lights pass by.

Over the past year, he had not been able to ride the passenger train back and forth to search for Amanda as he’d wished. Though he had sufficient means from the sale of his money to do so, he had discovered upon inquiry that he needed some form of identification. He had witnessed passengers in the stations holding out small cards with photographs on them, but he had not been able to procure such for himself in the absence of a birth certificate.

It galled him to know that Amanda had been so close, that she had indeed ridden on the very train he watched so closely. He leaned his head back and listened to the rumbling of the train on the tracks and the occasional whistle. He imagined a scenario in which Amanda crept out of her compartment and alerted the crew that she had been attacked, and that her assailant was still aboard. An outcry would ensue, and they would likely stow him in some sort of locked cargo facility until they could turn him over to the authorities.

He tilted his head and listened intently. There was no sound. He did not hear Amanda’s compartment door open, nor did he hear an outcry from the crew of the train. With a finger, he pushed aside the curtain on the door to view her compartment. The door was still tightly closed, and the light was still on. She did not sleep.

Nathan dropped the curtain and turned to gaze out of the window into the dark night. What on earth was he to do? Follow her back to Seattle and camp out on her doorstep? As ridiculous as that sounded, he no longer had any reason to remain in Spokane. He thought he must press on to Seattle and try to find work there. His money would not hold out much longer.

He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. He must have fallen asleep because a soft rap on the glass window of the door awakened him. He held his breath and waited.

“Nathan? Are you awake?” Amanda whispered. “Wenatchee is coming up in half an hour. Have you decided what you’re going to do?”

Nathan jumped up and slid open the door.

Amanda looked up at him, her petite form unchanged over the last year. His heart rolled over at the sight of her before it plummeted. What was he going to do?

He shook his head. “I don’t know. Thank you for telling me that we approach Wenatchee. I fell asleep, though I cannot imagine how given the circumstances.”

Amanda bit her lip and searched his face for a moment before speaking.

“Okay, I’ll help you if I can. What do we need to do?”