Chapter Four

Of course, Nathan was jesting, but he did wonder how he was going to convince the station agent to let him send a telegram. He knew he looked disreputable and shady, and probably much like a hobo. The conductor’s contemptuous treatment of them had been proof enough of his appearance.

He looked down at Amanda, still eyeing the boxes of apples. In an effort to cover her limbs with his oversized coat, he had transformed her also into a woman who appeared to have little means.

No other passengers had descended from the train, leaving the platform devoid of activity. No people milled about on the platform, no baggage was loaded, no porters helped passengers load.

“We must hurry,” Nathan urged. “I am afraid the agent will close the station at any moment as the hour is late, and there are no passengers awaiting other trains.”

Amanda allowed herself to be towed into the station, a long one-story wooden building butted up to the platform. Nathan settled her onto a wooden bench in the modest waiting room while he hurried up to the agent who eyed them curiously from behind an iron-grilled ticket counter.

“Excuse me, sir. I wonder if you would consider allowing me to send a telegram. I have lost my wallet with my money, and I need to have funds wired to me here in Wenatchee.”

The agent, a slender elderly man, eyed him wearily. He shook his head.

“I’m closing down the station. Come back tomorrow morning after 10 o’clock.”

“Sir, my...wife is tired. Forgive my persistence, but we have traveled a long way and have nowhere to stay tonight. Please allow me at least to send the telegram. The earlier I send it, the sooner I will receive some funds.”

The agent hesitated, looked over Nathan’s shoulder toward Amanda and sighed. “That’ll be fifty cents,” he said.

“Yes, thank you. The thing is though that I have lost my wallet and do not have the fifty cents. I wonder if you could trust me to reimburse you when my bank wires the money to me.”

The agent laughed without mirth and shook his head. “No, sir. I cannot do that, I’m sorry.”

Nathan wanted to shake the man, but he drew a deep breath and thanked his lucky stars Amanda was not standing beside him to make matters worse with some acerbic comment regarding customer skills. He turned on the charm.

“My good man, surely you see that I am in a difficult position. I cannot pay for the telegram without funds, and I cannot acquire funds without sending for them. If you do not have sympathy for me, please think of my wife. She cannot sleep on the station platform once you close the station, which is what I think you wish to do.”

Amanda, apparently wondering what was occurring, stood and approached. Nathan turned to look at her. She did look rather wan and tired as well as very confused.

“As you see, she is exhausted. We have traveled a long way.” Nathan hoped Amanda would follow his lead. Smart girl that she was, she did.

“Yes, I’m very tired. About to drop on my feet,” she mumbled. Nathan wasn’t certain that she was pretending. The station agent scratched his ear as he stared at them.

“All right then,” the agent muttered at length. “Quickly now, write your message down.” He thrust a pad of paper toward Nathan.

“Thank you, good sir!” Nathan hastily dictated a telegram to his bank, hoping they had not frozen his accounts over the past year. He did not wish to send anything to his grandfather or friends just yet as he wanted to see them in person to explain his whereabouts for the past year.

The station agent sat down at a desk to send the telegram while Nathan watched.

“There! It’s gone,” the agent said. “Now, mister, you and your missus will have to leave. I’m closing the station.” His voice brooked no argument as he came out of the ticket office and ushered them toward the door.

“Do you know of any nearby rooming houses? A hotel? Somewhere with food?” Nathan asked. He held out his hand to help Amanda to her feet.

The small man sighed deeply as if to signal that he had been very patient with them, but that was at an end. Nathan gave him his brightest smile. Though he was glad to be “home,” he had never tried to live in his time without money, and this was becoming as inconvenient as traveling to the future without means.

“There’s a hotel just up the street there. I’m sure if you ask the manager, she’ll rustle you up some soup or something. Someone will be awake there. They get passengers arriving late at night once in a while. You’re not the first people to get off the train here in Wenatchee in the middle of the night, you know.”

Nathan bowed his head humbly, and squeezed Amanda’s hand as she opened her mouth to speak—her face red and her eyes sparkling with anger.

“Yes, thank you so much for all your trouble. We’ll just be on our way. I hope to be able to reimburse you for the telegram within the next few days as soon as funds arrive from my bank.”

The station agent waved a dismissive hand and shut the door behind them. Nathan heard the key in the lock just as Amanda erupted.

“What a jerk!” she exclaimed. “Acting like he’s so put out!”

Nathan took her hand under his arm. “Well, he was of great help despite his ill-mannered ways. He could have done nothing else but offer to pay for the hotel or invite us home to eat with his family.”

Amanda’s face smoldered. “I would have refused to go,” she said.

“Well, he did not invite us, so the point is moot. Let’s go see about this hotel. I shall have to sweet talk the manager into letting us stay.” He guided her away from the station and turned left to walk down the street in the direction the station agent had pointed.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll do fine. You seem to have a gift for getting people to do what you what,” Amanda muttered. She raised a hand in a sweeping gesture as if to encompass the town. “After all, look at where we are? In your time, though we’re not exactly on our way to Seattle. What was I thinking when I agreed to help you? How did I expect I was going to get back?”

Nathan could do little but pat her hand, denying himself the urge to stop and wrap his arms around her as he had done in the past. She would not welcome his embrace, of that he was sure.

What had he been thinking? That she would welcome traveling back to 1906...again? She hadn’t been happy the first time...not in the beginning. But he hadn’t brought her back to the past as he had this time. She had come on her own. Some mysterious force had brought her to him, though he’d never understood it.

“Oh, wait! I wasn’t thinking, was I?” Amanda continued to mutter. “I thought you were off your rocker. It never really occurred to me that we would actually travel through time. I thought if I just held your hand for a bit, you’d see this time travel thing was all just a fantasy and that you needed help.

“But, noooooo,” Amanda went on. “Here we are! Smack dab in the middle of I-don’t-know-where-from-Adam and I-don’t-know-when! Oh, noooooo. Clearly, I’m the one who was delusional...or am delusional.”

At that, Nathan stopped abruptly and turned Amanda to face him. “Amanda, my love, you are not delusional. You are quite sane, if a little rabid at the moment. We are in my time, in 1906. We have traveled in time. All will turn out well. It will. If you truly cannot abide this era, then I will do everything within my power to help you get back, but that will not occur tonight...or within the next few days until I procure funds for us. We need the train.”

Amanda pressed her lips together and looked up at him. The faint light of the moon played on her face, and he thought he saw tears in her eyes. He ran his thumbs along the outer edge of her cheeks to catch the tears.

“It will be all right, Amanda, I promise you. We have a few difficulties ahead of us, but I will ensure that you have a roof over your head and food in your stomach tonight. Is it that which worries you? Do you fear we shall be forced to sleep on the street?”

Away from the station, few buildings along the wooden sidewalk of the town were lit. Most people slept at this hour. He could see the two-story hotel a short distance down the street, two welcoming lights flanking the front door under a porch.

She shook her head. “No, of course not. I told you I know you’ll manage to get anything you want. All you have to do is turn on the charm and show your bright whites! No, I’m worried about my sanity. I think I’m losing it.”

Nathan couldn’t help but laugh.

“You are not ‘losing it,’ my dear, though it may feel that way. When I first arrived in your time, I also thought I must have lost my mind, for though you had described some aspects of your world, I did not comprehend the scope of the changes that have occurred throughout the century.”

Instinctively, Nathan bent his head to kiss her, but Amanda gasped and reared her head back.

“Forgive me,” he muttered. “I am sorry. I continue to forget that you do not know me yet. Yes, I know how you feel. I too feel as if I might lose my mind. If only because the woman I love no longer knows me.” He gritted his teeth and swallowed hard, hating the note of bitterness that had crept into his voice. He forced a smile to his lips and lightened his tone.

“Come. It is time for me to ‘turn on the charm and show my bright whites.’” He took her hand and turned toward the hotel.

They reached the hotel and climbed stairs from the wooden sidewalk to reach the porch. Nathan pushed open the door. A bell sounded as he did so, and they paused just inside the doorway, surveying the modest lobby.

A shabby though well polished wooden counter lined one wall which presumably was normally attended over by a desk clerk. At present, the lobby was empty, but a small lamp at one end of the counter shed soft lighting throughout the quiet room.

Nathan looked down at Amanda to assure himself that his coat covered her from prying eyes which would come soon if the bell had done its job. And indeed, an older woman came bustling in from a door at the rear of the lobby, pulling a shawl around her shoulders and running a hand to her silver hair.

“Yes, can I help you?” she asked.

“We wished to inquire about a room. I apologize for our late arrival, but we just got off the train.” Though Nathan had expressed his concerns about acquiring a room without ready cash, he hesitated to tell Amanda that it was likely they would have to share a room. How else could he explain her presence? He had already named her as his wife to the station agent, and he suspected that Wenatchee was a very small town indeed where such information traveled fast. He could not now call her his sister, neither would anyone believe him.

The woman, presumably the manager, appraised their clothing with raised brows, and Nathan took the preemptive measure of reaching for Amanda’s hand in a warning gesture. He thought it best to be direct with the hotel manager.

“Yes, I apologize for our attire, madam. We were accosted by ruffians in Spokane during our stay there several weeks ago, and they stole all our baggage and our money. We managed to book a fare here as far as Wenatchee, and I am awaiting funds from my bank to set us right and get us on our way again. I just sent the wire from the train station as the station agent could verify. I expect a response within the next day or two at the latest. I was hoping that you would allow us to take a room on credit until I can pay you.”

Amanda tugged on his hand and he glanced down at her. She smiled brightly, reminding him to “flash his brights,” and he beamed at the manager with what he hoped was his most charming smile.

The stout woman ran a hand along her hair and cleared her throat.

“That would be my husband, Mr. Spivey,” she said. “The station agent,” she added when Nathan and Amanda looked at her blankly. “My husband. Yes, he just came in the back door and announced you might be coming by. Told me to give you the benefit of the doubt.” She nodded briskly and stepped behind the counter.

Nathan swallowed hard, thanking his lucky stars he hadn’t introduced Amanda as his sister in order to acquire separate rooms. Wenatchee was indeed a small town, it would seem. They had met only two people, and those people were related. He only hoped the conductor who had evicted them from the train wasn’t a brother-in-law.

“Thank you,” Nathan murmured. “My wife and I are most grateful for your understanding.”

Amanda nodded demurely but said nothing. She studied Mrs. Spivey keenly as if she’d never seen a woman before. Nathan remembered that Amanda had done exactly the same thing when she had first seen the female passengers on the train after he found her the first time. She had been especially fascinated by their clothing and their hair.

Mrs. Spivey opened up a ledger and pushed it toward Nathan for a signature. She blinked when she caught Amanda staring and raised a hand to her hair again.

“I must look awful. I was asleep when my husband woke me just before you arrived. I dressed in a hurry.”

Nathan hoped Amanda would arise to the occasion. It was not really his place to comment on the older woman’s appearance. He finished filling out the ledger, his heart thudding wildly at writing “Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Carpenter.” How often had he dreamed of writing such a thing, of Amanda becoming his wife?

“Oh, no, you look fine. Your hair is very shiny,” Amanda murmured.

Mrs. Spivey beamed as she pulled the ledge toward her.

“Oh, well, thank you, Mrs...” she peered at the ledger, “Mrs. Carpenter! I use a little lemon juice to make it shine...when I can get lemons, that is.”

“I’ll have to try that, Mrs. Spivey.” Amanda said, mustering a smile.

“I have some in the kitchen. I’ll send some up to you in the morning.” Mrs. Spivey’s cheeks remained pink as she handed Nathan a key. “Your room is number seven at the top of the stairs and just down the hall on the right. Towels are in your room, and the bathroom is at the end of the hall. If you want to wash up tonight, that will be fine. We don’t have any other guests at the moment, so noise won’t be a problem. I’ll bring some soup and bread to your room in about thirty minutes. Mr. Spivey is stoking up the fire in the kitchen.” She bustled out from behind the counter and escorted them to the bottom of the stairs.

“Thank you, Mrs. Spivey,” Nathan said as he held out his arm to escort Amanda up the stairs. Mrs. Spivey nodded and turned away and headed through the door from which she’d emerged.

“We’re sharing a room?” Amanda hissed as soon as she left the lobby.

Nathan had expected this.

“We have to, I’m afraid. I already told the station agent you were my wife. I didn’t think anyone would believe you were my sister.”

“Yeah, I heard you call me your wife in front of the station agent, but I hoped that was a one-time thing. Let’s hope they have two beds in the room.”

Nathan highly doubted it, and he was proven right when he unlocked the door to reveal a modest room with one double bed inside. He flipped on the light switch, stepped back and allowed Amanda to enter the room.

“We can make some arrangements,” he said hastily. “This will only be for a few days. Perhaps I can sleep in a chair or...” He stopped. The only chair in the room was a hard-back chair next to the door. The room sported one small well-worn dresser, a scratched and nicked nightstand with a globe lamp, the bed and the chair. A small faded Oriental carpet covered the painted wooden floor at the foot of the bed.

“This isn’t going to work. You have to have a bed,” Amanda shook her head. “Mrs. Spivey said the hotel was empty. Can’t we make up some excuse and ask her for a second room? I’ll pay you for it.”

“Nonsense!” Nathan sputtered. “Money is not the object. I think it would raise questions if we were to take two rooms. What excuse should we make up? That I have leprosy?”

Amanda chuckled.

“No, not leprosy, they send you away to Pacific Islands for that, not just to separate bedrooms. How about tuberculosis?” Amanda said with a grin.

Nathan sobered and shook his head. “Tuberculosis is no laughing matter in the early twentieth century, Amanda. It is still not curable, not as it is in your time. Both of my parents and my brother died of the disease.”

Amanda swung to him. “Oh, Nathan! I’m so sorry,” she murmured. “I was only kidding, but, of course, you’re right. It’s not a laughing matter. I’m so sorry,” she muttered. “I had no idea.”

“No, of course, you could not.” She had known but that was in another lifetime. “I shall make inquiries as soon as Mrs. Spivey returns with the soup.” He turned to survey the room. “I wonder where we are meant to eat? I see no table. I could have wished for a larger room, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

Amanda’s shoulders drooped, and Nathan wished he had remained silent. He approached her and put his hands on her shoulders.

“Amanda,” he said softly. “Look at me.”

She kept her eyes on the floor.

“Amanda. I could have avoided making a comment at that time. I knew you were only joking. I am not sure why I thought it necessary to embarrass you like that.”

She shook her head. “No, I should know better than to joke about things that aren’t funny. Disease isn’t funny. I should have remembered where I was.”

Nathan put a hand under her chin to raise her face to his. “You know, my dear, you had almost the same reaction the last time I told you about my family. I know how sensitive you are. You wear your heart on your sleeve, and I love that about you. If it is any consolation, you said all the right things before.” His smile wavered as he longed to lean in and kiss her soft lips. She had wrapped her arms around him when he had told her of his family before, and the loneliness he had known for so many years had vanished. At the moment, he felt very alone again, the loss of their friendship and intimacy acutely painful.

Amanda smiled gently and raised a hand to the side of his face. He pressed into it as a cat might, and she pulled it back quickly with an embarrassed smile.

“Thanks, I hope I did,” she said as she moved out of his reach. She sat down on the wooden chair. “Well, at least it’s warm in here,” she said.

And indeed, the radiator against one wall cranked and groaned to let them know the heat was on.

“Much warmer than the street or the platform of the station,” Nathan agreed. He moved to pull aside the curtain and look down onto the quiet street as his heart slowed the erratic thumping incited by Amanda’s touch.

Within minutes, a knock on the door heralded the arrival of Mrs. Spivey carrying a large tray which she set down on the bed.

“Here is some vegetable soup for you. It’s hot and hearty, and here is some bread. I’ve brought up a small pot of tea as well.” She straightened and looked around the room. “I’m sorry there’s no table in here, but we don’t really have room service, not like those big hotels in Seattle. But you can make do, I’m sure.” She turned to head for the door. “Will there be anything else?”

Nathan opened his mouth to speak, but Amanda shook her head.

“No, thank you,” she said. Nathan turned to look at her uncertainly. Had she forgotten she wanted a separate room...and rightly so?

“Yes, there is, Mrs. Spivey,” he said quickly. “Lately, I have developed a terrible habit of snoring, and I wondered—since you mentioned you had no other guests at the moment—if we could book a separate room for me. Of course, I will reimburse you handsomely for the extra room. I would like for her to get a good night’s sleep.”

Nathan smiled brightly with what he hoped was the right amount of sheepishness.

“No, that’s okay,” Amanda began with a quick glance in Nathan’s direction. Although his cheeks warmed at the thought of Amanda’s nearness in the night, he knew she must have her own room...even if he had to go down to the lobby and sprawl out on one of the two uncomfortable-looking sofas.

Mrs. Spivey hesitated, looking between the two, but Amanda fell silent.

“Sure, that will be fine,” Mrs. Spivey said. “I have another room just across the hall, although not as large as this one. I understand about snoring, my dear,” she said to Amanda. “That will be fine. Since the apple harvest is in for the year, the town has quieted down, and we have the room. I’ll just go get the key.” She left the room, and Nathan turned to Amanda.

“I thought you wished to have your own room,” he said cautiously. He wasn’t quite sure what she was thinking. Though he knew her, at the moment, he didn’t feel like he knew her at all.

Avoiding his eyes, Amanda jumped up hastily. “Oh, nothing. Good call. I’m glad you asked her about the room.” She approached the bed. “Shall we eat?” She sat down on the edge of the bed and handed Nathan a bowl of soup without looking at him.

He took the bowl from her and took the vacated chair, settling in to drink the delicious soup. Amanda handed him some bread, and he took a slice. He kept an eye on her, thanking her silently that she had originally insisted on another room. He could not have slept a wink had he been in the same room with her, he was certain of it.

“Do you really snore?” Amanda asked.

Nathan almost choked on his soup.

“What?” he laughed. “Do I snore?”

Amanda nodded, her lips curving into a smile.

“Not a bit,” he said.

“How do you know?”

“I would have been told so by now.”

Her eyebrows shot up, and he understood how she must have interpreted his answer.

“By my grandfather. I have lived with him for many, many years. Even fallen asleep with him in the library in front of a warm fire.”

“Oh!” she grinned. “Let me guess. Did I ask that before...when we were engaged?”

Her words, though teasing, seemed to pierce his heart. When we were engaged. Past tense.