Chapter Ten
Leigh stared at Harry, who furrowed his already wrinkled brow.
“That’s me, but what’s this about a third great-grandmother?”
“Goodness! Look at the time!” Jeremiah said abruptly...and loudly. He had pulled his pocket watch from his vest. “We must let you rest, Harry. Leigh needs some rest as well. Will you be all right for a bit?”
Harry looked as confused as Leigh felt. Was the old man truly her fourth great-grandfather? How was that possible?
“Yeah, I’ll be all right. Sure would like to hear more about this great-grandmother of yours,” he said, looking at Leigh. “Do you think you can find my daughter?” he asked Jeremiah.
“We will talk more about that after you have rested, Harry,” Jeremiah said.
Leigh continued staring at Harry, her lips pressed tightly together. She understood that she had blundered, that Harry probably wasn’t one of those who knew about Kaskade’s peculiar knack for snatching people from the future.
She grabbed up Harry’s cold cup of tea and handed it to him.
“I know it’s cold, but drink this. I’ll bring you some warm stuff when I return.”
“Are we related?” Harry said, his forehead still knotted in confusion.
“Rest now, Harry. We can discuss all of that later,” Jeremiah said. He tugged at Leigh’s arm, and she let him lead her from the room.
Once in the hallway, Leigh whispered feverishly, “Jeremiah! That’s my fourth great-grandfather. I know it is. My mother’s favorite hobby was genealogy, and before she got sick, I used to help her look for names. I wasn’t very interested at my young age, but I do remember a few names. Harry Johnson was one of them.”
“A common enough name, surely.”
“Not with a daughter named Nancy Johnson who married a William Reid.”
Jeremiah looked toward the closed bedroom door.
“Let’s talk about this downstairs in my office.” He reached for Leigh’s hand to guide her down the hall, but she balked.
“You mean the parlor, right? You know I can’t do that office again.”
Jeremiah ducked his head in acknowledgement. “Yes, the parlor.”
“Okay,” she said, following him down the stairs. They reached the parlor, and Leigh sat down on the sofa. Jeremiah closed the door to his examining room before seating himself on an easy chair near the sofa.
“Thank you,” she said with a wince. “I’m embarrassed by my phobia, but that doesn’t make it any less real.”
“No, of course not. Now, what is this about Harry? Do you truly believe he is your great-grandfather?”
“Fourth great-grandfather, and yes, I do. I can’t say that I see a family resemblance, but I don’t know that my family had distinct features. My mother’s family have been in Western Washington for a long time.”
Jeremiah shook his head. “Well, I suppose this was inevitable! I am only pleased that it is not I who is your fourth great-grandfather.”
His smile make Leigh laugh. Somehow in the last few moments, she felt less lost in time.
“You know, that means my third and second great-grandmothers are alive! I would love to meet them!”
“We shall seek them out,” Jeremiah said. “But I do recommend that you not tell them who you are. Will that be difficult for you?”
“Difficult, as in keeping my mouth shut? Like I didn’t do with Harry?” Leigh chuckled, feeling happier than she had in the past day. “Or difficult, as in I can’t run to them and hug them as relatives?”
“I was thinking of the latter, that you could not claim them as family. Those of us who know about Kaskade’s peculiarities have discussed whether we should reveal ourselves and the town to the general public, but one imagines that Kaskade and its people would become an object of endless fascination, that we would be overrun with scientists and the press, that our quiet town would transform into a circus.”
“Not to mention what might happen to the actual time travelers...or abductees. I’m never really sure how to think about that.”
“Indeed, we have thought about the future lives of our...guests. You would be the source of endless gossip, speculation, study, perhaps even exploitation.”
“Thank you for thinking of us,” Leigh said. “I don’t know my fellow travelers, and I probably shouldn’t speak for them, but thank you for keeping our secret. I think you’re right. Being unwillingly thrown into the past is bad enough, but the nightmare if people find out would make it a hundred times worse.”
Jeremiah frowned. “I am so very sorry that you are unhappy here, Leigh. I promise you that the year will be over before you know it.”
Leigh heard a tone in his voice that reminded her to keep her ingratitude to herself. “No, I’m sorry. I promised myself I would be more thankful for the help you’ve given me. And look! Now I have family! Even if they won’t know I’m family.” She smiled.
“I do so hate to remind you, but Harry did say that his daughter will not speak to him. Will you be terribly hurt if she refuses to see him?”
“Only for him. Because I’m going with you. We’re going up to Orting to find her, and dear second great-grandmother, Rosanna!”
“We are?”
“However we get there, whenever we can! I’m pretty psyched about this.”
“Psyched?”
“Oh! So there is an expression you haven’t heard from my time. That means elated, happy.”
“Indeed!”
“So when can we go?”
“I have no appointments tomorrow. Is that soon enough to suit you?”
“I look forward to it.”
A chime rang, and Leigh looked around the room.
“That is the front door,” Jeremiah said. “Excuse me.”
He rose and left the room, and Leigh resisted following him. She wasn’t sure how visible Jeremiah wanted her to be. She stared down at her hands, trying to recall Harry’s face again in a search for any familial resemblance.
“Leigh, may I introduce you to Mrs. Katherine Ludlow, our minister’s wife?” Jeremiah said, escorting a tall, willowy dark-haired woman wearing a festive beribboned straw sailor hat into the room. “Katherine, this is Mrs. Leigh Peters, our newest...arrival.”
Leigh jumped up to find herself in a firm embrace, though her face came only to the taller woman’s armpit.
“Leigh! Welcome,” Katherine said, pulling back and studying her from head to foot. “Mrs. Jackson told me you were here, and I had to come see you as soon as possible. We don’t get many women!”
Leigh thought she knew what was going on, but she wasn’t completely sure. She looked to Jeremiah for reassurance before speaking.
Jeremiah recognized her question and nodded.
“Yes, Katherine came to us from the future. She decided to stay and marry our minister, John Ludlow.”
Leigh’s face broke into a smile. “Oh! Hello!” Leigh said. “Yes, here I am! What year did you come from?”
“2014. And I hear you’re from 2018? I’ll bet there have been a lot of changes!”
“Some, I think. So you’ve been here about four years?” Leigh asked.
“No, about five years now. And it’s killing my OCD. I’ve noticed we don’t necessarily come back in a tidy, organized fashion.”
“You do not have an obsessive-compulsive disorder,” Jeremiah said with a laugh.
“Well, I’ve got enough traits to drive me crazy,” Katherine responded with a matching laugh. She took Leigh’s hands again.
“I know you’re probably miserable, angry and confused right now, but I for one am thrilled to see you! And you ended up at Jeremiah’s house! How lucky for you. I found myself wandering around the church when I started out just walking along the lakeshore.”
“Oh! You too?”
“That’s how we all end up here. Luckily, John found me, and I lived happily ever after, so there’s a silver lining.”
Katherine’s dark-brown eyes twinkled as she looked at Leigh. She looked stunning in the fashions of the time. Her lovely ivory lace blouse ended at a wide chocolate-colored web belt above a similarly colored taffeta skirt. She wore a dainty coral cameo broach at her throat, and sweet coral earrings dangled from her ears. The taffeta ribbons on her hat matched her outfit.
Catching Leigh’s gaze, Katherine raised her eyes to the brim of her hat. She grinned infectiously before releasing Leigh’s hands to remove her hat.
“I know, I know. You’ll get used to them.”
“I think I should let you two ladies get acquainted in private. Would you like some coffee or tea?” Jeremiah asked.
Katherine looked at Leigh.
“Coffee for me,” Leigh said.
“Sounds good to me. Thank you, Jeremiah.”
He nodded and left the room. Katherine moved to the sofa and beckoned to Leigh to join her.
“So, how do you feel?” Katherine asked. “Physically? Mentally? Are you scared?”
Leigh guessed her to be about thirty years old.
“Yes, yes, and yes if there’s a third question.”
Katherine nodded with sympathy. “I know. It’s a shock, but you only have to stay for a year...unless you want to stay.” She looked toward the door. “Jeremiah’s nice, isn’t he?”
Leigh’s cheeks heated up. “Yes, he is.”
“I’m just saying,” Katherine murmured.
“I’ve already heard about Tanya.”
“From Jeremiah? Wow! I didn’t think he talked about her.”
“I don’t think he likes to. Mrs. Jackson told me about her.”
“Yeah, Tanya couldn’t stay. She wanted to, but at the last minute, she bailed and went home.”
“Is that how you see it? Bailing?”
Katherine shook her head. “No. Poor choice of words. I think I meant that she agreed to marry Jeremiah and then just left. She told him minutes before she left.”
Leigh shook her head with sympathy for Jeremiah, but something Katherine said caught her interest.
“How did she leave? You said ‘minutes before she left.’ How do we leave?”
Katherine nodded, as if Leigh had answered a question. “It sounds like you want to go back. Most people do. Well, I’ve never gone back, but I guess you return to the place where you appeared at the exact time you appeared...one year later, on the summer solstice.”
Leigh drew in a sharp breath.
“You mean the window to go back is that narrow? Solstice doesn’t even come on the same date every year, and I don’t know the exact hour and minute that I traveled through time.”
“Well, you’d better try to remember now, because your memory will fade in a year. I suppose you could hang out at that place for an hour or two or however long it takes to travel back. Where did you appear?”
“At the back corner of Jeremiah’s house. I touched the foundation, and that’s when it happened.”
“It does seem to be unique to each individual. I wonder why,” Katherine murmured.
“Probably just random.”
“Maybe.”
“So what happens as far as you know? They go back to where they traveled, and poof? They’re gone?”
“I guess so. I haven’t ever watched anyone go back. I don’t know if Jeremiah was there when Tanya returned. I didn’t have the heart to ask him.”
“So he was pretty torn up about her?” Leigh didn’t know why she kept pressing the issue. She already knew that Jeremiah had been in love with Tanya.
“I guess. He doesn’t talk about his feelings much, not even to John, and they’re good friends.”
Leigh nodded and decided to ask no further questions about Jeremiah.
“You like him, don’t you?” Katherine asked.
“Me?” Leigh pretended surprise at the question. “Well, he’s been very nice to me, and he’s letting me live here rent-free and giving me a job working for him.”
“Oh! That is nice. Are you a nurse like Tanya?”
Leigh shook her head. She didn’t want to be anything like Tanya, whatever that meant.
“Not at all! In fact, I have a bit of paranoia about medicine, hospitals and doctors’ offices.” She saw Katherine’s questioning look. “My mom died a slow, painful death from cancer when I was a child. It affected me.”
“I can imagine,” Katherine said with a sympathetic expression. “So what are you going to be doing for Jeremiah?”
“He said appointments, greeting his patients, maybe his books. I can do all that.”
“What did you do in your time?”
“I worked from home evaluating disability claims for an insurance company.”
“That should come in handy,” Katherine said. “You’re going to miss computers though.”
“I already do, and my phone. I’d left it in the car when I came down to the lakeside to walk. Speaking of which, I suppose they’ll tow my car away.”
“And report you missing. You might even hit the news for a while. A disappearance.”
Leigh rolled her eyes. “No kidding! I’m so glad you’re here.”
“I’m glad you’re here too. I love John, and I love my kids, but I get lonely for folks from my time.”
Leigh took Katherine’s hand in hers.
“I’m here for now. I hope we can be friends. I’m sure we’ll be friends.”
“Yes, I think so too,” Katherine said. “We have a lot in common.”
“Do you work outside the home now?”
“Outside the home,” Katherine repeated with a chuckle. “You can imagine they don’t use that term here.”
Leigh laughed. “I guess not.”
“No, I take care of the house and the kids, and being the minister’s wife keeps me busy. I make the rounds, check in on the needy, stuff like that.”
“I imagine that’s a full-time job. What did you do before you came to Kaskade?”
Katherine wrinkled her nose. “John and Jeremiah are the only ones who know. Tanya did too, but I don’t tell many people.”
Leigh drew her brows together in confusion. “Is that because most people don’t know about us?”
“Well, that’s true, but no, that’s not the only reason. Mrs. Jackson knows about us, but she doesn’t know what I did for a living.”
Leigh tilted her head. “I’m intrigued,” she said with a smile. “CIA? NSA? Covert stuff?”
“More overt, really.”
“Okay, stop hinting. Just tell me.”
Katherine winced and blushed. She looked down at her clasped hands. “I was an exotic dancer.”
Leigh blinked but forced herself to say nothing. Katherine watched her, and she forced herself to meet Katherine’s eyes steadily.
“You’re surprised,” Katherine said.
“I am,” Leigh agreed. She imagined Katherine working the pole in a seedy bar, scantly clad in a G-string and no more. She certainly had the figure for it.
“I worked in Las Vegas for years but finally left the life and came home to Tacoma, to my mom and dad’s house. I was just searching for a job doing something else, when I was thrown back in time.”
“Oh! You worked in Las Vegas? What a pretty city! I’ve been there once for a week. I love the lights.”
“Yes, I danced in some of the shows in the hotels.”
“With the big feathers on your head?”
“Yes, though that was just about all we wore. I did some of the late shows where we wore less clothing.”
Leigh nodded but said nothing.
“John knows. He said as long as I don’t take up dancing half-naked around here, he’s fine with it.”
Leigh couldn’t help but laugh.
Jeremiah returned to the parlor with a tray, and Leigh watched him. If he had any problems with Katherine’s past employment, he didn’t show it.
“I will take a cup and leave you ladies to chat. I’m going to shut the door to my office and do some work.”
“Do you need me to help?” Leigh asked. “I should begin my employment sometime, don’t you think?”
“You have been here less than twenty-four hours and have done so much already,” Jeremiah said, pouring out three cups of coffee. “Your help with Harry alone has been invaluable. Perhaps if...and when...he is on the mend.”
Leigh turned to Katherine.
“And oh, by the way, Harry Johnson is my fourth great-grandfather, and I can’t even tell him. But I’m super excited to meet his daughter and granddaughter, my third and second great-grandmothers!”
“You’re kidding!” Katherine exclaimed. “How exciting! How is he doing, by the way? I heard you’d brought him here because he refused to go to the hospital.”
“News travels fast,” Jeremiah said. “Where did you hear that?”
“Frank at the stable.”
“Of course,” Jeremiah said, picking up his cup and saucer. “I hope he does not tell too many more people. I cannot run a hospital. There is a perfectly good one in Tacoma.”
“I understand,” Katherine said. “I won’t tell anyone else except for John.”
Jeremiah winced. “I do not mean that Harry’s presence in my house to be a secret necessarily. We have far too many of those in Kaskade, do we not? But I do not want to encourage other people to refuse appropriate hospitalization. I simply do not have the resources to turn the house into a hospital.”
He gave them a nod and went into the office, shutting the door behind him.
Katherine and Leigh looked at each other, then back at the door before picking up their cups of coffee. When Katherine spoke, she kept her voice low.
“What a coincidence about Harry!” she murmured. “To meet your fourth great-grandfather! I was adopted so have no idea who my ancestors were, but what a thrill. How is he really? You know, in modern medical terms.”
Leigh shrugged. “I’m no expert, really. Pneumonia is so tricky, and they don’t have antibiotics.”
Katherine frowned and shook her head. “No. I wish I’d been a lab technician with a petri dish instead of a dancer. Then I could have been more useful.”
Leigh nodded. “Me too. I don’t think my skills will be very useful either. I hope Harry gets better. I can’t remember when he passes away. My mother would have known right off the top of her head. She loved genealogy. That’s how I recognized Harry’s name.”
“I wonder why I didn’t know that Harry had family. We should have contacted them before. They would have wanted to know he was ill.”
Leigh sighed. “Sadly, it seems like his daughter—my third great-grandmother—won’t talk to him, and I guess his granddaughter doesn’t either, by extension. I’m going to find a way to go see them and see if I can fix whatever is the problem.”
“Good idea,” Katherine said. “You’re not going to tell them you’re related to them though, right?”
“No, we couldn’t handle that information in our time. I doubt they can handle it any easier in the early nineteen hundreds.”
A loud thud from overhead resounded, and Leigh shot up off the sofa.
“Harry!” she shrieked. She grabbed up her skirts and ran out of the parlor. Footsteps sounded behind her, but she didn’t look around. She ran up the stairs and down the hall, bursting into Harry’s room without knocking.
Harry lay on the floor, moaning.