Chapter Four
“I need three tickets for…” Where were they going? Lizzie panted, exhausted from carrying Olivia at a brisk pace for three blocks to make it to the train station on time.
“We’re going to the World’s Fair,” Olivia added.
“Thank you, Olivia.” Lizzie smiled and gently set her young charge down. She opened her coin purse, thumbed through the dollar bills and change, and briskly closed the purse when she realized there wasn’t enough money inside to pay for their tickets. Her cheeks felt warm. It normally cost her a minimum of forty dollars one way, if she was lucky enough to buy a discount ticket to St. Louis. “I’m sorry, girls. I only have around seventy dollars.”
“Shh—,” the ticket salesman whispered. “You don’t want to let anyone know you are carrying a lot of money. A pretty girl like you might get robbed.”
“You think I’m pretty?” Lizzie blushed. That wasn’t the point of the conversation, even though it was flattering. She stepped closer to the counter and lowered her voice. “Seventy dollars isn’t very much money, surely not enough to buy three tickets to St. Louis and back, not to mention something to eat while we are there.”
The man laughed. “Missy, that’ll be plenty of money. It only costs ten dollars for a round-trip train ticket to St. Louis.”
“That’s it?” her voice squeaked.
“Yes, ma’am,” the kindly, aging man told her.
Lizzie took thirty dollars out of the coin purse and paid him. It would take a while for her mind to readjust to thinking back to 1904, the only time the World’s Fair had been in St. Louis. Why her mind decided to dream of such a period she had no idea, other than her grandmother mentioning it the night before. She’d never been partial to history. Perhaps the World’s Fair held the answer to her getting back home?
After the man gave Lizzie the tickets, she took hold of each of the girls’ hand and headed for the train platform. Even for that time period, seventy dollars sounded like a lot of money to give your oldest daughter for a day’s outing. “What does our father do for a living again?”
“He’s a banker, silly,” Mary Margaret announced nonchalantly. “You’re not trying to tease us again are you, Sissy?”
Lizzie shook her head.
Mary Margaret climbed the steps to board the train. Placing a hand firmly beneath each arm, Lizzie hoisted Olivia up the first stair before grabbing hold of her long dress to raise it slightly so that she could follow. Her dress caught on something, and she stumbled backwards.
Firm hands grasped her, holding her tight against something solid. She glanced over her shoulder and locked gazes with the bluest eyes, the type she’d only seen a German Shepherd have. She was hypnotized by them, and the smell of his aftershave.
His lips moved, but she didn’t comprehend what he said.
“Excuse me?” she mumbled.
He smiled, revealing perfectly straight teeth. Definitely a dream. Guys that looked this good in reality had other flaws. She took a moment to focus her attention on the rest of his face but straightened when she realized how young he looked. “You’re not very old.”
His chuckle made her blush. “I’ll be twenty-three on the fourth of July.”
“Hmm…” Substantially younger than she was. Figured, even dreams couldn’t be perfect.
“How old are you?” he asked.
“I’m twenty-eight.”
“She is not,” Mary Margaret said, standing with her hands on her hips. “She keeps playing jokes on people because today is All Fool’s Day. She’s only twenty-one.”
“I am not…” Lizzie thought back to her reflection in the mirror that morning. She’d been more concerned with where she was, she hadn’t paid as much attention to her features, other than the fact that the image staring back at her was herself.
“So,” he said. “You’re not playing a joke, or you’re not twenty-one?”
Lizzie straightened, hoisted her dress slightly, and spoke over her shoulder as she continued up the stairs, “Don’t you know it’s not polite to ask a lady her age?”
She found seats together near a window for her and the girls, having the youngest sit next to her, and Mary Margaret across from them so that she could look out the window, too.
As the train pulled out of the station, Lizzie thought about how transportation had changed over the years. The train was an older model than she was accustomed to, like one out of the pictures she’d seen at the train museum. Modern technology was wonderful. They’d improved on the design in later years, including how smoothly trains glided across railroad tracks.
Trading coal for diesel improved the smell at a train station. Although, it was kind of nice that you had the ability to open the windows on the older trains. It felt odd to think of the train as older, given it looked to be in pristine condition.
“Tickets, please.”
Lizzie startled, grabbed the tickets from her lap to hand them to the porter, and paused with her hand in the air, mouth gaping. “It’s you.”
He chuckled and gently touched his index finger to her chin, applying a little pressure as he raised her chin. “You might catch flies if you’re not careful.”
Both the girls giggled.
Lizzie turned and frowned at them, which quieted them, although Olivia was only silenced by placing her own hand over her mouth to suppress her laughter.
“By the way,” the young man said. “I didn’t get the chance to introduce myself earlier. My name is Jeremiah Hopkins. And what might be the names of you lovely ladies?”
Mary Margaret told him her name, and Olivia quickly uncovered her mouth and blurted out her name before returning her hand to her mouth.
“And our big sister’s name is—”
“None of his business, Mary Margaret.” Lizzie forced a brief smile and handed Jeremiah their tickets. “It’s really not good for the children to talk to strangers.”
“I’m sorry, Elizabeth,” Mary Margaret said.
“That’s a beautiful name.” Jeremiah handed her back the portion of the ticket they would need for their return trip. “For a beautiful woman.”
“Thank you.” Lizzie rolled her eyes and placed their return stubs in her lap. Surely, he could come up with a better pick-up line than that?
“I will see you later, ladies.” Jeremiah tipped his hat and continued with his job.
“He likes you,” Mary Margaret announced.
Olivia giggled and shook her head in agreement.
“You can take your hand off your mouth now, Olivia.” Lizzie sighed. “And it doesn’t matter if he likes me. This is only a dream, and in the morning, I’ll wake up and won’t be here.”
Olivia gasped. “No!”
“What do you mean?” Mary Margaret exclaimed. “You’re not leaving, are you? If you’re playing a joke again, Daddy’s going to be angry.”
“Calm down, girls.” Wasn’t this the part in the dream where you were supposed to wake up? It hadn’t happened yet. “Look, right now, we’re all dreaming, and this is a fun and adventurous dream. Let’s enjoy it while we can.”
“But I don’t want you to leave, Sissy.” Tears welled up in Olivia’s eyes.
Lizzie had to go, she needed to get back to her time and her family. She could only do that if she woke up. But until then, no sense in having a frantic night’s sleep. “Don’t worry girls. I’ll still be here tomorrow.” Not the here they had in mind, but alive and kicking, and if Jeremiah Hopkins made any more comments about her catching flies with her mouth open, she was likely to do some kicking in her sleep as well!