Between Two Worlds (6 page)

“I don’t think odd was the term I used.”

“Well, I definitely do not come from the year 1888. I’m wearing
nylons and I carry a cell phone. That’s it!” She snapped her bag open again and
pulled the compact phone out of her purse. With another burst of excitement,
she said, “Why didn’t I think of this before? I’ll just call my friend, Meredith,
and she’ll tell you who I am and what year it is. Then she’ll help me figure
out how to get back home. She’s my co-worker, and she’s always getting me out
of jams.”

Gabriel watched with his face full of curiosity, as she flipped
open the small silver case and punched a miniature keypad with her finger. When
she held it up to her ear, her smile faded.

“Darn! No service. Guess I should have known.”

“May I see that?”

“Sure. Why not? I guess it’s not going to do me any good here.”
Exasperated, she tossed the cell phone to him.

He caught it and examined it carefully. “Well, I’ll be. What’s it
called again? What were you trying to do with it?”

“It’s a cellular phone. You have phones here, don’t you?” She
sighed in frustration.

“Of course. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876.
There are several in town. I have one on the wall in my clinic. But this can’t
be a telephone. It’s much too small. Where’s the bell? And the handset? Where
are the wires?” Gabriel cradled the phone in his large hands as if it were a
delicate infant.

“I just told you. This is a cell phone. There aren’t any wires or
bells, and no whistles either. It’s wireless.”

“Wireless? How on earth can that be?”

Delaney rolled her eyes to the sky. “I don’t have time to explain
the history of technology right now, Doctor. I have to find that bridge and go
back home. Maybe you’re right. I must not be in the right location. My bearings
must be a little off.” She began tramping along the grassy banks, shading her
eyes from the blistering sun with her hand.

“Be careful. You’re going to slip and fall into the river in those
lopsided shoes,” he warned. “It’s running fast. You could hurt yourself or
drown.”

She trod up and down the riverbank several times, shaking her head
and mumbling out loud. When she finally returned to his side, she sighed and
shrugged. “I don’t understand. How could a whole bridge up and disappear like
that? And how could I be standing here talking to you a hundred and twenty-four
years in the past? None of this makes any sense. I think I’ve really lost it.”

Gabriel stood in front of her and did something that caused her
stomach to flip-flop. He tipped her chin up with his finger. The touch was sensual
and intimate, and a shiver ran across her shoulders and tingled down her arms.
She stared into his empathetic eyes.

“I’m so sorry. I can imagine how disappointed you must be. I don’t
have any answers for you, but let’s walk back to town. I’ll buy you lunch and a
cup of coffee. We can sit and try to figure this out together. What do you say?
Is that a good idea?”

After a moment, she nodded, realizing she had no other options
anyway.

Five

Word about the newcomer spread like wildfire, and the café crowd
watched her like she was an exotic animal in the zoo. Delaney sipped her coffee
and cracked her knuckles under the table. Gabriel glanced around. “Enough is
enough,” he mumbled. “I’m going to put a stop to this gawking once and for
all.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin, scooted back from the table, stood up
and made an announcement for all to hear.

“Afternoon folks. Since I can see you’re all very curious about my
lunch companion, I’d like to formally introduce her. This young lady’s name is
Miss Delaney Marshall. You may have heard she saved one of our school children
from certain death earlier today. She’s going to be here visiting for a while,
so I hope you’ll all welcome her to our fine town. Now, we’d appreciate it if
you’d all go on about your business and let us get back to our lunch.”

When he took his seat, the staring momentarily stopped, and a few
folks even strolled over to say hello and congratulated Delaney on her bravery.
She shook their hands and smiled politely. After downing the last of her coffee,
she bent her head toward him and whispered, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I felt like I owed you one.”

“You kinda did.” She peered around. Gabriel’s speech had not
deterred some diehard eavesdroppers. A few pairs of eyes still bore into her.
“Do these people get off on making strangers in town feel uncomfortable?” she
huffed.

“No. Just those wearing shoes that don’t match and who show their
legs in public,” he reiterated, winking.

She felt her cheeks flame. “All right, all right. You certainly
are direct and to the point, Dr. Whitman. Perhaps I should try to blend in a
little more while I’m
visiting
. Is there a clothing store in town?”

“Of course. The first stop we’ll make when we leave here will be
Belle’s dress shop. You should be able to find whatever you need there,
including some shoes that match,” he joked.

“Ha ha,” Delaney joked back. “We?” She arched an eyebrow.

Gabriel shrugged. “I thought I’d show you around and help you get
settled in, since it looks like you might be staying indefinitely.” His voice
trailed off as their eyes met and locked. “I think Charlotte has a room
available.”

“Charlotte?”

“Mrs. Quinn. She owns the boarding house at the end of Washington
Street.”

“Oh, yeah. I remember seeing it. Looks like a nice place. But it’s
not necessary for you to play hooky from work on my behalf. I’m a big girl. I
can take care of myself. Anyway, you must keep pretty busy digging out bullets
and mending broken legs around here. Don’t you have any appointments today?”

He shook his head. “Nothing scheduled. If there’s an emergency,
someone will find me. It’s no problem. Phoenix isn’t that big of a town.”

The waitress delivered their lunch just then: meat loaf, fried
potatoes and rolls. “This looks delicious. I’m famished,” Delaney admitted,
licking her lips. Forgetting her manners, she began to dig in with the gusto of
a truck driver.

The doctor chuckled. “I guess crossing through time makes a girl
hungry.”

She stopped with her fork in mid air. When she leaned forward, he
did, too. She had a powerful desire to jump in and swim in his ever-changing
eyes. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but challenge the handsome man. “You
don’t believe my story, do you, Dr. Whitman?”

A pause hung between them. Gabriel looked around and lowered his
voice. “Strange as it seems, I
do
believe you. Being a man of science, I
don’t know how to reconcile logic with this time traveling business. But, yes,
I do think you came from the future. There’s something about you that makes me
feel you’re trustworthy. Besides, anyone with a brain can see you’re not from
around here. And no one would make up something this amazing, unless they
escaped from an asylum.” As an afterthought he teased, “You didn’t escape from
an asylum, did you?”

Delaney rolled her eyes and stuffed a bite of meatloaf in her
mouth. After swallowing, she said, “Thanks, Doctor. I need a friend, someone
I
can trust. Since you have a scientific mind, you ought to be able to help
me figure out how to get back home.”

“I have no idea how we’re going to accomplish that, but I’ll do
what I can.”

She nodded again. “I appreciate it.”

The front door flew open and a small man with a head full of red
curls and big mutton chop sideburns entered. His gap-toothed smile was huge,
and his green eyes twinkled like stars as he strolled around, shaking hands and
greeting the lunch patrons with claps on the back.

Delaney gasped. “Sam!” She jumped out of her chair, oblivious to
the racket it made as it clattered to the floor, and briskly strode to the man.
Without apologizing, she interrupted his conversation with a customer and began
assaulting him with a barrage of accusations and demands.

“You! You and your Irish hocus-pocus! What’d you do with that
bridge?” She shook her finger in his face. “How’d you make it disappear? Why’d
you send me here? What kind of tricks are you playing on me?”

His eyes enlarged in surprise. After he pulled a red bandana from
his pocket, he wiped perspiration from his round face and said, “Calm down,
miss. Why don’t ye take a deep breath and explain what yer talking about. I’ll
do me best to help ye if ye slow down and tell me what’s rattlin’ yer cage.
First things first. What’s yer name, young lady?” His Irish brogue was as thick
as the steak on the plate of the man whose meal they’d interrupted.

The café came to a standstill. Forks and knives stopped clinking.
Laughing, chatting and cussing abated. Every eye in the place swung toward
Delaney and the redheaded man, awaiting her response.

In a fit of exasperation, she stomped her foot and lowered her
voice. “You
know
my name. In the cab, you asked about my mother and we
discussed my Celtic roots, and you drove me to the bridge and gave me your
umbrella when it started to rain. We looked at the rainbow together, and you
told me the bridge was a shortcut home, but it was really a shortcut into The
Twilight Zone. Don’t tell me you don’t remember me, Samuel!”

“Samuel?” Gabriel glanced back and forth between Delaney and the
man. He rose from the table, stepped between them and put his hand on her
shoulder. Swinging her around to face him he said, “Miss Marshall, you must have
this man mixed up with someone else. His name’s not Samuel. This is Donovan.
He’s the owner of this establishment.”

Her eyes bounced between Gabriel and the other man. “Donovan? You’re
not Sam McKinney?”

“Sam McKinney?” the man repeated. “Uh, no. I’m not Sam McKinney.
Do you know what’s goin’ on here, Doc?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” Gabriel confessed sheepishly.

His answer, she knew, was an honest one.

Donovan flashed a smile around to the patrons of his café. “It’s
all right, folks. Go back to your fine meals. No problems here.” To Delaney and
Gabriel he muttered, “Let’s have a seat together.” He led the way to the table
the two of them had just vacated and picked up the chair she’d knocked over. He
nodded for her and Gabriel to sit, while he pulled out a chair for himself and
sat down.

Leveling a long gaze at Delaney, he finally broke the silence. “I
can see how ye got me and Samuel confused, miss. We McKinneys are all the
spittin’ image of one another.”

“Aha! So, you’re a McKinney, too?” She was satisfied to learn the
news, but she still wondered if he was really Sam pulling another prank on her.
If they weren’t one and the same, perhaps they were twins.

“Aye, miss. Donovan Patrick McKinney’s me name. This Samuel fella
must be a distant relative of mine. Where’d ye say ye met him again?” Donovan’s
bushy red eyebrows knitted together.

She looked at Gabriel, and he nodded. “You can trust Donovan. Go
on and tell him what you told me.”

Her voice dropped, and she explained how she’d met the cab driver
in Phoenix in the year 2012, and every detail from that moment on. When she
finished, she plunged her hands under the table and cracked her knuckles
several times as she waited for Donovan to say something.

His response was to push back from the table. “Time travel, you
say?” He let out a riotous hoot that caused some customers to look their way
again.

“Shhh,” Gabriel warned with a finger to his lips. “Let’s keep this
between the three of us, Donovan. This isn’t something Miss Marshall wants to
get around. There’s already enough gossiping going on.”

Delaney confirmed his statement with a firm nod. “I only told you
because you’re a dead ringer for the man, and because I trust the doctor here. I’m
still not convinced you’re not Sam.” She narrowed her eyes at Donovan.

He chuckled again, only softer. “I’m not Samuel McKinney, lass. Ye
can count on that.” He scratched a hand through his sideburns. “But I’m not
bein’ completely honest with ye when I said Sam was a distant relative. If ye must
know, I’m very familiar with the man and his legend.”

“Legend?” Her eyes grew wide, and she tilted forward.

“Aye. Samuel McKinney was me ancestor, all right. A grandfather so
far back I’m not exactly sure how many ‘greats’ are attached to the man. But we
McKinney’s all know of him. I think he lived three hundred years ago, or so.”

“Three hundred years?” Delaney balled up her fists. “Stop toying
with me, sir. How can Sam be three hundred years old? I just met him an hour
ago and I assure you, he looked as spry as you.”

Donovan shrugged. “I’m just tellin’ ye what I know—what’s been
told down through the generations of me family.”

“And what exactly is that?”

“That Samuel McKinney had a curse put upon him.”

Delaney rolled her eyes. “A curse? Really. Do you expect me to
believe that?”

“You expect me to believe yer a time traveler, don’t ye, lass?”

She relented. “Good point. Go ahead. Tell me what you know.”

“From what I remember of the tale, Samuel lived in the Old
Country. He was a greedy goat. A cheat and a liar, and a cranky ‘ole cuss, too.
He stole gold from a rival clan. The poor family went broke and the matriarch
of the clan put a curse on him.”