Fast Forward (30 page)

“Will, our daughter has just had her first child and you want to express our love for her with a shoddy bunch of carnations?” I said, a hand on my hip. “Franco will make up a beautiful piece of art for our darling daughter. I’m not prepared to go second best on this.”

Will laughed in defeat and pulled into the shopping centre car park, which was packed full. “There are no spots left, I’ll have to hover over here while you duck in and get them, okay?”

“Yep,” I said, getting out of the car.

“But don’t take too long,” he called out after me.

I waved my understanding and scooted into the refreshing cool of the centre. I did want to get a quality bunch of flowers, that was no lie, but there was something else I wanted to do—and no, I wasn’t about to run off and have a Better Than Sex facial if that’s what you’re thinking. I made my way to the New Age shop and entered, spying Liliana and Rosie in the booths. The one person waiting in line was ushered towards one of the other psychics and I took her place, resurrecting the queue.

I alternated impatiently from one foot to the other, until Liliana glanced with curious eyes in my direction. She excused herself from her client and walked out from behind the booth towards me. “Do I know you, dear?”

“Um … maybe,” I replied. “But I wanted to give you some of these.” I handed her a pile of business cards for FastForwardExperiences.com and on reading them her eyes bulged up at me.

“I’ve seen this website before, it’s fascinating! Is this actually your site?” she asked and I nodded. “Oh wow, thank you. What a wonderful thing it is that you’re doing, spreading the awareness of this phenomenon.” She held tightly onto the cards. “Wait, does this mean that you’ve experienced a … fast forward?” She leaned close to me in an attempt to keep our conversation private.

I chewed on my bottom lip.

“You have, haven’t you? I can tell!”

Yep, one should never attempt to hide something from a gifted psychic. I nodded.

“Is your experience listed on the site?” she asked.

“Yes, it is.”

“Wait, don’t tell me! Give me a minute …” She closed her eyes, then opened them, flashing a cheeky grin. “Did you use the alias ‘Grumpy’, by any chance?”

I nodded, as an unstoppable smile crashed onto my face.

“Your story is amazing!” Liliana exclaimed, grasping both of my hands in hers. “But how did you know to give these cards to me? Did we actually meet … in your fast forward?”

I shrugged playfully. “Let me ask you a question, Liliana,” I said boldly. “How was your daughter’s engagement party last night?”

“Ah!” Liliana grasped my hands even tighter. “We did meet!”

I nodded again. “You were the one who told me about the website, but when I finally returned to the past, it didn’t exist yet, so I made it myself,” I explained. “You also passed on a very important message from my mother, so thank you.”

Liliana held a hand to her heart, then lifted it to her forehead. “Oh wow, this is totally amazing! How bizarre that you and I met in an alternate life and now here we are, meeting again in real life,” Liliana said. “Would you like to sit down for a chat, dear?” She gestured towards the booth where her client was impatiently fiddling with a piece of paper.

“I’d love to, but I can’t. My husband’s waiting in the car. We’re off to see our firstborn grandchild.”

“Ooh, how exciting. Well I won’t hold you up, dear. But listen, here’s my card.” She plucked one from a light sash that hung diagonally across her body and handed it to me. “I also do private readings, so if you ever need one, give me a call.”

“Thanks, Liliana, I will.” I took the card and put it in my back pocket, then waved as I walked out the door and dashed to Franco’s where he whipped up a colourful, elegant arrangement and even gave me a ten percent discount as a congratulations gift.

On my way back to the car, I walked past a lingerie store and doubled back as something caught my eye. I shook my head and laughed at the thing that had the potential to make the female race an endangered species—the one and only SlimFX Magic Suit version 2.0. I was still laughing to myself when my e-pad beeped.

You have a new high priority email message. Press to view
.

Oh my God. It was a submission form from the Fast Forward Experiences website. My eyes read through the submission as quickly as humanly possible and a weight lifted off my shoulders. It was from ‘Polly’, the politician turned journalist who’d been hanging about indefinitely in the future. She’d finally returned back to age forty, after her years of research uncovered the evidence required to expose a big secret—a trail of corruption in her political circle which she was then able to go back in time to report before it got out of control. She wouldn’t say what the implications would have been otherwise, just that they would have been huge.

I closed the message and smiled, glad this woman had finally found her way home, as I had. Life was as it should be again and even though my marriage was built on good communication, my fast forward experience was something that didn’t need to be revealed to Will. It was better that way. It was and would remain, my little secret.

As I slid back in the car to cries of ‘What took you so long?’ and ‘Geez, about time!’ my e-pad jingled again. This time with an incoming call.

“Hi Selena!”

“Hey hon, happy birthday for yesterday! Sorry you couldn’t reach me,” she said. “But I wanted to let you know I’m definitely able to fly in next weekend for a visit.”

“Oh great, I look forward to seeing you,” I replied.

“So, any ideas what we should do to make the most of the weekend?”

A smile made its way to my lips and I said, “Selena, have you ever thought about bungy jumping?”

Ten minutes later we walked through the hospital doors, this time as normal-looking human beings with no stained clothing or injured body parts. We followed the directions to the maternity ward and I peeked through the door to room five.

“Mum!” Diora called out with a smile as big as the room. “You’re here! You just missed Kasey and Max, though, they left a few minutes ago.”

I walked in to find Will’s parents, Beryl and Reg, standing next to the bed and my dad handing Diora a glass of water. Jason sat next to his wife on the edge of the bed and a tiny mound of skin protruded from the firmly wrapped blanket in Diora’s arms.

“Oh my God,” I whispered as I tiptoed towards my daughter and kissed her on the forehead, placing the flowers on the bed, their beauty paling in comparison to the angelic face of my granddaughter. Her little hands wriggled about the sides of her face and I held my finger to one of them. Transparent fingertips with paper-thin fingernails grasped at my finger and held on with a strength that transcended age.

“Mum, Dad,” Diora said. “I’d like you to meet Aurora.”

A hand flew to my heart and I glanced at Will who had a sliver of a tear running down his cheek. Even Ryan, half his body obscured by the giant tartan-clad teddy bear, had shiny eyes.

“Our little Aurora,” I said. “She’s absolutely beautiful!”

“She was born at dawn,” Jason said. “Which is what her name means. She’s our little Sunrise Goddess.” He caressed his daughter’s cheek as he spoke.

Diora looked up at me with loving eyes. “And her middle name’s Kelli.”

Right, that was the last straw. I couldn’t hold it in any more. My face scrunched itself up and warmth rushed to my eyes, spilling tears down my cheeks.

“Do you want to hold her?” Diora stood and positioned Aurora in my arms, and I placed a gentle hand behind the baby’s head.

I swayed gently from side to side and Aurora’s tiny eyelids slid open, revealing midnight blue eyes that seemed to be a universe of their own. I stared deep into them and silently thanked the amazing power that was responsible for allowing me to see the truth of what my life was all about. I’d been given a gift twenty five years ago and it was still giving right to this day.

As I traced her faint eyebrows with my finger, I realised that my eyes were like hers– wide open and eager, ready to soak up new sights, new discoveries and new experiences. Aurora’s life was just beginning and even though I was fifty, it felt like mine was too. As far as I was concerned, the magic of my life was only just starting to reveal its true beauty.

THE END

The Paler Shade of Autumn

by Jacquie Underdown

Telepath Autumn Leone expects to find peace and even enlightenment on a brief trip to India. But instead of answers she finds love. It takes one night of passion to fall for Jet Stark, but their lives are half a world apart, and, too soon, Autumn flies back to Australia and out of his life.

When Autumn bumps into Jet back in Australia after five long years apart, it’s difficult to dispute fate’s intention in crossing their paths again. Autumn knows it is a risk to fall for an old fling, especially because Jet now happens to be rich, her new boss, and involved with another woman.

While a connection like theirs proves impossible to sever, fate has other plans. Autumn’s unique gift to see into other people’s minds is growing stronger, overwhelming her, and Jet is carrying a few secrets of his own. Not even a glimpse of the future can tell Autumn how to bridge the distance between them, and it may soon be too late.

V
alentine’s Dates

by Rhian Cahill

She’s done with the dating scene. He wants a lifetime of Valentine’s Dates.

Brent isn’t happy standing on the outside of yet another one of Valentine’s dates, except there isn’t a lot he can do when the woman only gives him the time of day to argue. He had his chance with Vee and he blew it. When she calls him in tears Brent’s only choice is to come to her rescue. And now that he’s got her safe in his arms, he’s going to make sure she stays there.

Vee can’t believe she let her frustration and anger with Brent goad her into accepting a date with a man she barely likes. It doesn’t matter how much she tries to convince herself her feelings for Brent were destroyed years ago, he’s still the first person she calls when her date leaves her stranded. Breaking down in his arms wasn’t part of the plan. Neither was kissing him.

Forced to face their past, they must forgive each other and themselves if there’s any hope for the love still burning between them.

Finding Elizabeth
by Louise Forster

After a lifetime in the bright lights and the big city as a prima ballerina, Katherine Bell has finally returned home to her small, snowy town where the weather might be frightful, but her friends and family are delightful. She’s ready for a quiet life using her skills and knowledge to help her community.

But things aren’t as simple as she hoped. There’s a blizzard outside, a daredevil girlfriend in her house, and a persistent, sexy Australian called Jack Riley who needs to be kept at arm’s length.

And something sinister has stalked her to her snowy hideaway…

Juliet Madison is a naturopath-turned-author with a background in dance, art, internet marketing and perfume sales (yes, she was one of those annoying people in department stores who spray you with perfume). Nowadays she prefers to indulge her propensity for multiple careers by living vicariously through her characters. She likes to put these characters into extraordinary situations and take them on a challenging journey to discover their true passion and inner strength, weaving in some laughs, tears, romance and sometimes a touch of magic along the way.

Living near the beach on the beautiful south coast of New South Wales, Australia, Juliet spends her days homeschooling her son and running her internet business and her nights writing fiction while doing her best to avoid housework.

Juliet is a proud member and volunteer with The Romance Writers of Australia and she loves to interact online with readers and writers via Twitter (@Juliet_Madison), and Facebook (
www.facebook.com/JulietMadisonAuthor
). She can be contacted through her website at
www.julietmadison.com
where readers can also download some free short stories.