Revolution in Time (Out of Time #10) (7 page)

Sure, she’d had the positive tests, the nausea, the tender boobs, the aversion to hummus, and had just recently resorted to using a rubber band to hold her pants closed. She was without a doubt 100% pregnant and had been for four months. But actually seeing her baby? That took this whole impending motherhood gig to a whole ‘nother level. A level she wasn’t sure she was prepared for.
 

Elizabeth loved the idea of becoming a mother, but there were times where she felt overwhelmed and ill-equipped. This was one of those times.

Simon finished adjusting the nursery door to its proper and predetermined spot and then walked up beside her. He put his hand on the small of her back and its warmth spread through her. As usual, just one touch from him settled her soul.

“Shall we?”

Taking a deep breath, she picked up her coat and prepared to meet her daughter.

Elizabeth inched up her shirt to reveal her belly. She was just barely starting to show. The doctor had assured her it was perfectly normal for first-time mothers to “pop” late, as he put it.
 

The technician smiled down at her and held out the squirt bottle of gel.
 

“Ready?”

Elizabeth felt a wave of panic and wondered if it was also normal for first-time mothers to barf all over the technician. Simon took her hand. His face was calm, but she knew he was as nervous and excited as she was. The more stoic on the outside, the bigger the turmoil on the inside.
 

Elizabeth smiled at him and then nodded. “Ready.”

The technician squirted the gel and then smoothed it around. Then she put the wand on her lower abdomen. Elizabeth stared at the screen and waited. There were some blobs and lines with blobs, but nothing baby shaped.
 

The technician moved the wand around and every second Elizabeth didn’t see something her anxiety increased.

“There is something in there, isn’t there?” she asked.

The technician smiled, pushed a button on the console and nodded. “
Someone
. Right … there.”

The moment Elizabeth saw her, her heart stopped. Charlotte wasn’t a blob at all, but a baby. An actual baby-shaped baby.
 

The tech pushed a button and Charlotte’s little heartbeat came through the tinny speaker. And with it, Elizabeth’s heart started again.
 

Simon stared intently at the screen, shifting his definitely-getting-moist eyes to her for a shared moment of stunned awe then back again.

“Is everything all right?”

The tech moved the wand some more, taking time to point and click and type on the computer as she did. Seconds dragged on like hours.
 

“Perfect,” she said finally. “And you want to know the sex?”

“It’s a girl,” Simon said.
 

The tech was impressed. “It is. A healthy baby girl.”

Elizabeth stared at the screen, at her baby, in awe. “Wow.”

The tech smiled. “I get a lot of that.”

Simon leaned down and kissed her.
 

“She’s real,” Elizabeth said and then realized how stupid it sounded. “Not that I didn’t think she was real, but now she’s really real, ya know?”

Next to her Simon swallowed and nodded. “She’s beautiful.”

She was a mishmash of black and white lines, but she was that. She was the most beautiful thing Elizabeth had ever seen.

~~~

Jack flipped down his sunglasses and glanced up at the bright hot sun. Why Travers had suggested they meet in the botanical gardens was still a mystery. He checked his watch. Travers was late.
 

He pushed himself off the warm rock he’d been leaning against and looked down into the canyon. From here, he could only see some of the trail as it wound its way in and around the canyon.

He tugged at his collar, opening and closing it to fan himself.
 

He heard the whistling before he saw the man.
 

Travers, dressed in his ubiquitous gray suit, shifted his shed jacket from one arm to the other.

“Hello.”

Jack squinted up at the sun and then back at Travers. The man wasn’t even sweating.

“Aren’t you hot?”

Travers seemed confused by the question and then realized what Jack meant. He shook his head. “Didn’t have time to change.”

He gestured toward the nearby carved stone bench. “You weren’t followed?”
 

“I’m sure.”

Travers sat down. “Good. We’re being watched.”

“Yeah, I noticed that. Black sedan, sometimes tan.”

Travers nodded and leaned back into the shade of a large oak tree.

“I’ve tried to throw them off our scent, but I’m afraid I’m not much of a field agent yet.”

Jack took off his sunglasses and slipped them into his shirt pocket as he joined Travers in the shade. “You’re doing all right.”

Travers smiled, looking shyly pleased at the compliment. “I’m much better with ideas and paperwork. On that front, I’ve made a great deal of progress.”

Jack put one foot on the stone bench and leaned forward. “So you know what they’re up to.”

Travers put away his handkerchief. “I believe so.”

“That’s good.”

Travers looked nearly ill. “Is it? I suppose so. I was wrong about one thing. What Hawkins and the others need to achieve before they set the rest of their plan in motion isn’t about the here and now. Or the past.”

“I don’t get it.”

“There is an event in the future they need to stop.”

Jack stood up. “Okay, but if that’s the case, why not travel to the future? Why lock the watches?”

“Nexus points. You remember how there are some points in time that aren’t vulnerable, but others are?”

Jack nodded.

“Yes. Well, one of those is occurring here, and its effects drastically influence the future.”

Jack’s head was starting to swim a little. “Maybe you better dumb it down for me.”

“Something is about to happen — here, now, that Hawkins cannot allow. If it happens, it will mean the end of their plan to control the Council.”

Jack felt a bead of sweat trickle down his neck and tried to shake off the feeling of dread it carried as it slid down his spine. “And that something is?”

Travers took a breath and met Jack’s eyes. “The birth of Charlotte Cross.”
 

Jack stepped back as if the words had physically hit him. “What?”

“At some point in the future. Charlotte Cross will bring down Hawkins and the rest. In order to stop that from happening, they plan to make sure she will never be born at all.”

Jack’s heart tightened in his chest. Simon and Elizabeth were family. Charlotte was like his own child. There was no way in hell he was going to let anything happen to them, to any of them.

He reached for his cell phone, but there was no signal. “Dammit. Is Elizabeth all right? Cross must be out of his mind.”

“They’re fine. For now.”

“What do you mean for now?”

“We have two days, before …”
 

“Before Elizabeth is killed?” Jack said the words, but they felt foreign. “How do you know? How can you possibly know?”

“I have a reliable source.”

How many times had Jack heard that before?
 

“Where are they? Are they safe?”

Travers hesitated and Jack’s stomach tightened.
 

“They don’t know.”

Jack took a stride toward him. “Why the hell not?”

Travers held up both hands in front of him. “Please, hear me out.”

Jack felt ill, but he nodded. He shoved his phone back into his pocket. “Talk. Fast.”

“Hawkins and the others must have considered killing Elizabeth or Simon at some point in the past but thought better of it.”

Travers’ calm was driving Jack crazy. How could he sit there so calmly and say things like that? “Thought better of it?”

“Yes, well, killing either of them prematurely would keep Charlotte from being born, but it would also change time, alter the timeline of the Council and possibly of Hawkins and the others themselves. Fortunately for them, not us,” he added quickly, “one of those nexus points I mentioned is approaching.”

He sat up a little straighter. “And they’re going to kill Elizabeth and her unborn child.”

“No,” Jack said. “No, they’re not. Because we’re not going to let them.”

Travers’ expression was grim. The Council was powerful. More powerful than Jack wanted to consider, but there had to be a way.

“They can go on the run.”

“They’ll be found.”

Jack paced back and forth. With the resources the Council had, Travers was right. “We have to do something.”

“And we will. We are.”

Jack turned to face him.

Travers’ expression grew even darker if that were possible. “Things have already been set in motion. All we can do now is hope we’re right.”

~~~

“To us.” Elizabeth raised her water glass. “And our amazing baby-making skills.”

Simon chuckled but arched an eyebrow. “Are you sure want to make a toast with water again? After …?”

Elizabeth winced. “Oh. Not with this. Not taking any chances with this.”

Simon approved of her caution and signaled for the waiter. They’d decided to go to Bouchon to celebrate. It was a treat. Since they’d gotten back, they’d turned into serious homebodies. It felt good to get dressed up while her clothes still fit.

The waiter appeared at their table. Simon’s hand went reflexively to the wine list but then retreated.

“Go ahead,” Elizabeth said. “I don’t mind. I can enjoy a pinot vicariously.”

Simon studied the list quickly. “Lambrays.”

“2011?” The waiter asked. Simon nodded and the waiter turned to her.

She grinned in anticipation. She’d been craving one of these for days. “I would like a strawberry daiquiri. Virgin. And it will be the only virgin at this table, because,” she added, pointing with both index fingers toward her stomach, “knocked up.”

The waiter smiled, unsure how to respond to that; Simon nearly choked on his water. The waiter took the wine list and left to put in their order.

“I’m sorry.”

He coughed a few more times and shook his head. “Elizabeth.”

She could tell he was amused, though, embarrassed, but amused. They’d both been on cloud nine since the appointment this morning.

“I think I’m giddy,” she said.

“I know the feeling.”

“You’ve never been giddy a day in your life.”

“Well,” he said, “I think I’m approaching it.”
 

He reached across the table and took her hand. “I don’t think I could possibly be any happier than I am at this moment.”

“We should go out more often.”

“You know that’s not what I mean.” His eyes shifted away from her and a frown came to his face. “There’s a reason we don’t. And it’s coming this way.”

Elizabeth turned to see for herself. From the look on his face, she’d been expecting Freddy Kruger, but it was just Adele Johnson and Cissy Chedway from the university.

“Oh, my gosh,” Cissy said, in her usual singsong voice. “What are you doing here?” She stuck out her tongue and rolled her eyes. “Eating dinner of course. But I mean what are the odds?”

The odds were apparently pretty good. The few times they had gone out to eat or run errands they’d invariably run into someone they knew, usually from the university. Despite Simon’s best efforts to keep their personal life private, everyone they knew in Santa Barbara had heard about their news and couldn’t wait to say something. And they all said the same thing.

Two more staff members stopped by soon after Adele and Cissy left.

“Is there no escape?” Simon asked through his forced smile and wave as Merriweather and Gilroy finally left them in peace.

“Well, funny you should mention that,” Elizabeth said. “How would you like to escape? Just a week.”

His eyes narrowed, but she could see the amused and curious smile in them. “What have you been up to?”

“Just planning a super-secret getaway for just the two of us. Before we become just the three of us.”

“I think I love you,” he said.

Elizabeth laughed. “I know it’s kind of spur of the moment, but couples do take little vacations before the baby comes sometimes. They call them babymoons.”

“They could call it a trip to the moon, for all I care. If it gets me away from well-meaning busybodies and lets me be alone with you, I’d go to the ends of the earth.”

Elizabeth grinned. “Lucky for us, we don’t have to go quite that far.”

T
HE
MOUNTAIN
CABIN
WAS
more of an enormous house than cabin. Situated up a long drive, it was still just a short walk from town. It gave them the privacy they needed without traveling into the boonies to get it. That was one of the things Elizabeth loved about California. Desert, beach, mountains, whatever she wanted, it was always just a few hours away.

The house was two stories with a large master bedroom on the second floor. As soon as they arrived, Elizabeth started to unpack. Even though they were only staying a week, it was a habit she’d developed as a child when she traveled with her father, the charming, itinerate Texas gambler. Wherever they were, no matter how shabby, if her clothes were in the closet and not in her suitcase, it was home.

She unzipped her enormous bag and flipped it open. How did things get wrinkled so quickly? They were only two hours from home.
 

She tossed the offending blouse onto the bed and dug into the bag for her toiletries and vitamins. She put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips, staring down at the bag. She was sure she’d put her prenatal vitamins in there. She looked again, but they didn’t magically appear.
 

Simon, Guardian of Calcium and Folic Acid, would not be pleased. He oversaw her intake of vitamins like it was his job.

“Poo.”

“Hmm?” Simon asked as he came into the room.

“I forgot—”

Elizabeth’s cell phone rang and she held up a finger as she answered it.

“Hey, kid,” Jack said on the other end. “The painters are here and they brought … um … Slipper Satin. Is that right?”