Welcome to the World of Carolyn Lampman

EXCERPT FROM A WINDOW IN TIME

PROLOGUE

July 16, 2005

“All right, Chuck, let her go.”

“Oh, God,” Brianna whispered as she closed her eyes and swallowed nervously. How in heaven’s name had Linda talked her into going up in a hot air balloon?

“Heights bother you?” the balloonist asked with hint of amusement in his voice.

“No.”

“Then open your eyes or you’ll miss the best part.”

“I’ll wait until we’re in the air.”

“We already are.”

“What?” Brianna cautiously lifted one eyelid and peeked over the side of the basket. There had been no feeling of lift-off but the crowd below on the soccer field already looked more doll-like than human.

“See, it isn’t so bad, now is it?”

She gave a weak smile. “I—I guess not.”

“Are you sure you’re not afraid of heights?” the balloonist asked raising an eyebrow.

“Not usually. In fact that’s why I’m here. My friend Linda was supposed to be your passenger, but she got cold feet at the last minute.” Brianna glanced uneasily at the ground again. “Actually my toes aren’t feeling exactly toasty right now either.”

He chuckled. “Then don’t look down. The view is better in the sky right now anyway.”

Obediently, she lifted her gaze to the other balloons that had risen with them. “Oh!”

Bobbing along like so many magic bubbles, their jewel-like colors were bright against the morning early sky. Brianna’s fear left as suddenly as it had come. The wind brushed her cheek in a caress as exhilarating as a lover’s kiss, and she felt a peculiar rush of euphoria.

“Beautiful isn’t it?”

“It’s incredible,” she said in an awestruck voice. She jumped in alarm a moment later as the propane burner roared to life right next to her and a huge flame shot upward into the balloon.

“Sorry,” he said. “I forgot to warn you. This darn thing can scare the pants off of you if you aren’t expecting it.”

Brianna looked at the burner accusingly. “How often do you have to do that?”

“It depends. Don’t worry you’ll get use to it.”

“I wouldn’t count on it.”

He grinned and bent to adjust a gauge on one of the tanks on the floor. “I’m surprised your friend decided not to come along. She seemed really excited about the whole idea at the rally dinner last night.”

“Oh, she was, right up until she thought about actually going up in a balloon. Since it’s the 25th anniversary of the Riverton Balloon rally, her boss figured sponsoring a balloon and sending along one of his employees would be a great publicity stunt. When he offered to pay over-time for it, Linda volunteered. The actual logistics of it didn’t hit her until she tried to go to sleep last night.”

Brianna risked a glance over the edge of the basket. The soccer field was behind them, the crowd reduced to tiny ant-like creatures in the distance. “I never realized balloons moved so fast.”

“When you’re standing on the ground they don’t. It’s a matter of perspective, I think.”

“I suppose.” Brianna looked at the pilot curiously. Though the man was a total stranger he reminded her a little of her favorite cousin, with all that curly red hair. “You know, in all the excitement, I’m afraid I didn’t catch your name.

“Thomas Shaffer, aeronaut extraordinaire at your service ma’am,” he said, extending his hand. “My friends call me Tom.”

She returned his smile as they shook hands. “Brianna Daniels.”

The balloon gave a sudden jerk, then shot straight up and veered off to the left. Tom reached up to adjust the rigging, but the balloon continued on its wayward course. “Damn, we’re caught in an up-draft. I really thought I had a chance of winning today.”

Brianna looked at the other balloons huddled together in the distance and suddenly felt very alone. “I thought you could steer this thing. Can’t you adjust the flaps or something?”

“I have some control, but we’re pretty much at the mercy of the wind.”

“I guess that’s the whole idea isn’t it?”

Though his disappointment was obvious, he didn’t look angry. “Oh well, might as well try for distance then,” he said cheerfully.

“Is it always this warm?” Brianna asked as she took off her windbreaker.

“That’s just the hot air from the balloon. Relax and enjoy the flight. If we’re lucky, it’ll be a long one.”

I’m not sure I want it to be. What if we get lost?”

“Don’t worry. My brother is on the chase crew. He’ll follow us through a swamp if he has to. See, there they are.”

He pointed to a bright yellow pickup driving along the highway beneath them. “He loves the challenge of the chase. Hey, is that a road block up ahead?”

“Must be,” Brianna said. “Look at all those fire trucks. I wonder what happened.”

“I don’t know, but they seem to be headed toward that odd looking building over there. Do you know what it is?” A veritable army of men and trucks swarmed around the metal structure.

“It has to do with crude oil,” Brianna said. “I think it might be a sour gas plant but I’m not sure.”

As they drew closer, Tom pulled a pair of binoculars out of his backpack on the floor. “Uh oh,” he said training them on the building below. “Everyone down there is wearing air packs and face masks.”

“Maybe there’s a leak somewhere. I don’t know exactly what sour gas is, but I do know it’s poisonous.”

“I’m not taking any chances. Let’s see if we can gain some altitude.”

For the first time Brianna was glad when the propane burner roared to life. As they lifted higher into the air, the wind caught the balloon and carried it south at an even faster rate. “Do we have enough propane to keep us going?” she asked nervously.

“Sure hope so. I always carry two tanks just in case I have a chance to go for the distance record.”

“How far can we go?”

“Today, probably not much more than forty miles, but you never can tell. One day last winter we flew almost two hundred. Good Lord,” he said gazing off into the distance. “Am I seeing things? Those cliffs must be seven hundred feet high.”

“That’s Beaver Rim.” Brianna looked at the familiar landform with new eyes. It stretched for miles in either direction and looked incredibly high. “A-are we going over it or should we just land?”

Tom picked up the binoculars again and looked back toward the gas plant. “I don’t know. It doesn’t look like the chase crew is going to get around that roadblock. Is there another road somewhere?”

“Well...they could go around through Riverton and Lander then backtrack to us from Sweetwater Station.”

“How long will that take.”

“An hour and a half or so.”

“Where does this other road come in at?”

“Over there.” She pointed toward a ribbon of highway snaking down off the rim to the east.

Tom turned his binoculars that way. “Uh oh looks like there’s a road block there, too.” He scanned the cliffs ahead. “Wow, I’ll bet the thermals are wild this time of year. Anybody ever do any hang gliding off of it?”

“I used to have a friend who did,” Brianna said. “He said it was one of the best places he’d ever been. Are we going over?”

“I don’t think we have much choice.” Tom reached up and fired the propane burner. “Chuck can’t get to us if we set down here. We’ll have to land on top somewhere.”

“Do you think it’s safe?”

“We’ll be fine. The air currents off the face of those cliffs will probably lift us up and over without any help from me. Better put on one of these just in case,” Tom said handing her a crash helmet.

To Brianna’s anxious mind, they were moving toward Beaver Rim frighteningly fast. Though it was actually almost ten minutes, it seemed like much less before the cliffs loomed menacingly above them.

Suddenly the balloon jerked and danced crazily for several seconds. When it righted itself, the wind seemed to double in velocity and they headed up at an alarming rate of speed.

“Hang on,” Tom yelled.

Brianna felt like she was on a wild carnival ride as they zoomed upward. Her stomach turned cartwheels and a sensation of vertigo made her light-headed. Tom’s whoop of exultation was a good indication that she was alone in her distress.

Their speed diminished immediately as they popped over the top of the rim a few seconds later. Brianna spared a glance for her companion and was unsurprised to see his eyes sparkling with excitement.

“Wow!” he said. “That was great.”

“If you say so.”

A wide grin split his face. “Do I detect a note of disagreement there?”

“Let’s just say I didn’t inherit my great-grandfather’s love for balloons.”

“Your great-grandfather?”

Brianna nodded. “Great-great actually. He was a balloonist during the Civil War. That’s really why I let Linda talk me into this. I wanted to see what ballooning was like.” She looked back at the edge of Beaver Rim ruefully. “I don’t think there’s much of my Grandfather Daniels in me.”

“Not Lucas Daniels!”

“Yes, as a matter of fact. You’ve heard of him?”

“Heard of him! He’s from my hometown in Missouri. The library had a copy of his journal and I’ve read it so many times I practically have it memorized. I named this balloon Dream Chaser after his.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope. He mostly wrote about his spy missions for the Union army. It was uncanny the way he seemed to know how a battle was going to turn out before it was even fought. I used to want to grow up and be just like him. I already had the hair,” he said with a grin as he ran his fingers through his coppery locks.

“He was a redhead?”

“According to his journal he was. Seemed to think it was important for some reason.”

“I should have known. In my family we call red hair the Daniels’ curse.” She touched the blonde French braid that hung down beyond the bottom of the helmet. “In the right light you can even see red in mine. Have you ever seen a picture of Lucas?”

“No, do you have one?”

Brianna shook her head. “Not yet but a distant cousin of my father’s and I have been trading genealogy information. She’s sending me his wedding picture. If you’ll leave your address with me, I’ll mail you a copy.

“Hey, that’d be great. Thanks. Have you ever read his journal?”

Brianna shook her head. “I never even knew he had one.”

“The only place I’ve ever seen it is the library at home. He donated the money to have the place built and set up a trust to keep it going. His only stipulation was that people be allowed to read his journal. They’ve made copies now to preserve the original.”

“Really? I’d love to read it sometime.”

“Maybe I can get you a copy. I can’t believe you’re actually his descendant.”

“It’s a weird coincidence isn’t it? I was named after his wife Brianna.”

“Lucas called her Anna,” Tom said with a faraway look. “He loved her, you know. It was obvious even to a kid like me who was more interested in spies and balloons than girls.”

Brianna smiled as she touched the antique locket at her throat. “This was hers. I wore it today for luck.”

“Seems to have worked. This is the best flight I’ve had in a long time.” Tom glanced around as he reached up and fired the burner. “Do you have any idea where we are?”

“That’s Split Rock over there,” Brianna said, pointing to a granite mountain to the south. A v-shaped notch in the top was obvious even from this distance. “Are we going to land?”

“No reason to yet. We have a great tail wind and plenty of altitude. I’d like to stay in the air as long as possible so Chuck can find us. Where’s the highway?”

Brianna pointed to the west. “Somewhere over there I think.”

“Hmm.” Tom pulled a map out of his backpack and studied it intently. “That puts us about here then.” He looked at the instruments in front of him. “If this wind keeps up we should intersect with the highway just about the time we run out of fuel.”

“How convenient.”

He flashed her an impudent grin. “Of course. I planned it that way. Want a granola bar?”

“Sure.” Brianna watched as he once again delved into the backpack near her feet at the bottom of the gondola. “What else do you have in that thing?”

“A little of everything. You never know what you’ll run into on...now that’s weird. The barometer is going wacko.” All at once the balloon shuddered and took off at an alarming rate of speed. “What the hell?” Tom reached up and pulled on a rope. It seemed to have little effect.

“Wh-what’s happening?” Brianna couldn’t help the quaver of uncertainty that entered her voice.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like this befo— Jesus, what’s that?”

Brianna gasped in horror. A huge black cloud roiled in the distance. As she watched a giant vortex appeared in the center and a nightmare shrieking filled the air. Inexorably they were pulled toward the ghastly thing. A hysterical bubble of laughter rose in Brianna’s throat. Linda’s boss was going to have to pay her double overtime and a half for this.

“Hang on tight,” Tom yelled, pulling on the rigging attached to the main valve. I’m going to try to drop below that thing.”

Brianna grabbed the support with one hand and the edge of the gondola with the other. The hiss of escaping air was lost in the horrible screeching like a thousand tormented souls. The balloon swayed sickeningly as Tom tried to wrench it free of the mighty force that drew them relentlessly

forward.

The bright silk balloon abruptly disappeared into an odd blue mist and a scream of pure terror burst from Brianna’s mouth. A sudden bolt of brilliant white light surrounded them and the world became a crackling eternity of burning pain. She tried to back away, but her feet became tangled in something, and she felt herself falling backward. Spots of vermilion swam before her eyes as she slipped into blessed darkness.

CHAPTER ONE
(July 16, 1860)

“Ohhhh....” Brianna felt as if she’d been run over by an entire football team and left on the field for dead. Every part of her hurt. A cursory check revealed all her body parts still attached and her feet tangled in the straps of Tom’s backpack. How stupid. Now that she thought of it, she remembered tripping. She felt the ground beneath her hands. Good grief, had she fallen out of the gondola?

She sat up. Her head swam alarmingly for a moment then settled down to a dull ache as she looked around in bewilderment. Where in the world was she?

An old-fashioned freight wagon lay on its side behind her, one back wheel hanging at a crazy angle and its contents scattered across the prairie. She frantically scanned the surrounding landscape for her companion, but here was no sign of Tom Shaffer or his balloon. “Tom....Tom, where are you?” she yelled as panic threatened to overwhelm her.

A groan on the other side of the wagon brought her head around with a jerk. Tom must be lying behind the wagon. She scrambled to her feet, her head reeling with nausea. Closing her eyes for a moment, she concentrated on staying upright. Gradually the spinning stopped and she opened her eyes. Cautiously, she made her way around the end of the wagon.

At a glance she saw that the man pinned beneath the wagon was a total stranger. At least he was alive; corpses didn’t groan. When Brianna knelt next to him to check his pulse, she was relieved to see there was a space of several inches above his legs. Thank heavens the side of the wagon was resting on a boulder instead of his body.

Brianna could see a deep gash across his ribcage beneath his torn shirt. The wound was beyond her reach and bleeding heavily. She knew it needed to be stopped immediately but she’d have to pull him out from under the wagon to do it. If only there were some way to tell if he had a neck or back injury. Maybe if she’d taken that first aide class in college, she’d know what to do.

She was still trying to decide what to do when she heard a horse galloping up the road. With a surge of relief, she stood up and peered over the top of the wagon.

Bent low over the horse’s neck, the rider looked as if he was competing in the Kentucky Derby as his mount thundered down the dirt road sending a cloud of dust into the air in his wake.

“Hey,” Brianna yelled, waving her arms to get his attention.

The rider waved back but didn’t even slow as he approached the wreck.

“Wait a minute,” she called running around the end of the wagon. “There’s an injured man here.”

Still the horse came on, his speed undiminished. With a flash of anger Brianna ran out into the road and planted herself firmly in the middle. “Stop, damn it. There’s been an accident.”

For a moment she thought the horse was going to run right over the top of her, but the rider pulled the animal back at the last minute. Brianna ducked as the flailing hooves pawed the air above her.

“Get out of the way,” the man yelled fighting to control his horse.

“No. There’s an injured man over there, and I’m not budging until you help him.”

“Whoa, Archimedes,” he said soothingly as the horse stopped rearing and started dancing sideways on the road. When the young man finally looked her way, Brianna was surprised. He didn’t look much more than sixteen. “I can’t take the time to help,” he said.

“Why not?”

“It’s against company policy to stop for any reason.”

“What company?”

“The Central Overland and Pike’s Peak Express Company.”

“Never heard of them,” Brianna said shaking her head.

He rolled his eyes. “The Pony Express.”

“The Pony... oh, I get it.” Suddenly the old fashioned wagon made sense too. People were always trying to relive the old West along the Oregon Trail. “You’re doing a reenactment.”

He looked confused. “No, I’m doing my usual run to Split Rock Station, and I can’t stop.”

“Oh, come on. That’s carrying realism a little too far, don’t you think? What if that man over there bleeds to death?”

“Look, Mrs. Daniels,” he said as he guided his horse around her, “I’d like to help, but I can’t right now.”

“How do you know my name?”

He gave her an odd look. “We met at Platte River Bridge day before yesterday. Don’t you remember?”

“I’ve never seen you before in my life.”

“Maybe you better change your hat,” he said. “That might be the fashion back East, but out here it’s dangerous. Too much sun can affect your thinking.”

“It’s not a hat, it’s a crash helmet.”

“Ugly too,” he muttered. “I’ll be back as soon as I pass the mail on to Billy. In the meantime, you might want to put on a dress if you want to impress Lucas.”

“I don’t want to impress anyone, I need help. That man over there is far more important than the reenactment you’re doing.”

“The first thing you’re going to have to learn as the wife of a station master is that nothing is more important than getting the mail through.” He kicked his horse.

“You’re just going to leave us here?”

“I’ll be back in an hour or so,” he called back over his shoulder as Archimedes broke into a gallop.

“At least call 911 and have them send the Flight for Life helicopter!” Brianna yelled after him. He gave no indication that he’d heard, and she turned away in disgust.

“Talk about getting too much sun. That guy’s brain is totally fried.” Irritated, she walked back to the injured man. A glance under the wagon showed his condition hadn’t improved. If anything, the wound looked worse than before.

“Well, mister, I guess you’re stuck with my feeble skills. I hope Tom Shaffer has a first aid kit in that backpack of his.”

It didn’t take long to locate the familiar red, white and blue box. Brianna wasn’t surprised to find it well stocked. Now all she had to do was get the patient out from under the wagon, stop the bleeding somehow and bandage him up. A piece of cake, she thought sardonically to herself. About as easy as flying to the moon under her own power.

First things first, Brianna thought as she removed her helmet. None of this made any sense. The hard plastic of the helmet was unscathed. How could she have fallen that far and survived with only a few minor aches and pains?

She scanned the blue sky overhead. Surely Tom had landed the balloon by now. As soon as the chase crew found him, they’d come looking for her. She refused to even consider the possibility that the balloon had crashed.

“Uhhh...” The pain filled moan brought her attention back to the man under the wagon. There was no way she could wait until the crazy teenager brought back help, if he ever did.

With a sigh, she bent down, grasped the man beneath his arms and pulled. At first nothing happened; he felt as if he weighed a ton. Then slowly, the limp body began to move. It took several tries, but Brianna finally managed to get him far enough out that she could reach his wound.

She looked around for something to wash the blood away and almost immediately located a water barrel lying on its side. Most of the water had spilled, but there was little left in a puddle on the side. That was where her good fortune ended, for she could find nothing to use for a rag. She was about to tear a sleeve off her T-shirt when she noticed the trunk laying among the wreckage near the wagon. Maybe she’d get lucky and there was something she could use inside.

Expecting an empty prop or a cleverly disguised beer cooler, Brianna gasped in shock as she opened the lid. It was filled with women’s clothes. With a weird feeling, she pulled out a long dress and stared at it. The darn thing looked real. In fact, it appeared about half worn out. Whoever set up this reenactment was a stickler for detail.

Shaking her head in amazement, Brianna set the dress aside and dug down into the trunk looking for something to clean her patient’s wound with. She had just located a plain white handkerchief when a small book caught her eye. A journal. Brianna flipped open and smiled at the first entry on the page. Though the book looked new, it was dated April 27, 1860. To start a journal dated to match the time period was a nice touch of realism, Brianna thought to herself. So was the charming little fabrication the writer had begun.

It is fitting that I begin a new journal today for I am also starting a new life. Aunt Grace’s incessant harping and cruelties finally drove me to answer Mr. Smyth’s advertisement for mail-order brides. This morning I was married by proxy to a man I have never met, and am going to join him in the Wild West. I know very little about him, only that he is a station master along the Pony Express route. The letter Mr. Smyth gave me seemed more concerned with finding a cook than a companion. No matter. He’s bound to be better than Aunt Grace. We leave tomorrow for St. Joseph, Missouri...

It was difficult to resist the temptation to read further, but Brianna put the little back. The man under the wagon needed attention.

With a sigh, she filled a tin cup with water, returned to the injured man and prepared to dress his wound. As she unbuttoned his flannel shirt, she nearly gagged at the overwhelming stench of body odor and stale whiskey that rose from the man. “Must have something against soap,” she muttered as his shirt fell open to reveal a dingy gray undershirt beneath.

The scissors from the first aid kit made short work of the garment, and she soon had most of the blood sponged away. Though the cut was nearly six inches long and half an inch wide, it didn’t appear to be very deep.

The first aid kit contained iodine, hydrogen peroxide and an antibiotic ointment. Unsure as to which would work the best, Brianna decided to use all three. When she poured iodine in the open wound, the man’s hand suddenly rose from the ground and grabbed her wrist.

“Christ almighty,” he said, trying to focus his eyes. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Cleaning your wound. There’s been an accident and you were injured. I’m sorry about the iodine, but I wanted to make sure it was disinfected.”

“You don’t need to torture me. I told you I didn’t know who you was when I tried to kiss you. There ain’t no way I’m going to tangle with that husband of yours.”

“But I’m not marr—”

“If I’d a known you belonged to Lucas Daniels I wouldn’t have laid a finger on you.”

Brianna stared at him in shock. “D-did you say Lucas Daniels?”

“Man has a damned nasty temper if you cross him,” he murmured as his grip on her arm started to slacken. “Never meant to insult his wife. Didn’t even know he had one...” His hand fell to the ground as he drifted back into unconsciousness.

Brianna stared down at the man in opened-mouth shock. The crazy teenager had also mentioned Lucas. How could they possibly know about her great-great grandfather?

A dream. That’s all this was. She was probably lying unconscious at the bottom of Tom Schaffer’s gondola while her mind invented this incredibly real illusion.

That rationalization didn’t do much to calm her as she placed two sterile cotton pads over the wound and secured them with adhesive tape. Never in her life had she experienced such a life-like dream.

The book in the trunk drew her like a magnet. Maybe it would help make sense of this somehow. She retrieved it and settled down in the shade of a large rock to read. The back of Brianna’s neck prickled as her eyes moved down the page.

The diary wasn’t a clever prop created by an overly active imagination. It belonged to Anna Daniels, her own great-great grandmother.

CHAPTER TWO

“I decided not to wear my crinolines today. They are just too impractical on the trail. My skirts are a little too long without them, but a least I don’t have to worry about showing an unseemly amount of ankle if a good strong wind comes along. I plan to put them on again before I meet Lucas for the first time. I wouldn’t want him to think me dowdy.”

Brianna smiled. Crinolines for heaven’s sake. She was totally caught up in the other woman’s hopes and dreams before she’d read five pages. This was not some romantic fantasy woven by a frustrated fiction writer but a day-by-day account of a young woman’s trek west. It was impossible to not feel compassion for Anna as she struggled with the difficult conditions of the trip and wondered about the man who waited at the end of it.

Under-lying every entry was the desperate hope that they’d come to love each other. Brianna suspected Anna had known little love in her life. The few references to Aunt Grace were always disparaging. As she neared the end of the journal, her brows drew together for Annie’s cheerful optimism suddenly disappeared.

We reached Platte River Bridge today. After the usual spurt of curiosity, everyone pretty much ignored me until I came out of the Sutler’s store. Without any warning, a man stepped out from between two buildings and tried to kiss me. He had obviously been drinking heavily. It was horrible. Who knows what would have happened if a brave young man hadn’t come by right then and saved me. A few well-aimed punches and my attacker was unconscious on the ground.

By strange coincidence, Seth, my savior, is a Pony Express rider assigned to Lucas’s station. He knew so much about me, I realized Lucas must have shared the contents of my letters. Perhaps my new husband is as anxious as I for this to be a happy marriage.

Seth was on and errand and couldn’t stop to talk but promised to visit with me this evening after supper. I was surprised when he suggested it for he seems strangely nervous around me, but perhaps he has a message from Lucas. I also discovered the driver who is to take me north to Lucas is none other than the disgusting creature who accosted me. I can’t imagine traveling so far alone with such a vile man.

Brianna spared a glance for the man stretched out next to the wagon. From what little experience she’d had with him, vile and disgusting seemed a pretty apt description. As she turned back to the journal, Brianna couldn’t help wondering how Anna had managed to throw the fear of God, or more truthfully, the fear of Lucas Daniels into him.

I feel like such a fool! All this time I’ve been comforted by the thought that Lucas Daniels wanted a wife and a companion. Now I find none of that is true. Lucas didn’t send for a wife, Seth did. More precisely, Seth and the other rider named Billy decided Lucas needed a wife and answered Mr. Smyth’s advertisement on his behalf. Lucas doesn’t even know I’m coming!

Seth admitted it all tonight. I was furious with him. I’ve traveled all this way for nothing. I can’t bear the thought of going back, or what Aunt Grace will say. Seth says he will reach Split Rock station before I do and will have time to prepare Lucas for my arrival. I can’t imagine how he’s going to break the news to Lucas. I certainly didn’t take it very well. In fact, I lost my temper with him and was quite scathing.

After I calmed down a bit, Seth explained he and Billy didn’t mean me any harm, they just hadn’t really thought the scheme through. They did it because they can’t stand Lucas’s cooking, of all things. As stationmaster, it is his responsibility to cook for everyone who is stationed there. It seems Lucas is an inventor and often gets distracted when he’s supposed to be fixing a meal. If the food isn’t burned, it’s half raw.

According to Seth, Lucas is devoted to his tinkering and his horses. Since he doesn’t appear to care overly much for the domestic side of life, perhaps I can make myself useful and convince him to let me stay if not as his wife then as a cook.

At least Seth has promised to speak to Bart Kelly, the driver who attacked me. He seems to think the knowledge that I’m married to Lucas Daniels will be enough to keep the horrible man on his best behavior. What sort of man is Lucas Daniels anyway?

The journal continued on for several more pages in a similar vein. Brianna felt like crying as Anna’s hopes and dreams crumbled. Finally, she closed the book and gazed off across the prairie.

The air was sweltering, and the ground beneath her uncomfortably rocky. If this was a dream, it was the most intense of her life, but the only other explanation, that she’d traveled through time, was too bizarre to even consider. And yet she couldn’t dismiss the notion. The cloud that had pulled them in and the azure mist that swallowed the balloon were like nothing she had ever even heard of. A time portal of some sort? It was probably too little oxygen.

The entire hallucination was the result of Tom’s revelations about Lucas and Anna Daniels, nothing more. Still, if it were all her imagination why wasn’t Lucas a balloonist instead of an inventor for heavens sake. He sounded like some kind of nineteenth century computer nerd.

A groan from Bart Kelly brought Brianna from her musings.

“Water...” he croaked.

“There isn’t much,” she said, rising to her feet and walking to the overturned water barrel. She scooped up half a cup and returned to the wounded man.

“Better drink it slowly,” she cautioned. “You could be in shock from your wound.”

He slurped the water greedily then collapsed back on the ground. “Funny looking togs yer wearin’ there.”

Brianna glanced down at her Balloon Rally T-shirt, sneakers and blue jeans. “Where I come from everybody dresses this way.”

“Reckon I’d like a place where the women folk run around in their underwear,” he said with a leer.

Underwear! Well, maybe to a man who was used to seeing women covered from neck to ankle it did look that way. “I was just getting ready to change clothes when you called me.”

He looked disappointed. “You was?”

“Yes, and now that you’ve had your drink I’ll go finish the job.”

Brianna walked sedately around the side of the wagon to the trunk and opened the lid. Anna’s mirror lay face down near the top, and Brianna picked it up, almost afraid to look. It was a relief to see the same face she stared at every morning when she was brushing her teeth.

Why didn’t Bart Kelly realize she was a different person? Maybe because she wasn’t. If this was a dream... Brianna sagged in relief. Of course it was.

Brianna touched the dress that lay at the top of the trunk. Then why did it all feel so incredibly real? Was she hovering near death in an intensive care ward somewhere? Maybe she was already dead. Accounts of people who had died on the operating table then brought back, always mentioned incredibly realistic dreams. A shiver ran down her spine. Suddenly, time travel didn’t seem quite so bad. If she really had gone back in time somehow, what had happened to Anna? Was she in 2005? The way back to their own times, if one existed, was from here. Her first priority better be to convince Lucas Daniels to let her stay. With a sigh, Brianna pulled out the long dress. It was bound to be hot and uncomfortable.

Casting a quick glance to make sure Bart Kelly couldn’t see her, Brianna stripped down to her underwear then slipped the dress over her head. The skirt was a good inch off the ground and baggy on her. Though she and Anna obviously were not built the same, they were fairly close to the same size. She had just finished buttoning the long row of buttons up the front of the dress when she heard someone call he name, or at least Anna’s name.

“Mrs. Daniels, where are you?”

A lone rider was coming toward them leading a team of horses that appeared to be pulling some sort of two-wheeled vehicle. As he drew nearer, Brianna recognized the Pony Express rider that had passed them earlier. Brianna took a deep breath. This was where her masquerade would begin.

“I see you made it back, Seth.”

“Yup.” He pulled to a stop and glanced down. “Bart Kelly isn’t dead is he?”

“No, and I don’t think he’s in much danger of dying either. His wound looks far worse than it is.”

“Then it didn’t matter that I couldn’t stop earlier. I felt bad, but that’s part of my job. Billy was champing at the bit as it was.”

“What if Bart Kelly had bled to death?”

Seth shrugged as he swung down from his horse. “We’d have buried him, I guess. Aren’t you curious where I found the horses?”

“A little.” Frankly, she couldn’t care less. Until he’d ridden up, she hadn’t even thought about them being gone.

“They were down by the Sweetwater, hung up on a big boulder. The wagon tongue got caught in a crack.”

Wagon tongue? Brianna focused on the team for the first time and blinked in surprise. What she’d thought a small vehicle was really the front wheels and tongue of Bart Kelly’s freight wagon. “How in the world did they manage to tear the wheels off the wagon?”

“I was hoping you’d tell me.”

“I don’t remember any of it,” she said truthfully. “Mr. Kelly can probably explain when he wakes up again. Can you fix the wagon?”

“I think so. The wheels and axle are fine and it doesn’t look like anything else was broken. I guess the first thing is to unhitch the horses.”

Brianna watched Seth for several long minutes. There was something very appealing about his tousled blond hair and ready smile. He was much smaller than she had first realized, about the same height she was. It didn’t take long to realize he was hiding something. He hadn’t looked directly at her once. “Did you tell Lucas?”

“Not exactly.”

“What do you mean not exactly?”

“He was busy and it’s not a good idea to bother him when he’s involved.” Seth’s full attention seemed to be fixed on the work he was doing as he continued to avoid looking at her.

“Wonderful. What now?”

“Well, he’ll have to let you stay at the station until somebody came through going to Ft. Laramie. He can’t send you back till then.”

Brianna sighed. Small comfort when there was no place to go back to. “When will that be?”

“Might be any day. You never know when somebody might come along. If nothing else Bart Kelly will be back through in a week.” He glanced up at her. “You’ll have to convince Lucas to let you stay before then.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“I don’t know. He’s been out here a long time,” Seth said. “He’s probably lonely, and you are legally married.”

Brianna stared at him. Seduce her own great-great grandfather? Not likely. “I don’t think...”

“That you, Seth?” Bart Kelly asked trying to focus his bleary eyes on the other man.

“Sure is.”

“Would you fetch my bottle? I’m feelin’ right poorly.”

“The last thing you need with that wound is more whiskey,” Brianna said, wondering if alcohol rather than pain might be the reason he kept drifting off.

Bart groaned and closed his eyes as if in great pain. “She’s a hard woman, Seth. A man could die of thirst with her around.”

“It wouldn’t hurt you to sober up some,” Seth said unsympathetically. “What happened here anyway. Mrs. Daniels says she doesn’t remember any of it.”

Bart opened his eyes again and looked at her in surprise. “That so? I ain’t gonna forgit as long as I live. Damnedest thing I ever saw. All of a sudden this big ugly cloud showed up. Sounded like somebody was twisting a mountain lion’s tail....”

Gooseflesh raised along Brianna’s arms as she listened to Bart Kelly describe the same experience she and Tom had gone through right down to the weird mist. It was becoming harder and harder to convince herself it was all a dream.

“Mrs. Daniels is right, you don’t need any more whiskey,” Seth said shaking his head. “That’s the craziest story I ever heard.”

‘Only because I haven’t told him mine,’ Brianna though to herself. ‘It makes Bart Kelly’s sound sane.’

“I’m going to need some help putting this wagon back together,” Seth was saying. “You up to it, Bart?”

“Well...I reckon I can try,” he said slowly then suddenly broke into a fit of feigned coughing.

Brianna eyed him with disgust. “It looks like you’re stuck with me, Seth. Just tell me what you want me to do and I’ll...” she trailed off as she realized both men were staring at her as though she had suddenly grown an extra head. “What’s the matter?”

“It’s men’s work,” Bart Kelly said repressively. “Ain’t likely a woman like you could handle it.”

Seth nodded his head. “He’s right, Mrs. Daniels. We’ll take care of it. Why don’t you wait over there in the shade until we’re done?”

Brianna looked back and forth between the two men. They honestly thought they’d do better without her in spite of Seth’s youth and Bart Kelly’s injury. “Oh, for pity’s sake,” she said at last. “Do it yourselves then. See if I care.” With a toss of her head, she retrieved Tom Shaffer’s backpack and went over to a shady spot beside the rock.

She ignored them as they struggled to right the wagon and reattach the wheels. It was time to take stock of what she had. Besides the first aid kit, she knew there were over-the-counter drugs for just about every malady known to man, but she hadn’t really looked at what else the nylon bag contained.

Even Bart Kelly’s curses, some of which she’d never heard before, failed to distract her as she dug through Tom’s survival kit. A waterproof packet of matches, a huge bag of high energy trail mix, a box of sugar cubes, some granola bars, several packages of dried food, and a bottle of hot sauce to make it edible, a space blanket, a camera complete with a strobe and a couple of rolls of film, a notebook several pens and pencils, a cell phone, a calculator and some cash had been stowed inside. Knowing it was probably futile, Brianna dialed her friend Linda’s number on the cell phone. She wasn’t even surprised when the words “No service” appeared on the screen. With a deep sigh, Brianna set the phone aside and went back to her exploration of the backpack.

She smiled when she reached the bottom, for in a plastic sack with a toothbrush, toothpaste, and soap she found a bottle of sunscreen. Leave it to a redhead she thought gratefully as she rubbed the lotion into her skin.

Underneath a towel and washcloth she found a package of balloons and a small bottle of helium wrapped in a magazine. What in the world? Flipping through the pages of the magazine, she raised an eyebrow at the scantily clad models standing next to gorgeous sports cars. Tom had been prepared for every emergency, even boredom. God only knew what the helium and balloons were for though.

By the time Brianna had hidden the backpack at the bottom of Anna’s trunk, the wagon was once again sitting solidly on all four wheels. It took the better part of an hour to reload all the supplies and hitch the horses back to the wagon.

At last they were ready to go, and Brianna helped Bart get settled in a makeshift bed in the back of the wagon. The freighter was feeling very sorry for himself, but she suspected it was as much from the case of smashed whiskey bottles they’d found as from his wound.

Brianna had a moment of consternation when she realized she didn’t have the faintest idea how to climb up to the wagon seat. She was still trying to decide exactly how it was done when Seth grasped her around the waist and gave her a boost.

“How far from Split Rock Station are we?” she asked when he joined her on the wagon seat.

“A couple of miles. It won’t take us very long.”

“Good, I’ll be glad to get there. I feel like I’ve been traveling forever.”

“It’s a long trip.”

Brianna couldn’t help noticing how he kept glancing at her from the corner of his eye as he drove down the road. “Is something wrong?” she asked finally.

“Your face.”

Brianna raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Excuse me?”

“No, I didn’t mean it that way,” Seth said turning bright red. “It’s just that you look different.”

“Different how?.”

He studied her intently for a few seconds then shook his head. “I don’t know quite what it is, but you’ve changed in the last couple of days.”

Brianna forced herself to laugh as though the idea were ridiculous. “Maybe you just forgot.”

“Maybe.” But he continued to watch her uncertainly for the rest of the trip.

Brianna was still wondering what Anna Daniels looked like as Split Rock Station came into view. Except for a pole corral full of horses, the place might have been deserted. Even when they drove into the yard, there was no sign of life.

“Lucas must be working,” Seth said uneasily, as he climbed down from the wagon and helped her alight. “He was right in the middle of something when I left. I better go see if I can find him.”

“And we certainly wouldn’t want to disturb him would we?” Brianna muttered to herself as Seth disappeared into the cabin.

“Not if you have a lick of sense,” Bart Kelly said from the back of the wagon.

“Why, what will he do? Bite my head off?”

“It’s a distinct possibility,” said a deep voice behind her.

Startled, Brianna turned and nearly crashed into the man behind her. Where the devil had he come from?

“L-Lucas?” she asked uncertainly wondering if he could hear how hard her heart was pounding.

His gaze raked her from head to toe. “You have the advantage of me I’m afraid, Miss....”

“Daniels, Brianna Daniels.”

One black eyebrow rose. “Daniels? Are we supposed to be related?”

“Hold on just a cotton pickin’ minute,” Bart Kelly said. “I thought you two was married.”

“What?”

Brianna winced as the single explosive word hung in the air between them.

“Lucas...” Seth called, hurrying out to join them. “I can explain.”

“Explain what?” Lucas glanced at Brianna then back at Seth with a look of dawning comprehension. “Oh, Lord. What have you and Billy done this time?”

“I-I think I better tell you in private.”

Lucas closed his eyes for a moment then gave a resigned sigh before walking to the corral with Seth.

As the two men talked, Brianna studied Lucas Daniels. He wasn’t at all what she expected. The combination of coal black hair and light gray eyes was stunning even from this distance, but a complete surprise. Where was the red hair he was so proud of? Nor was he tall and slender like the other men in her family. Though he wasn’t short, he was an inch or so shy of six foot and on the stocky side. In fact, if she hadn’t known better she’d think he spent hours in a gym pumping iron.

There was no way her imagination had created this version of Lucas Daniels. She’d never seen anyone who looked less like a computer nerd in her life. Come to think of it, he didn’t look much like a grandfather either.

CHAPTER THREE
July 16, 2005

“What the...?” Tom Shaffer watched in horror as his passenger began to glow with weird blue light. At first he thought it was electrical energy of some sort, balloons often attracted lightning. Suddenly, Brianna gave a terrified scream and started to waver before his eyes. For an instant he stood frozen as the smell of burnt electrical wiring and a high frequency screech filled the air. Right in front of his incredulous gaze she became translucent and began to fade from sight.

“Brianna!” Tom grabbed for her, but his hands seemed to pass right through her as the balloon lurched, and he was thrown to the floor of the gondola. A bright light burst in his head and a sudden weight pressed down on him as he lost consciousness.

Tom could feel her breath rasping uneasily across his face as he came to. “Brianna, are you all right?” There was no response. “Damn,” he said trying to twist around to look at her.

It was nearly impossible to move in the cramped confines of the gondola especially with her weight on top of him. After a full minute of concentrated effort, he managed to struggle into a more or less upright position and transfer her into his arms.

“Ohhhh...” She opened her eyes and Tom’s own widened in shock. Her eyes had changed from blue to brown. He’d heard concussions sometime caused eye color to change but he’d never actually seen it before. It made her whole face look different. Her hair even looked a slightly darker shade of blond. “Are you all right?” he asked trying to keep his voice steady.

“I hurt all over.” She blinked up at him. “Who are you?”

“Tom Shaffer, don’t you remember?”

“Where’s Mr. Kelly?”

“Who?”

“Mr. Kelly, the driver.”

Tom’s eyebrows came together. “Do you feel ok, Brianna?”

“How do you know my name?”

“You told me. Brianna Daniels.”

“I said that?” She was clearly startled. “But I’ve never told anyone ....Good heavens. What’s that?”

Tom peered up at the bright blue and pink nylon stretched above them. “Just my balloon.”

“B-balloon?” Anna closed her eyes. She was dead and this was her punishment. Aunt Grace always said she’d come to a bad end. The man, Tom, must be her guide to whatever came after. That’s why he knew her real name. Right now he was staring down at her as if he didn’t quite believe his eyes.

“I still don’t know what hap...” the rest of his statement was lost as the balloon suddenly lurched and he struggled to his feet. They were going down fast even though Tom seemed to be fighting to control their descent.

Anna stared over the side. Surely if they were on their way to heaven they’d be going up.

“If I don’t put her down pretty quick we could be in serious trouble. Grab the extra helm....Good grief what are you wearing?”

Anna glanced down at her clothes in surprise. “My best dress.”

As Tom transferred his stunned gaze from the long dress to her oddly different face it suddenly all came together in his mind. “You’re not Brianna,” he uttered in a shocked voice.

“W-well, I usually go by Anna.”

“But how did you get into my balloon and where’s Brianna?”

She looked up at him, with tearful brown eyes. “I don’t have any idea,” she whispered.

None of it made sense, but Tom couldn’t spare the time to figure it out now. He pulled his extra helmet out from behind the propane tank. “Here put this on. It isn’t much to look at, but we may have a pretty rough landing.”

Anna took the battered helmet with a look of dismay, but after a glance at the one Tom wore, donned it without complaint.

“Hang on,” he said opening the parachute valve at the top of the balloon to control their descent. As they came down, Tom scanned the surrounding area searching for his brother’s familiar yellow pickup on the distant ribbon of highway. There was no sign of the chase crew, just empty miles of pavement stretching across the prairie. The only indication of life was a ranch house a couple of miles to the north.

In spite of his fears, their landing was relatively smooth. The minute the gondola touched down, Anna gave a heartfelt sigh of relief and started to clamber over the side of the basket.

“No, stay here,” Tom said grabbing her arm. “Our weight holds the basket stationary. Without it the balloon will drag the gondola all over the prairie”

“Oh. I-I didn’t know.” Reluctantly she settled back and watched the huge balloon drift gracefully toward earth.

Releasing her arm, Tom realized she was several inches shorter than Brianna and a bit more rounded. The difference only served to emphasize the incredible likeness between the two women. Suddenly his eyes focused on the locket around her throat. It was identical to Brianna’s. Who was she? More importantly where had she come from and where was Brianna Daniels? This couldn’t be happening.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“In the middle of Wyoming somewhere north of highway 287 I think,” Tom said as the balloon collapsed in on itself and settled to the ground in a heap of brightly colored nylon.

She gave him a bewildered look as he vaulted over the side of the gondola. “Is that close to Split Rock Station?”

“I understand that’s Split Rock over there.” Tom said, pointing to the landmark before lifting Anna out of the basket.

“I wonder if Mr. Kelly went there without me.”

“Is that where you were headed?”

She nodded. “My...husband is there.

“Are you sure? I didn’t see any signs of life when we flew over.”

“He’s the station master.”

“Of what? All I saw was a place for tourists to stop and take pictures.”

“Lucas runs the Pony Express station there.”

“Oh.” Tom removed his helmet and replaced it with a green baseball cap. A gas station, convenience store situated out in the middle of nowhere with a name like Pony Express was bound to be pretty good size. He wondered uneasily how he’d managed to miss it. Of course it wasn’t near as unsettling as misplacing his passenger. “Is that where you came from?”

“Not exactly. Mr. Kelly and I were on our way there when the storm came. It was horrible!”

“I agree. I’ve never seen anything like it in all my years of flying.” He picked up the parachute line and squatted down to tie off the mouth of the balloon. “Did you happen to see that bolt of lightning that hit us?”

“I’m not sure. It all happened so fast. The noise spooked the horses so bad Mr. Kelly couldn’t get them stopped and then th...they just disappeared into a blue mist. I think we hit something because I heard a loud crunch and the wagon started to tip. The last thing I remember was falling and a flash of bright light. Do you suppose that was the lightning?”

Tom stopped in the process of wrapping the cord to stare at her. “You were in a horse-drawn wagon?”

“The stage wasn’t due through for another couple of days.” She blushed and looked down at her hands. “I-I didn’t want to wait any longer.”

“Stage as in stagecoach?” As Anna nodded, Tom swallowed hard. It was obvious his question had taken her completely by surprise. “What’s today’s date?” he asked suddenly.

“July sixteenth.”

“What year?”

“1860.”

“Where did you get your necklace?”

“I-it was my mother’s. I never take it off.

“What did you say your name was?”

She looked at him as though he’d lost his mind. “Anna Daniels. Why are you asking me all these questions?”

“Just checking for oxygen deprivation.” Tom hid his dismay by turning his attention to the deflated balloon. Lord, he should have known the instant he saw the long dress. Insanity. It was the only explanation. The truly frightening thing was that he really wasn’t sure which of them was crazy. Either Brianna thought she was her own great- great grandmother, or he was having one hell of a hallucination.

“Is there anything I can do to help you?” she asked shyly as she removed her helmet and he started to work.

“Yeah, grab my backpack would you? That’s where my marker balloons are. We’ll inflate some so my brother can find us.”

“Backpack?”

He glanced over his shoulder at her. If she was faking that look of confusion, she was the best darn actress he’d ever seen. “It’s a bag about this big,” he said showing her with his hands. “Should be in the bottom of the gondola somewhere. I’ll see if I can reach Chuck on the cell phone.” He glanced around at the sagebrush-covered prairie. “Though I doubt there’s any service out here.”

“All right.”

With the speed of long practice, Tom walked along the deflated balloon folding the edges over until it lay in a long straight line. Within a short time he was finished and returned to Anna.

“I couldn’t find your pack,” she said apologetically, as she held out Brianna’s windbreaker for his inspection. “This is all that was in there that wasn’t tied down.”

“My backpack’s gone?” A quick glance at the interior of the basket showed it empty except for the propane tanks and flight instruments. “That’s really strange,” he said, scratching his head. But then he couldn’t account for much of anything that had happened since take-off. Even the distance they’d come was unbelievable for summertime. “Well, without my cell phone or the marker balloons, I guess our only other choice is to head for that house I saw and call Chuck.”

“Does he live there?”

“No. He has a mobile phone in his pickup. This isn’t the first time we’ve lost each other during a flight.”

“I see.” But it was obvious she didn’t.

“This shouldn’t take too long. You can stay here and sit in the shade of those rocks over there. I’ll leave you the canteen.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“It’s too hot. You could get heat stroke.”

“So could you.”

“I’m not wearing a long dress.”

“No, but then I’m used to it.” She untied the sunbonnet that was hanging down her back and put it on her head. “Besides, I...I don’t want to stay here by myself.”

The stubborn tilt of her chin couldn’t disguise the quaver in her voice and Tom’s resistance melted like ice cream on a barbecue. “All right then, let’s go.”

The sun beat down unmercifully as they walked through the sagebrush, skirting cactus and knee high ant hills as they went. In spite of it all, Anna remained determinedly cheerful though Tom had a sneaking suspicion she was badly frightened by all that had happened.

The further they traveled, the more convinced he became that he had lost his mind. Though he hadn’t been around Brianna Daniels long, she was very different from the shy, soft-spoken woman who walked beside him now. Too different.

No one could change that much.

Anna was just as he had always fancied her during the hours he had spent pouring over Lucas Daniels’ journal. He knew she was a figment of his imagination, and yet she appeared so genuine. A slightly crooked front tooth where Brianna’s were beautifully straight, and a skirt that was a little too long, added to the illusion of reality.

But the most damning evidence of his instability was the way he felt toward her. He had been mildly attracted to Brianna the way one might feel toward a good friend or a cousin. Anna was something else again. From the moment she confessed she didn’t want to stay behind, the need to protect her became a driving force within him. It was all he could do not to put his arm around her shoulders and guide her steps.

They hadn’t gone much more than half a mile when Tom suddenly realized why he was having such a bizarre hallucination. Lucas Daniels loved his wife deeply and had described her in the most glowing terms. Tom grew up thinking she was the epitome of what a woman should be, and had been waiting for someone just like Anna all his adult life. If the truth were known, he was probably halfway in love with her already. The lightning or whatever hit them in that balloon had scrambled his brain and created the illusion. Thank God he and Brianna hadn’t been talking about a science-fiction horror movie or something.

The walk across the prairie was long and uncomfortable, but they arrived at the ranch house far too soon for Tom. He knew it was only a matter of time before Anna disappeared back into his imagination and Brianna took her place.

As he reached up to knock on the door, Anna grabbed his arm and he glanced down at her questioningly.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” she whispered. “Everything here looks so strange.”

Tom looked around in surprise. It was a typical ranch headquarters with a battered old pickup and variety of farm machinery surrounding the huge trapezoid-shaped shop across the barnyard. Corrals were visible behind the shop and fields green with alfalfa stretched clear to the base of a large hill beyond. Though the fence around the yard needed a coat of paint and the lawn was overdue for a mowing, the house itself was good-sized and well kept. There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. “What do you mean?”

Before Anna could answer, the door opened and Tom turned his attention to the boy who stood in the doorway.

“Hello,” he said with a smile. “Is your mom or dad here?”

“Nope, they went to Riverton and probably won’t be back till after the rodeo tonight.” The boy looked over Tom’s shoulder and raised his eyebrows. “Did your car break down?”

“No, as a matter of fact we came by balloon. We got caught in a crosswind and lost our chase crew. I need to make a phone call to tell them how to find us.”

The boy’s face brightened. “You’re from the balloon rally?”

“That’s right.”

“Wow! You’re a long way from Riverton.”

“I know. It was quite a ride. Could I use your phone?”

“Oh, sure,” he said stepping aside. Then a shadow crossed his face. “Well, I think so anyway.”

“If you’d rather I didn’t come in, I can give you the number...”

“No, it’s not that. I’m not sure the phone’s working. My experiment blew every circuit in the house.” He crossed the living room, put the phone to his ear and sighed in relief. “It’s all right,” he said, handing it to Tom. “Good thing too. My dad is going to be mad enough.”

Tom wasn’t surprised that the boy didn’t give Anna’s long dress a second glance. The delusion was his alone. It only took a few moments to dial the number, but Anna edged so close she nearly knocked him off balance. When he looked down she was staring at the TV in undisguised horror. Tom glanced at the screen and grinned. “That’s got to be the worst sit-com they ever came up with. My sister-in-law won’t even let her kids watch it,” he said just as his brother answered the phone. “Hello, Chuck. I think we might have broken the record this time...”

Anna’s only answer was to step even closer. Unable to resist, Tom put his arm around her with a comforting squeeze as he repeated the boy’s directions for finding them.

“He’ll be out there in forty-five minutes or so,” Tom said as he hung up the phone. “That will give us enough time to get back to the balloon so he can find us.”

“I’ll give you a ride,” the boy offered eagerly. “We’ll have plenty of time to get there if we take the pickup.”

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble,” Tom said with a smile. “It must be a hundred degree outside.”

“No problem. My name’s Scott Martin by the way.”

“Tom Shaffer,” Tom said sticking out his hand, “and this is Brianna Daniels.”

“Hi.” Scott shook hands with Tom and smiled at Anna. “Nice dress. Did you make it?”

Anna blushed a bright red. “Y-yes.”

“My sister would turn green if she could see it. She spent three days sewing her dress for the parade this afternoon, and it isn’t half as nice as yours.” He missed both Tom’s startled expression and Anna’s look of consternation as he turned and walked away. “I have to finish fixing the fuse box, but it won’t take long. I only have a few more wires to replace.”

“Shouldn’t you get a licensed electrician to do that?”

“Nah, I know how. My dad said if I was going to keep blowing the wiring I had to learn to fix it myself. Can’t wait to see your balloon. This will be even better than going to the rally. I was supposed to go but Dad made me stay home.”

“You must be disappointed,” Tom murmured as he gave Anna a shrug then followed Scott through the kitchen into the laundry room.

“Yeah, but I guess I sorta deserved it. I accidentally deleted all the ranch records last night because I needed more memory on the computer. He said I couldn’t go anywhere until I had them all back on the hard drive.” Scott sighed. “He’s going to go ballistic when he sees this.”

“Good Lord, what happened?” Tom stared in disbelief at the cinder block wall above the fuse box. It was blackened all the way to the ceiling, and the stench of burnt wiring filled the room.

“I overloaded the circuits.” Scott picked up a pair of needle nose pliers and reached into the fuse box to twist two wires together. “I thought if I boosted them with tin foil it would give me the extra amps I needed, but it didn’t work out quite the way I planned.”

“No, it doesn’t look like it. What in the world were you doing?”

“Just working on a theory of mine.” Scott pulled out a chunk of melted metal and studied it closely. After a moment he sighed and threw it onto the washing machine with the burnt wires and fried fuses. “I just hope my surge protector saved the computer. If I wiped out those records again, I’ll be grounded for the rest of my life!”

Tom watched in amazement as the boy rewired the fuse box. His skill was nothing short of miraculous. “What’s this theory you’re working on?” he asked.

Scott didn’t even look up from his work. “You’d just laugh at me like everybody else does.”

“No, I wouldn’t.”

Scott stopped and studied Tom intently for a moment. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

“All right, but remember you can’t laugh. I think I’ve figured out how to twist the time-space continuum into a Mobius strip.”

Tom felt as though the air had suddenly become too thin to breathe. “What-what exactly does that mean?”

“Well, not much yet, but some day I hope to be able to travel through time.”

“Scott,” Tom said in a strangled voice as he reached down and grasped Anna’s hand. “I think some day has arrived.”

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