Jerry spotted them and
approached
,
his face unreadable. Gillian clasped Zachary’s hand as they waited for him to tell them the news.
“The operation went well, and he’s doing fine. He's in the recovery room now
.”
He looked at Gillian then to Zachary. "Can I ask you something?" He ran his fingers through his hair. "The kid says his name is Tyler Avery."
Gillian gasped and looked to Zachary for confirmation. "Tyler's last name is Avery?"
"Well
. . . yes." He wasn’t quite sure why this made such a difference to everyone.
“Avery,” Gillian whispered more to herself than to anyone else. “I had assumed his last name was Creighton. I should have known it wasn’t. Your sister was married and of course she would have had a different last name.”
Jerry chuckled, drawing their attention. “Isn’t it strange that Tyler would have the same last name as I do.” He scratched his head. “Let me see if I can remember the family tree. I believe I had a great-great, there possibly could be another great there, named Tyler Avery
.
"
Zachary raised his eyebrows
as he looked
at
Gillian again.
"That would mean.
. ."
She nodded as she gave his hand a quick squeeze.
Gillian had thought she’d been sent back in time to save him. Perhaps she was supposed to save Tyler.
Zachary’s gaze shifted to Jerry
… Dr. Jerry Avery. Surely this meant he was a relative. He claimed he had a great-great grandfather with the name. If Tyler hadn’t survived, then would Jerry have ceased to exist?
Gillian stared at Jerry with a glint of wonder in her eyes. “That’s why Tyler had looked so familiar to me. The expressions, the smile, I was seeing a version of what Jerry must have looked like as a child.”
With Gillian’s strange statement, it looked like Jerry wanted to question them further, but Samantha arrived
in a bustle of excitement
. She bounded over to them. "Where have you been?" She still sounded panicked even though she’d spoken briefly to Gillian on the phone an hour ago. "You just up and left me at the Queen Mary. I thought the employees there were holding you hostage. I even went to the police station to fill out a missing person’s report
.”
“You didn’t.” Gillian looked horrified.
“They said I had to wait. You hadn’t been missing long enough.” Samantha finally took a breath and her eyes rested on Zachary. Her gaze swept over his attire and then she looked at Gillian with a frown. “What’s with the Littl
e House on the Prairie
getups?” Before Gillian could answer,
Samantha grabbed
Gillian's left hand. "What's this? Are you married?" Her brown eyes widened as she fingered the gold band that was securely wrapped around her ring finger. Her a
ttention flew to Zachary
again. This time she assessed him from head to toe
.
Jerry frowned, his eyes narrowing.
Gillian’s face flushed red. She pulled her hand away. Zachary knew this hadn’t been the way she wanted to tell her friends.
Zachary took pity and spoke up. "Yes, we’re married.” He lifted his hands, palm up with a shrug. “I know this all seems sudden, and I hope in time we will be able to explain everything to you.” He gave them a second to absorb the shocking information. “Let me properly introduce myself. I'm Zachary Creighton." He extended his hand.
Samantha recovered first and took Zachary’s hand in a firm grip. She even managed a tiny smile. "Sorry, we seem stunned over this, but . . ." Her gaze wavered to Gillian as she let go of Zachary’s hand
.
Jerry cleared his throat. "I suppose congratulations are in order." He nearly choked on the words. It was obvious that he couldn't believe Gillian had married so quickly after they had called off their own wedding.
"Thank you." Zachary shook Jerry's hand, knowing how difficult the gesture had been for him.
Jerry let his hand drop. "If you’re ready, I'll take you to see, Tyler
.”
"Who's Tyler?" Samantha asked. “Did I miss something?”
Tyler looked so small in the hospital bed with the IV hooked to him and the monitors stationed behind him beeping. Zachary looked over to Gillian for confirmation that this was a normal procedure even though Jerry had explained it all to them. She leaned close and whispered, "All this is necessary. Just remember everything in here is to help him to get better.” Zachary nodded and went over to his nephew, taking the boy’s small hand in his.
Tyler turned his head slowly and opened his eyes. "Uncle Zachary?"
"It's me. How are you feeling?"
"Tired." His voice was a hoarse whisper.
"You get some rest then. We'll be here waiting for you, when you wake up."
Tyler nodded his head before he closed his eyes again.
Jerry checked the tubes and the monitor before he looked at Zachary. "There's another thing I needed to ask you. On the forms you filled out for Tyler, you said he was born in 1864." Jerry chuckled. "That would make Tyler quite an old man." Jerry glanced at Gillian then to Zachary. “What are you two hiding? I know it’s more than your hasty marriage and strange attire. What’s going on?”
Gillian cleared her throat. "We . . . "She looked at Zachary first and he nodded his silent agreement before she l
ooked back to Jerry and Samantha
.
"We will explain everything to you, but you’ll have to promise us that you will keep an open mind."
“Sure.” Samantha shrugged. “This I have to hear.”
"I had actually finished my shift before I operated on Tyler," Jerry informed them. "Tyler will probably sleep for a few hours. We can go downstairs to the cafeteria. I'll leave instructions with the nurse to page me the minute Tyler is awake
.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
After they bought their drinks, they sat down at a table in the back. Gillian picked the spot on purpose. She didn’t want anyone overhearing the strange tale she was about to unfold.
Zachary and Gillian sat on one side of the booth, Samantha, and Jerry on the other. Zachary searched for Gillian's hand under the table, clasping it tightly.
"I'm not sure where to start." Gillian smiled hesitantly. "It's going to sound like we're completely crazy, but what I'm about to tell you is the absolute truth." She took a hasty sip of her coffee, which was a mistake. It was too hot and she burned her tongue. She placed the cup down and looked into the eyes of her best friends. "I've been with Zachary for weeks now."
Samantha snorted. "You've been gone barely two days."
"I know, you said as much. I can't explain why time is different, but—"
"What are you talking about? Time?" Jerry asked.
"Listen." Zachary leaned forward, lowering his voice. "She's trying to tell you, if you'd give her a chance."
“Fine.” Jerry lifted his hand, gesturing to Gillian to continue.
"Samantha, remember the dog we spotted on our way to the Queen Mary?”
"Yes, I remember. What about it?"
"Somehow this dog is special in a way you couldn’t even imagine. She is responsible for me being sent back in time."
"What?"
Samantha and Jerry said simultaneously with almost the same pitch of disbelief ringing in their voices.
Gillian continued
,
ignoring the fact that they stared at her as if she had lost her mind. "Let me start at the beginning."
"Why don't you do that?" Samantha folded her hands on the table.
"After I left you, Samantha, the dog appeared at our stateroom. I tried to run away, but something happened. Anyway, the next thing I knew, I wasn’t on the Queen Mary anymore. I was in Zachary's room aboard the Ida Belle."
"The Ida Belle?" Samantha questioned. "How could you be aboard the Queen Mary one minute then on some other ship the next?"
"Honestly, I don’t know. Remember the receptionists on the Queen Mary told us our room was decorated with artifacts from the Ida Belle. Maybe there’s a connection somehow."
Samantha’s eyebrows knitted together. “I was in the room, too. I didn’t get swept back in time
.”
"Samantha, I don’t have all the answers. I’m still trying to make sense of it. All I can do is tell you what I know.”
Samantha nodded. “Go on then. You woke up aboard the Ida Belle.”
“Yes. Well of course, Zachary wasn’t expecting company, and at this point I had no idea I’d traveled back in time. So, when Zachary jumped out of bed like a wild animal—"
"Pardon me." Zachary stopped her. "Wild animal? I believe you better rephrase that."
"Okay." She smiled before she continued. "Zachary jumped out of bed, believing his life was in danger. I would have run out of the room, but I didn't have the key to get out. So, I reacted—"
"She attacked me.” Zachary took over. “Never was I so surprised that a little slip of a woman could throw me over her shoulder. But somehow, she managed to do just that."
Samantha chuckled. "You actually threw him over your shoulder?" She eyed Zachary and raised a brow. “He’s a big sturdy guy. I’m impressed.”
"Yes. I'll tell you the self-defense class we took last summer came in handy more times than not."
"Really. What else worked?" Samantha leaned forward to hear more.
Jerry harrumphed. "Let's talk about the defense class later, shall we?"
"Sorry." Samantha leaned back in her seat, rolling her eyes at Jerry.
Gillian cleared her throat. "Where were we? Oh, yes. Because of all the noise we created, other people aboard the Ida Belle became concerned. Before I knew it, they had apprehended Zachary and held a gun to his head. Everyone assumed he’d taken advantage of me."
"Well, you weren’t wearing any clothes. What were people suppose
d
to think?" Zachary added.
"What happen to your clothes?" Jerry’s intense scowl pinned Gillian down.
She shook her head. "He's exaggerating. I was wearing my black sweat suit.” She looked at Samantha. “You know the designer one with the lace that I paid a fortune for.”
“Oh yes, I know the one. Cute.”
Jerry sat back and crossed his arms against his chest. His mouth flattened into a fine line as he glared at Zachary.
Gillian cleared her throat. “By nineteen century standards, I might as well
have
been
naked
the way everyone stared at me."
Zachary picked up the story again. "So you can well imagine why they would want me to marry her. Her reputation was at stake, as well as mine. I couldn't very well let people think I took advantage of a woman."
“So you married her?" Jerry lifted his brows.
"Well, of course," Zachary said. “It was the gentlemanly thing to do. Wouldn’t you protect a woman’s reputation?”
Jerry squirmed. “I wouldn’t be in a situation that called for it.”
“Boys.” Samantha placed a hand on Jerry’s forearm. “We can have a pissing contest later. Let Gillian finish.”
Gillian gave Samantha a quick smile. She knew this had to be difficult for Jerry to hear. Put aside the time travel aspects, she had married another man, a stranger when she had refused to marry him. She took another sip of her coffee thankful it had cooled down. She had to finish the story. “When I was getting ready for the ceremony, I finally figured out things weren’t right. I wasn’t in California or aboard the Queen Mary. However, the worse of it was that I was stranded in another century. I had no choice for the moment but to do what I was told.
“Before we left the ship, I did try one desperate attempt to see if I could be transported back. I l
ay
back down on the floor and closed my eyes. I hoped when I opened my eyes again, I would be home."
"So that was why you did that." Zachary finally understood her odd behavior. "I thought I had married someone who didn’t have her wits about her."
"Thanks a lot." Gillian bit her lip to stifle a grin. He gave her hand an affectionate squeeze before she returned to the story. "So I find myself married, and Zachary has guardianship over his nephew. I had no idea by the way, that Tyler was related to you, Jerry. I never thought to ask what Tyler's last name was, but I can tell you the minute I saw the boy, I thought, he looked oddly familiar. I just couldn't put my finger on why. That is, until now. Tyler looks a lot like you, Jerry or rather . . . you look a lot like Tyler. It's still a little confusing."
"Indeed,” Jerry said. “You know this story is most entertaining, but what is the point here? How did you manage to find your way back?"
"I told you how. It was the dog. By the way, her name is Molly."
"The dog told you her name?" Jerry asked sarcastically.
"Don't be rude, Jerry. Of course, she doesn’t talk. She's a dog for heaven’s sake. She showed up one day at Zachary's home, immediately adopting them. Tyler is the one who named her."
"She would show up and stay for days, and then she would disappear for a while," Zachary added.