Time Will Tell (Timeless Series) (17 page)

“Time will tell, not me,” she said, shaking her head.

He laughed. They discussed the deed and Colin said he’d have a copy made. “But it will take a few days. In the meantime, you can’t continue pretending to be a boy, nor can I let you continue to train such unpredictable animals. It’s not right.”

“No.”

He eyed her intently, his mouth forming one tight line. “What do you
mean, no?”

“Either I continue as before or I leave.” It was an empty threat, since she needed the trees to get home.

“I thought the trees brought you?” When she didn’t respond, his lips curled into the semblance of a smile. “I’d like nothing better than to continue as before, but I can’t have your safety on my conscience. What if one of the horses throws you? Or worse?” He shook his head, his expression turning to stone. “It’s too dangerous for a girl.”

Libby blew out a frustrated breath and rolled her eyes. However did women in 1874 put up with such chauvinism? She sent up a prayer of thanks to Susan B. Anthony and others like her, who paved the way for women a century earlier. The fact that it hadn’t happened yet made her more than anxious to find her way home. “I’ve only been thrown once in my life, due to my error. Trust
me, I have no intention of letting any horse throw me again. Besides, in my time, we can do just about anything a man can do.”

“Really?”
He considered this for a moment. “So women in your time vote? Like out west, in the Wyoming Territory?”

“Yes. We vote. We pay taxes. We own land and we fly planes in the
Air Force.”

“Air force?
What’s that?”

“Never mind.
Suffice it to say I’m fully qualified to train your thoroughbreds. Just ask Gus. I’ve gotten more out of Fortuna and Zeus in the two days I’ve worked with them than you or Gus could get all summer.”

Again he was silent. Then he wiped his face and sighed. “I can certainly use your skills, but you’re way too young.”

Bristling at his comment, she jutted out her chin. “I’m old enough.” Jeez, even in this century she was mistaken for a kid. What did she have to do? Wear a sign that said
Over twenty-one
? “I’m a liberated woman and perfectly capable of making my own decisions.”

The crinkles near the edges of his eyes deepened when he smiled. “Just how old are you?”

“Like I said, I’m old enough.” She tried to keep annoyance out of her voice, but the comment still came out too caustically.

Colin chuckled. “
OK, you’re old enough. Prickly too. So, women in the twenty-first century go around looking like men?”

Nodding, Libby mentally counted to ten. “We’ve also earned the right to dress as we please. It took almost a century, but we prevailed. And to ease your mind about my age, besides being engaged, I have two years of college under my belt.” This time she was more successful in keeping her tone light while still getting her message across.

Grinning, Colin held up a hand. “Such a feisty woman-child. There’s fire in your eyes when you speak. Far be it from me to dictate to you. I’d venture to say I could learn a lot from you.” He leaned back against the tree, pulled up a blade of grass, and rested an arm on his knee in his earlier nonchalant stance. “I like you, Miss Libby Edwards from the future.” Just before sticking the blade of grass in his mouth, he said, “If you’ll continue your charade as a boy, I’ll allow you to train.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. It’ll take a few days for me to get the deed copied and notarized. In the meantime, be careful. I don’t want any mishaps.”

“You won’t be sorry.” It seemed a good thing that she hadn’t been able to return tonight. If she went home with a copy rather than the original, she wouldn’t have to risk returning. Now that her secrets were out, she could relax and enjoy her stay for a couple more days. She refused to listen to the voice in the back of her head, warning her not to get too attached to these people. She would have to pretend to be on a vacation.

In no hurry to leave, Colin was silent again.

Libby didn’t think he would say anything further, but he proved her wrong by asking, “You’re engaged to be married?” She nodded and he said, “Tell me about your fiancé.”

“Why do you want to know about Dave?”

“That’s his name? Dave?”

“Yeah, Dr. David Phillips.” Thinking of Dave, she smiled. “My friend, Bev, calls him Dr. Bull.”

“Dr. Bull? As in…”

Libby shrugged and stopped a gurgle of laughter from bursting forth. “Dave can be a little stuffy at times and he doesn’t like Bev, so you can form your own opinion about that.”

Colin’s chuckle zinged through her ears, landing in the soft part of her belly. “It’s been a long time since I’ve sat talking and laughing with someone like this. It seems so natural, sitting here discussing your life in the future as if we did it all the time.”

Dusk lurked, but there was still light enough for her to discern his grin when he looked at her. His eyes held such warmth that Libby had to glance away.

He sighed. “This Bev sounds like quite an instigator. Surely your Dave’s not so bad?”

“No, he’s just a little closed-minded. You know, a brilliant scientist?” Looking at her hand on the ground, she broke off a few strands of grass and shrugged. “Only he shuts his mind off to possibilities. I tried to tell him about my time travel, but he scoffed at the idea. I’m sure he thinks I’m delusional. Now I’m not certain if I want to marry him.”

“Why should it matter if he believes you or not?
Besides, I thought all women wanted to get married.”

“Words spoken like a true man.” Libby didn’t bother keeping the sarcasm out of her voice.

But rather than offending Colin, he only chuckled after pulling the blade of grass out of his mouth and tossing it aside. He then bowed his head. “At your service. Do you always get your hackles up when someone says something that annoys you?”

“My hackles aren’t up.” Libby shook her head and crossed her arms. “Why is it that men think all women want to get married?”

“Because it’s true,” he said. “Marriage is always their ultimate goal. If he’s willing to marry you, why should you care whether he believes you or not? He’s giving you his name, isn’t he?”

“It matters. Times have changed. Marriage isn’t the only thing we women want. In my time we don’t have to marry to better ourselves. We can marry for love.”

“Ah yes, love.” His eyebrows inched higher. “And do you love him?”

“You sound so skeptical. Don’t you believe in love?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been in love. I’m not sure it exists.” He picked up another long blade of grass and twirled it between his fingers. Then he looked back at Libby with a sad expression.

He appeared so forlorn. His lost little boy expression tugged at her. Libby asked gently, “Not even with your wife?” When he shook his head, she offered a consoling smile. “That’s sad.”

He lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “We became friends during the early part of our marriage. I guess you could say we cared for each other. At least, I cared for her, I’m not sure if she cared about anyone but herself. We definitely weren’t in love. She hated the farm—hated her life here.” He stopped talking and threw the twisted blade of grass on the ground. “I don’t know why I told you that.” He sighed wistfully. “I guess I feel comfortable here with you.” A smile lit his face as he said, “Let’s get back to our discussion. You never answered my question.”

His smile was too persuasive. Libby returned it. “What question?”

He laughed again, the sound sending a tingling sensation to her insides.

“Going for evasion? That’s a good tactic, but not good enough. I asked if you loved your intended.”

“My intended?” Libby gave a nervous grunt, ignoring the feeling his laughter was creating on her system. “That sounds so formal.”

“Evading again?”
He pierced her gaze, raising his eyebrows.

“God, you’re tenacious.” She focused
on her hands and distractedly made figure eights in the ground next to her. “Yeah, I love him, but I don’t think it’s enough. I need him to believe in me. He just doesn’t understand how important it is to me and I don’t know how to remedy the problem.” She risked a quick glance at him. Her smile turned sheepish. “Listen to me. I’m as bad as you. I don’t know why I told you that. You have enough problems without adding mine.”

“Me? What problems have I got? We were discussing you. Remember?”

“Well, your wife died. And you have three young children. Even if you didn’t love each other, it must be hard not having her here, especially for the kids. I lost my mom. I know how that can be.”

He was obviously about to accuse her of evasion again, except that same forlorn look suddenly crept into his expression and his words seemed to stick in his throat. She swallowed hard and couldn’t stop the concern or compassion from spilling out in her gaze. The connection she’d felt earlier was back. Her breath caught in the back of her throat as Colin swallowed hard. Breaking the connection, he glanced down at the ground, appearing as uncomfortable with it as she.

“I guess it is hard,” he whispered. “I just plow through one day at a time,” he said minutes later. “Eventually it does get easier.” His voice took on a teasing quality as he added, “You have a way of distracting me from my melancholy thoughts, so I’m glad we had this time together.”

“So am I,” Libby said, shrugging her shoulders, happy to have the conversation veer toward other topics besides Dave. “I think there is another reason I couldn’t return home tonight, you know?
Besides the deed.”

When she didn’t elaborate, Colin looked at her with an expression that said, “Well? What is it?”

“Promise not to laugh?”

His bark of laughter rang out, and Libby slapped at his arm. “I asked you not
to laugh.”

“I’m sorry,” Colin said, a big grin still splitting his face. “I can’t help it. Here we are baring souls, and you make me promise not to laugh. It struck me as funny.”

“Yeah, well, being stuck in the wrong century is no laughing matter. I only hope I can get home when I need to.” She stopped and realized she sounded unappreciative of all she’d experienced up to that point. “Not that you don’t have a wonderful place here, and not that I haven’t loved every minute of working on the farm and learning all about it. It’s just that I don’t belong here.”

He visibly sobered. “I’m sure you’ll be able to travel back when the time comes. Until then, I’ll help any way I can. Two heads are always better than one.” His voice trailed off. “Finish what you were going to tell me.” He glanced at her
, then made an imaginary cross on his chest. “I promise not to laugh.”

“Oh my God—did you just cross your heart?”

His grin was quick. “Yes, I did. But don’t expect me to spit on my palm like I did as a lad.”

“Oh, we don’t spit anymore—at least
, girls don’t.”

“So the universal cross your heart and spit in the palm still exists into the next two centuries?” At Libby’s nod, he sighed. “It boggles the mind what stands the test of time. But enough of your evasion—you do that a lot, you know.”

“Do what?”

Colin shook his head. “I rest my case. Finish with your thoughts,
then I think we should call it a night. It’s getting late. Berta and Gus will be worried about you.”

“You’re right. I guess I am evading the issue.” Stalling, she smoothed out non-existent wrinkles on her jeans. “
OK, the way I see it, I originally came here for a reason, like maybe to learn something. At first I had the feeling that maybe I’m here to help Gus with Nathan—teach him about the farm. You know Gus has no time right now?”

At his nod she continued. “Yet when I’m with the family
, I get this feeling I was meant to see them. I’ve never seen a family as close as Gus and Berta’s. They are so wonderful and warm. They accept each other and work toward a common goal, a goal both share. Seeing them together makes me realize that I want what they have. Maybe somehow by being around them, I can learn how to achieve that end.” She stopped talking. “Or…do you think there’s a bigger reason I wished myself here?”

“I have no idea. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around you coming from the future. I’ll think on it, though. In the meantime, since you still want to work, tomorrow comes bright and early.” He stood and brushed grass off his pants. “I’ll see you in the morning. I’m taking over for Gus with the thoroughbreds. We can train them together.” He turned and started to walk away. “Good night, Libby.”

Before he’d taken ten steps, Libby said in a loud voice, “Thanks, Mr. Thorpe. Good night.”

He stopped and pivoted, snaring her gaze. “Do
me a favor, will you?”

“Yes?”

“Call me Colin. Everyone else does. We’re just not that formal around here,” he said, much like his great-great-grandson had done, eliciting a déjà vu moment.

As she continued staring after him
, other feelings surged through her system.

He was halfway up the path to the house when he turned around again. “Are you ever going to tell me if there is a racetrack in your Louisville?”