Waiting for Dusk (25 page)

Chapter Thirty-One

Katie’s and
Lindsey’s parents met them at the airport. The girls couldn’t wait
to tell them they were all related. They planned on Katie running
and hugging Lindsey’s parents and Lindsey running to Katie’s. That
should confuse them.

“What’s going on here?” Katie’s dad held out
his arms. “I’ve got the wrong daughter!”

“Mom, Dad,” Lindsey pointed at Joanna and
Katie. “Meet our cousins.”

“What?” Lindsey’s mom covered her mouth. “I
have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Lucinda, Lucinda Hasting.” Katie tried to
read her mother’s face as she said it.

“Lucinda is my great-aunt,” her mother
replied. “What does she have to do with this?”

“She’s my grandmother!” Lindsey’s mother
grabbed her daughter. “When did this all happen?”

“At the ranch. Katie mentioned her aunt, I
don’t remember exactly how.”

Katie’s mother kept repeating over and over,
“I don’t believe it.” Then she looked at Beth. “Why didn’t we
compare notes?”

“I have no idea but this trip was meant to
be. I’ve always felt close to Katie and now I find out she’s my
cousin. You, too, Joanna!”

There was a group hug and everyone talked at
once.

“Time out!” Katie’s dad made the hand signal
for it. “Let’s go back to the house and discuss it there. I’m sure
the girls would like to get home.”

“What a surprise!” Her mom wrapped her arm
around Katie’s shoulder as they headed for the car.

It turned out to be a great night. Although
everyone had Thanksgiving plans, they decided to set aside a day
during the Christmas holidays for their new family.

“It could be called the ‘Long Lost Cousins
Christmas’,” her dad said.

Katie noticed how excited he was, like he
finally had a connection to the past. He was animated, smiling and
acting like his usual self, not the brooding and overprotective dad
she got used to over the past few months. She was happy to have her
old dad back.

Katie yawned. “Oh, sorry. I’m enjoying this
but am very tired. Mom, is it alright if I stay home from school
tomorrow?”

Katie’s mom and Beth looked at each other.
They knew both of the girls would have to do the same thing.
“Sure,” they both said at the same time.

Lindsey’s mom stood up. “I think it’s time to
be going. This has been so overwhelming for all of us, but has
opened a new chapter in our lives. Lindsey, you look tired, too.”
With that, she pulled Lindsey up from the chair. Everyone exchanged
hugs and good-byes.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Lindsey whispered
in Katie’s ear.

After they left, Katie’s dad put his arms
around her and her mom. “It’s been quite a day, girls. Let’s all
get some sleep.” They headed up the stairs together.

Katie shut her door behind her, and flopped
on her bed. She was tired but didn’t think she could sleep. She
looked at the clock. It was a little after ten. Since it was two
hours earlier in Arizona, she knew she had time to call Anna. She
should still be up and awake. Katie took her cell phone out of her
pocket and went to her contact list. There was Anna’s name, still
hard to believe. She pressed ‘send’ and waited.

“Kathryn?” It was good to hear Anna’s
voice.

“Yes, it’s me. I know it’s close to your
bedtime, but I wanted to let you know we arrived safely.”

“I know I’m old but don’t rub it in!” Anna
laughed. “I’m so glad you’re home safely. Now do well in school and
call me when you can. I can’t wait until Thanksgiving to hear what
happens for you. Also, tell my young self that I say, ‘Hi’.”

“You are too funny. Could you see me doing
that? She would freak out, plus I don’t know if she would believe
me. Speaking of that, do you think I should tell Drew the truth? I
really want to.”

“It’s up to you. Be careful how you explain
it. I think Drew can handle it. This might be the best thing that
could happen to him because...” Anna yawned. “I’m sorry, I’m
getting tired.”

“That’s alright, Anna. Get some rest. I love
you.” Katie ended the call.

That was odd. It seemed like everyone wanted
to tell her something important about Drew, and never finished. Or
maybe she was reading too much into it.

She grabbed the quilted bag Anna gave her,
took the three books out and laid them on her bed. She thought she
might have a chance to read a Jack Woods book on the plane, but
never had time. There were about six weeks until Thanksgiving so
she could read the books to help pass the time until then.

One of the books had a cover that was very
similar to the set that Maya had locked away in her house. All of a
sudden, something dawned on Katie. She could switch the book with
one of the books from the set and Maya would never know it was
gone.

Opening to the first pages, the copyright was
1925. “Well, I guess this is the first book I read.” Katie hugged
the book to her chest. “I hate to give you away, but it seems like
it was meant to be.”

Katie’s phone started to play the Carl music.
She quickly answered. “Hey, Carl!”

“Good, you made it home. How was your flight?
Tell me all about the trip. Did everything work out for you?”

Katie told Carl everything that happened. She
told him that his idea of letting Aunt Sue figure everything out
was genius. She told him Anna knew everything, too. Katie was still
surprised Anna was so accepting of it all.

“The older you get, the more accepting you
are,” Carl said philosophically. “Katie, you aren’t planning
anything that I don’t know about, are you?”

Katie decided to keep Carl in the dark. She
knew he would feel obligated to tell his mother what she was up to.
“No, Carl. You know I would tell you if I did. There’s something I
want to ask you. What’s going to happen to the set of books, you
know, when Maya...” Katie couldn’t bring herself to finish. She
never wanted to picture her life without Maya in it.

“...passes away?” Carl finished the sentence
for her. “I thought long and hard about that. My mom said she plans
to give the books to me. I will probably burn them.”

“Burn them! You are kidding.” Katie was
shocked. Her plan to take one of the books was definitely on. She
would keep that book and never give it back. Carl would never know
it was missing.

“Yep, that’s right. I will burn them. Let the
past stay the past.” Carl sighed. “I won’t keep you any longer, kid
sis. Take care and get some rest. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Katie put her phone on her nightstand. She
had some thinking to do. She needed to make a plan without
confiding in anyone. She was all alone in this. No one could stop
her from seeing Drew. Then she heard Anna’s words in her head
telling her that Katie could trust Lindsey just as Kathryn trusts
Anna. She would help, keep the secret, too. Katie would talk to her
in the morning, and they would devise something together. That’s
what best friends, and cousins, do. She slipped into bed and fell
asleep from exhaustion before she could think of anything else.

When she woke up the next morning, Katie was
relieved she didn’t have to go to school. She decided to stay in
bed and pretend she was still asleep. She grabbed her phone, and
got under the covers. The time on the phone was about eleven am and
she hoped Lindsey was awake.

“I’ve been waiting for your call,” Lindsey
whispered. “What’s up?”

Katie told Lindsey about her idea to steal a
book from the set and replace it with one of the old books Anna
gave her.

“That’s a great idea! Only how are we getting
into Mrs. Johnson’s house?”

Lindsey said ‘we’. She’s in on the heist.
“That part is easy. Our family has a key to her house. All you and
I have to do is wait until Maya’s out of the house. I will need a
lookout.”

“I can do that job.”

“Do you mind helping me? If you think you
might get in trouble, I understand.”

“I’m totally in. You’re not doing this
without me!”

Katie and Lindsey explored a few ideas
together. They knew they had time to put the plan in motion. Then
they talked about getting their homework done, the people at
school, the upcoming basketball game—all the things Katie now found
boring.

“I guess I’m going to start the dreaded
homework,” Katie said. “My mom has a class at one, so I’m
pretending to be asleep until then. I just want to be alone in the
house. Talk to you later. Love you, cuz.”

“Back at you. I have things to do, too. Maybe
even text Charlie.”

Katie looked around her room for her
schoolbooks. She didn’t see them. They must be downstairs so this
would be a good time to start reading one of the Jack Woods’
books.

She got out of bed, went over to get the bag
and grabbed the one on top. It appeared to be nonfiction. The title
said it all, The Nature of the Southwest. Not the greatest title,
but she jumped back into bed, and began reading it.

Surprisingly, Katie found the book
interesting. She thought it was a little different from the usual
nature books. Of course, it talked about the types of plants,
scenery and animals that one would see out west, but it went beyond
that.

It categorized nature into different
elements, like color, balance and texture. It described how to
bring those things into your home wherever you lived. Katie was
quite impressed. She thought she might buy a few small cacti and
try one of the ideas.

Then she thought about her own backyard.
Didn’t it have some of these same ideas incorporated into it? The
deck was surrounded by color. The back of the yard contained a rock
garden with a variety of hostas and tall grasses interspersed,
giving a feeling of texture. Even the small side garden where Ty
and Katie had their first beer was in balance.

Yes, her dad and Jack Woods were quite alike.
She continued looking through the book. There were a number of
beautiful pictures. Too bad they were in black and white. Jack
Woods put together a beautiful book. Katie closed it and hugged it
to her chest. Dad, this was great.

Chapter Thirty-Two

The weeks until
Thanksgiving plodded slowly by. Katie thought the day would never
come. She tried to keep occupied but it was hard. She hung out with
her friends at school but then came directly home. She talked to
Anna daily, calling it her ‘Anna’ fix, then did her homework to
pass the time.

Every day she got out her stationery box and
wrote Drew a letter. She put the month and day at the top of each
letter, but was careful not to put the year. She told him about her
day or something that happened to her. Sometimes she wrote about
the weather, like the day the sun was shining on the autumn leaves,
reminding her of the canyon. Katie also liked to remind him of days
that were special to her when they were together, like the night of
Lucinda’s wedding. Whatever she wrote, she always ended each letter
the same way, “I love you—across the miles, across time.” She knew
Drew would not know what ‘across time’ really meant. He’d probably
think it had something to do with time zones.

When she was done with each letter, she put
it back in the box. The letters were tied together with ribbon so
she would always carefully untie and then retied the packet. Katie
put the lid back on the box and ran her hand across the top. The
box was beautiful. It was pale blue with an embossed butterfly in
one corner. All the stationery matched the design on the box. She
stared at the box for a long time. Finally she snapped herself back
to reality, and decided it was time to do something else.

Katie thumbed through the second Jack Woods
book. It was a travel book describing where to stay and what to do
at the Grand Canyon. There were suggestions on camping and hiking.
Again, the book was more interesting than she first thought it.
Jack had researched the Indian tribes of the area and there were
stories about them.

Many pictures were included in the book,
mostly of scenery. Whenever Jack was pictured, he always wore a hat
of some type making it hard to see his face. It was almost like he
made sure of it. There were other people in the pictures, too.
Katie got a magnifying glass out to see if she recognized any of
them. She swore Thomas was in one of them. She wished her father
would tell her the truth. She’d love to know her parents’ story. It
was probably just as good as Maya’s.

Katie had not seen much of Maya lately. She
put the book down, and decided to pay her a visit before it got
dark. Katie walked across the Katie Path and found Maya in her
garden.

“Maya!” she called out to her.

Mrs. Johnson looked up with a smile. “So it’s
Maya now, is it? I guess you are old enough to call me that
now.”

“Oh sorry, MiMi. It just sounds so childish
to call you that...you know, MiMi,” She didn’t feel like a little
girl anymore either. She hoped Maya understood. “Is it alright if I
call you Maya?”

“Of course it is. It always was. Your mother
was the one who insisted on protocol. I have to admit I will miss
being MiMi, though.”

“I’m sorry I haven’t seen you as much as I’d
like. I’ve been busy.”

“That’s what happens once you start high
school. You just do well and I’ll be proud of you.”

“I’ve been calling and texting Carl. He said
you might come out there for Thanksgiving.” Katie hoped it was
true.

“I have decided to go and stay for about ten
days. I leave Friday. I don’t want to be part of the Thanksgiving
crowds.”

Friday? Katie couldn’t believe her good
fortune. This would make it much easier to get into Maya’s house.
“That sounds nice. Will you have Thanksgiving with Carl and then
Carl Jr.?”

Maya nodded. “Now don’t go passing that on to
anyone.”

“I won’t.”

Katie was glad Maya came to accept she knew
the truth about the time travel. Maya didn’t try covering anything
up or made excuses. “I hope the weather stays mild like this. It’s
been a beautiful fall. I won’t mind you leaving for California if
it stays like this.”