Was she that strong?
She had to be. For the integrity of time.
Bullshit. Integrity of time . . . blah, blah. It was really for him. She touched the crown of hair he’d braided. He should be where he could belong, where this was only a frightening dream.
So. About the time machine . . .
And then it all came clear. It was if the scales fell from her eyes. She’d been living Jake’s delusion—a paranoid vision that everyone was out to get everyone. Of course, Brad was trying to find her. She’d just disappeared, for heaven’s sake. And of course he’d call in all the help he could get—FBI, police, whoever. Amy, her shop assistant, was sensitive. Of course she’d cried when they questioned her. Lucy would just explain what had happened and give them the diamond. The book, too, if they wanted it. Brad would understand why Galen had to go back. They’d send him back to a time after she came, healed, so he could continue his life. They’d just have to take a chance that no one would think he’d been resurrected.
What if he was meant to die in that battle?
But you couldn’t start thinking about that stuff. Nothing changed the fact that she had to get Galen back where he belonged.
She took in a gulp of air and let it out slowly.
“I’ve been thinking, Galen.”
“Not good, Lucy,” he said, and put his arm around her. “Sometimes thinking is yful.”
“Well, I’ve been thinking anyway. Jake is a little paranoid.” Like Galen would know that word. “He sees evil everywhere.”
“Mayhaps he is wise.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. He has lost his way, wanting to believe in things that are not true.” Like Galen had a moment ago, but she wouldn’t mention that. “Galen, you have to go back. You know that, and I know that. You don’t belong in this time.”
His brows drew together and he looked out over the marsh.
“We should just take the diamond and the book to Brad. He will fix the machine and you can go to your own time.”
He looked at his hands. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Was he sorry to lose her, just a little? “You say his friends will imprison me.”
“That was my fear speaking. Casey and Brad are not stupid. They will know you must go back.”
“I will think on this, Lucy. Until tomorrow. Let us gewend . . . I mean, return to the boat.”
He rose, and there was a new tension in his body. She was sorry for that. But it couldn’t be helped. There was a new sorrow in her, too, as though she already missed all the closeness she might have felt in the years ahead with him. She touched the little brass plaque on the bench.
“Good-bye, Miriam and Ernest.”
Galen whistled for the dog, who raised his head from where he was snuffling after some animal spoor and bounded through mud and water. Lucy started off along the path ahead of Galen.
She wanted to send him back.
He had wanted that from the start of this adventure. Then why did it feel so wrong?
Because being with Lucy felt so right. She would not return with him. He could feel it in the regret that raced across her eyes like clouds across the sky. Why would she want to leave her world, where carts ran without horses and voices told the weather?
And she did not believe what he thought might have happened to him last night. She believed her voices about the coming weather, but not him. Him she thought only mad. Had she not seen the healing? He had healed more in one night than in the days before altogether. She might believe something happened to him if he was struck by lightning.
That’s what it felt like—that he had been struck by some force of the gods and now their whispers echoed in his mind. He hardly dared hope that his new connection with wind and earth and water meant that his mother had been right—that he had a destiny that was important to the world. He knew not what to do with the gift from the full moon on the vernal equinox. But he knew that destiny had to involve Lucy, or it would be but barren comfort that he was fulfilling his mother’s prophecy at last. And he was fairly certain that it was Lucy who had brought on this new connection he felt with the world and all that was in it. Lucy, and the moon.
They swung along the path toward the marina, the dog racing in huge circles around them. That dog needed some sheep to herd. When they came to the flat, paved part where the cars were left, she stopped and sighed.
“If we are going to be on that boat another night, there’s something we need.” She turned right, up toward the little store. “You go on back to the boat with Vandal.”
She did not want him with her. Doubt had opened a chasm between them. He watched her walk away. The dog followed her. “Vandal,” he called, and pointed to his side. The dog barked excitedly and circled round to Galen. “She does not want us now.”
Still he froze where he was, torn. He wanted to go to her, command her to come to the boat with him. He would make love to her again and show her how right it was that they should be together. Even as he thought about her, that feeling of being full and drained together pooled in his loins. He didn’t just long for her body. He longed for the feeling of completeness he had when he held her.
Why did she have to bring up going back to his time? Women. Always they wanted to decide, to talk things over when talking could do no good, only harm. Could she not live with him on this boat, without deciding? He would let this new thing inside him grow and tell him what he was to do with this connection he felt to the world around him. He and Lucy together.
He watched her grow tiny as she walked into the paved area in front of the little store.
He started walking toward her. The problem with Lucy was that one couldn’t command her. The image of her riding his weapon in wild abandon as she controlled their swiving did really interesting things to his body. So, equal partners could be . . . good. Very well. He would meet her as she came out of the store and walk back with her. He would not obey her commands, but neither would he command her. She could not resist him, and he would show her that they were meant to be together and that she could not resist the forces that drove them to be together. Then she would not talk of him going back. They would just be.
When he was about halfway to the store, a car pulled into the paved area, sleek and black. A man got out and walked into the store. Galen wasn’t sure why, but he broke into a run.
Chapter 19
The radio was blaring inside the Quik Stop, as always. The clerk waved as she came in. This was going to be embarrassing, but if Lucy was to spend even one more night with Galen, she was in need of some condoms. The fact that their time was running out made her feel positively ill inside.
“That storm on the north coast is going to miss the city. But you folks up in Mendocino will get yet another bout of rain and wind tonight . . . ,” the radio announced.
“Hey, how are you?” the clerk called.
“Uh, fine . . .” What was his name? “Wally.”
She went aisle by aisle finding nothing until she realized they probably kept condoms up by the register to prevent shoplifting. No doubt under lock and key. Great. She wasn’t even going to skate by without having to ask for them. Well, she was a big girl. She’d survive asking for condoms. If only she could suppress the blush that was all too inevitable.