Page 72 of Echoes

“What if she’s older than you anddoeswant kids?”

“That would be amazing,” Rachel replied.

“How many do you want?”

“Well, I was thinking I’d start with one and see how that goes.”

Violet picked up a pastry to occupy her mouth with, trying so hard not to ask Rachel how she’d feel about twins.

“And I want to have at least one myself. This is in a few years,at least – maybe four or five or something – but I’d like to be pregnant.”

“God, not me,” she blurted out.

“No kids for you?”

Violet met Rachel’s eyes and felt the need to correct immediately.

“No, I want kids. I just don’t want to be pregnant. I was kind of hoping my future wife would want to have them.”

“Them? How many?”

“Honestly, I’ve pictured myself having two kids from the time I was in high school. I don’t know why, but I felt like two would be kind of perfect.”

Rachel smiled and said, “Two would be nice.”

“What about starting withonefor you?” she tossed back.

“God, what if I had twins?” Rachel said.

Violet promptly choked on the bite of pastry she’d just taken.

One Year Later

Pulling the device out of the cabinet, Violet stared at it for at least the tenth time in the past month. She had no idea if this thing charged somehow and needed to be plugged in after being inside her garage for a year. For all she knew, it had been fully charged before being deposited in the ground, and she’d used up all it had when she’d moved through time or, at least, had a vision of herself moving through time. She’d thought about pressing that button again more times than she could count.

The first time had been that day a year ago when Rachel had come over to first meet Apollo. Once Rachel had left, Violet thought maybe she’d press the button and see if anything about that future vision had changed. Maybe initially, Rachel had been more open to the idea of starting a new relationship. Maybe Violet had presented it as an option before Rachel had gone on for several minutes while they’d eaten breakfast, talking about how important this new job was to her. Violet had resisted. Violet had waited. She’d decided that pressuring Rachel for something she hadn’t been ready for at that point wouldn’t likely lead to what Violet had seen in the vision.

Then, about a month ago, Violet had overheard Rachel talking on the phone and had asked her about the call later.

“It’s a woman I’m going out with this weekend,” Rachel had shared.

“Oh. You have a date?” Violet had asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee in the office breakroom.

“My mom is trying to set me up. She’s someone’s daughter. Well,of course, she’s someone’s daughter. I meant that my mom knows her mom, and she just came out a few months ago, I guess. My mom thought we could go out. I put her off for a while, but she’s being extra annoying about it, so I thought I’d just say yes and get it over with.”

That date had led to three more dates, and since Violet and Rachel were more friends than colleagues, Violet had been given a few details she might not otherwise have gotten.

“She’s really smart. She’s thirty-two and recently divorced. The divorce is because she was married to a man and decided to stop lyingto herself, as she said, and not hurt him anymore. We’re going out again this weekend.”

“Great,” Violet had said through gritted teeth.

By her count, Rachel and this woman had been on four dates, which had to mean that tonight, being their fifth date, they’d probably be having sex. Hell, they’d probably already had sex. Maybe Rachel was a sex-on-the-third-date kind of woman. Violet didn’t get that vibe from her, and Rachel had only told her about a couple of pretty mild kisses, but five dates in, this woman had to be asking or wanting to take the next step. Maybe the woman was a prude or wanted to take things slowly because she’d never been with another woman. Violet hoped for that because the thought of Rachel being with anyone else made her vomit. Literally. She’d gotten a text message from Rachel after the third date, when they’d kissed for the first time, and Violet had run to her bathroom and thrown up. Then, she’d cried.

Rachel had said she didn’t want a relationship that day. She’d repeated it several times throughout the year, too, that she was focused on her career and that once she made SVP in a couple of years, which was her goal, she’d be open to the idea of something serious. Violet had waited to respect her wishes, and now, there was a chance that Rachel would end up with this woman that Violet still refused to call by her name.

So, for at least ten times in the past month, she’d stared at the device in her garage, wanting to see the future again, and she’d stopped herself every time because it probably wasn’t fair to Rachel, but more because it scared her. If her future wasn’t the same anymore and Rachel didn’t end up as her wife – if they didn’t end up together with those two children and however many grandchildren – she didn’t know what she’d do because she loved Rachel now.

She’d spent many nights with Rachel in her living room, watching movies and sipping merlot. A few times, she’d even put her legs in the woman’s lap, testing the waters, and Rachel hadn’t ever pushed her away. Rachel also came over nearly every weekend to swim in Violet’s pool, and Apollo would run around it as she made her laps, checking on her and jumping in after her a few times because he thought she’d been underwater for too long and he needed to rescue her. They had drinks once a week at the bar across the street, and they talked about practically everything.

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