Page 65 of Stolen Time

At least, that’s what I’d believed, deep down in a place I hadn’t really wanted to acknowledge. Of course it hurt to think I would never see my family or friends again, to have them forever wonder what had happened to me, but I’d thought maybe Icould work my way past all that if I had Seth at my side. After all, my father had done much the same thing, realizing that my mother had brought him to the twenty-first century out of love and desperation, knowing that was the only way she could keep him alive after he’d been gut shot by Samuel Wilcox, Jeremiah Wilcox’s villainous younger brother. My father had made his peace with saying goodbye to that part of himself, and I’d thought I could eventually get to that place as well.

Would I have told Seth the truth?

At some point, of course. On my own terms, when I thought we were in the right place for that kind of discussion. The last thing I’d ever believed was that such a moment would be thrust on me by what appeared to be a wildly combustible chemistry.

If I ever got back to my own time, I’d need to ask someone about that. Not my father — posing such a question to him would have been way too embarrassing, even if he was the only other person I knew who possessed the same odd gift of concealing their witch heritage— but maybe Angela, whose connection to Connor Wilcox had its own quirks and unexpected side effects.

Eventually, my tears stopped flowing. Ruth had thoughtfully provided a whole box of new handkerchiefs for me, maybe fearing I had allergies that would flare up when surrounded by all these junipers and cottonwood trees. So far, I hadn’t needed them, but I pulled one out now and wiped my eyes and blew my nose. The fine cotton was surprisingly soft, almost as good as a tissue from my own time would have been.

Now that I’d cried it out, I found myself calmer than I would have expected. Sure, things were still a mess between Seth and me, but I had to believe we could work through this somehow. After all, he hadn’t said he would expose me, hadn’t threatened to tell Ruth and Timothy, which might have endangered my somewhat shaky position as their houseguest. As far as I could tell, Seth intended to keep my secret.

And that made me feel worse than ever. He shouldn’t have to lie for me and be part of this cover-up I’d concocted for myself.

It was a horribly tangled web, one that I needed to unravel piece by piece…no matter what.

You have to stop,I realized then.You have to go to him and tell him the rest.

While that inner voice sounded confident enough, the cowardly part of me quailed all over again. What would Seth do once he learned I wasn’t just a witch from the future, but a member of the hated Wilcox clan?

I really didn’t want to think about his reaction.

On the other hand, I couldn’t keep lying like this. He had to know that in the world I came from, the Wilcoxes and the McAllisters were allies, were far more connected than he could even begin to imagine. He was smart enough to understand that some of what I revealed would need to be kept between the two of us, but if I ever wanted a future with him, then I’d have to tell him everything I’d been hiding.

Tomorrow, I would go and talk to Seth McAllister. It would probably be the hardest thing I’d ever done, but he needed to know everything. What happened after full disclosure…well, I supposed I’d figure that out when the time came.

Drained but also strangely light of heart, I set aside the handkerchief I’d been holding and started to get ready for bed.

Of course, getting a chance to talk to Seth was easier said than done. True, I supposed it would have been even more difficult if he’d still been working at the mine, but finding the opportunity to speak with him alone while he was manning the counter at his family’s mercantile presented its own set of challenges.

I reasoned that he would have to take a lunch break at some point, and probably the best thing to do would be to see if he headed for home or whether he only went around the corner to the English Kitchen to get something quick and easy. This wasn’t the sort of conversation I wanted to have in a public place, but still, better there than at the store. Besides, I could always try to convince him that we needed to talk at his house. Considering the topic, he’d probably want to make sure no one overheard us anyway.

This all sounded like a reasonable enough plan. I told Ruth I was going for a walk down Main Street, and while she seemed a little surprised that I’d want to be away during lunch, she didn’t try to stop me.

“I’ll just put a sandwich aside for you, dear, and you can have that when you get back.”

I thanked her and headed out. Just like almost every other day since I’d come to 1926 Jerome, the skies were brilliantly blue overhead, the sun warm, verging on hot. However, the little hat I wore helped to shade my eyes more than I’d thought it would, and the dress of fine, pale green cotton I wore was surprisingly crisp and cool.

After I started walking down the street, a few people smiled or even waved when I went by. Although I certainly hadn’t been partying hearty while I was here, I’d met enough of the town’s residents — McAllisters or otherwise — that we had at least a nodding acquaintance. Their acknowledgments helped to ground me a bit, making me feel as though I might have a chance at making a real life here.

If, of course, Seth ever forgave me for all my lies.

But just as I was approaching the store, a dark green truck drove past, clearly headed down the hill toward Cottonwood.

Seth was behind the wheel.

Goddamn it.

I almost pivoted on my heel and started walking back to where I’d come from, but some instinct stopped me. For one thing, Ruth might think it a little strange that I’d come right back to the house after telling her I’d be out for at least an hour or so, and besides, even if Seth wasn’t here, that didn’t mean I couldn’t go inside and get the lay of the land, so to speak. If his mother acted cold toward me, then I’d know he must have told her at least something of what had passed between us the night before.

If not…well, maybe I’d be able to get some information out of her.

And I had two whole quarters burning a hole in my purse, thanks to Ruth telling me I should have a little cash on hand in case I saw something I wanted to buy and handing the coins over as I was about to walk out the door.

I pushed the mercantile’s door inward and went inside the shop. It was much dimmer in there than outside, and I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the sudden shift in lighting.

“Oh, Miss Rowe,” Molly McAllister said. She stood off to my left behind the counter, and, judging by the bolts of fabric that sat nearby, must have just finished measuring material for one of her customers. “I’m afraid you just missed Seth. He had to drive down to Cottonwood to pick up a few things.”

Something I already knew, of course, but I did my best to feign dismay. “I sometimes think I have the worst timing in the world,” I replied. As far as I could tell, nothing in her expression or her attitude seemed to signal that she knew anything more about me than she already had, which meant Seth must have kept our conversation to himself. “But since I’m here, I’ll go ahead and look for a few things I’ve been needing.”

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