Page 116 of The Promise
She smiled and shrugged. "It seemed like such a waste. And they were right there."
Michael sighed and removed a bar from the waistband of his pants. "I guess we all had the same idea."
Everybody started laughing at once and what started as a tickle soon dissolved into hysterics, everybody huggingeverybody else, until Loralee figured they were bound to have used up all the laughter they had between them.
Loralee was the first to sober, and she walked to the edge of the platform, looking up at the remains of the mine.
"You thinking of Zach?" Cara asked, coming to stand beside her.
"Yes. I know his bones are trapped up there, under all those rocks, but, somehow, I think his spirit is free." She sighed, her eyes still on the mine. He'd kept his promise. Her hand automatically reached for the locket, surprised when she found nothing there.
"I think maybe you're looking for this," Cara said, handing her the locket.
Loralee's hand closed around the familiar silver, and a feeling of absolute serenity settled around her. Yes, indeedy, Zach Bowen was doing just fine. And now that she thought on it, so was she.
She held the locket out to Cara. "You keep it. I suspect you need it now more than me. It's the key to your going back."
Michael's face tightened at her words, but he didn't say anything.
Cara waved it away. "No, it's yours, Loralee. Zach gave it to you. And you in turn need to pass it along to Mary. A little piece of her father." She reached up and laid a hand against Michael's cheek. "Besides, I have everything I could ever want right here."
Loralee fastened the chain around her neck, turning once more to look at the mine perched high against the rocky cliff.
"God's speed, Zachariah. God's speed."
"Did you mean what you said?"Michael's voice was cracking with emotion.
"You mean about having everything I want?" Cara whispered, her heart reflected in her eyes. "Of course I did. Do you want me to say it again?"
He nodded, drinking her in, his heart hammering.
"Everything I want is standing right in front of me, Michael Macpherson. I love you. I think maybe I always have."
"And you don't want to go back to your own time?"
"No, I want to be here, with you. Now and for always." She kissed him lightly on the nose. "That is if you still want me."
"Want you?" Michael exploded. "I want you every single moment of the day, with every breath I take." He tightened his hold on her shoulders and drew a shaky breath. "I love you, Cara Reynolds, and I'll do everything in my power to give you the best that life in any century has to offer."
"Well," she smiled up into his eyes, "there is one thing."
"Name it."
"I'd really like a shower."
He laughed as he pulled her to him, his mouth tracing circles along the line of her jaw. "Now that, my love, is an absolutely marvelous idea."
They stood on the platform of the turning station looking up at the ruins of the Promise. A hazy cloud of dust still hung over what had been the entrance. Timbers hung at crazy angles, leaning drunkenly against each other. One shifted and fell end over end crashing against the hard rock of the cliff, a last tumbling testament to man's insignificant attempt to conquer the mountain.
Theirinsignificant attempt.
The Macphersons.
Michael stared at the remains, his mother's tomb, and wondered if it had all been worth it. Cara stirred in the circle ofhis arms, her golden head lifted up to the cliff. The sun came out from behind a cloud, its rays catching the particles of dust, they glittered and twinkled in the light and then with a last flash were gone, leaving only the magnificence of the sun-washed mountain.
He tightened his arms around Cara, the day suddenly seeming bright with promise.
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