Come Down In Time (A Time Travel Romance) (18 page)

“
Drink,” he said. Jamie
drank. The warm liquid tasted like some kind of herbal tea. It was
bitter but Jamie drank it down. She had no idea what it was, but she
drank it anyway. Blackbird drank from his own cup. When Jamie was
finished, she set the cup down beside her. Blackbird put his cup on
the floor beside him. He looked into her eyes again and Jamie began
to feel slightly dreamy. She couldn’t really describe the feeling
very well, but she was relaxed and open. She didn’t question
anything that was happening.

Blackbird sat before her and
closed his eyes. Jamie’s eyes were half shut as she moved through
the dream state.

“
Your ancestors led you to a
sacred place,” Blackbird said after a few minutes. “The Moon
Cave. They have let you change time.”

Jamie’s eyes were shut then.
“Yes,” she said. Blackbird threw something on the fire and it
crackled and emitted an herbal-infused smoke.

“
You go around and around.
Like a jar of water that you shake,” Blackbird said. “The water
is still there, but it’s in a different place after you shake it.”

Jamie heard Blackbird, but she
was drifting in a place she had never been. A place of understanding.

“
It is ruled by the full moon,”
Blackbird said. “But it is unstable. You entered the dream world
twice during your times there. Twice on a full moon, but you were not
in the cave. Twice, you dreamed of the now time and twice you came
back.”

Jamie opened her eyes and
Blackbird was looking at her. “You must decide where you want to
be. Then or now.”

“
How do I do that?” Jamie
asked.

“
Go to the Moon Cave and bring
me items from there. But it must be from the time you want to stay.
If you go at the full moon, you will go back again. Gather the items
from then, if that is your choice, and bring them to me. If you
decide to stay in the now time, bring me the items from now.”

“
What items?” Jamie asked.
“What should I get?”

“
Bring me a branch from the
willow tree. The tree has memories. Bring me a jar of water from the
lake. Bring me a jar of dirt from the Moon Cave. And bring me the
writings on the cave wall.”

“
Writings?” Jamie asked.

“
There are Native writings on
the ceiling. Write them down and bring them if you come back to me.”

Blackbird stopped talking and
Jamie realized he was done. She got up from the floor and walked to
the cabin door. “I’ll be seeing you soon,” she said. “Thank
you.”

“
Tommy’s waiting,”
Blackbird said.

Jamie stopped at the door and
looked at Blackbird. “I know,” she said.

Chancy was sitting on the steps
when Jamie walked out the door. Silently, she followed him to her car
and got in the passenger side. Chancy drove out of the woods and down
the cloudy mountains. Eventually, they got back to Chancy’s house.
They had not spoken much on the drive.

“
I want to pay you for helping
me today,” Jamie said.

“
No,” Chancy said. “I can’t
accept payment.” Jamie realized that if she insisted on paying
Chancy, it would be insulting to him.

“
Thank you, Chancy,” she
said. “I may need to go back very soon. Will you take me again?”

“
Yes,” he said. “Definitely.”

Jamie got in her car and waved at
Chancy. She backed out of the little driveway and drove through the
network of roads that led her out of the backwoods. When she got
home, she went straight to the fridge and made a sandwich. She hadn’t
eaten all day and she was starving. She poured herself a glass of
wine and went to her computer.

“
Full moons in 2013,” she
typed. A website came up immediately and she saw when the next full
moon would be. July 22. Bobby was getting married on August 17. At
least he had been getting married that date. She needed to check with
her mother if that was still the date or if Bobby was even getting
married in this timeline that was so close, but different from the
last 2013. Next, she keyed in “full moons in 2001.” July 5 and
August 4 were the next two, or, she thought,
had
been the next
two in 2001.

After she completed her full moon
research, Jamie called her mother.

“
I was wondering about Bobby,”
she said. “How is he?”

“
He loves his job,” her
mother said. “Just loves it. Dad and I are very happy and
relieved.”

“
Relieved?”

“
We were worried about him for
a while when he was playing all those video games. We didn’t think
he’d amount to anything, but we were wrong.”

Jamie chose her words very
carefully then. “How’s his personal life?” she asked.

“
He said he’s started seeing
someone named Michelle. We don’t know much about her yet. I guess
time will tell.”

So, Bobby was not engaged in this
timeline! Blackbird had been right when he said it was like a shaken
jar of water. The only constant seemed to be that when she went back
to Tommy, it picked up where she had left him the last time she had
been with him. Every time she returned to 2013, it was a different
world. Jamie didn’t think she’d ever understand the shifting
sands of time or how she had been able to navigate them. She was
still navigating them, but now she had a compass.

“
I was thinking of coming home
for a visit next weekend,” she said.

“
Are you worried about your
dad?” her mother asked. “Because he’s doing fine. Of course,
we’d love to see you,” she added hastily.

“
I just want to see y’all,”
Jamie said. “Is that all right?”

“
Of course, honey. That’s
just fine. See you then.”

Jamie had no choice but to
continue working at the clinic for the next week. It was her life in
this time. She worked, she went home, she ate, and she went to bed.
There was nothing else to do.

On Wednesday, she mentioned to
Nate that she was going home that weekend.

“
Oh,” he said. “I was
hoping we could go back to Buddy’s place. But we can do that
another time.”

“
That would be fun,” Jamie
said. She liked Nate. If she ended up stuck in this time, she might
be able to find a way to love him again. But not as long as Tommy was
waiting for her in some other time. And he would always be waiting.
She knew that now.

On Thursday, Jamie went to the
clinic as usual. Something was nagging at her mind but she couldn’t
focus on it. Couldn’t nail it down. She was getting some sample
medications from the supply room, not really thinking about anything,
when it hit her. If she went back to Tommy in 2001, Chancy would not
be able to take her to Blackbird. Chancy would be twelve years old
and he wouldn’t know her. He would still be living with his mother
in that cabin in the woods. Panic filled Jamie’s heart when she
realized that. How could she possibly get back to Blackbird without
Chancy to show her the way? She had not taken notes when they drove
to Blackbird. She didn’t know she needed to.

Jamie walked into the front
office. Tiffany sat at her desk looking at her computer.

“
Tiffany, do we have a number
for Darma’s mother? Lela?”

“
Let me look,” Tiffany said.
She punched some keys in and pulled up a database. She scrolled down
to the Ts for Thomas.

“
Yep, here’s a number. Want
me to write it down for you?”

“
Yes, please,” Jamie said.
Tiffany wrote the number on a sticky note and handed it to Jamie.

“
Thanks,” Jamie said. “I
wanted to check on Darma.”

When the long day was over, Jamie
went home and called the number. Lela answered.

“
Lela,” Jamie said. “Could
I talk to Chancy?”

“
He’s not home yet,” Lela
said. “He’s still at the mill. He should be home soon, though.
Want me to have him call you?”

“
Yes.” Jamie gave Lela her
number, though it was unnecessary with cell phones these days,
assuming Lela had a cell phone.

“
How’s Darma doing?” Jamie
asked. She hated that it seemed like an afterthought. She really did
care about the little girl.

“
She’s been doing great,”
Lela said. “No more problems.”

“
Please feel free to call me on
my cell phone at any time of day or night if you need to,” Jamie
said. She owed Darma and her family that much, and so much more.

“
That’s very kind of you, Dr.
Walters,” Lela said. “Very kind.”

Jamie wished that she cared about
what she ate or how her house looked, as she had before she time
traveled. But now she really didn’t care. She had one goal: get
back to Tommy. Everything else was incidental and unimportant.

But she did have to eat so she
heated up a can of vegetable soup. She was sitting in the living room
watching TV when her phone rang. It was Chancy.

“
Chancy,” she said. “Do you
think you can draw me a map of how to get to Blackbird’s cabin? I
know you said you would take me next time, but I realize that I need
to know. Just in case.”

“
I know you need to know,”
Chancy said. “I’ve been thinking about that, too.” Why was
Chancy thinking about it? Had he overheard her talking to Blackbird?
Had Darma said something to him? She didn’t know how Chancy knew,
but he knew.

“
I’ll draw you the best map I
can,” he said. “I’ll show you where my mother’s cabin is on
the map, too. Just in case.”

“
Thank you,” Jamie said. She
couldn’t possibly express her gratitude to Chancy. There were no
words for it.

“
I’ll need to go over it with
you to make sure you understand where you’re going,” he said.
“Could you come over tomorrow evening when I get home? I’ll have
it drawn by then and can help you.”

“
Yes,” she said gratefully.
“I’ll be by right after I get off tomorrow. And, Chancy, thank
you. You are saving my life.”

“
I’m just giving you the part
of the puzzle you need,” he said. “Darma told me today to help
you. The ancestors speak through her. I can’t deny them.”

When she walked out of work the
next day, Friday, she waved goodbye to Nate. He waved back. He looked
kind of sad and Jamie felt sorry for him. He had lost his father and
he seemed sort of lost right now. Jamie would help him, if she could.
If she didn’t love Tommy.

She drove for the third time to
Lela and Chancy’s cabin and found it easily. She knocked on the
door and Lela let her in. Darma was watching something on TV, but she
looked up when Jamie walked in. “He’s going to help you,” she
said.

“
Thanks,” Jamie said. “How
are you feeling? Are you breathing all right?”

“
I’m good,” Darma said
before turning back to the TV.

Chancy got two beers out of the
fridge and opened them. “Let’s go outside,” he said. He had a
piece of paper in his hand.

Jamie looked at Lela, who was
stirring a pot on the stove. “Don’t forget you can call me
anytime if Darma has a problem,” she said. Lela looked at her and
smiled.

“
That makes me feel so much
better, like there’s someone there if it’s at night or on the
weekend.”

Jamie walked out onto the porch
where Chancy was smoking a cigarette. She sat in the only other chair
and waited. Chancy threw his cigarette off the side of the porch.

“
I’ve drawn the map,” he
said. “It’s complicated, but I think you can follow it.”

Jamie got up and went to Chancy’s
side. He showed her every road and side road and named them. He had
put down the mileage between each turn.

“
Here’s where it’s going to
get hard,” he said. “When you get to the spot where you go in the
woods up to Blackbird’s cabin.” Jamie remembered that it didn’t
seem like a path at all. It had seemed so random, but Chancy had
found his way.

“
If you follow the oak trees,
you will be on a path,” he said. “They are only on that path and
not in the deep woods. If you watch for them, you will find your
way.”

Chancy handed her the map. “If
I can take you back, I want to do that,” he said. “But if I
can’t, this map and the things I’ve told you are your guide.”

Chancy stood up from his chair
and Jamie hugged him. “Thank you,” she said. “You are changing
my life.”

Chapter
Thirteen

Jamie left Grahamville at nine on
Sunday morning and arrived at her parents’ house around eleven. She
took her suitcase out of the back seat and walked up to the house.
She hoped it would be the last time she walked up with a suitcase
like that. She prayed that she would be getting back to Tommy this
time.

Her father was in the living room
watching a black and white movie. Must be the classic movie channel,
she thought. “Hey, hon,” her father said when he saw her. He had
a bowl of popcorn in his lap. Jamie hugged her father and walked into
the kitchen where her mother seemed to spend most of her time. And
there she was, stirring a big pot on the stove.

“
I’m going to put my suitcase
upstairs,” Jamie told her mother. Her mother looked at her
absently. “Okay, hon,” she said looking back to her pot. Jamie
dropped her suitcase in her old room, so changed now through several
timelines. She sat on the bed. Monday, the next day, was July 22
^nd
,
the full moon. She would be at the overhang, which she now understood
was a sacred place. A place where the full moon ruled. A place where
time was fluid. She wondered how she and Tommy had escaped the
effects of the full moon on all of the times they went out
there—before he had died. That first timeline of her life. Their
lives.