Nothing But Time (44 page)

Three Weeks Later

Kate liked to think that things were getting better.  She liked the thought so much that she knew she was only deluding herself. 
They had started out on a high that had been drifting lower with every day that followed.

In the
se
last weeks,
while Kate worked,
Brand
focused his energies on his writing.  Though Kate tried to show Brand how to use the word processor on her home computer, Brand had stated a preference for ink and paper.  She had provided him a stack of spiral bound notebooks
,
a box of new pens
(which he loved)
and even a book on parallel universes
in hoping that the diversion would keep him out of her kitchen.

She commented that it might be interesting if he wrote a novel about a man who came to the future and how it changed his life.  Brand had taken her joking to heart, spending
his days filling the notebooks though he wouldn’t let her read anything he’d written. 
She was curious how he might spin it.

When she came home from work, they
spent
their evenings
reading together, playing games or watching the television.  When the weekend came around, Kate took Brand shopping for clothes, loving the look of him in jeans, modern day Henleys and a leather jacket. 
She thought he looked like a model or action movie star with his stubbled cheeks and masculine beauty
though he still retained his aristocratic bearing
.  She was proud to walk by his side.

Of course, w
hen she turned down invitations from friends at work to go out to dinner or movies, they began to suspect she was dating someone.  When they discovered it wasn’t David Fergusson, they bombarded her with
questions and broad hints about meeting Brand.  Part of Kate wanted to give in, to expose Brand to more people, to help him make friends but even she had to acknowledge that science geeks and engineers weren’t the company Brand needed.  He needed someone he could relate to, someone with the same interests he had.  Having not been in England long herself, Kate couldn’t figure out how to provide that for him.

So she invited David over for dinner one night just to give Brand someone else to talk to.

It wasn’t the best decision she had ever made. 
But it wasn’t the worst either.

Brand
started off the evening
by asking David how the time machine
worked
.  A big mistake in Kate’s mind though Brand had p
robably been curious.  That
resulted in a long lecture on the definition of zero-point energy and how it could be drawn from the universe on a
sub-quantum level.  Finally
,
they were able to change the subject to sculling and Kate and Brand’s interest in joining a local club
.  With that,
the conversation flowed more freely
. 

Kate gathered information on the local rowing clubs so that Brand, and perhaps she,
too,
could join as soon as Brand was physically able to row without herniating his incisions.  In the meantime, they settled for taking
short
walks in the evenings for exercise.

With little else to do in the winter months, the
short walks became
longer
stroll
s
around the Oxford campus as Brand was able
.  They
went to the library and the bookstore. 
Other than that, Kate did
n’t know what
else
to do to broaden Brand’s 2012 horizons.  Naturally, Brand thanked her kindly for her efforts but explained that he had rarely found comfort in the company of others
merely for the sake of doing so.  Even so,
Kate couldn’t help but remember Brand’s camaraderie with Nicholas Weller.  Even if she hadn’t liked the man, Brand did have a history of friendships even if he denied them.

By the second week, they
fell
into a routine that Kate thought comfortable for them both.
During her off hours, they shopped for new clothing and went to the market – a place Brand seemed to enjoy.  With his expanding interests in food, she taught him some basic cooking skills and introduced him to the Food Network.  For dinner, they explored some of the more exotic international cuisine found around town.

She thought perhaps Brand was appreciating being introduced into her time in small steps, that he was
becoming familiar if not comfortable with the differences between their times
. 

That is, until she arrived home from work one day just in time to see him throwing the remote control angrily across the room with a shout of frustration. 

After that
,
Kate watched him more closely, noting the furrow growing between his brows and the shortness of his temper.  She knew he was frustrated by his progress and thought to help by taking him into London the next weekend so that they could explore the city and the new amusements it had to offer.  But Brand looked beyond the Eye, London’s huge Ferris Wheel, to Big Ben.  Looked past the
new construction of the Shard to S
t. Paul’s Cathedral.  Though he
insisted, Kate knew it had been a mistake to drive him through
Belgrave
Square
and out through
Henley to Ramble House
.  She should have known the sight of his
former
home
s
would bring discontent.

Even she
felt a certain disquiet viewing the city.  London now versus the London of the past
was overwhelming
.  It might have reminded Brand of what he had lost but for the first time, Kate truly considered it as well.  Beyond the advancements of the future, Brand had lost status, rank and wealth. 
He
had never done without in his entire life and, while Kate wasn’t poor, her lifestyle was no match for one where he was waited on hand and foot, his every whim met.

Instead, Kate had tried to get him to help in the kitchen, to wash the dishes.  What a fool she was for not seeing how something so basic would only amplify the differences between his old life and the new one she had forced on him.  She wished she could talk to him about
what he was feeling
but somehow
she
just couldn’t summon the words.

Physically
at least
, Brand
recovered nicely from his surgery
, al
though he was still tender.  Kate had taken him to the doctor two days ago for a check-up
where t
he doctor
told
Brand
that he might resume
sexual relations.  They
made love that night and in those moments, more vividly than in any others, Kate could feel his desperation in the way he plunged almost violently into her, the way his fingers dug into her.  As if he could forget the world outside if he only lost himsel
f in her more deeply.  They
spent the entire weekend making love until
,
at last
,
Brand held her tenderly in his arms, whispering his love as gently
as he
caressed her body.

Kate gave Brand everything she could, determined to focus on his needs and feelings.  It was all about him now.  Never had there been a point in Kate’s life where her first thoughts in the morning and the last before she fell asleep were for another.

That was love, that wa
s what she
learned from Brand. 
She thought she’d never be able to do enough for him. 
However,
he missed his world and that wasn’t something that she alone could give him.

That was
the moment
when Kate knew she had to give up her penchant for denial for good. 
It just wouldn’t serve any longer when there was something greater than her pride at stake. 
She needed to focus on Brand without looking through rose-colored glasses
,
and face things as they were. 

***

“Hello, then, Kate,” David greeted as he nudged his way into the cafeteria line next to Kate
late the next week
.  “How goes it?”

Kate looked up with a heavy sigh before forcing a smile.  “Good.  How about you?”

“
Not so bad
,” he returned hesitantly.  “Might I join you?
  I have something I’d like to talk to you about.”

“Sure,” Kate consented and they made their way to a small table in the corner.  As they sat, Kate asked politely, “How is your project coming along?”

David grimaced.  “Well enough, I suppose.  The way I’m reading it, those funding the research must have never truly believed that anything would come of it.  Now that they have a working principle, they don’t seem to know
what to do with it and I ha
ve
n’t even told them of
its
trans-time capabilities as yet. 
I think they’re going to shut me down.”

“Are you serious?” Kate asked in astonishment.  Even as incredibly wrong as David’s experiment had gone, it was still
a stupendous achievement
.  “That’s so wrong!”

“It is,” he agreed.  “The accolades I thought would be mine never will be but even that doesn’t matter any longer.”

Since
kudos were all Kate had thought David dreamed of, that came as a surprise.  “It doesn’t?”

“No.
”
H
e shook his head but then met her gaze steadily for a long while before adding, “I’ve decided to go home, Kate.”

Somehow
,
Kate knew that David didn’t mean Brighton.  David was returning to the past.  “Why?”

“In the brief amount of time that I was there, the past became more of a home to me than any I have ever known
.  I wasn’t planning on returning
here
at all until you needed my help
,” he told her.  “
Hadn’t you wondered why I was still there? 
Beyond my personal ambitions, I found satisfaction in my work there, in my life.  I miss it all.”

Kate studied David
,
seeing his sincerity, his hopes stamped clearly on his face.  Her mind whirled with the information.
  What it meant, and not only for
Dave. 

It tore at her heart to even think it. 

It was even harder to say it.

“
Take him with you
,
David
.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Kate insisted
, feeling her chest tighten
and throat burn with emotion
. 
Her heart was pleading with her to stop but her mind knew that something had to be done. 
“I want you to
take
him back and, before you say anything, I understand everything you’ve
had to say
on the subject. 
I just don’t care about that anymore. 
He’s so unhappy,
David
.  I’d thought… I’d hoped maybe he might accept it, accept our time as his future but he hasn’t and I’m not sure he ever will.”

“He hasn’t had enough time…”

“Time isn’t going to change anything,” Kate insisted
, taking a deep breath to bully back the tears that threatened
.  “It wasn’t his choice, it wasn’t what he
wanted and, I’m fairly certain
that
,
knowing what he knows now, he might have rather stayed there to begin with.  You saw him, David.  You know it’s true.”

“You want him to leave?”

“I want him to be happy,” she said feeling tears burn
ing her eyelids
.  “Of course,
I want him here, I do.  I love him so much, but I can’t stand to see him like this.”

“I think you’re making another rash decision.”

“It doesn’t
matter if it’s rash, only that
it’s right.  When are you going?”

“
Our sector
is closed tomorrow so
I had thought
to come first thing in the morning
, but I…”

“What time?”

“
Early
.
”
H
e gave in with a sigh of defeat.  “I wanted to make sure the building was empty.  I thought perhaps
five
or so.”

“
Pick him up about
four-thirty
then?
”